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THE
• • • • • • •
»•■»•,•• ••• ,«
«•••* •• ••
** » • ••••• ••• ««
LADY OF THE LAKE.
BY
SIR WALTER SCOTT.
EDITED BY
EDWIN GINN.
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY GIXN, HEATH, & CO.
1885.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1884, by
EDWIN GINN,
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
J. S. CusHiNG & Co., Printers, 115 High Street, Boston.
PEEFACE.
/^N page V, under the heading "Classics for Chil-
^-^ dren," is given the origin and plan of a series of
books intended for the young in our public schools.
The series will be well printed in large type, on good
paper, and firmly bound, and will be furnished at a price
so low as to bring within the reach of every pupil in the
land these books, which have hitherto been confined to
the homes of those in more favored circumstances.
Scott's writings seem well fitted for children, as the
language is simple and graphic, the thought healthful
and invigorating, and the events narrated based so
largely on real life as to tend to create an interest in
historical studies. This poem, with its beautiful de-
scriptions of scenery, its vivid pictures of life, and the
charming melody of its rhythm is especially well suited
to interest the young.
It has been urged against the use of Shakespeare,
Scott, and such writers, in the grammar grades, that it
will interfere with the course in the high school, where
these authors are studied. If only one out of twenty-five
ever reaches the high school, and the twenty-four can
read these authors to advantage in the lower grades,
would it not be wise to remodel the entire course of
study in such a way as to secure the greatest good to
the greatest number ?
Should it seem to some that too many simple words
have been defined, it must be borne in mind that the
majority of children, nine years of age, attending public
54! 684
11 PREFACE.
schools, have read ahiiost nothing, and are not snpplied
with dictionaries. We have found it very difficult to
define certain words concisely, in language sufficiently
simple to be within the comprehension of young children.
It has been our aim to give the child, having no other
sources of information, such help as would enable him
to read this poem intelligentl}^ and we count ourselves
especially fortunate in being able to draw so largely
from Scott's own writings.
In abridging and quoting from Scott and other
writers, we have used their own language without
change as far as possible, thinking it better to retain
the original vigorous expression, at the risk sometimes
of its being a little abrupt, than to restate the thought
less forcibly in a smoother connection of sentences.
We regret that no more space could be allowed for
the biography, but Ave trust enough has been given to
lead the pupil to read Lockhart's complete biography
of Scott. Great as he appears in his works, his real
grandeur is shown in his quiet, unassuming life, in his
unselfish devotion to the comforts of others, and in his
heroic struggle, when crippled with disease, against
adverse fortune.
It is recommended that pupils read the historical
sketch about the Highlands and James V., page xli,
before and after reading the poem.
It is hoped that others with more leisure and ampler
resources may carry on the work.
We have availed ourselves, by permission, of Mr.
Rolfe's carefully-restored text of the poem.
E. (jr.
CONTEJSrTS.
PAGE.
en
Introduction : Classics for Childn
Life of A^^\LTER Scott
Highlanders and Borderers of Scotland
Argument
Canto I. The Chase .
ir. The Island .
III. The Gathering
IV. The Prophecy
V. The Combat .
VI. The Gi ard-room
Index to Xotes
Map ....
XV
xli
1
3
37
74
108
14-2
178
211
220
CLASSICS FOR CHILDREH".
-«o«-
THE present volume forms one of a series of standard
works, to be edited for the use of children between
the ages of nine and fifteen in the Public Schools. It
was suggested by seeing the result of setting children of
nine and eleven years to reading The Lady of the
Lake. They soon became so much interested in it
that they began not only to read with greater ease,
but voluntarily committed to memory large portions of
the poem.
This result led to making numerous inquiries of
thoughtful men and women, in various walks of life,
in regard to their early reading. The evidence thus
gained shows that children are capable of enjoying
good books at an early age, and the chances of forming
in them a taste for good literature are then much better
than at a later period.
In order that this course of reading might be removed
still further from an experimental basis, a list of ques-
tions about the works of standard authors was sent to
leading men in the various professions, from whom
many valuable answers, suggestions, and offers of assist-
ance have been received. The kind of matter having
been decided on, the next thing to be considered was
the editorial work. It seems best, as far as practicable,
to publish complete works; but some, like Scott's novels,
vi CLASSICS FOR CHILDREN.
contain much matter beyond the years of the children
for whom the books are designed, besides being too
bulky for our purpose. Though it is not an easy task
to abridge Scott, we are fortunate in finding a person
equal to it, as Miss Yonge's Quentin jDurward
shows.
It is designed to give such notes at the foot of the
page as will enable children to read understandingly
without the aid of other books. It may be thought
that we have given too many definitions of words
readily found ; but these books are designed for chil-
dren in the Public Schools, few of whom are supplied
with dictionaries. Besides, a pupil having a vague
idea of the meaning of a word may not take the trouble
to look it up ; but, if a glance at the bottom of the page
would give him more definite information, without loss of
time or interest, he would be glad to avail himself of it.
It may be urged that many pupils of this age will
not take any interest in such works. Very likely. For
such we would prescribe a liberal amount of committing
to memory. It may prove quite as interesting to the
children, and as valuable, from an educational point
of view, as memorizing the ten thousand bays, capes,
rivers, islands, lakes, mountains, inlets, counties, towns,
and cities now required. The one-tenth that could
be recalled by some law of association, as the relation
of rivers to mountain chains, the occupations of the
people as modified by climate, etc., has been retained and
assimilated, but the other nine-tenths have been gotten
rid of as useless lumber. It may have had some bene-
ficial influence in exercising the memory, but how much
better to have used the same amount of effort in
CLASSICS FOR CHILDREN. vii
memorizing the choicest pages of the best authors,
which would have had a lasting influence in forming
correct literary tastes, as well as in storing the mind
with healthful sentiments, to be recalled always with
delight.
It seems to us a sad abuse of time to require children
to learn such facts as the date of election, term of
service, and the state in which each of the Presidents
and Vice-Presidents of the United States was born, and
the details of every unimportant battle or skirmish in
the Colonial, French, and Indian wars. Let them but
spend the same amount of time in reading such works
as Irving's " Life of Washington," Scott's " Tales of a
Grandfather," and Macaulay's "History of England,"
and they will obtain not only more valuable informa-
tion, but, what is vastly more important^ they will be
acquiring a taste for good reading and a love for history
which will be of inestimable value to them in after life.
Besides, they will learn to use better English from con-
stant use of such models than by studying technical
grammar and poring over innumerable examples of
true and false syntax.
The child should have only the best set before him,
for otherwise he is more liable to copy the imperfect,
or to become confused between the true and the false,
than to be guided aright.
But to arithmetic we must look for the greatest mis-
ai:)propriation of time. In the country school it con-
sumes about three-fourths of all the time. It is com-
mon to find young men who can solve every one of the
thousand puzzles in the bulky arithmetics, but cannot
write a common letter without making half a dozen
Vlll CLASSICS FOR CHILDREN.
mistakes in grammar and spelling. The pupils in the
Grammar Schools must spend years over the long and
tedious examples in compound fractions, compound
numbers, compound proportion, profit and loss, part-
nership, alligation, involution, square and cube roots,
geometrical progression, permutations, annuities, and
what not, though they have not time to read a single
play of Shakespeare or a volume of history or other
standard literature.
Much valuable time is wasted by reversing the true
order of studies, and giving so much attention to ex-
hibitions, examinations, and methods.
The child with a little knowledge and a good mem-
ory may make a far better showing than the one who
knows a great deal more of the subject. Memory com-
mands a premium ; intelligence is at a discount.
All real progress must be unconscious, and the in-
stant the pupil turns his thoughts to what he is doing
and how he is doing it, he not only ceases to learn, but
has put the greatest bar to his future progress, by
emphasizing his self-consciousness and egotism. As
Dr. Stanley Hall truly says, such teaching is like the
farmer's tearing up his beans from the earth every
day, to observe the manner and progress of growth.
The first lesson we would give would be the reverse
of all this. We would never for a moment allow any
study with any other idea than simply understanding
the subject without thought of answering any ques-
tions on it. We would try to get the pupil to forget
everything, except his lesson, and utterly to lose himself
in that.
It is not natural for young children to confine their
CLASSICS FOR CHILDREN. ix
attention very closely or very long to one thing. There
is so much to learn, so many novel things, that they
must give some time to each. One should not attempt
to control too early in life this natural tendency to
change ; but, as soon as children begin to use books,
they should be taught the value of giving their undivided
attentioii to the lesson in hand, at short intervals at first,
lengthening the time gradually so as not to tire. We
would impress upon them the ivickedness of playing
study, giving a listless, partial attention, and allowing
their minds frequently to wander to other subjects.
This want of concentration of effort is the greatest
possible obstacle to advancement in learning, — a fault
most common to pupils, and, strange to say, one to
which but few teachers give any attention.
It is necessary for children to read a great deal, to
acquire that facility of expression which will enable
them to perform the merely mechanical operation of
reading without conscious effort. The mind should be
entirely free to concentrate itself on the subject-matter.
Now, since it is not natural for them to apply them-
selves closely enough and long enough to accom2:)lish
this work, we should aid them by supplying an abun-
dance of interesting material. It is not, therefore, of so
much importance, at this stage of the child's education,
that the highest moral truths be presented, as that the
matter be of such intense interest as to catch and hold
the whole attention of the pupil. The highest moral
law he should now know is to learn the command of
words, and the most effective use of his faculties. Care
should be taken that his English should be simple and
forcible, and nothing harmful in ethics should be allowed.
X CLASSICS FOR CHILDREN.
It is a waste of time to try to teach morals, in his read-
ing lesson, to a child who has to spell out his words ;
and almost as bad to try to teach geography, grammar,
arithmetic, and the other subjects. Words are to him
as tools to the mechanic. Until he has learned to use
them effectively, he should not be put to serious work,
where his attention is distracted from his first duty, —
the perfecting himself in his trade, the command of
words. If a part of the time now given to spelling out
words, in geography, arithmetic, grammar, and stupid
reading-lessons, were devoted at first, wholly or mostly,
to reading only, our children would not only become
much better scholars in these various branches, but
read more literature in the Grammar Schools than the
college student now gets before graduating; besides,
they would acquire a literary taste and a love for good
reading, of inestimable value to them in their future
life, which will never be so busy but that they will find
the time for a few moments' gratification of it. People
are ignorant, not so much because of being overworked,
as from want of a love for good reading. Give the
children a chance, a glimpse into the great storehouses
of knowledge in books, wherein they may commune
with the greatest minds at their best.
After the child has learned to read with ease simple
stories from all sources, the course should assume more
definite form, including the standard works of fiction,
history, biography, natural history, etc., all well graded,
keeping constantly in mind these three points : interest,
moral power, and style ; selecting those only which em-
body these all in the greatest degree.
It is of the greatest importance to develop a love for
CLASSICS FOR CHILDREN. xi
history in early life, as no one can be well read without
a fair knowledge of the past. In fact, one must know
a people in order to understand their literature. Some
of the best thoughts of a writer, depending upon allu-
sions to historical persons or events, are entirely lost to
the reader not familiar wdth history. Nor is this the
only reason of its value. The tracing of great events
unfolds the mind. We suffer and enjoy with the
struggling mortals of the past, and, as it were, pass
through their verj^ experiences, and are able to reap
their rewards while w^e avoid their mistakes. One who
really loves history will find time to read it, but none
for cheap novels. Leading epochs should be selected
from the great liistorians, adding such information as
may be necessary for a complete understanding of the
extracts. The historical novel and biography are espe-
cially well calculated to create a love for history, and
the whole course should be so graded that biography,
natural history, novels, travels, history, and the various
departments of literature should be made mutually help-
ful and dependent, covering the same periods and illus-
trating one another.
This work cannot be left to the High School, for we
find, on a careful examination of the reports from several
of our largest cities, where the schools have attained
their greatest perfection, that only one in twenty-five
of the whole number of pupils ever reaches that grade.
Besides, only a very limited portion of time is now
given to this work in our higher institutions of learning,
and there is a prospect of less in the near future. The
bread-and-butter theory of education, appealing directly
to the needs of the great majority of the people, has
XU CLASSICS FOE CHILDREN.
always exerted a strong influence against the higher
training, and of late it has become alarmingly popular
in our very strongholds of a liberal education.
It may prove a dangerous experiment in education
to allow the modei^ to take the place of the ancient
languages, which have been for so many centuries the
basis of the best training the world has yet known. A
single generation may suffice to show our lost ground,
but centuries may not afford time to regain it.
A knowledge of French and German may enable the
American trader to extend his commercial relations and
rapidly to gain wealth, or the tourist to spend a much
more pleasant trip abroad; but this education only enables
him to pass readily from one bustling country to another,
where he will still find his fellow-traveller snatching his
hasty meal, reading his damp newspaper, and content
to become the connecting link between the rail-car and
the telegraph-wire. When studjdng Latin and Greek,
we are forced out of the present, and are obliged to
extend our horizon, and, like the near-sighted at sea,
attain a more healthy vision. It has a wonderfully
calming influence on young America to spend a few
years studying those old heathen languages, whicli after
two thousand years furnish the whole civilized world
their models of expression in language, art, and law.
Though only a small proportion of the Avhole number
of pupils now reach the High School, its elevating in-
fluence is felt on all the lower grades; and, as fast as
the people learn to value education as increasing one's
manhood or womanhood by developing the powers of
enjoyment and usefulness rather than as a means of
gaining wealth, they will make greater exertions to
furnish their children the best possible.
CLASSICS FOK CHILDIIEN. xiii
It is hoped that this attempt to put standard litera-
ture into the hands of young children will receive en-
couragement, and that a free discussion of the subject
may lead to such changes in the course of instruction
in the Public Schools as shall give to each study the
proportion of time its im[)ortance may fairly claim.
Jli. Gr.
1 ' , ' ^ > J
) ) ) ) > >
LIFE OF WALTER SCOTT.
ABRIDGEJ) FROM HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
-*o*-
W ALTER SCOTT, m}' father, was born in 1729, and
educated to the profession of a Writer to the Signet.^
I was born, as I believe, on the 15th August, 1771. I
showed every sign of health and strength until I was
about eighteen months old. One night, I have been often
told, I showed great reluctance to be caught and put to bed ;
and after being chased about the room, was apprehended
and consigned to my dormitor}' with some difficulty. It was
the last time I was to show such personal agilit}'. In the
morning, I was discovered to be affected with the fever
which often accompanies the cutting of large teeth. It held
me three days. On the fourth, when they went to bathe me
as usual, they discovered that I had lost the power of my
right leg. M}^ grandfather, an excellent anatomist as well
as physician, the late worthy Alexander Wood, and many
others of the most respectable of the faculty, were consulted.
There appeared to be no dislocation or sprain ; blisters and
other topical remedies were applied in vain. The advice of
my grandfather. Dr. Rutherford, that I should be sent to
reside in the countr}', to give the chance of natural exertion,
excited by free air and liberty, was first resorted to ; and
before I have the recollection of the slightest event, I was,
agreeably to this friendly counsel, an inmate in the farm-
house of Sandy-Knowe.
1 An Edinburgh solicitor.
xvi AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
It is here at Sandy-Knowe, in the residence of m}^ paternal
^raadfatber, alreaey mentioned, that I have the first con-
sciousness oif existence.
My grandmother, in whose youth the old Border depreda-
tions were matter of recent tradition, used to tell me man}'
a tale of Watt of Harden, Wight Willie of Aikwood, Jamie
Telfer of the fair Dodhead, and other heroes — merrymen
all of the persuasion and calling of Robin Hood and Little
John. Two or three old books which lay in the window-seat
were explored for my amusement in the tedious winter-da3S.
Automathes^ and Ramsay's Tea-table Miscellany, were my
favorites, although at a later period' an odd volume of
Josephus's Wars of the Jews divided my partialit}-.
My kind and affectionate aunt, Miss Janet Scott, whose
memorv will ever be dear to me, used to read these works
to me with admirable patience, until I could repeat long
passages by heart. The ballad of Hardyknute I was early
master of, to the great annoyance of almost our onh' visitor,
the worthy clergyman of the parish, Dr. Duncan, who had
not patience to have a sober chat interrupted by my shouting
forth this ditty. Methinks I now see his tall, thin, emaciated
figure, his legs cased in clasped gambadoes, and his face of
a length that would have rivalled the Knight of La Mancha's,
and hear him exclaiming, "One may as well speak in the
mouth of a cannon as where that child is."
I was in m}* fourth year when m}' father was advised that
the Bath waters might be of some advantage to my lameness.
M}' affectionate aunt, although such a journey promised to a
person of her retired habits anything but pleasure or amuse-
ment, undertook as readily to accompany me to the wells of
Bladud as if she had expected all the delight that ever the
prospect of a watering-place held out to its most impatient
visitants. My health was b}' this time a good deal confirmed
by the country air and the influence of that imperceptible
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. xvii
and iinfatigiiing exercise to which the good sense of my
grandfather had subjected me ; for, when the day was fine, 1
was usually carried out and laid down beside the old shep-
herd, among the crags or rocks round which he fed his sheep.
The impatience of a child soon inclined me to struggle with
my infirmity, and I began by degrees to stand, to walk, and
to run. Although the limb affected was much shrunk and
contracted, my general health, which was of more importance,
was much strengthened by being frequently in the open air ;
and, in a word, I, who in a city had probably been condemned
to hopeless and helpless decrepitude, was now a healthy,
high-spirited, and, my lameness apart, a sturdy child.
During my residence at Bath I acquired the rudiments of
reading, at a day-school kept by an old dame near our lodg-
ings, and I had never a more regular teacher, although I
think I did not attend her a quarter of a year. An occasional
lesson from my aunt supplied the rest. Afterwards, when
grown a big boy, I had a few lessons from Mr. Stalker of
Edinburgh, and finally from the Rev. Mr. Cleeve. But I
never acquired a just pronunciation, nor could I read with
much propriety.
The most delightful recollections of Bath are dated after
the arrival of my uncle. Captain Robert Scott, who intro-
duced me to all the little amusements which suited m^^ age,
and, above all, to the theatre. The play was As You Like
It; and the witchery of the whole scene is alive in my mind
at this moment. I made, I believe, noise more than enouo-h,
and remember being so much scandalized at the quarrel
between Orlando and his brother, in the first scene, that I
screamed out, " A'n't they brothers?" A few weeks' resi-
dence at home convinced me, who had till then been an only
child in the house of my grandfather, that a quarrel between
brothers was a very natural event.
After being a year at Bath, I returned first to Edinl)uro-h,
XVlll AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
and afterwards for a season to Sandy-Knowe ; — and thus
the time whiled away till about mj' eighth year, when it
was thought sea-bathing might be of service to my lame-
ness.
For this purpose, still under my aunt's protection, I re-
mained some weeks at Prestonpans, — a circumstance not
worth mentioning, excepting to record my juvenile intimacy
with an old military veteran, Dalgetty by name, who had
pitched his tent in that little village, after all his campaigns,
subsisting upon an ensign's Ixalf-pay, though called by
courtesy a Captain. As this old gentleman, who had been
in all the German wars, found very few to listen to his tales
of military feats, he formed a sort of alliance with me, and
I used invariably to attend him for the pleasure of hearing
those communications. Sometimes our conversation turned
on the American war, which was then raging. It was about
the time of Burgoyne's unfortunate expedition, to which my
Captain and I augured different conclusions. Somebody
had shown me a map of North America, and, struck with
the rugged appearance of the countr}-, and the quantity of
lakes, I expressed some doubts on the subject of the Gener-
al's arriving safely at the end of his journe}', which were
very indignantly refuted by the Captain. The news of the
Saratoga disaster, while it gave me a little triumph, rather
shook my intimacy with the veteran.
Besides this veteran, I found another ally at Prestonpans
in the person of George Constable, an old friend of m}^
father's. He was the first person who told me about Falstaff
and Hotspur, and other characters in Shakespeare. What
idea I annexed to them I know^ not, but I must have annexed
some, for I remember quite w^ell being interested in the sub-
ject. Indeed, I rather suspect that children derive impulses
of a powerful and important kind in hearing things which
they cannot entirely comprehend ; and, therefore, that to
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. xix
write down to childreu's understanding is a mistake : set
them on the scent, and let them puzzle it out.
From Prestonpans I was transported back to my father's
house in George's Square, which continued to be my most
established place of residence, until m}- marriage in 1797.
