And soon, within a chamber large, A blazing fire perceiv’d; And by its flames a sight he saw, Which else he’d ne’er believ’d. A king and queen, in regal state, Were there by Morpheus chain’d: And o’er the train of courtiers too The same still slumber reign’d. And round the fire some faithful dogs Their fortunes seem’d to share: And, on a table near, a sword And horn were placed there. As from the scabbard then, with might, The blade to draw he tries, As it unsheath’d, with awe he sees The sleepers all arise. Struck with amaze, he put it back.-- The monarch, pierc’d with woe, E’er he return’d to death-like sleep, Thus spoke in accents slow: “A curse, O Dixon, light on thee! Why wast thou ever born? Why did thou not the sword draw out, Or wind the bugle horn? “On them our wish’d release depends.-- A cent’ry now must fly, Before a mortal can again To break th’ enchantment try.” And now, oppress’d by slumbers dire, He sank, till kinder fate Should send some knight, who might restore His former envied state. For Dixon, who these wonders saw, And hope both rais’d and crush’d, Soon left th’ apartment, as at first, In solemn silence hush’d. And never since, as records say, Has mortal ventur’d there; But all, with superstitious dread, The sleeping king revere. [54] Sewen Shields, or Shewing Sheels, about 28 miles west of Newcastle, is a Roman Castle, 22 yards by 30, having entrances on the east, south, and west, with a foss on three sides, remarkably bold; and on the fourth Serverus’s wall. It has had four turrets, one at each corner. See _Hutton’s Desc. of the Rom. Wall_. [55] The name of the shepherd to whom tradition records this circumstance to have occurred. The following old Northumbrian ballad was taken down from the recitation of a woman eighty years of age, mother to one of the miners in Alston-moor, by an agent for the lead mines there, and communicated to the Editor by Robert Surtees, Esquire, of Mainsforth. She had not, she said, heard it for many years; but when she was a girl, it used to be sung at merry makings, “till the roof rung again.” _N.B._ This ballad was first printed in Scott’s celebrated Poem of MARMION, with several valuable notes; for which see the notes to canto first of that Poem. Hoot awa’, lads, hoot awa’, Ha’ ye heard how the Ridleys, and Thirwalls, and a’, Ha’ set upon Awbony[56] Featherstonhaugh, And taken his life at the Deadmanshaugh; There was Willimoteswick, And Hardriding Dick, And Hughie of Hawden, and Will of the Wa’, I canno’ tell a’, I canno’ tell a’, And mony a mair that the deil may knaw. The auld man went down, but Nicol, his son, Ran away afore the fight was begun; And he run, and he run, And afore they were done, There was many a Featherston gat sic a stun, As never was seen since the world begun.