a

an imperfect or irregular education. He was passionate admirer of field sports, which we often pursued together. As this friend happened to dine with me at Ashestiel one day, I took the opportunity of reading to him the first canto of the Lady of the Lake, in order to ascertain the effect the poem was likely to produce upon a person who was but too favourable a representative of readers at large. His reception of my recitation, or prelection, was rather singular. He placed his hand across his brow, and listened with great attention through the whole account of the stag-hunt, till the dogs throw themselves into the lake to follow their master, who embarks with Ellen Douglas. He then started up with a sudden exclamation, struck his hand on the table, and declared, in a voice of censure calculated for the occasion, that the dogs must have been totally ruined by being permitted to take the water after such a severe chase. I own I was much encouraged by the species of reverie which had possessed so zealous a follower of the sports of the ancient Nimrod, who had been completely surprised out of all doubts of the reality of the tale." Scott adds

sure.

"Another of his remarks gave me less plea

He detected the identity of the king with the wandering knight, Fitz-James, when he winds his bugle to summon his attendants. He was probably thinking of the lively but somewhat licentious old

ballad in which the dénouement of a royal intrigue" [one of James V. himself by the way] "takes place as follows:

'He took a bugle from his side,

He blew both loud and shrill,
And four-and-twenty belted knights
Came skipping owre the hill.

Then he took out a little knife,

Let a' his duddies fa',

And he was the bravest gentleman

That was amang them a'.

And we'll go no more a roving,' &c.

"This discovery, as Mr Pepys says of the rent in his camlet cloak, was but a trifle, yet it troubled me;' and I was at a good deal of pains to efface any marks by which I thought my secret could be traced before the conclusion, when I relied on it with the same hope of producing effect with which the Irish postboy is said to reserve a trot for the

avenue.'"*

I believe the shrewd critic here introduced was the poet's excellent cousin, Charles Scott, now laird of Knowe-south. The story of the Irish postilion's trot he owed to Mr Moore.

In their reception of this poem, the critics were

* Introduction to the Lady of the Lake 1830.

for once in full harmony with each other, and with the popular voice. The article in the Quarterly was written by George Ellis; but its eulogies, though less discriminative, are not a whit more emphatic than those of Mr Jeffrey in the rival Review. Indeed, I have always considered this last paper as the best specimen of contemporary criticism on Scott's poetry; and I shall therefore indulge myself with quoting here two of its paragraphs:

"There is nothing in Mr Scott of the severe and majestic style of Milton or of the terse and fine composition of Pope-or of the elaborate elegance and melody of Campbell-or even of the flowing and redundant diction of Southey,—but there is a medley of bright and glowing images, set carelessly and loosely together —a diction tinged successively with the careless richness of Shakspeare, the harshness and antique simplicity of the old romances, the homeliness of vulgar ballads and anecdotes, and the sentimental glitter of the most modern poetry-passing from the borders of the ludicrous to those of the sublime - alternately minute and energetic-sometimes artificial, and frequently negligent, but always full of spirit and vivacity—abounding in images that are striking at first sight to minds of every contexture-and never expressing a sentiment which it can cost the most ordinary reader any exertion to comprehend. Upon the whole, we are inclined to think more highly of the Lady of the Lake than of either of its author's former publications. We are more sure, however, that it has fewer faults than that it has greater beauties; and as its beauties bear a strong resemblance to those with which the public has been already made familiar in these celebrated works, we should not be surprised if its popularity were less splendid and remarkable. For our own parts, however, we are of opinion,

that it will be oftener read hereafter than either of them; and that if it had appeared first in the series, their reception would have been less favourable than that which it has experienced. It is more polished in its diction, and more regular in its versification; the story is constructed with infinitely more skill and address; there is a greater proportion of pleasing and tender passages, with much less antiquarian detail: and, upon the whole, a larger variety of characters, more artfully and judiciously contrasted. There is nothing so fine, perhaps, as the battle in Marmion or so picturesque as some of the scattered sketches in the Lay; but there is a richness and a spirit in the whole piece, which does not pervade either of those poems-a profusion of incident, and a shifting brilliancy of colouring, that reminds us of the witchery of Ariosto and a constant elasticity, and occasional energy, which seem to belong more peculiarly to the author now before us.

"It is honourable to Mr Scott's genius that he has been able to interest the public so deeply with this third presentment of the same chivalrous scenes; but we cannot help thinking, that both his glory and our gratification would have been greater, if he had changed his hand more completely, and actually given us a true Celtic story, with all its drapery and accompaniments, in a corresponding style of decoration. Such a subject, we are persuaded, has very great capabilities, and only wants to be introduced to public notice by such a hand as Mr Scott's, to make a still more powerful impression than he has already effected by the resurrection of the tales of romance. There are few persons, we believe, of any degree of poetical susceptibility, who have wandered among the secluded valleys of the Highlands, and contemplated the singular people by whom they are still tenanted with their love of music and of song - their hardy and irregular life, so unlike the unvarying toils of the Saxon mechanic- their devotion to their chiefs their wild and lofty traditions — their national enthusiasm the melancholy grandeur of the scenes they

inhabit and the multiplied superstitions which still linger among them without feeling that there is no existing people so well adapted for the purposes of poetry, or so capable of furnishing the occasions of new and striking inventions.

"We are persuaded, that if Mr Scott's powerful and creative genius were to be turned in good earnest to such a subject, something might be produced still more impressive and original than even this age has yet witnessed."*

The second of these paragraphs is a strikingly prophetic one; and if the details already given negative the prediction of the first,— namely, that the immediate popularity of the Lady of the Lake would be less remarkable than that of the Lay or Marmion had been-its other prediction, that the new poem would be "oftener read hereafter than either of the former," has, I believe, proved just.

* It may interest the reader to compare with this passage a brief extract from Sir James Mackintosh's Indian Diary of 1811:"The subject of The Lady," says he, "is a common Highland irruption, but at a point where the neighbourhood of the Lowlands affords the best contrast of manners. - where the scenery affords the noblest subject of description and where the wild clan is so near to the Court, that their robberies can be connected with the romantic adventures of a disguised king, an exiled lord, and a high-born beauty. The whole narrative is very fine. There are not so many splendid passages for quotation as in the two former poems. This may indeed silence the objections of the critics, but I doubt whether it will promote the popularity of the poem. It has nothing so good as the Address to Scotland, or the Death of Marmion."— Life of Mackintosh, vol. ii. p. 82.