O ftop, she cried, O ftop thy arm!

Thou doft thy brother Nay! And here the Hermit paus'd and wept:

His tongue no more could say.

At length he cried, Ye lovely pair,

How shall I tell the rest ?
Ere I could stop my piercing sword,

It fell and stabb'd her breaft.

Were thou thyself that hapless youth?

Ah! cruel fate! they said :
The Hermit wept, and so did they ;

They figh’d; he hung his head.

O blind and jealous rage, he cried,

What evils from thee flow. The Hermit paus’d; they silent mourn'd;

He wept, and they were woe.

Ah! when I heard

my

brother's name, And saw my lady bleed, I rav’d, I wept, I curst my arm

That wrought the fatal deed.

In vain I clafp'd her to my breaft,

And clos'd the ghaftly wound; In vain I press’d his bleeding corse,

And rais'd it from the ground.

My brother, alas ! spake never more ;

His precious life was flown.
She kindly strove to sooth my pain,

Regardless of her own.

BERTRAM, she said, be comforted,

And live to think on me. May we in heaven that union prove,

BERTRAM, she said, I still was true ;

Thou only hadft my heart: May we hereafter meet in bliss;

We now, alas ! must part.

For thee I left my father's hall,

And flew to thy relief,
When, lo! near Chiviot's fatal hills

I met a Scottish chief.

Lord Malcolm's son, whose proffer'd love

I had refus'd with scorn;
He New my guards, and seiz'd on me

Upon that fatal morn;

And in these dreary hated walls

He kept me close confind;
And fondly sued and warmly press'd

To win me to his mind.

Each rising morn increas'd my pain,

Each night increas'd my fear; When, wandering in this northern garb,

Thy brother found me here,

He quickly form'd this brave design

To set me, captive, free;
And on the moor his horses wait

Ty'd to a neighbouring tree.

Then haste, my love, escape away,

And for thyself provide ;
And sometimes fondly think on her

Who should have been thy bride.

Thus pouring comfort on my soul,

Even with her latest breath,
She gave one parting fond embrace,

In wild amaze, in speechless woe,

Devoid of sense I lay;

Then sudden all in frantic mood

I meant myself to slay.

And, rising up in furious hafte,

I seiz'd the bloody brand : A sturdy arm here interpos’d, And wrench'd it from

my

hand.

A crowd that from the castle came

Had miss'd their lovely ward; And seizing me, to prison bare,

And deep in dungeon barr'd.

It chanc'd that on that very morn

Their chief was prisoner ta'en : Lord Percy had us foon exchang'd,

And strove to footh my pain.