1040 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1806- 
He bethought him of his sinful deed, 
And he gave me a sign to come with speed : 
J was in Spain when the morning rose, 
But I stood by his bed ere evening close. 
The words may not again be said, 
That he spoke to me, on death-bed laid ; 
They would rend this abbaye’s massy nave, 
And pile it in heaps above his grave. 
XV. 
«¢ Tswore to bury his Mighty Book, 
That never mortal might therein look 5 
And never to tell where it was hid, 
Save at his chief of Branksome’s need ; 
And when that need was past and o’er, 
Again the volume to restore. 
] buried him on St. Michael’s night, 
When the bel! tolled oné, and the moon was bright ; 
And I dug his chamber among the dead, 
When the floor of the chance} was stained red, 
That his patron’s cross might over him wave, 
And scare the fiends from the wizard’s grave- 
XVI. 
*¢ Jt was 4 night of woe and dread, 
When Michael in the tomb I laid! 
Strange sounds along the chancel past, 
The banners waved without a blast,’”— 
—Still spoke the monk, when the bell tolled Oue!— 
I tell you, that a braver man 
Than William of Deloraine, good at need, 
Against a foe ne’er spurred a steed ; 
Yet somewhat was he chilled with dread, 
And his hair did bristle upon his head. 
XVII. 
*< Lo, warrior! now, the Cross of Red 
Points to the grave of the mighty dead ; 
Within it burns a wonderous light, 
To chase the spirits that Jove the night: 
That lamp shall burn unquenchably, 
Until the eternal doom shall be.”— 
Slow mov'd the monk to the broad flag-stone, 
Which the bloody Cross was traced upon: 
He pointed to a secret nook ; 
An iron bar the warrior took 3 
And the monk made a sign with his withered hand, 
‘The grave’s huge portal to expand. 
2 
XVIE 
