But that the stream, the wood, the gale,
Is vocal with the plaintive wail

Of those, who, else forgotten long,
Lived in the poet's faithful song,
And, with the poet's parting breath,
Whose memory feels a second death.
The Maid's pale shade, who wails her lot,
That love, true love, should be forgot,
From rose and hawthorn shakes the tear
Upon the gentle Minstrel's bier :
The phantom Knight, his glory fled,
Mourns o'er the field he heap'd with dead;
Mounts the wild blast that sweeps amain,
And shrieks along the battle-plain :
The Chief, whose antique crownlet long
Still sparkled in the feudal song,
Now, from the mountain's misty throne,
Sees, in the thanedom once his own,
His ashes undistinguish'd lie,

His place, his power, his memory

His groans the lonely caverns fill,

die :

His tears of rage impel the rill:
All mourn the Minstrel's harp unstrung,
Their name unknown, their praise unsung.

III.

Scarcely the hot assault was stayed,
The terms of truce were scarcely made,
When they could spy, from Branksome's towers.
The advancing march of martial powers.

Thick clouds of dust afar appear'd,

And trampling steeds were faintly heard;
Bright spears,1 above the columns dun,
Glanced momentary to the sun;

And feudal banners fair display'd

The bands that moved to Branksome's aid.

IV.

Vails not to tell each hardy clan,

From the fair Middle Marches came; The Bloody Heart blazed in the van, Announcing Douglas, dreaded name! 2 Vails not to tell what steeds did spurn, 3 Where the Seven Spears of Wedderburne *

[Orig. "Spear-heads above the columns dun."—ED.]

2 The chief of this potent race of heroes, about the date of the poem, was Archibald Douglas, seventh Earl of Angus, a man of great courage and activity. The Bloody Heart was the well-known cognizance of the house of Douglas, assumed from the time of good Lord James, to whose care Robert Bruce committed his heart, to be carried to the Holy Land.

8

3 [In the first edition we read

"Vails not to tell what hundreds more

From the rich Merse and Lammermore," &c.

The lines on Wedderburne and Swinton were inserted in the second edition.-ED.]

4 Sir David Home of Wedderburne, who was slain in the fatal battle of Flodden, left seven sons by his wife, Isabel, daughter of Hoppringle of Galashiels, (now Pringle, of Whitebank.) They were called the Seven Spears of Wedderburne.

Their men in battle-order set;

And Swinton laid the lance in rest,

That tamed of yore the sparkling crest
Of Clarence's Plantagenet.1

Nor list I say what hundreds more,
From the rich Merse and Lammermore,
And Tweed's fair borders, to the war,
Beneath the crest of old Dunbar,

And Hepburn's mingled banners come,
Down the steep mountain glittering far,

And shouting still, "A Home! a Home"! 2

1 At the battle of Beaugé, in France, Thomas, Duke of Clarence, brother to Henry V., was unhorsed by Sir John Swinton of Swinton, who distinguished him by a coronet set with precious stones, which he wore around his helmet. The family of Swinton is one of the most ancient in Scotland, and produced many celebrated warriors.8

2 The Earls of Home, as descendants of the Dunbars, ancient Earls of March, carried a lion rampant, argent; but, as a difference, changed the colour of the shield from gules to vert, in allusion to Greenlaw, their ancient possession. The slogan, or war-cry, of this powerful family, was, "A Home! a Home!" It was anciently placed in an escrol above the crest. The helmet is armed with a lion's head erased gules, with a cap of state gules, turned up ermine.

The Hepburns, a powerful family in East Lothian, were usually in close alliance with the Homes. The chief of this clan was Hepburn, Lord of Hailes; a family which terminated in the too famous Earl of Bothwell.

8 [See the Battle of Hallidon Hill. Sir W. Scott was descended from Sir John Swinton.-ED.]

V.

Now squire and knight, from Branksome sent, On many a courteous message went;

To every chief and lord they paid

Meet thanks for prompt and powerful aid;
And told them,-how a truce was made,
And how a day of fight was ta'en
'Twixt Musgrave and stout Deloraine;

And how the Ladye pray'd them dear,
That all would stay the fight to see,
And deign, in love and courtesy,

To taste of Branksome cheer.

Nor, while they bade to feast each Scot,
Were England's noble Lords forgot.
Himself, the hoary Seneschal

Rode forth, in seemly terms to call
Those gallant foes to Branksome Hall.
Accepted Howard, than whom knight
Was never dubb'd, more bold in fight;
Nor, when from war and armour free,
More famed for stately courtesy:
But angry Dacre rather chose

In his pavilion to repose.

VI.

Now, noble Dame, perchance you ask,
How these two hostile armies met?

Deeming it were no easy task

To keep the truce which here was set;

Where martial spirits, all on fire,

Breathed only blood and mortal ire.—
By mutual inroads, mutual blows,

By habit, and by nation, foes,

They met on Teviot's strand;

They met and sate them mingled down,
Without a threat, without a frown,

As brothers meet in foreign land:
The hands, the spear that lately grasp❜d,
Still in the mailed gauntlet clasp'd,

Were interchanged in greeting dear;
Visors were raised, and faces shown,
And many a friend, to friend made known,
Partook of social cheer.

Some drove the jolly bowl about;

With dice and draughts some chased the day; And some, with many a merry shout,

In riot, revelry, and rout,

Pursued the football play.1

The football was anciently a very favourite sport all through Scotland, but especially upon the Borders. Sir John Carmichael of Carmichael, Warden of the Middle Marches, was killed in 1600 by a band of the Armstrongs, returning from a football match. Sir Robert Carey, in his Memoirs, mentions a great meeting, appointed by the Scotch riders to be held at Kelso for the purpose of playing at football, but which terminated in an incursion upon England. At present, the football is often played by the inhabitants of adjacent parishes, or of the opposite banks of a stream. The victory is contested with the utmost fury, and very serious accidents have sometimes taken place in the struggle.