The loophole grates, where captives weep, The warriors on the turrets high, II. Saint George's banner, broad and gay, Less bright, and less, was flung; The evening gale had scarce the power The scouts had parted on their search, Above the gloomy portal arch, hill, which in Celtic is called DUN. Borlase supposes the word came from the darkness of the apartments in these towers, which were thence figuratively called Dungeons; thus deriving the ancient word from the modern application of it. 66 1 [In the MS. the first line has "houry heep;" the fourth donjon steep; " the seventh "ruddy lustre."] Low humming, as he paced along, III. A distant trampling sound he hears; A horseman, darting from the crowd, The warder hasted from the wall, IV. "Now broach ye a pipe of Malvoisie, Bring pasties of the doe, This word properly applies to a flight of water-fowl; but is ap plied, by analogy, to a body of horse. "There is a knight of the North Country, Which leads a lusty plump of spears." Flodden Field. And quickly make the entrance free, Lord MARMION waits below!" And let the drawbridge fall. V1 Along the bridge Lord Marmion rode, [MS." A welcome shot."] 2 [MS.-" Yet lines of thought upon his cheek His square-turn'd joints, and strength of limb, But in close fight a champion grim, In camps a leader sage.1 VI. Well was he arm'd from head to heel, ["Marmion is to Deloraine what Tom Jones is to Joseph An drews: the varnish of higher breeding nowhere diminishes the prominence of the features; and the minion of a king is as light and sinewy a cavalier as the Borderer-rather less ferocious-more wicked, not less fit for the hero of a ballad, and much more so for the hero of a regular poem."-GEORGE ELLIS.] 2 The artists of Milan were famous in the middle ages for their skill in armoury, as appears from the following passage, in which Froissart gives an account of the preparations made by Henry, Earl of Hereford, afterwards Henry IV., and Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marischal, for their proposed combat in the lists at Coventry :- "These two lords made ample provision of all things necessary for the combat; and the Earl of Derby sent off messengers to Lombardy, to have armour from Sir Galeas, Duke of Milan. The Duke complied with joy, and gave the knight, called Sir Francis, who had brought the message, the choice of all his armour for the Earl of Derby. When he had selected what he wished for in plated and mail armour, the Lord of Milan, out of his abundant But his strong helm, of mighty cost, A falcon hover'd on her nest, With wings outspread, and forward breast; Soar'd sable in an azure field: The golden legend bore aright, Who checks at me, to death is dight.' love for the Earl, ordered four of the best armourers in Milan to accompany the knight to England, that the Earl of Derby might be more completely armed."-JOHNES' Froissart, vol. iv. p. 597. 1 The crest and motto of Marmion are borrowed from the following story:-Sir David de Lindsay, first Earl of Crauford, was, among other gentlemen of quality, attended, during a visit to London, in 1390, by Sir William Dalzell, who was, according to my authority, Bower, not only excelling in wisdom, but also of a lively wit. Chancing to be at the court, he there saw Sir Piers Courtenay, an English knight, famous for skill in tilting, and for the beauty of his person, parading the palace, arrayed in a new mantle, bearing for device an embroidered falcon, with this rhyme,— "I bear a falcon, fairest of flight, Who so pinches at her, his death is dight 2 In graith." 3 The Scottish knight, being a wag, appeared next day in a dress exactly similar to that of Courtenay, but bearing a magpie instead of the falcon, with a motto ingeniously contrived to rhyme to the vaunting inscription of Sir Piers : "I bear a pie picking at a piece, Whoso picks at her, I shall pick at his nese, 4 In faith." This affront could only be expiated by a just with sharp lances. 2 Prepared. 3 Armour. 4 Nose. |