I have lately observed that this line is almost literally borrowed from
a description of circumstances nearly similar in ‘Marmion.’
‘While yet on Flodden side,
‘Afar, the royal standard flies,
‘And round it toils, and bleeds, and dies,
‘Our Caledonian pride.’--_Cant._ IV. _St._ XXXIII.
I have so many other and greater obligations to the author of ‘Marmion,’
that I should hardly have thought it worth while to notice this
involuntary plagiarism, but that, by doing so, I obtain an opportunity
of publicly acknowledging these obligations, and of expressing my
humble, but most sincere admiration of the vigour, originality, and
splendour, which distinguish, from all the other works of our day, the
delightful poems of Mr. Scott.
I have just noticed also, that the second line of the XIXth Stanza is
copied verbatim from Marmion.