And chill'd the soul of every guest Even the high Dame stood half aghast, The elvish page fell to the ground, And, shuddering, mutter'd, "Found! found! found !" XXV. Then sudden, through the darken'd air So broad, so bright, so red the glare, Glanced every shield upon the wall; It broke, with thunder long and loud, XXVI. Some heard a voice in Branksome Hall, Some saw an arm, and some a hand, And some the waving of a gown. The guests in silence pray'd and shook, And terror dimm'd each lofty look. 1 "The Goblin Page is, in our opinion, the capital deformity of the poem. We have already said the whole machinery is useless; but the magic studies of the lady, and the rifled tomb of Michael Scott, give occasion to so much admirable poetry, that we can, on no account, consent to part with them. The page, on the other hand, is a perpetual burden to the poet and to the readers; it is an undignified and improbable fiction, which excites neither terror, admiration, nor astonishment, but needlessly debases the strain of the whole work, and excites at once our incredulity and contempt. He is not a tricksy spirit,' like Ariel, with whom the imagination is irresistibly enamored, nor a tiny monarch, Like Oberon, disposing of the destinies of mortals; he rather appears to us to be an awkward sort of a mongrel between Pack and Caliban, of a servile and brutal nature, and limited in his powers to the indulgence of petty malignity, and the infliction of despicable injuries. Besides this objection to his character, his existence has no support from any general or established superstition. Fairies and devils, ghosts, angels, and witches, are creatures with whom we are all familiar, and who excite in all classes of mankind emotions with which But none of all the astonish'd train XXVII. The anxious crowd, with horror pale, And he a solemn sacred plight Of Michael's restless sprite. Then each, to ease his troubled breast, To some bless'd saint his prayers address'd: Some to St. Modan made their vows, Some to St. Mary of the Lowes, Some to the Holy Rood of Lisle, Some to our Ladye of the Isle; Each did his patron witness make, And monks should sing, and bells should toll, All for the weal of Michael's soul. we can easily be made to sympathize. But the story of Gilpin Horner was never believed out of the village where he is said to have made his appearance, and has no claims upon the credulity of those who were not originally of his acquaintance. There is nothing at all interesting or elegant in the scenes of which he is the hero; and in reading these passages we really could not help suspecting that they did not stand in the romance when the aged minstrel recited it to the royal Charles and his mighty earls, but were inserted afterwards to suit the taste of the cottagers among whom he begged his bread on the border. We entreat Mr. Scott to inquire into the grounds of this suspicion, and to take advantage of any decent pretext he can lay hold of for purging the Lay' of this ungraceful intruder. We would also move for a quo warranto against the Spirits of the River and the Mountain; for though they are come of a very high lineage, we do not know what lawful business they could have at Branksome Castle in the year 1550."-JEFFREY. 2 See Appendix, Note 4 O. Ibid. Note 4 P. 4 See the Author's Introduction to the Lay,' p. 13 XXVIII. Naught of the bridal will I tell, Which after in short space befell; Nor how brave sons and daughters fair XXIX. With naked foot, and sackcloth vest, Did every pilgrim go; The standers-by might hear uneath, Through all the lengthen'd row: Forgotten their renown; And there they knelt them down: XXX. And slow up the dim aisle afar, In long procession came; With the Redeemer's name. With holy cross he sign'd them all, Then mass was sung, and prayers were said, "the vale unfolds Rich groves of lofty stature, With Yarrow winding through the pomp Of cultivated nature;. And, rising from those lofty groves, Behold a ruin hoary, The shatter'd front of Newark's towers, Renown'd in Border story. "Fair scenes for childhood's opening bloom, For sportive youth to stray in; And solemn requiem for the dead; SOLVET SÆCLUM IN FAVILLA; XXXI. HYMN FOR THE DEAD. That day of wrath, that dreadful day, When heaven and earth shall pass away, What power shall be the sinner's stay? How shall he meet that dreadful day} When, shrivelling like a parched scroll Oh! on that day, that wrathful day, HUSH'D is the harp-the Minstrel gone. And did he wander forth alone? Alone, in indigence and age, To linger out his pilgrimage? No; close beneath proud Newark's tower,' A simple hut; but there was seen For manhood to enjoy his strength; WORDSWORTH's Yarrow Visited. Bowhill is now, as has been mentioned already, a seat of the Duke of Buccleuch. It stands immediately below Newark Hill, and above the junction of the Yarrow and the Ettrick. For the other places named in the text, the reader is referred to various notes on the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.