"He will return-dear lady, trust! With joy return ;-he will--he must. Well was it time to seek, afar, Some refuge from impending war, When e'en Clan-Alpine's rugged swarm Are cow'd by the approaching storm. I saw their boats, with many a light, Floating the livelong yesternight, Shifting like flashes darted forth By the red streamers of the north; I mark'd at morn how close they ride, Thick moor'd by the lone islet's side. Like wild ducks couching in the fen, When stoops the hawk upon the glen. Since this rude race dare not abide The peril on the mainland side, Shall not thy noble father's care

Some safe retreat for thee prepare ?"—

X.

ELLEN.

No, Allan, no! pretext so kind
My wakeful terrors could not blind.
When in such tender tone, yet grave,
Douglas a parting blessing gave,
The tear that glisten'd in his eye
Drown'd not his purpose fix'd and high.
My soul, though feminine and weak,
Can image his, e'en as the lake,
Itself disturb'd by slightest stroke,
Reflects th' invulnerable rock.
He hears report of battle rife,

He deems himself the cause of strife.
I saw him redden when the theme
Turn'd, Allan, on thine idle dream,
Of Malcolm Græme in fetters bound,
Which I, thou saidst, about him wound.
Think'st thou he trow'd thine omen aught?
O no! 'twas apprehensive thought
For the kind youth,-for Roderick too-
(Let me be just) that friend so true;
In danger both, and in our cause
Minstrel, the Douglas dare not pause.
Why else that solemn warning given,
If not on earth, we meet in heaven?'
Why else, to Cambus-Kenneth's fane,
If eve return him not again,

Am I to hie and make me known?
Alas! he goes to Scotland's throne,
Buys his friends' safety with his own ;-
He goes to do what I had done,
Had Douglas' daughter been his son !"

XI.

ALLAN.

"Nay, lovely Ellen !-dearest, nay!
If aught should his return delay,
He only named yon holy fane
As fitting place to meet again.

Be sure he's safe; and for the Græme,
Heaven's blessing on his gallant name!
My vision'd sight may yet prove true,
Nor bode of ill to him or you.
When did my gifted dream beguile ?
Think of the stranger at the isle,

And think upon the harpings slow,
That presaged this approaching wo!
Sooth was my prophecy of fear;
Believe it when it augurs cheer.
Would we had left this dismal spot!
Ill luck still haunts a fairy grot.
Of such, a wondrous tale I know-
Dear lady, change that look of wo!
My harp was wont thy grief to cheer."

ELLEN.

"Well, be it as thou wilt; I hear, But cannot stop the bursting tear." The minstrel tried his simple art, But distant far was Ellen's heart.

XII.

BALLAD.

ALICE BRAND.

Merry it is in the good green wood,

When the mavis* and merlet are singing, When the deer sweeps by, and the hounds are in cry,

And the hunter's horn is ringing.

"O Alice Brand, my native land

Is lost for love of you;

And we must hold by wood and wold,
As outlaws wont to do.

"O Alice, 'twas all for thy locks so bright,
And 'twas all for thine eyes so blue,
That on the night of our luckless flight,
Thy brother bold I slew.

"Now must I teach to hew the beach,
The hand that held the glaive,
For leaves to spread our lowly bed,
And stakes to fence our cave.

"And, for vest of pall, thy fingers small,
That wont on harp to stray,

A cloak must shear from the slaughter'd deer,
To keep the cold away."

"O Richard! if my brother died,

'Twas but a fatal chance;
For darkling was the battle tried,
And fortune sped the lance.
"If pall and vair no more I wear,
Nor thou the crimson sheen,
As warm, we'll say, is the russet gray,
As gay the forest green.

"And, Richard, if our lot be hard,
And lost thy native land,
Still Alice has her own Richard,
And he his Alice Brand."—

Up spoke the moody elfin king,
Who won'd within the hill,-

Like wind in the porch of a ruin'd church,
His voice was ghostly shrill.

"Why sounds yon stroke on beach and oak, Our moonlight circle's screen?

Or who comes here to chase the deer,

Beloved of our elfin queen?

Or who may dare on wold to wear
The fairies' fatal green?

"Up, Urgan, up! to yon mortal hie,
For thou wert christen'd man;
For cross or sign thou wilt not fly,
For mutter'd word or ban.

