Ill fared it then with Roderick Dhu, That on the field his targe he threw, Whose brazen studs and tough bull-hide Had death so often dash'd aside; For, train'd abroad his arms to wield, Fitz-James's blade was sword and shield.... Three times in closing strife they stood, And thrice the Saxon blade drank blood; No stinted draught, no scanty tide, The gushing flood the tartans dyed. Fierce Roderick felt the fatal drain, And shower'd his blows like wintry rain; And, as firm rock, or castle-roof, Against the winter shower is proof, The foe, invulnerable still, Foil'd his wild rage by steady skill; Till, at advantage ta'en, his brand Forced Roderick's weapon from his hand, And backward borne upon the lea, Brought the proud Chieftain to his knee. (SCOTT: _The Lady of the Lake_, canto v. st. xv. 1810.) How this their joy fulfilled might move The world around I know not well; But yet this idle dream doth tell That no more silent was the place, That new joy lit up every face, That joyous lovers kissed and clung, E'en as these twain, that songs were sung From mouth to mouth in rose-bowers, Where hand in hand and crowned with flowers, Folk praised the Lover and Beloved That such long years, such pain had proved; But soft, they say, their joyance was When midst them soon the twain did pass, Hand locked in hand, heart kissing heart, No more this side of death to part-- No more, no more--full soft I say Their greetings were that happy day, As though in pensive semblance clad; For fear their faces over-glad This certain thing should seem to hide, That love can ne'er be satisfied. (WILLIAM MORRIS: _The Earthly Paradise_; _The Land East of the Sun_. 1870.) FOOTNOTES: [16] For Sievers's analysis of Anglo-Saxon verse into these types, see his articles in Paul and Braune's _Beiträge_, vols. x. and xii.; and the brief statement in the Appendix to Bright's _Anglo-Saxon Reader_, from which the examples just quoted are taken. [17] The term "tumbling verse," used for obvious reasons, appears at least as early as 1585, when King James, in his _Reulis and Cautelis_ for Scotch Poetry, said: "For flyting, or Invectives, use this kynde of verse following, callit Rouncefallis, or Tumbling verse: 'In the hinder end of harvest upon Alhallow ene, Quhen our gude nichtbors rydis (nou gif I reid richt) Some bucklit on a benwod, and some on a bene, Ay trott and into troupes fra the twylicht.'"