Part 4 (2/2)

Ah, happy boys! such feelings pure, 120 They will not, cannot long endure; Condemn'd to stem the world's rude tide, You may not linger by the side; For Fate shall thrust you from the sh.o.r.e, And pa.s.sion ply the sail and oar. 125 Yet cherish the remembrance still, Of the lone mountain, and the rill; For trust, dear boys, the time will come, When fiercer transport shall be dumb, And you will think right frequently, 130 But, well I hope, without a sigh, On the free hours that we have spent, Together, on the brown hill's bent.

When, musing on companions gone, We doubly feel ourselves alone, 135 Something, my friend, we yet may gain, There is a pleasure in this pain: It soothes the love of lonely rest, Deep in each gentler heart impress'd.

'Tis silent amid worldly toils, 140 And stifled soon by mental broils; But, in a bosom thus prepared, Its still small voice is often heard, Whispering a mingled sentiment, 'Twixt resignation and content. 145 Oft in my mind such thoughts awake, By lone Saint Mary's silent lake; Thou know'st it well,--nor fen, nor sedge, Pollute the pure lake's crystal edge; Abrupt and sheer, the mountains sink 150 At once upon the level brink; And just a trace of silver sand Marks where the water meets the land.

Far in the mirror, bright and blue, Each hill's huge outline you may view; 155 s.h.a.ggy with heath, but lonely bare, Nor tree, nor bush, nor brake, is there, Save where, of land, yon slender line Bears thwart the lake the scatter'd pine.

Yet even this nakedness has power, 160 And aids the feeling of the hour: Nor thicket, dell, nor copse you spy, Where living thing conceal'd might lie; Nor point, retiring, hides a dell, Where swain, or woodman lone, might dwell; 165 There's nothing left to fancy's guess, You see that all is loneliness: And silence aids--though the steep hills Send to the lake a thousand rills; In summer tide, so soft they weep, 170 The sound but lulls the ear asleep; Your horse's hoof-tread sounds too rude, So stilly is the solitude.

Nought living meets the eye or ear, But well I ween the dead are near; 175 For though, in feudal strife, a foe Hath laid Our Lady's chapel low, Yet still, beneath the hallow'd soil, The peasant rests him from his toil, And, dying, bids his bones be laid, 180 Where erst his simple fathers pray'd.

If age had tamed the pa.s.sions' strife, And fate had cut my ties to life, Here have I thought, 'twere sweet to dwell, And rear again the chaplain's cell, 185 Like that same peaceful hermitage, Where Milton long'd to spend his age.

'Twere sweet to mark the setting day, On Bourhope's lonely top decay; And, as it faint and feeble died 190 On the broad lake, and mountain's side, To say, 'Thus pleasures fade away; Youth, talents, beauty thus decay, And leave us dark, forlorn, and grey;'

Then gaze on Dryhope's ruin'd tower, 195 And think on Yarrow's faded Flower: And when that mountain-sound I heard, Which bids us be for storm prepared, The distant rustling of his wings, As up his force the Tempest brings, 200 'Twere sweet, ere yet his terrors rave, To sit upon the Wizard's grave; That Wizard Priest's, whose bones are thrust, From company of holy dust; On which no sunbeam ever s.h.i.+nes-- 205 (So superst.i.tion's creed divines)-- Thence view the lake, with sullen roar, Heave her broad billows to the sh.o.r.e; And mark the wild-swans mount the gale, Spread wide through mist their snowy sail, 210 And ever stoop again, to lave Their bosoms on the surging wave; Then, when against the driving hail No longer might my plaid avail, Back to my lonely home retire, 215 And light my lamp, and trim my fire; There ponder o'er some mystic lay, Till the wild tale had all its sway, And, in the bittern's distant shriek, I heard unearthly voices speak, 220 And thought the Wizard Priest was come, To claim again his ancient home!

And bade my busy fancy range, To frame him fitting shape and strange, Till from the task my brow I clear'd, 225 And smiled to think that I had fear'd.

