but since he cannot enjoy his knowledge but by discovering it, and if he had no other motive to loquacity is obliged to traffic like the chemists, and purchase one secret with another, he is every day more hated as he is more known; for he is considered by great numbers as one that has their fame and their happiness in his power, and no man can much love him of whom he lives in fear.

Thus pass the temperate hours; but when the sun
Shakes from his noon-day throne the scattering clouds,
Even shooting listless languor through the deeps;
Then seek the bank where flowering elders crowd,
Where scatter'd wild the lily of the vale
Its balmy essence breathes, where cowslips hang
The dewy head, where purple violets lurk,
With all the lowly children of the shade:
Or lie reclin'd beneath yon spreading ash,
Hung o'er the steep; whence, borne on liquid wing,
The sounding culver shoots; or where the hawk,
High, in the beetling cliff, his eyry builds.
There let the classic page thy fancy lead
Through rural scenes; such as the Mantuan swain
Paints in the matchless harmony of song.

Or catch thyself the landscape, gliding swift
Athwart imagination's vivid eye:
Or by the vocal woods and waters lull'd,

And lost in lonely musing, in the dream,
Confus'd, of careless solitude, where mix
Ten thousand wandering images of things,
Soothe every gust of passion into peace;
All but the swellings of the soften'd heart,
That waken, not disturb, the tranquil mind.

Marmion's Departure from the Castle of Douglas.

SIR WALTER SCOTT,

THE immortal novelist and poet, was born 1776, and died September 21st, 1832, of paralysis, after a life spent in the production of more works than we can even venture to enumerate.

Not far advanced was morning day,
When Marmion did his troop array

To Surrey's camp to ride;
He had safe-conduct for his band,
Beneath the royal seal and hand,
And Douglas gave a guide:
The ancient earl, with stately grace,
Would Clara on her palfrey place,
And whispered, in an under tone,
"Let the hawk stoop,-his prey is flown!"
The train from out the castle drew;
But Marmion stopped to bid adieu:-
"Though something I might plain," he said,
"Of cold respect to stranger guest,
Sent hither by your king's behest,
While in Tantallon's towers I staid ;-
Part we in friendship from your land,
And, noble earl, receive my hand."
But Douglas round him drew his cloak,
Folded his arms, and thus he spoke :-

:

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My manors, halls, and bowers shall still
Be open at my sovereign's will,
To each one whom he lists, howe'er
Unmeet to be the owner's peer;
My castles are my king's alone,
From turret to foundation-stone,-
The hand of Douglas is his own;
And never shall in friendly grasp
The hand of such as Marmion clasp!"

Burn'd Marmion's swarthy cheek like fire,
And shook his very frame for ire,

* Complain.

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And-"This to me!" he said,--
"And 't were not for thy hoary beard,
Such hand as Marmion's had not spared
To cleave the Douglas' head!
And, first, I tell thee, haughty peer,
He who does England's message here,
Although the meanest in her state,
May well, proud Angus,* be thy mate!
And, Douglas, more I tell thee here,
Even in thy pitch of pride,
Here, in thy hold, thy vassals near
(Nay, never look upon your lord,
And lay your hands upon your sword),
I tell thee, thou 'rt defied!
And if thou said'st I am not peer
To any lord in Scotland here,
Lowland or Highland, far or near,

Lord Angus, thou hast lied!"
On the earl's cheek the flush of rage
O'ercame the ashen hue of age:
Fierce he broke forth :- And dar'st thou, then,
To beard the lion in his den,

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The Douglas in his hall?

And hopest thou hence unscathed to go?
No! by Saint Bride of Bothwell, no!-
Up drawbridge, grooms!-what, warder, ho!
Let the portcullis fall!"

Lord Marmion turn'd-well was his need!-
And dashed the rowelst in his steed.
Like arrow through the arch-way sprung,
The ponderous grate behind him rung:
To pass there was such scanty room,
The bars, descending, razed his plume.

The steed along the draw-bridge flies,
Just as it trembled on the rise;
Not lighter does the swallow skim
Along the smooth lake's level brim:

And when Lord Marmion reached his band,

He halts, and turns with clenchéd hand,

And shout of loud defiance pours,

And shook his gauntlet at the towers.

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Horse! horse!" the Douglas cried, "and chase!”

But soon he rein'd his fury's pace:
"A royal messenger he came,
Though most unworthy of the name.
A letter forged! Saint Jude to speed!
Did ever knight so foul a deed!

The Earl Douglas was Earl of Angus, a maritime country in the north

east of Scotland, now better known by the name of Forfarshire.

†The little wheel which forms the sharp points of the spur.