"Lay on him the curse of the wither'd heart, The curse of the sleepless eye;

Till he wish and pray that his life would part, Nor yet find leave to die."

XIV.

BALLAD CONTINUED.

'Tis merry, 'tis merry in good green wood, Though the birds have still'd their singing; The evening blaze doth Alice raise,

And Richard is fagots bringing.

Up Urgan starts, that hideous dwarf,

Before Lord Richard stands,

And, as he cross'd and bless'd himself,
"I fear not sign," quoth the grisly elf,
"That is made with bloody hands."-
But out then spoke she, Alice Brand,
That woman void of fear,-
"And if there's blood upon his hand,
'Tis but the blood of deer."-

"Now loud thou liest, thou bold of mood!
It cleaves unto his hand,

The stain of thine own kindly blood,
The blood of Ethert Brand."

Then forward stepp'd she, Alice Brand,
And made the holy sign,-

"And if there's blood on Richard's hand,
A spotless hand is mine.

"And I conjure thee, demon elf,

By him who demons fear,

To show us whence thou art thyself,
And what thine errand here ?"-

XV.

BALLAD CONTINUED.

""Tis merry, 'tis merry in fairy land,

When fairy birds are singing,

When the court doth ride by their monarch's side,

With bit and bridle ringing:

"And gayly shines the fairy land

But all is glistening show,

Like the idle gleam that December's beam

Can dart on ice and snow.

"And fading like that varied gleam,
Is our inconstant shape,

Who now like knight and lady seem,
And now like dwarf and ape.

"It was between the night and day,
When the fairy king has power,
That I sunk down in a sinful fray,
And, 'twixt life and death, was snatch'd away
To the joyless elfin bower.

"But wist I of a woman bold,

Who thrice my brow durst sign, I might regain my mortal mould, As fair a form as thine."

She cross'd him once, she cross'd him twiceThat lady was so brave;

The fouler grew his goblin hue,

The darker grew the cave.

She cross'd him thrice, that lady bold;
He rose beneath her hand

The fairest knight on Scottish mould,
Her brother, Ethert Brand!
Merry it is in good green wood,

When the mavis and merle are singing;
But merrier were they in Dunfermline gray
When all the bells were ringing.

XVI.

Just as the minstrel sounds were stay'd,
A stranger climb'd the steepy glade;
His martial step, his stately mien,

His hunting suit of Lincoln green,
His eagle glance, remembrance claims-

'Tis Snowdoun's knight, 'tis James Fitz-James. Ellen beheld as in a dream,

Then, starting, scarce suppress'd a scream:
"O stranger! in such hour of fear,
What evil hap has brought thee here ?"

"An evil hap! how can it be,

That bids me look again on thee?

By promise bound, my former guide
Met me betimes this morning tide,
And marshall'd, over bank and bourne,
The happy path of my return."—
"The happy path!-what! said he naught
Of war, of battle to be fought,

Of guarded pass ?"-" No, by my faith!
Nor saw I aught could augur scathe."
"O! haste thee, Allan, to the kern,-
Yonder his tartans I discern;

Learn thou his purpose, and conjure
That he will guide the stranger sure!-
What prompted thee, unhappy man?
The meanest serf in Roderick's clan
Had not been bribed by love or fear,
Unknown to him, to guide thee here."-

XVII.

"Sweet Ellen, dear my life must be, Since it is worthy care from thee;

Yet life I hold but idle breath,

When love or honour's weigh'd with death. Then let me profit by my chance,

And speak my purpose bold at once.

I come to bear thee from a wild,

Where ne'er before such blossom smiled;

By this soft hand to lead thee far
From frantic scenes of feud and war.

Near Bochastle my horses wait,
They bear us soon to Stirling gate:

I'll place thee in a lovely bower,

I'll guard thee like a tender flower-
"O, hush, sir knight! 'twere female art
To say I do not read thy heart;
Too much, before, my selfish ear
Was idly soothed my praise to hear.
That fatal bait hath lured thee back,
In deathful hour, o'er dangerous track!
And how, O how, can I atone

The wreck my vanity brought on ;-
One way remains-I'll tell him all-
Yes! struggling bosom, forth it shall!
Thou, whose light folly bears the blame,
Buy thine own pardon with thy shame!
But first-my father is a man
Outlaw'd and exiled, under ban;
The price of blood is on his head,
With me 'twere infamy to wed.--

Still wouldst thou speak?-then hear the truth:
Fitz-James, there is a noble youth-

If yet he is!-exposed for me
And mine to dread extremity-
Thou hast the secret of my heart;
Forgive, be generous, and depart."

