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.

--------------------

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,'

and in John iii. 8, 'The wind bloweth where it listeth.' Even then,

however, it was sometimes used impersonally, as in Surrey's

translation of AEneid ii. 1064,--

'By sliding seas ME LISTED them to lede.'

line 116. Hosen = hose, tight trousers reaching to the knees. The

form hosen is archaic, though it lingered provincially in Scotland

till modern times. For a standard use of the word, see in A. V.,

Daniel iii. 21, 'Then these men were bound in their coats, their

hosen, and their hats, and their other garments.'

line 121. The English archers under the Tudors were famous.

Holinshed specially mentions that at the battle of Blackheath, in

1496, Dartford bridge was defended by archers 'whose arrows were in

length a full cloth yard.'

Stanza IX. line 130. morion (Sp. morra, the crown of the head), a

kind of helmet without a visor, frequently surmounted with a crest,

introduced into England about the beginning of the sixteenth

century.

line 134. linstock (lont, a match, and stok, a stick), 'a gunner's

forked staff to hold a match of lint dipped in saltpetre.'

yare, ready; common as a nautical term. Cp. Tempest, i. I. 6,

'Cheerly, my hearts! Yare, yare!' and see note to Clarendon Press

edition of the play.

Stanza X. line 146. The angel was a gold coin struck in France in

1340, and introduced into England by Edward IV, 1465. It varied in

value from 6s. 8d, to 10s. The last struck in England were in the

reign of Charles I. The name was due to the fact that on one side of

the coin was a representation of the Archangel Michael and the

dragon (Rev. xii. 7). Used again, St. xxv. below.

line 149. brook (A. S. brucan, to use, eat, enjoy, bear, discharge,

fulfil), to use, handle, manage. Cp. Chaucer, 'Nonnes Prestes Tale,'

line 479,--

'So mote I BROUKEN wel min eyen twey,'

and 'Lady of the Lake,' I. xxviii--

'Whose stalwart arm might BROOK to wield

A blade like this in battle-field. '

For other meaning of the word see xiii. and xvi. below.

Stanza XI. line 151. Pursuivants, attendants on the heralds, their

TABARD being a sleeveless coat. Chaucer applies the name to the

loose frock of the ploughman (Prologue, 541). See Clarendon Press

ed. of Chaucer's Prologue, &c.

line 152. scutcheon = escutcheon, shield.

line 156. 'Lord Marmion, the principal character of the present

romance, is entirely a fictitious personage. In earlier times,

indeed, the family of Marmion, Lords of Fontenay, in Normandy, was

highly distinguished. Robert de Marmion, Lord of Fontenay, a

distinguished follower of the Conqueror, obtained a grant of the

castle and town of Tamworth, and also of the manor of Scrivelby, in

Lincolnshire. One, or both, of these noble possessions was held by

the honourable service of being the royal champion, as the ancestors

of Marmion had formerly been to the Dukes of Normandy. But after the

castle and demesne of Tamworth had passed through four successive

barons from Robert, the family became extinct in the person of

Philip de Marmion, who died in 20th Edward I without issue male. He

was succeeded in his castle of Tamworth by Alexander de Freville,

who married Mazera, his grand-daughter. Baldwin de Freville,

Alexander's descendant, in the reign of Richard I, by the supposed

tenure of his castle of Tamworth, claimed the office of royal

champion, and to do the service appertaining; namely, on the day of

coronation, to ride, completely armed, upon a barbed horse, into

Westminster Hall, and there to challenge the combat against any who

would gainsay the King's title. But this office was adjudged to Sir

John Dymoke, to whom the manor of Scrivelby had descended by another

of the co-heiresses of Robert de Marmion; and it remains in that

family, whose representative is Hereditary Champion of England at

the present day. The family and possessions of Freville have merged

in the Earls of Ferrars. I have not, therefore, created a new

family, but only revived the titles of an old one in an imaginary

personage.'--SCOTT.

'The last occasion on which the Champion officiated was at the

coronation of George IV.'--'Notes and Queries,' 7th S. III, 236.

line 161. mark, a weight for gold and silver, differing in amount in

different countries. The English coin so called was worth 13s. 4d.

sterling.

line 163. 'This was the cry with which heralds and pursuivants were

wont to acknowledge the bounty received from the knights. Stewart of

Lorn distinguishes a ballad, in which he satirises the narrowness of

James V and his courtiers by the ironical burden--

"Lerges, lerges, lerges, hay,

Lerges of this new year day.

First lerges of the King, my chief,

Quhilk come als quiet as a theif,

And in my hand slid schillingis tway1,

To put his lergnes to the preif2,

For lerges of this new-yeir day."