The Lady of the Lake annotated by William J. Rolfe
The Lady of the Lake annotated by William J. RolfePrefaceARGUMENT.CANTO FIRST.CANTO SECOND.CANTO THIRD.CANTO FOURTH.CANTO FIFTH.CANTO SIXTH.ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE NOTES.NOTES.Introduction.Canto First.Canto Second.Canto Third.Canto Fourth.Canto Fifth.Canto Sixth.FOOTNOTES:Copyright
The Lady of the Lake annotated by William J. Rolfe
Sir Walter Scott
Preface
When I first saw Mr. Osgood's beautiful illustrated edition
of The Lady of the Lake, I asked him to let me use some of the cuts
in a cheaper annotated edition for school and household use; and
the present volume is the result.The text of the poem has given me unexpected trouble. When I
edited some of Gray's poems several years ago, I found that they
had not been correctly printed for more than half a century; but in
the case of Scott I supposed that the text of Black's so-called
"Author's Edition" could be depended upon as accurate. Almost at
the start, however, I detected sundry obvious misprints in one of
the many forms in which this edition is issued, and an examination
of others showed that they were as bad in their way. The "Shilling"
issue was no worse than the costly illustrated one of 1853, which
had its own assortment of slips of the type. No two editions that I
could obtain agreed exactly in their readings. I tried in vain to
find a copy of the editio princeps (1810) in Cambridge and Boston,
but succeeded in getting one through a London bookseller. This I
compared, line by line, with the Edinburgh edition of 1821 (from
the Harvard Library), with Lockhart's first edition, the "Globe"
edition, and about a dozen others English and American. I found
many misprints and corruptions in all except the edition of 1821,
and a few even in that. For instance in i. 217 Scott wrote "Found
in each cliff a narrow bower," and it is so printed in the first
edition; but in every other that I have seen "cliff" appears in
place of clift,, to the manifest injury of the passage. In ii. 685,
every edition that I have seen since that of 1821 has "I meant not
all my heart might say," which is worse than nonsense, the correct
reading being "my heat." In vi. 396, the Scottish "boune" (though
it occurs twice in other parts of the poem) has been changed to
"bound" in all editions since 1821; and, eight lines below, the old
word "barded" has become "barbed." Scores of similar corruptions
are recorded in my Notes, and need not be cited here.I have restored the reading of the first edition, except in
cases where I have no doubt that the later reading is the poet's
own correction or alteration. There are obvious misprints in the
first edition which Scott himself overlooked (see on ii. 115, 217,,
Vi. 527, etc.), and it is sometimes difficult to decide whether a
later reading—a change of a plural to a singular, or like trivial
variation—is a misprint or the author's correction of an earlier
misprint. I have done the best I could, with the means at my
command, to settle these questions, and am at least certain that
the text as I give it is nearer right than in any edition since
1821 As all the variae lectiones are recorded in the Notes, the
reader who does not approve of the one I adopt can substitute that
which he prefers.I have retained all Scott's Notes (a few of them have
been somewhat abridged) and all those added by Lockhart.1My own I have made as concise as possible.
There are, of course, many of them which many of my readers will
not need, but I think there are none that may not be of service, or
at least of interest, to some of them; and I hope that no one will
turn to them for help without finding it.Scott is much given to the use of Elizabethan words and
constructions, and I have quoted many "parallelisms" from
Shakespeare and his contemporaries. I believe I have referred to my
edition of Shakespeare in only a single instance (on iii. 17), but
teachers and others who have that edition will find many additional
illustrations in the Notes on the passages cited.While correcting the errors of former editors, I may have
overlooked some of my own. I am already indebted to the careful
proofreaders of the University Press for the detection of
occasional slips in quotations or references; and I shall be very
grateful to my readers for a memorandum of any others that they may
discover.Cambridge, June 23, 1883..
ARGUMENT.
CANTO FIRST.
The Chase.Harp of the North! that
mouldering long hast hung
On the witch-elm that
shades Saint Fillan's spring
And down the fitful breeze thy numbers
flung,
Till envious ivy did
around thee cling,
Muffling with verdant ringlet every
string,—
O Minstrel Harp, still
must thine accents sleep?
