And when I place it in my hair,
Allan, a bard is bound to swear
He ne'er saw coronet so fair."
Then playfully the chaplet wild
She wreathed in her dark locks, and smiled.

180

X.

Her smile, her speech, with winning sway,
Wiled the old Harper's mood away.
With such a look as hermits throw,
When angels stoop to soothe their woe,
He gazed, till fond regret and pride
Thrilled to a tear, then thus replied:
"Loveliest and best! thou little know'st
The rank, the honors, thou hast lost!
O, might I live to see thee grace,
In Scotland's court, thy birthright place,
To see my favorite's step advance
The lightest in the courtly dance,
The cause of every gallant's sigh,
And leading star of every eye,
And theme of every minstrel's art,
The Lady of the Bleeding Heart!"

185

190

195

200

XI.

"Fair dreams are these," the maiden cried,-
Light was her accent, yet she sighed, —

182. Coronet. The small crown or circlet worn by peers and peeresses. 186. Wiled. Beguiled.-200. The Bleeding Heart. The shield of the Douglas family bore a red heart crowned, in remembrance of the charge given on his death-bed by Robert Bruce to James Douglas to bear his heart to Jerusalem.

"Yet is this mossy rock to me
Worth splendid chair and canopy;

Nor would my footstep spring more gay
In courtly dance than blithe strathspey,
Nor half so pleased mine ear incline
To royal minstrel's lay as thine.
And then for suitors proud and high,
To bend before my conquering eye,
Thou, flattering bard! thyself wilt say,
That grim Sir Roderick owns its sway.
The Saxon scourge, Clan-Alpine's pride,
The terror of Loch Lomond's side,
Would, at my suit, thou know'st, delay
A Lennox foray for a day."

XII.

205

210

215

The ancient bard her glee repressed:
"Ill hast thou chosen theme for jest!
For who, through all this western wild,
Named Black Sir Roderick e'er, and smiled? 220
In Holy-Rood a knight he slew;

I saw, when back the dirk he drew,

206. Strathspey. A lively Scottish dance.

213. Alpine. An ancient king from whom several clans claimed descent. 214. Loch Lomond. One of the largest and most beautiful of Scottish lakes, near Loch Katrine.

216. Lennox foray. The raid of a body of armed men, for the sake of plunder, into the territory of the Lennox family, which lay around the south end of Loch Lomond.

220. Black Sir Roderick. See note, 1. 408.

221. Holy-Rood. A castle in Edinburgh, the residence of the royal family of Scotland. - In Holy-Rood a knight he slew. This was by no means an uncommon occurrence in the Court of Scotland; nay, the presence of the sovereign himself scarcely restrained the ferocious and inveterate feuds which were the perpetual source of bloodshed among the Scottish nobility. SCOTT.

Courtiers give place before the stride.
Of the undaunted homicide;

And since, though outlawed, hath his hand
Full sternly kept his mountain land.
Who else dared give-ah! woe the day,
That I such hated truth should say!-

The Douglas, like a stricken deer,
Disowned by every noble peer,
Even the rude refuge we have here?
Alas, this wild marauding Chief
Alone might hazard our relief,

And now thy maiden charms expand,
Looks for his guerdon in thy hand;
Full soon may dispensation sought,
To back his suit, from Rome be brought.

225

230

235

224. Undaunted. Bold, fearless. - Homicide. A person who kills another. - 225. Outlawed. Deprived of the protection of the law.

230. Disowned by every noble peer. The exiled state of this powerful race is not exaggerated in this and subsequent passages. The hatred of James against the race of Douglas was so inveterate, that, numerous as their allies were, and disregarded as the regal authority had usually been in similar cases, their nearest friends, even in the most remote parts of Scotland, durst not entertain them, unless under the strictest and closest disguise. James Douglas, son of the banished Earl of Angus, afterwards well known by the title of Earl of Morton, lurked, during the exile of his family, in the north of Scotland, under the assumed name of James Innes, otherwise James the Grieve (i.e., Reve or Bailiff). "And as he bore the name," says Godscroft, "so did he also execute the office of a grieve or overseer of the lands and rents, the corn and cattle of him with whom he lived." From the habits of frugality and observation which he acquired in his humble situation, the historian traces that intimate acquaintance with popular character, which enabled him to rise so high in the state, and that honorable economy by which he repaired and established the shattered estates of Angus and Morton. SCOTT.-232. Marauding. Plundering.

233. Hazard our relief. Run the risk of helping Ellen and her father. 235. Guerdon. Reward.

236. Dispensation. The granting of a license by the Pope; in this case permission for Roderick to marry his cousin Ellen.

Then, though an exile on the hill,
Thy father, as the Douglas, still

Be held in reverence and fear;

And though to Roderick thou'rt so dear
That thou mightst guide with silken thread,

Slave of thy will, this chieftain dread,

Yet, O loved maid, thy mirth refrain!
Thy hand is on a lion's mane."

XIII.

"Minstrel," the maid replied, and high
Her father's soul glanced from her eye,
"My debts to Roderick's house I know:
All that a mother could bestow
To Lady Margaret's care I owe,
Since first an orphan in the wild
She sorrowed o'er her sister's child;

240

245

250

To her brave chieftain son, from ire

Of Scotland's king who shrouds my sire,
A deeper, holier debt is owed;

255

And, could I pay it with my blood,

Allan! Sir Roderick should command

My blood, my life, but not my hand.
Rather will Ellen Douglas dwell

A votaress in Maronnan's cell;

Rather through realms beyond the sea,
Seeking the world's cold charity,

254. Shrouds. Protects.

260

260. Votaress. A woman devoted to any particular service or worship. - Maronnan. The parish of Kilmaronock, at the eastern extremity of Loch Lomond, derives its name from a cell or chapel, dedicated to Saint Maronnan. SCOTT.

Where ne'er was spoke a Scottish word,
And ne'er the name of Douglas heard,
An outcast pilgrim will she rove,

Than wed the man she cannot love.

265

XIV.

"Thou shak'st, good friend, thy tresses gray,
That pleading look, what can it say

But what I own? - I grant him brave,
But wild as Bracklinn's thundering wave;

And generous,

save vindictive mood

Or jealous transport chafe his blood:

I grant him true to friendly band,
As his claymore is to his hand;

But O! that very blade of steel
More mercy for a foe would feel:

I grant him liberal, to fling

Among his clan the wealth they bring,
When back by lake and glen they wind,
And in the Lowland leave behind,
Where once some pleasant hamlet stood,
A mass of ashes slaked with blood.

The hand that for my father fought
I honor, as his daughter ought;

But can I clasp it reeking red

From peasants slaughtered in their shed?
No! wildly while his virtues gleam,

They make his passions darker seem,

270

275

280

285

270. Bracklinn. This is a beautiful cascade made by a mountain stream called the Keltie, at a place called the Bridge of Bracklinn, about a mile from the village of Callander. SCOTT.-274. Claymore. A large sword formerly used by the Highlanders. - 282. Slaked. Drenched.

285. Reeking red. Steaming with fresh blood.