— ED. And July's eve, with balmy breath, Waved the blue-bells on Newark heath; When throstles sung in Harehead-shaw, And corn was green on Carterhaugh;1 And flourish'd, broad, Blackandro's oak, The aged Harper's soul awoke! Then would he sing achievements high, 1 Orig." And grain waved green on Carterhaugh." "The arch allusions which run through all these Introductions, without in the least interrupting the truth and graceful pathos of their main impression, seem to me exquisitely characteristic of Scott, whose delight and pride was to play with the genius which nevertheless mastered him at will. For, in truth, what is it that gives to all his works their unique and marking charm, except the matchless effect which sudden effusions of the purest heart-blood of nature derive from their being poured out, to all appearance involuntarily, amidst diction and sentiment cast equally in the mould of the busy world, and the seemingly habitual desire to dwell on nothing but what might be likely to excite curiosity, without too much dsturbing deeper feelings, in the saloons of polished life? Such outbursts come forth dramatically in all his writings; but in the interludes and passionate parentheses of the Lay of the Last Minstrel we have the poet's own inner soul and temperament laid bare and throbbing before us. Even here, isdeed, he has a mask, and he trusts it-bat fortunately it is a transparent one. Many minor personal allusions have been explained in the notes to the last edition of the Lay.' It was hardly necessary even then to say that the choice of the hero had been dictated by the poet's affection for the living descendants of the Baron of Cranstoun; and now-none who have perused the preceding pages can doubt that he had dressed out his Margaret of Branksome in the form and features of his own first love. This poem may be considered as the bright consummate flower' in which all the dearest dreams of his youthfal fancy had at length found expansion for their strength, spirit, tenderness, and beauty. "In the closing lines Hash'd is the harp-the Minstrel gone; And did he wander forth alone? Alone, in indigence and age, To linger out his pilgrimage? No!-close beneath proud Newark's tower -in these charming lines he has embodied what was, at the time when he penned them, the chief day-dream of Ashestiel. From the moment that his uncle's death placed a considerable mm of ready money at his command, he pleased himself, as we have seen, with the idea of buying a mountain farm, and becoming not only the 'sheriff' (as he had in former days delighted to call himself), but the laird of the cairn and the maur.'"'-LOCKHART. Life of Scott, vol. ii. p. 212. "The large quotations we have made from this singular poem must have convinced our readers that it abounds equally with poetical description, and with circumstance curious to the antiquary. These are farther illustrated in copious and very entertaining notes: they, as well as the poem, must be particularly interesting to those who are connected with Scottah families, or conversant in their history. The author has managed the versification of the poem with great judgment, and the most happy effect. If he had aimed at the grave and stately cadence of the epic, or any of our more regular And circumstance of chivalry, measures, it would have been impossible for him to have brought in such names as Watt Tinlinn, Black John, Priesthaugh, Scrogg, and other Scottish names, or to have spoken of the lyke-wake, and the slogan, and driving of cattle, which Pope and Gray would have thought as impossible to introduce into serious poetry, as Boileau did the names of towns in the campaigns of Louis IV. Mr. Scott has, therefore, very judiciously thrown in a great mixture of the familiar, and varied the measure; and if it has not the finished harmony, which, in such a subject, it were in vain to have attempted, it has great ease and spirit, and never tires the reader. Indeed we think we see a tendency in the public taste to go back to the more varied measures and familiar style of our earlier poets; a natural consequence of having been satiated with the regular harmony of Pope and his school, and somewhat wearied with the stiffness of lofty poetic language. We now know what can be done in that way, and we seek entertainment and variety, rather than finished modulation and uniform dignity. We now take our leave of this very elegant, spirited, and stri king poem."