Chapter VI: Part 6

O, Woman! in our hours of ease, Uncertain, coy, and hard to please, And variable as the shade By the light quivering aspen made; 905 When pain and anguish wring the brow, A ministering angel thou!-- Scarce were the piteous accents said, When, with the Baron's casque, the maid To the nigh streamlet ran: 910 Forgot were hatred, wrongs, and fears; The plaintive voice alone she hears, Sees but the dying man. She stoop'd her by the runnel's side, But in abhorrence backward drew; 915 For, oozing from the mountain's side, Where raged the war, a dark-red tide Was curdling in the streamlet blue. Where shall she turn!--behold her mark A little fountain cell, 920 Where water, clear as diamond-spark, In a stone basin fell. Above, some half-worn letters say, Drink . weary . pilgrim . drink . and . pray . for . the . kind . soul . of . Sybil .Grey . 925 Who . built . this . cross . and . well . She fill'd the helm, and back she hied, And with surprise and joy espied A Monk supporting Marmion's head; A pious man, whom duty brought 930 To dubious verge of battle fought, To shrieve the dying, bless the dead.

XXXI.

Deep drank Lord Marmion of the wave, And, as she stoop'd his brow to lave-- 'Is it the hand of Clare,' he said, 935 'Or injured Constance, bathes my head?' Then, as remembrance rose,-- 'Speak not to me of shrift or prayer! I must redress her woes. Short space, few words, are mine to spare 940 Forgive and listen, gentle Clare!'-- 'Alas!' she said, 'the while,-- O, think of your immortal weal! In vain for Constance is your zeal; She--died at Holy Isle.'-- 945 Lord Marmion started from the ground, As light as if he felt no wound; Though in the action burst the tide, In torrents, from his wounded side. 'Then it was truth,'--he said--'I knew 950 That the dark presage must be true.-- I would the Fiend, to whom belongs The vengeance due to all her wrongs, Would spare me but a day! For wasting fire, and dying groan, 955 And priests slain on the altar stone, Might bribe him for delay. It may not be!--this dizzy trance-- Curse on yon base marauder's lance, And doubly cursed my failing brand! 960 A sinful heart makes feeble hand.' Then, fainting, down on earth he sunk, Supported by the trembling Monk.

XXXII.

With fruitless labour, Clara bound, And strove to stanch the gushing wound: 965 The Monk, with unavailing cares, Exhausted all the Church's prayers. Ever, he said, that, close and near, A lady's voice was in his ear, And that the priest he could not hear; 970 For that she ever sung, 'In the lost battle, borne down by the flying, Where mingles war's rattle with groans of the dying!' So the notes rung;-- 'Avoid thee, Fiend!--with cruel hand, 975 Shake not the dying sinner's sand!-- O, look, my son, upon yon sign Of the Redeemer's grace divine; O, think on faith and bliss! By many a death-bed I have been, 980 And many a sinner's parting seen, But never aught like this.'-- The war, that for a space did fail, Now trebly thundering swell'd the gale, And--STANLEY! was the cry;-- 985 A light on Marmion's visage spread, And fired his glazing eye: With dying hand, above his head, He shook the fragment of his blade, And shouted 'Victory!-- 990 Charge, Chester, charge! On, Stanley, on!' Were the last words of Marmion.

XXXIII.

By this, though deep the evening fell, Still rose the battle's deadly swell, For still the Scots, around their King, 995 Unbroken, fought in desperate ring. Where's now their victor vaward wing, Where Huntly, and where Home?-- O, for a blast of that dread horn, On Fontarabian echoes borne, 1000 That to King Charles did come, When Rowland brave, and Olivier, And every paladin and peer, On Roncesvalles died! Such blasts might warn them, not in vain, 1005 To quit the plunder of the slain, And turn the doubtful day again, While yet on Flodden side, Afar, the Royal Standard flies, And round it toils, and bleeds, and dies, 1010 Our Caledonian pride! In vain the wish--for far away, While spoil and havoc mark their way, Near Sybil's Cross the plunderers stray.-- 'O Lady,' cried the Monk, 'away!' 1015 And placed her on her steed, And led her to the chapel fair, Of Tilmouth upon Tweed. There all the night they spent in prayer, And at the dawn of morning, there 1020 She met her kinsman, Lord Fitz-Clare.

XXXIV.

But as they left the dark'ning heath, More desperate grew the strife of death, The English shafts in volleys hail'd, In headlong charge their horse assail'd; 1025 Front, flank, and rear, the squadrons sweep To break the Scottish circle deep, That fought around their King. But yet, though thick the shafts as snow, Though charging knights like whirlwinds go, 1030 Though bill-men ply the ghastly blow, Unbroken was the ring; The stubborn spear-men still made good Their dark impenetrable wood, Each stepping where his comrade stood, 1035 The instant that he fell. No thought was there of dastard flight; Link'd in the serried phalanx tight, Groom fought like noble, squire like knight, As fearlessly and well; 1040 Till utter darkness closed her wing O'er their thin host and wounded King. Then skilful Surrey's sage commands Led back from strife his shatter'd bands; And from the charge they drew, 1045 As mountain-waves, from wasted lands, Sweep back to ocean blue. Then did their loss his foemen know; Their King, their Lords, their mightiest low, They melted from the field, as snow, 1050 When streams are swoln and south winds blow Dissolves in silent dew. Tweed's echoes heard the ceaseless plash, While many a broken band, Disorder'd, through her currents dash, 1055 To gain the Scottish land; To town and tower, to down and dale, To tell red Flodden's dismal tale, And raise the universal wail. Tradition, legend, tune, and song, 1060 Shall many an age that wail prolong: Still from the sire the son shall hear Of the stern strife, and carnage drear, Of Flodden's fatal field, Where shiver'd was fair Scotland's spear, And broken was her shield!

XXXV.

