ANNE OF GEIERSTEIN, or the "Maiden of the Mist" was published in May
1829. "It may," writes Mr Lockhart, "be almost called the last work of
Scott's imaginative genius, and it was received at least as well (out of
Scotland, that is), as the 'Fair Maid of Perth' had been, or indeed
as any novel of his after the Crusaders. I partake very strongly, I am
aware, in the feeling which most of my own countrymen have little shame
in avowing, that no novel of his where neither scenery nor character is
Scottish, belongs to the same pre-eminent class with those in which he
paints and peoples his native landscape. I have confessed that I cannot
rank even his best English romances with such creations as 'Waverley'
and 'Old Mortality;' far less can I believe that posterity will attach
similar value to this Maid of the Mist Its pages, however, display in
undiminished perfection all the skill and grace of the mere artist, with
occasional outbreaks of the old poetic spirit, more than sufficient
to remove the work to an immeasurable distance from any of its order
produced in this country in our own age. Indeed, the various plays of
fancy in the combination of persons and events, and the airy liveliness
of both imagery and diction, may well justify us in applying to the
author what he beautifully says of his King René--
'A mirthful man he was; the snows of age
Fell, but they did not chill him.
Gaiety
Even in life's closing, touch'd his teeming brain
With such wild visions as the setting sun
Raises in front of some hoar glacier,
Painting the bleak ice with a thousand hues.'"
The first of the accompanying illustrations represents Margaret of Anjou
and Arthur Philipson in Strasburg Cathedral. When Philipson, who had
been bred a devoted adherent to the dethroned line of Lancaster, of
which his father was a firm supporter, saw the dauntless widow of
Henry VI., whose courage and policy had upheld the sinking cause of her
husband, he threw his bonnet on the pavement and knelt at the feet of
the injured Queen. Margaret, throwing back the veil which concealed her
majestic features, gave one hand to the young knight, who covered it
with tears and kisses, and with the other endeavoured to raise him from
the posture he had assumed.
[Illustration: 127]
[Illustration: 128]
The second illustration represents "Philipson and the German Innkeeper."
Philipson inquired for the landlord, and was answered by a finger
pointed towards a recess behind the great stove, where, veiled in his
glory, the monarch obscured himself from vulgar gaze. He was short,
stout, bandy-legged, and consequential; his countenance and manner
differing from the merry host of England or of France. Philipson was too
well acquainted with German customs to expect the suppliant qualities of
a French mâitre d' hotel, or the frankness of an English landlord;
but this man's brow was a tragic volume; his answers were short and
repulsive; and the tone as sullen as the tenor.