-Annual Review, 1804. "From the various extracts we have given, our readers will be enabled to form a tolerably correct judgment of the poem; and, if they are pleased with those portions of it which have now been exhibited, we may venture to assure them that they will not be disappointed by the perusal of the whole. The whole night journey of Deloraine-the opening of the Wizard's tomb-the march of the English battle-and the parley before the walls of the castle, are all executed with the same spirit and poetical energy, which we think is conspicuous in the specimens we have already extracted; and a great variety of short passages occur in every part of the poem, which are still more striking and meritorious, though it is impossible to detach them, without injury, in the form of a quotation. It is but fair to apprize the reader, on the other hand, that he will meet with very heavy passages, and with a variety of details which are not likely to interest any one but a Borderer or an antiquary. We like very well to hear of the gallant Chief of Otterburne,' or the Dark Knight of Liddesdale,' and feel the elevating power of great names, when we read of the tribes that mustered to the war, beneath the crest of Old Dunbar and Hepburn's mingled banners.' But we really cannot so far sympathize with the local partialities of the author, as to feel any glow of patriotism or ancient virtue in hearing of the Todrig or Johnston clans, or of Elliots, Armstrongs, and Tinlinns; still less can we relish the introduction of Black Jock of Athelstane, Whitslade the Hawk, Arthur Fire-theBraes, Red Roland Forster, or any other of those worthies, who Sought the beeves that made their broth, into a poem which has any pretensions to seriousness or dignity. The ancient metrical romance might have admitted these homely personalities; but the present age will not en dure them; and Mr. Scott must either sacrifice his Border prejudices, or offend all his readers in the other part of the empire."-JEFFREY. APPENDIX. NOTE A. The feast was over in Branksome tower.-P. 18. In the reign of James I., Sir William Scott of Buccleuch, chief of the clan bearing that name, exchanged, with Sir Thomas Inglis of Manor, the estate of Murdiestone, in Lanark shire, for one-half of the barony of Branksome, or Brankholm, lying upon the Teviot, about three miles above Hawick. He was probably induced to this transaction from the vicinity of Branksome to the extensive domain which he possessed in Ettrick Forest and in Teviotdale. In the former district he held by occupancy the estate of Bucele uch,2 and much of the forest land on the river Ettrick. In Teviotdale, he enjoyed the harmony of Lekford, by a grant from Robert II. to his ancestor, Walter Scott of Kirkurd, for the apprehending of Gilbert Ridderford, confirmed by Robert III., 3d May, 1424. Tradition imputes the exchange betwixt Scott and Inglis to a conversation, in which the latter-a man, it would appear, of a mild and forbearing nature, complained much of the injuries which he was exposed to from the English Borderers, who frequently plundered his lands of Branksome. Sir William Scott instantly offered him the estate of Murdiestone, in exchange for that which was subject to such egregious inconvenience. When the bargain was completed, he dryly remarked, that the cattle in Cumberland were as good as those of Teviotdale; and proceeded to commence a system of reprisals upon the English, which was regularly pursued by his successors. In the next reign, James II. granted to Sir Walter Scott of Branksome, and to Sir David, his son, the remaining half of the barony of Branksome, to be held in blanche for the payment of a red rose. The cause assigned for the grant is, their brave and faithful exertions in favor of the King against the house of Douglas, with whom James had been recently tugging for the throne of Scotland. This charter is dated the 24 February, 1443; and, in the same month, part of the barony of Langholm, and many lands in Lanarkshire, were conferred upon Sir Walter and his son by the same monarch. some. After the period of the exchange with Sir Thomas Inglis, Branksome became the principal seat of the Bucelench family. The castle