Scott's Lady of the Lake
CANTO SECOND
THE ISLAND
IAt morn the blackcock trims his jetty wing,’Tis morning prompts the linnet’s85 blithest lay,All Nature’s children feel the matin86 springOf life reviving, with reviving day;And while yon little bark glides down the bay,Wafting the stranger on his way again,Morn’s genial influence roused a minstrel gray,And sweetly o’er the lake was heard thy strain,Mix’d with the sounding harp, O white-hair’d Allan-Bane!87 IISONG“Not faster yonder rowers’ mightFlings from their oars the spray,Not faster yonder rippling bright,That tracks the shallop’s course in light,Melts in the lake away,Than men from memory eraseThe benefits of former days;Then, stranger, go! good speed the while,Nor think again of the lonely isle.“High place to thee in royal court,High place in battled88 line,Good hawk and hound for silvan sport,Where beauty sees the brave resort,The honor’d meed89 be thine!True be thy sword, thy friend sincere,Thy lady constant, kind, and dear,And lost in love’s and friendship’s smileBe memory of the lonely isle. IIISONG CONTINUED“But if beneath yon southern skyA plaided stranger roam,Whose drooping crest and stifled sigh,And sunken cheek and heavy eye,Pine for his Highland home;Then, warrior, then be thine to showThe care that soothes a wanderer’s woe;Remember then thy hap erewhile,A stranger in the lonely isle.“Or if on life’s uncertain mainMishap shall mar thy sail;If faithful, wise, and brave in vain,Woe, want, and exile thou sustainBeneath the fickle gale;Waste not a sigh on fortune changed,On thankless courts, or friends estranged,But come where kindred worth shall smile,To greet thee in the lonely isle.”IVAs died the sounds upon the tide,The shallop reach’d the mainland side,And ere his onward way he took,The stranger cast a lingering look,Where easily his eye might reachThe Harper on the islet beach,Reclined against a blighted tree,As wasted, gray, and worn as he.To minstrel meditation given,His reverend brow was raised to heaven,As from the rising sun to claimA sparkle of inspiring flame.His hand, reclined upon the wire,Seem’d watching the awakening fire;So still he sate, as those who waitTill judgment speak the doom of fate;So still, as if no breeze might dareTo lift one lock of hoary hair;So still, as life itself were fled,In the last sound his harp had sped.VUpon a rock with lichens wild,Beside him Ellen sate and smiled. —Smiled she to see the stately drakeLead forth his fleet90 upon the lake,While her vex’d spaniel, from the beach,Bay’d at the prize beyond his reach?Yet tell me, then, the maid who knows,Why deepen’d on her cheek the rose? —Forgive, forgive, Fidelity!Perchance the maiden smiled to seeYon parting lingerer wave adieu,And stop and turn to wave anew;And, lovely ladies, ere your ireCondemn the heroine of my lyre,Show me the fair would scorn to spy,And prize such conquest of her eye!VIWhile yet he loiter’d on the spot,It seem’d as Ellen mark’d him not;But when he turn’d him to the glade,One courteous parting sign she made;And after, oft the Knight would say,That not, when prize of festal dayWas dealt him by the brightest fairWho e’er wore jewel in her hair,So highly did his bosom swell,As at that simple mute farewell.Now with a trusty mountain guide,And his dark staghounds by his side,He parts – the maid, unconscious still,Watch’d him wind slowly round the hill;But when his stately form was hid,The guardian in her bosom chid —“Thy Malcolm! vain and selfish maid!”’Twas thus upbraiding conscience said, —“Not so had Malcolm idly hungOn the smooth phrase of southern tongue;Not so had Malcolm strain’d his eye,Another step than thine to spy. —Wake, Allan-Bane," aloud she cried,To the old Minstrel by her side, —“Arouse thee from thy moody dream!I’ll give thy harp heroic theme,And warm thee with a noble name;Pour forth the glory of the Græme!”91Scarce from her lip the word had rush’d,When deep the conscious maiden blush’d;For of his clan, in hall and bower,Young Malcolm Græme was held the flower.VIIThe Minstrel waked his harp – three timesArose the well-known martial chimes,Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
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1
The poet invokes the spirit that animated the ancient Scottish minstrels, whose songs were usually accompanied by the music of the harp.
2
Called also the “wizard elm,” because forked twigs from the tree were used as divining rods.
3
A Scotch abbot of the seventh century.
4
The Romans gave the name Caledonia to that part of Scotland north of the Clyde and Forth.
5
St. Monan was a Scotch monk of the fourth century. The rill cannot be identified.
7
For the meaning of technical terms, colloquialisms, and unusual words not to be found in a school dictionary, see Glossary at the end of volume.