Mid rustling leaves and fountains
murmuring,
Still must thy sweeter
sounds their silence keep,
Nor bid a warrior smile, nor teach a maid
to weep?
Not thus, in ancient days of
Caledon,10
Was thy voice mute amid the festal crowd,
When lay of hopeless love, or glory
won,
Aroused the fearful or
subdued the proud.
At each according pause was heard
aloud
Thine ardent symphony
sublime and high!
Fair dames and crested chiefs attention
bowed;
For still the burden of
thy minstrelsy
Was Knighthood's dauntless deed, and
Beauty's matchless eye.
O, wake once more! how rude soe'er the
hand
That ventures o'er thy
magic maze to stray;
O, wake once more! though scarce my skill
command
Some feeble echoing of
thine earlier lay:
Though harsh and faint, and soon to die
away,
And all unworthy of thy
nobler strain,
Yet if one heart throb higher at its
sway,
The wizard note has not
been touched in vain.
Then silent be no more! Enchantress, wake
again!I.
The stag at eve had drunk his fill,
Where danced the moon on Monan's
rill,
And deep his midnight lair had made
In lone Glenartney's hazel shade;
But when the sun his beacon red
Had kindled on Benvoirlich's head,
The deep-mouthed bloodhound's heavy
bay
Resounded up the rocky way,
And faint, from farther distance
borne,
Were heard the clanging hoof and
horn.II.
As Chief, who hears his warder call,
'To arms! the foemen storm the
wall,'
The antlered monarch of the waste
Sprung from his heathery couch in
haste.
But ere his fleet career he took,
The dew-drops from his flanks he
shook;
Like crested leader proud and high
Tossed his beamed frontlet to the
sky;
A moment gazed adown the dale,
A moment snuffed the tainted gale,
A moment listened to the cry,
That thickened as the chase drew
nigh;
Then, as the headmost foes appeared,
With one brave bound the copse he
cleared,
And, stretching forward free and
far,
Sought the wild heaths of
Uam-Var.III.
Yelled on the view the opening pack;
Rock, glen, and cavern paid them
back;
To many a mingled sound at once
The awakened mountain gave response.
A hundred dogs bayed deep and
strong,
Clattered a hundred steeds along,
Their peal the merry horns rung out,
A hundred voices joined the shout;
With hark and whoop and wild halloo,
No rest Benvoirlich's echoes knew.
Far from the tumult fled the roe,
Close in her covert cowered the doe,
The falcon, from her cairn on high,
Cast on the rout a wondering eye,
Till far beyond her piercing ken
The hurricane had swept the glen.
Faint, and more faint, its failing
din
Returned from cavern, cliff, and
linn,
And silence settled, wide and still,
On the lone wood and mighty
hill.IV.
Less loud the sounds of sylvan war
Disturbed the heights of Uam-Var,
And roused the cavern where, 't is
told,
A giant made his den of old;
For ere that steep ascent was won,
High in his pathway hung the sun,
And many a gallant, stayed perforce,
Was fain to breathe his faltering
horse,
And of the trackers of the deer
Scarce half the lessening pack was
near;
So shrewdly on the mountain-side
Had the bold burst their mettle
tried.V.
The noble stag was pausing now
Upon the mountain's southern brow,
Where broad extended, far beneath,
The varied realms of fair Menteith.
With anxious eye he wandered o'er
Mountain and meadow, moss and moor,
And pondered refuge from his toil,
By far Lochard or Aberfoyle.
But nearer was the copsewood gray
That waved and wept on Loch Achray,
And mingled with the pine-trees blue
On the bold cliffs of Benvenue.
Fresh vigor with the hope returned,
With flying foot the heath he
spurned,
Held westward with unwearied race,
And left behind the panting
chase.VI.
'T were long to tell what steeds gave
o'er,
As swept the hunt through
Cambusmore;
What reins were tightened in
despair,
When rose Benledi's ridge in air;
Who flagged upon Bochastle's heath,
Who shunned to stem the flooded
Teith,—
For twice that day, from shore to
shore,
The gallant stag swam stoutly o'er.
