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

LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL.
L
THE feast was over in Branksome tower,
And the Ladye had gone to her secret bower;
Her bower, that was guarded by word and by spell,
Deadly to hear, and deadly to tellJesu Maria, shield us well!
No living wight, save the Ladye alone,
Had dared to cross the threshold stone.
IL
The tables were drawn, it was idlesse all,
Knight, and page, and household squires
Loitered through the lofty hall,
Or crowded round the ample fire.
The stag-hounds, weary with the chase,
Lay stretched upon the rushy floor,
And urged, in dreams, the fobrest race,
From Teviot-stone to Eskdale-moor.
IIL
Nine-and-twenty knights of ftme
Hung their shields in Branksome Hall;
Nine-and-twenty squires of name
Brought them their steeds from bower to stall
Nine-and-twenty yeomen tall
Waited, duteous, on them all:
They were all knights of mettle true,
Kinsmen to the bold Buccleuch,'V.
Ten of them were sheathed in steel,
With belted sword, and spur on heel;