[Second.
THOMAS THE RHYMER.
695
"Enough, enough, of curse and ban;
Some blessing show thou now to me,
Or, by the faith o' my bodie," Corspatrick said,
"Ye shall rue the day ye e'er saw me!"
Some blessing show thou now to me,
Or, by the faith o' my bodie," Corspatrick said,
"Ye shall rue the day ye e'er saw me!"
"The first of blessings I shall thee show,
Is by a burn, that's called of bread;
Where Saxon men shall tine the bow,
And find their arrows lack the head.
Is by a burn, that's called of bread;
Where Saxon men shall tine the bow,
And find their arrows lack the head.
"Beside that brigg, out ower that burn,
Where the water bickereth bright and sheen,
Shall many a falling courser spurn,
And knights shall die in battle keen.
Where the water bickereth bright and sheen,
Shall many a falling courser spurn,
And knights shall die in battle keen.
"Beside a headless cross of stone,
The libbards there shall lose the gree;[1]
The raven shall come, the erne shall go,
And drink the Saxon blood sae free.
The cross of stone they shall not know,
So thick the corses there shall be."
The libbards there shall lose the gree;[1]
The raven shall come, the erne shall go,
And drink the Saxon blood sae free.
The cross of stone they shall not know,
So thick the corses there shall be."
"But tell me now," said brave Dunbar,
"True Thomas, tell now unto me,
What man shall rule the isle Britain,
Even from the north to the southern sea?"
"True Thomas, tell now unto me,
What man shall rule the isle Britain,
Even from the north to the southern sea?"
A French queen shall bear the son,
Shall rule all Britain to the sea;
He of the Bruce's blood shall come,
As near as in the ninth degree.
Shall rule all Britain to the sea;
He of the Bruce's blood shall come,
As near as in the ninth degree.
"The waters worship shall his race;
Likewise the waves of the farthest sea;
For they shall ride ower ocean wide,
With hempen bridles, and horse of tree."
Likewise the waves of the farthest sea;
For they shall ride ower ocean wide,
With hempen bridles, and horse of tree."
PART THIRD.
MODERN.
Thomas the Rhymer was renowned among his contemporaries, as the author of the celebrated romance of "Sir Tristrem." Of this once-admired poem only one copy is now known to exist, which is in the Advocates' Library. The Editor, in 1804, published a small edition of this curious work; which, if it does not revive the reputation of the bard of Ercildoune, is at least the earliest specimen of Scottish poetry hitherto published. Some account of this romance has already been given to the world in Mr. Ellis's "Specimens of Ancient Poetry," vol i. p. 165, part iii. 410; a work to which our predecessors and our posterity are alike obliged;
- ↑ Prize.