I felt the change, from being a single indulged brat to be-
coming a member of a large family-, very severely ; for, under
the gentle government of my kind grandmother, who was
meekness itself, and of ni}- aunt, who, though of an higher
temper, was exceedingly attached to me, I had acquired a
degree of license which could not be permitted in a large
family. I had sense enough, however, to bend m}' temper
to my new circumstances ; but, such was the agony which I
internally experienced, that I have guarded against nothing
more, in the education of my own family, than against their
acquiring habits of self-willed caprice and domination. I
found much consolation, during this period of mortification,
in the partiality of my mother. She joined to a light and
happy temper of mind a strong turn to study poetry and
works of imagination.
My lameness and my solitary habits had made me a tolera-
ble reader, and my hours of leisure were usually spent in
reading aloud to m}- mother Pope's translation of Homer,
which, excepting a few traditionary ballads, and the songs
in Allan Ramsay's Evergreen^ was the first poetry which I
perused. My mother had good natural taste and great feel-
ing : she used to make me pause upon those passages which
expressed generous and worthy sentiments, and, if she could
not divert me from those which were descriptive of battle
and tumult, she contrived at least to divide m}' attention
between them. M}' own enthusiasm, however, was chiefly
awakened bv the wonderful and the terrible — the common
taste of children, but in which I have remained a child even
unto this day. I got by heart, not as a task, but almost
XX AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
without intending it, the passages with which I was most
pleased, and used to recite them aloud, both when alone and
to others — more willingl}^, however, in ni}- hours of solitude,
for I had observed some auditors smile, and I dreaded ridi-
cule at that time of life more than I have ever done since.
In [1778] I was sent to the second class of the Grammar
School, or High School of Edinburgh, then taught b^' Mr.
Luke Fraser, a good Latin scholar and a verj' worthy man.
Though I had received, with my brothers, in private, lessons
of Latin from Mr. James French, now a minister of the Kirk
of Scotland, I was nevertheless rather behind the class in
which I was placed both in 3'ears and in progress. This was
a real disadvantage, and one to which a boy of livel}' temper
and talents ought to be as little exposed as one who might
be less expected to make up his lee-wa}', as it is called. The
situation has the unfortunate effect of reconciling a boy of
the former character (which in a posthumous work I may
claim for my own) to holding a subordinate station among
his class-fellows — to which he would otherwise affix dis-
grace. There is also, from the constitution of the High
School, a certain danger not sufficientl}' attended to. The
bo3's take precedence in their places^ as they are called,
according to their merit, and it requires a long w^hile, in
general, before even a clever boy, if he falls behind the class,
or is put into one for which he is not quite ready, can force
his way to the situation which his abilities really entitle him
to hold. But, in the meanwhile, he is necessarily led to be
the associate and companion of those inferior spirits with
whom he is placed ; for the system of precedence, though it
does not limit the general intercourse among the bo3's, has
nevertheless the effect of throwing them into clubs and
coteries, according to the vicinit}' of the seats they hold. A
boy of good talents, therefore, placed even for a time among
his inferiors, especially if they be also his elders, learns to
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. XXI
participate in their pursuits and objects of ambition, which
are usually very distinct from the acquisition of learning ;
and it will be well if he does not also imitate them in that
indifference which is contented with bustling over a lesson
so as to avoid punishment, without affecting superiority or
aiming at reward. It was probably owing to this circmn-
stance, that, although at a more advanced period of life I
have enjoyed considerable facility in acquiring languages,
I did not make any great figure at the High School ; or, at
least, any exertions which I made were desultory and little
to be depended on.
Our class contained some ver}' excellent scholars. As for
myself, I glanced like a meteor from one end of the class to
the other, and commonly disgusted my kind master as much
by negUgence and frivoUty as I occasionally pleased him by
flashes of intellect and talent. Among my companions my
good-nature and a flow of ready imagination rendered me
very popular. Boys are uncommonly just in their feelings,
and at least equally generous. My lameness, and the efforts
which I made to supply that disadvantage, by making up
in address what I wanted in activity, engaged the latter
principle in my favor ; and in the winter play -hours, when
hard exercise was impossible, my tales used to assemble an
admiring audience round Lucky Brown's fireside, and happy
was he that could sit next to the inexhaustible narrator. I
was also, though often negligent of my own task, always
ready to assist my friends ; and hence I had a little pai'ty of
staunch partisans and adherents, stout of hand and heart,
though somewhat dull of head, — the very tools for raising a
hero to eminence. So, on the whole, I made a brighter
figure in the yards than in the class.
After having been three years under Mr. Fraser, our class
was, in the usual routine of the school, turned over to Dr.
Adam, the Rector. It was from this respectable man that
xxii AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
I first learned the value of the knowledge I had hitherto con-
sidered only as a burdensome task. It was the fashion to
remain two years at his class, where we read Caesar and
Liv}^ and Sallust, in prose ; Virgil, Horace, and Terence,
in verse. I had by this time mastered, in some degree, the
difficulties of the language, and began to be sensible of its
beauties. This was reall}' gathering grapes from thistles ;
nor shall I soon forget the swelling of my little pride when
the Rector pronounced, that though many of my school-fel-
lows understood the Latin better, Gualterus Scott was behind
few in following and cnjojing the author's meaning. Thus
encouraged, I distinguished m3'self by some attempts at
poetical versions from Horace and ^Virgil. Dr. Adam used
to invite his scholars to such essays, but never made them
tasks. I gained some distinction upon these occasions, and
the Rector in future took much notice of me ; and his
judicious mixture of censure and praise went far to counter-
balance my habits of indolence and inattention. I saw I
was expected to do well, and I was piqued in honor to
vindicate my master's favorable opinion. I climbed, there-
fore, to the first form ; and, though I never made a first-rate
Latinist, nw school-fellows, and what was of more conse-
quence, I mj^self, considered that I had a character for
learning to maintain.
From Dr. Adam's class I should, according to the usual
routine, have proceeded immediateh' to college. But, for-
tunately, I was not 3'et to lose, by a total dismission from
constraint, the acquaintance with the Latin which I had
acquired. My health had become rather delicate from rapid
growth, and my father was easily persuaded to allow me to
spend half a j^ear at Kelso with my kind aunt, Miss Janet
Scott, whose inmate I again became. It was hardly worth
mentioning that I had frequently visited her during our short
vacations.
AUTOBiOGRAriiy. xxiii
In the meanwhile my acquaintance witli English literature
was gradually extending itself. In the intervals of my
school hours I had always perused with avidity such books
of histor}' or poetry or voyages and travels as chance pre-
sented to me, — not forgetting the usual, or rather ten times
the usual, quantity of fairy tales, eastern stories, romances,
etc. These studies were totally unregulated and undirected.
My tutor thought it almost a sin to open a profane play or
poem ; and my mother, besides that she might be in some
degree trammelled by the religious scruples which he sug-
gested, had no longer the opportunity to hear me read poetry
as formerly. I found, however, in her dressing-room (where
I slept at one time) some odd volumes of Shakespeare ; nor
can I easily forget the rapture with which I sate up in my
shirt reading them by the light of a fire in her apartment,
until the bustle of the family rising from supper warned me
it was time to creep back to my bed, where I was supposed
to have been safely deposited since nine o'clock. Chance,
however, threw in my way a poetical preceptor. This was
no other than the excellent and benevolent Dr. Blacklock,
well known at that time as a literary character. I know not
how I attracted his attention, and that of some of the 3'oung
men who boarded in his family ; but so it was that I became
a frequent and favored guest. The kind old man opened to
me the stores of his library, and through his recommendation
I became intimate with Ossian and Spenser. I was delighted
with both, yet I think chiefly with the latter poet. The
tawdry repetitions of the Ossianic phraseology disgusted me
rather sooner than might have been expected from mj' age.
But Spenser I could have read forever. Too 3'oung to
trouble myself about the allegory, I considered all the
knights and ladies and dragons and giants in their outward
and exoteric sense, and God only knows how delighted T
was to find m3'self in such societj'. As I had always a
xxiv AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
wonderful facility in retaining in my memory whatever verses
pleased me, the quantity of Spenser's stanzas which I could
repeat was really marvellous. But this memory of mine
was a very fickle ally, and has through my whole life acted
merely upon its own capricious motion, and might have
enabled me to adopt old Beattie of Meikledale's answer,
when complimented by a certain reverend divine on the
strength of the same faculty: "No, sir," answered the old
Borderer, "I have no command of my memory. It only
retains what hits my fancy ; and probably, sir, if you were
to preach to me for two hours, I would not be able when
you finished to remember a word you had been saying."
My memory was precisely of the same kind : it seldom
failed to preserve most tenaciously a favorite passage of
poetry, a play-house ditty, or, above all, a Border-raid
ballad; but names, dates, and the other technicalities of
history escaped me in a most melancholy degree. The
philosophy of history, a much more important subject, was
also a sealed book at this period of my life ; but I gradually
assembled much of what was striking and picturesque in
historical narrative ; and when, in riper years, T attended
more to the deduction of general principles, I was furnished
with a powerful host of examples in illustration of them. I
was, in short, like an ignorant gamester, who kept up a good
hand until he knew how to play it.
I left the High School, therefore, with a great quantity of
general information, ill arransjed, indeed, and collected with-
out system ; yet deeply impressed upon my mind ; readily
assorted by my power of connection and memory, and gilded,
if I may be permitted to say so, by a vivid and active im-
agination. If my studies were not under any direction at
Edinburgh, in the country, it may be well imagined, they
were less so. A respectable subscription library, a circulat-
ing library of ancient standing, and some private book-
AUTOBIOGRAPHY. XXV
shelves, were open to ray random perusal, and I waded into
the stream like a blind man into a ford, without the power
of searching m^' wa}', unless by groping for it. INI}' appetite
for books was as ample and indiscriminating as it was inde-
fatigable, and I since have had too frequently reason to
repent that few ever read so much, and to so little purpose.
Among the valuable acquisitions I made about this time,
was an acquaintance with Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, But,
above all, I then first became acquainted with Bishop Percy's
Reliques of Ancient Poetry. I remember well the spot
where I read these volumes for the first time. It was
beneath a huge platauus-tree, in the ruins of what had been
intended for an old-fashioned arbor in the garden I have
mentioned. The summer-day sped onward so fast, that,
notwithstanding the sharp appetite of thirteen, I forgot the
hour of dinner, was sought for with anxiety, and was still
found entranced in my intellectual banquet. To read and to
remember was in this instance the same thing, and hence-
forth I overwhelmed my school-fellows, and all who would
hearken to me, with tragical recitations from the ballads of
Bishop Percy. The first time, too, I could scrape a few
shillings together, which were not common occurrences with
me, I bought unto myself a copy of these beloved volumes ;
nor do I believe I ever read a book half so frequently, or
with half the enthusiasm. About this period also I became
acquainted with the works of Richardson, and those of
INIackenzie, with Fielding, Smollet, and some others of our
best novelists.
To this period also I can trace distinctl}' the awaking of
that delightful feeling for the beauties of natural objects
which has never since deserted me. The neighborhood of
Kelso, the most beautiful, if not the most romantic village
in Scotland, is eminently calculated to awaken these ideas.
From this time the love of natural beauty, more especially
XXVI . AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
when combined with ancient ruins, or remains of our fathers'
piety or splendor, became with me an insatiable passion,
which, if circumstances had permitted, I would willingly
have gratified by travelling over half the globe.
If, however, it should ever fall to the lot of youth to
peruse these pages — let such a reader remember, that it is
with the deepest regret that I recollect in my manhood the
opportunities of learning which I neglected in m}- ^^outh ;
that through every part of my literary career I have felt
pinched and hampered by m}^ own ignorance ; and that I
would at this moment give half the reputation I have had
the good fortune to acquire, if by doing so I could rest the
remaining part upon a sound foundation of learning and
science.
LIFE OF SCOTT.
ABRIDGED MAINLY FROM LOCKHART AND HUTTON.
AS Scott grew up, entered the classes of the college,
and began his legal studies, first as apprentice to his
father, and then in the law classes of the University, he
became noticeable to all his friends for his gigantic memory
and the rich stores of romantic material with which it was
loaded.
His reading was almost all in the direction of militar}-
exploit, or romance and mediaeval legend and the later bor-
der songs of his own country. He learned Italian and read
Ariosto. Later he learned Spanish and devoured Cervantes,
whose '•'■ novelas^'" he said, "first inspired him with the
ambition to excel in fiction " ; and all that he read and
admired he remembered.
It might be supposed that, with these romantic tastes,
Scott could scarcely have made much of a lawyer, though
the inference would, I believe, be quite mistaken. His
father, however, reproached him with being better fitted for
a pedlar than a lawyer, — so persistently did he trudge over
all the neighboring counties in search of the beauties of
nature and the historic associations of battle, siege, or
legend.
In spite of all tliis love of excitement, Scott became a
sound lawyer, and might have been a great one, had not
his pride of character, the impatience of his genius, and the
stir of his imagination rendered liim indisposed to wait and
xxviii LIFE OF SCOTT.
slave iu the precise manner which the prepossessions of
solicitors appoint.
He continued to practise at the bar — nominal!}^ at least—
for fourteen years, but the life of literature and the life of
the bar hardly ever suit, and in Scott's case they suited the
less, that he felt himself likely to l)e a dictator in the one
field, and only a postulant in the other. Literature was a
far greater gainer by his choice than law could have been
a loser. For his capacity for the law he shared with thou-
sands of able men, his capacity for literature with few or none.
Love and Marriage.
One Sunday, about two years before his call to the bar,
Scott offered his umbrella to a young lady of much beauty
who was coming out of the Greyfriars Church during a
shower ; the umbrella was graciously accepted ; and it was
not an unprecedented consequence that Scott fell in love with
the borrower, who turned out to be Margaret, daughter of
Sir John and Lady Jane Stuart Belches, of Ivernay. For
near six years after this, Scott indulged the hope of marrying
this lady, and it does not seem doubtful that the lady herself
was in part responsible for this impression.
For some reason this strong attachment was broken off.
It may have been on account of some disagreement between
the young people themselves, but most likely from a differ-
ence in the rank of the parties. It was his first and only deep
passion, so far as ever can be known to us, and had a great
influence on his after life, both in keeping him free from
some of the most dangerous temptations in life during his
youth, and in creating in him an interior world of dreams and
recollections, on which his imagination was continually fed.
The pride which was always so notable a feature in Scott
probably sustained him through the keen inward pain
which it is very certain from a great many of his own words
LIFE OF SCOTT. xxix
that he must have suffered in this uprooting of his most pas-
sionate hopes. And it was in part probably the same pride
which led him to form, within the year, a new tie — his
engagement to Mademoiselle Charpentier, or Miss Carpenter,
as she was usually called, — the daughter of a French
royalist of Lj'ons who had died early in the revolution.
She made on the whole a very good wife, only one to be
protected b}^ him from every care, and not one to share
Scott's deeper anxieties or to participate in his dreams.
Border Minstrelsy and Maturer Poems.
Ever since his earliest college da3'S Scott had been collecting,
in those excursions of his into Liddesdale and elsewhere,
materials for a book on The 3Iinstrelsy of the Scottish
Border ; and the publication of this work, in January, 1802,
was his first great literary success. The whole edition of
eight hundred copies was sold within the 3'ear, while the
skill and care which Scott had devoted to the historical illus-
tration of the ballads, and the force and spirit of his own new
ballads, written in imitation of the old, gained him at once a
very high literary name. And the name was well deserved.
Scott's genius flowered late. It was not until he was already
thirtv-one vears of age that he wrote the first canto of his first
great romance in verse, The Lay of the Last Minstrel. Jeffrey
says of the three poems : " The Lay, if I ma}^ venture to state
the creed now established, is, I should say, generally considered
as the most natural and original, Marmion as the most power-
ful and splendid. The Lady of the Lake as the most interesting,
romantic, picturesque, and graceful of his great poems."
It is in painting those moods and exploits, in relation to
which Scott shares most completely the feelings of ordinary
men, but experiences them with far greater strength and
purity than ordinary men, that he triumphs as a poet.
XXX LIFE OF SCOTT.
His romance is like his native scenery, — bold, bare, and
rngged, with a swift, deep stream of strong, pure feeling run-
ning through it. There is plent}' of color in his pictures,
as there is on the Scotch hills when the heather is out. And
so too there is plenty of intensity in his romantic situations ;
but it is the intensity of simple, natural, unsophisticated,
hardy, and manly characters.
Partnership with the Ballantyne Brothers.
Before proceeding further with Scott's life, it may be well
to mention briefly his commercial relations with the Ballan-
tyne Brothers, which had such an important bearing on the
rest of his life.
About the 3^ear 1805, before he had any idea of the gains
he might derive from his writings, and while his income from
other sources was very limited, he formally, but secretly,
entered into the printing business as a partner with his old
schoolmate, James Ballantyne.
Although Ballantyne kept his accounts in a loose way, he
otherwise managed the business fairly well ; and it might
have proved a good investment had not Scott soon after, in
order to furnish work to the printing-office, engaged in the
publishing and book-selling business with John Ballantyne.
Great risks attend this business, requiring good financial
ability, a large acquaintance with men, sound judgment, and
close application ; yet Scott selected a frivolous man of
pleasure, with neither character or capacity, as a partner,
relying probably on his own judgment for managing the
publishing house. For such a task he was wholly unfitted.
Because he was fond of antiquarian and historical re-
searches, he supposed the people were eager for such read-
ing ; and because some of his friends desired to write
unsalable books, he could not refuse to publish them;
It is not sufficient for a publisher to ascertain that the book
LIFE OF SCOTT. xxxi
offered is a good one, but he must know whether it is so well
adapted to the times and the wants of the community as to
command a reasonable sale.
Besides the firm's making so many bad investments, John
Ballant^-ne was squandering its money in dissipation, so
that Scott was kept in constant fear of bankruptcy all
through the years 1813 and 1814 ; and it was not until the
publication of Waverley, opening up the richest vein in his
own genius and popularity, that these alarms were ended.
So great was the success of this novel that the leading pub-
lishers were very eager to purchase a share in it and subse-
quent issues. Constable, of Edinburgh, secured the works,
but on condition that he should buy also a large part of the
worthless stock of John Ballantyne & Co. This sale enabled
Scott to wind up that unfortunate enterprise fairly well,
although the printing house of James Ballantyne & Co. still
held some of their notes, and Constable, on whom he was
depending for money to extend his estate, build his castle,
and pay his other expenses, was seriously crippled by the
purchase of all this unsalable stock.
The Waverley Novels.
In the summer of 1814, Scott took up again and completed
— almost at a single heat — a fragment of a Jacobite story
begun in 1805 and then laid aside. It was published anou}'-
mously, and its astonishing success turned back again the
scales of Scott's fortunes, already inclining ominously
towards a catastrophe. This story was Waverley.
Scott's method of composition was always the same ; and,
when writing an imaginative work, the rate of progress
seems to have been pretty even, depending much more on the
absence of disturbing engagements than on any mental
irregularity. The morning was always his brightest time ;
but morning or evening, in countr}' or in town, well or ill,
XXXll LIFE OF SCOTT.
writing with his own pen or dictating to an amanuensis in
the intervals of screaming-fits due to the torture of cramp in
the stomach, Scott spun away at his imaginative web almost
as evenl}^ as a silkworm spins at its golden cocoon.
In the fourteen most effective years of Scott's literary life,
during which he wrote twenty-three novels besides sliorter
tales, the best stories appear to have been on the whole the
most rapidly written, probably because they took the strong-
est hold of the author's imagination.
But though, to our larger experience, Scott's achievement,
in respect of mere fertility, is by no means the miracle which
it once seemed, I do not think one of his successors can com-
pare with him for a moment in the ease and truth with which
he painted, not merely the life of his own time and country —
seldom indeed that of precisely his own time, — but that of
days long past, and often too of scenes far distant. The
most powerful of all his stories, Old Mortality, was the story
of a period more than a century and a quarter before he
wrote; and others — which, though inferior to this in force,
are nevertheless, when compared with the so-called historical
romances of any other English writer, what sunlight is to
moonlight, if you can say as much for the latter as to admit
even that comparison — go back to the period of the Tudors,
that is, two centuries and a half. Quentin Durward runs back
farther still, far into the previous century, while Ivmihoe and
The Talisman carry us back more than five hundred years.
The most striking feature of Scott's romances is that, for
the most part, they are pivoted on public rather than mere
private interests and passions. With but few exceptions —
( The Antiquary, St. Ronan's Well, and Guy Mannerhuj are
the most important) — Scott's novels give us an imaginative
view, not of mere individuals, but of individuals as they are
affected by the public strifes and social divisions of the age.
No man can read Scott without being more of a public man.
LIFE OF SCOTT. xxxiii
Scott in Adversity.
