The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A Poem |
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Page 17
... and by spell , Deadly to hear , and deadly to tell- Jesu Maria , shield us well ! No living wight , save the Ladye alone , Had dared to cross the threshold stone . B II . The tables were drawn , it was idlesse THE ...
... and by spell , Deadly to hear , and deadly to tell- Jesu Maria , shield us well ! No living wight , save the Ladye alone , Had dared to cross the threshold stone . B II . The tables were drawn , it was idlesse THE ...
Page 18
... stone to Eskdale - moor . III . Nine - and - twenty knights of fame Hung their shields in Branksome Hall ; Nine - and - twenty squires of name Brought them their steeds from bower to stall ; Nine - and - twenty yeomen tall Waited ...
... stone to Eskdale - moor . III . Nine - and - twenty knights of fame Hung their shields in Branksome Hall ; Nine - and - twenty squires of name Brought them their steeds from bower to stall ; Nine - and - twenty yeomen tall Waited ...
Page 46
... hell alike would hide ? My breast , in belt of iron pent , With shirt of hair and scourge of thorn ; For threescore years , in penance spent , My knees those flinty stones have worn ; Yet all too little to atone For knowing what should 46.
... hell alike would hide ? My breast , in belt of iron pent , With shirt of hair and scourge of thorn ; For threescore years , in penance spent , My knees those flinty stones have worn ; Yet all too little to atone For knowing what should 46.
Page 49
... stone , that locked each ribbed aisle , Was a fleur - de - lys , or a quatre - feuille ; The corbells were carved grotesque and grim ; And the pillars , with clustered shafts so trim , With base and with capital flourished around ...
... stone , that locked each ribbed aisle , Was a fleur - de - lys , or a quatre - feuille ; The corbells were carved grotesque and grim ; And the pillars , with clustered shafts so trim , With base and with capital flourished around ...
Page 50
... stone , By foliaged tracery combined ; Thou would'st have thought , some fairy's hand ' Twixt poplars straight the osier wand , In many a freakish knot , had twined ; Then framed a spell , when the work was done , And changed the willow ...
... stone , By foliaged tracery combined ; Thou would'st have thought , some fairy's hand ' Twixt poplars straight the osier wand , In many a freakish knot , had twined ; Then framed a spell , when the work was done , And changed the willow ...
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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 Buccleuch bugle called CANTO castle Cessford chapel chief clan courser crest cross Cumberland dæmons Dame dead death Douglas dread Duke Earl Earl of Angus Eildon hills English Ettricke Ettricke Forest fair on Carlisle Fawdon fight hall hand harp Hawick head heard highnes horse Howard iron James Jedburgh king Kirkwall knight Ladye laird lance lands LAST MINSTREL Liddesdale Lord Dacre Melrose Michael MINSTREL moss-trooper Musgrave Naworth Castle ne'er noble o'er ride rode Roslin round rung sayd Scotland Scots 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 ween wild William of Deloraine wound
Popular passages
Page 169 - BREATHES there the man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land ? Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned, As home his footsteps he hath turned 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,...
Page 191 - Blazed battlement and pinnet high, Blazed every rose-carved buttress fair — So still they blaze; when fate is nigh The lordly line of high St. Clair.
Page 11 - 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.
Page 19 - Ten of them were sheathed in steel, With belted sword, and spur on heel : They quitted not their harness bright, Neither by day, nor yet by night...
Page 15 - 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; And scenes, long past, of joy and pain, Came wildering o'er his aged brain — He tried to tune his harp in vain.
Page 13 - Newark's stately tower Looks out from Yarrow's birchen bower: The Minstrel gazed with wishful eye — No humbler resting-place was nigh: With hesitating step at last, The embattled portal arch he pass'd, Whose ponderous grate and massy bar Had oft roll'd back the tide of war, But never closed the iron door Against the desolate and poor.
Page 200 - 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...
Page 136 - Not that, in sooth, o'er mortal urn Those things inanimate can mourn ; 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.
Page 19 - They quitted not their harness bright Neither by day nor yet by night • They lay down to rest, With corslet laced, Pillowed on buckler cold and hard ; They carved at the meal With gloves of steel, And they drank the red wine through the helmet barred.
Page 191 - Tis not because the ring they ride, And Lindesay at the ring rides well, But that my sire the wine will chide, If 'tis not filled by Rosabelle.