The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A PoemLongman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme ... and A. Constable and Company Edinburgh, 1805 - Scottish poetry - 319 pages |
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Page 8
... head . But when he caught the measure wild , The old man raised his face , and smiled ; And lightened up his faded eye , With all a poet's extacy ! In varying cadence , soft or strong , He swept the sounding chords along ; The present ...
... head . But when he caught the measure wild , The old man raised his face , and smiled ; And lightened up his faded eye , With all a poet's extacy ! In varying cadence , soft or strong , He swept the sounding chords along ; The present ...
Page 20
... rung in the Ladye's ear . She raised her stately head , And her heart throbbed high with pride : " Your mountains shall bend , And your streams ascend , Ere Margaret be our foeman's bride ! " XIX . The Ladye sought the lofty hall , Where ...
... rung in the Ladye's ear . She raised her stately head , And her heart throbbed high with pride : " Your mountains shall bend , And your streams ascend , Ere Margaret be our foeman's bride ! " XIX . The Ladye sought the lofty hall , Where ...
Page 28
... head , As glanced his eye o'er Halidont ; For on his soul the slaughter red , * Barded , or barbed , applied to a horse accoutred with defen- sive armour . ↑ Halidon - hill , on which the battle of Melrose was fought . Of that ...
... head , As glanced his eye o'er Halidont ; For on his soul the slaughter red , * Barded , or barbed , applied to a horse accoutred with defen- sive armour . ↑ Halidon - hill , on which the battle of Melrose was fought . Of that ...
Page 37
... head ; With torch in hand , and foot unshod , And noiseless step , the path he trod ; The arched cloisters , far and wide , Rang to the warrior's clanking stride ; Till , stooping low his lofty crest , He entered the cell of the ancient ...
... head ; With torch in hand , and foot unshod , And noiseless step , the path he trod ; The arched cloisters , far and wide , Rang to the warrior's clanking stride ; Till , stooping low his lofty crest , He entered the cell of the ancient ...
Page 40
... head , And beneath their feet were the bones of the dead . VIII . Spreading herbs and flowerets bright , Glistened with the dew of night ; Nor herb nor floweret glistened there , But was carved in the cloister arches as fair . The Monk ...
... head , And beneath their feet were the bones of the dead . VIII . Spreading herbs and flowerets bright , Glistened with the dew of night ; Nor herb nor floweret glistened there , But was carved in the cloister arches as fair . The Monk ...
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Common terms and phrases
ancient arms band bard Baron beneath betwixt Bewcastle blaze blood blood-hound Border Branksome Branksome Hall Branksome's brave Buccleuch called CANTO castle Cessford chapel chief clan courser cross Cumberland dæmons Dame dark dead devyll Douglas dread Duke Earl Earl of Angus Eildon hills English Ettricke Forest fair on Carlisle fight friends hall hand harp Hawick heard highnes horse Howard James Jedburgh king Kirkwall knight Ladye laird lands LAST MINSTREL Liddesdale Lord Dacre Margaret Melrose Michael MINSTREL moss-trooper Musgrave Naworth Castle ne'er never noble o'er ride rode Roslin round rung sayd Scot Scotland Scottish Scottish Border shew shulde Sir William slain song spear St Clair steed stone stood sun shines fair sword Teviot's Teviotdale thee theyme theyre Thomas Musgrave thou Tinlinn tomb tower Twas tyme Virgilius Walter Scott warden warrior wave ween wild William of Deloraine wound XXIII
Popular passages
Page 36 - When the broken arches are black in night, And each shafted oriel glimmers white ; When the cold light's uncertain shower Streams on the ruined central tower ; When buttress and buttress, alternately, Seem framed of ebon and ivory ; When silver edges the imagery, And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die...
Page 193 - That day of wrath, .that dreadful day, When heaven and earth shall pass away, What power shall be the sinner's stay ? How shall he meet that dreadful day ? When, shrivelling like a parched scroll, The flaming heavens together roll ; When louder yet, and yet more dread, Swells the high trump that wakes the dead ! Oh ! on that day, that wrathful day, When man to judgment wakes from clay, Be THOU the trembling sinner's stay, Though heaven and earth shall pass away ! HUSH'D is the harp — the Minstrel...
Page 8 - In varying cadence, soft or strong, He swept the sounding chords along : The present scene, the future lot, His toils, his wants, were all forgot: Cold diffidence, and age's frost, In the full tide of song were lost ; Each blank, in faithless memory void, The poet's glowing thought supplied : And, while his harp responsive rung, 'Twas thus the latest minstrel sung.
Page 163 - ... wild, Meet nurse for a poetic child ! Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, Land of the mountain and the flood, Land of my sires ! what mortal hand Can e'er untie the filial band, That knits me to thy rugged strand ! Still, as I view each well-known scene, Think what is now, and what hath been, Seems as, to me, of all bereft, Sole friends thy woods and streams were left ; And thus I love them better still, Even in extremity of ill. By Yarrow's stream still let me stray, Though none should guide...
Page 162 - From wandering on a foreign strand ? If such there breathe, go, mark him well; For him no minstrel raptures swell ; High though his titles, proud his name, Boundless his wealth as wish can claim, — Despite those titles, power, and pelf, The wretch, concentred all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.
Page 182 - The blackening wave is edged with white : To inch and rock the sea-mews fly ; The fishers have heard the Water-Sprite, Whose screams forbode that wreck is nigh.
Page 7 - Where she with all her ladies sate, Perchance he wished his boon denied: For, when to tune his harp he tried, His trembling hand had lost the ease Which marks security to please...
Page 6 - And, would the noble Duchess deign To listen to an old man's strain, Though stiff his hand, his voice though weak, He thought even yet, the sooth to speak. That, if she loved the harp to hear, He could make music to her ear.
Page 139 - True love's the gift which God has given To man alone beneath the heaven : It is not fantasy's hot fire, Whose wishes, soon as granted, fly ; It liveth not in fierce desire, With dead desire it doth not die ; It is the secret sympathy, The silver link, the silken tie, Which heart to heart, and mind to mind, In body and in soul can bind.
Page 3 - Seemed to have known a better day ; The harp, his sole remaining joy, Was carried by an orphan boy. The last of all the Bards was he, Who sung of, Border chivalry; For, well-a-day! their date was fled, His tuneful brethren all were dead ; And he, neglected and oppressed, Wished to be with them, and at rest.