And William of Deloraine, good at need, I'll have thee hang'd to feed the crow!"— XX. "Gramercy, for thy good-will, fair boy! And ever comest to thy command, Our wardens had need to keep good order; My bow of yew to a hazel wand, Thou'lt make them work upon the Border. Meantime be pleased to come with me, For good Lord Dacre shalt thou see; I think our work is well begun, When we have taken thy father's son." XXI. Although the child was led away, XXII. Well I ween the charm he held Had done the bold moss-trooper wrong; 1 Bandelier, belt for carrying ammunition. Hackbuteer, musketeer. * See Appendix, Note 2 Q. 4 Ibid. Note 2 R. XXIII. She drew the splinter from the wound, Then to her maidens she did say, XXIV. So pass'd the day-the evening fell XXV. Is yon the star, o'er Penchryst Pen, O, 'tis the beacon-blaze of war! Scarce could she draw her tighten'd breath, For well she knew the fire of death! XXVI. The Warder view'd it blazing strong, 5"As another illustration of the prodigious improvement which the style of the old romance is capable of receiving from a more liberal admixture of pathetic sentiments and gentle affections, we insert the following passage [Stanzas xxiv. to xxvii.], where the effect of the picture is finely assisted by the contrast of its two compartments."—JEFFREY. Each from each the signal caught; That all should bowne' them for the Border. XXX. The livelong night in Branksome rang XXXI. The noble Dame, amid the broil, Cheer'd the young knights, and council sage Some said, that there were thousands ten; Might drive them lightly back agen. 1 "Nothing can excel the simple concise pathos of the close of this Canto-nor the touching picture of the Bard when, with asumed business, he tries to conceal real sorrow. How well the poet understands the art of contrast-and how judiciously it is exerted in the exordium of the next Canto, where our mourning sympathy is exchanged for the thrill of pleasre!"-ANNA SEWARD, "What luxury of sound in this line !"-ANNA SEWARD. Orig." Since first they rolled their way to Tweed." 4 The Viscount of Dundee, slain in the battle of Killicrankie. "Some of the most interesting passages of the poem are those in which the author drops the business of his story to moralize, and apply to his own situation the images and reflections it has suggested. After concluding one Canto with an account of the warlike array which was prepared for the reception of the English invaders, he opens the succeeding one with the following beautiful verses, (Stanzas i. and ii.) **There are several other detached passages of equal beauty, No one will dissent from this, who reads, in particular, the first two and heart-glowing stanzas of Canto VI.-now, by association of the past, rendered the more affecting -ED Why, when the volleying musket play'd III. Now over Border, dale and fell, Full wide and far was terror spread; For pathless marsh, and mountain cell, The peasant left his lowly shed.' The frighten'd flocks and herds were pent Beneath the peel's rude battlement; And maids and matrons dropp'd the tear, While ready warriors seized the spear. From Branksome's towers, the watchman's eye Dun wreaths of distant smoke can spy, Which, curling in the rising sun, Show'd southern ravage was begun. IV. Now loud the heedful gate-ward criedPrepare ye all for blows and blood; Watt Tinlinn, from the Liddel-side, Comes wading through the flood.10 Full oft the Tynedale snatchers knock At his lone gate, and prove the lock; It was but last St. Barnabright They sieged him a whole summer night, But fled at morning: well they knew, In vain he never twang'd the yew. Right sharp has been the evening shower, That drove him from his Liddel tower; And, by my faith," the gate-ward said, "I think 'twill prove a Warden-Raid."" 10" And when they cam to Branksome ha', Border Minstrelsy, vol. ii. p. 8. 11 An inroad commanded by the Warden in person. 12 The dawn displays the smoke of ravaged fields, and shepherds, with their flocks, flying before the storm. Tidings brought by a tenant of the family, not used to seek a shelter on light occasions of alarm, disclose the strength and object of the invaders. This man is a character of a lower and of a rougher cast than Deloraine. The portrait of the rude retainer is sketched with the same masterly hand. Here, again, Mr. Scott has trod in the footsteps of the old romancers, who He led a small and shaggy nag, That through a bog, from hag to hag,' His spear, six Scottish ells in length, VI. Thus to the Ladye did Tinlinn show Until I turn'd at Priesthaugh Scrogg, He drove my cows last Fastern's night." VII. Now weary scouts from Liddesdale, Fast hurrying in, confirm'd the tale; confine not themselves to the display of a few personages who stalk over the stage on stately stilts, but usually reflect all the varieties of character that marked the era to which they belong. The interesting example of manners thus preserved to us is not the only advantage which results from this peculiar structure of their plan. It is this, amongst other circumstances, which enables them to carry us along with them, under I know not what species of fascination, and to make us, as it were, credulous spectators of their most extravagant scenes. In this they seem to resemble the painter, who, in the delineation of a battle, while he places the adverse heroes of the day combating in the front, takes care to fill his background with subordinate figures, whose appearance adds at once both spirit and an air of probability to the scene."Critical Review, 1805. 1 The broken ground in a bog. As far as they could judge by ken, Three hours would bring to Teviot's strand Three thousand armed EnglishmenMeanwhile, full many a warlike band, From Teviot, Aill, and Ettrick shade, Came in, their Chief's defence to aid. There was saddling and mounting in haste, There was pricking o'er moor and lea; He that was last at the trysting-place Was but lightly held of his gaye ladye.* VIII. From fair St. Mary's silver wave, From dreary Gamescleugh's dusky height, His ready lances Thirlestane brave Array'd beneath a banner bright. Would march to southern wars; IX. An aged Knight, to danger steel'd, With many a moss-trooper, came on; The stars and crescent graced his shield, And bought with danger, blows, and blood. 2 See Appendix, Note 2 Y. 3 Bondsman. As the Borderers were indifferent about the furniture of their habitations, so much exposed to be burned and plundered, they were proportionally anxious to display splendor in decorating and ornamenting their females.-See LESLEY de Moribus Limitaneorum. See Appendix, Note 2 Z. 7 Musketeers. See Appendix, Note 3 B. The four last lines of stanza vii. are not in the 1st Edition -ED. See Appendix, Note 3 C. 10 Ibid. Note 3 D. Scotts of Eskdale, a stalwart band,3 And by the sword they hold it still. Earl Morton was lord of that valley fair, The vassals were warlike, and fierce, and rude; Homage and seignory to claim: Of Gilbert the Galliard a heriot' he sought, As he urged his steed through Eskdale muir; Just on the threshold of Branksome gate. XI The Earl was a wrathful man to see, 1 See, besides the note on this stanza, one in the Border Mintresy, vol. ii. p. 10, respecting Wat of Harden, the Au thor's ancestor. A satirical piece, entitled "The Town Eclogue," which male much noise in Edinburgh shortly after the appearance of the Minstrelsy, has these lines:— "A modern author spends a hundred leaves, To prove his ancestors notorious thieves."-ED. But spare Woodkerrick's lands alone, And with him five hundred riders has ta'en. To meet with the Galliard and all his train. And the third blast rang with such a din, Then had you seen a gallant shock, XIII. Whitslade the Hawk, and Headshaw came, 2 Stanzas x. xi. xii. were not in the first Edition. The feudal superior, in certain cases, was entitled to the best horse of the vassal, in name of Heriot, or Herezeld. 5 This and the three following lines are not in the first edi tion.-ED. |