_WAR SONG.--Page 61._
These stanzas were written and published at the breaking out of the
present war, when, it will be recollected, the enemy’s threats of
invasion were not altogether despised in this country. Some of my
readers will possibly observe, that the style and metre of this trifle
are not very dissimilar from those which have been more lately used by
some popular writers. I have therefore thought it necessary to state
that it was published early in 1803--but the truth is, that the practice
of breaking the regular eight syllable verse into distichs or ternaries,
by shorter lines, is very ancient in English poetry. The Chester
Mysteries, written in 1328, exhibit this metre in a tolerably perfect
state. After a long disuse, it is indebted for its revival and
popularity to the good taste and extraordinary talents of Mr. Scott; and
I cannot but think that it is, in his hands, one of the most harmonious
and delightful of our English measures: to my ear, indeed, the
versification of Marmion, in which Mr. Scott has used this style very
freely, is more agreeable than that of the Lady of the Lake, in which he
has employed it more sparingly. 1812.
_II.--SONG OF TRAFALGAR.--Page 69._