LITMIR.BIZ

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Alas! whose speech too oft I broke

       With gambol rude and timeless joke:

       For I was wayward, bold, and wild,

       A self-willed imp, a grandame’s child;

       But, half a plague, and half a jest,

       Was still endured, beloved, caressed.

       For me, thus nurtured, dost thou ask

       The classic poet’s well-conned task?

       Nay, Erskine, nay—On the wild hill

       Let the wild heathbell flourish still;

       Cherish the tulip, prune the vine,

       But freely let the woodbine twine,

       And leave untrimmed the eglantine:

       Nay, my friend, nay—Since oft thy praise

       Hath given fresh vigour to my lays;

       Since oft thy judgment could refine

       My flattened thought, or cumbrous line;

       Still kind, as is thy wont, attend,

       And in the minstrel spare the friend.

       Though wild as cloud, as stream, as gale,

       Flow forth, flow unrestrained, my tale!

Canto Third

       Table of Contents

       The Inn

       I

      The livelong day Lord Marmion rode:

       The mountain path the Palmer showed,

       By glen and streamlet winded still,

       Where stunted birches hid the rill.

       They might not choose the lowland road,

       For the Merse forayers were abroad,

       Who, fired with hate and thirst of prey,

       Had scarcely failed to bar their way.

       Oft on the trampling band, from crown

       Of some tall cliff, the deer looked down;

       On wing of jet, from his repose

       In the deep heath, the blackcock rose;

       Sprung from the gorse the timid roe,

       Nor waited for the bending bow;

       And when the stony path began,

       By which the naked peak they wan,

       Up flew the snowy ptarmigan.

       The noon had long been passed before

       They gained the height of Lammermoor;

       Thence winding down the northern way,

       Before them, at the close of day,

       Old Gifford’s towers and hamlet lay.

       II

      No summons calls them to the tower,

       To spend the hospitable hour.

       To Scotland’s camp the lord was gone;

       His cautious dame, in bower alone,

       Dreaded her castle to unclose,

       So late, to unknown friends or foes,

       On through the hamlet as they paced,

       Before a porch, whose front was graced

       With bush and flagon trimly placed,

       Lord Marmion drew his rein:

       The village inn seemed large, though rude:

       Its cheerful fire and hearty food

       Might well relieve his train.

       Down from their seats the horsemen sprung,

       With jingling spurs the courtyard rung;

       They bind their horses to the stall,

       For forage, food, and firing call,

       And various clamour fills the hall:

       Weighing the labour with the cost,

       Toils everywhere the bustling host.

       III

      Soon by the chimney’s merry blaze,

       Through the rude hostel might you gaze;

       Might see, where, in dark nook aloof,

       The rafters of the sooty roof

       Bore wealth of winter cheer;

       Of seafowl dried, and solands store

       And gammons of the tusky boar,

       And savoury haunch of deer.

       The chimney arch projected wide;

       Above, around it, and beside,

       Were tools for housewives’ hand;

       Nor wanted, in that martial day,

       The implements of Scottish fray,

       The buckler, lance, and brand.

       Beneath its shade, the place of state,

       On oaken settle Marmion sate,

       And viewed around the blazing hearth

       His followers mix in noisy mirth;

       Whom with brown ale, in jolly tide,

       From ancient vessels ranged aside,

       Full actively their host supplied.

       IV

      Theirs was the glee of martial breast,

       And laughter theirs at little jest;

       And oft Lord Marmion deigned to aid,

       And mingle in the mirth they made;

       For though, with men of high degree,

       The proudest of the proud was he,

       Yet, trained in camps, he knew the art

       To win the soldier’s hardy heart.

       They love a captain to obey,

       Boisterous as March, yet fresh as May;

       With open hand, and brow as free,

       Lover of wine and minstrelsy;

       Ever the first to scale a tower,

       As venturous in a lady’s bower:

       Such buxom chief shall lead his host

       From India’s fires to Zembla’s frost.

       V

      Resting upon his pilgrim staff,

       Right opposite the Palmer stood;

       His thin dark visage seen but half,

       Half hidden by his hood.

       Still fixed on Marmion was his look,

       Which he, who ill such gaze could brook,

       Strove by a frown to quell;

       But not for that, though more than once

       Full met their stern encountering glance,

       The Palmer’s visage fell.

       VI

      By fits less frequent from the crowd

       Was heard the burst of laughter loud

       For still, as squire and archer stared

       On that dark face and matted beard

       Their glee and game declined.

       All gazed at length in silence drear,

      

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