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this way, to impart a much greater dignity and more powerful interest to his production, than could ever be obtained by the unskilful and unsteady delineations of the old romancers. Nothing, we think, can afford a finer illustration of this remark, than the opening stanzas of the whole poem; they transport us at once into the days of knightly daring and feudal hostility, at the same time that they suggest, in a very interesting way, all those softer sentiments which arise out of some parts of the description."—JEFFREY.

See Appendix, Note B.

2 See Appendix, Note C.

8 See Appendix, Note D, and compare these stanzas with the description of Jamie Telfer's appearance at BranksomeHall, (Border Minstrelsy, vol. ii. p. 5,) to claim the protection of "Auld Buccleuch"-and the ensuing scene, (page 9,)—

VII.

Such is the custom of Branksome-Hall.-4

Many a valiant knight is here;

But he, the chieftain of them all,
His sword hangs rusting on the wall,
Beside his broken spear.
Bards long shall tell

How Lord Walter fell!5

When startled burghers fled, afar,
The furies of the Border war;
When the streets of high Dunedin
Saw lances gleam, and falchions redden,
And heard the slogan's7 deadly yell-
Then the Chief of Branksome feil.

VIII.

Can piety the discord heal,

Or stanch the death-feud's enmity?
Can Christian lore, can patriot zeal,
Can love of blessed charity?
No! vainly to each holy shrine,

In mutual pilgrimage, they drew;
Implored, in vain, the grace divine

For chiefs, their own red falchions slew: While Cessford owns the rule of Carr,

While Ettrick boasts the line of Scott, The slaughter'd chiefs, the mortal jar, The havoc of the feudal war,

Shall never, never be forgot !8

IX.

In sorrow o'er Lord Walter's bier
The warlike foresters had bent;
And many a flower, and many a tear,

Old Teviot's maids and matrons lent:
But o'er her warrior's bloody bier
The Ladye dropp'd nor flower nor tear !
Vengeance, deep-brooding o'er the slain,

Had lock'd the source of softer woe; And burning pride, and high disdain, Forbade the rising tear to flow; Until, amid his sorrowing clan,

Her son lisp'd from the nurse's knee"And if I live to be a man,

My father's death revenged shall be !”

"The Scotts they rade, the Scotts they ran,
Sae starkly and sae steadilie!
And aye the ower-word o' the thrang

Was-Rise for Branksome readilie," &c. Compare also the Ballad of Kinmont Willie, (vol. ii. p. 53.)

"Now word is gane to the bauld keeper,

In Branksome ha' where that he lay," &c.-ED.

4 There are not many passages in English poetry more im. pressive than some parts of Stanzas vii. viii. ix.-JEFFREY. See Appendix, Note E.

6 Edinburgh.

7 The war-cry, or gathering-word, of a Border clan.

8 See Appendix, Note F.

9 Orig. (1st Edition.) "The Ladye dropp'd nor sigh nor tear.

Then fast the mother's tears did seek

To dew the infant's kindling cheek.

X.

All loose her negligent attire,

All loose her golden hair,

Hung Margaret o'er her slaughter'd sire,
And wept in wild despair,
But not alone the bitter tear

Had filial grief supplied;

For hopeless love, and anxious fear,
Had lent their mingled tide:
Nor in her mother's alter'd eye
Dared she to look for sympathy.
Her lover, 'gainst her father's clan,
With Carr in arms had stood,1
When Mathouse-burn to Melrose ran,
All purple with their blood;
And well she knew, her mother dread,
Before Lord Cranstoun she should wed,2
Would see her on her dying bed.

XI.

Of noble race the Ladye came,
Her father was a clerk of fame,

Of Bethune's line of Picardie :3
He learn'd the art that none may name,
In Padua, far beyond the sea.4
Men said, he changed his mortal frame
By feat of magic mystery;
For when, in studious mood, he paced
St. Andrew's cloister'd hall, 5
His form no darkening shadow traced
Upon the sunny wall !6

XII.

And of his skill, as bards avow,
He taught that Ladye fair,
Till to her bidding she could bow
The viewless forms of air.7
And now she sits in secret bower,
In old Lord David's western tower,
And listens to a heavy sound,
That moans the mossy turrets round.
Is it the roar of Teviot's tide,

That chafes against the scaur's red side?
Is it the wind that swings the oaks?
Is it the echo from the rocks?
What may it be, the heavy sound,

That moans old Branksome's turrets round?

