Warrior! thou whose dauntless heart

Gives us from our ward to part,

Be as strong in future trial,

Where resistance is denial.""

Still pressing onward, he encountered another ordeal, when next he entered "a lofty dome "

"That flash'd with such a brilliant flame,

As if the wealth of all the world

Were there in rich confusion hurl'd."

Again, four maidens addressed him, both singly and in chorus. "See the treasures Merlin piled,

Portion meet for Arthur's child.

Bathe in Wealth's unbounded stream,

Wealth that Avarice ne'er could dream!'"
"Warrior, seize the splendid store!'"

"Calmly and unconcern'd, the Knight
Waved aside the treasures bright:

'Gentle Maidens, rise, I pray !
Bar not thus my destined way."".

"gently parting from their hold,

He left, unmoved, the dome of gold."

The morning had then grown oppressively hot, and De Vaux, weary, faint, and thirsty, hearing the plashing waters of a fountain, sought and found it, and was refreshing himself, when still other maidens approached him, - the fairest and most fascinating of all whom he had yet seen in the Castle, — with

"that sly pause of witching powers, That seems to say, To please be ours,

Be yours to tell us how.'

Their hue was of the golden glow

That suns of Candahar bestow,

O'er which in slight suffusion flows

A frequent tinge of paly rose;

Their limbs were fashion'd fair and free,

In Nature's justest symmetry:

And, wreathed with flowers, with odours graced,

Their raven ringlets reach'd the waist:

In eastern pomp, its gilding pale

The hennah lent each shapely nail,
And the dark sumah gave the eye
More liquid and more lustrous dye,
The spotless veil of misty lawn,
In studied disarrangement, drawn
The form and bosom o'er,
To win the eye, or tempt the touch,
For modesty show'd all too much —
Too much yet promised more."

Sir Roland resisted the charms of the "Maids," although they tempted him very seductively; and kindly "broke their magic circle through." Pressing onward, he

His course next lay "through darksome ways," amid "foul vapours," ," "mine-fires," clouds of "poisoned air," and "deep pits, and lakes of waters dun."

"So perilous his state seem'd now
He wish'd him under arbor bough
With Asia's willing maid.

When, joyful sound! at distance near
A trumpet flourish'd loud and clear;
And as it ceased, a lofty lay

Seem'd thus to chide his lagging way."

"Lag not now, though rough the way,
Fortune's mood brooks no delay;

Grasp the boon that's spread before ye,
Monarch's power and conqueror's glory!'"

The song ceased, and he still advanced, until, at length, he entered

"A lofty hall, with trophies dress'd,"

and met yet four other maidens, "whose crimson vest was bound with golden zone."

He was passing onward, when the fourth Maiden, playing a harp, sang his song of triumph:

"'Quake to your foundations deep,
Stately Towers and Banner'd Keep,
Bid your vaulted echoes moan,
As the dreaded step they own.

"Fiends, that wait on Merlin's spell,
Hear the foot-fall! mark it well!
Spread your dusky wings abroad,
Bourne ye for your homeward road!

"It is His, the first who e'er

Dared the dismal Hall of Fear;

HIS, who hath the snares defied

Spread by Pleasure, Wealth, and Pride.

"Quake to your foundations deep,

Bastion huge, and Turret steep!

Tremble, Keep, and totter, Tower!

This is Gyneth's waking hour.""

While the harp-player sang this song, the adventurous Knight reached a truly lovely bower, marvellously beautifully lighted, and there

"He saw King Arthur's child!
Doubt, and anger, and dismay,
From her brow had pass'd away,
Forgot was that fell tourney-day,

For, as she slept, she smiled:
It seem'd that the repentant Seer
Her sleep of many a hundred year
With gentle dreams beguiled.

"That form of maiden loveliness,

'Twixt childhood and 'twixt youth,
That ivory chair, that sylvan dress,
The arms and ankles bare, express
Of Lyulph's tale the truth."
"And the warder of command
Cumber'd still her sleeping hand;
Still her dark locks dishevell'd flow
From net of pearl o'er breast of snow."