Few were the stragglers, following
far,
That reached the lake of Vennachar;
And when the Brigg of Turk was won,
The headmost horseman rode
alone.VII.
Alone, but with unbated zeal,
That horseman plied the scourge and
steel;
For jaded now, and spent with toil,
Embossed with foam, and dark with
soil,
While every gasp with sobs he drew,
The laboring stag strained full in
view.
Two dogs of black Saint Hubert's
breed,
Unmatched for courage, breath, and
speed,
Fast on his flying traces came,
And all but won that desperate game;
For, scarce a spear's length from his
haunch,
Vindictive toiled the bloodhounds
stanch;
Nor nearer might the dogs attain,
Nor farther might the quarry strain
Thus up the margin of the lake,
Between the precipice and brake,
O'er stock and rock their race they
take.VIII.
The Hunter marked that mountain
high,
The lone lake's western boundary,
And deemed the stag must turn to
bay,
Where that huge rampart barred the
way;
Already glorying in the prize,
Measured his antlers with his eyes;
For the death-wound and death-halloo
Mustered his breath, his whinyard
drew:—
But thundering as he came prepared,
With ready arm and weapon bared,
The wily quarry shunned the shock,
And turned him from the opposing
rock;
Then, dashing down a darksome glen,
Soon lost to hound and Hunter's ken,
In the deep Trosachs' wildest nook
His solitary refuge took.
There, while close couched the thicket
shed
Cold dews and wild flowers on his
head,
He heard the baffled dogs in vain
Rave through the hollow pass amain,
Chiding the rocks that yelled
again.IX.
Close on the hounds the Hunter came,
To cheer them on the vanished game;
But, stumbling in the rugged dell,
The gallant horse exhausted fell.
The impatient rider strove in vain
To rouse him with the spur and
rein,
For the good steed, his labors o'er,
Stretched his stiff limbs, to rise no
more;
Then, touched with pity and remorse,
He sorrowed o'er the expiring horse.
'I little thought, when first thy
rein
I slacked upon the banks of Seine,
That Highland eagle e'er should feed
On thy fleet limbs, my matchless
steed!
Woe worth the chase, woe worth the
day,
That costs thy life, my gallant
gray!'X.
Then through the dell his horn
resounds,
From vain pursuit to call the
hounds.
Back limped, with slow and crippled
pace,
The sulky leaders of the chase;
Close to their master's side they
pressed,
With drooping tail and humbled
crest;
But still the dingle's hollow throat
Prolonged the swelling bugle-note.
The owlets started from their dream,
The eagles answered with their
scream,
Round and around the sounds were
cast,
Till echo seemed an answering blast;
And on the Hunter tried his way,
To join some comrades of the day,
Yet often paused, so strange the
road,
So wondrous were the scenes it
showed.XI.
The western waves of ebbing day
Rolled o'er the glen their level
way;
Each purple peak, each flinty spire,
Was bathed in floods of living fire.
But not a setting beam could glow
Within the dark ravines below,
Where twined the path in shadow hid,
Round many a rocky pyramid,
Shooting abruptly from the dell
Its thunder-splintered pinnacle;
Round many an insulated mass,
The native bulwarks of the pass,
Huge as the tower which builders
vain
Presumptuous piled on Shinar's
plain.
The rocky summits, split and rent,
Formed turret, dome, or battlement.
Or seemed fantastically set
With cupola or minaret,
Wild crests as pagod ever decked,
Or mosque of Eastern architect.
Nor were these earth-born castles
bare,
Nor lacked they many a banner fair;
For, from their shivered brows
displayed,
Far o'er the unfathomable glade,
All twinkling with the dewdrop
sheen,
The briar-rose fell in streamers
green,
kind creeping shrubs of thousand
dyes
Waved in the west-wind's summer
sighs.XII.
Boon nature scattered, free and
wild,
Each plant or flower, the mountain's
child.
Here eglantine embalmed the air,
Hawthorn and hazel mingled there;
The primrose pale and violet flower
Found in each cliff a narrow bower;
Foxglove and nightshade, side by
side,
Emblems of punishment and pride,
Grouped their dark hues with every
stain
The weather-beaten crags retain.
