The poetical works of Sir Walter Scott ... Notes & life of the author.

~ To Vtr. oWE GUARD Rono. S39
W at various scenes, and oh! what scenes of woe,
Are witnessed by that red and struggling beaml
The fevered patient, from his pallet low,
Through crowded hospital beholds it streemi
The ruined maiden trembles at its.gleam,
The debtor wakes to thoughts of gyve and jail,
The love-lorn wretch starts from tormenting
dream;.The wakeful mother, by the glimmering pale,
Trims her sick infant's couch, and soothes his
feeblewail
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At dawn the towers of Stirling rang
With soldier-step and weapon clang,
While drums, with rolling note, foretell
Relief to weary sentinel.'Through narrow loop and casement barr'd,'The sunbeams sought the Court of Guard,
And, struggling with the smoky air,
Deadened the torches' yellow glare.
In comfortless alliance shone
The lights through arch of blackened stone,
&And showed wild shapes in garb of war,
Faces deformed with beard and scar,
All haggard from the midnight watch,
And fevered with the stern debauch;
For the oak table's massive board,
Flooded with wine, with fragments stored,
iAnd beakers drained, and cups o'erthrowv,
Showed in what sport the night had flown.
Some, weary, snored on floor and bench;
Some laboured still their thirst to quench;
Some, chilled. with watching, spread their hands
O'er the huge chimney's dying brands,
While round them, or beside them flung,
At every step their harness rung.
These drew not for their fields the sword,
Like tenants of a feudal lord,
Nor owned the patriarchal claim I
Of chieftain in their leader's name
i