8
The heath or heather is a small ever-green shrub very common in the Scottish Highlands.
9
The head of a stag is said to be beamed after its fourth-year horns appear.
10
“Tainted gale,” i.e., the wind scented with the odor of the pursuers.
12
A pack of hounds is said to "open" when the dogs begin to bark, upon recovering the scent or catching sight of the game.
13
A confused or boisterous gathering.
14
Sight.
15
A deep pool.
16
Severely.
17
Or Monteith, a picturesque district of Scotland watered by the river Teith.
18
An estate about two miles from Callander on the wooded banks of the Keltie.
19
Bridge.
20
Spur.
21
Thicket; underbrush.
22
The trunk of a tree.
23
Ben Venue.
24
“Turn to bay,” i.e., to face an antagonist, when escape is no longer possible.
25
“The Trosachs” is the name now applied to the valley between Lochs Katrine and Achray.
26
Echoed back their barks or chidings.
27
In.
28
The river which flows through Paris, France.
29
Be to (from the old verb worthen, “to become”).
30
“Hied his way,” i.e., hastened.
31
“The western waves,” etc., i.e., the horizontal rays of the setting sun.
32
Isolated.
33
The Tower of Babel (see Gen. xi. 1-9).
34
The many-storied tower-like temples of the Chinese and Hindoos are called “pagodas.” About each story there is a balcony decorated with pendants or numerous projecting points or crests.
35
Bright.
36
Kind; bountiful.
37
The trembling poplar, so called from the trembling of its leaves, which move with the slightest impulse of the air.
38
Careful.
39
A bushy shrub common in western Europe.
40
Used adverbially.
41
“Little Mountain,” east of Loch Katrine.
42
The first canonical hour of the day in the Catholic Church, beginning properly at midnight. Here referring to the striking of the hour by the "cloister" bell.
43
“Drop a bead,” i.e., say a prayer. The rosary used by Catholics is a string of beads by which count may be kept of the prayers recited.
44
Happen; befall.
45
(Nā´yăd.) In classic mythology, one of the lower female deities who presided over lakes, streams, and fountains, as the Nymphs presided over mountains, forests, and meadows.
46
The Graces were in classic mythology three lovely sisters who attended Apollo and Venus.
47
A band used by Scottish maidens to bind the hair.
48
(Plāyed.) Several yards’ length of usually checkered woolen cloth called "tartan," which the Scottish Highlanders of both sexes wound about their bodies, and which formed a characteristic feature of their national costume.
49
Boat.
50
Trim or arrange.
51
Of wisdom.
52
Need of food.
53
Bewildered.
54
Heather, of which the Highlanders’ rude couches were made.
55
(Tär´mĭ-gan.) The white grouse.
56
Lake.
57
Crucifix or cross of Christ.
58
“Vision’d future,” i.e., visions of the future.
59
Lincoln green is a kind of cloth made in Lincoln.
60
“Fair degree,” i.e., high rank.
61
Wandering.
62
True.
63
“High emprise,” i.e., dangerous adventures.
64
“Idæan vine,” i.e., a translation of the Latin name of the red whortleberry, Vitis Idæa; but this is a shrub, and could not be “taught to twine.”
65
Which could.
66
Small shield.
67
Hangings used to decorate the walls of a room.
68
Endure.
69
Ferragus and Ascabart were two giants of romantic fable. The former appears in Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso; the latter in the History of Bevis of Hampton. His effigy may be seen guarding the gate at Southampton.
70
Dame Margaret was Roderick Dhu’s mother, but had acted as mother to Ellen, and held a higher place in her affections than the ties of blood would warrant.
71
Bitterest.
72
An old name of Stirling Castle.
73
Fitz means “son” in Norman French.
74
“By the misfortunes of the earlier Jameses and the internal feuds of the Scottish chiefs, the kingly power had become little more than a name.”
75
Knows.
76
A half-brother of James V. (James Fitz-James).
77
Hilly or undulating land.
78
Refreshing.
79
The Highlanders’ battle air, played upon the bagpipes.
80
Untilled land.
81
A kind of heron said to utter a loud and peculiar booming note.
82
(Rē-vāl´yĕ.) The morning call to soldiers to arise.
83
A mailed glove used by warriors in the middle ages to protect their hands from wounds.
84
Repeated.
85
A small European song bird.
86
(Măt´in.) Pertaining to the morning.
87
Highland chieftains often retained in their service a bard or minstrel, who was well versed not only in the genealogy and achievements of the particular clan or family to which he was attached, but in the more general history of Scotland as well.
88
Ranged in order of battle.
89
Recompense.
90
Of ducks.
91
The ancient and powerful family of Graham of Dumbarton and Stirling supplied some of the most remarkable characters in Scottish annals.
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