When hurrying from the mountain top; As if his pinions waved unseen!"— "What answer made the Chief?" Durst not look up, but mutter'd low, one word He kneel❜d, Some mingled sounds that none might know,2 merely to appease critics, and attract readers in the southern part of the island, — and yet it is difficult to see for what other purposes it could be assumed. Mr. Scott certainly need not have been afraid either of exciting rebellion among his countrymen, or of bringing his own liberality and loyalty into question, although, in speaking of the events of that remote period, where an overbearing conqueror was overthrown in a lawless attempt to subdue an independent kingdom, he had given full expression to the hatred and exultation which must have prevailed among the victors, and are indeed the only passions which can be supposed to be excited by the story of their exploits. It is not natural, and we are sure it is not poetical, to represent the agents in such tremendous scenes as calm and indulgent judges of the motives or merits of their opponents; and, by lending such a character to the leaders of his host, the author has actually lessened the interest of the mighty fight of Bannockburn, to that which might be supposed to belong to a well-regulated tournament among friendly rivals. -Jeffrey. "Excepted to the Island Lord, When turning," etc. "Some mingled sounds of joy and woe." XXXVII. Even upon Bannock's bloody plain, Heap'd then with thousands of the slain, 'Mid victor monarch's musings high, Mirth laugh'd in good King Robert's eye. "And bore he such angelic air, Such noble front, such waving hair? The bridal of the Maid of Lorn." 2 1 The MS adds: "That priests and choir, with morning beams, Prepare, with reverence as beseems, To pay," etc. 2 Bruce issues orders for the celebration of the nuptials; whether they were ever solemnised, it is impossible to say. As critics, we should certainly have forbidden the banns; because, although it is conceivable that the mere lapse of time might not have eradicated the passion of Edith, yet how such a circumstance alone, without even the assistance of an interview, could have created one in the bosom of Ronald, is altogether inconceivable. He must have proposed to marry her merely from compassion, or for the sake of her lands; and, upon either supposition, it would have comported with the delicacy of Edith to refuse his proffered hand. Quarterly Review. 66 "To MR. JAMES BALLANTYNE, "Dear Sir: You have now the whole affair, excepting two or three concluding stanzas. As your taste for bride's cake may induce you to desire to know more of the wedding, I will save you some criticism by saying, I have settled to stop short as above. Witness my hand, "W. s." CONCLUSION. Go forth, my Song, upon thy venturous way; And graced thy numbers with no friendly name, By generous friendship given had fate allow'd, It well had bid thee rank the proudest of the proud! All angel now-yet little less than all, While still a pilgrim in our world below! What 'vails it us that patience to recall, Which hid its own to soothe all other woe; What 'vails to tell, how Virtue's purest glow Shone yet more lovely in a form so fair:1 And, least of all, what 'vails the world should know, That one poor garland, twined to deck thy hair, Is hung upon thy hearse, to droop and wither there! 2 1 The reader is referred to Mr. Hogg's Pilgrims of the Sun for some beautiful lines, and a highly interesting note, on the death of the Duchess of Buccleuch. 2 The Edinburgh Reviewer (Mr. Jeffrey) says: "The story of the Lord of the Isles, in so far as it is fictitious, is palpably deficient both in interest and probability; and, in so far as it is founded on historical truth, seems to us to be objectionable, both for want of incident, and want of variety and connection in the incidents that occur. There is a romantic grandeur, however, in the scenery, and a sort of savage greatness and rude antiquity in many of the characters and events, which relieves the insipidity of the narrative, and atones for many defects in the execution." After giving copious citations from what he considers as "the better parts of the poem," the critic says: "To give a complete and impartial idea of it, we ought to subjoin some from its more faulty passages. But this is but an irksome task at all times, and, with such an author as Mr. Scott, is both invidious and unnecessary. His faults are nearly as notorious as his beauties; and we have announced, in the outset, that they are equally conspicuous in this as in his other productions. There are innumerable harsh lines and uncouth expressions, passages of a coarse and heavy diction, and details of uninteresting minuteness and oppressive explanation. It is needless, after this, to quote such couplets as or "A damsel tired of midnight bark, "'Tis a kind youth, but fanciful, or to recite the many weary pages which contain the colloquies of Isabel and Edith, and set forth the unintelligible reasons of their unreasonable conduct. The concerns of these two young ladies, indeed, form the heaviest part of the poem. The mawkish generosity of the one, and the piteous fidelity of the other, are equally oppressive to the reader, and do not tend at all to put him in good humour with Lord Ronald, — who, though the beloved of both, and the nominal hero of the work, is certainly as far as possible from an interesting person. The lovers of poetry have a particular aversion to the inconstancy of other lovers, and especially to that sort of inconstancy which is liable to the suspicion of being partly inspired by worldly ambition, and partly abjured from considerations of a still meaner selfishness. We suspect, therefore, that they will have but little indulgence for the fickleness of the Lord of the Isles, |