Day dawns upon the mountain's side:-- There, Scotland! lay thy bravest pride, Chiefs, knights, and nobles, many a one: The sad survivors all are gone.-- 1072 View not that corpse mistrustfully, Defaced and mangled though it be; Nor to yon Border castle high, Look northward with upbraiding eye; Nor cherish hope in vain, 1075 That, journeying far on foreign strand, The Royal Pilgrim to his land May yet return again. He saw the wreck his rashness wrought; Reckless of life, he desperate fought, 1080 And fell on Flodden plain: And well in death his trusty brand, Firm clench'd within his manly hand, Beseem'd the monarch slain. But, O! how changed since yon blithe night! 1085 Gladly I turn me from the sight, Unto my tale again.

XXXVI.

Short is my tale:--Fitz-Eustace' care A pierced and mangled body bare To moated Lichfield's lofty pile; 1090 And there, beneath the southern aisle, A tomb, with Gothic sculpture fair, Did long Lord Marmion's image bear, (Now vainly for its site you look; 'Twas levell'd, when fanatic Brook 1095 The fair cathedral storm'd and took; But, thanks to Heaven, and good Saint Chad, A guerdon meet the spoiler had!) There erst was martial Marmion found, His feet upon a couchant hound, 1100 His hands to Heaven upraised; And all around, on scutcheon rich, And tablet carved, and fretted niche, His arms and feats were blazed. And yet, though all was carved so fair, 1105 And priest for Marmion breathed the prayer, The last Lord Marmion lay not there. From Ettrick woods, a peasant swain Follow'd his lord to Flodden plain,-- One of those flowers, whom plaintive lay 1110 In Scotland mourns as 'wede away': Sore wounded, Sybil's Cross he spied, And dragg'd him to its foot, and died, Close by the noble Marmion's side. The spoilers stripp'd and gash'd the slain, 1115 And thus their corpses were mista'en; And thus, in the proud Baron's tomb, The lowly woodsman took the room.

XXXVII.

Less easy task it were, to show Lord Marmion's nameless grave, and low. 1120 They dug his grave e'en where he lay, But every mark is gone; Time's wasting hand has done away The simple Cross of Sybil Grey, And broke her font of stone: 1123 But yet from out the little hill Oozes the slender springlet still, Oft halts the stranger there, For thence may best his curious eye The memorable field descry; 1130 And shepherd boys repair To seek the water-flag and rush, And rest them by the hazel bush, And plait their garlands fair; Nor dream they sit upon the grave, 1135 That holds the bones of Marmion brave.-- When thou shalt find the little hill, With thy heart commune, and be still. If ever, in temptation strong, Thou left'st the right path for the wrong; 1140 If every devious step, thus trod, Still led thee farther from the road; Dread thou to speak presumptuous doom On noble Marmion's lowly tomb; But say, 'He died a gallant knight, 1145 With sword in hand, for England's right.'

XXXVIII.

I do not rhyme to that dull elf, Who cannot image to himself, That all through Flodden's dismal night, Wilton was foremost in the fight; 1150 That, when brave Surrey's steed was slain, 'Twas Wilton mounted him again; 'Twas Wilton's brand that deepest hew'd, Amid the spearmen's stubborn wood: Unnamed by Hollinshed or Hall, 1155 He was the living soul of all; That, after fight, his faith made plain, He won his rank and lands again; And charged his old paternal shield With bearings won on Flodden Field. 1160 Nor sing I to that simple maid, To whom it must in terms be said, That King and kinsmen did agree, To bless fair Clara's constancy; Who cannot, unless I relate, 1165 Paint to her mind the bridal's state; That Wolsey's voice the blessing spoke, More, Sands, and Denny, pass'd the joke: That bluff King Hal the curtain drew, And Catherine's hand the stocking threw; 1170 And afterwards, for many a day, That it was held enough to say, In blessing to a wedded pair, 'Love they like Wilton and like Clare!'

L'Envoy.

TO THE READER.

Why then a final note prolong, Or lengthen out a closing song, Unless to bid the gentles speed, Who long have listed to my rede? To Statesmen grave, if such may deign 5 To read the Minstrel's idle strain, Sound head, clean hand, and piercing wit, And patriotic heart--as PITT! A garland for the hero's crest, And twined by her he loves the best; 10 To every lovely lady bright, What can I wish but faithful knight? To every faithful lover too, What can I wish but lady true? And knowledge to the studious sage; 15 And pillow to the head of age. To thee, dear school-boy, whom my lay Has cheated of thy hour of play, Light task, and merry holiday! To all, to each, a fair good-night, 20 And pleasing dreams, and slumbers light!

NOTES

by

Thomas Bayne INTRODUCTION TO CANTO FIRST. With regard to the Introductions generally, Lockhart writes, in Life of Scott, ii. 150:--'Though the author himself does not allude to, and had perhaps forgotten the circumstance, when writing the Introductory Essay of 1830--they were announced, by an advertisement early in 1807, as "Six Epistles from Ettrick Forest," to be published in a separate volume, similar to that of the Ballads and Lyrical Pieces; and perhaps it might have been better that this first plan had been adhered to. But however that may be, are there any pages, among all he ever wrote, that one would be more sorry he should not have written? They are among the most delicious portraitures that genius ever painted of itself--buoyant, virtuous, happy genius--exulting in its own energies, yet possessed and mastered by a clear, calm, modest mind, and happy only in diffusing happiness around it.

'With what gratification those Epistles were read by the friends to whom they were addressed it is superfluous to show. He had, in fact, painted them almost as fully as himself; and who might not have been proud to find a place in such a gallery? The tastes and habits of six of those men, in whose intercourse Scott found the greatest pleasure when his fame was approaching its meridian splendour, are thus preserved for posterity; and when I reflect with what avidity we catch at the least hint which seems to afford us a glimpse of the intimate circle of any great poet of former ages, I cannot but believe that posterity would have held this record precious, even had the individuals been in themselves far less remarkable than a Rose, an Ellis, a Heber, a Skene, a Marriott, and an Erskine.'