With the 3'ear 1825 came a financial crisis, and Constable
began to tremble for his solvency. From the date of his
baronetcy (1820) , Sir Walter had launched out into a consider-
able increase of expenditure. He got plans on a rather large
scale in .1821 for the extension of Abbotsford, which were all
carried out. To meet his expenses in this and other ways he
received Constable's bills for "four unnamed works of fic-
tion," of which he had not written a line.
Nor were the obligations he incurred on his own account,
or that of his family, the only ones by which he was bur-
dened. He was always iacurring expenses, often heavy ex-
penses, for other people. Such obligations, however, would
have been nothing when compared with Sir Walter's means,
had all his bills on Constable been dul}^ honored, and had
not the printing firm of Ballantyne and Co. been so deepl}'
involved with Constable's house that it necessaril}' became
insolvent when he stopped. Taken altogether, I believe
that Sir Walter earned during his own lifetime at least
£140,000 by his literary work alone, probabl}' more ; while
even on his land and building combined he did not appar-
ently spend more than half that sum.
Thus even his loss of the price of several novels by Con-
stable's failure would not seriously have compromised Scott's
position, but for his share in the printing-house, which fell
with Constable, and the obligations of which amounted to
£117,000.
As Scott had always forestalled his income, — spending
the purchase-mone}' of his poems and novels before they
were written, — such a failure as this, at the age of fiftj'-five,
when all the freshness of his youth was gone out of him,
when he saw his son's prospects blighted as well as his own,
and knew perfectly that James Ballantyne, unassisted by
xxxiv LIFE OF SCOTT.
him, could never hope to pay any fraction of the debt worth
mentioning, would have been paralyzing, had he not been a
man of iron nerve, and of a pride and courage hardly ever
equalled. Domestic calamity, too, was not far off. For two
years he had been watching the failure of his wife's health
with increasing anxiety, and, as calamities seldom come
single, her illness took a most serious form at the very time
when the blow fell, and she died within four months of the
failure. Nay, Scott was himself unwell at the critical
moment, and was taking sedatives which discomposed his
brain.
And this was Scott's preparation for his failure, and the
bold resolve which followed it, — to work for his creditors as
he had worked for himself, and to pay off, if possible, the
whole £117,000 by his own literary exertions.
His estate was conveyed to trustees for the benefit of his
creditors till such time as he should pay off Ballantyne and
Co.'s debt, which of course in his lifetime he never did. Yet
between January, 1826, and January, 1828, he earned for
his creditors very nearly £40,000. Woodstock sold for £8228,
" a matchless sale," as Sir Walter remarked, " for less than
three months' work." Had Sir Walter's health lasted, he
would have redeemed his obligations on behalf of Ballant3^ne
and Co. within eight or nine years at most from the time of
his failure. But what is more remarkable still is that after
his health failed he struggled on with little more than half a
brain, but a whole will, to work while it was yet day, though
the evening was dropping fast.
Not only did he row much harder against the stream of
fortune than he had ever rowed with it, but, what required
still more resolution, he fought on against the growing con-
viction that his imagination would not kindle, as it used to
do, to its old heat.
He struggled on even to the end, and did not consent to
LIFE OF SCOTT. XXXV
try the experiment of a vo3'age and visit to Italy till his
immediate work was done. But the rest came too late.
So intense and continuous had been his application to work
that even his ver}' robust constitution was so completely
exhausted that it was no longer able to repair the ravages
of disease. He spent several months abroad, visiting Malta,
Naples, Rome, Venice, and other places of interest, without
improvement. He intended to visit Goethe, but the death
of the great author at this time changed his plans, increasing
his desire for an immediate return home. He sank rapidl}',
becoming quite unconscious during the latter part of the
homeward journey, until his eye caught the towers of Abbotts-
ford, when he sprang up with a cr}' of delight. Mr. Laidlaw,
a dear friend, was waiting for him, and he met him with a
cr}', "Ha! "Willie Laidlaw. O, man, how often I have
thought of you ! " His dogs came round his chair, and
began to fawn on him and lick his hands, while Sir Walter
smiled or sobbed over them. The next morning he was
wheeled about his garden, and on the following morning was
out in this way for a couple of hours ; within a day or two
he fancied that he could write again, but on taking the pen
into his hand his fingers could not clasp it, and he sank back
with tears rolling down his cheek. Later, when Laidlaw
said in his hearing that Sir Walter had had a little repose,
he replied, "No, Willie; no repose for Sir Walter but in
the grave." As the tears rushed from his e3'es, his old pride
revived. " Friends," he said, " don't let me expose myself;
get me to bed, — that is the only place." A few days after-
wards, awaking conscious and composed, he desired to see
his son-in-law. " Lockhart," he said, " I may have but a
minute to speak to you. My dear, be a good man, — be
virtuous, — be religious, — be a good man. Nothing else
will give you an}' comfort when you come to lie here." He
paused, and Lockhart said, " Shall I send for Sophia and
xxxvi LIFE OF SCOTT.
Anne? " " No,'* said he, "don't disturb them. Poor souls !
I know they were up all night. God bless you all ! " With
this he sank into a very tranquil sleep, and, indeed, he
scarcely afterwards gave any sign of consciousness. He
died Sept. 21, 1832, sixty-one years and one month old.
Well misht Lord Chief Baron Shepherd apply to Scott
Cicero's description of some contemporary of his own, who
" had borne adversity wiseh', who had not been broken by
fortune, and who, amidst the buffets of fate, had maintained
his dignity." There was in Sir Walter, I think, at least as
much of the Stoic as the Christian. But Stoic or Christian,
he was a hero of the old indomitable type. Even the last
fragments of his imaginative power were all turned to account
by that unconquerable will, amidst the discouragement of
friends, and the still more disheartening doubts of his own
mind. Like the headland stemming a rough sea, he was
gradually worn away, but never crushed.
Sir Walter certainly left his "name unstained," unless
the serious mistakes natural to a sanguine temperament such
as his are to be counted as stains upon his name ; and if
they are, where among the sons of men would you find many
unstained names as noble as his with such a stain upon it ?
He was not only sensitively honorable in motive, but, when
he found what evil his sanguine temper had worked, he used
his gigantic powers to repair it, and, as a result of these
almost superhuman efforts, within fifteen years after Sir
Walter's death, the debt was at last, through the value of
the copyrights he had left behind him, finally extinguished,
and the small estate of Abbotsford left cleared. Sir Walter's
effort to found a new house was even less successful than
the effort to endow it.
The only direct descendant of Sir Walter Scott is now
Mary Monica Hope-Scott, who was born on the 2d October,
1852, the grandchild of Mrs. Lockhart, and the great-grand-
child of the founder of Abbotsford.
LIFE OF SCOTT. XXXvii
EXTRACTS FROM LOCKHART'S LIFE OF SCOTT.
"I AM drawing near to the close of my career ; I am fast
shuffling off the stage. I have been perhaps the most volu-
minous author of the da}' ; and it is a comfort to me to think
that I have tried to unsettle no man's faith, to coiTupt no
man's principle."
In the social relations of life, where men are most effec-
tually tried, no spot can be detected in him. He was a
patient, dutiful, reverent son ; a generous, compassionate,
tender husband ; an honest, careful, and most affectionate
father. Never was a more virtuous or a happier fireside
than his. The* influence of his mightv o'enius shadowed it
imperceptiblj' ; his calm good sense, and his angelic sweet-
ness of heart and temper, regulated and softened a strict but
paternal discipline. His children, as they grew up, under-
stood b}' degrees the high privilege of their birth ; but the
profoundest sense of his greatness never disturbed their con-
fidence in his goodness.
Perhaps the most touching evidence of the lasting tender-
ness of his earl}' domestic feelings was exhibited to his
executors, when the}' opened his repositories in search of his
testament, the evening after his burial. On lifting up his
desk, we found arranged in careful order a series of little
objects, which had obviously been so placed there that his
eye might rest on them every morning before he began his
tasks. These were the old-fashioned boxes that had gar-
nished his mother's toilet, when he, a sickly child, slept in
her dressing-room; the silver taper-stand which the young
advocate had bought for her with his first five-guinea fee ;
a row of small packets inscribed with her hand, and contain-
ing the hair of those of her offspring that had died before
her ; his father's snuff-box and etui-case ; and more things
XXXviii LIFE OF SCOTT.
of the like sort, recalling the " old familiar faces." The
same feeling was apparent in all the arrangement of his pri-
vate apartment. Pictures of his father and mother were the
only ones in his dressing-room. The clumsy antique cabi-
nets that stood there, things of a ver}' different class from
the beautiful and costly productions in the public rooms
below, had all belonged to the furniture of George's Square.
Even his father's rickety washing-stand, with all its cramped
appurtenances, though exceedingly unlike what a man of his
very scrupulous habits would have selected in these days,
kept its ground. The whole place seemed fitted up like a
little chapel of the Lares.
Such a son and parent could hardly fail in any of the other
social relations. No man was a firmer or more indefati2:able
friend. I knew not that he ever lost one ; and a few, with
whom, during the energetic middle stage of life, from politi-
cal differences or other accidental circumstances, he lived
less familiarly, had all gathered round him, and renewed the
full warmth of early affection in his later days. There was
enough to dignify the connection in their eyes, but nothing
to chill it on either side. The imagination that so completely
mastered him, when he chose to give her the rein, was kept
under most determined control when any of the positive
obligations of active life came into question. A high and
pure sense of duty presided over whatever he had to do as a
citizen and a magistrate ; and, as a landlord, he considered
his estate as an extension of his hearth.
But his moral, political, and religious character has suf-
ficiently impressed itself upon the great body of his writings.
He is indeed one of the few great authors of modern Europe
who stand acquitted of having written a line that ought to
have embittered the bed of death. His works teach the
practical lessons of morality and Christianity in the most
captivating form — unobtrusively and unaffectedly.
LIFE OF SCOTT. XXXIX
The race that grew up under the influence of that intellect
can hardly be expected to appreciate full}^ their own obliga-
tions to it : and yet, if we consider what were the tendencies
of the minds and works that, but for his, must have been
unrivalled in the power and opportunity to mould young
ideas, we may picture to ourselves in some measure the mag-
nitude of the debt we owe to a perpetual succession, through
thirty years, of publications uuapproached in charm, and all
instilling a high and healthy code ; a bracing, invigorating
spirit ; a contempt of mean passions, whether vindictive or
voluptuous ; humane charity, as distinct from moral laxity
as from unsympathizing austerity ; sagacity too deep for cyn-
icism, and tenderness never degenerating into sentimentality :
animated throughout in thought, opinion, feeling, and style,
by one and the same pure energetic principle — a pith and
savor of manhood ; appealing to whatever is good and loyal
in our natures, and rebuking whatever is low and selfish.
I have no doubt that, the more details of his personal his-
tory are revealed and studied, the more powerfully will that
be found to inculcate the same great lessons with his works.
Where else shall we be taught better how prosperity may be
extended by beneficence, and adversity confronted by exer-
tion? Where can we see the "follies of the wise" more
strikingly rebuked, and a character more beautifully purified
and exalted in the passage through affliction to death?
JAMES v. — THE HIGHLANDERS AND BOR-
DERERS OF SCOTLAND.
-•o»-
[It is hoped that this brief outline, abridged from Scott's " Tales of
a Grandfather," may not only enable the reader to gain a better knowl-
edge of the poem, but also awaken an interest in this important epoch
of Henry the Eighth, and Elizabeth of England, and James V. and
Mary Queen of Scots, and her son, James VI., under whom both
kingdoms were united.]
THERE were two great divisions of the country : namely,
the Highlands and the Borders, which were so much
wilder and more barbarous than the others, that they might
be said to be altogether without law ; and, although they were
nominally subjected to the King of Scotland, yet when he
desired to execute any justice in either of these great dis-
tricts, he could not do so otherwise than by marching there
in person, at the head of a strong body of forces, and seizing
upon the offenders, and putting them to death with little or
no form of trial. Such a rough course of justice, perhaps,
made these disorderly countries quiet for a short time, but it
rendered them still more averse to the royal government in
their hearts, and disposed on the slightest occasion to break
out, either into disorders amongst themselves, or into open
rebeUion. I must give you some more particular account of
these wild and uncivilized districts of Scotland, and of the
particular sort of people who were their inhabitants, that you
may know what I mean when I speak of Highlanders and
Borderers.
xlii THE HIGHLANDERS AND BORDERERS
The Highlands of Scotland, so called from the rocky and
mountainous character of the country, consist of a very large
proportion of the northern parts of that kingdom. It was in-
to these pathless wildernesses that the Romans drove the
ancient inhabitants of Great Britain ; and it was from these
that they afterwards sallied to invade and distress that part
of Britain which the Romans had conquered, and in some
degree civilized. The inhabitants of the Highlands spoke,
and still speak, a language totally different from the Lowland
Scots. That last language does not greatly differ from Eng-
lish, and the inhabitants of both countries easily understand
each other, though neither of them comprehend the Gaelic,
which is the language of the Highlanders. The dress of
these mountaineers was also different from that of the Low-
landers. They wore a plaid, or mantle of frieze, or of a
striped stuff called tartan, one end of which being wrapt
round the waist, formed a short petticoat, which descended
to the knee, while the rest was folded round them hke a sort
of cloak. They had buskins made of raw hide ; and those
who could get a bonnet, had that covering for their heads,
though many never wore one during their whole lives, but
had only their own shaggy hair tied back by a leathern strap.
They went always armed, carrying bows and arrows, large
swords, which they wielded with both hands, called clay-
mores, poleaxes, and daggers for close fight. For defence,
they had a round wooden shield, or target, stuck full of
nails ; and their great men had shirts of mail, not unlike to
the flannel shirts now worn, only composed of links of iron
Instead of threads of worsted ; but the common men were so
far from desiring armor, that they sometimes threw their
plaids away, and fought in their shirts, which they wore very
long and large, after the Irish fashion.
This part of the Scottish nation was divided into clans,
that is, tribes. The persons composing each of these clans
OF SCOTLAND. xliii
believed themselves all to be descended, at some distant
period, from the same common ancestor, whose name they
usually bore. Thus, one tribe was called MacDonald, which
signifies the sons of Donald ; another, MacGregor, or the
sons of Gregor ; MacNeil, the sons of Neil, and so on.
Every one of these tribes had its own separate chief, or
commander, whom they supposed to be the immediate repre-
sentative of the great father of the tribe from whom they
were all descended. To this chief they paid the most un-
limited obedience, and willingly followed his commands in
peace or war ; not caring altliough, in doing so, they trans-
gressed the laws of the King, or went into rebellion against
the King himself. Each tribe lived in a valley, or district of
the mountains, separated from the others ; and they often
made war upon, and fought desperately with, each other.
But with Lowlanders they were always at war. They ditfered
from them in language, in dress, and in manners ; and they
believed that the richer grounds of the low country had for-
merly belonged to their ancestors, and therefore they made
incursions upon it, and plundered it without mercy. The
Lowlanders, on the other hand, equal in courage, and supe-
rior in discipline, gave many severe checks to the High-
landers ; and thus there was almost constant war or discord
between them, though natives of the same country.
Some of the most powerful of the Highland chiefs set
themselves up as independent sovereigns. Such were the
famous Lords of the Isles, called MacDonald, to whom the
island, called the Hebrides, lying on the north-west of Scot-
land, might be said to belong in property. These petty
sovereigns made alliances with the English in their own
name. They took the part of Robert the Bruce in the wars,
and joined him with their forces. We shall find that, after
his time, they gave great disturbance to Scotland. The
Lords of Lorn, MacDougals by name, were also extremely
xlvi .THE HIGHLANDERS AND BORDERERS
unrelenting cruelty, slaughtering the fugitives, executing the
prisoners, and laying waste the country, being determined to
crush out the last spark of this power that had for so many
centuries disturbed the peace of both kingdoms.
Fine military roads were built into those inaccessible glens
and wild mountains, enabling the government to execute the
laws throughout the realm. Severe laws, also, were passed,
forbidding the wearing of the plaid, the national costume,
and the bearing of arms.
These measures were entirely successful in breaking down
this patriarchal system ; and, although they seemed unnec-
essarily harsh at the time, in the end they proved wise and
beneficent. The Highlanders, no longer able to subsist on
plundering the Lowlanders, were obliged to turn their atten-
tion to some other means of gaining a living. Some emi-
grated to America, others enlisted in foreign armies, but the
great majority settled down to an agricultural life. Mingling
together in peaceful pursuits, the difference between High-
lander and Lowlander soon disappeared, and they became
one people, prosperous and happy.
Jasies V. OF Scotland. — 1513-1542.
James V. (James Fitz-James of the poem) was the son of
James the Fourth of Scotland, and Margaret, sister of
Henry the Eighth of England. His father having lost his
life on the battlefield of Flodden, the son became king when
but a child of less than two years of age. For a while, his
mother managed the affairs of the kingdom as regent ; but, be-
coming unpopular, she not only lost the regency, but also the
control of her son, who fell into the hands of the powerful
family of the Douglases, who, although governing in the name
of the young king, nevertheless kept him under such careful
OF SCOTLAND. xlvii
guard that the restraint became very irksome to him, and he
determined to escape from their power. In two attempts by
force he was unsuccessful ; but finally, on pretence of going
hunting, he escaped from his captivity, and fled into the
strong fortress of Stirling Castle, whose governor was
friendly to him. Here he assembled around him the nu-
merous nobilitv favorable to him, and threatened to declare
a traitor any of the name of Douglas who should approach
within twelve miles of liis person, or who should attempt to
meddle with the administration of government. He retained,
ever after, this implacable resentment against the Douglases,
not permitting one of the name to settle in Scotland while he
lived. James was especially ungenerous to one Archibald
Douglas of Kilspindie, the one mentioned in the poem who
had been a favorite of the voung; Kino-. He was noted for
great strength, manly appearance, and skill in all kinds of
exercises. When an old man, becomino- tired of his exile in
England, he resolved to try the King's mercy, thinking that,
as he had not personally offended James, he might find favor
on account of their old intimacy. He therefore threw himself
in the King's wav one dav as he returned from huntins^ in
the Park at Stirling. Although it was several years since
James had seen him, he knew him at a great distance by his
firm and stately step. When they met he showed no sign of
recognizing his old servant. i)ouglas turned, hoping still
to obtain a glance of favorable recollection, and ran along
by the King's side ; and, although James trotted his horse
hard, and Douglas wore a heavy shirt of mail, yet he reached
the castle gate as soon as the King. James passed b}' him,
without the slightest sign of recognition, and entered the
castle. Douglas, exhausted, sat down at the gate and asked
for a cup of wine ; but no domestic dared to oflfer it. The
King, however, blamed this discourtesy in his servants, say-
ing that, but for his oath, he would have received Archibald
xlviii THE HIGHLANDERS AND BORDERERS
into his service. Yet he sent his command for him to retire
to France, where the old man soon died of a broken heart.
Freed from the stern control of the Douglas family, James
V. now began to exercise the government in person, and dis-
played most of the qualities of a wise and good prince. He
was handsome in his person, and resembled his father in the
fondness for military exercises, and the spirit of chivalrous
honor which James IV. loved to display. He also inherited
his father's love of justice, and his desire to estabhsh and
enforce wise and equal laws, which should protect the weak
against the oppression of the great. It was easy enough to
make laws, but to put them in vigorous exercise was of much
greater difficulty ; and, in his attempt to accomplish this laud-
able purpose, James often incurred the ill-will of the more
powerful nobles. He was a well-educated and accomplished
man, and, like his ancestor, James I., was a poet and musi-
cian. He had, however, his defects. He avoided his father's
failing of profusion, having no hoarded treasures to employ
on pomp and show ; but he rather fell into the opposite fault,
being of a temper too parsimonious ; and, though he loved
state and display, he endeavored to gratify that taste as
economically as possible, so that he has been censured as
rather close and covetous. He was also, though the foibles
seem inconsistent, fond of pleasure, and disposed to too
much indulgence. It must be added that, when provoked,
he was unrelenting even to cruelty ; for which he had some
apology, considering the ferocity of the subjects over whom
he reio-ned. But, on the whole, James Y. was an amiable
man and a good sovereign.
His first care was to bring the Borders of Scotland to some
deo-ree of order. As before stated, these were inhabited by
tribes of men, forming each a different clan, as they were
called, and obeying no orders, save those which were given
by their chiefs. These chiefs were supposed to represent the
OF SCOTLAND. xlix
first founder of the name or family. The attachment of the
clansmen to the chief was very great ; indeed, the}' paid
respect to no one else. In this the Borderers agreed with the
Highlanders, as also in tlieii- love of plunder and neglect of
the o-eneral laws of the country. But the Border men wore
no tartan dress, and served almost always on horseback,
whereas the Highlanders acted always on foot. The Bor-
derers spoke the Scottish language, and not the Gaelic
tongue used by the mountaineers.
