The Caged Lion

them; and yet we must ask our readers to figure to themselves a sharp cleft sloping downwards to a brawling mountain stream

from the hill-side, and afforded a station for one of those tall, narrow, gri

an isthmus joining the peninsula to the main rock; and even this isthmus, a narrow ridge of rock just wide enough for the passage of a single horse, had been cut through, no doubt with great labour, and rendered impa

as though the builders wished to make height compensate for straitness. There was, too, an unusual amount of grace, both in the outline of the gateway with its mighty flan

tlement, that gave the building a crowned look. On the topmost tower was of course planted the ensign of the owner, and that ensign was no other than the regal ruddy Lion of Scotland, ramping on his gold field within his tressure fiery and counter flory, but surmounted by a label divided into twelve, and placed upon a pen-no

he absence of hair, only a few remnants of yellow locks mixed with silver floating from his temples to mingle with his magnificent white beard. A small blue bonnet, with a short eagle feather, fastened with a brooch of river pearl, was held in the hands that were clasped over his face, as, bending down in his chair, he murmured through his white beard, 'Have mercy

p, but was carefully hushed at entrance, as if supposing the old man asleep; and at a slow pace the new-comer cro

accompany deformity, though there was no actual malformation apparent, unless such might be reckoned the slight halt in the gait, and the small stature of the lad, who was no taller than many boys of twelve or fourteen. But there was a depth of melancholy in those dark brown e

d the sadness of his expression ever deepening, before the old man r

,' returned the boy. 'It was so cold;' and he shivered

eek?' aske

ied Malcolm. 'Patie is sure now that it is as you dee

man, again folding his hands in p

h none the less fervency; that Psalm that has ever since David's time s

e for it! Uncle, this was wherefore I cam

colm? Nay, that hath

ncle. 'You bade me say no more till I be of full age; nor would I, save that I were safe lodged in an abbey; then might Patrick and Lily be wedded, and he not have to leave us and seek his fortune far away in France; and in Pati

lingly see you in a cloister. Nay, that unmanly jeer of Walter Stewart's was, I verily believe, meant to drive you thither. But were you there, then would poor Lilias become a prize worth

ve her to Pat

riage as you will; but were you dead to the world, under a cowl, then the Lady of Glenuskie, a king's grandchild, may not be disposed of, save by her royal kinsman, or by those who,

en Patie is gone.' His eyes filled with tears as he continued, 'Ah! that fair chapel, with the sweet chant of the choir, the green smooth-shaven quadrangle, the calm cloister walk; there, there alone is rest. There, one ceases to be a prey and a laughing-

a girl, with a family likeness to Malcolm, but tall, upright, beautiful, and with the rich colouring of perfect health, her plaid still hanging in a loose swelling hood round her brilliant face and dark hair, snooded with a crimson

'there is a guest coming. He has just turned over

lcolm and the elder knig

e attendants,' said Lilias; 'one of Patrick's Fre

ed Malcolm. 'Patie, oh do not lower the drawbr

riends heard that,' said Patrick. 'W

e from the eldest rather than the youngest head among us, parley as much as may serve w

and curiosity, as one to whom excitement of any kind could hardly come amiss, exclaiming, as she looked from

rm those duties of hospitality which had become necessary, since the presence of the castle chaplain was a voucher for the guest. The drawbridge had already been lowered, and the new-comer was

t seven or eight and twenty years, clad in steel armour, enamelled so as to have a burnished blue appearance; but the vizor of the helmet was raised, and the face beneath it was a manly open face, thoroughly Scottish in its forms, but very handsome, and with short dark auburn hair, and eyes of the same peculi

Stewart, a captive knight who is come to collect his ransom. I fell in with him on the road, and as his

was absent; and a captive knight could be no mischievous person. Still this might be only a specious pretence to impose on the chaplain, and gain admittance to the castle; and Patrick was resolved to be well on his guard,

er's bridle that he might dismount; 'my father and my cousi

the meantime come forward, and extended his hand to the knight, who took it, and uncovering

lcolm bashfully made an awkward bow, and seemed ready to shrink within himself, as, indeed, the brutal jests of his rude cousins had made him dread and hate the eye of a stranger; and while the knight was led forward to the hall fire, he merely pressed up to the priest, and eagerly demanded under his breath, 'Have you brought me the book?' but Fat

ye fell on him, and the cheery kindly voice said, 'Ha! a n

mbled in the hoarse voice of bashful boyhood, 'Not a romance, S

ied Father Ninian, producing from his bosom a parcel, ap

had heard of such a book. I have a friend in England wh

ham, and had only been lent to Lord Malcolm Stewart by special favour. The guest could not help smiling, and saying he was glad books were thus prized in Scotland; but at that moment, as the sunny look shone on his face, a

