So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war, There never was knight like the young Lochinvar, He staid not for brake, and he stopp'd not for stone, The bride had consented, the gallant came late: So boldly he enter'd the Netherby Hall, Among bride's-men, and kinsmen, and brothers, and all; Then spoke the bride's father, his hand on his sword, (For the poor craven bridegroom said never a word,) "O come ye in peace here, or come ye in war, 66 Or to dance at our bridal, young Lord Lochinvar?” "I long woo'd your daughter, my suit you denied ;- The bride kiss'd the goblet: the knight took it up, 1[See the novel of Redgauntlet, for a detailed picture of some of the extraordinary phenomena of the spring-tides in the Solway Frith.] So stately his form, and so lovely her face, plume; 66 And the bride-maidens whisper'd, ""T were better by far, To have match'd our fair cousin with young Lochin var." One touch to her hand, and one word in her ear, When they reach'd the hall-door, and the charger stood near; So light to the croupe the fair lady he swung, So light to the saddle before her he sprung! "She is won! we are gone, over bank, bush, and scaur; They'll have fleet steeds that follow," quoth young Lochinvar. There was mounting 'mong Græmes of the Netherby clan; Forsters, Fenwicks, and Musgraves, they rode and they ran: There was racing and chasing, on Cannobie Lee, But the lost bride of Netherby ne'er did they see. So daring in love, and so dauntless in war, Have ye e'er heard of gallant like young Lochinvar ? XIII. The Monarch o'er the siren hung In loud applause the courtiers vied; XIV. He paused, and led where Douglas stood, And, when his blood and heart were high, And all his minions led to die On Lauder's dreary flat: 1 Princes and favourites long grew tame, Of Archibald Bell-the-Cat;' Its dungeons, and its towers. Where Bothwell's turrets brave the air, 2 To fix his princely bowers. Though now, in age, he had laid down His armour for the peaceful gown, And for a staff his brand, Yet often would flash forth the fire, And even that day, at council board, [Bell-the-Cat, see Appendix, Note M.] Angus was an old man when the war against England was resolved upon. He earnestly spoke against that measure from its commencement; and, on the eve of the battle of Flodden, remonstrated so freely upon the impolicy of fighting, that the King said to him, with scorn and indignation, "if he was afraid, he might go home." The Earl burst into tears at this insupportable insult, and retired accordingly, leaving his sons, George, Master of Angus, and Sir William of Glenbervie, to command his followers. They were both slain in the battle, with two hundred gentlemen of the name of Douglas. The aged Earl, broken-hearted at the calamities of his house and his country, retired into a religious house, where he died about a year after the field of Flodden. 1 XV. His giant-form, like ruin'd tower, Until my herald come again.- The ruins of Tantallon Castle occupy a high rock projecting into the German Ocean, about two miles east of North Berwick. The building is not seen till a close approach, as there is rising ground betwixt it and the land. The circuit is of large extent, fenced upon three sides by the precipice which overhangs the sea, and on the fourth by a double ditch and very strong outworks. Tantallon was a principal castle of the Douglas family, and when the Earl of Angus was banished, in 1527, it continued to hold out against James V. The King went in person against it, and for its reduction, borrowed from the Castle of Dunbar, then belonging to the Duke of Albany, two great cannons, whose names, as Pitscottie informs us with laudable minuteness, were "Thrawn-mouth'd Meg and her Marrow;" also, "two great bot cards, and two moyan, two double falcons, and four quarter fal cons;" for the safe guiding and re-delivery of which, three lords were laid in pawn at Dunbar. Yet, notwithstanding all this apparatus, James was forced to raise the siege, and only afterwards |