The situation of these clans on the frontiers exposed them
to constant war ; so that they thought of nothing else but of
collecting bands of their followers together, and making in-
cursions, without much distinction, on the English, on the
Lowland (or inland) Scots, or upon each other. They paid
little respect either to times of truce or treaties of peace, but
exercised their depredations without regard to either, and
often occasioned wars betwixt England and Scotland which
would not otherwise have taken place.
James' first step was to secure the persons of the principal
chieftains by whom these disorders were privately encour-
aged, and who might have opposed his purposes, and im-
prison them in separate fortresses.
He then assembled an army, in which warlike purposes
were united with those of S3'lvan sport ; for he ordered all the
gentlemen, in the wild districts which he intended to visit, to
bring in their best dogs, as if his only purpose had been to
hunt the deer in those desolate regions. This was intended
to prevent the Borderers from taking the alarm, in which
case the}' would have retreated into their mountains and
fastnesses, from whence it would have been difficult to dis-
lodge them.
These men had indeed no distinct idea of the offences
which they had committed, and consequently no apprehension
of the King's displeasure against them. The laws had been
1 THE HIGHLANDERS AND BORDERERS
SO long silent in that remote and disorderly country,, that the
outrages which were practised by the strong against the
weak seemed to the perpetrators the natural course of
society, and to present nothing that was worthy of punish-
ment. Thus the King suddenl}" approached the castles of
tliese great lords and barons, while they were preparing a
great entertainment to welcome him, and caused them to be
seized and executed.
There is reason to censure the extent to which James car-
ried his severity, as being to a certain degree impolitic, and
beyond doubt cruel and excessive.
In the like manner, James proceeded against the Highland
chiefs ; and, by executions, forfeitures, and other severe
measures, he brought the Northern mountaineers, as he had
alread}^ done those of the South, into comparative subjection.
Such were the effects of the terror struck by these general
executions, that James was said to have made " the rush
bush keep the cow " ; that is to say, that, even in this law-
less part of the country, men dared no longer make free with
property, and cattle might remain on their pastures un-
watched. James was also enabled to draw profit from the
lands which the crown possessed near the Borders, and is
said to have had ten thousand sheep at one time grazing in
Ettrick forest, under the keeping of one Andrew Bell, who
gave the King as good an account of the flock as if they had
been grazing in the bounds of Fife, then the most civilized
part of Scotland.
James V. had a custom of going about the country dis-
guised as a private person, in order that he might hear com-
plaints which might not otherwise reach his ears, and,
perhaps, that he might enjo}' amusement which he could not
have partaken of in his avowed royal character.
He was also ver}' fond of hunting, and, when he pursued
that amusement in the Highlands, he used to wear the pecu-
OF SCOTLAND. li
liar dress of that conntr}^, having a long and wide Highland
shirt, and a jacket of tartan velvet, with plaid hose, and
everything else corresponding.
The reign of James V. was not alone distinguished by his
personal adventures and pastimes, but is honorablv remem-
bered on account of wise laws made for the government of
his people, and for restraining the crimes and violence which
were frequently practised among them ; especially those of
assassination, burning of houses, and driving of cattle, the
usual and ready means by which powerful chiefs avenged
themselves of their feudal enemies.
Had not James become involved in a war with Henry the
Eighth of England, he might have been as fortunate a prince
as his many good qualities deserved ; but, the war going
against him, in despair and desolation he shut himself up in
his palace, refusing to Usten to consolation. A burning
fever, the consequence of his grief and shame, seized on the
unfortunate monarch. When they brought him tidings that
his wife had given birth to a daughter, who afterwards be-
came the brilliant, but most unfortunate, Mary Queen of
Scots, he only replied, "Is it so?" reflecting on the alliance
which had placed the Stewart family on the throne ; " then
God's will be done. It came with a lass, and it will go with
a lass." With these words, presaging the extinction of his
house, he made a signal of adieu to his courtiers, spoke httle
more, but turned his face to the wall and, w^hen scarcely
thirty-one years old, in the very prime of life, he died of the
most melancholy of all diseases, a broken heart.
ARGUMENT.
The scene of the following Poem is laid chiefly in the vicinity of
Loch Katrine, in the Western Highlands of Perthshire. The time
of Action includes Six Days, and the transactions of each Day
occupy a Canto.
OUTLINE OF CANTO FIRST.
In "The Lady of the Lake" the poet describes Highland charac-
ter and life as they existed towards the close of the middle ages,
by means of a narrative of one of James V.'s adventures. In the
first canto, which is entitled "The Chase," he begins with a long-
account of a stag hunt in the Highlands of Perthshii-e. As the
chase lengthens, the sportsmen one by one drop off, till at last, the
king, who is the foremost horseman, is found alone, and his horse,
worn out with fatigue, stumbles and falls dead. The lone hunts-
man pursues his way through a rocky ravine, till, ascending a
craggy height, he sees, by the light of the setting sun. Loch Katrhie
stretched beneath him in all its beauty. After gazing in admii-a-
tion upon the beautiful scene, he winds his horn in the hope of
being heard by some of his companions, and to his surprise a little
skiff guided by a young lady shoots out from the shadow of a tree,
and approaches the shore. The lady, thinking it was her father's
horn she heard, draws back in fear at the sight of a stranger, but,
after receiving his explanation, they row across the lake to her
island home. There, her father being absent, young Ellen, as the
lady is named, and the mistress of the mansion entertain the hunts-
man with true highland hospitality. He discloses his name and
rank as " The Knight of Snowdoun, James Fitz-James," and tries
in every way, but in vain, to learn the names of his hosts. At
length he retires to rest ; but his sleep is disturbed by dreams so
strange and fearful that he rises from his couch, and walks out
into the moonlight to shake off the dread visions of the night.
After quieting his disturbed mind, he returns to his bed, says a
prayer, and sleeps till awakened in the morning by the crowing of
the heath-cock. With this the first canto ends. — Stevens & Morris.
IV I -'^31-
THE
LADY OF THE LAKE.
THE CHASE.
Haep of the North ! that mouldering long hast hung
On the witch-elm that shades Saint Fillan's spring,
And down the fitful breeze th}^ numbers flung,
Till envious ivy did around thee cling,
Muffling with verdant ringlet every string, — 5
O Minstrel Harp, still must thine accents sleep ?
'Mid rustling leaves and fountains mui-muring,
Still must thy sweeter sounds their silence keep,
Nor bid a warrior smile, nor teach a maid to weep ?
Not thus, in ancient days of Caledon, lO
Was thy voice mute amid the festal crowd,
1. Harp of the North ! An invocation to ancient Scottish minstrelsy.
The barp was formerly the national musical instrument.
2. Witch-elm. The broad-leaved elm. Twigs cut from it were used as
riding whips for good luck; also for divining rods. — Saint Fillan. A
Scotch abbot of the seventh century.
3. Numbers. Lines or verses of poetry.
G. Minstrel. The minstrels, as the wandering singers and musicians of
the middle ages were called, were always welcomed wherever they went.
They sang songs recounting the valiant deeds of their entertainers and
their ancestors. S. & M.
10. Caledon. For Caledonia, the ancient name of Scotland.
THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto i.
When lay of hopeless love, or glory won,
, : -Aroused the fearful or subdued the proud.
At each according pause was heard aloud
Thine ardent symphony sublime and high ! 15
Fair dames and crested chiefs attention bowed ;
For still the burden of thy minstrelsy
Was Knighthood's dauntless deed, and Beauty's match-
less eye.
O, wake once more ! how rude soe'er the hand
That ventures o'er thy magic maze to stray ; 20
O, wake once more ! though scarce my skill command
Some feeble echoing of thine earlier lay :
Though harsh and faint, and soon to die away,
And all unworthy of thy nobler strain.
Yet if one heart throb higher at its sway, 25
The wizard note has not been touched in vain.
Then silent be no more I Enchantress, wake again !
I.
The stag at eve had drunk his fill,
Where danced the moon on Monan's rill,
14. According pause. In music, that which suitably fills the intervals.
15. Ardent symphony. Stirring music with which the minstrel filled
up the pauses of his lay. S. & M.
16. Crested. Plumed. — 17. Minstrelsy. Song.
18. Knighthood. In the middle ages a knight was a person admitted to
a certain military rank, as a reward for brave and gallant deeds. Knights
took certain oaths, among which, perhaps, the most important was that
they would succor the oppressed, especially ladies, whenever they had the
opportunity. S. & M.
20. Maze. Perplexing way. — 26. Wizard. Enchanting.
29. Monan. A Scotch martyr of the fourth century.
CANTO 1. THE CHASE. 5
And deep his midnight lair had made 30
In lone Glenartney's hazel shade ;
But when the sun his beacon red '-^M/'>^-
Had kindled on Benvoirlich's head,
The deep-mouthed bloodhound's heavy bay
Resounded up the rocky way, 35
And faint, from farther distance borne,
Were heard the clanging hoof and horn.
II.
As Chief, who hears his warder call,
" To arms ! the foemen storm the wall,"
The antlered monarch of the waste 40
Sprung from his heathery couch in haste.
But ere his fleet career he took.
The dew-drops from his flanks he shook ;
Like crested leader proud and high
Tossed his beamed frontlet to the sky ; 45
A moment gazed adown the dale,
A moment snuffed the tainted gale,
A moment listened to the cry.
That thickened as the chase drew nigh ;
30. Lair. Bed of a wild beast.
31. Glenartney. A valley through which a small stream called the
Artney flows.
32. Beacon. A signal-fire on a hill or mountain. The use of the word
here is very effective, comparing the early rays of the sun on the mountain
top to a fire kindled for an alarm. f
33. Benvoirlich. A mountain north of Glenartney. Ben means monn-
tain. (See map.) — 38. Warder. Keeper or guard.
45. Beamed frontlet. The forehead of a stag, with full-grown antlers
or horns.
47. Tainted gale. The wind, laden with the scent or odor of the
hunter, which the deer perceives at a great distance.
6 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto i.
Then, as the headmost foes appeared, so
With one brave bound the copse he cleared,
And, stretching forward free and far.
Sought the wild heaths of Uam-Var.
in.
Yelled on the view the opening pack ;
Rock, glen, and cavern paid them back ; 55
To many a mingled sound at once
The awakened mountain gave response.
A hundred dogs hsijed deep and strong,
Clattered a hundred steeds along.
Their peal the merry horns rung out, 60
A hundred voices joined the shout ;
With hark and whoop and wild halloo,
No rest Benvoirlich's echoes knew.
Far from the tumult fled the roe.
Close in her covert cowered the doe, 65
The falcon, from her cairn on high.
Cast on the rout a wondering eye,
51. Copse. Bushes, or wood of small growth.
53. TJam-Var. Ua-var, as the name Is pronounced, or more properly
Uaighmor, is a mountain to the north-east of the village of Callender in
Menteith, deriving its name, which signifies the great den or cavern, from a
sort of retreat among the rocks on the south side, said, by tradition, to have
been the abode of a giant. In latter times it was the refuge of robbers and
banditti, who have been only extirpated within these forty or fifty years.
Strictly speaking, this stronghold is not a cave, as the name would imply,
but a sort of small enclosure or recess, surrounded with large rocks, and open
above head. Scott.
54. Opening pack. A hunting term, alluding to the hounds barking
at sight of the game. — 64. Hoe. A small species of deer.
66. Falcon [/cm' A;' n]. A hawk. — Cairn. A heap of stones.
67. Hout. Tumultuous crowd.
CANTO I. THE CHASE.
Till far beyond her piercing ken
The hurricane had swept the glen.
Faint, and more faint, its failing din 70
Returned from cavern, cliff, and linn,
And silence settled, wide and still,
On the lone wood and mighty hill.
IV.
Less loud the sounds of sylvan war
Disturbed the heights of Uam-Var, 75
And roused the cavern where, 'tis told,
A criant made his den of old ;
For ere that steep ascent was won.
High in his pathway hung the sun,
And many a gallant, stayed perforce, 80
Was fain to breathe his faltering horse,
And of the trackers of the deer.
Scarce half the lessening pack was near;
So shrewdly on the mountain-side
Had the bold burst their mettle tried. 85
V.
The noble stag was pausing now
Upon the mountain's southern brow,
Where broad extended, far beneath,
The varied realms of fair Menteith.
With anxious eye he wandered o'er 90
Mountain and meadow, moss and moor,
(58. Ken. Sight.— 69. Hurricane. The chase, like a violent wind, had
svvepttheglen. — 71. Linn. Cataract ; pool.
74. Sylvan war. Woodland war against the stag, i.e., hunting.
81. Fain. Glad. — «4. Shrewdly. Severely.
89. Menteith. A district watered by the Teith.
8 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto i.
And pondered refuge from liis toil,
By far Lo chard or Aberfoyle.
But nearer was the copsewood gray.
That waved and wept on Loch Achray, 95
And mingled with the pine-trees blue
On the bold cliffs of Benvenue.
Fresh vigor with the hope returned,
With flying foot the heath he spurned.
Held westward with unwearied race, lOO
And left behind the panting chase.
VI.
'Twere long to tell what steeds gave o'er,
As swept the hunt through Cambusmore ;
What reins were tightened in despair,
When rose Benledi's ridge in air ; 105
Who flagged upon Bochastle's heath.
Who shunned to stem the flooded Teith, —
For twice that day, from shore to shore.
The gallant stag swam stoutly o'er.
93. Lochard. A small lake near the village of Aberfoyle.
95. Loch Achray. "The Lake of the Level Field." A small lake at
the foot of Benvenue. — 97. Benvenue. "Center Mountain," being mid-
way between Ben Lomond and Ben Ledi. (See map.)
99. Heath. A low shrub very abundant on the hills and mountains of
Scotland. Its foliage gives to the landscape a very soft olive tinge; its
blossoms, a purplish hue.
103. Cambusmore. An estate near Callander.
105. Benledi. A mountain near Callander. The name signifies
"Mountain of God."
106. Bochastle's heath. A flat plain between the east end of Loch
Vennachar and Callander. Taylor.
107. The flooded Teith. The Teith, receiving the waters of Lochs
Lubnaig, Voil, Vennachar, Achray, and Katrine, was liable to overflow its
banks in rainy seasons.
CANTO I. THE CHASE. ' 9
Few were the stragglers, following far, no
That reached the lake of Veiinachar;
And when the Brigg of Turk was won,
The headmost horseman rode alone.
VII.
^Alone, but with unbated zeal,
\^ That horseman plied the scourge and steel ; ii5
For, jaded now, and spent with toil.
Embossed with foam, and dark with soil.
While every gasp with sobs he drew.
The laboring stag strained full in view.
Two dogs of black Saint Hubert's breed, 120
Unmatched for courage, breath, and speed,
Fast on his flying traces came,
And all but won that desperate game ;
For, scarce a spear's length from his haunch,
Vindictive toiled the bloodhounds st'anch ; 125
Nor nearer might the dogs attain.
Nor farther might the quarry strain.
Thus up the margin of the lake,
Between the precipice and brake,
O'er stock and rock their race they take. ibo
111. Vennachar. "Lake of the Fair Valley," one of the three lakes
arouud which the scenery of the poem lies. — 112. Brigg of Turk. An old
stone bridge over the Turk, a small stream in Glentiulas valley.
115. Scourge and steel. Whip and spur. —117. Embossed. Hunted
until the foam from the mouth covered the stag like raised figures in orna-
mental work. — 120. Saint Hubert. The hounds which are called St. Hu-
bert's are found of various colors, but are commonly all black. The abbots
of St. Hubert have always kept some of this race of hounds in remembrance
of their patron saint, who was a hunter. — 125. Vindictive. Revengeful. —
Stanch hound. Reliable in the pursuit of game.
127. Quarry. The hunted animal. —12i). Brake. Coarse ferns; bushes.
130. Stock. Log or stump.
:'C> ^
10 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto i.
VIII.
The Hunter marked that mountam high,
The lone lake's western boundary,
And deemed the stag must turn to bay,
Where that huge rampart barred the way ;
Already glorying in the prize, 135
Measured his antlers with his eyes ;
For the death-wound and death-halloo
Mustered his breath, his whinyard drew : —
But thundering as he came prepared,
With ready arm and weapon bared, ^ 140
The wily quarry shunned the shock.
And turned him from the opposing rock ;
^^^^-^^lien, dashing down a darksome gleii, Cyrnrfiod n
Soon lost to hound and Hunter's l^eji, . ^ |#
In the deep Trosachs' wildest nook rUUVuMXj 145
His solitary refuge took.
133. Turn to bay. The turning of the stag to face and fight his pursuers
when no longer able to escape them. — 134. Rampart. Beuvenue.
137. For the death wound, etc. When the stag turned to bay, the
ancient hunter had the perilous task of going in upon, and killing or dis-
abling the desperate animal. At certain times of the year this was held
particularly dangerous, a wound received from a stag's horn being then
deemed poisonous, and more dangerous than one from the tusks of a boar.
Scott. — Death-halloo. The shout when the huntsman had given the
death stroke to the stag. —138. Whinyard. A sword or hanger.
145. Trosachs. The name Trosachs, or "bristled territory," is gen-
erally applied to the whole country about Loch Katrine, but, strictly speak-
ing, belongs only to the region between Lochs Katrine and Achray. A fine
turnpike, shaded by overhanging trees and abrupt mountain cliffs, winds
through this beautiful wild valley. It is the more enjoyable because it is
so rare in Scotland to see anything like a native forest. The trees are
mostly set out when very small and so thickly and irregularly as to resem-
ble a natural growth. They are cultivated not so much for the timber as a
shelter for game. The mountains of Scotland for the most part are treeless.
With the exception of a few of the highest peaks which are barren, they
CANTO I. thp: chase. 11
There, while close coiiched the thicket shed
Cold dews and wild flowers on his head.
He heard the baffled dogs in vain
Rave through the hollow pass amain, 150
Chiding the rocks that yelled again.
IX.
Close on the hounds the Hunter came,
To cheer them on the vanished game ;
But, stumbling hi the rugged dell.
The gallant horse exhausted fell. 155
The impatient rider strove in vain
To rouse him with the sj)ur and rein.
For the good steed, his labors o'er,
Stretched his stiff limbs, to rise no more ;
Then, touched with pity and remorse, i<)0
He sorrowed o'er the expiring horse.
'' I little thought, Avhen first thy rein
I slacked upon the banks of Seine,
That Highland eagle e'er should feed
On thy fleet limbs, my matchless steed ! Kis
Woe worth the chase, woe worth the day.
That costs thy life, my gallant gray ! "
are covered to the very tops with heather and grass kept greeu by the fre-
quent rains. Not only are these beautiful mountains with the thousands of
white sheep moving to and fro over their sides pleasant to look upon, but
they form a great source of wealth to the peoj^le as is well known by the
quantity and excellence of the Scotcli woollens.
147. Couched. Concealed. — 150. Amain. Vigorously.
151. Chiding, etc. The constant barking echoed back by the rocks.
1G3. Seine. A river in France.
IGG. Woe worth the chase. Woe bo to the chase. Worth used in the
sense of he, imperative.
12 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto i,
X.
Then through the dell his horn resounds,
From vain pursuit to call the hounds.
Back limped, with slow and crippled pace, 170
The sulky leaders of the chase ;
Close to their master's side they pressed,
With drooping tail and humbled crest;
But still the dingle's hollow throat
Prolonged the swelling bugle-note. 175
The owlets started from their dream.
The eagles answered with their scream,
Round and around the sounds were cast.
Till echo seemed an answering blast ;
And on the Hunter hied his way, . 180
To join some comrades of the day,
Yet often paused, so strange the road.
So wondrous were the scenes it shoAved.
XI.
j^he Avestern waves of ebb^n^' day
I Rolled o'er the glen their level way ; 185
I Each purple peak, each flinty spire,
\Was bathed in floods of living fire.
But not a setting beam could glow
Within the dark ravines below,
AVhere twined the })ath in shadow hid, 190
Round many a rocky pyramid.
Shooting abruptly from the dell
Its thunder-spliutered pinnacle ;
174. Dingle. A small valley between hills. — 180. Hied. Hastened.
185. Level way. Horizontal rays from the setting sun.
193. Pinnacle. A lofty summit.
CANTO I. THE CHASE. 13
Round many an insulated mass,
The native bulwarks of the pass, ii>">
Huge as the tower which builders vain
Presumptuous piled on Shinar's plain.
The rocky summits, split and rent,
Formed turret, dome, or battlement.
