But once to see him more !_nor blame

Her wish to hear him namne her name!

Then, to bear back to solitude

The thought, he had his falsehood rued !
But Isabel, who long had seen
Her pallid cheek and pensive mien,
And well herself the cause might know,
Though innocent, of Edith's woe,
Joy'd, generous, that revolving time
Gave means to expiate the crime.
High glow'd her bosom as she said,
66 Well shall her sufferings be repaid !"
Now came the parting hour-a band
From Arran's mountains left the land;

Their chief, Fitz-Louis, had the care

The speechless Amadine to bear

To Bruce, with honour, as behoved

To

page the monarch dearly loved.

X.

The King had deem'd the maiden bright
Should reach him long before the fight,
But storms and fate her course delay:
It was on eve of battle-day,

When o'er the Gillie's-hill she rode.

The landscape like a furnace glow'd,
And far as e'er the eye was borne,

The lances waved like autumn-corn.

In battles four beneath their eye,

The forces of King Robert lie.
And one below the hill was laid,

Reserved for rescue and for aid ;

And three, advanced, form'd vaward-line, 'Twixt Bannock's brook and Ninian's shrine.

Detach'd was each, yet each so nigh
As well might mutual aid supply.
Beyond, the Southern host appears,
A boundless wilderness of spears,

Whose verge or rear the anxious eye
Strove far, but strove in vain, to spy.
Thick flashing in the evening beam,
Glaives, lances, bills, and banners gleam;
And where the heaven join’d with the hill,
Was distant armour flashing still,
So wide, so far, the boundless host

Seem'd in the blue horizon lost.

XI.

Down from the hill the maiden pass'd,
At the wild show of war aghast ;

And traversed first the rearward host,

Reserved for aid where needed most.

The men of Carrick and of Ayr,
Lennox and Lanark too, were there,

And all the western land ;

With these the valiant of the Isles

Beneath their chieftains rank'd their files,

In many a plaided band,

There, in the centre, proudly raised,
The Bruce's royal standard blazed,

And there Lord Ronald's banner bore

A galley driven by sail and oar.
A wild, yet pleasing contrast, made
Warriors in mail and plate array'd,
With the plumed bonnet and the plaid

By these Hebrideans worn;
But O! unseen for three long years,
Dear was the garb of mountaineers

To the fair Maid of Lorn!

For one she look'd_but he was far

Busied amid the ranks of war

Yet with affection's troubled eye

She mark'd his banner boldly fly,
Gave on the countless foe a glance,
And thought on battle's desperate chance.

XII.

To centre of the vaward line

Fitz-Louis guided Amadine.

Arm'd all on foot, that host appears

A serried mass of glimmering spears.

There stood the Marchers' warlike band,

The warriors there of Lodon's land;

Ettrick and Liddell bent the yew,

A band of archers fierce, though few;

The men of Nith and Annan's vale,

And the bold Spears of Teviotdale ;-
The dauntless Douglas these obey,
And the

young

Stuart's gentle sway. North-eastward by Saint Ninian's shrine, Beneath fierce Randolph's charge, combine The warriors whom the hardy North From Tay to Sutherland sent forth. The rest of Scotland's war-array With Edward Bruce to westward lay,

Where Bannock, with his broken bank

And deep ravine, protects their flank. Behind them, screen'd by sheltering wood, The gallant Keith, Lord Marshal, stood :