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

CAo lTO V LAST MIN8TREI
" Ye English warden lords, of you
Demands the Ladye of Buccleuch,
Why,'gainst the truce of Border-tide,
In hostile guise ye dare to ride,
With Kendal- bow, and'Gilsland brand,
And all your mercenary band,
Upon the bounds of fair Scotland?
My Ladye reads you swith return;
And, if but one poor straw you burn,
Or do our towers so much molest,
As scare one swallow from her nest,
St Mary! but we'll light a brand,
Shall warm your hearths in CumberlanVd?
A watchful man was Dacre's lord,
iBut calmer Howard took the word: —
"May't please thy Dame, Sir Seneschal,
To seek the castle's outward wall;
Our pursuivant-at-arms shall show,
Both why we came, and when we go."
The message sped, the noble Dame
To the walls' outward circle came;
Each chief around leaned on his spear,
To see the persuivant appear.
All in Lord Howard's livery dressed,
The lion argent decked his breast;
lHe led a boy of blooming hueO sight to meet a mother's view!
It was the heir of great Buccleuch.
Obeisance meet the herald made,
And thus his master's will he said.
XXL
It irks, high Dame, my noble Lords,'Gainst ladye fair to draw their swords:
But yet they may not tamely see,
All through the western wardenry,
Your law-contemning kinsmen ride,
And burn and spoil the Border-side;
And ill beseems your rank and birth
To make your towers a flemens-firth'
An asylum for outlaws.