Or seemed fantastically set 2m
With cupola or minaret.
Wild crests as pagod ever decked,
Or mosque of Eastern architect.
Nor were these earth-born castles bare,
Nor lacked they many a banner fair ; 205
For, from their shivered brows displayed.
Far o'er the unfathomable glade,
All twinkling with the dewdrops sheen,
The brier-rose fell in streamers green.
And creeping shrubs of thousand dyes 210
Waved in the west-wind's summer sighs.
XII. _
Boon nature scattered, free and wild.
Each plant or flower, the mountain's child.
Here eglantine embalmed the air,
Hawthorn and hazel mingled there ; 215
194. Insulated. Standing by itself like au island. — 195. Native bul-
warks. Natural fortifications or defences. — 196. Tower. Tower of
liabel. Genesis xi. 1-9.— 199. Turret. A small tower forming a part of a
building. — Battlement. A wall round the top of a castle, with openings
to look through and annoy the enemy. —201. Minaret. A high, slender
turret on a Mohammedan Mosque from which the people are called to
prayers. — 202. Pagod. Pagoda, a heathen temple. — 20n. Mosque. A
Mohammedan temple of worship. — 204. Earth-born castles. ^Mountains.
207. Glade. An opening through a wood.— 208. Sheen. Shining.
214. Eglantine. A species of wild rose; sweet-brier.
;[4 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto i.
The primrose pale and violet flower
Found in each cleft a narrow bower ;.
Foxglove and nightshade, side by side,
Emblems of punishment and pride.
Grouped their dark hues with every stain 220
The weather-beaten crags retain.
With boughs that quaked at every breath.
Gray birch and aspen wept beneath ;
Aloft, the ash and warrior oak
Cast anchor in the rifted rock ; 225
And, higher yet, the pine-tree hung
His shattered trunk, and frequent flung,
Where seemed the cliffs to meet on high,
His boughs athwart the narrowed sky.
Highest of all, where white peaks glanced, 230
Where glistening streamers waved and danced,
The wanderer's eye could barely view
The summer heaven's delicious blue ;
So wondrous wild, the whole might seem
The scenery of a fairy dream. 235
XIII.
Onward, amid the copse 'gan peep
A narrow inlet, still and deep,
Affording scarce such breadth of brim
As served the wild duck's brood to swim.
Lost for a space, through thickets veering,
But broader when again appearing,
Tall rocks and tufted knolls their face
Could on the dark-blue mirror trace ;
240
223. Aspen. Called also the trembling poplar, because of the quivering
of the leaves in the slightest breeze. — 240. Veering. Turning or winding.
CANTO I. THE CHASE. 15
And farther as the Hunter strayed,
Still broader sweep its channels made. 245
The shaggy mounds no longer stood,
Emerging from entangled wood,
But, wave-encircled, seemed to float.
Like castle girdled with its moat ;
Yet broader floods extending still 250
Divide them from their parent hill.
Till each, retiring, claims to be
An islet in an inland sea.
XIV.
And now, to issue from the glen,
No pathway meets the wanderer's ken, 255
Unless he climb with footing nice
A far-projecting precipice.
The broom's tough roots his ladder made,
The hazel saplings lent their aid ;
And thus an airy point he won, 260
Where, gleaming with the setting sun,
One burnished sheet of living gold,
Loch Katrine lay beneath him rolled,
249. Moat. A ditch round a castle for defence.
250. Unless lie climb, etc. Until the present road was made through
the romantic pass which I have presumptuously attempted to describe in
the preceding stanzas, there was no mode of issuing out of the defile called
the Trosachs, excepting by a sort of ladder, composed of the branches and
roots of trees. Scott. —258. Broom. A large, bushy shrub liaving tough,
leafless stems and flowers of a deep golden yellow. Brooms were so called
because they were originally made from it. S. »& M.
2(53. Loch Katrine. The scene of the poem is one of the most beautiful
of the Scottish lakes, situated in Perthshire. It is about eight miles long
and two miles wide, serpentine in shape, and surrounded by high mountains
and deep ravines. A small steamer plies on the lake. Near its outlet is
situated Ellen's Isle in the wild region of the Trosachs. It is supposed to
have derived its name from " Catterins or Ketterins, a wild baud of robbers.
who orowled about its shores to the terror of all wayfarers."
16 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto i.
In all her length far winding lay,
With promontory, creek, and bay, 2«5
And islands that, enipnrpled bright,
Floated amid the livelier light,
And mountains that like giants stand
To sentinel enchanted land.
High on the south, huge Benvenue 270
Down to the lake in masses threw
Crags, knolls, and mounds, confusedly hurled.
The fragments of an earlier world ;
A wildering forest feathered o'er
His ruined sides and summit hoar, 275
While on the north, through middle air,
Ben-an heaved hioh his forehead bare.
XV.
From the steep promontory gazed
The stranger, raptured and amazed,
And, " What a scene were here," he cried,
" For princely pomp or churchman's pride !
On this bold brow, a lordly tower ;
In that soft vale, a lady's bower ;
On yonder meadow far away
The turrets of a cloister gray ; 285
How blithely might the bugle-horn
Chide on the lake the lingering morn !
How sweet at eve the lover's lute
Chime when the groves were still and mute !
280
269. Sentinel. To guard. —274. Wildering. Bewildering.
277. Ben-an. "Little Mountain," lying north of the Trosachs.
285. Cloister. A place of retirement from the world for religious duties ;
a convent. A cloister for women is called a nunnery; for men, a monastery.
CANTO I. THE CHASE. IT
And when the midnight moon should lave 290
Her forehead in the silver wave,
How solemn on the ear would come
The holy matins' distant hum,
While the deep peal's commanding tone
Should wake, in yonder islet lone, 20r.
A sainted hermit from his cell,
To drop a bead with every knell !
And bugle, lute, and bell, and all,
Should each bewildered stranger call
To friendly feast and lighted hall. 300
XVI. ^
'' Blithe were it then to wander here I
But now — beshrew yon nimble deer ! —
Like that same hermit's, thin and spare.
The copse must give my evening fare ;
Some mossy bank my couch must be, 305
Some rustling oak my canopy.
Yet pass we that ; the war and chase
Give little choice of resting-place ; —
A summer night in greenwood spent
Were but to-morrow's merriment : 3io
But hosts may in these wilds abound.
Such as are better missed than found ;
To meet with Highland plunderers here
Were worse than loss of steed or deer. —
290. Lave. Bathe.— 293. Matins. Early morning prayers in Catholic
churches.— 297. Bead. Formerly meant a prayer, and hence came to be
applied to the small perforated balls used in keeping an account of the num-
ber of prayers recited. — ".02. Beshrew. " May ill betide " ; a slight curse.
313. Highland plunderers. The class who inhabited the romantic
regions in the neighborhood of Loch Katrine, were, even until a late period,
much addicted to predatory excursions upon their Lowland neighbors. Scott.
18 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto i.
I am alone ; — 1113^ bugle-strain 315
May call some straggler of the train ;
Or, fall the worst that may betide,
Ere now this falchion has been tried."
XVII.
But scarce again his horn he wound,
When lo ! forth starting at the sound, S20
From underneath an aged oak
That slanted from the islet rock,
A damsel guider of its way,
A little skiff shot to the bay.
That round the promontor}^ steep S25
Led its deep line in graceful swee[),
Eddying, in almost viewless Avave,
The weeping willow twig to lave.
And kiss, with whispering sound and slriw.
The beach of pebbles bright as snow. 3:30
The boat had touched this silver strand
Just as the Hunter left his stand,
And stood concealed amid the brake.
To view this Lady of the Lake.
The maiden paused, as if again 335
She thought to catch the distant strain.
With head upraised, and look intent,
And eye and ear attentive bent,
And locks flung back, and lips apart,
Like monument of Grecian art, 340
Li listening mood, she seemed to stand,
The guardian Naiad of the strand.
318. Falchion [fawl'chioi]. A broadsword with slightly curved point.
340. Monument of Grecian art. A statue. — 342. Naiad [iV«'?/ad]. A
water-nymph or goddess presiding over rivers and springs.
CANTO I.
THE CHASE. 1^
XVIII.
And ne'er did Grecian chisel trace
A Nymph, a Naiad, or a Grace,
Of finer form or lovelier face ! •^•"^
What tliough the sun, with ardent frown,
Had slightly tinged her cheek with brown, —
The sportive toil, which, short and light.
Had dyed her glowing hue so bright,
Served too in hastier swell to show '^^
Short glimpses of a breast of snow :
What though no rule of courtly grace
To measured mood had trained her pace, —
A foot more light, a step more true.
Ne'er from the heath-llower dashed the dew : "^^^
E'en the slight harebell raised its head.
Elastic from her airy tread :
What though upon her speech there hung
The accents of the mountain tongue, —
Those silver sounds, so soft, so dear.
The listener held his breath to hear !
3()0
XIX.
A chieftain's daughter seemed the maid;
Her satin snood, her silken plaid,
Her golden brooch, such birth betrayed.
;M4. Graces. Beautiful females represented by ancient writers as
attendants of Venus. — 353. Measured mood. Studied behavior.
363. Snood. A head-band worn by Scottish maidens. —Plaid. Pro-
nounced vhiycd by the Scotch. It consisted of about a dozen yards of
woollen cloth, checked with threads of various bright colors. It was
wrapped around the middle of the body, fastened with a belt, and ex-
tended down to the knee. It was much worn as an over-garment by the
Highlanders of both sexes, and each clan was distinguished by its own
peculiar plaid or tartan. —304. Brooch \J)rucl{\ . Breastpin.
'20 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto i.
And seldom was a snood amid 365
Such wild luxuriant ringlets hid,
Whose glossy black to shame might bring
The plumage of the raven's wing ;
And seldom o'er a breast so fair
Mantled a j^laid with modest care, 370
And never brooch the folds combined
Above a heart more good and kind.
Her kindness and her worth to spy,"'
You need but gaze on Ellen's eye ;
Not Katrine in her mirror blue 375
Gives back the shaggy banks more true.
Than every free-born glance confessed
The guileless movements of her breast ;
Whether joy danced in her dark eye,
Or woe or pity claimed a sigh, 380
Or filial love was glowing there,
Or meek devotion poured a prayer.
Or tale of injury called forth
The indignant spirit of the North.
One only passion unrevealed 385
With maiden pride the maid concealed,
Yet not less purely felt the flame ; —
O, need I tell that passion's name ?
XX.
Impatient of the silent horn,
Now on the gale her voice was borne : — 390
" Father ! " she cried ; the rocks around
Loved to prolong the gentle sound.
368. Eaven, A bird like the crow.
381. Filial love. The love of son or daughter for a parent.
CANTO I. THE CHASE. 21
Awhile she paused, no answer came ; —
'^Malcohn, was thine the blast?" the name
Less resolutely uttered fell, 395
The echoes could not catch the swell.
'' A stranger I," the Huntsman said,
Advancing from the hazel shade.
The maid, alarmed, with hasty oar
Pushed her light shallop from the shore, 400
And when a space was gained between.
Closer she drew her bosom's screen ; —
So forth the startled swan would swing,
So turn to prune his ruffled wing.
Then safe, though fluttered and amazed, 405
She paused, and on the stranger gazed.
Not his the form, nor his the eye.
That youthful maidens wont to fly.
XXI.
On his bold visage middle age
Had slightly pressed its signet sage,, 4io
Yet had not quenched the open truth
And fiery vehemence of youth;
Forward and frolic glee was there.
The will to do, the soul to dare.
The sparkling glance, soon blown to fire, 4io
Of hasty love or headlong ire.
His limbs were cast in manly mould
For hardy sports or contest bold ;
And though in peaceful garb arrayed,
And weaponless except his blade, 420
4(>i. Prune. To trim and arrauge the feathers with the bill. — 408. "V^nt.
Are accustomed. — 410. Signet sage. Seal of wisdom ; impression of gravity.
22 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto i.
His stately mien as well implied
A high-born heart, a martial pride,
As if a baron's crest he wore.
And sheathed in armor trode the shore.
Slighting the pett}^ need he showed, 425
He told of his benighted road ;
His ready speech flowed fair and free.
In phrase of gentlest courtesy.
Yet seemed that tone and gesture bland
Less used to sue than to command. 430
XXII.
Awhile the maid the stranger ej^ed,
And, reassured, at length replied.
That Highland halls were open still
To wildered wanderers of the hill.
" Nor think you unexpected come 435
To yon lone isle, our desert home ;
Before the heath had lost the dew,
This morn, a couch was pulled for you ;
On yonder mountain's purple head
Have ptarmigan and heath-cock bled, 440
And our broad nets have swept the mere.
To furnish forth your evening cheer." —
" Now, by the rood, my lovely maid.
Your courtesy has erred," he said ;
" No right have I to claim, misplaced, 445
Tlie welcome of expected guest.
425. Slighting the need. Treating lightly his lack of food and shelter.
42G. Benighted. Overtakenby night. — 440. Ptarmigan. White grouse.
-Heath-cock. Black grouse. —441. Mere. Lake.
443. By the rood. By the cross. A phrase formerly used in swearing.
CANTO I. THE CHASE. 23
A wanderer, here by fortune tost,
My way, my friends, my courser lost,
I ne'er before, believe me, fair.
Have ever drawn your mountain air, 450
Till on this lake's romantic strand
I found a fay in fairy land ! " —
XXllT.
"I well believe,"' the maid replied.
As her light skiff approached the side, —
" I well believe, that ne'er before 4r)o
Your foot has trod Loch Katrine's shore ;
But yet, as far as yesternight.
Old Allan-bane foretold your plight, —
A gray-haired sire, whose eye intent
Was on the visioned future bent. 4W
He saw your steed, a dappled gray,
Lie dead beneath the birchen way ;
Painted exact your form and mien.
Your hunting-suit of Lincoln green.
That tasselled horn so gayly gilt, 4ti5
That falchion's crooked blade and hilt.
That cap with heron plumage trim,
452. Fay. An imaginary spirit : a fairy.
460. On tlie visioned future bent. If force of evidence could authorize
us to believe facts inconsistent with the general laws of nature, enough
might be produced in favor of the existence of the Second-sight. "The
second-sight is a singular faculty of seeing an otherwise invisible object
without any previous means used by the i)ers<)n that used it for that end :
the vision makes such a lively impression upon the seers, that they neither
see nor think of anything else, except the vision, as long as it continues;
and then they appear pensive or jovial, according to the object that was
represented to them." Scott. — 4()3. Mien. INIanner. — 404. Lincoln green.
The color of cloth formerly made in Lincoln and worn by the Lowland
huntsmen. — 4<i7. Heron. A wading bird with long l)i!l. neck, and legs.
24 THE LADY OF THE EAKE. canto i.
And yon two hounds so dark and grim.
He bade that all should ready be
To grace a guest of fair degree ; 470
But light I held his prophecy,
And deemed it was my father's horn
Whose echoes o'er the lake were borne."
XXIV.
The stranger smiled : — '^ Since to your home
A destined errant-knight I come, 475
Announced by prophet sooth and old,
Doomed, doubtless, for achievement bold,
I'll lightly front each high emprise
For one kind glance of those bright eyes.
Permit me first the task to guide 48o
Your fairy frigate o'er the tide."
The maid, with smile suppressed and sly,
The toil unwonted saw him try ;
For seldom, sure, if e'er before,
His noble hand had grasped an oar: 485
Yet with main strength his strokes he drew,
And o'er the lake the shallojj flew;
With heads erect and whimpering cry.
The hounds behind their passage pl3^
Nor frequent does the bright oar break 4iio
The darkening mirror of the lake,
Until the rocky isle they reach.
And moor their shallop on the beach.
475. Errant-knight. A knight wandering in search of adventure.
47G. Sooth. True. —478. Emprise. A dangerous undertaking.
492. Kocky isle. Ellen's Isle, situated at the foot of the beautiful Loch
Katrine, is a small island containing two or three acres of land rising ab-
ruptly from the water to a height of from twenty-five to fifty feet. It is
CANTO I. THE CHASE. 25
XXV.
The stranger viewed the shore around ;
'Twas all so close with copsewood bound, 495
Nor track nor pathway might declare
That human foot frequented there.
Until the mountain maiden showed
A clambering unsuspected road,
That winded through the tangled screen, 500
And opened on a narrow green,
Where weeping birch and willow round
With their long fibres swept the ground.
Here, for retreat in dangerous hour.
Some chief had framed a rustic bower. 505
XXVI.
It was a lodge of ample size,
But strange of structure and device ;
Of such materials as around
The workman's hand had readiest found.
covered with a thick undergrowth of shrubbery, ferns, honeysuckle, and
heather, with a few native birches and pines. The landing is in a slight
recess hidden by trees. The ascent is up a steep bank, the roots of the
trees forming steps in the winding path well trodden by the thousands of
travellers yearly visiting this wild and romantic spot. As the traveller
lingers here he recalls the events of this poem more as matters of history
than the creation of the great Poet. Beautiful as are lake, isle, and " Silvan
Strand," one is glad to yield a grateful tribute to the memory of him who
has invested this spot with a charm that shall endure so long as the love of
knight and maiden shall interest mortals.
504. For retreat in dangerous hour. The Celtic chieftains, whose
lives were continuallyexpo.sed to peril, had usually, in the most retired
spot of their domains, some place of retreat for the hour of necessity, which,
as circumstances would admit, was a tower, a cavern, or a rustic hut, in a
strong and secluded situation. One of these last gave refuge to the un-
fortunate Charles Edward, in his perilous wanderings after the battle of
Culloden Scott. —507. Device. Design.
26 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto r.
Lopped of their boughs, their hoar trunks bared, sio
And by the hatchet rudely squared.
To give the walls their destined height,
The sturdy oak and ash unite ;
While moss and clay and leaves combined
To fence each crevice from the wind. 51.")
The lighter pine-trees overhead
Their slender length for rafters spread,
And withered heath and rushes dry
Supplied a russet canopy.
Due westward, fronting to the green, 520
A rural portico was seen.
Aloft on native pillars borne,
Of mountain fir with bark unshorn.
Where Ellen's hand had taught to twine
The ivy and Idsean vine, 525
The clematis, the favored flower
Which boasts the name of virgin-bower,
And every hardy plant could bear
Loch Katrine's keen and searching air.
An instant in this porch she stayed, 530
And gayly to the stranger said :
" On heaven and on thy lady call.
And enter the enchanted hall ! "
XXVI [.
^' My hope, my heaven, ray trust must be.
My gentle guide, in following thee ! " — 535
He crossed the threshold, — and a clang
Of angry steel that instant rang.
525. Idsean vine. Red whortleberry. Ida is a mountain in Crete.
528. Which could bear : relative omitted.
CANTO I. I'llK CHASE. 27
^To his bold brow his spirit rushechO
But soon for vain alarm he blushed,
When on the floor he saw displayed, 540
Cause of the din, a naked blade
Dropped from the sheath, that careless Hun^'
Upon a stag's huge antlers swung ;
For all around, the walls to grace,
Hung trophies of the tight or chase : 54-)
A target there, a bugle here,
A battle-axe, a hunting-spear.
And broadswords, bows, and arrows store,
With the tusked trophies of the boar.
Here grins the wojf as when he died, 550 ^
And there the wild-cat's brindled hide
The frontlet of the elk adorns.
Or mantles o'er the bison's horns ;
Pennons and flags defaced and stained.
That blackening streaks of blood retained, 555
And deer-skins, dappled, dun, and white,
With otter's fur and seal's unite,
In rude and uncouth tapestry all.
To garnish forth the sylvan h_all.
XXVIIl.
The wondering stranger rcmnd him gazed, sou
And next the fallen weapon raised : —
Few were the arms Avhose sinewy strength
Sufficed to stretch it forth at length.
And as the brand he poised and swayed,
" T never knew but one," he said, o(m
545. Trophies. Things taken as signs of victory. — 546. Target. A
small shield used for defence in battle. — 55(5. Dun. Dark brown.
559. Garnish. Decorate or furnish.
28 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto i.
" Whose stalwart arm might brook to wield
A blade like this in battle-field."
She sighed, then smiled and took the word :
" You see the guardian champion's sword ;
As light it trembles in his hand 570
As in my grasp a hazel wand :
My sire's tall form might grace the part
Of Ferragus or Ascabart,
But in the absent giant's hold
Are women now, and menials old." 575
XXTX. •
The mistress of the mansion came,
Mature of age, a graceful dame.
Whose easy step and stately port
Had well become a princely court.
To whom, though more than kindred knew, 580
Young Ellen gave a mother's due.
Meet welcome to her guest she made.
