From “The Lay of the Last Minstrel,” Canto II.
IF thou wouldst view fair Melrose aright,
Go visit it by the pale moonlight;
For the gay beams of lightsome day
Gild, but to flout, the ruins gray.
When the broken arches are black in night,
And each...
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From “Marmion,” Introduction to Canto VI.
HEAP on more wood!—the wind is chill;
But, let it whistle as it will,
We ’ll keep our Christmas merry still.
Each age has deemed the new-born year
The fittest time for festal cheer:
Even, heathen yet, the...
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From “Marmion,” Canto VI.
NOT far advanced was morning day,
When Marmion did his troops array
To Surrey’s camp to ride;
He had safe-conduct for his band,
Beneath the royal seal and hand,
And Douglas gave a guide:
The ancient Earl, with...
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From “The Lady of the Lake,” Canto V.
“I AM by promise tried
To match me with this man of pride:
Twice have I sought Clan-Alpine’s glen
In peace; but when I come again,
I come with banner, brand, and bow,
As leader seek this mortal...
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From “The Lady of the Lake,” Canto VI.
A FOOTSTEP struck her ear,
And Snowdoun’s graceful Knight was near.
She turned the hastier, lest again
The prisoner should renew his strain.
“O welcome, brave Fitz-James!” she said;
“How may an almost...
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From “The Lay of the Last Minstrel,” Canto VI.
O CALEDONIA! stern and 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...
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March, march, Ettrick and Teviotdale!
Why the de’il dinna ye march forward in order?
March, march, Eskdale and Liddesdale!
All the Blue Bonnets are over the Border!
Many a banner spread
Flutters above your head,
Many a crest...
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From “The Lady of the Lake,” Canto II.
LOUD a hundred clansmen raise
Their voices in their chieftain’s praise.
Each boatman, bending to his oar,
With measured sweep the burthen bore,
In such wild cadence, as the breeze
Makes through...
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[1411]
From “The Lady of the Lake,” Canto VI.
THERE is no breeze upon the fern,
No ripple on the lake,
Upon her eyrie nods the erne,
The deer has sought the brake;
The small birds will not sing aloud,
The springing trout lies still,...
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[1431]
pibroch of Donuil Dhu, 1
Pibroch of Donuil,
Wake thy wild voice anew,
Summon Clan Conuil.
Come away, come away,
Hark to the summons!
Come in your war array,
Gentles and commons.
Come from deep glen, and...
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