This night, methinks, is but the daylight sick.
It looks a little paler; 'tis a day
Such as the day is when the sun is hid.
MERCHANT OF VENICE.
To facilitate the progress of the party on its way to Douglas Castle,
the Knight of Valence offered the minstrel the convenience of a horse,
which the fatigues of yesterday made him gladly accept. Any one
acquainted with equestrian exercise, is aware that no means of
refreshment carries away the sense of fatigue from over walking so
easily, as the exchange to riding, which calls into play another set of
muscles, and leaves those which have been over exerted an opportunity
of resting through change of motion, more completely than they could in
absolute repose. Sir Aymer de Valence was sheathed in armour, and
mounted on his charger, two of the archers, a groom of mean rank, and a
squire, who looked in his day for the honour of knighthood, completed
the detachment, which seemed so disposed as to secure the minstrel from
escape, and to protect him against violence. "Not," said the young
knight, addressing himself to Bertram, "that there is usually danger in
travelling in this country any more than in the most quiet districts of
England; but some disturbances, as you may have learnt, have broken out
here within this last year, and have caused the garrison of Castle
Douglas to maintain a stricter watch. But let us move on, for the
complexion of the day is congenial with the original derivation of the
name of the country, and the description of the chiefs to whom it
belonged--_Sholto Dhu Glass_--(see yon dark grey man,) and dark grey
will our route prove this morning, though by good luck it is not long."
The morning was indeed what the original Gaelic words implied, a
drizzly, dark, moist day; the mist had settled upon the hills, and
unrolled itself upon brook, glade, and tarn, and the spring breeze was
not powerful enough to raise the veil, though from the wild sounds
which were heard occasionally on the ridges, and through the glens, it
might be supposed to wail at a sense of its own inability. The route of
the travellers was directed by the course which the river had ploughed
for itself down the valley, the banks of which bore in general that
dark grey livery which Sir Aymer de Valence had intimated to be the
prevalent tint of the country. Some ineffectual struggles of the sun
shot a ray here and there to salute the peaks of the hills; yet these
were unable to surmount the dulness of a March morning, and, at so
early an hour, produced a variety of shades, rather than a gleam of
brightness upon the eastern horizon. The view was monotonous and
depressing, and apparently the good knight Aymer sought some amusement
in occasional talk with Bertram, who, as was usual with his craft,
possessed a fund of knowledge, and a power of conversation, well suited
to pass away a dull morning. The minstrel, well pleased to pick up such
information as he might be able concerning the present state of the
country, embraced every opportunity of sustaining the dialogue.
"I would speak with you, Sir Minstrel," said the young knight. "If thou
dost not find the air of this morning too harsh for thine organs,
heartily do I wish thou wouldst fairly tell me what can have induced
thee, being, as thou seemst, a man of sense, to thrust thyself into a
wild country like this, at such a time.--And you, my masters,"
addressing the archers and the rest of the party, "methinks it would be
as fitting and seeming if you reined back your steeds for a horse's
length or so, since I apprehend you can travel on your way without the
pastime of minstrelsy." The bowmen took the hint, and fell back, but,
as was expressed by their grumbling observations, by no means pleased
that there seemed little chance of their overhearing what conversation
should pass between the young knight and the minstrel, which proceeded
as follows--
"I am, then, to understand, good minstrel," said the knight, "that you,
who have in your time borne arms, and even followed Saint George's
red-cross banner to the Holy Sepulchre, are so little tired of the
danger attending our profession, that you feel yourself attracted
unnecessarily to regions where the sword, for ever loose in its
scabbard, is ready to start on the slightest provocation?"
"It would be hard," replied the minstrel bluntly, "to answer such a
question in the affirmative; and yet, when you consider how nearly
allied is his profession who celebrates deeds of arms with that of the
knight who performs them, your honour, I think, will hold it advisable
that a minstrel desirous of doing his devoir, should, like a young
knight, seek the truth of adventures where it is to be found, and
rather visit countries where the knowledge is preserved of high and
noble deeds, than those lazy and quiet realms, in which men live
indolently, and die ignobly in peace, or by sentence of law. You
yourself, sir, and those like you, who hold life cheap in respect of
glory, guide your course through this world on the very same principle
which brings your poor rhyming servant Bertram from a far province of
merry England, to this dark country of rugged Scotland called Douglas
Dale. You long to see adventures worthy of notice, and I (under favour
for naming us two in the same breath) seek a scanty and precarious, but
not a dishonourable living, by preparing for immortality, as well as I
can, the particulars of such exploits, especially the names of those
who were the heroes of these actions. Each, therefore, labours in his
vocation; nor can the one be justly wondered at more than the other,
seeing that if there be any difference in the degrees of danger to
which both the hero and the poet are exposed, the courage, strength,
arms, and address of the valiant knight, render it safer for him to
venture into scenes of peril, than for the poor man of rhyme."
"You say well," answered the warrior; "and although it is something of
novelty to me to hear your craft represented as upon a level with my
own mode of life, yet shame were it to say that the minstrel who toils
so much to keep in memory the feats of gallant knights should not
himself prefer fame to existence, and a single achievement of valour to
a whole age without a name, or to affirm that he follows a mean and
unworthy profession."
