5

Lo, by thy charming rod, all breathing things
Lie slumbering, with forgetfulness possess'd,

And yet o'er me to spread thy drowsy wings
Thou spar'st, alas! who cannot be thy guest.
Since I am thine, O come, but with that face
10 To inward light, which thou art wont to show,
With feigned solace, ease a true-felt woe;

Or if, deaf god, thou do deny that grace,
Come as thou wilt, and what thou wilt bequeath;
I long to kiss the image of my death.

5. Charming: charm, a spell, comes through O. Fr. charme, from Lat. carmen. In M. E. it is used in the form chirm of

the murmuring noise of birds; and even Milton, P. L., iv. 642, talks of the " charm of earliest birds."

BALLAD POETRY.

The horrible incident described in this-called by Mr. Froude the most touching of all the Northern ballads-really occurred in 1572, during the Mary Stuart troubles in Scotland. The scene of the atrocity was Towie Castle in Aberdeenshire, the perpetrator of it Edom (Adam) Gordon, and the victims Lady Forbes, her children, and servants. See Froude's History, vol. x. page 341.

41. Edom o' Gordon.

1 It fell about the Martinmas,

When the wind blew shrill and cauld,
Said Edom o' Gordon to his men,

"We maun draw till a hauld.

5" And what a hauld sall we draw till,
My merry men and me?

We wul gae to the house o' the Rodes,
To see that fair ladie."

4. Maun; same word as the provincial English mun, must; as in Mr. Tennyson's Northern Farmer, "Gin I mun doy, I mun doy." It meant originally to consider; and "may," says Dr. Guest,

"has taken successively the meanings we think of (going), we shall (go), and we must (go)."

Till, Ger. ziel, is L. Sc. for to.

But whan he see this lady saif, And her gates all locked fast, 35 He fell into rage of wroth,

40

And his look was all aghast.

"Cum down to me, ye lady gay,

Cum down, cum down to me;

This night sall ye lig within mine armes,
To morrow my bride sall be."

"I winna cum down, ye false Gordon,
I winna cum down to thee;
I winna forsake my ain dear lord,
That is sae far frae me."

45 "Give ower your house, ye lady fair,
Give ower your house to me,
Or I call brenn yoursel therein,
Bot-and your babies three."

"Set fire to the house!" quo' false Gordon,
All wood wi' dule and ire;

"False lady, ye sall rue this deid,

As ye brenn in the fire."

65 "Wae worth, wae worth ye, Jock my man,
I paid ye weil your fee;

80

O, then bespaik her little son,

Sat on the nurse's knee:

Says, "Mither dear, gi' ower this house,
For the reek it smithers me."

"I wad gie a' my gowd, my child,
Sae wald I a' my fee,

For ane blast o' the western wind,
To blaw the reek frae thee."

85 O, then bespaik her dochter dear,
She was baith jimp and sma';
"O row me in a pair o' sheits,
And tow me ower the wa'."

90

They rowed her in a pair of sheits
And towd her ower the wa'.

62. Wood, mad, O. E. wód. So woodness in Chaucer means madness.

62. Dule, dole, grief.

65. Wae worth ye, woe be to you. See note 1, extract 1.

66. Fee; this word of old meant property, as in a subsequent line. It is

simply the Latin pecus, Ger. vieh, by the law of the interchange of letters, called Grimm's law, from its discoverer.

68. Reek, smoke. The old word rack, in the sense of the mass of floating clouds above us, is the same word. 86. Jimp, slender.

87. Row, roll.

110

I canna luik in that bonnie face,
As it lyes on the grass."

"Thame luiks to freits, my master deir,

Then freits will follow thame,

Let it neir be said brave Edom o' Gordon
Was daunted by a dame."

But when the ladye see the fire

Cum flaming ower her head,

115 She wept and kist her children twain,
Said, "Bairns, we been but dead."

120

The Gordon then his bugle blew,

And said, "Awa! awa!

This house o' the Rodes is a' in flame,

I hauld it time to ga'."

O, then bespyed her ain dear lord,
As he cam ower the lee;

106. Dooms, judgments, substantive of deem. See note, line 11, of 4th extract from Chaucer.

109. Thame luiks to freits, them that

look to ill-omens. The s as termination of pres. ind. plur. still continued to be a north-country usage. It was a mark of the same dialect in very early times.