William Stewart Rose (1775-1843), to whom Scott addresses the Introduction to Canto First, was a well-known man of letters in his time. He addressed to Hallam, in 1819, a work in two vols., entitled 'Letters from the North of Italy,' and escaped a prohibitory order from the Emperor of Austria by ingeniously changing his title to 'A Treatise upon Sour Krout,' &c. His other original works are, 'Apology addressed to the Travellers' Club; or, Anecdotes of Monkeys'; 'Thoughts and Recollections by one of the Last Century'; and 'Epistle to the Hon. J. Hookham Frere in Malta.' His translations are these:--'Amadis of Gaul: a Poem in three Books, freely translated from the French version of Nicholas de Herberay' (1803); 'Partenopex de Blois, a Romance in four Cantos, from the French of M. Le Grand' (1807); 'Court and Parliament of Beasts, translated from the Animali Parlanti of Giambatista Casti' (1819); and 'Orlando Furioso, translated into English Verse' (1825-1831). The closing lines of this Introduction refer to Rose's 'Amadis' and 'Partenopex.'

Ashestiel, whence the Introduction to the First Canto is dated, is on the Tweed, about six miles above Abbotsford. 'The valley there is narrow,' says Lockhart, 'and the aspect in every direction is that of perfect pastoral repose.' This was Scott's home from 1804 to l812, when he removed to Abbotsford.

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lines 1-52. This notable winter piece is the best modern contribution to that series of poetical descriptions by Scottish writers which includes Dunbar's 'Meditatioun in Winter,' Gavin Douglas's Scottish winter scene in the Prologue to his Virgil's Aeneid VII, Hamilton of Bangour's Ode III, and, of course, Thomson's 'Winter' in 'The Seasons.' The details of the piece are given with admirable skill, and the local place-names are used with characteristic effect. The note of regret over winter's ravages, common to all early Scottish poets, is skilfully struck and preserved, and thus the contrast designed between the wintry landscape and 'my Country's wintry state' is rendered sharper and more decisive.

line 3. steepy linn. Steepy is Elizabethan = steep, precipitous. Linn (Gael. linne = pool; A.S. hlinna = brook) is variously used for 'pool under a waterfall,' 'cascade,' 'precipice,' and 'ravine.' The reference here is to the ravine close by Ashestiel, mentioned in Lockhart's description of the surroundings:--'On one side, close under the windows, is a deep ravine clothed with venerable trees, down which a mountain rivulet is heard, more than seen, in its progress to the Tweed.'

line 16. our forest hills. Selkirkshire is poetically called 'Ettrick Forest'; hence the description of the soldiers from that district killed at Flodden as 'the flowers of the forest.'

line 22. Cp. Hamilton of Bangour's allusion (Ode III. 43) to the appearance of winter on these heights;--

'Cast up thy eyes, how bleak and bare
He wanders on the tops of Yare!'

line 37. imps (Gr. emphutos, Swed. ympa). See 'Faery Queene,' Book I. (Clarendon Press), note to Introd. The word means (1) a graft; (2) a scion of a noble house; (3) a little demon; (4) a mischievous child. The context implies that the last is the sense in which the word is used here. Cp. Beattie's 'Minstrel,' i. 17:--

'Nor cared to mingle in the clamorous fray
Of squabbling imps,'

line 50. round. Strictly speaking, a round is a circular dance in which the performers hold each other by the hands. The term, however, is fairly applicable to the frolicsome gambols of a group of lambs in a spring meadow. Certain rounds became famous enough to be individualised, as e.g. Sellenger's or St. Leger's round, mentioned in the May-day song, 'Come Lasses and Lads.' Cp. Macbeth, iv. 1; Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 2; and see note on Comus, line 144, in 'English Poems of Milton,' vol. i. (Clarendon Press).

line 53. Lockhart, in a foot-note to his edition of 'Marmion,' quotes from the 'Monthly Review' of May, 1808: 'The "chance and change" of nature--the vicissitudes which are observable in the moral as well as the physical part of the creation--have given occasion to more exquisite poetry than any other general subject.... The Ai, ai, tai Malaki of Moschus is worked up again to some advantage in the following passage-- "To mute," &c.'

lines 61, 62. The inversion of reference in these lines is an illustration of the rhetorical figure 'chiasmus.' Cp. the arrangement of the demonstrative pronouns in these sentences from 'Kenilworth':--'Your eyes contradict your tongue. That speaks of a protector, willing and able to watch over you; but these tell me you are ruined.'

line 64. Cp. closing lines of Wordsworth's 'Ode on Intimations of Immortality' (finished in 1806):--

'To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears.'

lines 65-8. Nelson fell at Trafalgar, Oct. 21, 1805; Pitt died Jan. 23, 1806.

line 72. Gadite wave. The epithet is derived from Gades, the Roman name of the modern Cadiz.

line 73. Levin = lightning. See Canto I, line 400. Spenser uses the phrase 'piercing levin' in the July eclogue of the 'Shepheards Calendar,' and in 'Faery Queene,' III. v. 48. The word still occasionally occurs in poetry. Cp. Longfellow, 'Golden Legend,' v., near end:--

'See! from its summit the lurid levin
Flashes downward without warning! '

line 76. fated = charged with determination of fate. Cp. All's Well that Ends Well, i. I. 221--

'The fated sky
Gives us free scope.'

line 82. Hafnia, is Copenhagen. The three victories are, the battle of the Nile, 1798; the battle of the Baltic, 1801; and Trafalgar, 1805.

lines 84-86. Pitt (1759-1806) became First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1783, and from 1785 onwards the facts of his career are a constituent part of national history. He faced with success difficulties like bread riots, mutinies in the fleet in 1797, disturbances by the 'United Irishmen,' and the alarming threats of Napoleon. In 1800 the Union of Ireland with Great Britain gave Irishmen new motives for living, and in 1803 national patriotism, stirred and guided by Pitt, was manifested in the enrolment of over three hundred thousand volunteers prepared to withstand the vaunted 'Army of England.' In spite of his distinguished position and eminent services, Pitt died L40,000 in debt, and his responsibilities were promptly met by a vote of the House of Commons.

lines 97-108. These picturesque lines, with their varied and suggestive metaphors, were interpolated on the blank page of the MS. The reference in the expression 'tottering throne' in line 104 is to the threatened insanity of George III.

