: Albeit their hearts of rugged mould, Were stubborn as the steel they wore. How the brave boy, in future war, XX. The Ladye forgot her purpose high, She call'd to her William of Deloraine.3 XXI. A stark moss-trooping Scott was he, 1 [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.] 2 The arms of the Kerrs of Cessford were, Vert on a cheveron, betwixt three unicorns' heads erased argent, three mullets sable, crest, a unicorn's head erased proper. The Scotts of Buccleuch bore, Or, on a bend azure; a star of six points betwixt two cres cents of the first. See Appendix, Note H. 'See Appendix, Note L Alike to him was time or tide, XXII. "Sir William of Deloraine, good at need, Seek thou the Monk of St. Mary's aisle. Say that the fated hour is come, 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; Better had'st thou ne'er been born." XXIV. "O swiftly can speed my dapple-grey steed, Ere break of day," the Warrior 'gan say, And safer by none may thy errand be done, Letter nor line know I never a one, XXV. Soon in his saddle sate he fast, And cross'd old Borthwick's roaring strand; 1 Hairibee, the place of executing the Border marauders at Carlisle. The neck-verse is the beginning of the 51st Psalm, Miserere mei, &c., anciently read by criminals claiming the benefit of clergy. 2 Barbican, the defence of the outer gate of a feudal castle. "Peel, a Border tower. This is a round artificial mount near Hawick, which, from its name, (Mot. Ang. Sax. Concilium, Conventus,) was probably anciently used as a place for assembling a national council of the adjacent tribes. There are many such mounds in Scotland, and they are sometimes, but rarely, of a square form. |