was enlarged and strengthened by Sir David Scott, the grandson of Sir William, its first possessor. But, in 1570-1, the vengeance of Elizabeth, provoked by the inroads of Buccleuch, and his attachment to the cause of Queen Mary, destroyed the castle, and laid waste the lands of BrankIn the same year the castle was repaired and enlarged by Sir Walter Scott, its brave possessor; but the work was not completed until after his death, in 1574, when the widow finished the building. This appears from the following inscriptions. Around a stone, bearing the arms of Scott of Buccleuch, appears the following legend:-"Sir W. Scott of Branfheim Bngt oe of Sir William Scott of Birkurd Bngt began ye work upon ye 24 of Marche 1571 zear qua departit at God's pleisour ye 17 April 1574," On a similar copartment are sculptured the arms of Douglas, with this inscription, "DAME MARGARET DOUGLAS HIS SPOUS COMPLE 1 Branxholm is the proper name of the barony; but Branksome has been adopted, as suitable to the pronunciation, and more proper for poetry. 2 There are no vestiges of any building at Bacele ich, except the site of chapel, where, according to tradition current in the time of Scott of En varld. is. nocht. nature. hes. brought, gat. sal. lest. ay. Charcfore. serve. God. keip. veil. ye. rod. thy. fame. sal. necht, dekay. Sir Walter Scott of Branpholm Knight. Margaret Douglas. 1571. Branksome Castle continued to be the principal seat of the Buccleuch family, while security was any object in their choice of a mansion. It has since been the residence of the Commissioners, or Chamberlains, of the family. From the varions alterations which the building has undergone, it is not only greatly restricted in its dimensions, but retains little of the castellated form, if we except one square tower of massy thickness, the only part of the original building which now remains. The whole forms a handsome modern residence, lately inhabited by my deceased friend, Adam Ogilvy, Esq., of Hartwoodmyres, Commissioner of his Grace the Duke of Buccleuch. The extent of the ancient edifice can still be traced by some vestiges of its foundation, and its strength is obvions from the situation, on a deep bank surrounded by the Teviot, and flanked by a deep ravine, formed by a precipitous brook. It was anciently surrounded by wood, as appears from the survey of Roxburghshire, made for Pont's Atlas, and preserved in the Advocates' Library. This wood was cut about fifty years ago, but is now replaced by the thriving plantations, which have been formed by the noble proprietor, for miles around the ancient mansion of his forefathers. NOTE B. Nine-and-twenty knights of fame Hang their shields in Branksome-Hall.-P. 19. The ancient barons of Buccleuch, both from feudal splendo and from their frontier situation, retained in their household at Branksome, a number of gentlemen of their own name, who held lands from their chief, for the military service of watching and warding his castle. Satchells tells us, in his doggre poetry, "No baron was better served in Britain; The barons of Buckleugh they kept their call, Satchells, many of the ancient barons of Buccleuch lie buried. There also said to have been a mill near this solitary spot; an extraordinary ei cumstance, as little or no corn grows within several miles of Buccleucl Satchells says it was used to grind corn for the hounds of the chieftain There's men alive, elder than I, The name both of the men and land, Both from the Lairds and Lords of Buckleugh." Accordingly, dismounting from his Pegasus, Satchells gives us, in prose, the names of twenty-four gentlemen, younger brothers of ancient families, who were pensioners to the house of Buccleuch, and describes the lands which each possessed for his Bonler service. In time of war with England, the garrison was doubtless augmented. Satchells adds, "These twentythree pensioners, all of his own name of Scott, and Walter Gladstanes of Whitelaw, a near cousin of my lord's, as aforesaid, were ready on all occasions, when his honor pleased cause to advertise them. It is known to many of the country better than it is to me, that the rent of these lands, which the Lairds and Lords of Buccleuch did freely bestow upon their friends, wil amount to above twelve or fourteen thousand merks ayear."-History of the name of Scott, p. 45. An immense sam in those times. 1 Room, portion of land. NOTE C. with Jedwood-axe at saddlebow.