lines 109-125. Pitt's patriotism was consistent and thorough. The anxious, troubled expression his face, betrayed in his latest appearances in the House of Commons, Wilberforce spoke of as 'his Austerlitz look,' and there seems little doubt that the burden of his public cares hastened his end. This gives point to the comparison of his fate with that of Aeneas's pilot Palinurus (Aeneid v. 833).

lines 127-141. Charles James Fox (1749-1806) was second son of the first Lord Holland, whose indulgence tended to spoil a youth of unusual ability and precocity. Extravagant habits, contracted at an early age, were not easily thrown off afterwards, but they did not interfere with Fox's efficiency as a statesman. His rivalry with Pitt dates from 1783. Their tombs are near each other in Westminster Abbey.

line 146. Cp. in Gray's 'Elegy':--

'Where through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault
The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.'

line 153. Jeffrey, in his criticism of 'Marmion' in the 'Edinburgh Review,' found fault with the tribute to Fox, and cavilled in particular at the expression 'Fox a Briton died.' He argued that Scott praised only the action of Fox in breaking off the negotiations for peace with Napoleon, while insinuating that the previous part of his career was unpatriotic. Only a special pleader could put such an unworthy interpretation on the words.

lines 155-65. By the result of the battle of Austerlitz (December, 1805) Napoleon seemed advancing towards general victory. Prussia hastily patched up a dishonourable peace on terms inconsistent with very binding pledges, and the Russian minister at Paris compromised his country by yielding to humiliating proposals on the part of France. All this changed Fox's view of the position, and he broke off the negotiations for peace which had been begun in accordance with a policy he had long advocated.

line 161. There is a probable reference here to Nelson's action at the battle of the Baltic. He disregarded the signal for cessation of fighting given by Sir Hyde Parker, and ordered his own signal to be nailed to the mast.

line 176. Thessaly was noted for witchcraft. The scene of Virgil's eighth Eclogue is laid in Thessaly as appropriate to the introduction of such machinery as enchantments, love-spells, &c. Cp. Horace, Epode v. 21, and Ode I. xxvii. 21:--

'Quae saga, quis te solvere Thessalis
Magus venenis, quis poterit deus?'

In his 'Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft,' Letter III., Scott, obviously basing his information on Horace, writes thus:--'The classic mythology presented numerous points in which it readily coalesced with that of the Germans, Danes, and Northmen of a later period. They recognised the power of Erictho, Canidia, and other sorceresses, whose spells could perplex the course of the elements, intercept the influence of the sun, and prevent his beneficial operation upon the fruits of the earth; call down the moon from her appointed sphere, and disturb the original and destined course of nature by their words and charms, and the power of the evil spirits whom they evoked.'

line 181. Lees is properly pl. of lee (Fr.lie = dregs), the sediment or coarser parts of a liquid which settle at the bottom, but it has come to be used as a collective word without reference to a singular form. For phrase, cp. Macbeth, ii. 3. 96:--

'The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees
Is left this vault to brag of.'

line 185. Cp. Byron's 'Age of Bronze':--

'But where are they--the rivals!--a few feet
Of sullen earth divide each winding-sheet.'

line 199. hearse, from Old Fr. herce = harrow, portcullis. In early English the word is used in the sense of 'harrow' and also of 'triangle,' in reference to the shape of the harrow. By-and-by it came to be used variously for 'bier,' 'funeral carriage,' ornamental canopy with lighted candles over the coffins of notable people during the funeral ceremony, the permanent framework over a tomb, and even the tomb itself. Cp. Spenser's Shep. Cal., November Eclogue:--

'Dido, my deare, alas! is dead,
Dead, and lyeth wrapt in lead.
O heavie herse!'

The gloss to this is, 'Herse is the solemne obsequie in funeralles.' Cp. also Ben Jonson's 'Epitaph on the Countess of Pembroke':--

'Underneath this sable herse
Lies the subject of all verse.'

line 203. The 'Border Minstrel' is an appropriate designation of the author of 'Contributions to the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border' and the 'Lay of the Last Minstrel.' In the preface to the latter work, written in 1830, Scott refers to the two great statesmen as having 'smiled on the adventurous minstrel.' This is the only existing evidence of Fox's appreciation. Pitt's praise of the Lay his niece, Lady Hester Stanhope, reported to W. S. Rose, who very naturally passed it on to Scott himself. The Right Hon. William Dundas, in a letter to Scott, mentions a conversation he had had with Pitt at his table, in 1805, and says that Pitt both expressed his desire to advance Scott's professional interests and quoted from the Lay the lines describing the embarrassment of the harper when asked to play. 'This,' said he, 'is a sort of thing which I might have expected in painting, but could never have fancied capable of being given in poetry.'--Lockhart's Life of Scott, ii. 34.

line 204. Gothic. This refers to both subject and style, neither being classical.

line 220. Lockhart quotes from Rogers's 'Pleasures of Memory':--

'If but a beam of sober reason play,
Lo! Fancy's fairy frostwork melts away.'

lines 233-48. In these lines the poet indicates the sphere in which he had previously worked with independence and success. Like Virgil when proceeding to write the AEneid, he is doubtful whether his devotion to legendary and pastoral themes is sufficient warrant for attempting heroic verse. The reference to the tales of shepherds in the closing lines of the passage recalls the advice given (about 1880) to his students by Prof. Shairp, when lecturing from the Poetry Chair at Oxford. 'To become steeped,' he said, 'in the true atmosphere of romantic poetry they should proceed to the Borders and learn their legends, under the twofold guidance of Scott's "Border Minstrelsy" and an intelligent local shepherd.'

line 256. steely weeds = steel armour. 'Steely' in Elizabethan times was used both literally and figuratively. Shakespeare, 3 Henry VI. ii. 3. 16, has 'The steely point of Clifford's lance,' and Fisher in his 'Seuen Psalmes' has 'tough and stely hertes.' For a modern literal example, see Crabbe's 'Parish Register':--

'Steel through opposing plates the magnet draws,
And STEELY atoms calls from dust and straws.'