With boughs that quaked at every
breath,
Gray birch and aspen wept beneath;
Aloft, the ash and warrior oak
Cast anchor in the rifted rock;
And, higher yet, the pine-tree hung
His shattered trunk, and frequent
flung,
Where seemed the cliffs to meet on
high,
His boughs athwart the narrowed sky.
Highest of all, where white peaks
glanced,
Where glistening streamers waved and
danced,
The wanderer's eye could barely view
The summer heaven's delicious blue;
So wondrous wild, the whole might
seem
The scenery of a fairy
dream.XIII.
Onward, amid the copse 'gan peep
A narrow inlet, still and deep,
Affording scarce such breadth of
brim
As served the wild duck's brood to
swim.
Lost for a space, through thickets
veering,
But broader when again appearing,
Tall rocks and tufted knolls their
face
Could on the dark-blue mirror trace;
And farther as the Hunter strayed,
Still broader sweep its channels
made.
The shaggy mounds no longer stood,
Emerging from entangled wood,
But, wave-encircled, seemed to
float,
Like castle girdled with its moat;
Yet broader floods extending still
Divide them from their parent hill,
Till each, retiring, claims to be
An islet in an inland
sea.XIV.
And now, to issue from the glen,
No pathway meets the wanderer's ken,
Unless he climb with footing nice
A far-projecting precipice.
The broom's tough roots his ladder
made,
The hazel saplings lent their aid;
And thus an airy point he won,
Where, gleaming with the setting
sun,
One burnished sheet of living gold,
Loch Katrine lay beneath him rolled,
In all her length far winding lay,
With promontory, creek, and bay,
And islands that, empurpled bright,
Floated amid the livelier light,
And mountains that like giants stand
To sentinel enchanted land.
High on the south, huge Benvenue
Down to the lake in masses threw
Crags, knolls, and mounds, confusedly
hurled,
The fragments of an earlier world;
A wildering forest feathered o'er
His ruined sides and summit hoar,
While on the north, through middle
air,
Ben-an heaved high his forehead
bare.XV.
From the steep promontory gazed
The stranger, raptured and amazed,
And, 'What a scene were here,' he
cried,
'For princely pomp or churchman's
pride!
On this bold brow, a lordly tower;
In that soft vale, a lady's bower;
On yonder meadow far away,
The turrets of a cloister gray;
How blithely might the bugle-horn
Chide on the lake the lingering
morn!
How sweet at eve the lover's lute
Chime when the groves were still and
mute!
And when the midnight moon should
lave
Her forehead in the silver wave,
How solemn on the ear would come
The holy matins' distant hum,
While the deep peal's commanding
tone
Should wake, in yonder islet lone,
A sainted hermit from his cell,
To drop a bead with every knell!
And bugle, lute, and bell, and all,
Should each bewildered stranger call
To friendly feast and lighted
hall.XVI.
'Blithe were it then to wander here!
But now—beshrew yon nimble deer—
Like that same hermit's, thin and
spare,
The copse must give my evening fare;
Some mossy bank my couch must be,
Some rustling oak my canopy.
Yet pass we that; the war and chase
Give little choice of
resting-place;—
A summer night in greenwood spent
Were but to-morrow's merriment:
But hosts may in these wilds abound,
Such as are better missed than
found;
To meet with Highland plunderers
here
Were worse than loss of steed or
deer.—
I am alone;—my bugle-strain
May call some straggler of the
train;
Or, fall the worst that may betide,
Ere now this falchion has been
tried.'XVII.
But scarce again his horn he wound,
When lo! forth starting at the
sound,
From underneath an aged oak
That slanted from the islet rock,
A damsel guider of its way,
A little skiff shot to the bay,
That round the promontory steep
Led its deep line in graceful sweep,
Eddying, in almost viewless wave,
The weeping willow twig to rave,
And kiss, with whispering sound and
slow,
The beach of pebbles bright as snow.
The boat had touched this silver
strand
Just as the Hunter left his stand,
And stood concealed amid the brake,
To view this Lady of the Lake.
The maiden paused, as if again
She thought to catch the distant
strain.
