THE HEART OF KING ROBERT BRUCE.
"When he found his end drew nigh, that great king summoned his barons and peers around him, and, singling out the good Lord James of Douglas, fondly entreated him, as his old friend and companion in arms, to cause his heart to be taken from his body, after death, and to transport it to Palestine, in redemption of a vow which he had made to go thither in person."
Sir Walter Scott's History of Scotland.
King Robert bore with gasping breath
The strife of mortal pain,
And gathering round the couch of death,
His nobles mourned in vain.
Bathed were his brows in chilling dew
As thus he faintly cried,
"Red Comyn in his sins I slew
At the high altar's side.
"For this, a vow my soul hath bound
In armed lists to ride,
A warrior to that Holy Ground
Where my Redeemer died:
Lord James of Douglas, see! we part!
I die before my time,
I charge thee bear this pulseless heart
A pilgrim to that clime."
He ceased, for lo! in close pursuit,
With fierce and fatal strife,
He came, who treads with icy foot
Upon the lamp of life.
