The traitorous scroll that snatched the crown from her ancestral line.
“My lords, my lords!” the captive said, “were I but once more free,
With ten good knights on yonder shore[207], to aid my cause and me,
That parchment would I scatter[208] wide to every breeze that blows,
And once more reign a Stuart Queen o’er my remorseless foes!”
A red spot burned upon her cheek—streamed her rich tresses down,
She wrote the words—she stood erect—a QUEEN WITHOUT A CROWN!
The scene was changed. A royal host a royal banner[209] bore,
And the faithful of the land stood round[210] their smiling Queen once more;
She stayed her steed upon a hill—she saw them marching by[211]—