And ever}- courteous rite was paid
That hospitality could claim,
Though all unasked his birth and name. 585
566. Brook. Endure. —573. Ferragus and Ascabart. Fabled giants.
575. Menials. Servants. — 578. Port. Bearing, deportment.
580. More than kindred knew. Ellen's mother being dead, she loved
this Lady Margaret, her maternal aunt, as .though she were her mother,
and treated her as such. S. »& M.
585. Unasked his birth and name. The Highlanders, who carried
hospitality to a punctilious excess, are said to have considered it as churlish
to ask a stranger his name or lineage, before he had taken refreshment.
Feuds were so frequent among them, that a contrary rule would in many
cases have produced the discovery of some circumstance which might
have excluded the guest of the benefit of the assistance he stood in need
of. Scott.
CANTO I. THE CHASE. 29
Such then the reverence to a guest,
That fellest foe might join the feast,
And from his deacUiest foeman's door
Unquestioned turn, the banquet o'er.
At length his rank the stranger names, 590
'' The Knight of Snowdoun, James Fitz-James ;
Lord of a barren heritage,
Which his brave sires, from age to age.
By their good swords had held with toil
His sire had fallen in such turmoil, 595
And he, God wot, was forced to stand
Oft for his right with blade in hand.
This morning with Lord Moray's train
He chased a stalwart stag in vain.
Outstripped his comrades, missed the deer, 600
Lost his good steed, and wandered here."
XXX.
Fain would the Knight in turn require
The name and state of Ellen's sire.
Well showed the elder lady's mien
That courts and cities she had seen ; 6O5
Ellen, though more* her looks displayed
The simple grace of sylvan maid,
Li speech and gesture, form and face.
Showed she was come of gentle race.
'Twas strange in ruder rank to find 010
Such looks, such manners, and such mind.
Each hint the Knight of Snowdoun gave,
Dame Margaret heard with silence grave ;
587. Jellest. Mostcruel. - 591. Snowdoun. Name of Stirliug Castle.
SeeCaDtoVI.,liue789.— 592. Heritage. Inlieritauce. — 596. Wot. Knows.
28 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto i
Or Ellen, innocently gay,
Turned all inquiry light away ; — t>i5
" Weird women we I by dale and down
We dwell, afar from tower and town.
We stem the flood, we ride the blast,
On wandering knights our spells we cast ;
While viewless minstrels touch the string, t)20
'Tis thus our charmed rhymes we sing."
She sung, and still a harp unseen
Filled up the symphony between.
XXXL
Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er,
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking ; g25
Dream of battled fields no more.
Days of danger, nights of waking.
In our isle's enchanted hall,
Hands unseen thy couch are strewing,
Fairy strains of music fall, tj30
Every sense in slumber dewing.
Soldier, rest I thy warfare o'er,
Dream of fighting fields no more ;
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking,
Morn of toil, nor night of waking. 635
" No rude sound shall reach thine ear, '
Armor's clang or war-steed champing,
Trump nor pibroch summon here
Mustering clan or squadron tramping.
616. Weird. Skilled in witchcraft. —63L Dewing. Bedewing; re-
freshing. — 638. Pi'brocli. A Highland air played upon the bagpipe.
CAN-TO I. THE CHASE. 31
Yet the lark's shrill fife may come f>4<'
At the daybreak from the fallow,
And the bittern sound his drum,
Booming from the sedgy shallow.
Ruder sounds shall none be near,
(ruards nor warders challenge here, '>^-'
Here's no war-steed's neigh and champing,
Shouting clans or squadrons stamping."'
xxxn.
She paused, — then, blushing, led the lay,
To grace the stranger of the day.
Her mellow notes awhile prolong 650
The cadence of the flowing song.
Till to her lips in measured frame
The minstrel verse spontaneous came.
^ong Contimub.
" Huntsman, rest ! thy chase is done ;
While our slumbrous spells assail ye, 655
Dream not, with the rising sun.
Bugles here shall sound reveille.
Sleep ! the deer is in his den ;
Sleep ! thy hounds are by thee lyiug ;
vSleep I nor dream in 3^onder glen 660
How th}^ gallant steed lay dying.
()41. Fallow. Ploughed land for some time uncultivated.
042. Bittern. A wading bird, allied to the heron.
643. Sedgy. Covered with a kind of plant which resembles coarse grass
or rash, and grows in tufts. — 045. Warders. Keepers or sentinels.
051. Cadence. The falling or variation of the voice.
057. Keveille [Revdl'ya]. The beat of drums, or bugle-call at day-
break for awakening the soldiers.
32 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto i.
Huntsman, rest ! thy chase is done ;
Think not of the rising sun,
For at dawning to assail ye
Here no bugles sound reveille." mT^
xxxTir.
The hall was cleared, — the stranger's bed,
Was there of mountain heather spread,
Where oft a hundred guests had lain,
And dreamed their forest sports again.
But vainly did the heath-flower shed 670
Its moorland fragrance round his head ;
Not Ellen's spell had lulled to rest
The fever of his troubled breast.
In broken dreams the image rose
Of varied perils, pains, and woes : 675
His steed now flounders in the brake,
Now sinks his barge upon the lake ;
Now leader of a broken host,
His standard falls, his honor's lost.
Then, — from my couch may heavenly might 680
Chase that worst phantom of the night ! —
Again returned the scenes of youth,
Of confident, undoubting truth ;
Again his soul he interchanged
With friends whose hearts were long estranged. 685
They come, in dim procession led.
The cold, the faithless, and the dead;
As warm each hand, each brow as gay,
As if they parted yesterday.
681. Phantom. A vision of the fancy; a ghost.
CANTO I THE CHASE. 33
And doubt distracts him at the view, — 690
O were his senses false or true?
Dreamed he of death or broken vow,
Or is it all a vision now ?
XXXIV.
At length, Avith Ellen in a grove
He seemed to walk and speak of love ; C95
She listened with a blush and sigh.
His suit was warm, his hopes were liigh.
He sought her yielded hand to clasp,
And a cold gauntlet met his grasp :
The phantom's sex was changed and gone, too
Upon its head a helmet shone ;
Slowly enlarged to giant size.
With darkened cheek and threatening eyes,
The grisly visage, stern and hoar,
, To Ellen still a likeness bore. — 705
He woke, and, panting with affright.
Recalled the vision of the night.
The hearth's decaying brands were red.
And deep and dusky lustre shed,
Half showing, half concealing, all 710
The uncouth trophies of the hall.
'Mid those the stranger fixed his eye
Where that huge falchion hung on high,
And thoughts on thoughts, a countless throng.
Rushed, chasing countless thoughts along, 7i5
Until, the giddy whirl to cure,
He rose and sought the moonshine pure.
699, Gauntlet. A glove protected on the back with metal, and formerly
used in battle. — 704. Grisly visage. Frightful face.
34 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto i.
XXXV.
The wild rose, eglantine, and broom
Wasted around their rich perfume ;
The birch-trees wept in fragrant balm ; 720
The aspens slept beneath the calm;
The silver light, with quivering glance,
Played on the water's still expanse, — ^-. .
Wild were the heart whose passion's sway
Could rage beneath the sober ray ! 72.")
He felt its caLiu that warrior guest.
While thus he communed with his breast : —
" Why is it, at each turn I trace
Some memory of that exiled race ?
Can I not mountain maiden spy, 730
But she must bear the Douglas eye?
Can I not view a Highland brand,
But it must match the Douglas hand ?
Can I not frame a fevered dream.
But still the Douglas is the theme? 735
I'll dream no more, — by manly mind
Not even in sleep is will resigned.
My midnight orisons said o'er,
I'll turn to rest, and dream no more."
His midnight orisons he told, 740
A prayer with every bead of gold.
Consigned to heaven his cares and woes,
And sunk in undisturbed repose,
Until the heath-cock shrilly crew.
And morning dawned on Benvenue.
7.'^2. Brand. Sword.— 73S. Orisons. Prayers.
(+.)
OUTLTXE OF CANTO SECOXD.
The stranger, ^vllo has aiiiiounced himself as "the knight of
Snowdoun, James Fitz-James," leaves the island in the early morn-
ing. The old minstrel speeds him on his way with a song of
farewell, and Ellen w^atches his departure with an interest for
which she soon reproaches herself, as implying disloyalty to her
lover, Malcolm Grceme. She calls upon the old man to sing her
Malcolm's praises; but Allan has not forgotten the fallen sword
of yesternight : it is to him an omen of evil. He attempts in vain
a joyous strain ; involuntarily he touches but chords of woe. The
maiden tries to assuase his fears bv a more cheerful view of their
fortunes ; for she can hardly remember the proud days which he
regrets. But Allan's discernment sees a new danger to her peace
which she has not yet suspected : the rough chief w-hose hospitality
now shelters them is hoping for his reward in his cousin's hand.
Besides this, he suspects this stranger guest ; his coming can bring-
no good. Their conversation is interrupted by the sounds of
music, and the proud pibroch, followed by a vigorous "Boat Song,"
introduces us to this rough cousin, Roderick the Black, on his
return from a Lowdand raid. His mother, with her maids, comes
down to welcome him. Ellen, who, with her eyes opened, is un-
willing to do aught that may seem to favor his suit, is reluctantly
following, when she hears her father's bugle-horn, and darts aside
to her skiff to convey him from the mainland. With him comes
Malcolm Grseme, who has been his guide, and who is no welcome
guest to Roderick, though he does not fail in hospitality. Roderick
receives news of a sus])icious gathering of the king's forces, and of
the discovery of Douglas's retreat. The latter ]»roposes to with-
draw, and so save his host from peril; but Rodt^rick seizes the
36 OUTLINE or CANTO SECOND.
opportunity of making his proposal for his cousin's hand. With
the Douglas by his side, he may set the king at defiance. Douglas
watches its effect upon his daughter, and, seeing that " her affec-
tions do not that way tend," courteously declines the offer. Ellen,
unable to bear the sight of her cousin's despair, rises to leave the
room, and Malcolm has the bad taste to come forward, as of right,
to be her escort. Roderick cannot brook this parade of successful
rivalry, and a somewhat unseemly encounter follows, which ends
in Malcolm swimming across to the mainland rather than be
indebted to his rival.
Some of the mystery of the previous canto is removed in this,
and we learn in the most natural way the former grandeur of the
Douglas family, and their present outlawry ; the character of their
protector, and his hopes of reward. Our interest in the fallen
house is increased by the noble contentment with which they bear
their change of fortune. Complaint comes from the minstrel, not
from Ellen or her father. The latter finds greater happiness in
his daughter's truth and affection than in his former pomp, and is
prepared rather to face fresh ills as an outcast than to raise his
hand against the king, who has done him wrong, but whom still
he loves. — Taylok.
THE ISLAND.
At morn the black-cock trims his jetty wing,
'Tis morning prompts the linnet's blithest lay,
All Nature's children feel the matin spring
Of life reviving, with reviving day ;
And while yon little bark glides down the bay,
Wafting the stranger on his way again.
Morn's genial influence roused a minstrel gray.
And sweetly o'er the lake was heard thy strain,
^Nlixed with tlie sounding harp, white-haired
Allan-bane !
II.
" Not faster yonder rowers' might lo
Flings from their oars the spray,
Not faster yonder rippling bright.
That tracks the shallop's course in light.
Melts in the lake away,
Than men from memory erase 15
The benefits of former days ;
2. Linnet. A small siuging-bird. — Lay. Song. —3. Matin [3/«rm] .
Morning. —«•. White-haired Allan-bane. To a late period Highland
chieftains retained in their service the bard, as a family officer.
38 THE LADY 0¥ THE LAKE. canto ii.
Then, stranger, go ! good speed the while,
Nor think agam of the lonely isle.
'* High place to thee in royal court,
High place in battled line, -t>
Good hawk and hound for sylvan sport !
Where beauty sees the brave resort,
The honored meed be thine I """
True be thy sword, thy friend sincere,
Thy lady constant, kind, and dear, -^5
And lost in love's and friendship's smile
Be memory of the lonely isle !
III.
'^ But if beneath yon southern sky
A plaided stranger roam.
Whose drooping crest and stifled sigli, 30
And sunken cheek and heavy eye,
Pine for his Highland home ;
Then, warrior, then be thine to show
The care that soothes a wanderer's ^yoe ;
Remember then thy hap erewhile, 35
A stranger in the lonely isle.
" Or if on life's uncertain main
Mishap shall mar thy sail ;
If faithful, wise, and brave in vain,
Woe, want, and exile thou sustain 40
Beneath the fickle gale ;
17. Speed. Success. — 23. Meed. Reward.— 29. Plaided. See plaid,
line 363, Canto I. —35. Hap. Lot or fortune. —37. Main. Sea.
CAN-TO II. THE ISLAND. 89
Waste not a sigh on fortune changed.
On thankless courts, or friends estranged,
But come where kindred wurth shall smile.
To greet thee in the lonely isle." 4.-.
IV.
As died the sounds upon the tide,
The shallop reached the mainland side.
And ere his onward way he took,
The stranger cast a lingering look.
Where easily his eye miglit reach so
The Harper on the islet beach,
Reclined against a blighted tree.
As wasted, gray, and worn as he.
To minstrel meditation given,
His reverend brow was raised to heaven, 55
As from the rising sun to claim
A sparkle of inspiring flame.
His hand, reclined upon the wire,
Seemed watching the awakening fire ;
So still he sat as those who wait 60
Till judgment speak the doom of fate ;
So still, as if no breeze might dare
To lift one lock of lioary hair ;
So still, as life itself were fled
In the last sound his harp had sped. <v)
V.
Upon a rock with lichens wild.
Beside him Ellen sat and smiled. —
(i(). Lichens [Li'k-i'ns]. Patches of grayish plauts, improperly called
mosses, gruwiug on rocks uud trees.
40
THE LADY OE THE LAKE.
CANTO II.
Smiled she to see the stately drakes
Lead forth his fleet upon the lake^^^^
While her vexed spaniel from the bead
Bayed at the prize beyond his reach
Yet tell me, then, the maid who know^
Why deepened on her cheek thero^^y—
Forgive, forgive. Fidelity
Perchance the maiden smiled to
Yon parting lingerer wave adieu.
And stop and turn to wave anew
And, lovely ladies, ere your ire
Condemn the heroine of my lyr(
Show me the fair would scorn to sp^
And prize such conquest of her eye
70
75
80
VI.
While yet he loitered on the spot^
It seemed as Ellen marked him nol
But when he turned him to tlie glad^
One courteous parting sign she made
And after, oft the knight would mjj
That not when prize of festal da;v
Was dealt him by the brightest fab.
Who e'er wore jewel in her hair,
So highly did his bosom swell.
As at that simple mute farewell
Now with a trusty mountain-guic
And his dark stag-hounds by his sid)
He parts, — the maid, unconscious stil
Watched him wind slowly round the hill
85
90
95
69. Fleet. The ducks sailing over the waters.
CANTO II.
THE ISLAND. 41
But when liis stately form was hid,
The guardian in her bosom ohid, —
" Thy Malcolm ! vain and selfish maid ! "
'Twas thus upbraiding conscience said, —
" Not so liad Malcolm idly hung loo
On the smooth phrase of Southern tongue ;
Not so had Malcolm strained his eye
Another step than thine to spy." —
'' Wake, Allan-bane," aloud she cried
To the old minstrel by her side, — 105
" Arouse thee from thy moody dream !
I'll give thy harp heroic theme,
And warm thee with a noble name ;
Pour forth the glory of the Graeme ! "
Scarce from her lip the word had rushed, no
When deep the conscious maiden blushed ;
For of his clan, in hall and bower.
Young Malcolm Graeme was held the flower.
109. Graeme. The ancient and powerful family of Graham (which, for
metrical reasons, is here spelt after the Scottish pronunciation) held ex-
tensive possessions in the counties of Dumbarton and Stirling. Few
families can boast of more historical renown, having claim to three of the
most remarkable characters in the Scottish annals. Sir John the Graeme,
the faithful and undaunted partaker of the labors and j^atriotic warfare of
Wallace, fell in the unfortunate field of Falkirk, in 1298. The celebrated
Marquis of Montrose, in whom De Retz saw realized his abstract idea of
the heroes of antiquity, was the second of these worthies. And, notwith-
standing the severity of his temper, and the rigor with which he executed
the oppressive mandates of the princes whom he served, I do not hesitate
to name as a third, John Graeme of Claverhouse, Viscount of Dimdee,
whose heroic death in the arms of victory may be allowed to cancel the
memory of his cruelty to the Nonconformists, during the reigns of Charles
II. and James II. Scott.
112. Bower. Chamber or lady's parlor. "In hall or bower." In
assemblies of men and women. — Clan. A number of families united under
one chieftain, having a common ancestor, and bearing the same surname.
42 THE LADY OF THE LAKP:. canto ii.
VII.
The minstrel waked his haqj, — three times
Arose the well-known martial ehimes, us
And thrice their high heroic pride
In melancholy murmurs died.
'' Vainly thou bidst, O noble maid,"
Clasping his withered hands, he said,
" Vainly thou bidst me wake the strain, 120
Though all unwont to bid in vain. ^
Alas ! than mine a mightier hand
Has tuned my harp, my strings has spanned !
T touch the chords of joy, but low
And mournful answer notes of woe ; 125
And the proud march which victors tread
Sinks in the wailing for the dead.
O, well for me, if mine alone
That dirge's deep prophetic tone !
If, as my tuneful fathers said, . iy^>
This heart, which erst Saint Modan swayed.
Can thus its master's fate foretell.
Then welcome be the minstrel's knell I
VIII.
"But ah ! dear lady, thus it sighed.
The eve thy sainted mother died ;
185
121. Unwont. Unaccustomed. — 131. Erst. Formerly.
131. Saint Modan. I am not prepared to show that Saint Modan was
a performer on the harp. It was, however, no uusaintly accomplishment;
for Saint Dunstan certainly did play upon that instrument, which retaining,
as was natural, a portion of the sanctity attached to its master's character,
announced future events by Hi spontaneous sound. Scott.
133. Knell. A death sigual or note of evil omen.
CANTO II.
THE ISLAND. 43
And such the sound s which, while I strove
To wake a laj of w^' or love,
Came marring all the festal njirth^
Appalling me who gave them birth.
And, disobedient to my oaii, i-io
Wailed loud through Bothwell's bannered hall.
Ere Douglases, to ruin driven.
Were exiled from their native heaven. —
O ! if yet worse mishap and woe
My master's house must undergo, 145
Or aught but weal to Ellen fair
Brood in these accents of despair.
No future bard, sad Harp ! shall fling
Triumph or rapture from thy string ;
One short, one final strain shall flow, 150
Fraught with unutterable woe.
Then shivered shall thy fragments lie.
Thy master cast him down and die ! "
141. Bothwell's bannered hall. Bothwell Castle, now in ruius, situ-
ated near Glasgow on the Clyde.
142. Douglases. The Douglas family had been exceedingly powerful
ever since the great wars with England, when James Douglas had been the
chief friend of Bruce, the champion of national independence. The Earls
of Douglas and of Angus, with their many relatives, had since grown so
powerful and unscrupulous as to be the terror of kings and people ; so that
it was said that no justice could be obtained against a Douglas or a Doug-
las's man. Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, had married Margaret
Tudor, the mother of James V., and the young king, in his boyhood, had
been held in such subjection that when at last he made his escape from
the numerous Douglases who guarded and watched him, he hated the very
name of the family, and banished every one of them, including a brave old
man, Douglas of Kilsjuudie, who had been a great favorite with him in his
cliildhood, and from whom the character of the Douglas of the poem is
taken. Yonge.
151. Fraught. Filled.
44 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto ii.
IX.
Sootliing she answered him : " Assuage,
Mine honored fnend, the fears of age ; 155
All melodies to thee are known
That har])_has rung or pipe has blown,
In Lowland vale or Highland glen,
From Tweed to Spej — what niarvel, then,
At times unbidden notes should rise, 160
Confusedly bound in memory's ties,
Entangling, as they rush along.
The war-maj^h with the funeral song ? —
Small ground is now for boding fear;
Obscure, but safe, we rest us here. 165
My sij^, in native virtue great,
Resigning lordship, lands, and state.
Not then to fortune more resigned
Than yonder oak might give the wind ;
The graceful foliage storms may reave, 170
The noble stem they cannot grieve.
For me " — she stooped, and, looking round.
Plucked a blue harebell from the ground, —
" For me, whose memory scarce conveys
An image of more splendid da^, its
This little flower that loves the lea
May well my simple emblem be ;
It drinks heaven's dew as blithe as rose
That in the King's own garden grows ;
154. Assuage. Soothe or abate. — 159. Tweed and Spey. Throughout
the whole country, the Tweed being the southern boundary and the Spey
in the far north. — 164. Boding. Foretelling. — 170. Reave. To tear from
or sweep away. — 173. Harebell. A plant which bears blue, bell-shaped
ilowers; called also the bluebell of Scotland.
