The King's Tragedy (Fitzwilliam Draft Manuscript)

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Document Title: The King's Tragedy (Fitzwilliam Draft Manuscript)

Author: Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Date of Composition: 1859 (circa)

Type of Manuscript: corrected copy

Scribe: DGR

The full Rossetti Archive record for this transcribed document is available.

page: [i]

Note: blank page

page: [i verso]

James born 1394 died 20 Feb 1437

imprisoned by Henry 4th at age of 12 — 1406

remained in prison for 12 18 years — 1424

married in 1423 — 2nd Feb.

came out & mounted his throne at 30

married his daughter to the Dauphin son of

Charles VII in 1436 — She w ^d seem by this

to have been only 12 years old or little more

D.G.R.

Manuscript Addition: 1 King's Tragedy — with frame narrative / 2 various fragments (not to be parted with) / WMR

Editorial Description: Note by WMR

Manuscript Addition: between verses 70 - 71 volume published works + / 74 - 75 CFM / 76-77

Editorial Description: Note by Charles Fairfax Murray

page: [ii]

Manuscript Addition: This precious draft of the “King's Tragedy” was / purchased by me of W ^m Rossetti as incomplete / This is not so however, the verses at the / beginning are only out of place but I / have obtained the leaves in the order they / were found in the M.S. book they were / taken from which has some interest / as it is probably the order they were / transcribed in. / The poem begins on the 4 ^th leaf with the / fifth verse of the published version and / it will be thus evident that the first / four verses (as the poem now stands) were / added later the better to introduce the / heroine / Verses 52 . 105 . 120 . 123 . 128 . 153 & 154 are / not in these drafts & five verses are not / published, two between the 120 ^th & 121 ^st / are between the 124 ^th & 125 ^th & two between / the 125 ^th & 127 ^th / Charles Fairfax Murray

Editorial Description: Murray's note on the manuscript

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But the bird may fall from the bough of youth
And song song may be may turn to moan
And Love's [?] storm-cloud be the shadow of Hate
While the seething tempest waves of a troubled State
Are beating against a throne

Yet well they loved; & the god of Love
Whom well the King had sung,
Could have found no simpler truer hearts
His lowliest swains among.

10From the days when first she walked rode abroad
With Scottish maids in her train,
I, Catherine Douglas, won the trust
Of my mistress sweet Queen Jane.

And oft she sighed ‘ To be born a King!”
And oft along the way
When she saw the homely folk go lovers pas t s
She has said, “Alack the day!”

Years waned — the loving & [s?ing] toiling years:
Till England's wrong renewed
20 Strong James in his this hour of bitter wrath
Added TextDrove James, by outrage cast on his crown
To the open field of feud.

page: [1v]

Note: Blank page

page: [2]

Twas when the King & his host were met
At the leaguer of Roxbro' hold,
The Queen o' the sudden sought his camp
With a tale of dread to be told

And I heard her tell in his secret ear
Added TextAnd she showed him a secret letter writ
That told of spoke of treasonous storms strife,
And how many were sworn to take his life a band of men his noblest lords
With exiled Robert Grame,
Added TextWere sworn to take his life.

30“And it may be here or it may be there,
In the camp or the court, ”she said:
“But for my sake come to your people's arms
And guard your royal head.”

Quoth he, “'Tis the fifteenth day of the siege,
And the castle's nigh to yield.”
“O face the false lords your foes on your throne,” she said cried,
“And show the power you wield,
And under the your Scotish people's love
You shall sit and as under your shield.”

40 With At the fair Queen's side in her tent I stood that day
When he bade them raise the siege,
And back to his Court he sped to know
How the lords would meet their Liege.

page: [2v]

Note: Stanza 15/26 has been added on this page and marked for insertion in the text on the following facing page.

Added Text

And Yet all we here that are nobly sprung
Have mourned dear kith & kin
Since first for the Scottish nobles' curse
Did your bloody reign rule begin.

page: [3]

Note: A line is drawn from the added stanza on the verso to the space between stanzas 14 and 16.

But when he sat at his Country's throne summoned his Parliament,
The louring brows hung round,
Like clouds that circle the mountain-head
Ere the first low thunders sound.

For he had tamed the nobles' lust
And curbed their power & pride,
50And reached out an arm to right the poor
Through Scotland far & wide;
And many a lordly wrong-doer
Neath By the headsman's axe had died.

Twas t Then up & spoke Sir Robert Graæme,
The bold o'ermastering man—
O King, in the name of your Three Estates
I set you under their ban!

For as your lords made oath to you
Of service & fealty
60Even in such like wise you gave pledged your oath
Their faithful sire to be—

With that he laid his hands on his King:—
“Is this not so, my lords?”
But of all who had sworn to league with him
Not one spake back to his words.

Quoth the King— Hale hence you traitor knight! quoth the King
The Græme lowered fired red dark with rage:—
“Who serves in works for lesser men than himself
He earns but a witless wage!”

page: [3v]

Note: Stanza 22/5 has been added on this page and marked for insertion in the text on the following facing page.

