They gorged upon the half-dressed steer; Caroused in seas of sable beer; While round, in brutal jest, were thrown The half-gnawed rib and marrow-bone; Or listened all, in grim delight,
While Scalds yelled out the joys of fight. Then forth in frenzy would they hie, While wildly-loose their red locks fly; And, dancing round the blazing pile, They make such barbarous mirth the while, As best might to the mind recall The boisterous joys of Odin's hall.2
And well our Christian sires of old
Loved when the year its course had rolled And brought blithe Christmas back again With all its hospitable train. Domestic and religious rite Gave honour to the holy night:
On Christmas eve the bells were rung; On Christmas eve the mass was sung; That only night, in all the year, Saw the stoled priest the chalice rear.3 The damsel donned her kirtle sheen; The hall was dressed with holly green; Forth to the wood did merry-men go, To gather in the mistletoe.
Then opened wide the baron's hall To vassal, tenant, serf, and all; Power laid his rod of rule aside;
And Ceremony doffed her pride. The heir, with roses in his shoes, That night might village partner choose; The lord, underogating, share The vulgar game of "post and pair." All hailed with uncontrolled delight, And general voice, the happy night That to the cottage, as the crown, Brought tidings of salvation down.
The fire, with well-dried logs supplied, Went roaring up the chimney wide; The huge hall-table's oaken face, Scrubbed till it shone, the day to grace, Bore then upon its massive board No mark to part the squire and lord. Then was brought in the lusty brawn, By old blue-coated serving-man; Then the grim boar's-head frowned on high Crested with bays and rosemary. Well can the green-garbed ranger tell How, when, and where the monster fell;
1 poets 2 in the Other-world, where heroes fought and feasted forever 3 The Mass is not 4 withcelebrated at night except at Christmas. out loss of dignity
What dogs before his death he tore, And all the baiting of the boar.
The wassail round, in good brown bowls, Garnished with ribbons, blithely trowls. There the huge sirloin reeked; hard by Plum-porridge stood, and Christmas pie; Nor failed old Scotland to produce, At such high-tide, her savoury goose. Then came the merry maskers in, And carols roared with blithesome din; If unmelodious was the song,
It was a hearty note, and strong. Who lists may in their mumming see Traces of ancient mystery;1
White skirts supplied the masquerade, And smutted cheeks the visors made: But, O! what maskers richly dight Can boast of bosoms half so light! England was merry England, when Old Christmas brought his sports again. 'Twas Christmas broached the mightiest ale; 'Twas Christmas told the merriest tale; A Christmas gambol oft could cheer The poor man's heart through half the year.
Instant, through copse and heath, arose Bonnets and spears and bended bows; On right, on left, above, below, Sprung up at once the lurking foe; From shingles grey their lances start, The bracken bush sends forth the dart, The rushes and the willow wand Are bristling into axe and brand, And every tuft of broom gives life To plaided warrior armed for strife. That whistle garrisoned the glen At once with full five hundred men, As if the yawning hill to heaven A subterranean host had given. Watching their leader's beck and will, All silent there they stood, and still.
Sir Roderick marked, and in his eyes Respect was mingled with surprise, And the stern joy which warriors feel In foeman worthy of their steel. Short space he stood, then waved his hand: Down sunk the disappearing band; Each warrior vanished where he stood, In broom or bracken, heath or wood: Sunk brand and spear, and bended bow, In osiers pale and copses low: It seemed as if their mother Earth Had swallowed up her warlike birth. The wind's last breath had tossed in air Pennon and plaid and plumage fair, - The next but swept a lone hillside, Where heath and fern were waving wide; The sun's last glance was glinted back, From spear and glaive, from targe and jack,
The next, all unreflected, shone
On bracken green, and cold grey stone.