17(). Lea. Meadow, pasture —177. Emblem. Symbol or type.
CANTO II. THE ISLAND. 45
And when I place it in my hair, 180
Allan, a bard is bound to swear
He ne'er saw coronet so fair."
Then playfully the chaplet wild
She wreathed in her dark locks, and smiled.
X.
Her smile, her speech, with winning sway, i85
Wiled the old Harper's mood away.
With such a look as hermits throw.
When angels stoop to soothe their woe.
He gazed, till fond regret and pride
Thrilled to a tear, then thus replied : 190
'' Loveliest and best ! thou little know'st
The rank, the honors, thou hast lost !
O, might I live to see thee grace.
In Scotland's court, thy birthright place.
To see my favorite's step advance 195
The lightest in the courtly dance.
The cause of every gallant's sigh,
And leading star of every eye.
And theme of every minstrel's art.
The Lady of the Bleeding Heart! " 200
XI.
'* Fair dreams are these," the maiden cried, —
Light was her accent, yet she sighed, —
182. Coronet. The small crown or circlet worn by peers and peeresses.
186. Wiled. Beguiled. — 200. The Bleeding Heart. The shield of the
Douglas family bore a red heart crowned, in remembrance of the charge
given on his death-bed by Robert Bruce to James Douglas to bear his heart
to Jerusalem.
46 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto ii.
" Yet is this mossy rock to me
Worth splendid chair and canopy ;
Nor would my footstep spring more gay -'05
In courtly dance than blithe strathspey,
Nor half so pleased mine ear incline
To royal minstrel's lay as thine.
And then for suitors proud and high,
To bend before my conquering eye, — 210
Thou, flattering bard ! thyself wilt say,
That grim Sir Roderick owns its sway.
The Saxon scourge, Clan-Alpine's pride.
The terror of Loch Lomond's side,
Would, at my suit, thou know'st, delay 215
A Lennox foray — for a day." —
XII.
The ancient bard her glee repressed :
" 111 hast thou chosen theme for jest !
For who, through all this western wild,
Named Black Sir Roderick e'er, and smiled ? 220
In Holy-Rood a knight he slew ;
I saw, when back the dirk he drew,
20(3. Strathspey. A lively Scottish dance.
213. Alpine. An ancient king from whom several clans claimed descent.
214. Loch Lomond. One of the largest and most beautiful of Scottish
lakes, near Loch Katrine.
216. Lennox foray. The raid of a body of armed men, for the sake of
plunder, into the territory of the Lennox family, which lay around the
south end of Loch Lomond.
220. Black Sir Roderick. See note, 1. 408.
221. Holy-Rood. A castle in Edinburgh, the residence of the royal
family of Scotland. —In Holy-Rood a knight he slew. This was by no
means an uncommon occurrence in the Court of Scotland; nay, the
presence of the sovereign himself scarcely restrained the ferocious and
inveterate feuds which were the perpetual source of bloodshed among the
Scottish nobility. Scott.
CANTO II. THE ISLAND. 47
Courtiers give place before the stride
Of the undaunted homicide ;
And since, though outhiwed, hath his hand 225
Full sternly kept his mountain land.
. Who else dared give — ah ! woe the day,
That I such hated truth should say ! —
The Douglas, like a stricken deer,
Disowned by every noble peer, 230
Even the rude refuge we have here ?
Alas, this wild marauding Chief
Alone might hazard our relief.
And now thy maiden charms expand,
Looks for his guerdon in thy hand ; 235
Full soon may dispensation sought.
To back his suit, from Rome be brought.
224. Undaunted. Bold, fearless. — Homicide. A person who kills
another. — 225. Outlawed. Deprived of the protection of the law.
230. Disowned by every noble peer. The exiled state of this powerful
race is not exaggerated in this and subsequent passages. The hatred of
James against the race of Douglas was so inveterate, that, numerous as
their allies were, and disregarded as the regal authority had usually been
in similar cases, their nearest friends, even in the most remote parts of
Scotland, durst not entertain them, unless under the strictest and closest
disguise. James D>ouglas, son of the banished Earl of Angus, afterwards
well known by the title of Earl of Morton, lurked, during the exile of his
family, in the north of Scotland, under the assumed name of James Tunes,
otherwise James the Grieve {i.e., Reve or Bailiff). "And as he bore the
name," says Godscroft, "so did he also execute the office of a grieve or
overseer of the lands and rents, the corn and cattle of him with whom he
lived." From the habits of frugality and observation which he acquired
in his humble situation, the historian traces that intimate acquaintance
with poi^ular character, which enabled him to rise so high in the state, and
that honorable economy by w^hich he repaired and established the shattered
estates of Angus and ISIorton. Scott. —232. Marauding. Plundering.
233. Hazard our relief. Run the risk of helping Ellen and her father.
235. Guerdon. Reward.
2;^;. Dispensation. The granting of a license by the Pope ; in this
case permission for Roderick to marry his cousin Ellen.
48 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. panto ii.
Then, though an exile on the hill,
Thy father, as the Douglas, still
Be held in reverence and fear ; 240
And though to Roderick thou'rt so dear
That thou niightst guide with silken thread.
Slave of thy will, this chieftain dread,
Yet, O loved maid, thy mirth refrain !
Thy hand is on a lion's mane." — 245
XIII.
"Minstrel," the maid replied, and high
Her father's soul glanced from her eye,
"My debts to Roderick's house I know:
All that a mother could bestow
To Lady Margaret's care I owe, 250
Since first an orphan in the wild
She sorrowed o'er her sister's child ;
To her brave chieftain son, from ire
Of Scotland's king who shrouds my sire,
A deeper, holier debt is owed ; 255
And, could I pay it with my blood,
Allan ! Sir Roderick should command
My blood, my life, — but not my hand.
Rather will Ellen Douglas dwell
A votaress in Maronnan's cell ; 2(;o
Rather through realms beyond the sea,
Seeking the Avorld's cold charity,
254. Shrouds. Protects.
260. Votaress. A woman devoted to any particular service or worship.
— Maronnan. The parish of Kilmarouock, at the eastern extremity of
Loch Lomond, derives its name from a cell or chapel, dedicated to Saint
Maronnan. Scott.
CANTO II.
THE ISLAND. 40
Where ne'er was spoke a Scottish word,
And ne'er the name of Douglas heard,
An outcast pilgrim will she rove, 265
Than wed the man she cannot love.
XIV.
" Thou shak'st, good friend, thy tresses gray, —
That pleading look, what can it say
But w^hat I own ? — I grant him brave.
But wild as Bracklinn's thundering wave ; 270
And generous, — save vindictive mood
Or jealous transport chafe his blood :
I grant him true to friendly band,
As his claymore is to his hand;
But O ! that very blade of steel 275
More mercy for a foe would feel :
I grant him liberal, to fling
Among his clan the wealth they bring.
When back by lake and glen they wind.
And in the Lowland leave behind, 280
Where once some pleasant hamlet stood,
A mass of ashes slaked with blood.
The hand that for my father fought
I honor, as his daughter ought ;
But can I clasp it reeking red 2s,^)
From peasants slaughtered in their shed ?
No ! wildly Avhile his virtues gleam.
They make his passions darker seem,
270. Bracklinn. This is a beautiful cascade made 1)y a mountain
stream called the Keltic, at a place called the Bridge of Brackliuu, about a
mile from the village of Callander. Scott. — 274. Claymore. A large
sword formerly used by the Highlanders. — 282. Slaked. Drenched.
285. Reeking red. Steaming with fresh blood.
50 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto n.
And flash along his spirit high,
Like lightning o'er the midnight sky. 290
While yet a child, — and children know,
Instinctive taught, the friend and foe, —
I shuddered at his brow of gloom,
His shadowy plaid and sable plume ;
A maiden grown, I ill could bear 295
His haughty mien and lordly air :
But, if thou join'st a suitor's claim,
In serious mood, to Roderick's name,
I thrill with anguish ! or, if e'er
A Douglas knew the word, with fear. 300
To change such odious theme were best, —
What think'st thou of our stranger guest?*' —
" What think I 0:^^ him ? — woe the while
That brought such wanderer to our isle !
Thy father's battle-brand, of yore 305
For Tine-man forged by fairy lore.
What time he leagued, no longer foes,
His Border spears with Hotspur's bows.
Did, self-unscabbarded, foreshow
The footstep of a secret foe. 3io
If courtly spy hath harbored here,
What may we for the Douglas fear ?
294. Sable. Black. — 297. Suitor. Lover. —305. Yore. Old time.
306. Tine-man. Archibald, the third Earl of Douglas, was so unfor-
tunate in all his enterprises, that he acquired the epithet of Tine-man,
because he fined, or lost, his followers in every battle which he fought.
Scott. — 307. Leagued. United for mutual support.
308. His Border spears with Hotspur's bows. Tlie reference is to the
alliance of Douglas with his Scottish spearmen, and the English under
Percy, or Hotspur, armed with the cross-bow.
CANTO II.
THE ISLAND. 51
What for this island, deemed of old
Clan-Alpine's last and surest hold ?
If neither spy nor foe, I pray 31.5
What yet may jealous Roderick say? —
Nay, wave not thy disdainful head !
Bethink thee of the discord dread
That kindled when at Beltane game
Thou ledst the dance with Malcolm Grgeme ; ^20
Still, though thy sire the peace renewed,
Smoulders in Roderick's breast the feud :
Beware I — But hark ! what sounds are these ?
My dull ears catch no faltering breeze,
No weeping birch nor aspens wake, 325
Nor breath is dimpling in the lake ;
Still is the canna's hoary beard.
Yet, by my minstrel faith, I heard —
And hark again I some ^ ipe of war
Sends the bold pibroch from afar." 3.30
XVI.
Far up the lengthened lake were spied
Four darkening specks upon the tide.
That, slow enlarging on the view.
Four manned and masted barges grew.
And, bearing downwards from Glengyle, .'i35
Ste ered full upon the lonely isle ;
The point of Brianchoil they passed.
And, to the windward as they cast,
319. Beltane game. A May-day festival iu honor of Beal, the Sun.
celebrated by kindling fires on the hill-tops and other ceremonies.
325. Cf. I. 303. —327. Canna. Cotton-jfrass.
52 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto ii.
Against the sun they gave to shine
The bold Sir Roderick's bannered Pine. 340
Nearer and nearer as tliey bear,
Spears, pikes, and axes flash in air.
Now might you see the tartans brave,
And pLaids and plumage dance and wave :
Now see the bonnets sink and rise, 345
As his tough oar the rower plies ;
See, flashing at each sturdy stroke.
The wave ascending into smoke ;
See the proud pipers on the bow,
And mark the gaudy streamers flow 350
From their loud chanters down, and sweep
The furrowed bosom of the deep,
As, rushing through the lake amain.
They plied the ancient Highland strain.
^ XVII.
Ever, as on they bore, more loud 355
And louder rung the pibroch proud.
At first the sounds, by distance tame.
Mellowed along the waters came.
And, lingering long by cape and bay.
Wailed every harsher note away, 360
Then bursting bolder on the ear.
The clan's shrill Gathering they coald hear.
Those thrilling sounds that call the might
Of old Clan-Alpine to the fight.
340. Bannered Pine. The pine was the badge of Clan-Alpine.
343. Tartans brave. Showy plaids.
345. Bonnets. The ordinary Scotch cap worn by men is called a bonnet
in Scotland. — '^rA. Chanter. Tube of the bagpipe.
363. Thrilling sounds, etc. The connoisseurs in pipe-music affect to
CANTO II.
THE ISLAND. 53
Thick beat the rapid notes, as when 365
The mustering hundreds shake the glen,
And hurrying at the signal dread,
The battered earth returns their tread.
Then prelude light, of livelier tone.
Expressed their merry marching on, 370
Ere peal of closing battle rose.
With mingled outcry, shrieks, and blows ;
And mimic din of stroke and ward,
As broadsword upon target jarred ;
And groaning pause, ere yet again, 375
Condensed, the battle yelled amain :
The rapid charge, the rallying shout.
Retreat borne headlong into rout.
And bursts of triumph, to declare
Clan-Alpine's conquest — all were there. 380
Nor ended thus the strain, but slow
Sunk in a moan prolonged and low.
And changed the conquering clarion swell
For wild lament o'er those that fell.
XVIII.
The war-pipes ceased, but lake and hill 3«5
Were busy with their echoes still ;
And, Avlien they slept, a vocal strain
Bade their hoarse chorus wake again,
While loud a hundred clansmen raise
Their voices in their Chieftain's praise. 390
discover, in a well-composed pibroch, the imitative sounds of march, con-
flict, flight, pursuit, and all the " current of a heady fight." Scott.
369. Prelude. Introductory musical performance.
373. Ward. Parry or defense.
383. Clarion. A kind of trumpet whose note is clear and shrill.
54 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto ii.
Each boatman, bending to his oar,
With measured sweep the burden bore,
In such wild cadence as the breeze
Makes through December's leafless trees.
The chorus first could Allan know, 395
'' Roderick Vich Alpine, ho ! iro ! "
And near, and nearer as they rowed,
Distinct the martial ditty flowed.
XIX.
§oat ^0ng.
Hail to the Chief who in triumph advances !
Honored and blest be the ever-green Pine ! 400
Long may the tree, in his banner that glances.
Flourish, the shelter and grace of our line I
Heaven send it happy dew,
Earth lend it sap anew,
Gayly to bourgeon and broadly to grow, 405
While every Highland glen
Sends our shout back again,
" Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho ! ieroe ! "
392. Burden. Chorus. — 393. Cadence. A regular fall or modulation
of sound. — 405, Bourgeon [Bur'Jan] . To bud or sprout.
408. Boderigh Vich Alpine. Besides his ordinary name and surname,
which were chiefly used in the intercourse with the Lowlands, every High-
land chief had an epithet expressive of his patriarchal dignity as head of
the clan, and which was common to all his predecessors and successors, as
Pharaoh to the kings of Egypt, or Arsaces to those of Parthia. This name
was usually a patronymic, exi^ressive of liis descent from the founder of
the family. Besides this title, Miiich belonged to his office and dignity, the
chieftain had usually another pecnliar to himself, which distinguished him
from the chieftains of the same race. This was sometimes derived from
complexion, as dhu or roij ; sometimes from size, as ber/ or tnore ; at other
times, from some peculiar exploit, or from some peculiarity of habit or
appearance. The line of the text therefore signifies Black Roderick, the
descendant of Alpine. Scott.
CANTO II.
THE ISLAND. ^5
410
Ours is no sapling, chance-sown by the fountain.
Blooming at Beltane, in \Yinter to fade ;
When the whirlwind has stripped every leaf on the
mountain,
The more shall Clan Alpine exult in her shade.
Moored in the rifted rock,
Proof to the tempest's shock,
Firmer he roots him the ruder it blow ; 4i5
Menteith and Breadalbane, then,
Echo his praise again,
'' Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho ! ieroe ! "
XX.
420
Proudly our pibroch has thrilled in Glen Fruin,
And Bannochar's groans to our slogan replied ;
Glen Luss and Ross-dhu, they are smoking in ruin,
And the best of Loch Lomond lie dead on her side.
Widow and Saxon maid
Long shall lament our raid.
Think of Clan-Alpine with fear and with woe ; -i^o
Lennox and Leven-glen
Shake when they hear again,
'' Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho ! ieroe ! "
413. Rifted. Split. , . r u t i
m Menteith and Breadalbane. Districts north of Loch Lomoud
419^21. Glen Fmin. Bannochar. Glen Luss. Eoss-dhu. Leven-glen.
Valleys on the borders of Loch Lomond.
420. Slogan. Highland war-cry. i- ,^;,t
490 And the best of Loch Lomond, etc. The Lennox, as the district
is cllled. which encircles the lower extremity of Loch Lo"^«";^' JJ^^
peculiarly exposed to the incursions of the mountaineei-s, who inhabited
the inaccessible fastnesses at the upper end of the lake and the neighboring
district of Loch Katrine. These were often marked by circumstances of
great ferocity. Scott.
56 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto ii.
Row, vassals, row, for the pride of the Highlands !
Stretch to your oars for the ever-green Pine ! 430
O that the rosebud that graces yon islands
Were wreathed in a garland around him to twine I
O that some seedling gem,
Worthy such noble stem.
Honored and blessed in their shadow might groAV ! 435
Loud should Clan-Alpine then
Ring from her deepmost glen,
" Roderigh Yich Alpine dhu, ho ! ieroe ! "
XXI.
With all her joyful female band
Had Lady Margaret sought the strand. 440
Loose on the breeze their tresses flew,
And high their snowy arms they threw,
As echoing back with shrill acclaim,
And chorus wild, the Chieftain's name ,
While, prompt to please, with mother's art, 445
The darling passion of his heart.
The dame called Ellen to the strand,
To greet her kinsman ere he land :
" Come, loiterer, come I a Douglas thou.
And shun to wreathe a victor's brow ? " 450
Reluctantly and slow, the maid
The unwelcome summoning obeyed.
And when a distant bugle rung.
In the mid-path aside she sprung : —
" List, Allan-bane ! From mainland cast 455
I hear my father's signal blast.
Be ours," she cried, " the skiff to guide.
And waft him from the mountain-side."
CANTO H. THE ISLAND. 57
Then, like a sunbeam, swift and bright.
She darted to her shallop light, 4»30
And, eagerly while Roderick scanned,
For her dear form, his mother's band.
The islet far behind her \^j,
And she had landed in the bay.
XXII.
Some feelings are to mortals given 465
With less of earth in them than heaven ;
And if there be a human tear
From passion's dross refined and clear,
A tear so limpid and so meek
It would not stain an angel's cheek, 470
'Tis that which pious fathers shed
Upon a duteous daughter's head !
And as the Douglas to his breast
His darling Ellen closely pressed,
Such holy drops her tresses steeped, 475
Though 'twas an hero's eye that weeped.
Nor while on Ellen's faltering tongue
Her filial welcomes crowded hung,
Marked she that fear — affection's proof—
Still held a graceful youth aloof: 480
No ! not till Douglas named his name.
Although the youth was Malcolm Graeme.
xxiii.
Allan, with wistful look the while.
Marked Roderick landing on the isle ;
469. Limpid. Clear, transparent.
3S THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto ii.
His master piteously he eyed, 485
Then gazed upon the Chieftain's pride.
Then dashed with hasty hand away
From his dimmed eye the gathering spray ;
And Douglas, as his hand he laid
On Malcolm's shoulder, kindly said : 4i»o
'' Canst thou, young friend, no meaning spy
In my poor follower's glistening eye ?
I'll tell thee : — he recalls the day
When in my praise he led the lay
O'er the arched gate of Bothwell proud, 4i)5
While many a minstrel answered loud.
When Percy's Norman pennon, won
In bloody field, before me shone.
And twice ten knights, the least a name
As mighty as yon Chief may claim, 500
Gracing my pomp, behind me came.
Yet trust me, Malcolm, not so proud
Was I of all that marshalled crowd,
Though the waned crescent owned my might.
And in ray train trooped lord and knight, 505
Though Blantyre hymned her holiest lays,
And Bothwell's bards flung back my praise.
As w^hen this old man's silent tear,
And this poor maid's affection dear,
A welcome give more kind and true oio
Than aught my better fortunes knew.
497. Percy's Norman pennon was captured by the Douglas.
501. Pomp. Parade. — 504. Waned crescent. Sir Walter Scott of
Buccleucb, whose shield bore a crescent moon, had eudeavored to set the
king free from the Douglases, but had been defeated by them. His failure
is hence called the waning of the crescent. Yonge.
50G. Blantyre. An old priory or abbey opposite Bothwell Castle.
CANTO II. THE ISLAND. 59
Forgive, my friend , a father's boast, —
O, it out-beggars all I lost ! "
^ " XXIV.
Delightful praiae ! — like summer rose,
That brighter in the dew-drop glows, 515
The bashful maiden's cheek appeared.
For Douglas spoke, and Malcolm heard.
The flush of shame-faced joy to hide.
The hounds, the hawk, her cares divide ;
The loved caresses of the maid 520
The dogs with crouch and whimper paid ;
And, at her whistle, on her hand
The falcon took his favorite stand,
Closed his dark wing, relaxed his eye.
Nor, though unhooded, sought to fly. 525
And, trust, while in such guise she stood,
Ljke fabled Goddess of the wood,
That if a father's partial thought
O'erweighed her worth and beauty aught.
