Allan, with wistful look the while, Mark'd Roderick landing on the isle; His master piteously he eyed, Then gazed upon the Chieftain's pride, Then dash'd, with hasty hand, away From his dimm'd eye the gathering spray; And Douglas, as his hand he laid On Malcolm's shoulder, kindly said, "Canst thou, young friend, no meaning spy In my poor follower's glistening eye? I'll tell thee:--he recalls the day When in my praise he led the lay O'er the arch'd gate of Bothwell proud, While many a minstrel answer'd loud, When Percy's Norman pennon,[133] won In bloody field, before me shone, And twice ten knights, the least a name As mighty as yon Chief may claim, Gracing my pomp, behind me came. Yet trust me, Malcolm, not so proud Was I of all that marshal'd crowd, Though the waned crescent[134] own'd my might, And in my train troop'd lord and knight, Though Blantyre[135] hymn'd her holiest lays, And Bothwell's bards flung back my praise, As when this old man's silent tear, And this poor maid's affection dear, A welcome give more kind and true, Than aught my better fortunes knew. Forgive, my friend, a father's boast, Oh! it out-beggars[136] all I lost!" [133] The battle flag which Earl Douglas won from Hotspur at Newcastle in 1388. [134] A crescent was one of the badges of the Percies. [135] An abbey near Bothwell Castle. [136] Causes to seem poor. XXIV. Delightful praise!--Like summer rose, That brighter in the dewdrop glows, The bashful maiden's cheek appear'd, For Douglas spoke, and Malcolm heard. The flush of shamefaced joy to hide, The hounds, the hawk, her cares divide; The loved caresses of the maid The dogs with crouch and whimper paid; And, at her whistle, on her hand The falcon took his favorite stand, Closed his dark wing, relax'd his eye, Nor, though unhooded,[137] sought to fly. And, trust, while in such guise she stood, Like fabled goddess[138] of the wood, That if a father's partial thought O'erweigh'd her worth and beauty aught, Well might the lover's judgment fail To balance with a juster scale; For with each secret glance he stole, The fond enthusiast sent his soul. [137] Hawks or falcons were trained to pursue small game during the middle ages. When not in flight, they were usually blinded by means of a hood adorned with little bells. [138] Ellen, surrounded by the hounds and with the falcon on her hand, is likened to Diana, the goddess of the chase, in Greek mythology. XXV.