Added Text

Deleted Text

For the elder Prince, the Kingdom's heir,

Was foully done to death

For the elder Prince, the Kingdom's heir
By treason's murderous brood
Was slain; & the father quaked for the child
And his With the royal mortal blood

page: [4]

Note: DGR draws a line after stanza 20/31 and begins a series of additions for the poem that are out of the composition sequence. He heads these with a roman numeral I.

Manuscript Addition: I

Editorial Description: DGR's mark heading the series of additions to the text

70But soon from the dungeon where he lay
He won by privy plots.
And forth he fled with a price on his head
To the country of the Wild Scots.

And word there came from Sir Robert Graæme
To the King at Edinbro':
“No Liege of mine thou art; but I see
From this day forth alone in thee
God's creature, my mortal foe.

Through thee are my wife and children lost,
80My heritage & lands;
And when my God shall show me a way,
Thyself my mortal foe will I slay
With these my proper hands.”

Through all the days of his gallant youth
My princely James was pent
By his friends at first & then by his foes
In long imprisonment.

In the Bass Rock, by his father's will
Was his boyhood life assured,
90And subtle Henry of the subtle Bolingbroke,
His youth for long years immured
Added TextProud England's King, neath the Southern yoke
His youth for long years immured.

page: [4v]

Note: Four horizontal lines, separating the five added stanzas, are drawn across the page. These are late additions made by DGR when he was going back over the whole text of the poem.

With the ? crown the King was ?/reft stript away
The Knight was reft of his battle-array
But still the Man was there

For every man upon God's ground
His death grows up from his birth
And thine towers high, a black yew-tree,
O'er the Charterhouse of Perth!”

And I saw the moon in her cloudy saison
And knew that the moon knew all.

She only said, O James they are dead!
And then she knelt on the floor
And whispered low with a strange proud smile,—
“James, O James they suffered more.

And O James (she said) my James (she said)
Alas for the woeful thing
That a poet true and a friend of man,
In desperate days of bale and ban
Should needs be born a King.

page: [5]

Yet in all things for a kingly man
Himself he did he approve;
And the nightingale through his prison-bars prison [?] there
Taught him both lore and love.

For once when the bird's song drew him close
To the opened window-pane
Mid In her bower beneath a lady stood,
100A light of life to his sorrowful mood,
Like a lily amid the rain.

And for her sake, to the sweet bird's note,
He framed a sweeter Song,
More sweet than ever a poet's heart
Gave yet to the English tongue.

She was a lady of royal blood,
And when, past sorrow and teen,
He stood where for many all his crownless years
His Scottish realm had been,
110At Scone were the happy lovers crowned
A heart-wed King & Queen.

Deleted Text

And from the hour days when first she walked
With Scotish maids in her train,
I, Catherine Douglas, well was loved/was/must/[?]/won the love bore true love
Of To my mistress sweet Queen Jane.

page: [5v]

Note: The prose texts at the bottom of this page are DGR's notes for the verse that comes at received stanzas 40-42.

Added Text

The cloud stooped low & the surf rose high
And where there was a line of the sky,
There Wild wings loomed dark between.

Like iron felt my arm as through
The groove I made it pass:—
Alack! it was flesh & bone, no more!
'Twas Catherine Douglas sprang to the door
But I fell back Kate Barlass.

Bass Rock—a peak near which stands

Tantallon Castle of the Douglasses

[?] Inchkeith—Inchcolm—Arthur's Seat by

Salisbury Crag seen from Forth

stet

Blank Pass of Dunbar

The Duchray & the Dhu—2 headstreams whose

junction forms the Forth near Ben Lomond

the junction takes place at Aberfoyle

The Links of Forth between Stirling & Alloa

Link [?]

page: [6]

Against the coming of Christmastide
That year the King bade call
I n ' the Black Friars' Charterhouse of Perth
A Kingly festival.

120And we of his household rode with him
In a close-ranked company;
But not till the moon was high in the clouds
Did we reach the Scottish Sea.

That eve was clenched as the for a boding storm,
Neath the moon now lost nor seen
Added TextNeath the a moon that toiled half seen nor seen
The cloud stooped low & the surf rose high!
And where there was a line of the sky
Wild wings loomed dark between

130 And when By fits the moon sailed clear of the clouds rack
Amid the
Added TextOn high in her hollow dome
And as with hoary crests upreared
The Each gulf-scooped wave s rang home,
Like fire in snow the moonlight blazed
Amid the dazzling champing foam.

And on a rock of the dark beach-side,
As the moon fell dim again
There was something seemed to [stir?] heave with life
As the King drew near 'mid his train
Added TextAt the tread of the royal train.

page: [6v]

Note: Blank page

page: [7]

140And first twas a shaken shrub, & then
A ray of bickering cloud,
And then an eagle beat to the blast,
And then a feathery fell; and last
Twas a woman old and bowed.

