A Baron's lands!"- His frantic mood
Was scarcely by the news withstood,
That Morag shared his sister's flight,
And that, in hurry of the night,
'Scaped noteless, and without remark,
Two strangers sought the Abbot's bark.-
"Man every galley!-fly-pursue!
The priest his treachery shall rue!

Ay, and the time shall quickly come,

When we shall hear the thanks that Rome

Will pay his feigned prophecy!"

Such was fierce Lorn's indignant cry;
And Cormac Doil in haste obey'd,
Hoisted his sail, his anchor weigh'd,
(For, glad of each pretext for spoil,
A pirate sworn was Cormac Doil.)'
But others, lingering, spoke apart,-
"The Maid has given her maiden heart
To Ronald of the Isles,

And, fearful lest her brother's word
Bestow her on that English Lord,
She seeks Iona's piles,

1A sort of persons common in the isles, as may be easily believed, until the introduction of civil polity. Witness the Dean of the Isles' account of Ronay. "At the north end of Raarsay, be half myle of sea frae it, layes ane ile callit Ronay, maire then a myle in lengthe, full of wood and heddir, with ane havein for heiland galeys in the middis of it, and the same havein is guid for fostering of theives, ruggairs and reivairs, till a nail, upon the peilling and spulzeing of poor pepill. This ile perteins to M'Gillychallan of Raarsay by force, and to the bishope of the iles be heritage."-SIR DONALD MONRO's Description of the Western Islands of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1805, p. 22.

And wisely deems it best to dwell
A votaress in the holy cell,

Until these feuds so fierce and fell
The Abbot reconciles."

V.

As, impotent of ire, the hall
Echoed to Lorn's impatient call,

66

"My horse, my mantle, and my train!
Let none who honours Lorn remain!".
Courteous, but stern, a bold request
To Bruce De Argentine express'd.
"Lord Earl," he said, "I cannot chuse
But yield such title to the Bruce,
Though name and earldom both are gone,
Since he braced rebel's armour on-
But, Earl or Serf-rude phrase was thine
Of late, and launch'd at Argentine ;
Such as compels me to demand
Redress of honour at thy hand.
We need not to each other tell,
That both can wield their weapons well;
Then do me but the soldier grace,
This glove upon thy helm to place

Where we may meet in fight;
And I will say, as still I've said,
Though by ambition far misled,
Thou art a noble knight.”—

VI.

"And I," the princely Bruce replied, "Might term it stain on knighthood's pride, That the bright sword of Argentine Should in a tyrant's quarrel shine;

But, for your brave request,

Be sure the honour'd pledge you gave
In every battle-field shall wave
Upon my helmet-crest;
Believe, that if my hasty tongue
Hath done thine honour causeless wrong,
It shall be well redress'd.
Not dearer to my soul was glove,
Bestow'd in youth by lady's love,

Than this which thou hast given!

Thus, then, my noble foe I greet;
Health and high fortune till we meet,
And then-what pleases Heaven."

VII.

Thus parted they-for now, with sound Like waves roll'd back from rocky ground, The friends of Lorn retire;

Each mainland chieftain, with his train,
Draws to his mountain towers again,
Pondering how mortal schemes prove vain,
And mortal hopes expire.

But through the castle double guard,
By Ronald's charge, kept wakeful ward,
Wicket and gate were trebly barr'd,
By beam and bolt and chain;
Then of the guests, in courteous sort,
He pray'd excuse for mirth broke short,
And bade them in Artornish fort
In confidence remain.

Now torch and menial tendance led
Chieftain and knight to bower and bed,
And beads were told, and aves said,

And soon they sunk away

Into such sleep, as wont to shed
Oblivion on the weary head,

After a toilsome day.

VIII.

But soon uproused, the Monarch cried
To Edward slumbering by his side,
"Awake, or sleep for aye!
Even now there jarr❜d a secret door-
A taper-light gleams on the floor-
Up, Edward, up, I say!

Some one glides in like midnight ghost-
Nay, strike not! 'tis our noble Host."
Advancing then his taper's flame,
Ronald stept forth, and with him came
Dunvegan's chief-each bent the knee
To Bruce in sign of fealty,

And proffer'd him his sword,

And hail'd him, in a monarch's style,
As king of mainland and of isle,
And Scotland's rightful lord.

"And O," said Ronald, "Own'd of Heaven! Say, is my erring youth forgiven,

By falsehood's arts from duty driven,

Who rebel falchion drew,

Yet ever to thy deeds of fame,
Even while I strove against thy claim,
Paid homage just and true?"-
"Alas! dear youth, the unhappy time,"
Answer'd the Bruce, "must bear the crime,
Since, guiltier far than you,

Even I"-he paused; for Falkirk's woes
Upon his conscious soul arose.1

The Chieftain to his breast he press'd,
And in a sigh conceal'd the rest.

'I have followed the vulgar and inaccurate tradition, that Bruce fought against Wallace, and the array of Scotland, at the fatal battle of Falkirk. The story, which seems to have no better authority than that of Blind Harry, bears, that having made much slaughter during the engagement, he sat down to dine with the conquerors without washing the filthy witness from his hands.

"Fasting he was, and had been in great need,
Blooded were all his weapons and his weed:
Southeron lords scorn'd him in terms rude,
And said, Behold yon Scot eats his own blood.

"Then rued he sore, for reason bad be known,
That blood and land alike should be his own;
With them he long was, ere he got away,

But contrair Scots he fought not from that day."

The account given by most of our historians, of the conversation between Bruce and Wallace over the Carron river, is equally apocryphal. There is full evidence that Bruce was not at that time on the English side, nor present at the battle of Falkirk; nay, that he acted as a guardian of Scotland, along with John Comyn, in the name of Baliol, and in opposition to the English. He was the grandson of the competitor, with whom he has been sometimes confounded. Lord Hailes has well described, and in some degree apologized for, the earlier part of his life.—“His grand-father, the competitor, had patiently acquiesced in the award of Edward. His father, yielding to the times, had served under the English banners. But young Bruce had more ambition, and a more restless spirit. In his earlier years he acted upon no regular plan. By turns the partisan of Edward, and the vicegerent of Baliol, he seems to have forgotten or stifled his pretensions to the crown. But his character developed itself by degrees, and in maturer age became firm and consistent."Annals of Scotland, p. 290, quarto, London, 1776.