With head upraised, and look intent,
And eye and ear attentive bent,
And locks flung back, and lips
apart,
Like monument of Grecian art,
In listening mood, she seemed to
stand,
The guardian Naiad of the
strand.XVIII.
And ne'er did Grecian chisel trace
A Nymph, a Naiad, or a Grace,
Of finer form or lovelier face!
What though the sun, with ardent
frown,
Had slightly tinged her cheek with
brown,—
The sportive toil, which, short and
light
Had dyed her glowing hue so bright,
Served too in hastier swell to show
Short glimpses of a breast of snow:
What though no rule of courtly grace
To measured mood had trained her
pace,—
A foot more light, a step more true,
Ne'er from the heath-flower dashed the
dew;
E'en the slight harebell raised its
head,
Elastic from her airy tread:
What though upon her speech there
hung
The accents of the mountain
tongue,—-
Those silver sounds, so soft, so
dear,
The listener held his breath to
hear!XIX.
A chieftain's daughter seemed the
maid;
Her satin snood, her silken plaid,
Her golden brooch, such birth
betrayed.
And seldom was a snood amid
Such wild luxuriant ringlets hid,
Whose glossy black to shame might
bring
The plumage of the raven's wing;
And seldom o'er a breast so fair
Mantled a plaid with modest care,
And never brooch the folds combined
Above a heart more good and kind.
Her kindness and her worth to spy,
You need but gaze on Ellen's eye;
Not Katrine in her mirror blue
Gives back the shaggy banks more
true,
Than every free-born glance
confessed
The guileless movements of her
breast;
Whether joy danced in her dark eye,
Or woe or pity claimed a sigh,
Or filial love was glowing there,
Or meek devotion poured a prayer,
Or tale of injury called forth
The indignant spirit of the North.
One only passion unrevealed
With maiden pride the maid
concealed,
Yet not less purely felt the flame;—
O, need I tell that passion's
name?XX.
Impatient of the silent horn,
Now on the gale her voice was
borne:—
'Father!' she cried; the rocks
around
Loved to prolong the gentle sound.
Awhile she paused, no answer came;—
'Malcolm, was thine the blast?' the
name
Less resolutely uttered fell,
The echoes could not catch the
swell.
'A stranger I,' the Huntsman said,
Advancing from the hazel shade.
The maid, alarmed, with hasty oar
Pushed her light shallop from the
shore,
And when a space was gained between,
Closer she drew her bosom's screen;—
So forth the startled swan would
swing,
So turn to prune his ruffled wing.
Then safe, though fluttered and
amazed,
She paused, and on the stranger
gazed.
Not his the form, nor his the eye,
That youthful maidens wont to
fly.XXI.
On his bold visage middle age
Had slightly pressed its signet
sage,
Yet had not quenched the open truth
And fiery vehemence of youth;
Forward and frolic glee was there,
The will to do, the soul to dare,
The sparkling glance, soon blown to
fire,
Of hasty love or headlong ire.
His limbs were cast in manly could
For hardy sports or contest bold;
And though in peaceful garb arrayed,
And weaponless except his blade,
His stately mien as well implied
A high-born heart, a martial pride,
As if a baron's crest he wore,
And sheathed in armor bode the
shore.
Slighting the petty need he showed,
He told of his benighted road;
His ready speech flowed fair and
free,
In phrase of gentlest courtesy,
Yet seemed that tone and gesture
bland
Less used to sue than to
command.XXII.
Awhile the maid the stranger eyed,
And, reassured, at length replied,
That Highland halls were open still
To wildered wanderers of the hill.
'Nor think you unexpected come
To yon lone isle, our desert home;
Before the heath had lost the dew,
This morn, a couch was pulled for
you;
On yonder mountain's purple head
Have ptarmigan and heath-cock bled,
And our broad nets have swept the
mere,
To furnish forth your evening
cheer.'—
'Now, by the rood, my lovely maid,
Your courtesy has erred,' he said;
'No right have I to claim,
misplaced,
The welcome of expected guest.
A wanderer, here by fortune toss,
My way, my friends, my courser lost,
I ne'er before, believe me, fair,
Have ever drawn your mountain air,
Till on this lake's romantic strand
I found a fey in fairy
land!'—XXIII.
