Marmion (ed. Henry Morley) | Page 7

crowd,
Like
lightning from a summer cloud,
Spurs on his mettled courser proud,
Before the dark array.
Beneath the sable palisade
That closed the
castle barricade,
His bugle-horn he blew;
The warder hasted from the wall,
And
warned the captain in the hall,
For well the blast he knew;
And joyfully that knight did call,
To
sewer, squire, and seneschal.
IV.
"Now broach ye a pipe of Malvoisie,
Bring pasties of the doe,
And quickly make the entrance free,
And
bid my heralds ready be,
And every minstrel sound his glee,
And all our trumpets blow;
And, from the platform, spare ye not
To
fire a noble salvo-shot:
Lord Marmion waits below!"
Then to the castle's lower ward
Sped forty yeomen tall,
The iron-studded gates unbarred,
Raised
the portcullis' ponderous guard,
The lofty palisade unsparred,
And let the drawbridge fall.
V.
Along the bridge Lord Marmion rode,
Proudly his red-roan charger

trode,
His helm hung at the saddlebow;
Well by his visage you
might know
He was a stalwart knight, and keen,
And had in many a
battle been;
The scar on his brown cheek revealed
A token true of
Bosworth field;
His eyebrow dark, and eye of fire,
Showed spirit
proud and prompt to ire;
Yet lines of thought upon his cheek
Did
deep design and counsel speak.
His forehead, by his casque worn
bare,
His thick moustache, and curly hair,
Coal-black, and grizzled
here and there,
But more through toil than age;
His square-turned joints, and strength
of limb,
Showed him no carpet knight so trim,
But in close fight a
champion grim,
In camps a leader sage.
VI.
Well was he armed from head to heel,
In mail and plate of Milan steel;

But his strong helm, of mighty cost,
Was all with burnished gold
embossed;
Amid the plumage of the crest,
A falcon hovered on her
nest,
With wings outspread, and forward breast:
E'en such a falcon,
on his shield,
Soared sable in an azure field:
The golden legend
bore aright,
"Who checks at me, to death is dight."
Blue was the
charger's broidered rein;
Blue ribbons decked his arching mane;

The knightly housing's ample fold
Was velvet blue, and trapped with
gold.
VII.
Behind him rode two gallant squires,
Of noble name and knightly
sires:
They burned the gilded spurs to claim;
For well could each a
war-horse tame,
Could draw the bow, the sword could sway,
And
lightly bear the ring away;
Nor less with courteous precepts stored,

Could dance in hall, and carve at board,

And frame love-ditties
passing rare,
And sing them to a lady fair.

VIII.
Four men-at-arms came at their backs,
With halbert, bill, and
battle-axe:
They bore Lord Marmion's lance so strong,
And led his
sumpter-mules along,
And ambling palfrey, when at need
Him
listed ease his battle-steed.
The last and trustiest of the four,
On
high his forky pennon bore;
Like swallow's tail, in shape and hue,

Fluttered the streamer glossy blue,
Where, blazoned sable, as before,

The towering falcon seemed to soar.
Last, twenty yeomen, two and
two,
In hosen black, and jerkins blue,
With falcons broidered on
each breast,
Attended on their lord's behest:
Each, chosen for an
archer good,
Knew hunting-craft by lake or wood;
Each one a
six-foot bow could bend,
And far a clothyard shaft could send;

Each held a boar-spear tough and strong,
And at their belts their
quivers rung.
Their dusty palfreys, and array,
Showed they had
marched a weary way.
IX.
'Tis meet that I should tell you now,
How fairly armed, and ordered
how,
The soldiers of the guard,
With musket, pike, and morion,
To
welcome noble Marmion,
Stood in the castle-yard;
Minstrels and trumpeters were there,
The
gunner held his linstock yare,
For welcome-shot prepared:
Entered the train, and such a clang,
As
then through all his turrets rang,
Old Norham never heard.
X.
The guards their morrice-pikes advanced,

The trumpets flourished brave,
The cannon from the ramparts
glanced,
And thundering welcome gave.
A blithe salute, in martial sort,
The minstrels well might sound,
For, as Lord Marmion crossed the
court,
He scattered angels round.
"Welcome to Norham, Marmion!
Stout heart, and open hand!
Well dost thou brook thy gallant roan,
Thou flower of English land!"
XI.
Two pursuivants, whom tabarts deck,
With silver scutcheon round
their neck,
Stood on the steps of stone,
By which you reach the donjon gate,

And there, with herald pomp and state,
They hailed Lord Marmion:
They hailed him Lord of Fontenaye,
Of
Lutterward, and Scrivelbaye,
Of Tamworth tower and town;
And he, their courtesy to requite,

Gave them a chain of twelve marks' weight,
All as he lighted down.
"Now, largesse, largesse, Lord Marmion,
Knight of the crest of gold!
A blazoned shield, in battle won,
Ne'er guarded heart so bold."
XII.
They marshalled him to the castle-hall,

Where the guests stood all aside,
And loudly flourished the
trumpet-call,
And the heralds loudly cried -
"Room, lordlings, room for Lord
Marmion,
With the crest and helm of gold!
Full well we know the trophies won
In the lists at Cottiswold:
There, vainly Ralph de Wilton strove
'Gainst Marmion's force to stand;
To him he lost his lady-love,
And to the king his land.
Ourselves beheld the listed field,
A sight both sad and fair;
We saw Lord Marmion pierce his shield,
And saw his saddle bare;
We saw the victor win the crest
He wears with worthy pride;
And on the gibbet-tree, reversed,
His foeman's