But it seemed as though by a fire within
Her writhen limbs were wrung
And when as soon as the King was close to her
She stood up gaunt & strong.

And she looked met his eyes with her eyes, and said
150O King, thou art come at last;
But thy wraith has haunted the Scottish Sea
To my sight for long three four years past.

Three Four years it is since first I met
Twixt the Duchray & the Dhu
With A shape whose feet were wrapped clung close in a shroud
And that shape for thine I knew.

A year again, and on Inchkeith Isle
I saw thee pass in the breeze
With the cerecloth risen above thy feet
160And wound about thy knees.

And yet a year, in the Links of Forth,
As a wanderer without rest,
I saw thee Thou cam'st with both thine arms i' the shroud
That [?] above clung high upon thy breast.

page: [7v]

Note: The prose texts on pages [7v], [8v], [9v], and [10] were drafted by DGR continuously. They comprise his prose notes to guide his arrangement of events in the remainder of the ballad.

Note: DGR's notes are continued on page [8v].

1 King of Love

2. Dream of Knight & of King

3 Christopher Chamber tries to reach King 4 times

to tell him of the danger, but cannot.

4 Both before supper & into a quarter of the night, they

are playing [ch?], [to tables?], [retiring?], singing

& [?] & laughing &c.

5 The [?] wife tries to make her way to the

King but cannot, he saying he will see her tomorrow

6 The Earl of Athole & Robert Stuart with

many other [?] are about the King & joining

in his [?], as well as Queen & ladies

7 An hour after the King asked for the Voidee [& ?]

[?] all want to rest

8 The last to go [was?] R. Stuart the Chamberlain.

He had riven & burst the locks of the door

& draws out the bars & bolts—About

[midnight?] he laid planks across the ditch

[?], so that Graham &

the rest come in to the number of 300.

9 The King standing in his nightgown before the

chamber playing with the Queen & ladies

10 He casts off his nightgown to go to bed, but at

that moment saw the light of torches which

[?] the clash of [armament?] & bethought him

of [Graham?]

page: [8]

And in this hour I find thee here
And well mine eyes may note
That the winding sheet hath left passed thy breast
And risen around thy throat.

The And when I meet thee again, O King,
170That of death hast such sore drouth,
Unless thou turn again on this shore,
The winding-sheet shall have moved once more
And covered thine eyes & mouth

O King, for whom poor folk bless the King,
Of thy fate be not so fain
But these my words for God's counsel take,
And turn thy steed, O King, for her sake
Who rides beside thy rein.

While the woman spoke, the King's horse reared
180As if it w ^d breast the sea,
And the Queen turned pale as she heard on the gale
The voice die dolorously.

When the woman ceased, the steed was stiff still,
But the King gazed on her yet,
And in silence save for the wailing wind
His eyes and her eyes met.

At last he said—God's ways are His own;
—Man is but shadow and dust.
Last night I prayed by His altar-stone;
190To-night I speed wend to the Feast of His Son;
And in Him I set my trust.

page: [8v]

Note: The texts on this page continue DGR's prose notes that he initiated on page [7v]. Stanza 53/50 is an addition scripted on this page and marked for insertion in the text on the facing page.

Added Text

And if God in His wisdom have brought close
The day when I must die
That day by water or fire or air
My feet shall fall in the destined snare
Wherever my road may lie.

Note: These notes are continued from page [7v].

10 Queen & ladies run to shut door but find

the locks destroyed & bolts gone.

11 King prayed them to keep the door while he

got ready to defend himself as he might

12 He tried to burst the bars of the window

but they were too strongly soldered in the

stone with moilten lead

13 He took the tongs of iron, burst up a plank

of the floor & gets into a vault below, &

concealed himself within

14 There was a hole at side of vault by which he might

have escaped, but he had had it stopped up 3 days before

because when he played at the palm the ball used to

run from outside into this hole..

15 The trators were burst in & several

ladies were wounded. They were about

page: [9]

I have held the poor for a sacred charge,
And have not feared the sting
Of proud men's hate, to this truth[?] His will resigned
There is but one death for a human hind
And one for a human King.

What man can say but the Fiend hath set
Thy sorcery on my path,
My heart with the fear of death to fill,
200And turn me against God's very will
To sink in His burning wrath?

[?]The woman stood as let the train pas t ed on,
And moved nor limb nor eye;
And when we took ship were shipped we saw her face there
Still standing against the sky.

And who is/[?]ing forth As the ship made way, the moon appear once more
Sank slow in her rising pall,
And I thought of the shrouded wraith of the King,
And I said, “Doth the moon know all.”

210And now, ye lasses, must ye hear
How my name is Kate Barlass:—
A little thing, when all the tale
Is told of the weary mass
Of crime & woe which in Scotland's realm
God's will let come to pass.

page: [9v]

Note: This prose text is continuous with the text on page [8v].

to kill the Queen but were prevented by Graham's

son, after which she fled away in her kirtle with

her mantle hanging about her.