'I well believe,' the maid replied,
As her light skiff approached the
side,—
'I well believe, that ne'er before
Your foot has trod Loch Katrine's
shore
But yet, as far as yesternight,
Old Allan-bane foretold your
plight,—
A gray-haired sire, whose eye intent
Was on the visioned future bent.
He saw your steed, a dappled gray,
Lie dead beneath the birchen way;
Painted exact your form and mien,
Your hunting-suit of Lincoln green,
That tasselled horn so gayly gilt,
That falchion's crooked blade and
hilt,
That cap with heron plumage trim,
And yon two hounds so dark and grim.
He bade that all should ready be
To grace a guest of fair degree;
But light I held his prophecy,
And deemed it was my father's horn
Whose echoes o'er the lake were
borne.'XXIV.
The stranger smiled:—'Since to your
home
A destined errant-knight I come,
Announced by prophet sooth and old,
Doomed, doubtless, for achievement
bold,
I 'll lightly front each high
emprise
For one kind glance of those bright
eyes.
Permit me first the task to guide
Your fairy frigate o'er the tide.'
The maid, with smile suppressed and
sly,
The toil unwonted saw him try;
For seldom, sure, if e'er before,
His noble hand had grasped an oar:
Yet with main strength his strokes he
drew,
And o'er the lake the shallop flew;
With heads erect and whimpering cry,
The hounds behind their passage ply.
Nor frequent does the bright oar
break
The darkening mirror of the lake,
Until the rocky isle they reach,
And moor their shallop on the
beach.XXV.
The stranger viewed the shore
around;
'T was all so close with copsewood
bound,
Nor track nor pathway might declare
That human foot frequented there,
Until the mountain maiden showed
A clambering unsuspected road,
That winded through the tangled
screen,
And opened on a narrow green,
Where weeping birch and willow round
With their long fibres swept the
ground.
Here, for retreat in dangerous hour,
Some chief had framed a rustic
bower.XXVI.
It was a lodge of ample size,
But strange of structure and device;
Of such materials as around
The workman's hand had readiest
found.
Lopped of their boughs, their hoar trunks
bared,
And by the hatchet rudely squared,
To give the walls their destined
height,
The sturdy oak and ash unite;
While moss and clay and leaves
combined
To fence each crevice from the wind.
The lighter pine-trees overhead
Their slender length for rafters
spread,
And withered heath and rushes dry
Supplied a russet canopy.
Due westward, fronting to the green,
A rural portico was seen,
Aloft on native pillars borne,
Of mountain fir with bark unshorn
Where Ellen's hand had taught to
twine
The ivy and Idaean vine,
The clematis, the favored flower
Which boasts the name of
virgin-bower,
And every hardy plant could bear
Loch Katrine's keen and searching
air.
An instant in this porch she stayed,
And gayly to the stranger said:
'On heaven and on thy lady call,
And enter the enchanted
hall!'XXVII.
'My hope, my heaven, my trust must
be,
My gentle guide, in following
thee!'—
He crossed the threshold,—and a
clang
Of angry steel that instant rang.
To his bold brow his spirit rushed,
But soon for vain alarm he blushed
When on the floor he saw displayed,
Cause of the din, a naked blade
Dropped from the sheath, that careless
flung
Upon a stag's huge antlers swung;
For all around, the walls to grace,
Hung trophies of the fight or chase:
A target there, a bugle here,
A battle-axe, a hunting-spear,
And broadswords, bows, and arrows
store,
With the tusked trophies of the
boar.
Here grins the wolf as when he died,
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
stained,
That blackening streaks of blood
retained,
And deer-skins, dappled, dun, and
white,
With otter's fur and seal's unite,
In rude and uncouth tapestry all,
To garnish forth the sylvan
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
swayed,
'I never knew but one,' he said,
'Whose stalwart arm might brook to
wield
A blade like this in battle-field.'
