Beneath, when that was blown aside, By Archibald won in bloody work, Old Cheviot forth, the Earl's best steed; I heard the Sheriff Sholto say, To use him on the battle-day; But he preferr'd"-"Nay, Henry, cease! -Thou sworn horse-courser, hold thy peace.Eustace, thou bear'st a brain-I pray, What did Blount see at break of day?"— XVII. "In brief, my lord, we both descried Upon the Earl's own favourite steed: Lord Angus wish'd him speed."The instant that Fitz-Eustace spoke, A sudden light on Marmion broke ; 1 His eldest son, the Master of Angus. "Ah! dastard fool, to reason lost!" He mutter'd;"'Twas nor fay nor ghost I met upon the moonlight wold, But living man of earthly mould. O dotage blind and gross! Had I but fought as wont, one thrust Had laid De Wilton in the dust, My path no more to cross.— How stand we now?-he told his tale 'Twas therefore gloom'd his rugged brow.— 'Gainst Marmion, charge disproved and vain? Yet Clare's sharp questions must I shun; I might have known there was but one, XVIII. Stung with these thoughts, he urged to speed This was a Cistertian house of religion, now almost entirely demolished. It is situated near Coldstream, almost opposite to Cornhill, and consequently very near to Flodden Field. (There now is left but one frail arch, Yet mourn thou not its cells; A reverend pilgrim dwells, Well worth the whole Bernardine brood, Long Marmion look'd:-at length his eye Amid the shifting lines: The Scottish host drawn out appears, The eastern sunbeam shines. Even so it was. From Flodden ridge And heedful watch'd them as they cross'd 1 On the evening previous to the memorable battle of Flodden, Surrey's head-quarters were at Barmoor Wood, and King James held an inaccessible position on the ridge of Flodden-hill, one of the last and lowest eminences detached from the ridge of Cheviot. The Till, a deep and slow river, winded High sight it is, and haughty, while By rock, by oak, by hawthorn-tree, Still pouring down the rocky den, Where flows the sullen Till, And rising from the dim-wood glen, between the armies. On the morning of the 9th September 1513, Surrey marched in a north-westerly direction, and crossed the Till, with his van and artillery, at Twisel-bridge, nigh where that river joins the Tweed, his rearguard column passing about a mile higher, by a ford. This movement had the double effect of placing his army between King James and his supplies from Scotland, and of striking the Scottish monarch with surprise, as he seems to have relied on the depth of the river in his front. But as the passage, both over the bridge and through the ford, was difficult and slow, it seems possible that the English might have been attacked to great advantage while struggling with these natural obstacles. I know not if we are to impute James's forbearance to want of military skill, or to the romantic declaration which Pitscottie puts in his mouth, "that he was determined to have his enemies before him on a plain field," and therefore would suffer no interruption to be given, even by artillery, to their passing the river. The ancient bridge of Twisel, by which the English crossed the Till, is still standing beneath Twisel Castle, a splendid pile of Gothic architecture, as now rebuilt by Sir Francis Blake, Bart., whose extensive plantations have so much improved the country around. The glen is romantic and delightful, with steep banks on each side, covered with copse, particularly with hawthorn. Beneath a tall rock, near the bridge, is a plentiful fountain, called St. Helen's Well. |