Page:Marmion - Walter Scott (ed. Bayne, 1889).pdf/143

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INTRODUCTION TO CANTO FIFTH.
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For fosse and turret proud to stand,Their breasts the bulwarks of the land.Thy thousands, train'd to martial toil,Full red would stain their native soil,105Ere from thy mural crown there fellThe slightest knosp, or pinnacle.And if it come,—as come it may,Dun-Edin! that eventful day,—Renown'd for hospitable deed,110That virtue much with Heaven may plead,In patriarchal times whose careDescending angels deign'd to share;That claim may wrestle blessings downOn those who fight for The Good Town,115Destined in every age to beRefuge of injured royalty;Since first, when conquering York arose,To Henry meek she gave repose,Till late, with wonder, grief, and awe,120Great Bourbon's relics, sad she saw.
 Truce to these thoughts!--for, as they rise,How gladly I avert mine eyes,Bodings, or true or false, to change,For Fiction's fair romantic range,125Or for Tradition's dubious light,That hovers 'twixt the day and night:Dazzling alternately and dimHer wavering lamp I'd rather trim,Knights, squires, and lovely dames, to see,130Creation of my fantasy,Than gaze abroad on reeky fen,And make of mists invading men.—Who loves not more the night of JuneThan dull December's gloomy noon?135The moonlight than the fog of frost?But can we say, which cheats the most?
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