Pass, pass who will, yon chantry door;[R] And, through the chink in the fractured floor Look down, and see a griesly sight; A vault where the bodies are buried upright![S] 245 There, face by face, and hand by hand, The Claphams and Mauleverers stand; And, in his place, among son and sire, Is John de Clapham, that fierce Esquire, A valiant man, and a name of dread 250 In the ruthless wars of the White and Red; Who dragged Earl Pembroke from Banbury church And smote off his head on the stones of the porch! Look down among them, if you dare; Oft does the White Doe loiter there, 255 Prying into the darksome rent; Nor can it be with good intent: So thinks that Dame of haughty air, Who hath a Page her book to hold, And wears a frontlet edged with gold. 260 Harsh thoughts with her high mood agree-- Who counts among her ancestry[24] Earl Pembroke, slain so impiously! That slender Youth, a scholar pale, From Oxford come to his native vale, 265 He also hath his own conceit: It is, thinks he, the gracious Fairy, Who loved the Shepherd-lord to meet[T] In his wanderings solitary: Wild notes she in his hearing sang, 270 A song of Nature's hidden powers; That whistled like the wind, and rang Among the rocks and holly bowers. 'Twas said that She all shapes could wear; And oftentimes before him stood, 275 Amid the trees of some thick wood, In semblance of a lady fair; And taught him signs, and showed him sights, In Craven's dens, on Cumbrian[25] heights; When under cloud of fear he lay, 280 A shepherd clad in homely grey; Nor left him at his later day. And hence, when he, with spear and shield, Rode full of years to Flodden-field, His eye could see the hidden spring, 285 And how the current was to flow; The fatal end of Scotland's King, And all that hopeless overthrow. But not in wars did he delight, _This_ Clifford wished for worthier might; 290 Nor in broad pomp, or courtly state; Him his own thoughts did elevate,-- Most happy in the shy recess Of Barden's lowly[26] quietness.[U] And choice of studious friends had he 295 Of Bolton's dear fraternity; Who, standing on this old church tower, In many a calm propitious hour, Perused, with him, the starry sky; Or, in their cells, with him did pry 300 For other lore,--by keen desire Urged to close toil with chemic fire;[27] In quest belike of transmutations Rich as the mine's most bright creations.[28] But they and their good works are fled, 305 And all is now disquieted--