XXVII.

Shift we the scene. The camp doth move; Dunedin’s streets are empty now, Save when, for weal of those they love, To pray the prayer, and vow the vow, The tottering child, the anxious fair, The grey-haired sire, with pious care, To chapels and to shrines repair— Where is the Palmer now? and where The Abbess, Marmion, and Clare? Bold Douglas! to Tantallon fair They journey in thy charge. Lord Marmion rode on his right hand, The Palmer still was with the band; Angus, like Lindesay, did command That none should roam at large. But in that Palmer’s altered mien A wondrous change might now be seen; Freely he spoke of war, Of marvels wrought by single hand When lifted for a native land; And still looked high, as if he planned Some desperate deed afar. His courser would he feed and stroke, And, tucking up his sable frock, Would first his mettle bold provoke, Then soothe or quell his pride. Old Hubert said, that never one He saw, except Lord Marmion, A steed so fairly ride.