So fierce, so tameless, and so fleet,
Sore did he cumber our retreat,
And kept our stoutest kernes in awe,
E'en at the pass of Beal 'maha.
But steep and flinty was the road,
And sharp the hurrying pikeman's goad,
And when we came to Dennan's row

A child might scatheless stroke his brow."

V.

NORMAN.

"That bull was slain: his reeking hide
They stretch'd the cataract beside,
Whose waters their wild tumult toss
Adown the black and craggy boss
Of that huge cliff, whose ample verge
Tradition calls the Hero's Targe.
Couch'd on a shelve beneath its brink,
Close where the thundering torrents sink,
Rocking beneath their headlong sway,
And drizzled by the ceaseless spray,
Midst groan of rock, and roar of stream,
The wizard waits prophetic dream.
Nor distant rests the chief;-but, hush!
See, gliding slow through mist and bush,
The hermit gains yon rock, and stands
To gaze upon our slumbering bands.
Seems he not, Malise, like a ghost,
That hovers o'er a slaughter'd host?
Or raven on the blasted oak,
That, watching while the deer is broke,*
His morsel claims with sullen croak?"
-"Peace! peace! to other than to me,
Thy words were evil augury;
But still I hold Sir Roderick's blade
Clan-Alpine's omen and her aid,
Not aught that, glean'd from heaven or hell,
Yon fiend-begotten monk can tell.
The chieftain joins him, see-and now,
Together they descend the brow."-

VI.

And, as they came, with Alpine's lord
The hermit monk held solemn word:
"Roderick! it is a fearful strife,
For man endow'd with mortal life,
Whose shroud of sentient clay can still
Feel feverish pang and fainting chill,
Whose eye can stare in stony trance,
Whose hair can rouse like warrior's lance,-
"Tis hard for such to view, unfurl'd,
The curtain of the future world.
Yet, witness every quaking limb,
My sunken pulse, mine eyeballs dim,
My soul with harrowing anguish torn,
This for my chieftain have I borne !-
The shapes that sought my fearful couch,
A human tongue may ne'er avouch;
No mortal man-save he, who, bred
Between the living and the dead,
Is gifted beyond nature's law,-
Had e'er survived to say he saw.
At length the fateful answer came,
In characters of living flame!

* Quartered.

Not spoke in word, nor blazed in scroll, But borne and branded on my soul;Which spills the foremost foeman's life That party conquers in the strife."

VII.

"Thanks, Brian, for thy zeal and care!
Good is thine augury, and fair.
Clan-Alpine ne'er in battle stood,
But first our broadswords tasted blood.
A surer victim still I know,
Self-offer'd to th' auspicious blow:
A spy has sought my land this morn,
No eve shall witness his return!
My followers guard each pass's mouth,
To east, to westward, and to south;
Red Murdoch, bribed to be his guide,
Has charge to lead his steps aside,
Till, in deep path or dingle brown,
He light on those shall bring him down.-
But see who comes his news to show!
Malise! what tidings of the foe?"

VIII.

"At Doune, o'er many a spear and glaive
Two barons proud their banners wave,

I saw the Moray's silver star,
And mark'd the sable pale of Mar."-
"By Alpine's soul, high tidings those!
I love to hear of worthy foes.

When move they on ?"-"To-morrow's noon
Will see them here for battle boune."
"Then shall it see a meeting stern!
But, for the place-say, couldst thou learn
Naught of the friendly clans of Earn?
Strengthen'd by them, we well might bide
The battle on Benledi's side.-
Thou couldst not?-well! Clan-Alpine's men
Shall man the Trosach's shaggy glen;
Within Loch-Katrine's gorge we'll fight,
All in our maids' and matrons' sight,
Each for his hearth and household fire,
Father for child, and son for sire,
Lover for maid beloved!-but why-
Is it the breeze affects mine eye?
Or dost thou come, ill-omen'd tear,
A messenger of doubt and fear?
No sooner may the Saxon lance
Unfix Benledi from his stance,
Than doubt or terror can pierce through
Th' unyielding heart of Roderick Dhu!
'Tis stubborn as his trusty targe.-
Each to his post!-all know their charge."-
The pibroch sounds, the bands advance,
The broadswords gleam, the banners dance,
Obedient to the chieftain's glance.

