Page:Marmion - Walter Scott (ed. Bayne, 1889).pdf/76

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MARMION.
And with the sea-wave and the wind,Their voices, sweetly shrill, combined, And made harmonious close;Then, answering from the sandy shore,200Half-drown'd amid the breakers' roar, According chorus rose:Down to the haven of the Isle,The monks and nuns in order file, From Cuthbert's cloisters grim;205Banner, and cross, and relics there,To meet Saint Hilda's maids, they bare;And, as they caught the sounds on air, They echoed back the hymn.The islanders, in joyous mood,210Rush'd emulously through the flood, To hale the bark to land;Conspicuous by her veil and hood,Signing the cross, the Abbess stood, And bless'd them with her hand.
XII.215Suppose we now the welcome said,Suppose the Convent banquet made: All through the holy dome,Through cloister, aisle, and gallery,Wherever vestal maid might pry,220No risk to meet unhallow'd eye, The stranger sisters roam:Till fell the evening damp with dew,And the sharp sea-breeze coldly blew,For there, even summer night is chill.225Then, having stray'd and gazed their fill, They closed around the fire;And all, in turn, essay'd to paintThe rival merits of their saint, A theme that ne'er can tire230A holy maid; for, be it known,That their saint's honour is their own.
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