139 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. CANTO FOURTH. THE PROPHECY. I. THE rose is fairest when 'tis budding new And hope is brightest when it dawns from fears The rose is sweetest wash'd with morning dew, And love is loveliest when embalm'd in tears. O wilding rose, whom fancy thus endears, I bid your blossoms in my bonnet wave, Emblem of hope and love through future years!" Thus spoke young Norman, heir of Armandave, What time the sun arose on Vennachar's broad wave. II. Such fond conceit, half said, half sung, Hark! -on the rock a footstep rung, soon "Stand, or thou diest!-What, Malise?- To his lone couch I'll be your guide."- III. Together up the pass they sped: 66 This certain, that a band of war Soon will this dark and gathering cloud The warrior's plaid may bear it out; Unfit for arins; and given his charge, That such dear pledge may rest secure!" IV. ""Tis well advised the Chieftain's plan But wherefore sleeps Sir Roderick Dhu Of that dread kind which must not be The Taghairm call'd; by which, afar, MALISE. "Ah! well the gallant brute I knew! The choicest of the prey we had, When swept our merry-men Gallangad. '[See Appendix, Note I.] "I know not if it be worth observing, that this passage is taken almost literally from the mouth of an old Highland Kern, or Ketteran, as they were called. He used to narrate the merry doings of the good old time when he was follower of Rob Roy MacGregor. This leader, on one occasion, thought proper to make a descent upon the lower part of the Loch Lomond district, and summoned all the heritors and farmers to meet at the Kirk of Drymen, to pay him black-mail, i. e. tribute for forbearance and protection. As this invitation was supported by a band of thirty or forty stout fellows, only one gentleman, an ancestor, if I mis SS |