WEEDS in the sense of dress is confined, in modern English, to widows' robes. In Elizabethan times it had a general reference, as e.g. Spenser's 'lowly Shephards weeds' in the Introduction to 'Faery Queene.' Cp. below, Canto V. line 168, VI. line 192.

line 258. The Champion is Launcelot, the most famous of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table. See Tennyson's 'Idylls of the King,' especially 'Lancelot and Elaine,' and William Morris's 'Defence of Guenevere.'

line 263. Dame Ganore is Guenevere, Arthur's Queen.

lines 258-262. Scott annotates these lines as follows:--

'The Romance of the Morte Arthur contains a sort of abridgment of the most celebrated adventures of the Round Table; and, being written in comparatively modern language, gives the general reader an excellent idea of what romances of chivalry actually were. It has also the merit of being written in pure old English; and many of the wild adventures which it contains are told with a simplicity bordering upon the sublime. Several of these are referred to in the text; and I would have illustrated them by more full extracts, but as this curious work is about to be republished, I confine myself to the tale of the Chapel Perilous, and of the quest of Sir Launcelot after the Sangreal.

'"Right so Sir Lanncelot departed, and when he came to the Chapell Perilous, he alighted downe, and tied his horse to a little gate. And as soon as he was within the churchyard, he saw, on the front of the chapell, many faire rich shields turned upside downe; and many of the shields Sir Launcelot had seene knights have before; with that he saw stand by him thirtie great knights, more, by a yard, than any man that ever he had seene, and all those grinned and gnashed at Sir Launcelot; and when he saw their countenance, hee dread them sore, and so put his shield afore him, and tooke his sword in his hand ready to doe battaile; and they were all armed in black harneis, ready, with their shields and swords drawen. And when Sir Launcelot would have gone through them, they scattered on every side of him, and gave him the way; and therewith he waxed all bold, and entered into the chapell, and then hee saw no light but a dimme lampe burning, and then was he ware of a corps covered with a cloath of silke; then Sir Launcelot stooped downe, and cut a piece of that cloath away, and then it fared under him as the earth had quaked a little, whereof he was afeard, and then hee saw a faire sword lye by the dead knight, and that he gat in his hand, and hied him out of the chappell. As soon as he was in the chappell-yerd, all the knights spoke to him with a grimly voice, and said, 'Knight, Sir Launcelot, lay that sword from thee, or else thou shalt die.'-- 'Whether I live or die,' said Sir Launcelot, 'with no great words get yee it againe, therefore fight for it and ye list.' Therewith he passed through them; and beyond the chappell-yerd, there met him a faire damosell, and said, 'Sir Launcelot, leave that sword behind thee, or thou wilt die for it.'--'I will not leave it,' said Sir Launcelot, 'for no threats.'--'No?' said she; 'and ye did leave that sword, Queen Guenever should ye never see.'--'Then were I a foole and I would leave this sword,' said Sir Launcelot. 'Now, gentle knight,' said the damosell, 'I require thee to kisse me once.'-- 'Nay,' said Sir Launcelot, 'that God forbid!'--'Well, sir,' said she, 'and thou hadest kissed me thy life dayes had been done; but now, alas!' said she, 'I have lost all my labour; for I ordeined this chappell for thy sake, and for Sir Gawaine: and once I had Sir Gawaine within it; and at that time he fought with that knight which there lieth dead in yonder chappell, Sir Gilbert the bastard, and at that time hee smote off Sir Gilbert the bastard's left hand. And so, Sir Launcelot, now I tell thee, that I have loved thee this seaven yeare; but there may no woman have thy love but Queene Guenever; but sithen I may not rejoyice thee to have thy body alive, I had kept no more joy in this world but to have had thy dead body; and I would have balmed it and served, and so have kept it in my life daies, and daily I should have clipped thee, and kissed thee, in the despite of Queen Guenever.'--'Yee say well,' said Sir Launcelot; 'Jesus preserve me from your subtill craft." And therewith he took his horse, and departed from her."'

Sir Thomas Malory's 'Morte D'Arthure' was first printed by Caxton in 4to., 1485. A new issue of this belongs to 1634. The republication referred to by Scott is probably the edition published in 1816, in two vols. l8mo. The Roxburghe Club made a sumptuous reprint in 1819, and Thomas Wright, in 1858, edited the work in three handy 8vo. vols. from the text of 1634. This edition is furnished with a very useful introduction and notes.

lines 267-70. 'One day when Arthur was holding a high feast with his Knights of the Round Table, the Sangreal, or vessel out of which the last passover was eaten, (a precious relic, which had long remained concealed from human eyes, because of the sins of the land,) suddenly appeared to him and all his chivalry. The consequence of this vision was, that all the knights took on them a solemn vow to seek the Sangreal. But, alas! it could only be revealed to a knight at once accomplished in earthly chivalry, and pure and guiltless of evil conversation. All Sir Launcelot's noble accomplishments were therefore rendered vain by his guilty intrigue with Queen Guenever, or Ganore; and in this holy quest he encountered only such disgraceful disasters as that which follows:--

'But Sir Launcelot rode overthwart and endlong in a wild forest, and held no path, but as wild adventure led him; and at the last, he came unto a stone crosse, which departed two wayes, in wast land; and, by the crosse, was a stone that was of marble; but it was so dark, that Sir Launcelot might not well know what it was. Then Sir Launcelot looked by him, and saw an old chappell, and there he wend to have found people. And so Sir Launcelot tied his horse to a tree, and there he put off his shield, and hung it upon a tree, and then hee went unto the chappell doore, and found it wasted and broken. And within he found a faire altar, full richly arrayed with cloth of silk, and there stood a faire candlestick, which beare six great candles, and the candlesticke was of silver. And when Sir Launcelot saw this light, hee had a great will for to enter into the chappell, but he could find no place where hee might enter. Then was he passing heavie and dismaied. Then he returned, and came again to his horse, and tooke off his saddle and his bridle, and let him pasture, and unlaced his helme, and ungirded his sword, and laid him downe to sleepe upon his shield, before the crosse.

