Though with his boldest at his back XXXVI. Old Allan follow'd to the strand, While Malcolm did, unheeding, bind, And stripp'd his limbs to such array, As best might suit the watery way,— XXXVII. Then spoke abrupt: "Farewell to thee, The Minstrel's hand he kindly press'd, 66 - "O! could I point a place of rest! Tell Roderick Dhu, I owed him nought, 1 [MS." He spoke, and plunged into the tide."] THE LADY OF THE LAKE. CANTO THIRD. THE GATHERING. I. TIME rolls his ceaseless course. The race of yore,1 Who danced our infancy upon their knee, And told our marvelling boyhood legends store, Of their strange ventures happ'd by land or sea, How are they blotted from the things that be! How few, all weak and wither'd of their force, 1["There are no separate introductions to the cantos of this poem: but each of them begins with one or two stanzas in the measure of Spenser, usually containing some reflections connected with the subject about to be entered on; and written, for the most part, with great tenderness and beauty. The following we think, is among the most striking.”—JEFFREY.] |