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Tales from Scottish History in Prose and Verse
Tales from Scottish History in Prose and Verse Author:William James Rolfe Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE HEART OF THE BRUCE. By William Edmondstoune Avtoun. It was upon an April morn, While yet the frost lay hoar, We heard Lord James's bugle-horn Soun... more »d by the rocky shore. Then down we went, a hundred knights, 5 All in our dark array, And flung our armor in the ships That rode within the bay. We spoke not as the shore grew less, But gazed in silence back, so Where the long billows swept away The foam behind our track. And aye the purple hues decayed Upon the fading hill, And but one heart in all that ship 15 Was tranquil, cold, and still. The good Lord Douglas paced the deck— O, but his face was wan ! Unlike the flush it used to wear When in the battle-van. 20 "Come hither, I pray, my trusty knight, Sir Simon of the Lee ; There is a freit' lies near my soul I needs must tell to thee. 1 Superstitious notion, presentiment (pronounced frcet). " Thou know'st the words King Robert spoke 25 Upon his dying day: How he bade me take his noble heart And carry it far away, "And lay it in the holy soil Where once the Saviour trod, 30 Since he might not bear the blessed Cross Nor strike one blow for God. "Last night as in my bed I lay, I dreamed a dreary dream : Methought I saw a Pilgrim stand 35 In the moonlight's quivering beam. " His robe was of the azure dye, Snow-white his scattered hairs, And even such a cross he bore As good Saint Andrew bears. 4 "'Why go ye forth, Lord James,' he said, 'With spear and belted brand?1 Why do you take its dearest pledge From this our Scottish land? "'The sultry breeze of Galilee 45 Creeps through its groves of palm, The olives on the Holy Mount Stand glittering in the calm. " ' But't is not there that Scotland's heart Shall rest by...« less