Page:Fugitive Poetry 1600-1878.djvu/276
No longer sparkled there;
But on her brow were deeply carved
The lines of anxious care.
Who would not feel for all her fears?
Or mark unmoved the monarch's tears?
In festive circles shone,
Now deep in dreary dungeon lay
Unpitied and alone,
With none to prove affection's power,
Or cheer her in the lonely hour.
John Comyn, the last of the Earls of Buchan, had married Isabel Macduff, sister of the recusant Earl of Fife—one, along with her husband, of Edward's adherents. This lady was as warmly attached to the cause pf the Bruce as her husband and brother were opposed to it. The honour of placing the Scottish crown upon the head of the sovereign at the ceremony of coronation belonged of hereditary right to her brother, Lord Fife; but when Bruce was to be crowned at Scone, her brother, by his desertion of the cause, had forfeited, or at least abandoned, this distinguished privilege of his family. Determined that none but a Macduff should aspire to this honour, and in the enthusiasm of her own zeal for the cause, Isabel heroically assumed the office, and with her own hands raised the crown of Scotland to the brow of her rightful sovereign. Soon after this, Edward unfortunately became the arbiter of her future destiny. Isabel, having fallen into his hands, was kept shut up a prisoner, for seven years in Berwick Castle, in an iron cage; illustrating a frightful feature of the times, and of the character of Edward in particular.—Pratt's Buchan.
Like tameless monster caged, to pine
Through the sweet prime of age!
Could aught but lust of power and pride,
Have shaped this death, through years to bide,
To glut a tyrant's rage?
Foul stain on England's chivalry,
Thou rude and ruthless king!
Thou fledd'st before the northern foe,
And yet didst stoop, with coward blow,
To strike so fair a thing!
When setting woman's fear aside—