If all other bulwarks crumble, He will be our strength and tower: With our dear departed brave And the ashes of the city 1 One place of shelter: the grave. PROFESSOR AYTOUN. THE HEART OF THE BRUCE.1 I. It was upon an April morn, While yet the frost lay hoar,2 II. Then down we went, a hundred knights, All in our dark array, That rode within the bay. III. We spoke not, as the shore grew less, Where the long billows swept away 1 Bruce: Robert Bruce, "Scotland's greatest king and hero" joined William Wallace in resistance to the efforts of England to get and keep control of the country. He won the great victory of Bannockburn over Edward II. in 1314. Fourteen years later Edward was obliged to recognize the independence of Scotland. Bruce died the year following (1329), and according to the legend. Sir James Douglas was chosen to carry his heart in a case of gold to the Holy Land and bury it near the sepulchre of Christ. The ballad narrates what followed the attempt to carry out the hero's wishes. 2 Hoar: white. 8 Lord James: Sir James Douglas. IV. And aye the purple hues decayed Upon the fading hill, And but one heart in all that ship V. The good Lord Douglas paced the deck — Oh, but his face was wan! Unlike the flush it used to wear When in the battle-van.1 VI. "Come hither, I pray, my trusty knight, Sir Simon of the Lee; There is a freit 2 lies near my soul I needs must tell to thee. VII. "Thou know'st the words King Robert spoke Upon his dying day: How he bade me take his noble heart And carry it far away; VIII. "And lay it in the holy soil Where once the Saviour trod, Since he might not bear the blessed Cross, 1 Battle-van: front of the battle. 2 Freit: presentiment or superstition; notion or belief. IX. "Last night as in my bed I lay, "Why go ye forth, Lord James,' he said, With spear and belted brand? Why do you take its dearest pledge From this our Scottish land? XII. "The sultry breeze of Galilee The olives on the Holy Mount XIII. "But 'tis not there that Scotland's heart Shall rest, by God's decree, Till the great angel calls the dead To rise from earth and sea! XIV. "Lord James of Douglas, mark my rede!1 That heart shall pass once more 1 Rede: word. "And it shall pass beneath the cross, 66 XVI. Now, by thy knightly faith, I pray, Sir Simon of the Lee Nor truer friend had never man Than thou hast been to me XVII. "If ne'er upon the Holy Land "Tis mine in life to tread, Bear thou to Scotland's kindly earth The relics of her dead." XVIII. The tear was in Sir Simon's eye XIX. "But if in battle-front, Lord James, 'Tis ours once more to ride, Nor force of man, nor craft of fiend, Shall cleave me from thy side!" 1 Betide: happen, befall. |