Page:The Lay of the Last Minstrel - Scott (1805).djvu/186

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

177

XVII.
Dark was the vaulted room of gramarye,
To which the wizard led the gallant knight,
Save that before a mirror, huge and high,
A hallowed taper shed a glimmering light
On mystic implements of magic might,
On cross, and character, and talisman,
And almagest, and altar, nothing bright:
For fitful was the lustre, pale and wan,
As watch-light by the bed of some departing man.

XVIII.
But soon within that mirror, huge and high,
Was seen a self-emitted light to gleam;
And forms upon its breast, the earl 'gan spy,
Cloudy and indistinct, as feverish dream;
Till, slow arranging, and defined, they seem
To form a lordly and a lofty room,
Part lighted by a lamp, with silver beam,
Placed by a couch of Agra's silken loom,
And part by moonshine pale, and part was hid in gloom.