e like?' asked Patrick, surp

red voice; 'do you not see it? to th

;' and then assuming a seat near Sir David, he entered into conversation with him upon the condition of Scotland at the period, inquiring into the state of many of the families and districts by name. Almost always there was but one answer

ded at last; 'cannot nobles, clergy, and burghers, band themselves in parli

ng enough; but each knows that his fellow, Douglas, Lennox, March, or Mar, would

land goes forth to waste itself in an empty foreign war, mere

oulest foe. It is the only place where a Scotsman can seek his fortune with honour, and without

been lavished on the crazy

; 'when they have been brightened there by honou

to part with the lad, yet may I not say a word to detain him in a land

nswered, 'That may be; but what is to be the lot of a land whose honest men desert her ca

r of England, yet speaking against our no

Sir James, 'to think that land happiest where

ed Patrick, chiefly out of

said Lilias, hoping to direct the conv

usly to her; 'I was taken when I was a mere lad, but

ifully, as one much moved by a certain patie

be kept aloof; and it is only now he is dead, that I have obtai

rs to ask, since the rate of ransom was the personal value of th

t the King, too, in his charge?' And then questions crowded on. 'What like is the King? How brooks he his duran

urns within him at every cry that comes over the Border, and will well-nigh burst at what I have seen and heard! King Harry tells him that to send him home were but tossing him on the swords of the Albany. Better

,' he said; 'I look on you as an honest m

es again glistening as he wrung Sir Patrick's hand. 'When the hou

rts, and I could find many more, only longing to fence him from the

would fain see him. Is it true that he was the tallest m

knight. 'Maybe I may give you the justest notion of

e,' said Sir David, satisfied; 'and you too

ught me, and I can make no figure in describing my own descent.' And as though to put an end to the inquiry, he walked to the window, where Malcolm so soon as they had begun to talk of t

ly expounded the sentence, so that all became plain; and then, as it was already too dark to pursue the study with comfort, he stood over the boy, tal

o much knowledge and understanding in a Scottish castle; and Malcolm, at, for the fir

it would have been served with so much of the refinement that Sir David Drummond and his late wife had learnt in France. A tablecloth and napkins, separate trenchers, and water for hand cleansing, were not always to be found in the houses of the nobles; and in fact, there were

world the hateful England, which as a Scotsman he was bound to abhor. Had it been France, it had been endurable, but praise of English habits was mere disloyalty; and yet, whenever Patrick tried to throw in a dis

icitation, so soon as supper was over, he recited to the eager and delighted auditors the tale of patient Grisel, as rendered by Chaucer, calling forth ea

know that the husband's rank is the wife's, and the more unequal were their

ning voice; 'but it is not well that like should not match with

slander, that our noble King has been caught in the toils of an artfu

red lightning, but he seemed, as it were, to be holding himself in, and answered with a voice forcibly kep

en will we honour, when such she is, Sir; but if you are returning to the King, it were well that he should know t

subjects shall brook as their queen. Moreover,' he added, in a different and more conciliatory voice, 'Scotsmen must be proud indeed who dis

f course on the side of true love. 'You have seen h

risoner, who have only now and then viewed the lady Joan Beaufort with distant reverence, as d

ot true that the King hath compos

gh the King would be no better th

David!' dryly

erily add minstrelsy to his other graces? Know you th

might but add to the scorn wherewith Sir Patrick i

n he gains his freedom. Only there will come before me a subtilty I once saw in jelly and blanc-mange, at a banquet in France, where a lion fell in love w

Joan is more hike to send her Lion forth from the hunter's toi

ho knows that it may not win Patrick to be the L

harp he loved all the better for the di

, 'Then, fair lady, I will sing you the song made by King James, when he had first seen the fair mistress

I have heard the word in romances, and deem

Philomel, that pierces her breast with a t

he bird in France-Rossignol, as we call it there; and were I a lady, I should deem i

rt of angels that sing by night, that it pains me, when I think of winning my freedom, to rememb

low voice, with an exceedingly sweet strain in it, and a skill, both of modulation and finger, such as showed admirable taste and instruction,

much worse was the present state of affairs. Sir James, however, seemed anxious to prevent discussion of the verses he had sung, and applied to Malcolm to give a specimen of his powers: and thus, with music, ballad, and lay, the evening passed away, till the parting

e King the last advices from one so honoured as the Tutor of Glenuskie; and, on their sides, Malcolm and Sir David resolved to do their best to have some gold pieces to contribute, rather than so 'prope

was still a captive to England, and when the House of Albany exercised its cruel misr

rful legacy of, as Froissart says, 'eleven sons who loved arms.' Of these, Robert III. was the eldest, the Duke of Albany the second. These were both dead, and were represented, the one by the captive you

en he had solemnly charged his Stewart nephews and brothers to leave his two orphan children to the sole charge of their mother's cousin, Sir David Drummond, a good old man, who had been the best