Page:Marmion - Walter Scott (ed. Bayne, 1889).pdf/47

60His helm hung at the saddlebow;
Well by his visage you might know
He was a stalworth knight, and keen,
And had in many a battle been;
The scar on his brown cheek reveal'd
65A token true of Bosworth field;
His eyebrow dark, and eye of fire,
Show'd spirit proud, and prompt to ire;
Yet lines of thought upon his cheek
Did deep design and counsel speak.
70His forehead by his casque worn bare,
His thick mustache, and curly hair,
Coal-black, and grizzled here and there,
 But more through toil than age;
His square-turn'd joints, and strength of limb,
75Show'd him no carpet knight so trim,
But in close fight a champion grim,
 In camps a leader sage.

VI.
Well was he arm'd from head to heel,
In mail and plate of Milan steel;
80But his strong helm, of mighty cost,
Was all with burnish'd gold emboss'd;
Amid the plumage of the crest,
A falcon hover'd on her nest,
With wings outspread, and forward breast;
85E'en such a falcon, on his shield,
Soar'd sable in an azure field:
The golden legend bore aright,
Who checks at me, to death is dight.
Blue was the charger's broider'd rein;
90Blue ribbons deck'd his arching mane;
The knightly housing's ample fold
Was velvet blue, and trapp'd with gold.

VII.
Behind him rode two gallant squires,
Of noble name, and knightly sires;