Marmion. Вальтер Скотт

frequent and familiar guest,

      Whose life and manners well could paint                    220

      Alike the student and the saint;

      Alas! whose speech too oft I broke

      With gambol rude and timeless joke:

      For I was wayward, bold, and wild,

      A self-will’d imp, a grandame’s child;                    225

      But half a plague, and half a jest,

      Was still endured, beloved, caress’d.

        From me, thus nurtured, dost thou ask

      The classic poet’s well-conn’d task?

      Nay, Erskine, nay-On the wild hill                        230

      Let the wild heath-bell flourish still;

      Cherish the tulip, prune the vine,

      But freely let the woodbine twine,

      And leave untrimm’d the eglantine:

      Nay, my friend, nay-Since oft thy praise                  235

      Hath given fresh vigour to my lays;

      Since oft thy judgment could refine

      My flatten’d thought, or cumbrous line;

      Still kind, as is thy wont, attend,

      And in the minstrel spare the friend.                      240

      Though wild as cloud, as stream, as gale,

      Flow forth, flow unrestrain’d, my Tale!

      CANTO THIRD.

      THE HOSTEL, OR INN

I

      The livelong day Lord Marmion rode:

      The mountain path the Palmer show’d

      By glen and streamlet winded still,

      Where stunted birches hid the rill.

      They might not choose the lowland road,                      5

      For the Merse forayers were abroad,

      Who, fired with hate and thirst of prey,

      Had scarcely fail’d to bar their way.

      Oft on the trampling band, from crown

      Of some tall cliff, the deer look’d down;                  10

      On wing of jet, from his repose

      In the deep heath, the black-cock rose;

      Sprung from the gorse the timid roe,

      Nor waited for the bending bow;

      And when the stony path began,                              15

      By which the naked peak they wan,

      Up flew the snowy ptarmigan.

      The noon had long been pass’d before

      They gain’d the height of Lammermoor;

      Thence winding down the northern way,                      20

      Before them, at the close of day,

      Old Gifford’s towers and hamlet lay.

II

      No summons calls them to the tower,

      To spend the hospitable hour.

      To Scotland’s camp the Lord was gone;                      25

      His cautious dame, in bower alone,

      Dreaded her castle to unclose,

      So late, to unknown friends or foes.

        On through the hamlet as they paced,

        Before a porch, whose front was graced                    30

        With bush and flagon trimly placed,

          Lord Marmion drew his rein:

        The village inn seem’d large, though rude;

        Its cheerful fire and hearty food

          Might well relieve his train.                          35

      Down from their seats the horsemen sprung,

      With jingling spurs the court-yard rung;

      They bind their horses to the stall,

      For forage, food, and firing call,

      And various clamour fills the hall:                        40

      Weighing the labour with the cost,

      Toils everywhere the bustling host.

III

      Soon, by the chimney’s merry blaze,

      Through the rude hostel might you gaze;

      Might see, where, in dark nook aloof,                      45

      The rafters of the sooty roof

        Bore wealth of winter cheer;

      Of sea-fowl dried, and solands store,

      And gammons of the tusky boar,

        And savoury haunch of deer.                              50

      The chimney arch projected wide;

      Above, around it, and beside,

        Were tools for housewives’ hand;

      Nor wanted, in that martial day,

      The implements of Scottish fray,                            55

        The buckler, lance, and brand.

      Beneath its shade, the place of state,

      On oaken settle Marmion sate,

      And view’d around the blazing hearth.

      His followers mix in noisy mirth;                          60

      Whom with brown ale, in jolly tide,

      From ancient vessels ranged aside,

      Full actively their host supplied.

IV

      Theirs was the glee of martial breast,

      And laughter theirs at little jest;                        65

      And oft Lord Marmion deign’d to aid,

      And mingle in the mirth they made;

      For though, with men of high degree,

      The proudest of the proud was he,

      Yet, train’d in camps, he knew the art                      70

      To win the soldier’s hardy heart.

      They love a captain to obey,

      Boisterous as March, yet fresh as May;

      With open hand, and brow as free,

      Lover of wine and minstrelsy;                              75

      Ever the first to scale a tower,

      As venturous in a lady’s bower: -

      Such buxom chief shall lead his host

      From India’s fires to Zembla’s frost.

V

      Resting upon his pilgrim staff,                            80

        Right opposite the Palmer stood;

      His thin dark visage seen but half,

        Half hidden by his hood.

      Still fix’d