-P. 19. "Of a truth,” says Froissart, "the Scottish cannot boast great skill with the bow, but rather bear axes, with which, in time of seed, they give heavy strokes." The Jedwood-axe was a sort of partisan, used by horsemen, as appears from the arm of Jedburgh, which bear a cavalier mounted, and armed with this weapon. It is also called a Jedwood or Jeddart staff. NOTE D. They watch, against Southern force and guile, and soo invadet Scotland at the hour of viii of the clok at nyght, at a place called Whele Causay; and before xi of the clok dyd send forth a forrey of Tyndaill and Ryddisdail, and laide all the resydewe in a bushment, and actyvely did set vpon a towne called Branxholme, where the Lord of Buclough dwellythe, and purpesed theymeselves with a trayne for hym lyke to his accustomed manner, in rysynge to all frayes; albeit, that knyght he was not at home, and so they brynt the said Branxholm, and other townes, as to say Whichestre, Which estre-lelme, and Whelley, and haid ordered theymself, soo that sundry of the said Lord of Buclough's servants, who dyd issue fourthe of his gates, was takyn prisoners. They dyd not leve one house, one stak of corne, nor one shyef, without the gate of the said Lord Buclough vnbrynt; and thus scrymaged and frayed, supposing the Lord of Buclough to be within iii or iiii myles to have trayned him to the bushment; and soo in the breyking of the day dyd the forrey and the bushment mete, and reculed homeward, making theyre way westward from theyre invasion to be over Lyddersdaill, as intending yf the fray frome theyre furst entry by the Scotts waiches, or otherwyse by warnying, shuld haue bene gyven to Gedworth and the countrey of Scotland theyreabouts of theyre invasion; whiche Gedworth is from the Wheles Causay vi miles, that thereby the Scotts shulde have comen further vnto theyme, and more out of ordre; and soo upon sundry good considerations, before they entered Lyddersdaill, as well accompting the inhabitants of the same to be towards your highness, and to enforce theyme the more thereby, as alsoo to put an occasion of suspect to the Kinge of Scotts, and his counsaill, to be taken anenst theyme, amonges theymeselves, made proclamacions, commanding, npon payne of dethe, assurance to be for the said inhabitants of Lyddersdaill, without any prejudice or hurt to be done by any Inglysman vnto theyme, and soo in good ordre abowte the howre of ten of the clok before none, vppon Tewisday, dyd pass through the said Lyddersdail, when dyd come diverse of the said inhabitants there to my servauntes, under the said as surance, offerring theymself's with any service they couthe make; and thus, thanks be to Godde, your highnes' subjects, abowte the howre of xii of the clok at none the same laye, came into this your highnes realme, bringing wt theyme above xl Scottsmen prisoners, one of theyme named Scot, of the surname and kyn of the said Lord of Buclough, and of his howsehold; they brought also cee nowte, and above lx horse and mares, keping in savetie frome losse or hurte all your said highnes subjects. There was alsoo a towne, called Newbyggins, by diverse fotmen of Tyndaill and Ryddesdaill, takyn vp of the night, and spoyled, when was slayne ii Scottsmen of the said towne, and many Scotts there hurte; your highnes sub From Warkworth, or Naworth, or merry Carlisle.-P. 19. jects was xiii myles within the grounde of Scotlande, and is Branksome Castle was continually exposed to the attacks of the English, both from its situation and the restless military disposition of its inhabitants, who were seldom on good terms with their neighbors. The following letter from the Earl of Northumberland to Henry VIII. in 1533, gives an account of a Fareful inroad of the English, in which the country was plenkrad up to the gates of the castle, although the invaders faid in their principal object, which was to kill, or make prisow, the Laird of Buccleuch. It occurs in the Cotton MS. Calig b. viii, f. 222. *Pleaseth yt your most gracious highness to be aduertised, that my comptroller, with Raynald Carnaby, desyred licence of me to invade the realme of Scotlande, for the annoysaunce of your highnes enemys, where they thought best exploit by the yine might be done, and to haue to concur withe theyme the inhabitants of Northumberland, suche as was towards me according to theyre assembly, and as by theyre discretions vpone the same they shulde thinke most convenient; and soo they dyle meet vppone Monday, before night, being the iii day of the instant monethe, at Wawhope, upon Northe Tyne water, ahore Tyndall, where they were to the number of xv c men, from my house at Werkworthe, above lx miles of the most evil |