I turn me from the martial roar,
And seek Coir-Uriskin once more.

IX.

Where is the Douglas ?-he is gone;
And Ellen sits on the gray stone
Fast by the cave, and makes her moan;
While vainly Allan's words of cheer
Are pour'd on her unheeding ear.-

"He will return-dear lady, trust!
With joy return ;-he will-he must.
Well was it time to seek, afar,
Some refuge from impending war,
When e'en Clan-Alpine's rugged swarm
Are cow'd by the approaching storm.
I saw their boats, with many a light,
Floating the livelong yesternight,
Shifting like flashes darted forth
By the red streamers of the north;
I mark'd at morn how close they ride,
Thick moor'd by the lone islet's side.
Like wild ducks couching in the fen,
When stoops the hawk upon the glen.
Since this rude race dare not abide
The peril on the mainland side,
Shall not thy noble father's care
Some safe retreat for thee prepare?"—

X.

ELLEN.

"No, Allan, no! pretext so kind
My wakeful terrors could not blind.
When in such tender tone, yet grave,
Douglas a parting blessing gave,
The tear that glisten'd in his eye-
Drown'd not his purpose fix'd and high.
My soul, though feminine and weak,
Can image his, e'en as the lake,
Itself disturb'd by slightest stroke,
Reflects th' invulnerable rock.
He hears report of battle rife,

He deems himself the cause of strife.
I saw him redden when the theme
Turn'd, Allan, on thine idle dream,
Of Malcolm Græme in fetters bound,
Which I, thou saidst, about him wound.
Think'st thou he trow'd thine omen aught?
O no! 'twas apprehensive thought
For the kind youth,-for Roderick too-
(Let me be just) that friend so true;
In danger both, and in our cause
Minstrel, the Douglas dare not pause.
Why else that solemn warning given,
'If not on earth, we meet in heaven?'
Why else, to Cambus-Kenneth's fane,
If eve return him not again,

Am I to hie and make me known?
Alas! he goes to Scotland's throne,
Buys his friends' safety with his own ;-
He goes to do what I had done,
Had Douglas' daughter been his son !"

XI.

ALLAN.

"Nay, lovely Ellen!-dearest, nay!
If aught should his return delay,
He only named yon holy fane
As fitting place to meet again.
Be sure he's safe; and for the Græme,
Heaven's blessing on his gallant name!
My vision'd sight may yet prove true,
Nor bode of ill to him or you.
When did my gifted dream beguile ?
Think of the stranger at the isle,

And think upon the harpings slow,
That presaged this approaching wo!
Sooth was my prophecy of fear;
Believe it when it augurs cheer.
Would we had left this dismal spot!
Ill luck still haunts a fairy grot.
Of such, a wondrous tale I know-
Dear lady, change that look of wo!
My harp was wont thy grief to cheer."

ELLEN.

"Well, be it as thou wilt; I hear, But cannot stop the bursting tear." The minstrel tried his simple art, But distant far was Ellen's heart.

XII.

BALLAD.

ALICE BRAND.

Merry it is in the good green wood,

When the mavis* and merlet are singing, When the deer sweeps by, and the hounds are in cry,

And the hunter's horn is ringing.

"O Alice Brand, my native land

Is lost for love of you;

And we must hold by wood and wold,
As outlaws wont to do.

"O Alice, 'twas all for thy locks so bright,
And 'twas all for thine eyes so blue,
That on the night of our luckless flight,
Thy brother bold I slew.

"Now must I teach to hew the beach,
The hand that held the glaive,
For leaves to spread our lowly bed,
And stakes to fence our cave.

"And, for vest of pall, thy fingers small,
That wont on harp to stray,

A cloak must shear from the slaughter'd deer, To keep the cold away."

"O Richard! if my brother died,

'Twas but a fatal chance;
For darkling was the battle tried,
And fortune sped the lance.
"If pall and vair no more I wear,
Nor thou the crimson sheen,
As warm, we'll say, is the russet gray,
As gay the forest green.

"And, Richard, if our lot be hard,
And lost thy native land,
Still Alice has her own Richard,
And he his Alice Brand."-

Up spoke the moody elfin king,

Who won'd within the hill,Like wind in the porch of a ruin'd church, His voice was ghostly shrill.

"Why sounds yon stroke on beach and oak, Our moonlight circle's screen?

