And there the wild cat's brindled hide
The frontlet of the elk adorns,

Or mantles o'er the bison's horns;
Pennons and flags defaced and stain'd,
That blackening streaks of blood retain'd,
And deerskins, dappled, dun, and white,
With otter's fur and seal's unite,
In rude and uncouth tapestry1 all,
To garnish forth the silvan hall.

XXVIII.

The wondering stranger round him gazed,
And next the fallen weapon raised:

Few were the arms whose sinewy strength
Sufficed to stretch it forth at length:
And as the brand he poised and sway'd,
"I never knew but one," he said,

"Whose stalwart arm might brook2 to wield
A blade like this in battlefield."

She sighed, then smiled and took the word:
"You see the guardian champion's sword;
As light it trembles in his hand,

As in my grasp a hazel wand;

My sire's tall form might grace the part
Of Ferragus, or Ascabart; 3

But in the absent giant's hold

Are women now, and menials old.”

XXIX.

The mistress of the mansion came,
Mature of age, a graceful dame;

1 Hangings used to decorate the walls of a room.

2 Endure. 3 Ferragus and Ascabart were two giants of romantic fable. The former appears in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso; the latter in the History of Bevis of Hampton. His effigy may be seen guarding the gate at Southampton.

Whose easy step and stately port

Had well become a princely court;

To whom, though more than kindred knew,1
Young Ellen gave a mother's due.

Meet welcome to her guest she made,

And every courteous rite was paid
That hospitality could claim,

Though all unask'd his birth and name.
Such then the reverence to a guest,
That fellest foe might join the feast,
And from his deadliest foeman's door
Unquestion'd turn, the banquet o'er.
At length his rank the stranger names,
"The Knight of Snowdoun,3 James Fitz-James; 4
Lord of a barren heritage,5

Which his brave sires, from age to age,

By their good swords had held with toil;
His sire had fall'n in such turmoil,
And he, God wot,6 was forced to stand
Oft for his right with blade in hand.
This morning with Lord Moray's train
He chased a stalwart stag in vain,
Outstripp'd his comrades, miss'd the deer,
Lost his good steed, and wander'd here."

XXX.

Fain would the Knight in turn require
The name and state of Ellen's sire.

Well show'd the elder lady's mien

1 Dame Margaret was Roderick Dhu's mother, but had acted as mother to Ellen, and held a higher place in her affections than the ties of blood would warrant. 3 An old name of Stirling Castle.

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2 Bitterest.

4 Fitz means son" in Norman French.

5 " By the misfortunes of the earlier Jameses and the internal feuds of the Scottish chiefs, the kingly power had become little more than a name." 7 A half-brother of James V. (James Fitz-James).

6 Knows.

That courts and cities she had seen;
Ellen, though more her looks display'd
The simple grace of silvan maid,
In speech and gesture, form and face,
Show'd she was come of gentle race.
'Twere strange in ruder rank to find
Such looks, such manners, and such mind.
Each hint the Knight of Snowdoun gave,
Dame Margaret heard with silence grave;
Or Ellen, innocently gay,

Turn'd all inquiry light away:

"Weird women we! by dale and down 1
We dwell, afar from tower and town.
We stem the flood, we ride the blast,
On wandering knights our spells we cast;
While viewless minstrels touch the string,
'Tis thus our charmed rhymes we sing."
She sung, and still a harp unseen
Fill'd up the symphony between.

XXXI.

SONG.

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Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er,

Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking:

Dream of battled fields no more,

Days of danger, nights of waking.

In our isle's enchanted hall,

Hands unseen thy couch are strewing,

Fairy strains of music fall,

Every sense in slumber dewing.2

Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er,
Dream of fighting fields no more:

1 Hilly or undulating land.

2 Refreshing.

Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking,
Morn of toil, nor night of waking.

"No rude sound shall reach thine ear,
Armor's clang, or war steed champing,
Trump nor pibroch 1 summon here

Mustering clan, or squadron tramping.
Yet the lark's shrill fife may come

At the daybreak from the fallow,2
And the bittern 3 sound his drum,

Booming from the sedgy shallow.
Ruder sounds shall none be near,
Guards nor warders challenge here,
Here's no war steed's neigh and champing,
Shouting clans, or squadrons stamping."

XXXII.

She paused then, blushing, led the lay
To grace the stranger of the day.
Her mellow notes awhile prolong

The cadence of the flowing song,

Till to her lips in measured frame
The minstrel verse spontaneous came.

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SONG CONTINUED.

Huntsman, rest! thy chase is done;

While our slumbrous spells assail ye,

Dream not, with the rising sun,

Bugles here shall sound reveille.4

Sleep! the deer is in his den;

Sleep! thy hounds are by thee lying;

1 The Highlanders' battle air, played upon the bagpipes.

2 Untilled land.

3 A kind of heron said to utter a loud and peculiar booming note. 4 (Re-valye.) The morning call to soldiers to arise.

Sleep! nor dream in yonder glen,

How thy gallant steed lay dying.
Huntsman, rest! thy chase is done,
Think not of the rising sun,
For at dawning to assail ye,

Here no bugles sound reveille."

XXXIII.

The hall was clear'd - the stranger's bed
Was there of mountain heather spread,
Where oft a hundred guests had lain,
And dream'd their forest sports again.
But vainly did the heath flower shed
Its moorland fragrance round his head;
Not Ellen's spell had lull'd to rest
The fever of his troubled breast.
In broken dreams the image rose
Of varied perils, pains, and woes:
His steed now flounders in the brake,
Now sinks his barge upon the lake;
Now leader of a broken host,

His standard falls, his honor's lost.

Then, from my couch may heavenly might

Chase that worse phantom of the night!-
Again return'd the scenes of youth,
Of confident undoubting truth;

Again his soul he interchanged

With friends whose hearts were long estranged.

They come, in dim procession led,

The cold, the faithless, and the dead;

As warm each hand, each brow as gay,

As if they parted yesterday.

And doubt distracts him at the view

Oh, were his senses false or true ?