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,
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,
Whose easy step and stately port
Had well become a princely court,
To whom, though more than kindred
knew,
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 unasked 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
Unquestioned turn the banquet o'er
At length his rank the stranger
names,
'The Knight of Snowdoun, James
Fitz-James;
Lord of a barren heritage,
Which his brave sires, from age to
age,
By their good swords had held with
toil;
His sire had fallen in such turmoil,
And he, God wot, 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,
Outstripped his comrades, missed the
deer,
Lost his good steed, and wandered
here.'XXX.
Fain would the Knight in turn
require
The name and state of Ellen's sire.
Well showed the elder lady's mien
That courts and cities she had seen;
Ellen, though more her looks
displayed
The simple grace of sylvan maid,
In speech and gesture, form and
face,
Showed she was come of gentle race.
'T were 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,
Turned all inquiry light away:—
'Weird women we! by dale and down
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
Filled up the symphony
between.XXXI.
Song.
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.
Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er,
Dream of fighting fields no more;
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 summon here
Mustering
clan or squadron tramping.
Yet the lark's shrill fife may come
At the
daybreak from the fallow,
And the bittern 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,
CANTO SECOND.
The Island.I.
At morn the black-cock trims his jetty
wing,
'T is
morning prompts the linnet's blithest lay,
All Nature's children feel the matin
spring
Of life
reviving, with reviving day;
And while yon little bark glides down the
bay,
Wafting the
stranger on his way again,
Morn's genial influence roused a minstrel
gray,
And sweetly
o'er the lake was heard thy strain,
Mixed with the sounding harp, O
white-haired Allan-bane!II.
Song.
'Not faster yonder rowers' might
Flings from
their oars the spray,
Not faster yonder rippling bright,
That tracks the shallop's course in
light,
Melts in the
lake away,
Than men from memory erase
The benefits of former days;
Then, stranger, go! good speed the
while,
Nor think again of the lonely isle.
'High place to thee in royal court,
High place
in battled line,
Good hawk and hound for sylvan
sport!
Where beauty sees the brave resort,
The honored
meed be thine!
True be thy sword, thy friend
sincere,
Thy lady constant, kind, and dear,
And lost in love's and friendship's
smile
Be memory of the lonely
isle!III.
Song Continued.
'But if beneath yon southern sky
A plaided
stranger roam,
Whose drooping crest and stifled
sigh,
And sunken cheek and heavy eye,
Pine for his
Highland home;
Then, warrior, then be thine to show
The care that soothes a wanderer's
woe;
Remember then thy hap erewhile,
A stranger in the lonely isle.
'Or if on life's uncertain main
Mishap shall
mar thy sail;
If faithful, wise, and brave in
vain,
Woe, want, and exile thou sustain
Beneath the
fickle gale;
Waste not a sigh on fortune changed,
On thankless courts, or friends
estranged,
But come where kindred worth shall
smile,
To greet thee in the lonely
isle.'IV.
As died the sounds upon the tide,
The shallop reached the mainland
side,
And ere his onward way he took,
The stranger cast a lingering look,
Where easily his eye might reach
The Harper on the islet beach,
Reclined against a blighted tree,
As wasted, gray, and worn as he.
To minstrel meditation given,
His reverend brow was raised to
heaven,
As from the rising sun to claim
A sparkle of inspiring flame.
His hand, reclined upon the wire,
Seemed watching the awakening fire;
So still he sat as those who wait
Till judgment speak the doom of
fate;
So still, as if no breeze might dare
To lift one lock of hoary hair;
So still, as life itself were fled
In the last sound his harp had
sped.V.
Upon a rock with lichens wild,
Beside him Ellen sat and smiled.—
Smiled she to see the stately drake
Lead forth his fleet upon the lake,
While her vexed spaniel from the
beach
Bayed at the prize beyond his reach?
Yet tell me, then, the maid who
knows,
Why deepened on her cheek the rose?—
Forgive, forgive, Fidelity!
Perchance the maiden smiled to see
Yon parting lingerer wave adieu,
And stop and turn to wave anew;
And, lovely ladies, ere your ire
Condemn the heroine of my lyre,
Show me the fair would scorn to spy
And prize such conquest of her
eve!VI.
