Nay, hear now, little seaman! Haste far away from me; And the half of this my kingdom I that will give to thee." But with golden dice they played, they played away! "The half of this thy kingdom I'll get, if 't can be done; But that young virgin have I will, Whom with gold dice I won." But with golden dice they played, they played away! And the virgin in her chamber goes, And parts her flowing hair : "Ah me! poor maid, I soon, alas! The marriage-crown must bear."— But with golden dice they played, they played away! The seaman treads the floor along, And with his sword he played, As good a match as e'er thou'rt worth Thou gettest, little maid!" But with golden dice they played, they played away! "For I, God wot, no seaman am, Although ye thinken so: The best king's son I am, instead, That in England can go." But with golden dice they played, they played away! FROM THE SWEDISH. The Legend of the Heart of Bruce. When King Robert I. died he exacted a promise from Sir James Douglas to convey his heart to the Holy Land, where he had been on the point of going when death arrested him. The party had reached Sluys, on their way to Jerusalem, when Alonzo, King of Leon and Castile, at that time engaged in war with the Moorish governor of Granada, Osmyn, sent to demand the aid of Douglas; and by his oath as a knight, which forbade him ever to turn a deaf ear to a call in aid of the Church of Christ, he was forced to attend to the summons. He fought with his usual bravery, till the Moslems believed he bore a charmed life, as they saw him rush into the thickest of the fight, and escape unwounded. But the Christian ranks nevertheless began to give way; and to stem the flight the Douglas threw the casket containing the king's heart into the mêlée, and rushed after it, exclaiming, "Now pass onward as thou wert wont, and Douglas will follow thee or die!" The day after the battle, the body of Douglas and the casket were found by his surviving companions; and the squire of Douglas, finding it was impossible to convey it to Jerusalem, brought back the prince's heart to Scotland, and it was interred at Melrose. A GALLEY seeks the port of Sluys, Rode never bark more fair than she, The white sails swelling to the breeze And crested helm, and armour bright, They do not come with sword and lance, A mission to King Philip's' court: But pilgrims to Jerusalem, And he who first in presence sate, So many graces did commend The knight who was King Robert's friend He stood beside the bed Whereon, in life's departing hour, Was good King Robert laid, Whose failing breath and nerveless form Of our most blessed Lord. ** * * * * "He prays you by your knighthood's oatlı, And by the cross you wear, And by your master's dying 'hest, And by your lady fair:— He prays you by your courtesy, "I Out spake the gentle Douglas then: may not by my vow, Thus summon'd to the cross's aid, the holy strife forego. But oh! thou distant Solyma, long space it must be, ere A pilgrim, I shall bend my knee beside the sepulchre. Oh! that I first might seek the land of my dear Saviour's birth, And lay my honour'd master's heart in Syria's holy earth, And lave, by Jordan's sainted stream, my care-worn, furrow'd brow, Ere sword again I draw. Enough! I may not-for my vow!" On rush'd the Douglas-never knight Danced like the foam on ocean's breast, They err'd not they err'd not, a spell of power Nerved the arm of the Douglas that fatal hour: For lo! to his faithful bosom press'd In its jewell'd casket of orient gold, The heart that once throbb'd in the Bruce's breast Was borne into fight by that baron bold. |