IX.

"Tis meet that I should tell you now,
How fairly arm'd, and order'd how,
The soldiers of the guard,

With musket, pike, and morion,
To welcome noble Marmion,
Stood in the Castle-yard;

Minstrels and trumpeters were there,
The gunner held his linstock yare,
For welcome-shot prepared:
Enter'd the train, and such a clang,1
As then through all his turrets rang,
Old Norham never heard.

X.

The guards their morrice pikes advanced,
The trumpets flourish'd brave,
The cannon from the ramparts glanced,
And thundering welcome gave.

A blithe salute, in martial sort,
The minstrels well might sound,
For, as Lord Marmion cross'd the court,
He scatter'd angels round.
"Welcome to Norham, Marmion!

Stout heart, and open hand!

Well dost thou brook thy gallant roan,
Thou flower of English land!"

1 [MS." And when he enter'd, such a clang, As through the echoing turrets rang."]

XI.

Two pursuivants, whom tabarts deck,
With silver scutcheon round their neck,
Stood on the steps of stone,

By which you reach the donjon gate,
And there, with herald pomp and state,
They hail'd Lord Marmion: 1
They hail'd him Lord of Fontenaye,
Of Lutterward, and Scrivelbaye,

Of Tamworth tower and town; 2
And he, their courtesy to requite,
Gave them a chain of twelve marks' weight,
All as he lighted down.

"Now, largesse, largesse, Lord Marmion,

1 [" The most picturesque of all poets, Homer, is frequently minute, to the utmost degree, in the description of the dresses and accoutrements of his personages. These particulars, often inconsiderable in themselves, have the effect of giving truth and identity to the picture, and assist the mind in realizing the scenes, in a degree which no general description could suggest; nor could we so completely enter the Castle with Lord Marmion, were any circumstances of the description omitted."-British Critic.]

2 [See Appendix, Note D.]

8 This was the cry with which heralds and pursuivants were wont to acknowledge the bounty received from the knights. Stewart of Lorn distinguishes a ballad, in which he satirizes the narrowness of James V. and his courtiers, by the ironical burden

"Lerges, lerges, lerges, hay,
Lerges of this new-yeir day.
First lerges of the King, my chief,
Quhilk come als quiet as a theif,

Knight of the crest of gold!

A blazon'd shield, in battle won,
Ne'er guarded heart so bold."

XII.

They marshall'd him to the Castle-hall,
Where the guests stood all aside,
And loudly flourish'd the trumpet-call,
And the heralds loudly cried,

Room, lordlings, room for Lord Marmion,

With the crest and helm of gold!

Full well we know the trophies won
In the lists at Cottiswold:
There, vainly Ralph de Wilton strove
'Gainst Marmion's force to stand;

To him he lost his lady-love,
And to the King his land.
Ourselves beheld the listed field,
A sight both sad and fair

And in my hand slid schillings tway,1
To put his lergnes to the prief,2

For lerges of this new-yeir day."

The heralds, like the minstrels, were a race allowed to have great claims upon the liberality of the knights, of whose feats they kept a record, and proclaimed them aloud, as in the text, upon suitable occasions.

At Berwick, Norham, and other Border fortresses of importance, pursuivants usually resided, whose inviolable character rendered them the only persons that could, with perfect assurance of safety, be sent on necessary embassies into Scotland. This is alluded to in stanza xxi., p. 59. 2 Proof.

1 Two.

We saw Lord Marmion pierce his shield,'

And saw his saddle bare;

We saw the victor win the crest,

He wears with worthy pride;
And on the gibbet-tree, reversed,
His foeman's scutcheon tied.
Place, nobles, for the Falcon-Knight!
Room, room, ye gentles gay,
For him who conquer'd in the right,
Marmion of Fontenaye!"

XIII.

Then stepp'd, to meet that noble Lord,
Sir Hugh the Heron bold,
Baron of Twisell, and of Ford,
And Captain of the Hold,2
He led Lord Marmion to the deas,
Raised o'er the pavement high,
And placed him in the upper place-
They feasted full and high:

[MS.-" Cleave his shield."]

2 Were accuracy of any consequence in a fictitious narra tive, this castellan's name ought to have been William; for William Heron of Ford was husband to the famous Lady Ford, whose siren charms are said to have cost our James IV. so dear. Moreover, the said William Heron was, at the time supposed, a prisoner in Scotland, being surrendered by Henry VIII., on account of his share in the slaughter of Sir Robert Ker of Cessford. His wife, represented in the text as residing at the Court of Scotland, was, in fact, living in her own Castle at Ford.-See SIR RICHARD HERON's curious Genealogy of the Heron Family.

The whiles a Northern harper rude
Chanted a rhyme of deadly feud,

"How the fierce Thirwalls, and Ridleys all, Stout Willimondswick,

And Hardriding Dick,

And Hughie of Hawdon, and Will o' the
Wall,

Have set on Sir Albany Featherstonhaugh,
And taken his life at the Deadman's-shaw.”
Scantly Lord Marmion's ear could brook

The harper's barbarous lay ;
Yet much he praised the pains he took,
And well those pains did pay :

For lady's suit, and minstrel's strain,
By knight should ne'er be heard in vain.

XIV.

"Now, good Lord Marmion," Heron says,

"Of your fair courtesy,

I pray you bide some little space

In this poor tower with me.

Here may you keep your arms from rust,
May breathe your war-horse well;
Seldom hath pass'd a week but giust
Or feat of arms befell:

The Scots can rein a mettled steed;
And love to couch a spear ;—

1 The rest of this old ballad, given as a note in the former editions of Marmion, may be found in the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, vol. ii. pp. 86-89.