He swept the sounding chords along : THE KNIGHTS OF BRANKSOME. NINE-AND-TWENTY knights of fame Brought them their steeds to bower from sta Waited, duteous, on them all: They were all knights of mettle true, Ten of them were sheathed in steel, They lay down to rest, With corslet laced, Pillow'd on buckler cold and hard ; They carved at the meal With gloves of steel, And they drank the red wine through the helmet barr'd. WILLIAM OF DELORAINE. THE Ladye forgot her purpose high, A stark moss-trooping Scott was he, Alike to him was time or tide, By England's King, and Scotland's Queen. "Sir William of Deloraine, good at need, Spare not to spur, nor stint to ride, Seek thou the Monk of St. Mary's aisle. Say that the fated hour is come, For this will be St. Michael's night, And, though stars be dim, the moon is bright; And the Cross, of bloody red, Will point to the grave of the mighty dead. "What he gives thee, see thou keep ; Stay not thou for food or sleep: Be it scroll, or be it book, Into it, Knight, thou must not look; Better had'st thou ne'er been born." "O swiftly can speed my dapple-grey steed, Which drinks of the Teviot clear; Ere break of day," the Warrior 'gan say, And safer by none may thy errand be done, Letter nor line know I never a one, 4 MELROSE ABBEY. IF thou would'st view fair Melrose aright, When the broken arches are black in night, And each shafted oriel glimmers white; When the cold light's uncertain shower Streams on the ruin'd central tower; с Seem framed of ebon and ivory ; When silver edges the imagery, And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die; When distant Tweed is heard to rave, And the owlet to hoot o'er the dead man's grave, Then go but go alone the while- wwwww MICHAEL SCOTT. BEFORE their eyes the Wizard lay, Like a pilgrim from beyond the sea: The lamp was placed beside his knee: High and majestic was his look, |