THE LADY OF
LADY OF THE LAKE:

A POEM.

IN SIX CANTOS.

ΤΟ

THE MOST NOBLE

JOHN JAMES MARQUIS OF ABERCORN,

&c. &c. &c

THIS POEM IS INSCRIBED

BY THE AUTHOR.

ARGUMENT.

The Scene of the following Poem is laid chiefly in the vicinity of Loch Katrin

in the Western Highlands of Perthshire.

The time of Action includes Six Day

and the transactions of each Day occupy a Canto.

THE LADY OF THE LAKE.

But

REE years separated Scott's second poetical venture from his first; but the y of the Lake" followed "Marmion after an interval of little more than a e of years. Scott has told us himself the alarm of his aunt,* when she heard that is meditating another appeal to public favour, lest he should in any way injure eat popularity he had already achieved, or, in her own words, lest standing h he got a severe fall if he attempted to climb higher. "And a favourite,' ided, sententiously, "will not be permitted to stumble with impunity." without being guilty of any overweening self-confidence, had taken the re of his powers, and felt that he might safely make the effort. Besides, he ved that he held his distinguished position as the most successful poet of the in much the same condition as the champion of the prize-ring holds the belt of being always ready to show proofs of his skill. The result fully justified solution. Measured even by the standard of the "Minstrel" and "Marmion," Lady of the Lake" possessed merits of its own, which raised his reputation gher. Jeffrey's prediction has been perfectly fulfilled, that the "Lady of the would be "oftener read hereafter than either of the former;" and it is lly acknowledged to be, in Lockhart's words, "the most interesting, tic, picturesque, and graceful of his great poems."

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He had

His first

tt's acquaintance with the Highlands dated from his boyhood. them before his sixteenth year, and repeatedly returned thither. uction to the scenery of the “ Lady of the Lake' was curious enough. tered it, riding in all the dignity of danger, with a front and rear-guard, aded arms." He was then a writer's apprentice, or, in English phrase, an ty's clerk, and had been despatched by his father to enforce the execution of instrument against some Maclarens, refractory tenants of Stewart of Appin. med force with which he was attended, consisting of a serjeant and six men Highland regiment lying in Stirling Castle, proved unnecessary, for no nce was offered. The Maclarens had decamped, and Scott afterwards that they went to America. That such an escort should have been deemed 1, however, gives one an idea of what the Highlands and the inhabitants ven at a time so close upon our own day. In the course of his successive ons to the Highlands, Scott made himself thoroughly acquainted with their s. He not only became familiar with the people, but, as one of his said, even the goats might have claimed him as an old friend. With chastic conscientiousness, however, when he conceived the idea of the "Lady Lake," he did not trust to the impressions thus acquired to guide him in criptions of scenery, which form one of the chief charms of the poem, and it, even now, one of the most minute and faithful hand-books to the region ch the drama of Ellen and the Knight of Snowdoun is enacted. He made a tour, in order to verify the accuracy of the local circumstances of the story,

* Miss Christian Rutherford, his mother's sister.

K

and a hot gallop from the banks of Loch Vennachar to Stirling Castle measure the time which was allotted to King James for his flight after the combat will Roderick Dhu. This fiery progress" was otherwise well known to him. It principal land-marks were so many hospitable mansions where he had been welcome and grateful guest-Blairdrummond, the residence of Lord Kaimes Ochtertyre, that of John Ramsay, tl e antiquary; and Kier, the seat of the Stirlin family (now represented by Sir William Maxwell, M. P.). The usual route of th tourist reverses that of FitzJames's desperate ride. Starting from "grey Stirling with her towers and town," he leaves behind him the Abbey Craig, the site d the Wallace monument, and crosses the Forth and the Allan. The seats abov mentioned are all in this neighbourhood, while further on are Doune, with it ruined castle, once the residence of the Duke of Albany, and afterwards of Quee Mary, and Deanstown, where there are now extensive cotton-mills. Skirting th Teith, the traveller sees, on the north bank, Lanrick Castle, formerly the seat o the chieftain of Clan-Gregor (Sir Evan Murray), and soon reaches Callander which is now the favourite head-quarters of those who wish to make excursion into the region which Scott rendered at once famous and fashionable. Benie (2,882 feet) rises on the north; Ben-a'an (1800) is further west, and Benvenu (2,386) appears to the south. At the eastern extremity of Loch Vennacha where it contracts into the river Teith, is Coilantogle, the scene of the figh between King James and Rhoderick Dhu. This was the limit of the chieftain passport, Clan-Alpine's outmost guard," and here, on terms of equality, h challenged the mysterious stranger.

"The Chief in silence strode before,

And reached that torrent's sounding shore,
Which, daughter of three mighty lakes,
From Vennachar in silver breaks,

Sweeps through the plain and ceaseless mines
On Bochastle the mouldering lines

Where Rome, the Empress of the world,

Of yore her eagle wings unfurl'd.”

The last lines refer to the supposed traces of Roman occupation in the mound on the haugh of Callander, and also near the railway station, which bear t name of the Roman Camp. It is, however, still matter of controversy wheth these embankments are of human or of natural origin. At the other end of Le Vennachar, which is five miles long, is the muster-place of Clan Alpine—Lanru Mead. The sudden revelation of the ambuscade is supposed to take place a lit! farther to the westward, when

"Instant through copse and heath arose
Bonnets and spears, and bended bows;
On right, on left, above. below,
Sprung up at once the lurking foe."

Within a mile "Duncraggan's huts" appear, where Malise surrenders the fie cross to the young Angus, by the side of his father's bier, while the wail of t coronach for the dead is mingled with lamentations for the orphan's dange About a mile up Glenfinfas (once a royal deer forest, and still inhabited alm exclusively by Stewarts), which here opens on the right, is the waterfall, whi pours down

-that huge cliff, whose ample verge
Tradition calls the hero's targe,"

St. Bride's Chapel, where Angus gives up the cross to Norman, the bridegroom, stands by side of the Teith, near Loch Lubnaig, while the rest of the course was by Loch Voil, Loch D to the source of Balvaig, and thence southwards down Strath-Gartney,