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MARMION.
95They burn'd the gilded spurs to claim:
For well could each a warhorse tame,
Could draw the bow, the sword could sway,
And lightly bear the ring away;
Nor less with courteous precepts stored,
100Could dance in hall, and carve at board,
And frame love-ditties passing rare,
And sing them to a lady fair.
For well could each a warhorse tame,
Could draw the bow, the sword could sway,
And lightly bear the ring away;
Nor less with courteous precepts stored,
100Could dance in hall, and carve at board,
And frame love-ditties passing rare,
And sing them to a lady fair.
VIII.
Four men-at-arms came at their backs,
With halbert, bill, and battle-axe:
105They bore Lord Marmion's lance so strong,
And led his sumpter-mules along,
And ambling palfrey, when at need
Him listed ease his battle-steed.
The last and trustiest of the four,
110On high his forky pennon bore;
Like swallow's tail, in shape and hue,
Flutter'd the streamer glossy blue,
Where, blazon'd sable, as before,
The towering falcon seem'd to soar.
115Last, twenty yeomen, two and two,
In hosen black, and jerkins blue,
With falcons broider'd on each breast,
Attended on their lord's behest.
Each, chosen for an archer good,
120Knew hunting-craft by lake or wood;
Each one a six-foot bow could bend,
And far a cloth-yard shaft could send;
Each held a boar-spear tough and strong,
And at their belts their quivers rung.
125Their dusty palfreys, and array,
Show'd they had march'd a weary way.
Four men-at-arms came at their backs,
With halbert, bill, and battle-axe:
105They bore Lord Marmion's lance so strong,
And led his sumpter-mules along,
And ambling palfrey, when at need
Him listed ease his battle-steed.
The last and trustiest of the four,
110On high his forky pennon bore;
Like swallow's tail, in shape and hue,
Flutter'd the streamer glossy blue,
Where, blazon'd sable, as before,
The towering falcon seem'd to soar.
115Last, twenty yeomen, two and two,
In hosen black, and jerkins blue,
With falcons broider'd on each breast,
Attended on their lord's behest.
Each, chosen for an archer good,
120Knew hunting-craft by lake or wood;
Each one a six-foot bow could bend,
And far a cloth-yard shaft could send;
Each held a boar-spear tough and strong,
And at their belts their quivers rung.
125Their dusty palfreys, and array,
Show'd they had march'd a weary way.
IX.
'Tis meet that I should tell you now,
How fairly arm'd, and order'd how,
'Tis meet that I should tell you now,
How fairly arm'd, and order'd how,