The witness that his sight received;
1 a high mountain, north of Loch Vennachar 2 James V, in disguise 3 Black Roderick, chief of Clan-Alpine sword 5 small shield leather jacket
Such apparition well might seem Delusion of a dreadful dream. Sir Roderick in suspense he eyed, And to his look the Chief replied: Fear naught-nay, that I need not say- But doubt not aught from mine array. Thou art my guest; I pledged my word As far as Coilantogle ford:1
Nor would I call a clansman's brand For aid against one valiant hand, Though on our strife lay every vale Rent by the Saxon from the Gael. So move we on; I only meant To show the reed on which you leant, Deeming this path you might pursue Without a pass from Roderick Dhu." They moved; I said Fitz-James was brave, As ever knight that belted glaive; Yet dare not say that now his blood Kept on its wont and tempered flood, As, following Roderick's stride, he drew That seeming lonesome pathway through, Which yet, by fearful proof, was rife With lances, that, to take his life, Waited but signal from a guide, So late dishonoured and defied. Ever, by stealth, his eye sought round The vanished guardians of the ground, And still, from copse and heather deep, Fancy saw spear and broadsword peep, And in the plover's shrilly strain The signal whistle heard again. Nor breathed he free till far behind The pass was left; for then they wind Along a wide and level green, Where neither tree nor tuft was seen, Nor rush nor bush of broom was near, To hide a bonnet or a spear.
The Chief in silence strode before,
And reached that torrent's sounding shore, Which, daughter of three mighty lakes, From Vennachar in silver breaks, Sweeps through the plain, and ceaseless mines On Bochastle3 the mouldering lines, Where Rome, the Empress of the world, Of yore her eagle wings unfurled. And here his course the Chieftain stayed, Threw down his target and his plaid,
1 at the east end of Loch Vennachar 2 Lochs Katrine, Achray, and Vennachar 3 a moor in which are the ruins of a Roman camp
And to the Lowland warrior said:
"Bold Saxon! to his promise just, Vich-Alpine has discharged his trust. This murderous Chief, this ruthless man, This head of a rebellious clan,
Hath led thee safe through watch and ward, Far past Clan-Alpine's outmost guard. Now, man to man, and steel to steel, A Chieftain's vengeance thou shalt feel. See, here, all vantageless I stand, Armed, like thyself, with single brand; For this is Coilantogle ford,
And thou must keep thee with thy sword."
Yet sure thy fair and generous faith, And my deep debt for life preserved, A better meed have well deserved: Can naught but blood our feud atone? Are there no means?" "No, Stranger, none And hear, to fire thy flagging zeal,- The Saxon cause rests on thy steel; For thus spoke Fate, by prophet bred Between the living and the dead: 'Who spills the foremost foeman's life His party conquers in the strife.' "Then, by my word," the Saxon said, "The riddle is already read.
Seek yonder brake beneath the cliff, There lies Red Murdock, stark and stiff. Thus Fate hath solved her prophecy, Then yield to Fate, and not to me. To James, at Stirling, let us go, When, if thou wilt be still his foe, Or if the King shall not agree To grant thee grace and favour free, I plight my honour, oath, and word, That, to thy native strengths restored, With each advantage shalt thou stand, That aids thee now to guard thy land."
He yields not, he, to man nor fate! Thou add'st but fuel to my hate: My clansman's blood demands revenge. Not yet prepared? By Heaven, I change My thought, and hold thy valour light As that of some vain carpet knight, Who ill deserved my courteous care, And whose best boast is but to wear A braid of his fair lady's hair." "I thank thee, Roderick, for the word! It nerves my heart, it steels my sword; For I have sworn this braid1 to stain In the best blood that warms thy vein. Now, truce, farewell! and, ruth, begone! Yet think not that by thee alone, Proud Chief! can courtesy be shown; Though not from copse, nor heath, nor cairn, Start at my whistle clansmen stern,
Of this small horn one feeble blast Would fearful odds against thee cast. But fear not -
We try this quarrel hilt to hilt." Then each at once his falchion drew, Each on the ground his scabbard threw, Each looked to sun and stream and plain, And what they ne'er might see again; Then, foot and point and eye opposed, In dubious strife they darkly closed.
