A few additional remarks on the author's literary attempts after this period, will be found in the introduction to the Poem of Marmion. ABBOTSFORD, April 1830. dence of his success. The first edition of the Lay was a magnificent quarto, 750 copies; but this was soon exhausted, and there followed an octavo impression of 1500; in 1806, two more, one of 2000 copies, another of 2250; in 1807 a fifth edition, of 2000, and a sixth, of 3000; in 1808, 3550; in 1809, 3000 - a small edition in quarto (the ballads and lyrical pieces being then annexed to it) and another octavo edition of 3250; in 1811, 3000; in 1812, 3000; in 1816, 3000; in 1823, 1000. A fourteenth impression of 2000 foolscap appeared in 1825; and besides all this, before the end of 1836, 11,000 copies had gone forth in the collected editions of his poetical works. Thus, nearly forty-four thousand copies had been disposed of in this country, and by the legitimate trade alone, before he superintended the edition of 1830, to which his biographical introductions were prefixed. In the history of British Poetry nothing had ever equalled the demand for the Lay of the Last Minstrel." -- - Life, Vol. II. p. 226. INTRODUCTION. THE way was long, the wind was cold, The unpremeditated lay: Old times were changed, old manners gone; A stranger fill'd the Stuarts' throne; The bigots of the iron time Had call'd his harmless art a crime. A wandering Harper, scorn'd and poor, He pass'd where Newark's stately tower With hesitating step at last, The embattled portal arch he pass'd, When kindness had his wants supplied, Of good Earl Francis, ** dead and gone, And how full many a tale he knew, And, would the noble Duchess deign To listen to an old man's strain, Though stiff his hand, his voice though weak, He could make music to her ear. The humble boon was soon obtain'd; * Anne, Duchess of Buccleuch and Monmouth, representative of the ancient Lords of Buccleuch, and widow of the unfortunate James, Duke of Monmouth, who was beheaded in 1685. **Francis Scott, Earl of Buccleuch, father of the Duchess. *** Walter, Earl of Buccleuch, grandfather of the Duchess, and a celebrated warrior. Scott, Poetical Works. 1. 2 His trembling hand had lost the ease, And scenes, long past, of joy and pain, And then, he said, he would full fain And much he wish'd, yet fear'd, to try Amid the strings his finger stray'd, And an uncertain warbling made, And oft he shook his hoary head. But when he caught the measure wild, In varying cadence, soft or strong, THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL. CANTO FIRST. I. The feast was over in Branksome tower. 1 Jesu Maria, shield us well! No living wight, save the Ladye alone, II. The tables were drawn, it was idlesse all; Or crowded round the ample fire: III. Nine-and-twenty knights of fame Hung their shields in Branksome-Hall; 2 Brought them their steeds to bower from stall; Waited, duteous, on them all: They were all knights of mettle true, Kinsmen to the bold Buccleuch. 1) See Note 1 of the "NOTES TO THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL". The figures of reference throughout the poem relate to further Notes. |