"She is won! we are gone, over bank, bush, and scaur ! 4 They'll have fleet steeds that follow!" quoth young Lochin

var.

There was mounting 'mong Græmes of the Netherby clan; Forsters, Fenwicks, and Musgraves, they rode and they

ran;

There was racing and chasing on Cannobie Lee;

But the lost bride of Netherby ne'er did they see.
So daring in love, and so dauntless in war,
Have ye e'er heard of gallant like young Lochinvar?

12

LADY CLARE

ALFRED TENNYSON

It was the time when lilies blow
And clouds are highest up in air,
Lord Ronald brought a lily-white doe
To give his cousin, Lady Clare.

I trow they did not part in scorn;
Lovers long-betroth'd were they;
They two will wed the morrow morn;
God's blessing on the day!

"He does not love me for my birth,
Nor for my lands so broad and fair;
He loves me for my own true worth,
And that is well," said Lady Clare.

4. Scaur. A steep cliff or a rocky place on the side of a hill or mountain.

In there came old Alice the nurse,

Said, “Who was this that went from thee?"
"It was my cousin," said Lady Clare;
"Tomorrow he weds with me."

"O, God be thank'd!" said Alice the nurse, "That all comes round so just and fair; Lord Ronald is heir of all your lands, And you are not the Lady Clare."

"Are ye out of your mind, my nurse, my nurse?” Said Lady Clare, "that ye speak so wild?" "As God's above," said Alice the nurse,

"I speak the truth; you are my child.

"The old Earl's daughter died at my breast;
I speak the truth, as I live by bread!
I buried her like my own sweet child,
And put my child in her stead."

"Falsely, falsely have ye done,

O mother," she said, "if this be true,
To keep the best man under the sun
So many years from his due.”

"Nay now, my child," said Alice the nurse,
"But keep the secret for your life,

And all you have will be Lord Ronald's,
When you are man and wife."

"If I'm a beggar born," she said,
"I will speak out, for I dare not lie.
Pull off, pull off, the brooch of gold,
And fling the diamond necklace by."

"Nay now, my child," said Alice the nurse, "But keep the secret all ye can."

She said, "Not so; but I will know

If there be any faith in man.”

"Nay now, what faith?" said Alice the nurse,

"The man will cleave unto his right."
"And he shall have it," the lady replied,
"Tho' I should die tonight."

"Yet give one kiss to your mother dear!
Alas, my child, I sinn'd for thee."
"O mother, mother, mother," she said,
"So strange it seems to me.

"Yet here's a kiss for my mother dear,
My mother dear, if this be so,
And lay your hand upon my head,
And bless me, mother, ere I go."

She clad herself in a russet gown,1

She was no longer Lady Clare;

She went by dale,2 and she went by down,3

With a single rose in her hair.

The lily-white doe Lord Ronald had brought

Leapt up from where she lay,

Dropt her head in the maiden's hand,
And follow'd her all the way.

Down stept Lord Ronald from his tower:
“O Lady Clare, you shame your worth!
Why come you drest like a village maid,
That are the flower of the earth?"

Russet gown. Russet, to denote low social position.
Dale. A valley.

1.

2.

3.

"If I come drest like a village maid,
I am but as my fortunes are;
I am a beggar born," she said,
"And not the Lady Clare."

"Play me no tricks," said Lord Ronald,
"For I am yours in word and in deed.
Play me no tricks," said Lord Ronald,
"Your riddle is hard to read."

O and proudly stood she up!
Her heart within her did not fail;
She look'd into Lord Ronald's eyes,
And told him all her nurse's tale.

He laugh'd a laugh of merry scorn;

He turn'd, and kiss'd her where she stood:

"If you are not the heiress born,

And I," said he, "the next in blood

"If you are not the heiress born
And I," said he, "the lawful heir,
We two will wed tomorrow morn,
And you shall still be Lady Clare."

13

LORD ULLIN'S DAUGHTER

THOMAS CAMPBELL

A chieftain, to the Highlands bound,
Cries, "Boatman, do not tarry!
And I'll give thee a silver pound
To row us o'er the ferry."—

"Now who be ye, would cross Lochgyle, This dark and stormy water?"

"Oh, I'm the chief of Ulva's isle,

And this Lord Ullin's daughter.—

"And fast before her father's men Three days we've fled together, For should he find us in the glen,

My blood would stain the heather.

"His horsemen hard behind us ride;
Should they our steps discover,
Then who will cheer my bonny bride
When they have slain her lover?"

Out spoke the hardy Highland wight,1
"I'll go, my chief--I'm ready:—
It is not for your silver bright,
But for your winsome lady:

"And by my word! the bonny bird
In danger shall not tarry;

So though the waves are raging white I'll row you o'er the ferry."—

1. Wight. A man.