23. Heaven. Weather. Cf. the use of the Latin caelum.

32. Him. Used reflexively, as often in poetry.

37. Imps. Children; as in Old English. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. ind. to Bk. i.:

"And thou, most dreaded impe of highest Jove,

Faire Venus sonne;

" etc.

Holinshed speaks of "Prince Edward, that goodlie impe;" and Churchyard calls Edward VI. "that impe of grace."

50. To the round. That is, in response to your own song.

53. To mute and to material things. Note the alliteration; as in 49 above, 60 below, etc.

59. What powerful call, etc.

The MS. reads:

"What call awakens from the dead

The hero's heart, the patriot's head?"

61. Britain's weal. Repeated too soon in 84 below.

64. The meanest flower that blows. Wordsworth, a few years earlier, had written (Ode on Intimations of Immortality):

"To me the meanest flower that blows can give

Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears."

69. Deep graved. Scott did well to revise the MS. reading: "Deep in each British bosom wrote,

O never be those names forgot!"

72. On Gadite wave. That is, in the Bay of Trafalgar, where Nelson died in the hour of his famous victory. Gadite, like the more familiar Gaditanian, is from Gades, the ancient name of the neighboring Cadiz. 73. Levin. Lightning; obsolete except in poetry. Cf. i. 400 below, and Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5. 48:

So levin-brond (lightning-brand)

thunderbolt; as in Id. vii. 7. 30:

"And eft his burning levin-brond in hand he tooke."

80. Who bade, etc. Pitt was prime minister at the time.

82. Hafnia. Copenhagen (its Latin name); referring to Nelson's victory there in 1801.

83. Emprise. Enterprise; a poetical word.

84. Early wise. Pitt made his first great speech in Parliament before he was twenty-two, and at twenty-three was Chancellor of the Exchequer. For the other allusions to the career of the famous statesman, and to that of his great rival Fox, see any sketch of their lives.

91. Amain. Literally, with main, or force. This old word main still survives in the phrase "with might and main."

92. Strained, etc. The MS. has "Tugg'd at subjection's cracking rein;" and in 95 "bold" for fierce.

97. Hadst thou, etc. According to Lockhart, this passage was inter polated on the blank page of the MS., where it appears thus:

109. Oh! think, etc.

The MS. has "Yet think," etc. III. Palinure's unaltered mood. The allusion is to Palinurus, the pilot of Æneas. When the disguised Somnus tried to persuade him to leave his post and indulge in needed rest, he refused; and when the baffled god pushed him overboard he still clung to the helm, which was torn away as he fell. See Virgil, Æn. v. 833 fol.

The grave of Fox in Westminster

121. Hallowed day. The MS. has "holy day." 127. His rival slumbers nigh. Abbey is close to that of Pitt. 130-141. For talents... long rest. MS. has the following:

In place of these twelve lines the

"If genius high, and judgment sound,
And art that loved to play, not wound,
And all the reasoning powers divine,
To penetrate, resolve, combine,
Could save one mortal of the herd
From error - Fox had never err'd."

135. Resolve. Analyze.

142. Here. That is, in the Abbey, where so many eminent men are buried.

146. Where the fretted aisles prolong, etc. Cf. Gray, Elegy, 39: "Where, through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault,

The pealing anthem swells the note of praise."

For the architectural sense of aisle, see any of the larger dictionaries. 152. And, partial feeling, etc. The MS. has "And party passion doff'd aside," which may serve as a comment on the use of partial. 159. The sullied olive-branch returned. Rejected the peace which he

considered dishonorable.

161. Nailed her colors to the mast. Like Nelson, who, at the battle of Copenhagen, when Sir Hyde Parker, his superior in command, made signal for discontinuing the action, refused to obey. "Damn the sig'Keep mine for closer battle flying. That's the way I answer such signals. ́Nail mine to the mast!" 162. Heaven, to reward his firmness, etc. Lockhart quotes what Jeffrey says in the Edinburgh Review: "The first epistolary effusion,

nal!" he is said to have cried.

containing a threnody on Nelson, Pitt, and Fox, exhibits a remarkable failure. We are unwilling to quarrel with a poet on the score of politics; but the manner in which he has chosen to praise the last of these great men is more likely, we conceive, to give offence to his admirers than the most direct censure. The only deed for which he is praised is for having broken off the negotiation for peace; and for this act of firmness, it is added, Heaven rewarded him with a share in the honored grave of Pitt. It is then said that his errors should be forgotten, and that he died a Briton, -a pretty plain insinuation that, in the author's opinion, he did not live one; and just such an encomium as he himself pronounces over the grave of his villain hero, Marmion." 168. Party. The MS. has " courtier;" and in 179 below "pale moon for planets.

