Page:Marmion - Walter Scott (ed. Bayne, 1889).pdf/99
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CANTO III.
69
Thus whispered forth his mind:—'Saint Mary! saw'st thou e'er such sight?100How pale his cheek, his eye how bright,Whene'er the firebrand's fickle light Glances beneath his cowl!Full on our Lord he sets his eye;For his best palfrey, would not I105 Endure that sullen scowl.'
VII.But Marmion, as to chase the aweWhich thus had quell'd their hearts, who sawThe ever-varying fire-light showThat figure stern and face of woe,110 Now call'd upon a squire:—'Fitz-Eustace, know'st thou not some lay,To speed the lingering night away? We slumber by the fire.'—
VIII.'So please you,' thus the youth rejoin'd,115'Our choicest minstrel's left behind.Ill may we hope to please your ear,Accustom'd Constant's strains to hear.The harp full deftly can he strike,And wake the lover's lute alike;120To dear Saint Valentine, no thrushSings livelier from a spring-tide bush,No nightingale her love-lorn tuneMore sweetly warbles to the moon.Woe to the cause, whate'er it be,125Detains from us his melody,Lavish'd on rocks, and billows stern,Or duller monks of Lindisfarne.Now must I venture as I may,To sing his favourite roundelay.'
IX.130A mellow voice Fitz-Eustace had,The air he chose was wild and sad;