Casque (eåsk), a piece of | Blaʼzoned, adorned; displayed;
armor which protects the head; a helmet. Em-bossed', ornamented with raised figures. Hous'ing, cover and trappings
Ho'şen, hose; close-fitting trows
ers, as formerly worn, reaching to the knee. (Not used.) Jer’kins, waistcoats; jackets. Quiv'er, a case or sheath for ar
Yâre, ready; eager. (Not used.) Lin'stock, a stick with a match or lint at the end, used to fire
An ́gels, ancient gold coins of England, worth about ten shillings, and bearing the figure of an angel.
LONG the bridge Lord Marmion rode,
Proudly his red-roan charger trode,
His helm hung at the saddle-bow;
Well by his visage you might know
He was a stalworth knight and keen,
And had in many a battle been;
The scar on his brown cheek revealed
A token true of Bosworth field;
His eye-brow 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.
2. His forehead, by his casque worn bare,
His thick mustache, 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Four men-at-arms came at their backs,
With halberd, 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.
6. 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 cloth-yard shaft could send;
Each held a boar-spear tough and strong,
And at their belts their quivers hung.
Their dusty palfreys, and array,
Showed they had marched a weary way.
7. '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.
8. 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!"
Făn'cies, images formed in the Tithe, a tenth part of anything.
HE black walnut-logs in the chimney
Made ruddy the house with their light,
And the pool in the hollow was covered
With ice like a lid,—it was night;
2. And Roslyn and I were together,
I know now the pleased look he wore,
And the shapes of the shadows that checkered
The hard yellow planks of the floor;
3. And how, when the wind stirred the candle,
Affrighted they ran from its gleams,
And crept up the wall to the ceiling
Of cedar, and hid by the beams.
4. There were books on the mantel-shelf, dusty,
And shut, and I see in my mind
The pink-colored primer of pictures
We stood on our tiptoes to find.
5. We opened the leaves where a camel Was seen on a sand-covered track, A-dying for water, and bearing
A great bag of gold on his back;
6. And talked of the free flowing river
A tithe of his burden would buy,
And said, when the lips of the sunshine
Had sucked his last water-skin dry,
7. With thick breath, and mouth gaping open,
And red eyes a-strain in his head,
His bones would push out as if buzzards
Had picked him before he was dead!
8. Then turned the leaf over, and finding A palace that banners made gay, Forgot the bright splendor of roses
That shone through our windows in May;
9. And sighed for the great beds of princes,
While pillows for him and for me
Lay soft among ripples of ruffles,
As sweet and as white as could be;
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