For now the year brought round again
The day the luckless King was slain.
In Katharine's aisle the Monarch knelt,
With sackcloth-shirt, and iron belt,
And eyes with sorrow streaming
Around him, in their stalls of state,
The Thistle's Knight-Companions sate,
Their banners o'er them beaming.
I too was there, and, sooth to tell,
Bedeafened with the jangling knell,
Was watching where the sunbeams fell,
Through the stained casement gleaming;
But, while I marked what next befel,
It seemed as I were dreaming.
Stepped from the crowd a ghostly wight,
In azure gown, with cincture white;
His forehead bald, his head was bare,
Down hung at length his yellow hair.—

Now mock me not, when, good my Lord,

25

Who propped the Virgin in her faint,—
The loved Apostle John!·

He stepped before the Monarch's chair,

xvii

And stood with rustic plainness there,

5

And little reverence made,

Nor head, nor body, bowed nor bent,
But on the desk his arm he leant,

And words like these he said,

In a low voice,--but never tone

So thrilled through vein, and nerve, and bone :

"My mother sent me from afar, Sir King, to warn thee not to war,— Woe waits on thine array;

If war thou wilt, of woman fair,

Her witching wiles and wanton snare,
James Stuart, doubly warned, beware:
God keep thee as he may !"-

The wondering Monarch seemed to seek
For answer, and found none;

And when he raised his head to speak,

The monitor was gone.

The Marshal and myself had cast

To stop him as he outward past;

But, lighter than the whirlwind's blast,

He vanished from our eyes,

Like sunbeam on the billow cast,

That glances but, and dies.—

And, three days since, had judged your aim
Was but to make your guest your game.
But I have seen, since past the Tweed,
What much has changed my sceptic creed,
And made me credit aught."-He staid,
And seemed to wish his words unsaid:
But, by that strong emotion pressed,
Which prompts us to unload our breast,
Even when discovery's pain,

10

15

To Lindesay did at length unfold

The tale his village host had told,

20

At Gifford, to his train.

Nought of the Palmer says he there,

And nought of Constance, or of Clare:

The thoughts, which broke his sleep, he seems
To mention but as feverish dreams.

"IN VAIN," said he, "to rest I spread

My burning limbs, and couched my head:
Fantastic thoughts returned;

And, by their wild dominion led,

My heart within me burned. So sore was the delirious goad,

I took my steed, and forth I rode,

And, as the moon shone bright and cold,

Soon reached the camp upon the wold.

10

The southern entrance I passed through,
And halted, and my bugle blew.
Methought an answer met my ear,-
Yet was the blast so low and drear,
So hollow, and so faintly blown,
It might be echo of my own.
THUS judging, for a little space
I listened, ere I left the place;

But scarce could trust my eyes,
Nor yet can think they served me true,
When sudden in the ring I view,

In form distinct of shape and hue,

A mounted champion rise.—

I've fought, Lord-Lion, many a day,

In single fight, and mixed affray,

15 XX

5

And ever I myself may say,

10

Have borne me as a knight;

But when this unexpected foe

Seemed starting from the gulf below,

I care not though the truth I show,—

I trembled with affright;

15

And as I placed in rest my spear,
My hand so shook for very fear,

I scarce could couch it right.

WHY need my tongue the issue tell?

xxi

We ran our course,—my charger fell ;—
What could he 'gainst the shock of hell ?-

To foreign climes, has long been dead,—

(The first time e'er I asked his aid,)

He plunged it in the sheath;

And, on his courser mounting light,
He seemed to vanish from my sight:

The moonbeam drooped, and deepest night

Sunk down upon the heath.

25

'Twere long to tell what cause I have

To know his face, that met me there,

30

Called by his hatred from the grave
To cumber upper air:

F

Dead or alive, good cause had he

To be my mortal enemy."

MARVELLED Sir David of the Mount;
Then, learned in story, 'gan recount

xxii

Such chance had happ'd of old,

When once, near Norham, there did fight

5

A spectre fell of fiendish might,

In likeness of a Scottish knight,
With Brian Bulmer bold,
And trained him nigh to disallow
The aid of his baptismal vow.

"And such a phantom, too, 'tis said,

And fingers red with gore,

10

With Highland broadsword, targe, and plaid,

Or where the sable pine-trees shade
Dark Tomantoul, and Auchnaslaid

15

Is seen in Rothiemurcus glade,

Dromouchty, or Glenmore.

And yet, whate'er such legends say,
Of warlike demon, ghost, or fay,

On mountain, moor, or plain,
Spotless in faith, in bosom bold,
True son of chivalry should hold
These midnight terrors vain;
For seldom have such spirits power
To harm, save in the evil hour
When guilt we meditate within,
Or harbour unrepented sin."—

Lord Marmion turned him half aside,
And twice to clear his voice he tried,
Then pressed Sir David's hand,—
But nought, at length, in answer said;
And here their farther converse staid,

Each ordering that his band
Should bowne them with the rising day,
To Scotland's camp to take their way,—
Such was the King's command.