"Your worship will then acknowledge," said the minstrel, "that it is a
legitimate object in such as myself, who, simple as I am, have taken my
regular degrees among the professors of the _gay science_ at the
capital town of Aigues-Mortos, to struggle forward into this northern
district, where I am well assured many things have happened which have
been adapted to the harp by minstrels of great fame in ancient days,
and have become the subject of lays which lie deposited in the library
of Castle Douglas, where, unless copied over by some one who
understands the old British characters and language, they must, with
whatever they may contain, whether of entertainment or edification, be
speedily lost to posterity. If these hidden treasures were preserved
and recorded by the minstrel art of my poor self and others, it might
be held well to compensate for the risk of a chance blow of a
broadsword, or the sweep of a brown bill, while I am engaged in
collecting them; and I were unworthy of the name of a man, much more of
an inventor or finder, [Footnote: The name of Maker stands for _Poet_
(with the original sense of which word it exactly corresponds) in the
old Scottish language. That of _Trouveur_ or Troubadour--Finder, in
short--has a similar meaning, and almost in every country the poetical
tribes have been graced with the same epithets, inferring the property
of those who employ invention or creation.] should I weigh the loss of
life, a commodity always so uncertain, against the chance of that
immortality which will survive in my lay after my broken voice and
shivered harp shall no longer be able either to express tune or
accompany tale."
"Certainly," said Sir Aymer, "having a heart to feel such a motive, you
have an undoubted right to express it; nor should I have been in any
degree disposed to question it had I found many minstrels prepared,
like yourself, to prefer renown even to life itself, which most men
think of greatly more consequence."
"There are, indeed, noble sir," replied Bertram, "minstrels, and, with
your reverence, even belted knights themselves, who do not sufficiently
value that renown which is acquired at the risk of life. To such
ignoble men we must leave their own reward--let us abandon to them
earth, and the things of earth, since they cannot aspire to that glory
which is the _best_ reward of others."
The minstrel uttered these last words with such enthusiasm, that the
knight drew his bridle, and stood fronting Bertram, with his
countenance kindling at the same theme, on which, after a short
silence, he expressed himself with a like vivacity.
"Well fare thy heart, gay companion! I am happy to see there is still
so much enthusiasm surviving in the world. Thou hast fairly won the
minstrel groat; and if I do not pay it in conformity to my sense of thy
merit, it shall be the fault of dame Fortune, who has graced my labours
in these Scottish wars with the niggard pay of Scottish money. A gold
piece or two there must be remaining of the ransom of one French
knight, whom chance threw into my hands, and that, my friend, shall
surely be thine own; and hark thee, I, Aymer de Valence, who now speak
to thee, am born of the noble House of Pembroke; and though now
landless, shall, by the grace of Our Lady, have in time a fitting
establishment, wherein I will find room for a minstrel like thee, if
thy talents have not by that time found thee a better patron."
"Thank thee, noble knight," said the minstrel, "as well for thy present
intentions, as I hope I shall for thy future performance; but I may
say, with truth, that I have not the sordid inclination of many of my
brethren."
"He who partakes the true thirst of noble fame," said the young knight,
"can have little room in his heart for the love of gold. But thou hast
not yet told me, friend minstrel, what are the motives, in particular
which have attracted thy wandering steps to this wild country?"
"Were I to do so," replied Bertram, rather desirous to avoid the
question, as in some respects too nearly bordering on the secret
purpose of his journey, "it might sound like a studied panegyric on
thine own bold deeds, Sir Knight, and those of your companions in arms;
and such adulation, minstrel as I am, I hate like an empty cup at a
companion's lips. But let me say in few words, that Douglas Castle, and
the deeds of valour which it has witnessed, have sounded wide through
England; nor is there a gallant knight or trusty minstrel, whose heart
does not throb at the name of the stronghold, which, in former days,
the foot of an Englishman never entered, except in hospitality. There
is a magic in the very names of Sir John de Walton and Sir Aymer de
Valence, the gallant defenders of a place so often won back by its
ancient lords, and with such circumstances of valour and cruelty, that
it bears, in England, the name of the Dangerous Castle."
"Yet I would fain hear," answered the knight, "your own minstrel
account of those legends which have induced you, for the amusement of
future times, to visit a country which, at this period, is so
distracted and perilous."
"If you can endure the length of a minstrel tale," said Bertram--"I for
one am always amused by the exercise of my vocation, and have no
objection to tell my story, provided you do not prove an impatient
listener."
"Nay, for that matter," said the young knight, "a fair listener thou
shalt have of me; and if my reward be not great, my attention at least
shall be remarkable."
"And he," said the minstrel, "must be a poor gleeman who does not hold
himself better paid with that, than with gold or silver, were the
pieces English rose-nobles. On this condition, then, I begin a long
story, which may, in one or other of its details, find subject for
better minstrels than myself, and be listened to by such warriors as
you hundreds of years hence."