XVIII.

Fitz-James knew every wily train
A lady's fickle heart to gain,

But here he knew and felt them vain.
There shot no glance from Ellen's eye,
To give her steadfast speech the lie;
In maiden confidence she stood,
Though mantled in her cheek the blood,
And told her love with such a sigh
Of deep and hopeless agony,
As death had seal'd her Malcolm's doom,
And she sat sorrowing on his tomb.
Hope vanish'd from Fitz-James's eye,
But not with hope fled sympathy.
He proffer'd to attend her side,
As brother would a sister guide.-

"O little know'st thou Roderick's heart! Safer for both we go apart.

O haste thee, and from Allan learn,
If thou may'st trust yon wily kern."-

With hand upon his forehead laid,
The conflict of his mind to shade,
A parting step or two he made;

Then, as some thought had cross'd his brain
He paused, and turn'd, and came again.

XIX.

"Hear, lady, yet, a parting word!-
It chanced in fight that my poor sword
Preserved the life of Scotland's lord.
This ring the grateful monarch gave,
And bade, when I had boon to crave,
To bring it back, and boldly claim
The recompense that I would name.
Ellen, I am no courtly lord,

But one who lives by lance and sword,
Whose castle is his helm and shield,
His lordship the embattled field.
What from a prince can I demand,
Who neither reck of state nor land?

Ellen, thy hand-the ring is thine;
Each guard and usher knows the sign.
Seek thou the king without delay;
This signet shall secure thy way;
And claim thy suit, whate'er it be,
As ransom of his pledge to me.' ""
He placed the golden circlet on,
Paused-kiss'd her hand-and then was gone.
The aged minstrel stood aghast,

So hastily Fitz-James shot past.
He join'd his guide, and wending down
The ridges of the mountain brown,
Across the stream they took their way,
That joins Loch-Katrine to Achray.

XX.

All in the Trosach's glen was still,
Noontide was sleeping on the hill:
Sudden his guide whoop'd loud and high-
"Murdoch was that a signal cry?"
He stammer'd forth,-"I shout to scare
Yon raven from his dainty fare."

He look'd-he knew the raven's prey,
His own brave steed:-"Ah! gallant gray!
For thee-for me, perchance-'twere well
We ne'er had left the Trosach's dell.
Murdoch, move first-but silently;
Whistle or whoop, and thou shalt die."
Jealous and sullen on they fared,
Each silent, each upon his guard.

XXI.

Now wound the path its dizzy ledge
Around a precipice's edge.

When lo! a wasted female form,
Blighted by wrath of sun and storm,
In tatter'd weeds and wild array,
Stood on a cliff beside the way,
And glancing round her restless eye,
Upon the wood, the rock, the sky,
Seem'd naught to mark, yet all to spy.
Her brow was wreath'd with gaudy broom;
With gesture wild she waved a plume
Of feathers, which the eagles fling

To crag and cliff from dusky wing;
Such spoils her desperate step had sought,
Where scarce was footing for the goat.
The tartan plaid she first descried,
And shriek'd till all the rocks replied;

As loud she laugh'd when near they drew,
For then the lowland garb she knew;
And then her hands she wildly wrung,
And then she wept, and then she sung.-
She sung-the voice, in better time,
Perchance to harp or lute might chime;
And now, though strain'd and roughen'd, stil.
Rung wildly sweet to dale and hill.

XXII. SONG.

"They bid me sleep, they bid me pray, They say my brain is warp'd and wrung

I cannot sleep on highland brae,

I cannot pray in highland tongue. But were I now where Allan glides, Or heard my native Devan's tides,

So sweetly would I rest, and pray
That heaven would close my wintry day!

"Twas thus my hair they bade me braid,
They bade me to the church repair;
It was my bridal morn, they said,

And my truelove would meet me there. But wo betide the cruel guile,

That drown'd in blood the morning smile!
And wo betide the fairy dream!
I only waked to sob and scream."

XXIII.

