8
Matilda saw and fast she ran—
O, spare his life, she cried—
Lord Buchan's daughter begs his life,
Let her not be denied.
Her well-known voice the hero heard,
He raised his death-closed eyes;
He fixed them on the weeping maid,
And weakly thus replies:
In vain Matilda begs a life,
By death's arrest denied;
My race is run—adieu my love—
Then closed his eyes, and died.
The sword yet warm from his left side,
With frantic hand she drew;
I come, Sir James the Rose, she cried,
I come to follow you!
The hilt she leaned against the ground,
And bared her snowy breast;
Then fell upon her lover's face,
And sunk to endless rest.
✷It is believed on good authority that Lady Matilda and Sir James were both interred in the same grave in the Burial-ground attached to the Abbey of Deer, and which now forms part of the estate of Pitfour, East Aberdeenshire.
Geo. Clark & Son, 17, Broad Street.
