The ancient bard his glee repress'd: "I'll hast thou chosen theme for jest! For who, through all this western wild, Named Black[104] Sir Roderick e'er, and smiled? In Holy-Rood[105] a knight he slew; I saw, when back the dirk he drew, Courtiers give place before the stride Of the undaunted homicide; And since, though outlaw'd,[106] hath his hand Full sternly kept his mountain land. Who else dared give--ah! woe the day That I such hated truth should say-- The Douglas, like a stricken deer, Disown'd by every noble peer, Even the rude refuge we have here? Alas! this wild marauding Chief Alone might hazard our relief, And, now thy maiden charms expand, Looks for his guerdon[107] in thy hand; Full soon may dispensation[108] sought, To back his suit, from Rome be brought. Then, though an exile on the hill, Thy father, as the Douglas, still Be held in reverence and fear; And though to Roderick thou'rt so dear, That thou mightst guide with silken thread, Slave of thy will, this Chieftain dread, Yet, O loved maid, thy mirth refrain! Thy hand is on a lion's mane." [104] Dhu in Gaelic. [105] "In Holy-Rood," i.e., in the very presence of royalty. Holyrood was the King's palace in Edinburgh. [106] A person who had been outlawed, or declared without the protection of the law, could not bring an action at law. Any one could steal his property, or even kill him, without fear of legal punishment. [107] Reward. [108] Roderick and Ellen, being cousins, could not marry without dispensation, or special license from the Pope. XIII. "Minstrel," the maid replied, and high Her father's soul glanced from her eye, "My debts to Roderick's house I know: All that a mother could bestow, To Lady Margaret's care I owe, Since first an orphan in the wild She sorrow'd o'er her sister's child; To her brave chieftain son, from ire Of Scotland's King who shrouds[109] my sire, A deeper, holier debt is owed; And, could I pay it with my blood, Allan! Sir Roderick should command My blood, my life,--but not my hand. Rather will Ellen Douglas dwell A votaress in Maronnan's[110] cell; Rather through realms beyond the sea, Seeking the world's cold charity, Where ne'er was spoke a Scottish word, And ne'er the name of Douglas heard, An outcast pilgrim will she rove, Than wed the man she cannot love." [109] Shields. [110] Kilmaronock, a village about two miles southeast of Loch Lomond, has a chapel or convent dedicated to St. Maronnan, of whom little is remembered. XIV.