Page:Halleck.djvu/38

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ALNWICK CASTLE.2

Home of the Percy’s high-born race,
Home of their beautiful and brave,
Alike their birth and burial-place,
Their cradle and their grave!
Still sternly o’er the castle gate
Their house’s Lion stands in state,
As in his proud departed hours;
And warriors frown in stone on high,
And feudal banners “flout the sky”
Above his princely towers.

A gentle hill its side inclines,
Lovely in England’s fadeless green,
To meet the quiet stream which winds
Through this romantic scene
As silently and sweetly still,
As when, at evening, on that hill,
While summer’s wind blew soft and low,
Seated by gallant Hotspur’s side,
His Katherine was a happy bride,
A thousand years ago.