Ill fared it then with Roderick Dhu, That on the field his targe he threw, Whose brazen studs and tough bull-hide Had death so often dashed aside; For, trained abroad his arms to wield, Fitz-James's blade was sword and shield. He practised every pass and ward, To thrust, to strike, to feint, to guard; While less expert, though stronger far, The Gael maintained unequal war. Three times in closing strife they stood, And thrice the Saxon blade drank blood: No stinted draught, no scanty tide, The gushing floods the tartans dyed. Fierce Roderick felt the fatal drain, And showered his blows like wintry rain; And, as firm rock or castle-roof Against the winter shower is proof, The foe, invulnerable still,
Foiled his wild rage by steady skill;
1 For the story of the braid and his oath, see Canto IV, xxi-xxviii.
Till, at advantage ta'en, his brand Forced Roderick's weapon from his hand, And, backwards borne upon the lea, Brought the proud Chieftain to his knee.
"Now yield thee, or, by Him who made The world, thy heart's blood dyes my blade!" "Thy threats, thy mercy, I defy! Let recreant yield, who fears to die." Like adder darting from his coil, Like wolf that dashes through the toil, Like mountain-cat who guards her young, Full at Fitz-James's throat he sprung; Received, but recked not of a wound, And locked his arms his foeman round. Now, gallant Saxon, hold thine own! No maiden's hand is round thee thrown! That desperate grasp thy frame might feel Through bars of brass and triple steel! They tug! They strain! Down, down they go, The Gael above, Fitz-James below. The Chieftain's gripe his throat compressed, His knee was planted in his breast; His clotted locks he backward threw, Across his brow his hand he drew, From blood and mist to clear his sight, Then gleamed aloft his dagger bright! But hate and fury ill supplied The stream of life's exhausted tide, And all too late the advantage came, To turn the odds of deadly game; For, while the dagger gleamed on high, Reeled soul and sense, reeled brain and eye. Down came the blow! but in the heath The erring blade found bloodless sheath. The struggling foe may now unclasp The fainting Chief's relaxing grasp; Unwounded from the dreadful close, But breathless all, Fitz-James arose.
The human species, according to the best theory I can form of it, is composed of two distinct races, the men who borrow, and the men who lend. To these two original diversities may be reduced all those impertinent classifications of Gothic and Celtic tribes, white men, black men, red men. All the dwellers upon earth, "Parthians, and Medes,
and Elamites," flock hither, and do naturally, fall in with one or other of these primary distinctions. The infinite superiority of the former, which I choose to designate as the great race, is discernible in their figure, port, and a certain instinctive sovereignty. The latter are born degraded. "He shall serve his brethren." 2 There is something in the air of one of this caste, lean and suspicious; contrasting with the open, trusting, generous manners of the other.
Observe who have been the greatest borrowers of all ages Alcibiades 3 - Falstaff Sir Richard Steele - our late incomparable Brinsley-what a family likeness in all four!
What a careless, even deportment hath your borrower! what rosy gills! what a beautiful reliance on Providence doth he manifest, taking no more thought than lilies! What contempt for money, accounting it (yours and mine especially) no better than dross! What a liberal confounding of those pedantic distinctions of meum and tuum !6 or rather, what a noble simplification of language (beyond Tooke), resolving these supposed opposites into one clear, intelligible pronoun adjective! What near approaches doth he make to the primitive community, to the extent of one-half of the principle at least!
He is the true taxer "who calleth all the world up to be taxed"; and the distance is as vast between him and one of us, as subsisted betwixt the Augustan Majesty and the poorest obolary 10 Jew that paid it tributepittance at Jerusalem ! His exactions, too, have such a cheerful, voluntary air! So far removed from your sour parochial or stategatherers, those ink-horn varlets, who carry their want of welcome in their faces! He cometh to you with a smile, and troubleth you with no receipt; confining himself to no set season. Every day is his Candlemas, or his Feast of Holy Michael." He applieth the lene tormentum 12 of a pleasant look to your purse,
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