177. Thessalian cave. Thessaly was noted for its witchcraft.

185. Side by side. See on 127 above. Lockhart quotes Byron, Age of Bronze:

"Reader! remember when thou wert a lad,
Then Pitt was all; or, if not all, so much,
His very rival almost deem'd him such.
We, we have seen the intellectual race
Of giants stand, like Titans, face to face,
Athos and Ida, with a dashing sea

Of eloquence between, which flow'd all free
As the deep billows of the Egean roar
Betwixt the Hellenic and the Phrygian shore.
But where are they the rivals!a few feet
Of sullen earth divide each winding-sheet.
How peaceful and how powerful is the grave,
Which hushes all! a calm unstormy wave,

Which oversweeps the world. The theme is old

Of dust to dust;' but half its tale untold;

Time tempers not its terrors."

194. But search the land, of living men, etc. The pointing is that of Scott in the first ed. His meaning evidently was: Search the land, and among living men where will you find, etc. The comma after land is omitted in most eds., altering the construction, though not materially affecting the sense.

=

199. Hearse. Here coffin, or tomb. The herse, or hearse, was origi nally a temporary canopy covered with candles, which was placed over the coffin during the funeral ceremonies; afterwards the word was applied to a permanent framework over a tomb, and (poetically at least) to the tomb itself. Cf. Ben Jonson's Epitaph on the Countess of

Pembroke:

"Underneath this sable herse

Lies the subject of all verse," etc.

203. The Border Minstrel. Scott himself, whose Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border had been published in 1802-1803. In the Introduction prefixed to the Lay of the Last Minstrel in 1830, the poet says that among those who smiled on the adventurous minstrel were numbered the great names of William Pitt and Charles Fox." Lockhart, in his Life of Scott, says: "Through what channel or in what terms Fox made known his opinion of the Lay, I have failed to ascertain Pitt's praise,

as expressed to his niece, Lady Hester Stanhope, within a few weeks after the poem appeared, was repeated by her to William Rose, who of course communicated it forthwith to the author." Lockhart goes on to quote Mr. William Dundas, who writes to Scott: "I remember, at Mr. Pitt's table in 1805, . . . he repeated some lines from the Lay, describing the old harper's embarrassment when asked to play, and said, ‘This is a sort of thing which I might have expected in painting, but could never have fancied capable of being given in poetry.'

204. Gothic. Rude; perhaps with a reference also to Scott's choice of subjects for his poetry.

207. Wildered. Bewildered; but not to be printed "'wildered." See Wb. or the Imp. Dict. Cf. Lady of the Lake, p. 187.

217. Ecstasy. Overpowering emotion. Cf. Shakespeare, Much Ado, ii. 3. 157: "The ecstasy hath so much overborne her that my daughter is sometime afeard she will do a desperate outrage to herself;" Macb.

iii. 2. 22:

"Than on the torture of the mind to lie

In restless ecstasy," etc.

220. Like frostwork, etc. Lockhart quotes Rogers, Pleas. of Memory: "If but a dream of sober reason play,

Lo! Fancy's fairy frostwork melts away."

221. Fancy. The early eds. have "fancied." The fancy fabric is the Abbey in which he has imagined himself to be.

232. Prompt on unequal tasks to run. Eager to undertake tasks to which he is unequal; referring to son, not Nature.

235. Waste. İdle away. waste a sullen day," etc.

Cf. Milton, Sonnet to Mr. Laurence: "Help

238. Shrilling. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 6: “A shrilling trompett sownded from on hye; Id. vi. 8. 46: "Then gan the bagpypes and

the hornes to shrill," etc. The verb is sometimes transitive; as in Shakespeare, T. and C. v. 3. 84: “How poor Andromache shrills her dolours forth!" Tennyson, Talking Oak, 68: “And shrill'd his tinsel shaft," etc.

242. Trips it. Cf. Milton, L' Allegro, 33: "Come, and trip it, as you go," etc.

244. The ancient shepherd's tale to learn, etc.

As Scott was fond of doing. The whole picture is drawn from the life. It was thus that he gathered much of the material for his Border Minstrelsy.

245. Though oft, etc.

The MS. reads:

"Though oft he stops to wonder still That his old legends have the skill To win so well the attentive ear, Perchance to draw the sigh or tear." 256. Steely weeds. Steel armor. VI. ii. 3. 16: “The steely point of =garments, cf. v. 168 below. See

For steely, cf. Shakespeare, 3 Henry Clifford's lance," etc.; and for weeds also Lady of the Lake, p. 238.

258. The Champion of the Lake. Lancelot du Lac, one of the most famous of Arthur's knights. Scott has the following note here:

"The Romance of the Morte d'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; ... but I confine myself to the tale of the Chapel Perilous, and of the quest of Sir Launcelot after the Sangreal:

66 6

Right so Sir Launcelot 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 yee 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, Queene 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 haddest 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 rejoyce 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