And, when we move, an easy ride Befitting Gloster's heir; Nor thinks, nor dreams, my noble lord, Her faithful guardian he will be, Till he shall place her, safe and free, He spoke, and blushed with earnest grace; And Clare's worst fear relieved. To curse with candle, bell, and book. XXXI. The Abbess, seeing strife was vain, The records of his house turn o'er, And, when he shall there written sec, Drove the Monks forth of Coventry, Prancing in pride of earthly trust, God judge 'twixt Marmion and me; And I a poor recluse; Yet oft, in holy writ, we see Even such weak minister as me May the oppressor bruise: For thus, inspired, did Judith slay The mighty in his sin, And Jael thus, and Deborah " Here hasty Blount broke in: "Fitz-Eustace, we must march our band; Saint Anton' fire thee! wilt thou stand All day, with bonnet in thy hand, To hear the Lady preach? By this good light! if thus we stay, Will sharper sermon teach. Come, don thy cap, and mount thy horse ; XXXII. "Submit we then to force," said Clare, But to be Marmion's wedded wife N'on ( (4)41. In me were deadly sin: That I must find no sanctuary, In that inviolable dome,] not in (1):4) or 24 Where even a homicide might come, And safely rest his head, Though at its open portals stood, Thirsting to pour forth blood for blood, The kinsmen of the dead; Yet one asylum is my own A low, a silent, and a lone, Where kings have little power. One victim is before me there. Loud weeps the Abbess, and bestows Kind blessings many a one: Weeping and wailing loud arose, Round patient Clare, the clamorous woes Of every simple nun. His eyes the gentle Eustace dried, And scarce rude Blount the sight could bide. Then took the squire her rein, And gently led away her steed, And, by each courteous word and deed, To cheer her strove in vain. XXXIII. But scant three miles the band had rode, Broad, massive, high, and stretching far, On a projecting rock they rose, And round three sides the ocean flows, By narrow drawbridge, outworks strong, Here was square keep, there turret high, Or pinnacle that sought the sky, XXXIV. Here did they rest. The princely care And, first, they heard King James had won But whispered news there came, And melted by degrees away, King James was dallying off the day Such acts to chronicles I yield; Go seek them there, and see: Mine is a tale of Flodden Field, And not a history. At length they heard the Scottish host And camp at Wooler ta'en. |