'And so hee fell on sleepe; and, halfe waking and halfe sleeping, hee saw come by him two palfreys, both faire and white, the which beare a litter, therein lying a sicke knight. And when he was nigh the crosse, he there abode still. All this Sir Launcelot saw and beheld, for hee slept not verily, and hee heard him say, "O sweete Lord, when shall this sorrow leave me, and when shall the holy vessell come by me, where through I shall be blessed, for I have endured thus long for little trespasse!" And thus a great while complained the knight, and allwaies Sir Launcelot heard it. With that Sir Launcelot saw the candlesticke, with the fire tapers, come before the crosse; but he could see no body that brought it. Also there came a table of silver, and the holy vessel of the Sancgreall, the which Sir Launcelot had seen before that time in King Petchour's house. And therewithall the sicke knight set him upright, and held up both his hands, and said, "Faire sweete Lord, which is here within the holy vessell, take heed to mee, that I may bee hole of this great malady!" And therewith upon his hands, and upon his knees, he went so nigh, that he touched the holy vessell, and kissed it: And anon he was hole, and then he said, "Lord God, I thank thee, for I am healed of this malady." Soo when the holy vessell had been there a great while, it went into the chappell againe, with the candlesticke and the light, so that Sir Launcelot wist not where it became, for he was overtaken with sinne, that he had no power to arise against the holy vessell, wherefore afterward many men said of him shame. But he tooke repentance afterward. Then the sicke knight dressed him upright, and kissed the crosse. Then anon his squire brought him his armes, and asked his lord how he did. "Certainly," said hee, I thanke God right heartily, for through the holy vessell I am healed: But I have right great mervaile of this sleeping knight, which hath had neither grace nor power to awake during the time that this holy vessell hath beene here present."--"I dare it right well say," said the squire, "that this same knight is defouled with some manner of deadly sinne, whereof he has never confessed."-- "By my faith," said the knight, "whatsoeer he be, he is unhappie; for, as I deeme, hee is of the fellowship of the Round Table, the which is entered into the quest of the Sancgreall."--"Sir," said the squire, "here I have brought you all your armes, save your helme and your sword; and, therefore, by mine assent, now may ye take this knight's helme and his sword;' and so he did. And when he was cleane armed, he took Sir Launcelot's horse, for he was better than his owne, and so they departed from the crosse.

'Then anon Sir Launcelot awaked, and set himselfe upright, and he thought him what hee had there seene, and whether it were dreames or not; right so he heard a voice that said, "Sir Launcelot, more hardy than is the stone, and more bitter than is the wood, and more naked and bare than is the liefe of the fig-tree, therefore go thou from hence, and withdraw thee from this holy place;" and when Sir Launcelot heard this, he was passing heavy, and wist not what to doe. And so he departed sore weeping, and cursed the time that he was borne; for then he deemed never to have had more worship; for the words went unto his heart, till that he knew wherefore that hee was so called.'--SCOTT.

line 273. Arthur is the hero of the 'Faery Queene.' In his explanatory letter to Sir Walter Raleigh, Spenser says, 'I chose the historye of King Arthure, as most fitte for the excellency of his person, being made famous by many mens former workes, and also furthest from the daunger of envy, and suspicion of present time.'

line 274. Milton is said to have meditated in his youth the composition of an epic poem on Arthur and the Round Table. In 'Paradise Lost' ix. 26, he states that the subject of that poem pleased him 'long choosing and beginning late,' and references both in 'Paradise Lost' and 'Paradise Regained' prove his familiarity with the Arthurian legend. Cp. Par. Lost, i. 580, and Par. Reg. ii. 358.

line 275. Scott quotes from Dryden's 'Essay on Satire,' prefixed to the translation of Juvenal, regarding his projected Epic. 'Of two subjects,' says Dryden, 'I was doubtful whether I should choose that of King Arthur conquering the Saxons, which, being further distant in time, gives the greater scope to my invention; or that of Edward the Black Prince, in subduing Spain, and restoring it to the lawful prince, though a great tyrant, Pedro the Cruel....I might perhaps have done as well as some of my predecessors, or at least chalked out a way for others to amend my errors in a like design; but being encouraged only with fair words by King Charles II, my little salary ill paid, and no prospect of a future subsistence, I was then discouraged in the beginning of my attempt; and now age has overtaken me, and want, a more insufferable evil, through the change of the times, has wholly disabled me.'

lines 281-3. Dryden's dramas, certain of his translations, and various minor pieces adapted to the prevalent taste of his time, are unworthy of his genius. Pope's reflections on the poet forgetful of the dignity of his office, with the allusion to Dryden as an illustration ('Satires and Epistles,' v. 209), may be compared with this passage;--

'I scarce can think him such a worthless thing,
Unless he praise some monster of a king;
Or virtue, or religion turn to sport,
To please a lewd, or unbelieving court.
Unhappy Dryden! In all Charles's days,
Roscommon only boasts unspotted bays.'

line 283. Cp. Gray's 'Progress of Poesy,' 103--

'Behold, where Dryden's less presumptuous car
Wide o'er the fields of glory bear
Two coursers of ethereal race,
With necks in thunder cloth'd, and long-resounding pace';

and Pope's 'Satires and Epistles,' v. 267--

'Dryden taught to join
The varying verse, the full-resounding line,
The long majestic march, and energy divine.'

line 286. To break a lance is to enter the lists, to try one's strength. The concussion of two powerful knights would suffice to shiver the lances. Hence comes the figurative use. Cp. I Henry VI. iii. 2,--

'What will you do, good greybeard? break a lance,
And run a tilt at death within a chair?'

lines 288-309. The Genius of Chivalry is to be resuscitated from the deep slumber under which baneful spells have long effectually held him. The appropriateness of this is apparent when the true meaning of Chivalry is considered. Scott opens his 'Essay on Chivalry' thus:--'The primitive sense of this well-known word, derived from the French Chevalier, signifies merely cavalry, or a body of soldiers serving on horseback; and it has been used in that general acceptation by the best of our poets, ancient and modern, from Milton to Thomas Campbell.' See Par. Lost, i. 307, and Battle of Hohenlinden.

