[[76]]
Said Christabel] Alas! but say H. 1816.
[[81-3]]
Five ruffians seized me yestermorn,
Me, even me, a maid forlorn;
They chok'd my cries with wicked might.
MS. W., S. T. C. (a); MS. S. T. C. (c); S. H.
Five warriors, &c. as in the text
S. T. C. (b)
[Lines [82], 83, 84-1/2 are erased in H. 1816. Lines 81-4, 89, 90, which Scott prefixed as a motto to Chapter XI of The Black Dwarf (1818), run thus:—
Three ruffians seized me yestermorn,
Alas! a maiden most forlorn;
They choked my cries with wicked might,
And bound me on a palfrey white:
As sure as Heaven shall pity me,
I cannot tell what men they be.
Christabel.