16 They sought the King everywhere, in the litters under

the [?] & [?] & went away.

17 The King hearing them gone, called to the women

to come & draw him out with sheets. They

were doing this when one Thomas Chamber

bethought him of the hiding place & brought

the others back. They looked in with a torch

and saw the King.

18 Sir John Hall went down with a knife & attacked

the King who was of his person & stature a man

right manly strung. The King caught him mightily

by the shoulders & cast him under his feet

19 A brother of Hall went down next but him the King

caught by the neck & cast him above the other

[indecipherable text] him that long

months after the welts were still on their throats.

20 The King tried hard to get their knives away but

so cut his hand that he could not. Had he done

so he w ^d probably have defended himself against

all until help came as it soon did when

too late.

page: [10]

21. Graham came down next with a drawn

sword. The King asked besought him for

the salvation of his soul to let him have

a confessor. G. answered—thou shalt never

have other confessor than but this same sword.

He then smote him through the body.

22 Graham, feeling remorse at the King's state

w ^d have left him & done him no more harm.

But those above said they sh ^d kill him if he

came up without killing the King.

23 Graham & the 2 Halls then killed him. He

had 16 wounds in his breast alone, besides others.

24 It is told in chronicles that in the same

place 3 Kings of Scots have been slain.

25 The servants of & commons of the town then

broke in & the traitors fled. Before

they could get past the ditches, a knight

named Sir David Dunbar killed one

& wounded another, but he lost 5 fingers.

26 They fled to the highlands, but were

all taken & executed within a month.

page: [10v]

Note: This page and the next carry DGR's transliterations of passages from The Kingis Quair, as his headnote indicates.

Manuscript Addition: 7, [none], 1, 2, 5

Editorial Description: The several passages on pages 10v and 11 are numerated by DGR in the left margin, signalling the sequence he intended for them them later in the ballad. The second of the passages has no marginal number.

drafted

from King's Quair

Wist thou thy pain & thy travail
To come, well might'st thou weep & wail!”

Worship ye lovers on this May
Of bliss your kalends are begun
220Sing with us, away winter away,
Come summer the sweet season & sun
Awake for shame, your heaven is won,
And amorously your heads lift all
Thank love that you to his grace doth call

The fairest and the freshest flower
That ever I saw before that hour,
The which o' the sudden made to start
The blood of my body to my heart

230Ah sweet are ye a worldly creature
Or heavenly thing in form of nature?

And under the wheel beheld I there
An ugly pit as deep as hell
That to behold I quaked for fear
And this I heard, that who therein fell
Came no more up, tidings to tell
Whereat, astound of the fearful sight,
I wist not what to do for fright.

page: [11]

Manuscript Addition: 6, 3, 4

Editorial Description: The several passages on pages 10v and 11 are numerated by DGR in the left margin, signalling the sequence he intended for them them later in the ballad.

240O busy ghost that to and fro
All Aye flicker eth without peace or rest
Until to this place though camest to
Thou crav'st thy first & proper rest—
Daily so sore thou here art drest
That with thy flesh thou waileth in trouble
And sleeping is pain—so hast thou double.

To reckon all the circumstance
As it happed when lessen gan my sore,
Of my rancour and woful chance,
250It were too long, I have done therefor.
And of this flower I say no more
But unto my help her heart hath tended
And even from death her man defended.

Unworthy but only of her grace,
Upon Love's rock that's easy & sure,
In guerdon of all my lovè's [?] space
She took me her humble creäture.
Thus fell my blissful aventure
In youth of love that from day to day
260 StillFlowereth aye new, and further I say.

page: [11v]

Note: Stanza 71/60 is added on this page and marked for insertion on the facing page.

Added Text

Yet the traitor Christopher Chaumbers there
Would fain have told him all,
But And vainly four times that night he strove
To reach the King through the hall.

page: [12]

'Twas in the Charterhouse of Perth
That the King and all his court
Were met, the Christmas Feast being done,
For solace & disport.

'Twas a wind-wild eve in February,
And against the window lattice pane
The branches smote like summoning hands
And whispered muttered the driving rain.

And the Queen was there, more stately/lovely stately fair
270Than ever I saw ere yet a lily or violet in garden set;
And the King was loth to stir from her side;
For as on the day when she was his bride,
Even so he loved her yet.

And the Earl of Athole the King's false friend,
Sat with him at the board;
And Robert Stuart the Chamberlain
Who had sold his sovereign lord.

But the wine is bright at the goblet's brim
Though the poison lurk beneath;
280And the apples still are red on the tree
And there/that which the adder's tongue/sting may be
That shall sting/bite thy heart to death
Added TextAmid whose leaves may the adder be
Added TextThat shall turn thy life to death.

page: [12v]

Note: Blank page

page: [13]

There was a knight of the King's fast friends
Whom he called the King of Love;
And to such bright cheer & courtesy
Such name might best behove.

And the King & Queen both loved him well
For his gentle knightliness;
And with him the King, as that eve wore on,
290Was playing at the chess.

And the King said, (for he thought to jest
And soothe the Queen thereby)
A rede have I read In a book 'tis writ that in this year
A King should in Scotland die.

And I have pondered the matter o'er,
And this I have I found, Sir Hugh,—
There are but two Kings on Scotish ground,
And those Kings are I and you.

And I have a wife and young babe a newborn heir,
300And you are yourself alone;
And Scotland it is that you stand up first
Added TextSo stand up [?] stark at my side with me
To guard yon our Scotish throne.

So For here sit I and my wife & child,
As well your heart shall approve,
In full surrender & soothfastness,
Beneath your Kingdom of Love.

And the Knight laughed, & the Queen too smiled
But I knew her heavy thought
And I strove to find in the good King's blithe jest
310What cheer might thence be wrought.

page: [13v]

Note: Blank page

page: [14]

And I said, My Liege, for the Queen's dear love
Now sing the song that of old
You made, when a captive Prince you lay,
And the nightingale sang sweet on the spray,
In Windsor's castle-hold.

Then he smiled the smile I knew so well
When he thought to please the Queen;
The That smile which still stirs that which under all bitter frowns
Of fate that rose between,
320For ever dwelt at the poet's heart
Like the A bird of love unseen.

And he kissed the Queen and took his harp,
And the music sweetly rang
And when the song burst forth, it seemed
'Twas the nightingale that sang.

Worship, ye lovers, on this May:
Of bliss your kalends are begun,
Sing with us, Away, Winter, away!
Come, Summer, the sweet season and sun!
330Awake for shame,—your heaven is won,—
And amorously your heads lift all:
Thank Love that you to his grace doth call

But when he bent to the Queen & spoke
The speech whose praise was hers,
Methought It seemed his voice was the voice of the Spring
And the voice of the bygone years

page: [14v]

Note: Blank page

page: [15]

Note: DGR brackets the final two stanzas on the page and marks them, respectively in the left margin, 2, 1: to indicate that their order should be inverted.

The fairest & the freshest flower
That ever I saw before that hour,
The which o' the sudden made to start
340The blood of my body to my heart.

Ah sweet, are you an a worldly creature
Or heavenly thing in form of nature?

And the song was long, and richly stored
With beauty of wondrous wonder & beauteous things,
But when he spoke of the Queen at the last And the harp was tuned to every change
Of minstrel ministerings;
But when he spoke sang of the Queen at the last,
Its strings were his own heartstrings.

To reckon all the circumstance
350As it happed when lessen gan my sore,
Of my rancour and woful chance,
It were too long,—I have done therefor.
And of this flower I say no more
But unto my help her heart hath tended
And even from death her man defended.

Unworthy but only of her grace,
Upon Love's rock that's easy & sure,
In guerdon of all my love's space
She took me her humble creature.
360Thus fell my blissful aventure
In youth of love that from day to day
Flowereth aye new, and further I say.

page: [15v]

Note: Blank page

page: [16]

Yes Aye, even from death, to myself I said
And the I thought of the day when she
Had brought him the news, at Roxbro' siege,
Of the fell confederacy.

But oh Death's smile was grim as he sang
But Death even then took aim as he sang
With an arrow deadly bright;
370And the grinning skull lurked grimly aloof,
And the wings were spread far over the roof
More dark than the winter night.

Yet truly along the amorous song
Of Love's high pomp & state,
There were words of Fortune's trackless call doom
And the dreadful face of Fate.

And oft how my soul in [?]
And oft have I heard again in thought dreams
The voice of dire appeal
380In which the King then sang of the pit
That is under Fortune's wheel.

And under the wheel beheld I there
An ugly pit as deep as hell,
That to behold I quaked for fear:
And this I heard, that who therein fell
Came no more up, tidings to tell:
Whereat, astound of the fearful sight,
I wist not what to do for fright.

page: [16v]

Note: Stanza 98/87 is drafted on this page and marked for insertion in the text on the facing page.

Added Text

And her fair face was a rosy red,
The very red of the rose
That couched on the happy gardenbed,
In the summer sunlight glows.

page: [17]

And oft has my thought called up again
390These words of the changeful song:—
“Wist thou thy pain and thy travàil
To come, well might'st thou weep and wail!”
And our wail, O God! is long.

But the song's end was all of his love;
And well his heart was grac'd
With the smile that filled sprang from her lips and eyes
As his arm went round her waist.

And on the swell of her long fair throat
Close clung the necklet chain
400As in the warmth of his love & pride
He bent her pearl-tir'd head aside,
And kissed her lips again.

And all the wondrous things of love
That sang so sweet in through the song
Were in the look that met in their eyes,
And the look was deep and long.

Then/Now Twas then a knock was heard came at the outer gate,
And the usher sought the King.
The woman you met by the Scotish Sea,
410My Liege, would tell you a thing;
And she says that her present need for speech
Will bear no gainsaying

And the King said —The hour is late,
Tomorrow will serve, I ween.
Then he called charged the usher back strictly, & said:
But speak No word of this to the Queen

page: [17v]

Note: Blank page

page: [18]

But the usher came again to the King.
Shall I call her back? quoth he:
For as she went on her way, she cried,
420Woe woe then the thing must be!

And the King paused, but said not a word he did not speak
Then he called for the voidee-cup
And as we heard the twelfth hour strike
There by true lips & false lips alike
Was the draught of trust drained up.

Then/And So with reverence meet to King & Queen,
To bed went all from the board,
And the last to leave of the courtly train
Was Robert Stuart the chamberlain
430Who had sold his sovereign lord.

And all the locks of the chamber-door
Had the traitor riven & brast;
And that Fate might win sure way/murder of one/one word my foot might [?]
Fate might win sure way from afar,
He had drawn out every bolt and bar
That made the entrance fast.

And now at midnight he stole his way
To the moat of the outer wall,
And closely he laid strong planks across
440Where the murderers step traitors' tread should fall.

But we that were the Queen's bower-maids
Alone were left behind;
And with heed with we drew the curtains close
Against the winter wind.

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And now that all was still through the hall,
More clearly we heard s[?] the rain
The drops t That clamoured ever against the glass
And the boughs that smote beat on the pane.

But the fire was bright in the inglenook,
450And through empty space around
The shadows cast on the arras'd wall
'Mid the pictured [?] kings stood sudden & tall
Like spectres sprung from the ground.

And the bed was dight in a far deep alcove;
And as he stood by the fire
The King was still in talk with the Queen
While he doffed his goodly attire.

And the song had brought the image back
Of many a bygone year;
460And many a loving thing they said
With hand in hand & head laid to head;
And none of us went anear.

But Love was weeping outside the house,
A child in the piteous rain;
And as he watched the arrow of d Death,
He wailed with his for his own shafts close in the sheath
That never should fly again.

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And now beneath the window arose
A strange wild voice suddenly:
470And the King reared straight, but the Queen fell back
As for bitter dule to dree;
And all of us knew the woman's voice
Who spoke by the Scotish Sea.

O King, she cried, in an evil hour
They drove me from thy gate;
And yet my voice must rise to thine ears,
But alas! it comes too late.

Through nights agone, by Aberdour,
When the moon was dead in the skies,
480O King, in a death-light of thine own
I saw thy shape arise.

And in full season, as erst I said,
The spell doom had gained its growth,
And the shroud had risen above thy neck
And covered thine eyes and mouth.

Since then have I journeyed fast & fain
To save thee from thy fate,
If this should still be found in God's will,
But they drove me from th y e gate.

490For every man on God's ground, O King,
His death grows up from his birth
And thine towers high, a black yew-tree,
O'er the Charterhouse of Perth!

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Added Text

And all we women rushed flew to the door
And thought to have made it fast;
But the bolts were gone & the bars were gone
And the locks were riven & brast.

page: [21]

That room was built far out from the house;
And none but we in the room
Might hear the voice that rose beneath,
Nor the sound the tread of the coming doom.

For now came there came a torchlight-glare,
And a clang of arms there came;
500And not a soul in the room [???] but thought
Of the foe Sir Robert Græme.

Yea, from the country of the Wild Scots,
Had rushed down the [?]
Added Text From O'er mountain, valley & glen,
There had come by the He had brought with him in murderous league
Three hundred armèd men.

The King knew all in an instant's thought flash
And once he glared around
Added TextAnd like a King did he stand;
510But there was no armour in all the room,
Nor weapon lay to his hand.

And he caught the pale pale Queen in his arms
As the iron footsteps fell,—
One kiss he gave to her brow & said
Added TextThen loosed her, standing alone, and said
That bliss was our farewell.

And 'twixt his lips he murmured a prayer,
And he crossed his brow & breast;
And proudly in royal hardihood
With visage set & hands clenched There with set teeth & clenched hands he stood
520The prize of the bloody quest.

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Then on me leaped the Queen like a deer—
O Catherine he must hide,
And I felt the strength of a mighty man
As [?] wildly across the room I ran—
And reached her husband's side

And the iron tongs from the chimney-nook
I snatched, nor my hand did shake
But up a plank of the room I wrenched & tore
And I pointed down through the open floor
530 And said, My Liege, for her sake.

And he looked to the Queen, & then he came,
For her hands were clenched in prayer;
And down he sprang to the inner crypt
And straight I closed the plank I had ripped
And strewed the rushes there

(Alas! in that crypt vault a gap once was
Through which Wherethrough the King might have fled:
But three days since close-walled it had it been
By his will; for the ball would roll therein
540When without at the palm he play'd—)

And louder ever the voices grew,
And the tramp of men in mail—
Until to my brain it seemed to be
As though I tossed on a ship at sea
In the teeth of a crashing gale.

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page: [23]

And Then back I flew to the rest; and hard
All strove with sinews knit
To drag the table against the door;
But we might not compass it.

550And now the tread rush was [?] heard on the stair
And “God, what help?” did we cry.
And I looked at the empty staple-holds,
And no bar but my arm had I.

Like iron felt my arm, as through
The groove I made it pass—
Alack! it was flesh & bone, no more!
Twas Catherine Douglas sprang to the door,
But I fell back Kate Barlass.

And With that they all thronged into the hall
560Half dim to my failing ken;
And the space that was but a void before
Was a throng crowd of raging men.

Behind the door I had fall'n and lay,
Yet my sense was wildly aware,
And despite the pain of my shattered arm
I never fainted there.

Deleted Text

And one of them knew the Queen, & cried

Say Where, woman, where is

Now tell us, where is thy lord?

570And he

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page: [24]

And round the chamber they stamped
And beneath the arras & under under the litters & through the bed
And within the presses all
They sought in vain for the King, and pierced
The arras around the wall.

And through the chamber they stamped & stormed
Like lions prowl[?] loose in the lair,
And scarce could they yield faith to their trust to their very eyes
For lo! the behold! no King was not there.

580Then one of them seized the Queen, & cried
Now tell us, where is thy lord?
And he held the sharp point close to her heart:
But she answered never a word.

With that the sword grazed her true true breast:
But Sir Robert Graham's son
Said “This is a woman,—we seek a man—
590And that foul deed was not done.

And forth flowed all the throng like a sea,
And 'twas empty space once more
And I turned my eyes to the wounded Queen
As I lay behind the door.

And I said, Dear Lady, leave me here,
For I cannot help/save [?] help you now
But fly while you may & none shall reck
Of my place here lying low.

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And she said—My Catherine, God thee help thee!
600Then she looked to the distant floor,
And she clasped her hands, O God help him,
She said, for we can no more.

But God He knows what help may mean
If it mean to live or to die,
And what great sorrow and what sore moan
On earth it may need ere yet a throne
Be reached in His house on high.

And now the ladies fled with the Queen
And thorough the open door
610The nightwind wailed in round the empty room
And the rushes shook on the floor

And the bed stood dark in the deep recess
Whence the arras was rent away
And the fire still glowed across the boards light still shone over the space
Where our hidden secret lay.

And the rain had ceased, and the moonbeams lit
The window high in the wall,
And on the very Bright beams that on the plank that I knew
Through the painted pane did fall
620And glowed with the splendour of Scotland's crown
And shield armorial.

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But now then a great wind swept up the skies,
And the climbing moon fell back;
And high in the darken ing ed window-pane
The shield & the crown were black.

And what I say next I partly heard
And partly I saw in sooth,
And partly since from the murderers' lips
The torture wrung the truth.

630For now again came the armèd tread,
And fast through the chamber hall it fell;
But the throng was less; and ere I saw
By the voice without I could tell
That Robert Stuart had come with them
Who knew that chamber well.

And over the space the Græme strode dark
With his mantle mid[?] round him flung
And in his eye was a flaming light
But not a word on his tongue.

640And Stuart held a torch to the floor,
And he found the thing he sought;
And they wrenched the plank away with their swords;
And O God! I fainted not!

And the traitor held his torch in the gap,
All smoking & flickering smouldering;
And through the vapour & fire, beneath
In the dark crypt's narrow ring,
With a shout that rang to the room's high roof
They saw their naked King.

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650All naked he stood, yet but stood as one
Who yet could do and dare:
With the crown, the King was stript away,—
The Knight was reft of his battle-array,—
But still the Man was there.

There was a villain among the rout,—
Sir John Hall was his name;
And he was/he was the first to leap in the vault
Added TextWith a naked knife he leapt to the vault
Beneath the torchlight-flame.

660Of his person & stature was the King
A man right manly strong,
And mightily by the shoulder s blades/ there -blades
His foe neath his feet he flung.

Then the traitor's brother, Sir Thomas Hall,
Leaped Sprang down with a naked knife to work his worst
But And the King took caught the second man by the neck
And flung him above the first.

And he smote and trampled them under him
And a long month thence they bare
670All black their throats with the grip of his hands
When the hangman's hand came there.

And sore he strove to have had their knives,
But the sharp blades gashed his hands.
Oh James, with that aid so armed thou hadst striven battled there
Till help had come of thy bands
And oh! once more thou hadst won the held our throne
And ruled thy Scotish lands.

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But while the stout King o'er his foes still fought
Still [?] all naked & [?]With a strength they could yet tame
Added TextWith a heart that nought could tame
Another man leaped sprang down to the crypt;
And with his sword in his hand hard-gripp'd,
There stood Sir Robert Græme stood there

And the naked King stood up turned round at bay
But his strength had passed the goal,
And he could but gasp, Mine hour is come;
But oh! to succour thine own soul's doom,
Let a priest now shrive my soul!

And the traitor smiled at looked on the King's spent strength,
690 F[?] say [?]
Added TextAnd said: I Have I held my word?—
Added TextYea, King, the mortal pledge that I gave?
No black friar's shrift thy soul shall have,
But the shrift of this red sword!

With that he smote his King through the breast;
And all they three in that pen
Fell on him and stabbed him oer and oer
Like merciless murderous men.

Yet is it said that Sir Robert Græme,
Ere now the King's last hour breath was o'er,
700 Was Turned sick at heart with the deadly deed sight
And would have done no more.

But a cry came from the troop above,
If him thou do not slay,
The price of his life that thou dost spare
Thy forfeit life shall pay.

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O God! what more did I hear or see,
And Or how can I tell the rest?
But there [???] at length did the King lay slain
With sixteen wounds in his breast.

Then a sudden bell sang loud through the town
And
710And now too late did a bell boom forth
And the murderers turned & fled
And I heard the true men mustering round,
And the cries & the coming tread.

But ere they came, to the black death-gap
Somewise did I creep and steal,
And lo! or ever I swooned away,
In Through the dusk I saw where the white face lay
In the Pit of Fortune's Wheel.

And now, ye Scotish maids who have heard
720The tale I could unfold,
Even at the last, of true Queen Jane
Some words may yet be told,
And how she dealt for her dear lord's sake
Dire vengeance manifold.

'Twas in the Charterhouse of Perth,
In the royal high chapelle,
That the King's fair corpse was laid in state
With chaunt & requiem- knell.

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And all embalmed with royal wealth
730Was the body purified,
And none could trace on the brow & lips
The death that he had died.

And in his knightly royal robes he lay
With orb & sceptre in hand;
And by the crown he wore on his throne
Was his goodly/splendid kingly forehead spann'd.

And, girls, twas a goodly sight to see
How the curling golden hair,
As in the day of the poet's youth
740From the King's crown clustered there

And if all had come to pass in the brain
That throbbed beneath those curls
Then Scots had said in the days to come
That this their soil was a different home
And a different Scotland, girls—

Deleted Text

And the helm & brand he lacked so sore

In the night of his dreadful need

With his shield & spear hung over his bier

For a token of warlike deed—

750And the Queen sat by him night & day,
And oft she knelt in prayer
All wan & pale in her the widow's veil
That shrouded her shining hair.

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And I had got good help of my hurt:
And to me alone made the sign,
And save the priests that were round the bier,
No face would she see but mine.

And every morn & eve I brought
To her arms her little son,
760And once she would murmured [???] under her breath
My God must he mount a throne?

And she'd hold his face by his father's face
And wept & almost smiled
To see again her dear dead King
Reborn in her little child.

And the month of March wore on apace;
And now fresh couriers fared
Still from the country of the Wild Scots
With news of the traitors snared

770And still as I told her day by day,
Her pallor changed to sight,
And the frost was turned grew to a furnace flame
That burnt her visage white

And evermore as I brought her word
She bent to her dead King James
And close in to his ear with teeth close set hard
She spoke the traitors' names.

But when the name of Sir Robert Græme
Was the one she had to give
780I ran to hold her up from the floor,
For the froth was on her lips, & sore
I feared that she could not live.

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Added Text

Some sleep that night for the first time yet
She took by her husband's bier
For first that that night for her vengeance' sake
Like the beacon fire was her soul awake
While the foemen still/yet still were near.

page: [32]

And the month of March wore nigh to its end,
And still was the death pall spread
For she would not bury her slaughtered King
Till all his foes were dead.

And now of their dooms dread tidings came,
And of torments stark & dire;
And nought she spake,—she had ceased to speak
790But her eyes were a soul on fire.

And now I heard how the felon Graeme
With torments fiercely riven
Had cried at length—if by this your deed
To curse God's name I am driven
I summon you all at the last dread Day
To answer my crime to Heaven.

Then I said—Grant Death, for mercy's sake!
She looked up once, & no more
I [?] started for it [???] struck[?] at the heart
800To see behold the face she wore.

But when the news came of the bitter end
Of the stern & just award
She bent o'er the bier, & thrice three times
She kissed the lips of her lord.

And then once she said— O James they are dead!
And then she knelt on the floor,
And whispered low with a strange proud smile
James James, they suffered more

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Last she stood up to her queenly height,
810But she shook like an autumn leaf,
As if the fire wherein she burned
Then left her body, and all were turned
To winter of life-long grief

And O James (she said) My James (she said)
Alas for the woful thing
That a poet true & a friend of man,
In desperate days of bale & ban,
Should needs be born a King!

Electronic Archive Edition: 1

Source File: 5-1881.fizms.rad.xml