While yet he loitered on the spot,
It seemed as Ellen marked him not;
But when he turned him to the glade,
One courteous parting sign she made;
And after, oft the knight would say,
That not when prize of festal day
Was dealt him by the brightest fair
Who e'er wore jewel in her hair,
So highly did his bosom swell
As at that simple mute farewell.
Now with a trusty mountain-guide,
And his dark stag-hounds by his
side,
He parts,—the maid, unconscious
still,
Watched him wind slowly round the
hill;
But when his stately form was hid,
The guardian in her bosom chid,—
'Thy Malcolm! vain and selfish
maid!'
'T was thus upbraiding conscience
said,—
'Not so had Malcolm idly hung
On the smooth phrase of Southern
tongue;
Not so had Malcolm strained his eye
Another step than thine to spy.'—
'Wake, Allan-bane,' aloud she cried
To the old minstrel by her side,—
'Arouse thee from thy moody dream!
I 'll give thy harp heroic theme,
And warm thee with a noble name;
Pour forth the glory of the Graeme!'
Scarce from her lip the word had
rushed,
When deep the conscious maiden
blushed;
For of his clan, in hall and bower,
Young Malcolm Graeme was held the
flower.VII.
The minstrel waked his harp,—three
times
Arose the well-known martial chimes,
And thrice their high heroic pride
In melancholy murmurs died.
'Vainly thou bidst, O noble
maid,'
Clasping his withered hands, he
said,
'Vainly thou bidst me wake the
strain,
Though all unwont to bid in
vain.
Alas! than mine a mightier hand
Has tuned my harp, my strings has
spanned!
I touch the chords of joy, but low
And mournful answer notes of woe;
And the proud march which victors
tread
Sinks in the wailing for the dead.
O, well for me, if mine alone
That dirge's deep prophetic tone!
If, as my tuneful fathers said,
This harp, which erst Saint Modan
swayed,
Can thus its master's fate foretell,
Then welcome be the minstrel's
knell.'VIII.
'But ah! dear lady, thus it sighed,
The eve thy sainted mother died;
And such the sounds which, while I
strove
To wake a lay of war or love,
Came marring all the festal mirth,
Appalling me who gave them birth,
And, disobedient to my call,
Wailed loud through Bothwell's bannered
hall.
Ere Douglases, to ruin driven,
Were exiled from their native
heaven.—
O! if yet worse mishap and woe
My master's house must undergo,
Or aught but weal to Ellen fair
Brood in these accents of despair,
No future bard, sad Harp! shall
fling
Triumph or rapture from thy string;
One short, one final strain shall
flow,
Fraught with unutterable woe,
Then shivered shall thy fragments
lie,
Thy master cast him down and
die!'IX.
Soothing she answered him: 'Assuage,
Mine honored friend, the fears of
age;
All melodies to thee are known
That harp has rung or pipe has
blown,
In Lowland vale or Highland glen,
From Tweed to Spey—what marvel,
then,
At times unbidden notes should rise,
Confusedly bound in memory's ties,
Entangling, as they rush along,
The war-march with the funeral
song?—
Small ground is now for boding fear;
Obscure, but safe, we rest us here.
My sire, in native virtue great,
Resigning lordship, lands, and
state,
Not then to fortune more resigned
Than yonder oak might give the wind;
The graceful foliage storms may
reeve,
'Fine noble stem they cannot grieve.
For me'—she stooped, and, looking
round,
Plucked a blue harebell from the
ground,—
'For me, whose memory scarce conveys
An image of more splendid days,
This little flower that loves the
lea
May well my simple emblem be;
It drinks heaven's dew as blithe as
rose
That in the King's own garden grows;
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.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!'XI.
'Fair dreams are these,' the maiden
cried,—
Light was her accent, yet she
sighed,—
'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..
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?
In Holy-Rood a knight he slew;
I saw, when back the dirk he drew,
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.
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;
To her brave chieftain son, from ire
Of Scotland's king who shrouds my
sire,
A deeper, holier debt is owed;
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
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.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,
And flash along his spirit high,
Like lightning o'er the midnight
sky.
While yet a child,—and children
know,
Instinctive taught, the friend and
foe,—
I shuddered at his brow of gloom,