tion of our wide removal from the past of which he sings, and also of the connection that we yet maintain with it. Scarcely elsewhere have we more evident realization of his revivifying power, and of the mighty, or the uncultured yet earnest, spirit of the Middle Age, than beneath the "reverend... face of this tall pile, Whose ancient pillars rear their... heads By its own weight made steadfast and immovable, But, as the poet asks in the conclusion of "Marmion," — "Why then a final note prolong"? The tour that leads through the places introduced by the poems of Walter Scott is a pleasant tour indeed. Whoever follows the clew his verses lay can hardly fail of experiencing much enjoyment The Lands of the Great Magician have, however, been but quite incompletely explored when only the places already sketched have been visited. On pages following, a tour is described that leads through the many scenes associated with the chief incidents of stories told in those of his prose works, that perhaps confer wider and more lasting fame on their great author, "The Waverley Novels," related to modern romance as are the creations of William Shakespeare to all dramatic literature. HIS work THIS -- XVI. RETROSPECT OF THE POEMS. a series of sketches of those scenes rendered celebrated by Walter Scott, and thus, also, of the stories of his creations -is hardly one of critical essays, requiring further analysis of the poems that have been described in it. Each reader will have individual fancies, preferences, and opinions; and few will be likely to care much for very digressive dissertations here on comparative merits or faults, or expositions of character. In brief summary of general qualities, it may perhaps be sufficient to remark that “The Lay" furnishes the most favorite passages, and possibly the most intense Scotticism; "Marmion " is the most stirring, and has the best introductory passages; "The Lady of the Lake" is the most graceful and generally pleasing; "Rokeby may be considered the most elaborated and finished story, and "The Bridal" the most romantic; and "The Lord of the Isles" conducts us amid the grandest natural scenery. Scott himself wrote to James Ballantyne (Oct. 28, 1812): "I would say, if it is fair for me to say any thing, that the force in the 'Lay' is thrown on style; in Marmion,' on description; and in the 'Lady of the Lake,' on incident." Concerning the heroines of the poems, we must remember the old saying about comparisons, the fact that expression of preferences is not always necessary for any one of a dozen admirable young ladies, and the dangers that have beset judicial or critical decisions on feminine beauty, at least since the memorable ruling by Paris. Among the masculine characters of Scott's poems (and novels, also), the rascals appear to be oftener English than Scotch, and the good men are not always as interesting or as active as those who are not strictly virtuous. Though Rokeby" may show most of human character, and though all these poems are vividly illustrative of distinguishing features of the times of which they treat, yet the Scotch stories are pre-eminently graphic. The poet's affections, it is evident, are strongly attached to his native land, to the pleasant Border regions, and to the wild streams, the heathery hills, the misty mountains, and the grand isles of the North. There need be here no discussion respecting the comparative permanence of vitality in the poems of Scott, and in those of other great poets. One fact—a fact that suggested use of the clew his works furnish—remains, and quite likely will long continue to remain, the fact that no other series of imaginative creations by one writer conducts as does his through so many delightful scenes so distinctively associated with them, where both works and scenes better entertain the mind and the imagination with thoughts or fancies of the great world of Nature and of the storied Past. And not simply of the Past, for no small part of the power and significance of these works is lost to one who reads them - one is indeed susceptible of improvement - who cannot perceive and receive in them, however much they are creations of Imagination, not only entertainment or pleasure, but also many suggestive lessons for daily thought and feeling and living, — all which are agreeably furnished to us in the poetic, and prose, romances of Walter Scott. THE PROSE ROMANCES. XVII. THE BEGINNING OF THE TOUR THROUGH THE LANDS OF THE poems of Walter Scott, and scenes associated with them have, in these chapters, been sketched in the order in which he successively presented them to the world. In further descriptions, a different arrangement - already mentioned — will be adopted, by which the scenes of his Prose Romances are sketched in an order that travellers may find perhaps as practicable as any for visits to them; and, also connectedly with them, to the scenes of his poems. Visits to all portions of the Great Magician's domains form a tour through nearly every part of Scotland, through much of England, a portion of Wales and of the Isle of Man, of Belgium and France, and of Swiss and upper Rhine country, and even of the far East. Those who go northward in Great Britain, as travellers usually go (especially American), after visiting the northern Midland of England, or after leaving steamer at Liverpool, will find a pleasant route from Lancaster to Furness Abbey, a noble ruin charmingly kept. Thence the route may be agreeably by rail to Coniston Water Head, a very picturesque place, and then to Ambleside, by carriage; or, from Furness it may be by carriage to Newby Bridge, and, by steamer, to Ambleside at the opposite or northern end of Windermere; and thus all of this "Queen of English Lakes" may be seen. From Ambleside the route may be continued through the Lake District; first, past Rydal, with its memories of Wordsworth, to Patterdale. Thence it may lead to Keswick. From either of these last two places (better from the last) the scenes of The Bridal of Triermain, mentioned in chapter xi., can be advantageously visited, the Valley of Saint John, Ulleswater, Lyulph's |