XXII.

Some feelings are to mortals given
With less of earth in them than heaven;
And if there be a human tear
From passion’s dross refined and clear,
A tear so limpid and so meek
It would not stain an angel’s cheek,
’Tis that which pious fathers shed
Upon a duteous daughter’s head! 
And as the Douglas to his breast
His darling Ellen closely pressed,
Such holy drops her tresses steeped,
Though ’t was an hero’s eye that weeped. 
Nor while on Ellen’s faltering tongue
Her filial welcomes crowded hung,
 Marked she that fear—­affection’s proof—­
Still held a graceful youth aloof;
No! not till Douglas named his name,
Although the youth was Malcolm Graeme.

XXIII.

Allan, with wistful look the while,
Marked Roderick landing on the isle;
His master piteously he eyed,
Then gazed upon the Chieftain’s pride,
Then dashed with hasty hand away
From his dimmed eye the gathering spray;
And Douglas, as his hand he laid
On Malcolm’s shoulder, kindly said: 
’Canst thou, young friend, no meaning spy
In my poor follower’s glistening eye? 
I ’ll tell thee:—­he recalls the day
When in my praise he led the lay
O’er the arched gate of Bothwell proud,
While many a minstrel answered loud,
When Percy’s Norman pennon, won
In bloody field, before me shone,
And twice ten knights, the least a name
As mighty as yon Chief may claim,
Gracing my pomp, behind me came. 
Yet trust me, Malcolm, not so proud
Was I of all that marshalled crowd,
Though the waned crescent owned my might,
And in my train trooped lord and knight,
Though Blantyre hymned her holiest lays,
And Bothwell’s bards flung back my praise,
As when this old man’s silent tear,
And this poor maid’s affection dear,
A welcome give more kind and true
Than aught my better fortunes knew. 
Forgive, my friend, a father’s boast,—­
O, it out-beggars all I lost!’

XXIV.

Delightful praise!—­like summer rose,
That brighter in the dew-drop glows,
The bashful maiden’s cheek appeared,
For Douglas spoke, and Malcolm heard. 
The flush of shame-faced joy to hide,
The hounds, the hawk, her cares divide;
The loved caresses of the maid
The dogs with crouch and whimper paid;
And, at her whistle, on her hand
The falcon took his favorite stand,
Closed his dark wing, relaxed his eye,
Nor, though unhooded, sought to fly. 
And, trust, while in such guise she stood,
Like fabled Goddess of the wood,
That if a father’s partial thought
O’erweighed her worth and beauty aught,
Well might the lover’s judgment fail
To balance with a juster scale;
For with each secret glance he stole,
The fond enthusiast sent his soul.