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

138 HAROLD THE DAUNTLESS. [CANTO I.
Thine outrage insane I command thee to cease,
Fear my wrath and remain at peace:Just is the debt of repentance I've paid,
Richly the church has a recompense made,
And the truth of her doctrines I prove with my
blade.
But reckoning to none of my actions I owe,
And least to my son such accounting will show.
Why speak I to thee of repentance or truth,
Who ne'er from thy childhood knew reason or
ruth?
Hence! to the wolf and the bear in her den;
These are thy mates, and not rational men."
XI.
Grimly smiled Harold, and coldly replied,
"We must honour our sires, if we fear when
they. chide.
For me, I am yet what thy lessons have made,
I was rocked in a buckler and fed from a blade;
An infant, was taught to clasp hands and to shout,
From the roofs of the tower when the flame had
broke out;
In the blood of slain foemen my finger to dip,
And tinge with its purple my cheek and my lip.'Tis thou know'st not truth, that hast barter'd in
eld,
For a price, the brave faith that thine ancestors
held.
When this wolf,"-and the carcass he flung on
the plain,