by Walter Scott, Sir (1771 - 1832)
Rosabelle
Language: English
O listen, listen, ladies gay! No haughty feat of arms [I]1 tell; Soft is the note, and sad the lay, That mourns the lovely Rosabelle. "[Moor, moor the barge]2, ye gallant crew! And, gentle ladye, deign to stay, Rest thee in Castle Ravensheuch, Nor tempt the stormy firth to-day. "The blackening wave is edg'd with white: To inch and rock the sea-mews fly; The fishers have heard the Water-Sprite, Whose screams forebode that wreck is nigh. "Last night the gifted Seer did view A wet shroud swathed round ladye gay; Then stay thee, Fair, in Ravensheuch: Why cross the gloomy firth to-day?" -- "'Tis not because Lord Lindesay's heir To-night at Roslin leads the ball, But that my ladye-mother there Sits lonely in her castle-hall. "'Tis not because the ring they ride, And Lindesay at the ring rides well, But that my sire the wine will chide, If 'tis not fill'd by Rosabelle." -- O'er Roslin all that dreary night A wondrous blaze was seen to gleam; 'Twas broader than the watch-fire's light, And [redder]3 than the bright moon-beam. It glar'd on Roslin's castled rock, It ruddied all the copse-wood glen; 'Twas seen from Dryden's groves of oak, And seen from cavern'd Hawthorn-den. Seem'd all on fire that chapel proud, Where Roslin's chiefs uncoffin'd lie, Each Baron, for a sable shroud, Sheath'd in his iron panoply. Seem'd all on fire, within, around, Deep sacristy and altar's pale, Shone every pillar foliage-bound, And glimmer'd all the dead men's mail. Blaz'd battlement and pinnet high, Blaz'd every rose-carved buttress fair -- So still they blaze when fate is nigh The lordly line of high St. Clair. There are twenty of Roslin's barons bold Lie buried within that proud chapelle; Each one the holy vault doth hold -- But the sea holds lovely Rosabelle! And each St. Clair was buried there, With candle, with book, and with knell; But the [sea-caves]4 rung, and the wild [winds]5 sung The dirge of lovely Rosabelle.
J. Callcott sets stanzas 1-2, 7, 12-13
Confirmed with Sir Walter Scott, The Lay of the Last Minstrel; a poem, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme; Edinburgh: James Ballantyne, 1805.
1 Callcott: "we"2 Callcott: "Moor ye the barge"
3 Callcott: "brighter"
4 Callcott: "sea-cave"
5 Callcott: "wind"
Authorship:
- by Walter Scott, Sir (1771 - 1832), appears in The Lay of the Last Minstrel, Canto 6, Section 22, first published 1805 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by John Wall Callcott (1766 - 1821), "Rosabelle", subtitle: "Glee for three voices", stanzas 1-2,7,12-13 [ vocal trio ] [sung text checked 1 time]
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Johann Winkler
This text was added to the website: 2020-04-13
Line count: 52
Word count: 325