Sir Marmaduke Maxwell, A Dramatic Poem :: :: University of Virginia Library

A Cavern on the Galloway Coast.
Mabel Moran, and Outlawed Royalists.
Mabel.
Hast thou look'd seaward? hast thou landward look'd?
And look'd to heaven? then say what thou hast seen.

First Roy.
There is a strange commotion on the earth,
And trouble on the waters; heaven's whole stars
Stream seven-fold bright; a ruddy red one dropt
Down on Caerlaverock custle; lo! it changed
From its bright starry shape to a flaming shroud:
I heard a loud sob, and a funeral wail—
Flights of blood-ravens darken'd all the pines,
And clapt their wings, and seem'd to smell out prey:
I read the hour upon the chapel clock,
And I dared look no longer.

Mabel.
Thou hast done
Wisely and well. Now, William Seaton, say
Didst thou sit on Barnhourie cliff, and watch
Sea-shore and heaven? then say what didst thou note.

Second Roy.
A fearful cry came from the flood, a cry,
Between Caerlaverock and Barnhourie rock,
Of an unearthly utterance; every wave—
And they roll'd in heaped multitudes and vast—
Seem'd summited with fire. Along the beach

There ran a rushing wind; and with the wind
There came a voice more shrill than human tongue,
Crying “Woe! woe!”

Mabel.
I thank thee, thou bright heaven:
The green ear's spared yet,—but the ripe is cut,
And by a villain's sickle. Brief's thy time,
Thou ruthless spiller of thy kinsman's blood:
A hand shall rise against thee, and a sword
Shall smite thee mid thy glory. For the sun
Shall walk but once from Burnswark's bonnie top
To lonely Criffel, till we hear a sound
Of one smote down in battle. Now, my friends,
There is a bright day coming for poor Scotland:
'T will brighten first in Nithsdale, at the hour
Foretold by our prophetic martyr, when
The slayers' swords were on him. Now be men:
Gird to your sides your swords; rush to the flood;
To the good work of redemption.

(Exeunt.)