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"Arthur's slow wain his course doth roll,
In utter darkness round the pole;
The Northern Bear lowers black and grim;
Orion's studded belt is dim;
Twinkling faint, and distant far,
Shimmers through mist each planet star;
Ill may I read their high decree!
But no kind influence deign they shower
On Teviot's tide, and Branksome's tower,
Till pride be quell'd, and love be free."

5 First Edition-" St. Kentigerne's hall."-St. Mungo, or Kentigerne, is the patron saint of Glasgow.

6 See Appendix, Note L. 7 See Appendix, Note M.

8 Scaur, a precipitous bank of earth.

XVIII.

The unearthly voices ceast,

And the heavy sound was still; It died on the river's breast,

It died on the side of the hill. But round Lord David's tower The sound still floated near; For ierung in the Ladye's bower, And it rung in the Ladye's ear. She raised her stately head,

And her heart throbb'd high with pride:"Your mountains shall bend,

And your streams ascend,

Ere Margaret be our foeman's bride!"

XIX.

The Ladye sought the lofty hall,

Where many a bold retainer lay,
And, with jocund din, among them all,
Her son pursued his infant play.
A fancied moss-trooper, the boy
The truncheon of a spear bestrode,
And round the hall, right merrily,

La mimic foray 2 rode.

Even bearded knights, in arms grown old,
Share in his frolic gambols bore,
Albeit their hearts of rugged mould,

Were stubborn as the steel they wore. For the grey warriors prophesied,

How the brave boy, in future war, Should tame the Unicorn's pride,3

Exalt the Crescent and the Star.4

XX.

The Ladye forgot her purpose high,
One moment, and no more;
One moment gazed with a mother's eye,
As she paused at the arched door:
Then from amid the armed train,
She call'd to her William of Deloraine.3

XXI.

A stark moss-trooping Scott was he,
As e'er couch'd Border lance by knee;
Through Solway sands, through Tarras moss,
Blindfold, he knew the paths to cross;
By wily turns, by desperate bounds,
Had baffled Percy's best blood-hounds;
In Eske or Liddel, fords were none,
But he would ride them, one by one;
Alike to him was time or tide,
December's snow, or July's pride;

1 See Appendix, Note N.

2 Foray, a predatory inroad.

8 This line, of which the metre appears defective, would have its full complement of feet according to the pronunciation of the poet himself as all who were familiar with his utterance of the letter r will bear testimony.-ED.

4 See Appendix, Note O. 5 Ibid. Note P. 6 Ibid. Note Q. 7 Hairibee, the place of executing the Border marauders at Carlisle. The neck-verse is the beginning of the 51st Psalm,

Alike to him was tide or time,
Moonless midnight, or matin prime:
Steady of heart, and stout of hand,
As ever drove prey from Cumberland;
Five times outlawed had he been,

By England's King, and Scotland's Queen.

XXII.

"Sir William of Deloraine, good at need,
Mount thee on the wightest steed;
Spare not to spur, nor stint to ride,
Until thou come to fair Tweedside;
And in Melrose's holy pile

Seek thou the Monk of St. Mary's aisle.
Greet the Father well from me;

Say that the fated hour is come,
And to-night he shall watch with thee,
To win the treasure of the tomb:

For this will be St. Michael's night,
And, though stars be dim, the moon is bright;
And the Cross, of bloody red,

Will point to the grave of the mighty dead.

XXIII.

"What he gives thee, see thou keep;

Stay not thou for food or sleep:

Be it scroll, or be it book,

Into it, Knight, thou must not look;

If thou readest, thou art lorn!

Better had'st thou ne'er been born."

XXIV.

"O swiftly can speed my dapple-grey steed, Which drinks of the Teviot clear;

Ere break of day," the Warrior 'gan say, "Again will I be here:

And safer by none may thy errand be done,

Than, noble dame, by me;

Letter nor line know I never a one,

Wer't my neck-verse at Hairibee."7

XXV.

Soon in his saddle sate he fast,
And soon the steep descent he past,
Soon cross'd the sounding barbican,8
And soon the Teviot side he won.
Eastward the wooded path he rode,
Green hazels o'er his basnet nod;
He passed the Peel of Goldiland,

And cross'd old Borthwick's roaring strand;
Dimly he view'd the Moat-hill's mound,
Where Druid shades still flitted round;10

Miserere mei, &c., anciently read by criminals claiming the benefit of clergy. ["In the rough but spirited sketch of the marauding Borderer, and in the naïveté of his last declaration, the reader will recognise some of the most striking features of the ancient ballad."-Critical Review.]

8 Barbican, the defence of the outer gate of a feudal castle. Peel, a Border tower.

10 See Appendix, Note R.

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