On many a splendid garb she gazed,-- XXVII. As wreath of snow, on mountain-breast, The generous prince, that suppliant look! To him thy woes, thy wishes, bring; Ask nought for Douglas;-yester even, His prince and he have much forgiven: Wrong hath he had from slanderous tongue. I, from his rebel kinsmen, wrong. We would not to the vulgar crowd Yield what they craved with clamour loud; I stanch'd thy father's death-feud stern, What clouds thy misbelieving brow? XXVIII. Then forth the noble Douglas sprung, Yet would not James the general eye The riddle 't is my right to read, That brought this happy chance to speed.- In life's more low but happier way, ' William of Worcester, who wrote about the middle of the fifteenth century, calls Stirling Castle Snowdoun Sir David And Normans call me James Fitz-James. "Ah, little trait'ress! none must know Join'd to thine eye's dark witchcraft, drew In dangerous hour, and all but gave Thy Monarch's life to mountain glaive!" Lindsay bestows the same epithet upon it in his Complaint of the Papingo: Adieu, fair Snawdoun, with thy towers high, Thy chaple-royal, park, and table round; Whilk doth againe thy royal rock rebound." Mr. Chalmers, in his late excellent edition of Sir David Lindsay's works, has refuted the chimerical derivation of Snawdoun from snedding, or cutting. It was probably derived from the romantic legend which connected Stirling with King Arthur, to which the mention of the Round Table gives countenance. The ring within which justs were formerly practised, in the castle park, is still called the Round Table. Snawdoun is the official title of one of the Scottish heralds, whose epithets seem in all countries to have been fantastically adopted from ancient history or romance. It appears [see Appendix, Note Q.] that the real name by which James was actually distinguished in his private excursions, was the Goodman of Ballenguich; derived from a steep pass eading up to the Castle of Stirling, so called. But the epithet would not have suited poetry, and would besides at once, and prematurely, have announced the plot to many of my countrymen, among whom the traditional stories above mentioned are still current. Aloud he spoke-"Thou still dost hold Pledge of my faith, Fitz-James's ring- XXIX. Full well the conscious maiden guess'd, I know his heart, I know his hand, To bid Clan-Alpine's Chieftain live! - 66 Who, nurtured underneath our smile, HARP of the North, farewell! The hills grow dark, 1["And now, waiving myself, let me talk to you of the Prince Regent. He ordered me to be presented to him at a ball; and after some sayings peculiarly pleasing from royal lips, as to my own attempts, he talked to me of you and your immortalities: he preferred you to every bard past and present, and asked which cf your works pleased me most. It was a difficult question. I answered, I thought the 'Lay.' He said his own opinion was nearly similar. In speaking of the others, I told him that I thought you more particularly the poet of Princes, as they never appeared more fascinating than in Marmion' and the 'Lady of the Lake.' He was pleased to coincide, and to dwell on the description of your James's as no less royal than poetical. He spoke alternately of Homer and yourself, and seemed well acquainted with both," &c.-Letter from Lord Byron to Si Walter Scott, July 6, 1812. BYRON's Life and Works, vol. ii p. 156.] |