Page:Marmion - Walter Scott (ed. Bayne, 1889).pdf/95

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INTRODUCTION TO CANTO THIRD.
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Whose eye, in age, quick, clear, and keen,215Show'd what in youth its glance had been;Whose doom discording neighbours sought,Content with equity unbought;To him the venerable Priest,Our frequent and familiar guest,220Whose life and manners well could paintAlike the student and the saint;Alas! whose speech too oft I brokeWith gambol rude and timeless joke:For I was wayward, bold, and wild,225A self-will'd imp, a grandame's child;But half a plague, and half a jest,Was still endured, beloved, caress'd.
 From me, thus nurtured, dost thou askThe classic poet's well-conn'd task?230Nay, Erskine, nay—On the wild hillLet the wild heath-bell flourish still;Cherish the tulip, prune the vine,But freely let the woodbine twine,And leave untrimm'd the eglantine:235Nay, my friend, nay—Since oft thy praiseHath given fresh vigour to my lays;Since oft thy judgment could refineMy flatten'd thought, or cumbrous line;Still kind, as is thy wont, attend,240And in the minstrel spare the friend.Though wild as cloud, as stream, as gale,Flow forth, flow unrestrain'd, my Tale!
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