line 294. To spur forward his horse on an expedition of adventures, like Spenser's Red Cross Knight. For the accoutrements and the duties of a knight see Scott's 'Essay on Chivalry' (Miscellaneous Works, vol. vi.). Cp. 'Faery Queene,' Book I, and (especially for the personified abstractions from line 300 onwards) Montgomerie's allegory, 'The Cherrie and the Slae.'

line 312. Ytene's oaks. 'The New Forest in Hampshire, anciently so called.'--SCOTT. Gundimore, the residence of W. S. Rose, was in this neighbourhood, and in an unpublished piece entitled 'Gundimore,' Rose thus alludes to a visit of Scott's:--

'Here Walter Scott has woo'd the northern muse;
Here he with me has joy'd to walk or cruise;
And hence has prick'd through Yten's holt, where we
Have called to mind how under greenwood tree,
Pierced by the partner of his "woodland craft,"
King Rufus fell by Tyrrell's random shaft.'

line 314. 'The "History of Bevis of Hampton" is abridged by my friend Mr. George Ellis, with that liveliness which extracts amusement even out of the most rude and unpromising of our old tales of chivalry. Ascapart, a most important personage in the romance, is thus described in an extract:--

"This geaunt was mighty and strong,
And full thirty foot was long.
He was bristled like a sow;
A foot he had between each brow;
His lips were great, and hung aside;
His eyen were hollow, his mouth was wide;
Lothly he was to look on than,
And liker a devil than a man.
His staff was a young oak,
Hard and heavy was his stroke."
Specimens of Metrical Romances, vol. ii. p. 136.

'I am happy to say, that the memory of Sir Bevis is still fragrant in his town of Southampton; the gate of which is sentinelled by the effigies of that doughty knight errant and his gigantic associate.'- -SCOTT.

CANTO FIRST. The Introduction is written on a basis of regular four-beat couplets, each line being technically an iambic tetrameter; lines 96, 205, and 283 are Alexandrines, or iambic hexameters, each serving to give emphasis and resonance (like the ninth of the Spenserian stanza) to the passage which it closes. Intensity of expression is given by the triplet which closes the passage ending with line 125. The metrical basis of the movement in the Canto is likewise iambic tetrameter, but the trimeter or three-beat line is freely introduced, and the poet allows himself great scope in his arrangement.

Stanza I. line 1. 'The ruinous castle of Norham (anciently called Ubbanford) is situated on the southern bank of the Tweed, about six miles above Berwick, and where that river is still the boundary between England and Scotland. The extent of its ruins, as well as its historical importance, shows it to have been a place of magnificence, as well as strength. Edward I resided there when he was created umpire of the dispute concerning the Scottish succession. It was repeatedly taken and retaken during the wars between England and Scotland; and, indeed, scarce any happened, in which it had not a principal share. Norham Castle is situated on a steep bank, which overhangs the river. The repeated sieges which the castle had sustained, rendered frequent repairs necessary. In 1164, it was almost rebuilt by Hugh Pudsey, Bishop of Durham, who added a huge keep, or donjon; notwithstanding which, King Henry II, in 1174, took the castle from the bishop, and committed the keeping of it to William de Neville. After this period it seems to have been chiefly garrisoned by the King, and considered as a royal fortress. The Greys of Chillinghame Castle were frequently the castellans, or captains of the garrison: Yet, as the castle was situated in the patrimony of St. Cuthbert, the property was in the see of Durham till the Reformation. After that period, it passed through various hands. At the union of the crowns, it was in the possession of Sir Robert Carey, (afterwards Earl of Monmouth,) for his own life, and that of two of his sons. After King James's accession, Carey sold Norham Castle to George Home, Earl of Dunbar, for L6000. See his curious Memoirs, published by Mr. Constable of Edinburgh.

'According to Mr. Pinkerton, there is, in the British Museum. Cal. B. 6. 216, a curious memoir of the Dacres on the state of Norham Castle in 1522, not long after the battle of Flodden. The inner ward, or keep, is represented as impregnable:--"The provisions are three great vats of salt eels, forty-four kine, three hogsheads of salted salmon, forty quarters of grain, besides many cows and four hundred sheep, lying under the castle-wall nightly; but a number of the arrows wanted feathers, and a good Fletcher [i.e. maker of arrows] was required."--History of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 201, note.

'The ruins of the castle are at present considerable, as well as picturesque. They consist of a large shattered tower, with many vaults, and fragments of other edifices, enclosed within an outward wall of great circuit.'--SCOTT.

line 4. battled = embattled, furnished with battlements. See Introd. to Canto V. line 90, and cp. Tennyson's 'Dream of Fair Women,' line 220:--

'The valleys of grape-loaded vines that glow
Beneath the BATTLED TOWER.'

the donjon keep. 'It is perhaps unnecessary to remind my readers, that the donjon, in its proper signification, means the strongest part of a feudal castle; a high square tower, with walls of tremendous thickness, situated in the centre of the other buildings, from which, however, it was usually detached. Here, in case of the outward defences being gained, the garrison retreated to make their last stand. The donjon contained the great hall, and principal rooms of state for solemn occasions, and also the prison of the fortress; from which last circumstance we derive the modern and restricted use of the word dungeon. Ducange (voce DUNJO) conjectures plausibly, that the name is derived from these keeps being usually built upon a hill, which in Celtic is called DUN. Borlase supposes the word came from the darkness of the apartments in these towers, which were thence figuratively called Dungeons; thus deriving the ancient word from the modern application of it.'--SCOTT.

line 6. flanking walls, walls protecting it on the sides. Cp. the use of FLANKED in Dryden's 'Annus Mirabilis' xxvi;--

'By the rich scent we found our perfumed prey,
Which, FLANKED with rocks, did close in covert lie.'

Stanza II. line 14. St. George's banner. St. George's red cross on a white field was the emblem on the English national standard. Saint George is the legendary patron saint who slew the dragon.

