And the castle standeth black with the red sun at

its back,

Toll slowly.

And a fortnight's siege is done, and, except the duchess, none

Can misdoubt the coming wrack.

Then the captain, young Lord Leigh, with his eyes so grey of blee,

Toll slowly.

And thin lips that scarcely sheath the cold white gnashing of his teeth,

Gnashed in smiling, absently,

Cried aloud, "So goes the day, bridegroom fair of Duchess May!"

Toll slowly.

"Look thy last upon that sun! if thou seest to-morrow's one

'Twill be through a foot of clay.

"Ha, fair bride! dost hear no sound save that moaning of the hound?"

Toll slowly.

"Thou and I have parted troth, yet I keep my vengeance-oath,

And the other may come round.

"Ha! thy will is brave to dare, and thy new love past compare,"

Toll slowly.

"Yet thine old love's faulchion brave is as strong a thing to have,

As the will of lady fair.

"Peck on blindly, netted dove! If a wife's name. thee behove,'

Toll slowly.

"Thou shalt wear the same to-morrow, ere the grave has hid the sorrow

Of thy last ill-mated love.

"O'er his fixed and silent mouth, thou and I will call back troth;"

Toll slowly.

"He shall altar be and priest,-and he will not cry at least,

'I forbid you, I am loth!'

"I will wring thy fingers pale in the gauntlet of my mail,"

Toll slowly.

"Little hand and muckle gold' close shall lie within my hold,

As the sword did, to prevail."

Oh, the little birds sang east, and the little birds sang west,

Toll slowly.

Oh, and laughed the Duchess May, and her soul did put away

All his boasting, for a jest.

In her chamber did she sit, laughing low to think of it,

Toll slowly.

"Tower is strong and will is free: thou canst boast, my lord of Leigh,

But thou boastest little wit."

In her tire-glass gazëd she, and she blushed right

womanly:

Toll slowly.

She blushed half from her disdain, half, her beauty was so plain,

"Oath for oath, my lord of Leigh!"

Straight she called her maidens in-" Since ye gave me blame herein,"

Toll slowly.

"That a bridal such as mine should lack gauds to make it fine,

Come and shrive me from that sin.

"It is three months gone to-day since I gave mine hand away :"

66

Toll slowly.

Bring the gold and bring the gem, we will keep bride-state in them,

While we keep the foe at bay.

"On your arms I loose mine hair; comb it smooth and crown it fair :"

Toll slowly.

"I would look in purple pall from this lattice down the wall,

And throw scorn to one that's there!"

Oh, the little birds sang east, and the little birds sang west:

Toll slowly.

On the tower the castle's lord leant in silence on

his sword,

With an anguish in his breast.

With a spirit-laden weight did he lean down passionate:

Toll slowly.

They have almost sapped the wall,-they will enter therewithal

With no knocking at the gate.

Then the sword he leant upon, shivered, snapped upon the stone,—

Toll slowly.

"Sword," he thought, with inward laugh, “ill thou servest for a staff

When thy nobler use is done!

"Sword, thy nobler use is done! tower is lost, and shame begun!"—

Toll slowly.

"If we met them in the breach, hilt to hilt or speech to speech,

We should die there, each for one.

"If we met them at the wall, we should singly, vainly tall,"

Toll slowly.

"But if I die here alone, then I die who am but one,

And die nobly for them all.

"Five true friends lie for my sake in the moat, and in the brake,”

Toll slowly.

"Thirteen warriors lie at rest with a black wound in the breast,

And not one of these will wake.

"So no more of this shall be! heart-blood weighs too heavily,❞—

Toll slowly.

"And I could not sleep in grave, with the faithful and the brave

Heaped around and over me.

"Since young Clare a mother hath, and

Ralph a plighted faith,"

Toll slowly.

young

"Since my pale young sister's cheeks blush like rose when Ronald speaks,

Albeit never a word she saith

"These shall never die for me: life-blood falls too heavily:"

Toll slowly.

"And if I die here apart, o'er my dead and silent heart

They shall pass out safe and free.

"When the foe hath heard it said-'Death holds Guy of Linteged,"

Toll slowly.

"That new corse new peace shall bring, and a blessed, blessed thing

Shall the stone be at its head.

"Then my friends shall pass out free, and shall bear my memory,"

Toll slowly.

"Then my foes shall sleek their pride, soothing fair my widowed bride

Whose sole sin was love of me: