LXXXVII.
“Herman, the lord of Forbes, conducts that band,
“And stripes his gonfalon with black and white;
“With Errol’s earl upon his better hand,
“Who on a field of green displays a light.
“Now see the Irish, next the level land,
“Into two squadrons ordered for the fight.
“Kildare’s redoubted earl commands the first;
“Lord Desmond leads the next, in mountains nursed.
LXXXVIII.
“A burning pine by Kildare is displayed;
“By Desmond on white field a crimson bend.
“Nor only England, Scotland, Ireland, aid
“King Charlemagne; but to assist him wend
“The Swede and Norse, and succours are conveyed
“From Thulè, and the farthest Iceland’s end.
“All lands that round them lie, in fine, increase
“His host, by nature enemies to peace[28].
LXXXIX.
“Issued from cavern and from forest brown,
“They sixteen thousand are, or little less;
“Visage, legs, arms, and bosom overgrown
“With hair, like beasts. Lo! yonder, where they press
“About a standard white, the level down
“Of lances seems a bristling wilderness.
“Such Moray’s flag, the savage squadron’s head[29],
“Who means with Moorish blood to paint it red.”
