Well has thy fair achievement shown,
A worthy meed may thus be won;
Ytene's1oaks-beneath whose shade
Their theme the merry minstrels made,
Of Ascapart, and Bevis bold, 2
And that Red King, 3 who, while of old,
Through Boldrewood the chase he led,
By his loved huntsman's arrow bled—
Ytene's oaks have heard again
Renew'd such legendary strain;
For thou hast sung, how He of Gaul,
That Amadis so famed in hall,

1 The New Forest in Hampshire, anciently so called.

2 The "History of Bevis of Hampton" is abridged by my friend Mr George Ellis, with that liveliness which extracts amusement even out of the most rude and unpromising of our old tales of chivalry. Ascapart, a most important personage in the romance, is thus described in an extract:

"This geaunt was mighty and strong,
And full thirty foot was long.

He was bristled like a sow;

A foot he had between each brow;

His lips were great, and hung aside;

His eyen were hollow, his mouth was wide;

Lothly he was to look on than,

And liker a devil than a man.

His staff was a young oak,

Hard and heavy was his stroke."

Specimens of Metrical Romances, vol. ii. p. 136.

I am happy to say, that the memory of Sir Bevis is still fragrant in his town of Southampton; the gate of which is sentineled by the effigies of that doughty knight-errant and his gigantic associate. 3 William Rufus.

For Oriana, foil'd in fight

The Necromancer's felon might;

And well in modern verse hast wove
Partenopex's mystic love:1

Hear, then, attentive to my lay,

A knightly tale of Albion's elder day.

1 [Partenopex de Blois, a poem, by W. S. Rose, Esq., was published in 1808.—ED.]

MARMION.

CANTO FIRST.

The Castle.

MARMION.

CANTO FIRST.

The Castle.

I.

DAY set on Norham's castled steep,1
And Tweed's fair river, broad and deep,
And Cheviot's mountains lone:
The battled towers, the donjon keep,2

1 See Appendix, Note C.

2 It is perhaps unnecessary to remind my readers, that the donjon, in its proper signification, means the strongest part of a feudal castle; a high square tower, with walls of tremendous thickness, situated in the centre of the other buildings, from which, however, it was usually detached. Here, in case of the outward defences being gained, the garrison retreated to make their last stand. The donjon contained the great hall, and principal rooms of state for solemn occasions, and also the prison of the fortress; from which last circumstance we derive the modern and restricted use of the word dungeon. Ducange (voce DUNJO) conjectures plausibly, that the name is derived from these keeps being usually built upon a