Page images
PDF
EPUB

"I long wooed your daughter, my suit you denied ;
Love swells like the Solway, but ebbs like its tide-
And now I am come, with this lost love of mine,
To lead but one measure, drink one cup of wine.
There are maidens in Scotland more lovely by far,
That would gladly be bride to the young Lochinvar."

The bride kissed the goblet; the knight took it up,
He quaffed off the wine, and he threw down the cup,
She looked down to blush, and she looked up to sigh,
With a smile on her lips and a tear in her eye.

He took her soft hand, ere her mother could bar,—
"Now tread we a measure!" said young Lochinvar.

So stately his form, and so lovely her face,
That never a hall such a galliard did grace;

While her mother did fret, and her father did fume,
And the bridegroom stood dangling his bonnet and plume;
And the bride-maidens whispered, "Twere better by far
To have matched our fair cousin with young Lochinvar."

One touch to her hand, and one word in her ear,

When they reached 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.

Lady Heron's Song.

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?

The Monarch o'er the syren hung,
And beat the measure as she sung;
And, pressing closer, and more near,
He whispered praises in her ear.
In loud applause the courtiers vied;
And ladies winked and spoke aside.
The witching dame to Marmion threw
A glance, where seemed to reign
The pride that claims applauses due,
And of her royal conquest, too,

A real or feigned disdain:
Familiar was the look, and told,

Marmion and she were friends of old.
The King observed their meeting eyes,
With something like displeased surprise;

For monarchs ill can rivals brook,

Even in a word, or smile, or look.
Straight took he forth the parchment broad,
Which Marmion's high commission showed:

"Our Borders sacked by many a raid, Our peaceful liegemen robbed," he said; "On day of truce our Warden slain, Stout Barton killed, his vassals ta'enUnworthy were we here to reign, Should these for vengeance cry in vain; Our full defiance, hate, and scorn,

Our herald has to Henry borne."

[graphic]

Tantallon Castle.

BUT scant three miles the band had rode, When o'er a height they passed,

And, sudden, close before them showed

His towers, Tantallon vast:

Broad, massive, high, and stretching far, And held impregnable in war.

On a projecting rock they rose,

And round three sides the ocean flows;

The fourth did battled walls enclose,

And double mound and fosse.

By narrow drawbridge, outworks strong,
Through studded gates, an entrance long,
To the main court they cross.
It was a wide and stately square;
Around were lodgings, fit and fair,
And towers of various form,
Which on the court projected far,

And broke its lines quadrangular.

Here was square keep, there turret high,

Or pinnacle that sought the sky,

Whence oft the Warder could descry

[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

I said, Tantallon's dizzy steep

Hung o'er the margin of the deep.

Many a rude tower and rampart there
Repelled the insult of the air,

Which, when the tempest vexed the sky,
Half breeze, half spray, came whistling by.
Above the rest, a turret square

Did o'er its Gothic entrance bear,
Of sculpture rude, a stony shield;
The Bloody Heart was in the field,
And in the chief three mullets stood,
The cognizance of Douglas blood.
The turret held a narrow stair,
Which, mounted, gave you access where

A parapet's embattled row

Did seaward round the castle go;
Sometimes in dizzy steps descending,

Sometimes in narrow circuit bending,
Sometimes in platform broad extending,
Its varying circle did combine
Bulwark, and bartizan, and line,

And bastion, tower, and vantage-coign;
Above the booming ocean leant

The far-projecting battlement;

The billows burst, in ceaseless flow,

Upon the precipice below.

Where'er Tantallon faced the land,

Gate-works, and walls, were strongly manned;

« PreviousContinue »