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,
Bedeafen'd with the jangling knell,
Was watching where the sunbeams fell,
Through the stain'd casement gleaming;
But, while I mark'd what next befell,
It seem'd as I were dreaming.
Stepp'd 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,
I pledge to you my knightly word,
That, when I saw his placid grace
His simple majesty of face,

His solemn bearing, and his pace

So stately gliding on,

Seem'd to me ne'er did limner paint

So just an image of the Saint,

Who propp'd the Virgin in her faint,—

The lov'd Apostle John!

"He stepp'd before the Monarch's chair,
And stood with rustic plainness there,
And little reverence made;

Nor head, nor body, bow'd nor bent,
But on the desk his arm he leant,

And words like these he said,

In a low voice, but never tone

So thrill'd 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 warn'd, beware:
God keep thee as he may !'—

The wondering Monarch seem'd 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 pass'd;
But, lighter than the whirlwind's blast,

He vanish'd from our eyes,

Like sunbeam on the billow cast,

That glances but, and dies."

MARMION'S TALE.

"IN vain," said he, "to rest I spread My burning limbs, and couch'd my head: Fantastic thoughts return'd;

And, by their wild dominion led,

My heart within me burn'd.
So sore was the delirious goad,

I took my steed, and forth I rode,
And, as the moon shone bright and cold,
Soon reach'd the camp upon the wold.
The southern entrance I pass'd 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 listen'd, 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 mix'd affray,
And ever, I myself may say,

Have borne me as a knight;
But when this unexpected foe
Seem'd starting from the gulf below,—
I care not though the truth I show,-
I trembled with affright;

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?
We ran our course,-my charger fell ;-
What could he 'gainst the shock of hell?-
I roll'd upon the plain.

High o'er my head, with threatening hand,
The spectre shook his naked brand,—
Yet did the worst remain :

My dazzled eyes I upward cast,—
Not opening hell itself could blast
Their sight, like what I saw !
Full on his face the moonbeam strook,—
A face could never be mistook!
I knew the stern vindictive look,

And held my breath for awe.

I saw the face of one who, fled

To foreign climes, has long been dead,—
I well believe the last;

For ne'er, from vizor raised, did stare
A human warrior, with a glare

So grimly and so ghast.

Thrice o'er my head he shook the blade;
But when to good Saint George I pray'd,
(The first time ere I ask'd his aid,)
He plunged it in the sheath;
And, on his courser mounting light,
He seem'd to vanish from my sight:
The moonbeam droop'd, and deepest night
Sunk down upon the heath.—

'Twere long to tell what cause I have

To know his face, that met me there,
Call'd by his hatred from the grave,
To cumber upper air:

Dead or alive, good cause had he
To be my mortal enemy."

THE ARMY OF SCOTLAND.

BUT different far the change has been,
Since Marmion, from the crown

Of Blackford, saw that martial scene