THE

LADY OF THE LAKE.

CANTO FIFTH.

The Combat.

I.

FAIR

AIR as the earliest beam of eastern light,

When first, by the bewilder'd pilgrim spied, It smiles upon the dreary brow of night,

And silvers o'er the torrent's foaming tide, And lights the fearful path on mountain side ;Fair as that beam, although the fairest far, Giving to horror grace, to danger pride,

Shine martial Faith, and Courtesy's bright star,

Through all the wreckful storms that cloud the brow of War.

II.

That early beam, so fair and sheen,

Was twinkling through the hazel screen,
When, rousing at its glimmer red,
The warriors left their lowly bed,
Look'd out upon the dappled sky,
Mutter'd their soldier matins by,
And then awaked their fire, to steal,
As short and rude, their soldier meal.
That o'er, the Gael* around him threw
His graceful plaid of varied hue,
And, true to promise, led the way,
By thicket green and mountain grey.
A wildering path!-they winded now
Along the precipice's brow,

Commanding the rich scenes beneath,

The windings of the Forth and Teith,

*The Scottish Highlander calls himself Gael, or Ga ul,

and terms the Lowlanders, Sassenach, or Saxons.

And all the vales between that lie,

Till Stirling's turrets melt in sky;
Then, sunk in copse, their farthest glance
Gain'd not the length of horseman's lance.
'Twas oft so steep, the foot was fain

Assistance from the hand to gain ;

So tangled oft, that, bursting through,

Each hawthorn shed her showers of dew,That diamond dew, so pure and clear,

It rivals all but Beauty's tear!

III.

At length they came where, stern and steep, The hill sinks down upon the deep.

Here Vennachar in silver flows,

There, ridge on ridge, Benledi rose ;

Ever the hollow path twined on,

Beneath steep bank and threatening stone; An hundred men might hold the post With hardihood against a host.

The rugged mountain's scanty cloak

Was dwarfish shrubs of birch and oak,

With shingles bare, and cliffs between,
And patches bright of bracken green,
And heather black, that waved so high,
It held the copse in rivalry.

But where the lake slept deep and still,
Dank osiers fringed the swamp and hill;
And oft both path and hill were torn,
Where wintry torrent down had borne,
And heap'd upon the cumber'd land
Its wreck of gravel, rocks, and sand.
So toilsome was the road to trace,

The guide, abating of his pace,

Led slowly through the pass's jaws,

And ask'd Fitz-James, by what strange cause

He sought these wilds? traversed by few,

Without a pass from Roderick Dhu.

IV.

"Brave Gael, my pass, in danger tried,

Hangs in my belt, and by my side;

Yet, sooth to tell," the Saxon said,

"I dream'd not now to claim its aid.

When here, but three days since, I came,
Bewilder'd in pursuit of game,

All seem'd as peaceful and as still,`
As the mist slumbering on yon hill;
Thy dangerous Chief was then afar,

Nor soon expected back from war.
Thus said, at least, my mountain-guide,
Though deep, perchance, the villain lied.”—
"Yet why a second venture try?"—

"A warrior thou, and ask me why !—
Moves our free course by such fix'd cause,
As gives the poor mechanic laws?
Enough, I sought to drive away

The lazy hours of peaceful day;
Slight cause will then suffice to guide
A Knight's free footsteps far and wide,-
A falcon flown, a greyhound stray'd,
The merry glance of mountain maid;