But o'er him thus she hoped to gain,
As privy to his honour's stain,
Illimitable power:

For this she secretly retained

Each proof that might the plot reveal,
Instructions with his hand and seal;
And thus Saint Hilda deigned,
Through sinner's perfidy impure,
Her house's glory to secure,

And Clare's immortal weal.

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'TWERE long, and needless, here to tell,

xxiv

How to my hand these papers fell;

With me they must not stay.

Saint Hilda keep her Abbess true!

Who knows what outrage he might do,
While journeying by the way ?-

5

O blessed Saint, if ere again

I venturous leave thy calm domain,

To travel or by land or main,

Deep penance may I pay !—

10

Now, saintly Palmer, mark my prayer:

I give this packet to thy care,

For thee to stop they will not dare;

And oh! with cautious speed,

To Wolsey's hand the papers bring,
That he may show them to the King;

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And, for thy well-earned meed,

Thou holy man, at Whitby's shrine

A weekly mass shall still be thine,

While priests can sing and read.

What ail'st thou ?-Speak! "-For as he took
The charge, a strong emotion shook

His frame; and, ere reply,
They heard a faint, yet shrilly tone,
Like distant clarion feebly blown,
That on the breeze did die;

And loud the Abbess shrieked in fear,
"Saint Withold save us!-What is here!

Look at yon City Cross!

See on its battled tower appear

Phantoms, that scutcheons seem to rear,

And blazoned banners toss!".

DUN-EDIN'S Cross, a pillar'd stone,
Rose on a turret octagon;

(But now is razed that monument,
Whence royal edict rang,

And voice of Scotland's law was sent
In glorious trumpet clang.
Oh! be his tomb as lead to lead,
Upon its dull destroyer's head!-
A minstrel's malison is said.-)
Then on its battlements they saw
A vision, passing Nature's law,

Strange, wild, and dimly seen;

Figures that seemed to rise and die,
Gibber and sign, advance and fly,

30

XXV

10

While nought confirmed could ear or eye

15

Discern of sound or mien.

Yet darkly did it seem, as there
Heralds and pursuivants prepare,
With trumpet sound and blazon fair,

A summons to proclaim;
But indistinct the pageant proud,
As fancy forms of midnight cloud,
When flings the moon upon her shroud
A wavering tinge of flame;
It flits, expands, and shifts, till loud,
From midmost of the spectre crowd,

This awful summons came :—
"PRINCE, prelate, potentate, and peer,
Whose names I now shall call,

Scottish, or foreigner, give ear!

}

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25

xxvi

Subjects of him who sent me here,
At his tribunal to appear,

I summon one and all:

I cite you by each deadly sin,

That e'er hath soiled your hearts within;
I cite you by each brutal lust,

That e'er defiled your earthly dust,

By wrath, by pride, by fear,

By each o'ermastering passion's tone,
By the dark grave, and dying groan !
When forty days are past and gone,
I cite you, at your Monarch's throne,
To answer and appear."-
Then thundered forth a roll of names
The first was thine, unhappy James!
Then all thy nobles came;
Crawford, Glencairn, Montrose, Argyle,

Ross, Bothwell, Forbes, Lennox, Lyle,—
Why should I tell their separate style?

Each chief of birth and fame,

Of Lowland, Highland, Border, Isle,
Foredoomed to Flodden's carnage pile,
Was cited there by name;

Of Lutterward, and Scrivelbaye,

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15

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25

And Marmion, Lord of Fontenaye,

De Wilton, erst of Aberley,

The selfsame thundering voice did say.—

30

But then another spoke :

"Thy fatal summons I deny,
And thine infernal lord defy,
Appealing me to Him on High,

Who burst the sinner's yoke."-
At that dread accent, with a scream,
Parted the pageant like a dream,

The summoner was gone.
Prone on her face the Abbess fell,

35

And fast, and fast, her beads did tell;
Her nuns came, startled by the yell,

And found her there alone.

She marked not, at the scene aghast,

40

What time, or how, the Palmer passed.
SHIFT We the scene.-The camp doth move, xxvii
Dun-Edin's streets are empty now,

Save when, for weal of those they love,

To pray the
and vow the vow,
prayer,
The tottering child, the anxious fair,
The grey-haired sire, with pious care,
To chapels and to shrines repair.-
Where is the Palmer now, and where
The Abbess, Marmion, and Clare ?—
Bold Douglas! to Tantallon fair,
They journey in thy charge:
Lord Marmion rode on his right hand,
The Palmer still was with the band;
Angus, like Lindesay, did command,

That none should roam at large.

But in that Palmer's altered mien

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15

A wondrous change might now be seen;
Freely he spoke of war,

Of marvels wrought by single hand,

When lifted for a native land;

20

And still looked high, as if he planned
Some desperate deed afar.

His courser would he feed and stroke,

Would first his mettle bold provoke,

25

And, tucking up his sable frocke,

Then sooth or quell his pride.

Old Hubert said, that never one
He saw, except Lord Marmion,

A steed so fairly ride.

SOME half-hour's march behind, there came, xxviii By Eustace governed fair,

10

The influence of kinsmen loved,
And suit by Henry's self approved,
Her slow consent had wrought.

His was no flickering flame, that dies
Unless when fanned by looks and sighs,
And lighted oft at lady's eyes;

He longed to stretch his wide command
O'er luckless Clara's ample land :
Besides, when Wilton with him vied,
Although the pang of humbled pride
The place of jealousy supplied,

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Yet conquest, by that meanness won
He almost loathed to think upon,

Led him, at times, to hate the cause,

Which made him burst through honour's laws.

If e'er he loved, 'twas her alone,

25

Who died within that vault of stone.

xxix

AND now, when close at hand they saw
North Berwick's town, and lofty Law,
Fitz-Eustace bade them pause a while,
Before a venerable pile,

Whose turrets viewed, afar,
The lofty Bass, the Lambie Isle,

The ocean's peace or war.

At tolling of a bell, forth came

5

The convent's venerable Dame,

And prayed Saint Hilda's Abbess rest
With her, a loved and honoured guest,
Till Douglas should a bark prepare,

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