XXXIV.

Here did they rest. The princely care
Of Douglas, why should I declare,
Or say they met reception fair?
Or why the tidings say,

Which, varying, to Tantallon came,
By hurrying posts, or fleeter fame,
With every varying day?

And, first, they heard King James had won
Etall, and Wark, and Ford; and then,
That Norham Castle strong was ta'en.
At that sore marvell'd Marmion ;-
And Douglas hoped his Monarch's hand
Would soon subdue Northumberland:

But whisper'd news there came,
That, while his host inactive lay,

And melted by degrees away,

King James was dallying off the day

With Heron's wily dame.

bridle the lords and barons, who inclined to the reformed faith, and to secure by citadels the sea-coast of the Frith of Forth. For this purpose, the Regent, to use the phrase of the time, "dealed with" the (then) Earl of Angus for his consent to the proposed measure. He occupied himself, while she was speaking, in feeding a falcon which sat upon his wrist, and only replied by addressing the bird, but leaving the Queen to make the application, "The devil is in this greedy gled-she will never be fou." But when the Queen, without appearing to notice this hint, continued to press her obnoxious request, Angus replied in the true spirit of a feudal noble, “Yes. Madam, the castle is yours; God forbid else. But by the might of God. Madam!" such was his usual oath, "I must be your Captain and Keeper for you, and I will keep it as well as any you can place there."-Sir Walter Scott's Provincial Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 167.

Such acts to chronicles I yield;

Go seek them there, and see: Mine is a tale of Flodden Field,

And not a history.

At length they heard the Scottish host
On that high ridge had made their post,
Which frowns o'er Millfield Plain;
And that brave Surrey many a band
Had gather'd in the Southern land,
And march'd into Northumberland,
And camp at Wooler ta'en.
Marmion, like charger in the stall,
That hears, without, the trumpet-call,
Began to chafe, and swear :-
"A sorry thing to hide my head
In castle, like a fearful maid,
When such a field is near.

Needs must I see this battle-day :
Death to my fame if such a fray
Were fought, and Marmion away!
The Douglas, too, I wot not why,
Hath 'bated of his courtesy:
No longer in his halls I'll stay."
Then bade his band they should array
For march against the dawning day.

Introduction to Canto Sixth.