Stanza III. line 29. Horncliff-hill is one of the numerous hillocks to the east of Norham. There is a village of the same name.

A plump of spears. Scott writes, 'This word applies to flight of
water-fowl; but is applied by analogy to a body of horse:--

"There is a knight of the North Country,
Which leads a lusty PLUMP of spears."
Flodden Field'

line 33. mettled, same as metalled (mettle being a variant of metall, spirited, ardent. So 'mettled hound' in 'Jock o' Hazeldean.' Cp. Julius Caesar, iv. 2. 23:--

'But hollow men, like horses hot at hand,
Make gallant show and promise of their METTLE.'

'Metal' in the same sense is frequent in Shakespeare. See Meas. for Meas. i. I; Julius Caesar, i. 2; Hamlet, iii 2.

line 35. palisade (Fr. paliser, to enclose with pales), a firm row of stakes presenting a sharp point to an advancing party.

line 38. hasted, Elizabethanism = hastened. Cp. Merch. of Venice, ii. 2. 104--'Let it be so hasted that supper be ready at the farthest by five of the clock.'

line 42. sewer, taster; squire, knight's attendant; seneschal, steward. See 'Lay of the Last Minstrel,' vi. 6, and note on Par. Lost, ix. 38, in Clarendon Press Milton:--

'Then marshalled feast
Served up in hall with sewers, and seneschals.'

Stanza IV. line 43. Malvoisie = Malmsey, from Malvasia, now Napoli di Malvasia, in the Morea.

line 55. portcullis, a strong timber framework within the gateway of a castle, let down in grooves and having iron spikes at the bottom.

Stanzas V and VI. Marmion, strenuous in arms and prudent in counsel, has a kinship in spirit and achievement with the Homeric heroes. Compare him also with the typical knight in Chaucer's Prologue and the Red Cross Knight at the opening of the 'Faerie Queene.' Scott annotates 'Milan steel' and the legend thus:--

'The artists of Milan were famous in the middle ages for their skill in armoury, as appears from the following passage, in which Froissart gives an account of the preparations made by Henry, Earl of Hereford, afterwards Henry IV, and Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marischal, for their proposed combat in the lists at Coventry:-- "These two lords made ample provisions of all things necessary for the combat; and the Earl of Derby sent off messengers to Lombardy, to have armour from Sir Galeas, Duke of Milan. The Duke complied with joy, and gave the knight, called Sir Francis, who had brought the message, the choice of all his armour for the Earl of Derby. When he had selected what he wished for in plated and mail armour, the Lord of Milan, out of his abundant love for the Earl, ordered four of the best armourers in Milan to accompany the knight to England, that the Earl of Derby might be more completely armed."-- JOHNES' Froissart, vol. iv. p.597.

'The crest and motto of Marmion are borrowed from the following story:--

Sir David de Lindsay, first Earl of Cranford, was, among other gentlemen of quality, attended, during a visit to London in 1390, by Sir William Dalzell, who was, according to my authority, Bower, not only excelling in wisdom, but also of a lively wit. Chancing to be at the Court, he there saw Sir Piers Conrtenay, an English knight, famous for skill in tilting, and for the beauty of his person, parading the palace, arrayed in a new mantle, bearing for device an embroidered falcon, with this rhyme,--

"I bear a falcon, fairest of night, Whoso pinches at her, his death is dight1 In graith2." ----------------------------------------------------- 1prepared. 2armour. ----------------------------------------------------- 'The Scottish knight, being a wag, appeared next day in a dress exactly similar to that of Courtenay, but bearing a magpie instead of the falcon, with a motto ingeniously contrived to rhyme to the vaunting inscription of Sir Piers:--

"I bear a pie picking at a piece, Whoso picks at her, I shall pick at his nese3, In faith." ----------------------------------------------------- 3nose ----------------------------------------------------- 'This affront could only be expiated by a just with sharp lances. In the course, Dalzell left his helmet unlaced, so that it gave way at the touch of his antagonist's lance, and he thus avoided the shock of the encounter. This happened twice:--in the third encounter, the handsome Courtenay lost two of his front teeth. As the Englishman complained bitterly of Dalzell's fraud in not fastening his helmet, the Scottishman agreed to run six courses more, each champion staking in the hand of the King two hundred pounds, to be forfeited, if, on entering the lists, any unequal advantage should be detected. This being agreed to, the wily Scot demanded that Sir Piers, in addition to the loss of his teeth, should consent to the extinction of one of his eyes, he himself having lost an eye in the fight of Otterburn. As Courtenay demurred to this equalisation of optical powers, Dalzell demanded the forfeit; which, after much altercation, the King appointed to be paid to him, saying, he surpassed the English both in wit and valour. This must appear to the reader a singular specimen of the humour of that time. I suspect the Jockey Club would have given a different decision from Henry IV.'

lines 85-6. 'The arms of Marmion would be Vairee, a fesse gules--a simple bearing, testifying to the antiquity of the race. The badge was An ape passant argent, ringed and chained with gold. The Marmions were the hereditary champions of England. The office passed to the Dymokes, through marriage, in the reign of Edward III.'--'Notes and Queries,' 7th S. III. 37.

Stanza VII. line 95. 'The principal distinction between the independent esquire (terming him such who was attached to no knight's service) and the knight was the spurs, which the esquire might wear of silver, but by no means gilded.'--Scott's 'Essay on Chivalry,' p.64.

With the squire's 'courteous precepts' compare those of Chaucer's squire in the Prologue,--

'He cowde songes make and wel endite,
Juste and eek daunce, and wel purtreye and write.
. . .
Curteys he was, lowely, and servysable,
And carf byforn his fader at the table.'

Stanza VIII. line 108. Him listed is an Early English form. Cp. Chaucer's Prologue, 583,--

'Or lyve as scarsly as HYM LIST desire.'

In Elizabethan English, which retains many impersonal forms, LIST is mainly used as a personal verb, as in Much Ado, iii. 4,--

'I am not such a fool to think what I LIST,'