Or who comes here to chase the deer,

Beloved of our elfin queen?
Or who may dare on wold to wear
The fairies' fatal green?

"Up, Urgan, up! to yon mortal hie,
For thou wert christen'd man;
For cross or sign thou wilt not fly,
For mutter'd word or ban.

"Lay on him the curse of the wither'd heart, The curse of the sleepless eye;

Till he wish and pray that his life would part, Nor yet find leave to die."

XIV.

BALLAD CONTINUED.

'Tis merry, 'tis merry in good green wood, Though the birds have still'd their singing; The evening blaze doth Alice raise,

And Richard is fagots bringing.

Up Urgan starts, that hideous dwarf,

Before Lord Richard stands,

And, as he cross'd and bless'd himself,
"I fear not sign," quoth the grisly elf,
"That is made with bloody hands."-
But out then spoke she, Alice Brand,
That woman void of fear,-
"And if there's blood upon his hand,
'Tis but the blood of deer."-

"Now loud thou liest, thou bold of mood!
It cleaves unto his hand,

The stain of thine own kindly blood,
The blood of Ethert Brand."

Then forward stepp'd she, Alice Brand,
And made the holy sign,-

"And if there's blood on Richard's hand,
A spotless hand is mine.

"And I conjure thee, demon elf,

By him who demons fear,

To show us whence thou art thyself,
And what thine errand here?"-

XV.

BALLAD CONTINUED.

""Tis merry, 'tis merry in fairy land,

When fairy birds are singing,

When the court doth ride by their monarch's side,

With bit and bridle ringing:

"And gayly shines the fairy land

But all is glistening show,

Like the idle gleam that December's beam
Can dart on ice and snow.

"And fading like that varied gleam,
Is our inconstant shape,

Who now like knight and lady seem,
And now like dwarf and ape.

"It was between the night and day,

When the fairy king has power, That I sunk down in a sinful fray,

And, 'twixt life and death, was snatch'd away To the joyless elfin bower.

"But wist I of a woman bold,

Who thrice my brow durst sign, I might regain my mortal mould, As fair a form as thine."

She cross'd him once, she cross'd him twiceThat lady was so brave;

The fouler grew his goblin hue,

The darker grew the cave.

She cross'd him thrice, that lady bold;
He rose beneath her hand

The fairest knight on Scottish mould,
Her brother, Ethert Brand!

Merry it is in good green wood,

When the mavis and merle are singing; But merrier were they in Dunfermline gray, When all the bells were ringing.

XVI.

Just as the minstrel sounds were stay'd,
A stranger climb'd the steepy glade;
His martial step, his stately mien,
His hunting suit of Lincoln green,
His eagle glance, remembrance claims-
'Tis Snowdoun's knight, 'tis James Fitz-James.
Ellen beheld as in a dream,

Then, starting, scarce suppress'd a scream:
"O stranger! in such hour of fear,
What evil hap has brought thee here?"
"An evil hap! how can it be,

That bids me look again on thee?
By promise bound, my former guide
Met me betimes this morning tide,
And marshall'd, over bank and bourne,
The happy path of my return."-
"The happy path!-what! said he naught
Of war, of battle to be fought,

Of guarded pass?"-" No, by my faith!
Nor saw I aught could augur scathe."
"O! haste thee, Allan, to the kern,-
Yonder his tartans I discern ;
Learn thou his purpose, and conjure
That he will guide the stranger sure!-
What prompted thee, unhappy man?
The meanest serf in Roderick's clan
Had not been bribed by love or fear,
Unknown to him, to guide thee here."-

XVII.

"Sweet Ellen, dear my life must be,

Since it is worthy care from thee;

Yet life I hold but idle breath,

When love or honour's weigh'd with death. Then let me profit by my chance,

And speak my purpose bold at once.

I come to bear thee from a wild,

Where ne'er before such blossom smiled;
By this soft hand to lead thee far
From frantic scenes of feud and war.

