Page:The Lay of the Last Minstrel - Scott (1805).djvu/80

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For when the first he had undone,
It closed as he the next begun.
Those iron clasps, that iron band,
Would not yield to unchristened hand,
Till he smeared the cover o'er
With the Borderer's curdled gore;
A moment then the volume spread,
And one short spell therein he read.
It had much of glamour^[1] might,
Could make a ladye seem a knight;
The cobwebs on a dungeon wall,
Seem tapestry in lordly hall;
A nut-shell seem a gilded barge,
A sheeling^[2] seem a palace large,
And youth seem age, and age seem youth—
All was delusion, nought was truth.

X.
He had not read another spell,
When on his cheek a buffet fell,

1. Magical delusion.
2. A shepherd's hut.