"Who is this maid? what means her lay?
She hovers o'er the hollow way,
And flutters wide her mantle gray,
As the lone heron spreads his wing,
By twilight, o'er a haunted spring."
"Tis Blanche of Devan," Murdoch said,
"A crazed and captive lowland maid,
Ta'en on the morn she was a bride,
When Roderick foray'd Devan side:
The gay bridegroom resistance made,
And felt our chief's unconquer'd blade.
I marvel she is now at large,

But oft she 'scapes from Maudlin's charge.
Hence, brain-sick fool!"-He raised his bow:
"Now, if thou strik'st her but one blow,
I'll pitch thee from the cliff as far
As ever peasant pitch'd a bar."
"Thanks, champion, thanks !" the maniac cried,
And press'd her to Fitz-James's side.
"See the gray pennons I prepare,
To seek my true love through the air!
I will not lend that savage groom,
To break his fall, one downy plume!
No!-deep among disjointed stones
The wolves shall batten on his bones,
And then shall his detested plaid,
By bush and brier in mid air stay'd,
Wave forth a banner fair and free,
Meet signal for their revelry."

XXIV.

"Hush thee, poor maiden, and be still!"
"O! thou look'st kindly, and I will.
Mine eye has dried and wasted been,
But still it loves the Lincoln green;
And though mine ear is all unstrung,
Still, still it loves the lowland tongue.
"For O, my sweet William was forester true,
He stole poor Blanche's heart away!
His coat it was all of the green wood hue,
And so blithely he trill'd the lowland lay!

"It was not that I meant to tell-
But thou art wise, and guessest well."
Then, in a low and broken tone,
And hurried note, the song went on.
Still on the clansman, fearfully,
She fix'd her apprehensive eye;
Then turn'd it on the knight, and then
Her look glanced wildly o'er the glen.

XXV

"The toils are pitch'd, and the stakes are set, Ever sing merrily, merrily;

The bows they bend, and the knives they whet Hunters live so cheerily.

"It was a stag, a stag of ten,*

Bearing his branches sturdily; He came stately down the glen, Ever sing hardily, hardily.

"It was there he met with a wounded doe, She was bleeding deathfully;

She warn'd him of the toils below,

O, so faithfully, faithfully!

"He had an eye and he could heed,
Ever sing warily, warily;
He had a foot and he could speed-
Hunters watch so narrowly."

XXVI.

Fitz-James's mind was passion-toss'd
When Ellen's hints and fears were lost;
But Murdoch's shout suspicion wrought,
And Blanche's song conviction brought.-
Not like a stag that spies the snare,
But lion of the hunt aware,

He waved at once his blade on high,
"Disclose thy treachery, or die !"—
Forth at full speed the clansman flew,
But in his race his bow he drew:
The shaft just grazed Fitz-James's crest,
And thrill'd in Blanche's faded breast.-
Murdoch of Alpine, prove thy speed,
For ne'er had Alpine's son such need!
With heart of fire and foot of wind,
The fierce avenger is behind!
Fate judges of the rapid strife-
The forfeit death-the prize is life!
Thy kindred ambush lies before,

Close couch'd upon the heathery moor;
Them couldst thou reach!-it may not be-
Thine ambush'd kin thou ne'er shalt see,
The fiery Saxon gains on thee !
-Resistless speeds the deadly thrust,
As lightning strikes the pine to dust;
With foot and hand Fitz-James must strain,
Ere he can win his blade again.
Bent o'er the fallen, with falcon eye,
He grimly smiled to see him die ;
Then slower wended back his way,
Where the poor maiden bleeding lay.

XXVII.

She sate beneath the birchen tree,
Her elbow resting on her knee;
She had withdrawn the fatal shaft,
And gazed on it and feebly laughed;
Her wreath of broom and feathers gray,
Daggled with blood, beside her lay.

The knight to stanch the life-stream tried :-
"Stranger, it is in vain !" she cried,
"This hour of death has given me more
Of reason's power than years before;
For, as these ebbing veins decay,
My frenzied visions fade away.

* Having ten branches on his antlers.

A helpless injured wretch I die,

And something tells me in thine eye,
That thou wert my avenger born.