Trembling with joy he gazed,

"Doubtful how he should destroy

Long enduring spell;

Doubtful, too, when slowly rise
Dark-fringed lids of Gyneth's eyes,

What these eyes shall tell.

'St. George! St. Mary! can it be,
That they will kindly look on me!'

"Gently, lo! the Warrior kneels,

Soft that lovely hand he steals.
Soft to kiss, and soft to clasp-
But the warder leaves his grasp;

Lightning flashes, rolls the thunder!
Gyneth startles from her sleep,
Totters Tower, and trembles Keep,
Burst the Castle-walls asunder!
Fierce and frequent were the shocks, -
Melt the magic halls away;
-But beneath their mystic rocks,
In the arms of bold De Vaux,
Safe the princess lay;

Safe and free from magic power,

Blushing like the rose's flower

Opening to the day;

And round the Champion's brows were bound

The crown that Druidess had wound,

Of the green laurel-bay.

And this was what remain'd of all

The wealth of each enchanted hall,

The Garland and the Dame:

But where should Warrior seek the meed,
Due to high worth for daring deed,

Except from LOVE and FAME!"

And thus, nobly and joyfully, ended "The Bridal of Triermain."

XII.

SCOTT IN 1814.

66

THE year 1814 was a memorable year in the life of Scott. Already the successes of a splendid rival poet, Byron, had caused him to think of other styles of works than those in verse, and had thus partially induced the composition of perhaps the most renowned novel ever published, 'Waverley," which appeared July 7th of this year. The topography of this novel, together with that of the brilliant series named from it, will be described after sketches of the last two considerable poems produced by Scott,-"The Lord of the Isles," begun at Abbotsford, in the autumn, and finished at Edinburgh, December 16 (and published January 18, 1815); and "Harold the Dauntless" (published

in 1817). Other, and less imaginative literary works, were, as usual, all the while being prepared and made public by him. Eminent among these is his "Life and Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D.," in 19 vols. 8vo; one of the remarkable monuments of his editorial labors.

On the 29th of July, 1814, Scott sailed from Leith on board the yacht of the Commissioners of the Northern Lights (the beacons, and not the Boreal Aurora). In this vessel he made a voyage to Orkney, Shetland, the Hebrides, and a part of the Irish Coast,

-

a voyage lasting about six weeks, and second only in celebrity of its sort to that of Dr. Johnson to the Western Islands. A portion of Scott's observations then made appeared seven years afterward in "The Pirate" (chapter xxv.), a portion in his characteristically graphic and beautiful descriptions in the "Lord of the Isles." Visits to places associated with this latter work-in order of composition his next poem-will lead among coast, island, lake, and field scenery of extraordinary interest, that will be sketched in the following chapter.

6

Lockhart (in chapter xxxiv. of "The Life") impressively tells the story of Scott's literary achievements during 1814, almost the whole of the "Life of Swift," "Waverley," the "Lord of the Isles," two essays (on Chivalry and the Drama) to the "Encyclopædia Supplement," an annotated “limited" reprint of "The Letting of Hvmors Blood In The Head-Vaine," etc., by S. Rowlands, 1611 (small 4to, now scarce), and the "inimitable Memorie of the Somervilles," "with introduction and notes; one of the most curious pieces of family history ever produced to the world, on which he labored with more than usual zeal and diligence, from his warm affection for the noble representative of its author." Besides performing much professional duty, he maintained an extraordinarily large private correspondence, and "superintended from day to day, except during his Hebridean voyage, the still perplexed concerns of the Ballantynes (the publishers), with a watchful assiduity that might have done credit to the most diligent of tradesmen." And after a year thus occupied, Scott went to Abbotsford at Christmas, "to refresh the machine," as he wrote; and the "refreshment" was the composition, within about six weeks, of that long and delightful novel, "Guy Mannering," with its complicated plot!