But chief, 'twere sweet to think such life, (Though but escape from fortune's strife,) Something most matchless good and wise, A great and grateful sacrifice; 230 And deem each hour, to musing given, A step upon the road to heaven.

Yet him, whose heart is ill at ease, Such peaceful solitudes displease; He loves to drown his bosom's jar 235 Amid the elemental war: And my black Palmer's choice had been Some ruder and more savage scene, Like that which frowns round dark Loch-skene.

There eagles scream from isle to sh.o.r.e; 240 Down all the rocks the torrents roar; O'er the black waves incessant driven, Dark mists infect the summer heaven; Through the rude barriers of the lake, Away its hurrying waters break, 245 Faster and whiter dash and curl, Till down yon dark abyss they hurl.

Rises the fog-smoke white as snow, Thunders the viewless stream below, Diving, as if condemn'd to lave 250 Some demon's subterranean cave, Who, prison'd by enchanter's spell, Shakes the dark rock with groan and yell.

And well that Palmer's form and mien Had suited with the stormy scene, 255 Just on the edge, straining his ken To view the bottom of the den, Where, deep deep down, and far within, Toils with the rocks the roaring linn; Then, issuing forth one foamy wave, 260 And wheeling round the Giant's Grave, White as the snowy charger's tail, Drives down the pa.s.s of Moffatdale.

Marriott, thy harp, on Isis strung, To many a Border theme has rung: 265 Then list to me, and thou shalt know Of this mysterious Man of Woe.

CANTO SECOND.

THE CONVENT.

1.

THE breeze, which swept away the smoke Round Norham Castle roll'd, When all the loud artillery spoke, With lightning-flash, and thunder-stroke, As Marmion left the Hold,-- 5 It curl'd not Tweed alone, that breeze, For, far upon Northumbrian seas, It freshly blew, and strong, Where, from high Whitby's cloister'd pile, Bound to Saint Cuthbert's Holy Isle, 10 It bore a bark along.

Upon the gale she stoop'd her side, And bounded o'er the swelling tide, As she were dancing home; The merry seamen laugh'd, to see 15 Their gallant s.h.i.+p so l.u.s.tily Furrow the green sea-foam.

Much joy'd they in their honour'd freight; For, on the deck, in chair of state, The Abbess of Saint Hilda placed, 20 With five fair nuns, the galley graced.

II.

'Twas sweet, to see these holy maids, Like birds escaped to green-wood shades, Their first flight from the cage, How timid, and how curious too, 25 For all to them was strange and new, And all the common sights they view, Their wonderment engage.

One eyed the shrouds and swelling sail, With many a benedicite; 30 One at the rippling surge grew pale, And would for terror pray; Then shriek'd, because the seadog, nigh, His round black head, and sparkling eye, Rear'd o'er the foaming spray; 35 And one would still adjust her veil, Disorder'd by the summer gale, Perchance lest some more worldly eye Her dedicated charms might spy; Perchance, because such action graced 40 Her fair-turn'd arm and slender waist.

Light was each simple bosom there, Save two, who ill might pleasure share,-- The Abbess, and the Novice Clare.

III.

The Abbess was of n.o.ble blood, 45 But early took the veil and hood, Ere upon life she cast a look, Or knew the world that she forsook.

Fair too she was, and kind had been As she was fair, but ne'er had seen 50 For her a timid lover sigh, Nor knew the influence of her eye.

Love, to her ear, was but a name, Combined with vanity and shame; Her hopes, her fears, her joys, were all 55 Bounded within the cloister wall: The deadliest sin her mind could reach Was of monastic rule the breach; And her ambition's highest aim To emulate Saint Hilda's fame. 60 For this she gave her ample dower, To raise the convent's eastern tower; For this, with carving rare and quaint, She deck'd the chapel of the saint, And gave the relic-shrine of cost, 65 With ivory and gems emboss'd.

The poor her Convent's bounty blest, The pilgrim in its halls found rest.

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