At first in heart it liked me ill,
When the king praised his clerkly skill.
Thanks to Saint Bothun, son of mine,
Save Gawain,* ne'er could pen a line:
So swore I, and I swear it still,
Let my boy-bishop fret his fill.

$6

Saint Mary mend my fiery mood!
Old age ne'er cools the Douglas' blood;
I thought to slay him where he stood.
'Tis pity of him, too," he cried;
"Bold can he speak, and fairly ride:
I warrant him a warrior tried."
With this his mandate he recalls,
And slowly seeks his castle's halls.

The Tournament.

SIR WALTER SCOTT.

THE Passage of Arms, as it was called, which was to take place at Ashby, in the county of Leicester, as champions of the first renown were to take the field in the presence of Prince John himself, who was expected to grace the lists,† had attracted universal attention, and an immense confluence of persons of all ranks hastened, upon the appointed morning, to the place of combat.

The scene was singularly romantic. The ground, as if fashioned on purpose for the martial display which was intended, sloped gradually down on all sides to a level bottom, which was inclosed for the lists with strong palisades, forming a space of a quarter of a mile in length, and about half as broad. At each of the portals were stationed two heralds, attended by six trumpets, as many pursuivants, and a strong body of men-at-arms, for maintaining order, and ascertaining the quality of the knights who proposed to engage in this martial game.

• Gawain was a son of Douglas, and a bishop in the church. The story of Marmion, from which this piece is extracted, is a tale of the sixteenth century, during the reign of James IV. of Scotland, a contemporary of Henry VIII. of England, and grandfather of James I. of the latter country. The feudal system prevailed, and chivalry was still an honoured institution. During the prevalence of these characteristics of the middle ages, the profession of arms was the only avenue to distinction. Learning was held in light estimation, and was cultivated only by ecclesiastics, and others who were debarred from the military profession. Douglas himself, although one of the most powerful men of the times, could neither read nor write; and the light estimation in which he held these most useful accomplishments of the present day, may be seen from his thanks to his patron saint, Bothun, that no child of his, except his "boy-bishop," could write a line.-Note by PARKER.

† Lines inclosing or forming the extremity of a piece of ground selected for the combat. To enter the lists is to accept a challenge, or engage in contest.

On a platform beyond the southern entrance, formed by a natural elevation of the ground, were pitched five magnificent pavilions, adorned with pennons of russet and black, the chosen colour of the five knights challengers. Before each pavilion was suspended the shield of the knight by whom it was occupied, and beside it stood his squire, quaintly disguised as a savage or sylvan man, or in some other fantastic dress, according to the taste of his master, and the character which he was pleased to assume during the game. The central pavilion, as the place of honour, had been assigned to Brian de Bois-Guilbert, whose renown in all games of chivalry, no less than his connexion with the knights who had undertaken this passage of arms, had occasioned him to be eagerly received into the company of the challengers, and even adopted as a chief. On one side of his tent were pitched those of Reginald Front-de-Bœuf and Richard de Malvoisin; and on the other was the pavilion of Hugh de Grantmesnil, a noble baron in the vicinity, whose ancestors had been Lord High Steward of England in the time of the Conqueror and his son William Rufus. Ralph de Vipont, a Knight of St. John of Jerusalem, occupied the fifth pavilion.

The northern access to the lists terminated in an entrance of thirty feet in breadth, at the extremity of which was a large inclosed space for such knights as might be disposed to enter the lists with the challengers, behind which were placed tents containing refreshments of every kind for their accommodation, with armourers, farriers, and other attendants, in readiness to give their services wherever they might be necessary.

The exterior of the lists was in part occupied by temporary galleries, spread with tapestry and carpets, and accommodated with cushions for the convenience of those ladies and nobles who were expected to attend upon the tournament. A narrow space, betwixt these galleries and the lists, gave accommodation for yeomanry and spectators of a better degree than the mere vulgar, and might be compared to the pit of a theatre. The promiscuous multitude arranged themselves upon large banks of turf, prepared for the purpose, which, aided by the natural elevation of the ground, enabled them to look over the galleries, and obtain a fair view into the lists. Besides the accommodation which these stations afforded, many hundreds had perched themselves on the branches of the trees which surrounded the meadow, and even the steeple of a country church, at some distance, was crowded with spectators. Spectators of every description thronged forward to occupy their respective stations, not without many quarrels concerning those which they were entitled to hold. Some of these were settled by the men-at-arms with brief ceremony; the shafts of their battle-axes, and pommels of their swords, being readily employed as arguments to convince the most refractory. Others, which involved the rank of more elevated persons, were determined by the heralds, or by the two marshals of the field.

Gradually the galleries became filled with knights and nobles,