Near Bochastle my horses wait,
They bear us soon to Stirling gate:

I'll place thee in a lovely bower,
I'll guard thee like a tender flower-
"O, hush, sir knight! 'twere female art
To say I do not read thy heart;
Too much, before, my selfish ear
Was idly soothed my praise to hear.
That fatal bait hath lured thee back,
In deathful hour, o'er dangerous track!
And how, O how, can I atone

The wreck my vanity brought on ;-
One way remains-I'll tell him all—
Yes! struggling bosom, forth it shall!
Thou, whose light folly bears the blame,
Buy thine own pardon with thy shame!
But first-my father is a man
Outlaw'd and exiled, under ban;
The price of blood is on his head,
With me 'twere infamy to wed.-

Still wouldst thou speak?-then hear the truth:
Fitz-James, there is a noble youth-

If yet he is!-exposed for me
And mine to dread extremity-
Thou hast the secret of my heart;
Forgive, be generous, and depart."

XVIII.

Fitz-James knew every wily train
A lady's fickle heart to gain,

But here he knew and felt them vain.
There shot no glance from Ellen's eye,
To give her steadfast speech the lie;
In maiden confidence she stood,
Though mantled in her cheek the blood,
And told her love with such a sigh
Of deep and hopeless agony,
As death had seal'd her Malcolm's doom,
And she sat sorrowing on his tomb.
Hope vanish'd from Fitz-James's eye,
But not with hope fled sympathy.
He proffer'd to attend her side,
As brother would a sister guide.-
"O! little know'st thou Roderick's heart!
Safer for both we go apart.

O haste thee, and from Allan learn,
If thou may'st trust yon wily kern."-
With hand upon his forehead laid,
The conflict of his mind to shade,
A parting step or two he made;

Then, as some thought had cross'd his brain
He paused, and turn'd, and came again.

XIX.

"Hear, lady, yet, a parting word!—
It chanced in fight that my poor sword
Preserved the life of Scotland's lord.
This ring the grateful monarch gave,
And bade, when I had boon to crave,
To bring it back, and boldly claim
The recompense that I would name.
Ellen, I am no courtly lord,

But one who lives by lance and sword,
Whose castle is his helm and shield,
His lordship the embattled field.
What from a prince can I demand,
Who neither reck of state nor land?

Ellen, thy hand-the ring is thine;
Each guard and usher knows the sign.
Seek thou the king without delay;
This signet shall secure thy way;
And claim thy suit, whate'er it be,
As ransom of his pledge to me."—
He placed the golden circlet on,
Paused-kiss'd her hand-and then was gone.
The aged minstrel stood aghast,

So hastily Fitz-James shot past.
He join'd his guide, and wending down
The ridges of the mountain brown,
Across the stream they took their way,
That joins Loch-Katrine to Achray.

XX.

All in the Trosach's glen was still,
Noontide was sleeping on the hill:
Sudden his guide whoop'd loud and high-
"Murdoch was that a signal cry?"
He stammer'd forth,-"I shout to scare
Yon raven from his dainty fare."
He look'd-he knew the raven's prey,
His own brave steed:-"Ah! gallant gray!
For thee-for me, perchance-'twere well
We ne'er had left the Trosach's dell.
Murdoch, move first-but silently;
Whistle or whoop, and thou shalt die."
Jealous and sullen on they fared,
Each silent, each upon his guard.

XXI.

Now wound the path its dizzy ledge
Around a precipice's edge.

When lo! a wasted female form,
Blighted by wrath of sun and storm,
In tatter'd weeds and wild array,
Stood on a cliff beside the way,
And glancing round her restless eye,
Upon the wood, the rock, the sky,
Seem'd naught to mark, yet all to spy.
Her brow was wreath'd with gaudy broom;
With gesture wild she waved a plume
Of feathers, which the eagles fling

To crag and cliff from dusky wing;
Such spoils her desperate step had sought,
Where scarce was footing for the goat.
The tartan plaid she first descried,
And shriek'd till all the rocks replied;

As loud she laugh'd when near they drew,
For then the lowland garb she knew;
And then her hands she wildly wrung,
And then she wept, and then she sung.-
She sung-the voice, in better time,
Perchance to harp or lute might chime;
And now, though strain'd and roughen'd, still
Rung wildly sweet to dale and hill.

XXII.

SONG.

"They bid me sleep, they bid me pray, They say my brain is warp'd and wrung

I cannot sleep on highland brae,

I cannot pray in highland tongue. But were I now where Allan glides, Or heard my native Devan's tides,

So sweetly would I rest, and pray
That heaven would close my wintry day!
"Twas thus my hair they bade me braid,
They bade me to the church repair;
It was my bridal morn, they said,

And my truelove would meet me there. But wo betide the cruel guile,

That drown'd in blood the morning smile! And wo betide the fairy dream!

