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

LKOEBY. UANo V.
And Rokeby's Maiden will not part
From Rokeby's hall with moody e;lart.
This night at least, for Rokeby's fale,
The hospitable hearth shall flame,
And, ere its native heir retire,
Find for the wand'rer rest and fire,
While this poor harper, by the blaze,
Recounts the tale of other days.
Bid Harpool ope the door with speed,
Admit him, and relieve each need.Meantime, kind Wycliffe, wilt thou try
Thy minstrel skill?-Nay, no replyAnd look not sad!-I guess thy thought,
Thy verse with laurels would be bought;
And poor Matilda, landless now,
Has not a garland for thy brow.
True, 1 must leave sweet Rokeby's glades,
Nor wander more in Greta shades;
But sure, no rigid jailer, thou
Wilt a short prison walk allow,
Where summer flow'rs grow wild at will,
On Marwood-chase and Toller Hill;
Then holly green and lily gay
Shall twine in guerdon of thy lay."
The mournful youth, a space aside,
To tune Matilda's harp applied;
And then a low sad descant rung,
As prelude to the lay he sumng.
XIIL
SONG.
THE CYPRESS WREATH.
O, Lady, twine no wreath for me,
Or twine it of the cypress-tree!
Too lively glow the lilies light,
The varnish'd holly's all too bright,
The May-flow'r and the eglantine
May shade a brow less sad than mine;
But, Lady, weave no wreath for me,
Or weave it of the cypress-tree!
Let dimpledMirth his temples twine
With tendrils of the laughing vine;
The manly oak, the pensive yew,
To patriot and to sage be due;
The myrtle bouah bids lovers live,
But that Matilda will not give;!..~ _~___ ____ _________-I__ --