ADVERTISEMENT
* * *
It is hardly to be expected, that an Author whom the Public have
honoured with some degree of applause, should not be again a
trespasser on their kindness. Yet the Author of MARMION must be
supposed to feel some anxiety concerning its success, since he is
sensible that he hazards, by this second intrusion, any reputation
which his first Poem may have procured him. The present story turns
upon the private adventures of a fictitious character; but is called
a Tale of Flodden Field, because the hero's fate is connected with
that memorable defeat, and the causes which led to it. The design
of the Author was, if possible, to apprize his readers, at the
outset, of the date of his Story, and to prepare them for the
manners of the Age in which it is laid. Any Historical Narrative,
far more an attempt at Epic composition, exceeded his plan of a
Romantic Tale; yet he may be permitted to hope, from the popularity
of THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL, that an attempt to paint the
manners of the feudal times, upon a broader scale, and in the course
of a more interesting story, will not be unacceptable to the Public.
The Poem opens about the commencement of August, and concludes with
the defeat of Flodden, 9th September, 1513.
Ashestiel, 1808,