I only waked to sob and scream."

XXIII.

"Who is this maid? what means her lay?
She hovers o'er the hollow way,
And flutters wide her mantle gray,
As the lone heron spreads his wing,
By twilight, o'er a haunted spring."
"Tis Blanche of Devan," Murdoch said,
"A crazed and captive lowland maid,
Ta'en on the morn she was a bride,
When Roderick foray'd Devan side:
The gay bridegroom resistance made,
And felt our chief's unconquer'd blade.
I marvel she is now at large,

But oft she 'scapes from Maudlin's charge.
Hence, brain-sick fool!"-He raised his bow:
"Now, if thou strik'st her but one blow,
I'll pitch thee from the cliff as far
As ever peasant pitch'd a bar."
"Thanks, champion, thanks!" the maniac cried,
And press'd her to Fitz-James's side.
"See the gray pennons I prepare,
To seek my true love through the air!
I will not lend that savage groom,
To break his fall, one downy plume!
No!-deep among disjointed stones
The wolves shall batten on his bones,
And then shall his detested plaid,
By bush and brier in mid air stay'd,
Wave forth a banner fair and free,
Meet signal for their revelry."

XXIV.

"Hush thee, poor maiden, and be still!"
"O! thou look'st kindly, and I will.
Mine eye has dried and wasted been,
But still it loves the Lincoln green;
And though mine ear is all unstrung,
Still, still it loves the lowland tongue.
"For O, my sweet William was forester true,
He stole poor Blanche's heart away!
His coat it was all of the greenwood hue,
And so blithely he trill'd the lowland lay!

"It was not that I meant to tell-
But thou art wise, and guessest well."
Then, in a low and broken tone,
And hurried note, the song went on.
Still on the clansman, fearfully,
She fix'd her apprehensive eye;
Then turn'd it on the knight, and then
Her look glanced wildly o'er the glen.

XXV

"The toils are pitch'd, and the stakes are set, Ever sing merrily, merrily;

The bows they bend, and the knives they whet, Hunters live so cheerily.

"It was a stag, a stag of ten,*

Bearing his branches sturdily; He came stately down the glen, Ever sing hardily, hardily.

"It was there he met with a wounded doe, She was bleeding deathfully;

She warn'd him of the toils below,

O, so faithfully, faithfully!
"He had an eye and he could heed,
Ever sing warily, warily;
He had a foot and he could speed-
Hunters watch so narrowly."

XXVI.

Fitz-James's mind was passion-toss'd
When Ellen's hints and fears were lost;
But Murdoch's shout suspicion wrought,
And Blanche's song conviction brought.—
Not like a stag that spies the snare,
But lion of the hunt aware,

He waved at once his blade on high,
"Disclose thy treachery, or die !"-
Forth at full speed the clansman flew,
But in his race his bow he drew:
The shaft just grazed Fitz-James's crest,
And thrill'd in Blanche's faded breast.-
Murdoch of Alpine, prove thy speed,
For ne'er had Alpine's son such need!
With heart of fire and foot of wind,
The fierce avenger is behind!
Fate judges of the rapid strife-
The forfeit death-the prize is life!

Thy kindred ambush lies before,

Close couch'd upon the heathery moor;
Them couldst thou reach!-it may not be-
Thine ambush'd kin thou ne'er shalt see,
The fiery Saxon gains on thee!
-Resistless speeds the deadly thrust,
As lightning strikes the pine to dust;
With foot and hand Fitz-James must strain,
Ere he can win his blade again.
Bent o'er the fallen, with falcon eye,
He grimly smiled to see him die;
Then slower wended back his way,
Where the poor maiden bleeding lay.

XXVII.

She sate beneath the birchen tree,
Her elbow resting on her knee;
She had withdrawn the fatal shaft,
And gazed on it and feebly laughed;
Her wreath of broom and feathers gray,
Daggled with blood, beside her lay.

The knight to stanch the life-stream tried :-
"Stranger, it is in vain!" she cried,
"This hour of death has given me more
Of reason's power than years before;
For, as these ebbing veins decay,
My frenzied visions fade away.

*Having ten branches on his antlers.