Seest thou this tress ?"-O! still I've worn
This little tress of yellow hair,
Through danger, frenzy, and despair!
It once was bright and clear as thine,
But blood and tears have dimm'd its shine.
I will not tell thee when 'twas shred,
Nor from what guiltless victim's head-
My brain would turn !-but it shall wave
Like plumage on thy helmet brave,
Till sun and wind shall bleach the stain,
And thou wilt bring it me again.-
I waver still. O God! more bright
Let reason beam her parting light!
O! by thy knighthood's honour'd sign,
And for thy life preserved by mine,
When thou shalt see a darksome man,
Who boasts him chief of Alpine's clan,
With tartans broad and shadowy plume,
And hand of blood, and brow of gloom
Be thy heart bold, thy weapon strong,
And wreak poor Blanche of Devan's wrong!
They watch for thee by pass and fell-
Avoid the path-O God!-farewell!"

XXVIII.

A kindly heart had brave Fitz-James;
Fast pour'd his eye at pity's claims,
And now, with mingled grief and ire,
He saw the murder'd maid expire.
"God, in my need, be my relief,
As I wreak this on yonder chief!"
A lock from Blanche's tresses fair
He blended with her bridegroom's hair;
The mingled braid in blood he died,
And placed it on his bonnet side;
"By him whose word is truth! I swear
No other favour will I wear,
Till this sad token I imbrue

In the best blood of Roderick Dhu!

-But hark! what means yon faint halloo ?
The chase is up-but they shall know,
The stag at bay's a dangerous foe."
Barr'd from the known but guarded way,
Through copse and cliffs Fitz-James must stray,
And oft must change his desperate track,
By stream and precipice turn'd back.
Heartless, fatigued, and faint, at length,
From lack of food and loss of strength,
He couch'd him in a thicket hoar,
And thought his toils and perils o'er :
"Of all my rash adventures past,
This frantic feat must prove the last!
Who e'er so mad but might have guess'd,
That all this highland hornet's nest
Would muster up in swarms so soon
As e'er they heard of bands at Doune ?
Like bloodhounds now they search me out.-
Hark to the whistle and the shout!
If farther through the wilds I go,
I only fall upon the foe;

I'll couch me here till evening gray,
Then darkling try my dangerous way."-

XXIX.

The shades of eve come slowly down,
The woods are wrapp'd in deeper brown,
The owl awakens from her dell,
The fox is heard upon the fell;
Enough remains of glimmering light,
To guide the wanderer's steps aright,
Yet not enough from far to show
His figure to the watchful foe.
With cautious step and ear awake,
He climbs the crag, and threads the brake;
And not the summer solstice there,
Temper'd the midnight mountain air,
But every breeze that swept the wold,
Benumb'd his drenched limbs with cold.
In dread, in danger, and alone,

Famish'd and chill'd, through ways unknown,
Tangled and steep, he journey'd on;
Till, as a rock's huge point he turn'd,
A watch-fire close beside him burn'd.

XXX.

Beside its embers red and clear, Bask'd in his plaid, a mountaineer; And up he sprung with sword in hand"Thy name and purpose! Saxon, stand!" "A stranger."-"What dost thou require?" "Rest and a guide, and food and fire. My life's beset, my path is lost,

The gale has chill'd my limbs with frost." "Art thou a friend to Roderick ?"-"No.""Thou dar'st not call thyself a foe?"

"I dare! to him and all the band
He brings to aid his murderous hand."
"Bold words!-but, though the beast of game
The privilege of chase may claim,
Though space and law the stag we lend,
Ere hound we slip, or bow we bend,
Who ever reck'd where, how, or when,
The prowling fox was trapp'd and slain?
Thus treacherous scouts ;-yet sure they lie,
Who say thou cam'st a secret spy!"-

66 They do, by heaven !-Come Roderick Dhu, And of his clan the boldest two,

And let me but till morning rest,

I write the falsehood on their crest."-
"If by the blaze I mark aright,
Thou bear'st the belt and spur of knight."
"Then by these tokens may'st thou know
Each proud oppressor's mortal foe."

Enough, enough; sit down and share A soldier's couch, a soldier's fare."

XXXI.

He gave him of his highland cheer,
The harden'd flesh of mountain deer;
Dry fuel on the fire he laid,

And bade the Saxon share his plaid.
He tended him like welcome guest,
Then thus his further speech address'd.
"Stranger, I am to Roderick Dhu
A clansman born, a kinsman true;
Each word against his honour spoke
Demands of me avenging stroke;