No spears were there the shock to let, No stakes to turn the charge were set, Give note of triumph and of rout! Awhile, with stubborn hardihood, Their English hearts the strife made good; May northward look with longing glance, For those that wont to lead the dance, For the blithe archers look in vain! Broken, dispersed, in flight o'erta'en, Pierced through, trode down, by thousands slain, They cumber Bannock's bloody plain. XXIV. The King with scorn beheld their flight. Each braggart churl could boast before, Twelve Scottish lives his baldric bore! Than make a manly foe their mark.-- But, in mid-space, the Bruce's care Had bored the ground with many a pit, With turf and brushwood hidden yet, That form'd a ghastly snare. Rushing, ten thousand horsemen came, With spears in rest, and hearts on flame, That panted for the shock! With blazing crests and banners spread, And trumpet-clang and clamour dread, The wide plain thunder'd to their tread, As far as Stirling rock. Down! down! in headlong overthrow, Horseman and horse, the foremost go, Wild floundering on the field! The first are in destruction's gorge, Their followers wildly o'er them urge ; The knightly helm and shield, The mail, the acton, and the spear, Strong hand, high heart, are useless here! Loud from the mass confused the cry Of dying warriors swells on high, And steeds that shriek in agony! They came like mountain-torrent red, They broke like that same torrent's wave, Maintaining still the stern turmoil, And to their wild and tortured groan Each adds new terrors of his own! XXV. Too strong in courage and in might Her noblest all are here; Names that to fear were never known, Bold Norfolk's Earl De Brotherton, And Oxford's famed De Vere. There Gloster plied the bloody sword, And Berkley, Grey, and Hereford, Bottetourt and Sanzavere, R Ross, Montague, and Mauley, came, And Courtenay's pride, and Percy's fameNames known too well in Scotland's war, At Falkirk, Methven, and Dunbar, Blazed broader yet in after years, Till hand to hand in battle set, The bills with spears and axes met, And, closing dark on every side, Raged the full contest far and wide. Then was the strength of Douglas tried, Then proved was Randolph's generous pride, And well did Stewart's actions grace Firmly they kept their ground; |