The poetical works of Sir Walter Scott, with memoir of the author.

162 THE LAY OF [CANTO V.
And you might hear, from Branksome hill,
No sound but Teviot's rushing tide;
Save when the changing sentinel
The challenge of his watch could tell;
And save, where, through the dark profound,
The clanging axe and hammer's sound
Rung from the nether lawn;
For many a busy hand toil'd there,
Strong pales to shape, and beams to square,'
The list's dread barriers to prepare
Against the morrow's dawn.
Margaret from hall did soon retreat,
Despite the Dame's reproving eye;
Nor mark'd she, as she left her seat,
Full many a stifled sigh;
For many a noble warrior strove
To win the flower of Teviot's love,
And many a bold ally.With throbbing head and anxious heart,
All in her lonely bower apart,
In broken sleep she lay:
By times, from silken couch she rose;
While yet the banner'd hosts repose,
She view'd the dawning day:
-Of all the hundreds sunk to rest,
First woke the loveliest and the best.
1 [This line is not in the first Edition.]