Well might the lover's judgment fail sau
To balance with a juster scale ;
For with each secret glance he stole,
The fond enthusiast sent his soul.
XXV.
Of stature fair, and slender frame.
But firmly knit, was Malcolm Graeme. 535
525. Unhooded. It was very unusual for the falcou to rest quietly
unhooded. He was kept with his head covered, and when the hood was
removed he took flight at once in search of prey. — 52ti. Guise. Dress, garb,
527. Fabled Goddess. Goddess of the wood, Diana.
529. Aught. In any respect.
^^^-i#^^r^
go THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto ii.
The belted plaid and tartan hose
Did ne'er more graceful limbs disclose ;
His flaxen hair, of sunny hue,
Curled closely round his bonnet blue.
Trained to the chase, his eagle eye 540
The ptarmigan in snow could spy ;
Each pass, by mountain, lake, and heath.
He knew, through Lennox and Menteith ;
Vain was the bound of dark-brown doe
When Malcolm bent his sounding bow, 545
And scarce that doe, though winged with fear.
Outstripped in speed the mountaineer :
Right up Ben Lomond could he press,
And not a sob his toil confess.
His form accorded with a mind 550
Lively and ardent, frank and kind ;
A blither heart, till Ellen came,
Did never love nor sorrow tame ;
It danced as lightsome in his breast
As pla^^ed the feather on his crest. 555
Yet friends, who nearest knew the youth,
His scorn of wrong, his zeal for truth,
And bards, who saw his features bold
When kindled by the tales of old,
Said, were that youth to manhood grown, 560
Not long should Roderick Dhu's renown
Be foremost voiced by mountain fame.
But quail to that of Malcolm Grseme.
563. QuaiL Cower.
•v-rV'.
^^'''^^ "■ THE ISLAND.
XXVI.
61
Now back they wend their watery way,
And, " O my sire ! " did Ellen say,
'' Why urge thy chase so far astray ?
And why so late returned ? And why " —
The rest was in her speaking eye.
'^' My child, the chase I follow far,
'Tis mimicry of noble war ;
And with that gallant pastime reft
Were all of Douglas I have left.
I met young Malcolm as I strayed
Far eastward, in Glenfinlas' shade ;
Nor strayed I safe, for all around
Hunters and horsemen scoured the ground.
This youth, though still a royal ward,
Risked life and land to be my guard,'
And through the passes of the wood '
Guided my steps, not unpursued ;
And Roderick shall his welcome make.
Despite old spleen, for Douglas' sake. '
Then must he seek Strath-Endrick glen,
Nor peril aught for me again."
XXVII.
Sir Roderick, who to meet them came,
Reddened at sight of Malcolm Grseme,
565
570
575
580
585
570. Mimicry. Imitation. -571. Reft. Taken away.
574. Glenfinlas. A wooded valley, j
577. Royal ward. Under the protection of the king
SV ^r^i'%°^^ '^^''^- ^^^^t^vithstanding old quarrels.
LochUo'd ■^''"^' ''^" ^ ^^"^^ ''''''' 'y Strath-Endrick into
62 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. . canto ii.
Yet, not in action, word, or eye,
Failed aught in hospitality. j.^&P'
In talk and sport they whiled away
The morning of that summer day ; 590
But at high noon a courier light
Held secret parley with the knight,
Whose moody aspect soon declared
That evil were the news he heard. —
Deep thought seemed toiling in his head ; 595
Yet was the evening banquet made
Ere he assembled round the flame r-yy'AiipyAj-^V-*^
His mother, Douglas, and the Graeme, n
And Ellen too : then cast around
His eyes, then fixed them on the ground, 600
As studying phrase that might avail
Best to convey unpleasant tale.
Long with his dagger's hilt he played,
Then raised his haughty brow, and said : —
605
XXVIII.
" Short be my speech ; — nor time affords,
Nor my plain temper, glozing words.
Kinsman and father, — if such name
Douglas vouchsafe to Roderick's claim ;
Mine honored mother ; — Ellen, — why.
My cousin, turn away thine eye ? — 6io
And Graeme, in whom I hope to know
Full soon a noble friend or foe,
When age shall give thee thy command,
And leading in thy native land, —
591. Courier. Messenger sent with haste. —592._ Parley. Conference.
606. Glozing. Fair, smooth, or flattering.
CANTO II. THE ISLAND. 63
List all! — The King's vindictive pride 615
Boasts to have tamed the Border-side,
Where chiefs, with hound and hawk who came
To share their monarch's sylvan game,
Themselves in bloody toils were snared.
And when the banquet they prejDared, «2f)
And wide their loyal portals flung.
O'er their own gateway struggling hung.
Loud cries their blood from Meggat's mead.
From Yarrow braes and banks of Tweed,
Where the lone streams of Ettrick glide, 625
And from the silver Teviot's side ;
The dales, where martial clans did ride.
Are now one sheep-w^alk, waste and wide.
This tyrant of the Scottish throne.
So faithless and so ruthless known, 630
Now hither comes ; his end the same.
The same pretext of sylvan game.
What grace for Highland Chiefs, judge ye
B}' fate of Border chivalry.
Yet more ; amid Glenfinlas' green, 635
Douglas, thy stately form was seen.
This by espial sure I know :
Your counsel in the streight I show."
616. Tamed the Border-side. James V. strove to put down the law-
lessness of the Border chiefs, who were almost licensed robbers. He
made a progress, dealing stern justice, and taking several by surprise, in
especial one Johnnie Armstrony who came out to welcome him. but was
seized and put to death. Yonge.— 021. Portals. Doors or gates.
023. Meggat, Yarrow, Ettrick, and Teviot. Streams flowing into the
Tweed. — O'il. Braes. Shelving or hilly ground. . _^
630. Ruthless. Pitiless.
032. Pretext. A false motive given for the real one.— 037. Espial. Ob-
servation. —038. Streight t)r strait. Difficulty or emergency.
64 THP: lady of the lake. canto II.
XXIX.
Ellen and Margaret fearfully
Souo-ht comfort in each other's eye, 641
Then turned their ghastly look, each one,
This to her sire, that to her son.
The hasty color went and came
In the bold cheek of Malcolm Graeme,
But from his glance it well appeared 645
'Twas but for Ellen that he feared ;
While, sorrowful, but undismayed,
The Douglas thus his counsel said :
" Brave Roderick, though the tempest roar.
It may but thunder and pass o'er ; (jsf
Nor will I here remain an hour.
To draw the lightning on thy bower ;
For well thou know'st, at this gray head
The royal bolt were fiercest sped.
For thee, who, at thy King's command, 655
Canst aid him with a gallant band.
Submission, homage, humbled pride,
Shall turn the Monarch's wrath aside.
Poor remnants of the Bleeding Heart,
Ellen and I will seek apart 66#
The refuge of some forest cell.
There, like the hunted quarry, dwell.
Till on the mountain and the moor '■
The stern pursuit be passed and o'er." —
— ^Itx.
" No, by mine honor," Roderick said, 665
" So help me Heaven, and my good blade I
No, never ! Blasted be yon Pine,
< ANTO II. THE ISLAND. 65
My father's ancient crest and mine,
If from its shade in danger part
The lineage of the Bleeding Heart ! 67«
Hear my blunt speech : grant me this maid
To wife, thy counsel to mine aid ;
To Douglas, leagued with Roderick Dhu,
Will friends and allies flock enow ;
Like cause of doubt, distrust, and grief, 675
Will bind to us each Western Chief.
When the loud pipes my bridal tell,
The Links of Fofth shall hear the knell.
The guards shall start in Stirling's porch ;
And when I light the nuptial torch, 68©
A thousand villages in flames
Shall scare the slumbers of King James ! —
Nay, Ellen, blench not thus away.
And, mother, cease these signs, I pray ;
I meant not all my heat might say. — 685
Small need of inroad or of fight.
When the sage Douglas may unite
Each mountain clan in friendly band,
To guard the passes of their land.
Till the foiled King from pathless glen 69«
Shall bootless turn him home ag-ain."
670 Lineage of the Bleeding Heart. Descendants of the Douglas
family. Cf. note, line 2(X).
674 Allies. States or people united for a common object, associates,
confederates. — Enow. Enough.
678. Links of Forth. Windings of the River Forth.
679. Stirling's porch. Stirling Castle was long the residence of the
Scottish kings.
680. Nuptial torch. Marriage torch.— 68.S. Blench. To draw back or
shrink from.
6<)0. Foiled. Defeated. —691. Bootless. Unsuccessful.
QQ THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto n.
XXXI.
There are who have, at midnight hour,
In slumber scaled a dizzy tower,
And, on the verge that beetled o'er
The ocean tide's incessant roar, fi95
Dreamed cahnly out their dangerous dream.
Till wakened by the morning beam ;
When, dazzled by the eastern glow,
Such startler cast his glance below.
And saw unmeasured depth around, too
And heard unintermitted sound,
\ And thought the battled fence so frail,
It waved like cobweb in the gale ; —
Amid his senses' giddy wheel,
Did he not desperate impulse feel, 705
Headlong to plunge himself below,
And meet the worst his fears foreshow ? —
Thus Ellen, dizzy and astound,
As sudden ruin yawned around.
By crossing terrors wildly tossed, 7io
Still for the Douglas fearing most.
Could scarce the desperate thought withstand, ,
To buy his safety with her hand.
XXXII.
Such purpose dread could Malcolm spy
In Ellen's quivering lip and eye, 715
693. Scaled. Clambered up.— 694. Verge. Brink, edge. — Beetled.
Hung, extended.
695. Incessant. Unceasing, continual.
702. Battled fence. A defensive wall with openings from which to
discharge missiles.— 708. Astound. Astounded.
<^ANTo II. THE ISLAND. Q'j
And eager rose to speak, — l)iit ere
His tongue could hurry forth his fear.
Had Douglas marked the hectic strife.
Where death seemed combating with life ;
For to her cheek, in feverish flood, 720
One instant rushed the throbbing blood,
Then ebbing back, witli sudden sway,
Left its domain as wan as clay.
'' Roderick, enough ! enough ! " he cried,
" My daughter cannot be thy bride ; 725
Not that the blush to wooer dear.
Nor paleness that of maiden fear.
It may not be, — forgive her. Chief,
Nor hazard aught for our relief.
Against his sovereign, Douglas ne'er 730
Will level a rebellious spear.
'Twas I that taught his youthful hand
To rein a steed and wield a brand ;
I see him yet, the princely boy !
Not Ellen more my pride and joy ; 730
I love him still, despite my wrongs
By hasty wrath and slanderous tongues.
O, seek the grace you well may find.
Without a cause to mine combined ! "
^^ XXXIII.
Twice through the hall the Chieftain strode ; 740
The waving of his tartans broad.
And darkened brow, where wounded pride
With ire and disappointment vied,
71!». Com'bating. Struggling, contending. —723. Domain. Her cheek
Wan. Pale, colorless.— 743. Vied. Contended.
(5{^ THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto n.
Seemed, by the torch's gloomy light,
Like the ill Demon of the night, 745
Stooping his pinions' shadowy sway
Upon the nighted pilgrim's way :
But, unrequited Love ! thy dart
Plunged deepest its envenomed smart,
And Roderick, with thine anguish stung, '750
At length the hand of Douglas wrung,
While eyes that mocked at tears before
With bitter drops were running o'er.
The death-pangs of long-cherished hope
Scarce in that ample breast had scope, 755
But, struggling with his spirit proud.
Convulsive heaved its checkered shroud.
While every sob — so mute were all —
Was heard distinctly through the hall.
The son's despair, the mother's look, 760
111 might the gentle Ellen brook ;
She rose, and to her side there came.
To aid her parting steps, the Graeme.
XXXIV.
Then Roderick from the Douglas broke —
As flashes flame through sable smoke, 7()5
Kindling its wreaths, long, dark, and low.
To one broad blaze of ruddy glow.
So the deep anguish of despair
Burst, in fierce jealousy, to air.
With stalwart grasp liis hand he laid 770
On Malcolm's breast and belted plaid :
747. Nighted. Benighted. — 749. Envenomed. Poisoned.
757. Checkered shroud. Tartan plaid.— 761. Brook. Endure.
CAXTo II. TIIK ISLAND. 69
^' Back, beardless boy ! " he sternly said,
" Back, minion ! lioldst thou thus at naught
The lesson I so lately taught?
This roof, the Douglas, and that maid, 775
Thank thou for punishment delayed."'
Eager as greyhound on his game.
Fiercely with Roderick grappled Grreme.
" Perish my name, if aught afford
Its Chieftain safety save his sword ! *' 780
Thus as they strove their desperate hand
Griped to the dagger or the brand,
And death had been — but Douglas rose,
And thrust between the struggling foes
His giant strength : — ^' Chieftains, forego ! 785
I hold the first who strikes my foe. —
Madmen, forbear your frantic jar !
What ! is the Douglas fallen so far.
His daughter's hand is deemed the spoil
Of such dishonorable broil ? " 790
Sullen and slowly they unclasp,
As struck with shame, their desperate grasp.
And each upon his rival glared,
With foot advanced and blade half bared.
XXXV.
Ere yet the brands aloft were flung, 795
Margaret on Roderick's mantle hung,
And Malcolm heard his Ellen's scream.
As faltered through terrific dream.
Then Roderick plunged in sheath his sword.
And veiled his wnith in scornful word: 800
70 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto ii.
" Rest safe till morning ; pity 'twere
Such cheek should feel the midnight air !
Then mayst thou to James Stuart tell,
Roderick will keep the lake and fell,
Nor lackey with his freeborn clan 805
The pageant pomp of earthly man.
More would he of Clan-Alpine know,
Thou canst our strength and passes show. —
Malise, what ho ! " — his henchman came :
'' Give our safe-conduct to the Graeme." sio
Young Malcolm answered, calm and bold :
" Fear nothing for thy favorite hold ;
The spot an angel deigned to grace
Is blessed, though robbers haunt the place.
Thy churlish courtesy for those 8i5
Reserve, who fear to be thy foes.
As safe to me the mountain way
At midnight as in blaze of day,
Though with his boldest at his back
Even Roderick Dhu beset the track. — 820
Brave Douglas, — lovely Ellen, — nay,
Naught here of parting will I say.
Earth does not hold a lonesome glen
So secret but we meet again. —
802. Such cheek should feel the midnight air. Hardihood was in
every respect so essential to the character of a Highlander, that the
reproach of effeminacy was the most hitter which could be thrown upon
him. Scott. — 804. Fell. A mountain. — 805. Lackey. To serve as foot-
man or wait upon. —806. Pageant pomp. Sliowy display.
809. Henchman. This officer is a sort of secretary, and is to be ready,
upon all occasions, to venture his life in defence of his master; and at
drinking-bouts he stands behind his seat, at his haunch, from which his
title is derived, and watches the conversation, to see if any one offends his
patron. Scott.
CANTO 11.
■ THE ISLAND. 71
Chieftain ! we too sliall find an hour." — 825
He said, and left the sylvan bower.
XXXVI.
Old Allan followed to the strand —
Such was the Douglas's command —
And anxious told, how, on the morn.
The stern Sir Roderick deep had sworn, h:30
The Fiery Cross should circle o'er
Dale, glen, and valley, down and moor.
Much were the peril to the Graeme
From those who to the signal came ;
Far up the lake 'twere safest land, 8<J5
Himself would row him to the strand.
He gave his counsel to the wind.
While Malcolm did, unheeding, bind.
Round dirk and pouch and broadsword rolled,
His ample plaid in tightened fold, «40
And stripped his limbs to such array
As best might suit the watery way, —
XXXVII.
Then spoke abrupt : " Farewell to thee.
Pattern of old fidelity ! "
The Minstrel's hand he kindly pressed, — «4o
'' O, could I point a place of rest !
My sovereign holds in ward my land,
My uncle leads my vassal band;
832. Down. A barren tract of sand-hills blown up by the wind.—
Moor. Waste land.
847. My sovereign holds in ward my land. Because Malcolm was
not of age.
72 THE LADY OF THE LA*KE. canto ii.
To tame his foes, his friends to aid,
Poor Malcolm has but heart and blade. 850
Yet, if there be one faithful Graeme
Who loves the chieftain of his name,
Not long shall honored Douglas dwell
Like hunted stag in mountain cell ;
Nor, ere yon pride-swollen robber dare, — ^^
I may not give the rest to air !
Tell Roderick Dhu I owed him naught.
Not the poor service of a boat.
To waft me to yon mountain-side."
Then plunged he in the flashing tide. 860
Bold o'er the flood his head he bore,
And stoutly steered him from the shore ;
And Allan strained his anxious eye.
Far mid the lake his form to spy.
Darkening across each puny wave, 865
To which the moon her silver gave.
Fast as the cormorant could skim,
The swimmer plied each active limb ;
Then landing in the moonlight dell.
Loud shouted of his weal to tell. 870
The minstrel heard the far halloo.
And joyful from the shore withdrew.
867. Cormorant. Sea-bird resembling a crow.
869. Dell. Ravine. — 870. Weal. Welfare or safety.
OUTLINE OF CANTO THIRD.
Canto III. is almost entirely taken up with the gathering by
means of the Fiery Cross. See Note, line 18. The cross is con-
secrated, and is at once entrusted to Malise, Roderick's henchman.
He bears it eastward, and it is passed on from one hand to another,
interrupting wedding and funeral alike, till the clan is gathered in
Lanrick mead.
Roderick meanwhile has been reconnoitring, but finds no trace
of the foes whom he had expected. The Douglas and his daughter
have left the island, in order not to imperil their host, and have
taken refuge in a cavern on the side of Benvenue, which the super-
stition of the age " debarred to vulgar tread," and thither Roderick
conies, and, hovering over the treasure he has lost, hears Ellen's
voice for the last time, and then hastens to join his men. — Taylor.
I J
THE GATHERING.
Time rolls his ceaseless course. The race of yore,
Who danced our infancy upon their knee,
And told our marvelling boyhood legends store
Of their strange ventures happed by land or sea,
How they are blotted from the things that be ! 5
How few, all weak and withered of their force,
Wait on the verge of dark eternity.
Like stranded wrecks, the tide returning hoarse,
To sweep them from our sight ! Time rolls his ceaseless
course.
Yet live there still who can remember well, lo
How, when a mountain chief his bugle blew,
Both field and forest, dingle, cliff, and dell.
And solitary heath, the signal knew ;
And fast the faithful clan around him drew.
What time the warning note was keenly wound, is
What time aloft their kindred banner flew.
While clamorous war-pipes yelled the gathering sound,
And while the Fiery Cross glanced, like a meteor, round.
3. Legends. Remarkable stories handed down from former times.
4. Ventures. Undertakings of chance or danger. — 13. Heath. See
note, Canto I., line 99. Here, the lonely place where the heath grows.
18! Fiery Cross. When a chieftain designed to summon his clan, upon
any sudden or important emergency, he slew a goat, and making a cross of
CANTO III.
THE GATHERING. 75
11.
The Summer dawn's reflected hue
To purple changed Loch Katrine blue ; 20
Mildly and soft the western breeze
Just kissed the lake, just stirred the trees,
And the pleased lake, like maiden coy,
Trembled but dimpled not for joy :
The mountain shadows on her breast 25
Were neither broken nor at rest ;
In bright uncertainty they lie,
Like future joys to Fancy's eye.
The water-lily to the light
Her chalice reared of silver bright ; 30
The doe awoke, and to the lawn.
Begemmed with dew-drops, led her fawn ;
The gray mist left the mountain-side.
The torrent showed its glistening pride ;
any light wood, seared its extremities in the fire, and extinguished them in
the blood of the animal. This was called the Fiery Cross, also CrecDu
Tarif/h, or the Cross of Shame, because disobedience to what the symbol
implied inferred infamy. It was delivered to a swift and trusty messenger,
who ran full speed with it to the next hamlet, where he presented it to the
principal person, with a single word, implying the place of rendezvous.
He who received the symbol was bound to send it forward, with equal
dispatch, to the next village; and thus it passed with incredible celerity
through all the district which owed allegiance to the chief, and also among
his allies and neighbors, if the danger was common to them. At sight of
the Fiery Cross, every man, from sixteen years old to sixty, capable of
bearing arms, was obliged instantly to repair, in his best arms and accoutre-
ments, to the place of rendezvous. He who failed to appear, suffered the
extremities of fire and sword, which were emblematically denounced to the
disobedient by the bloody and burnt marks upon this warlike signal.
During the civil war of 1745-6, the Fiery Cross often made its circuit; and
upon one occasion it passed through the whole district of Breadalbane, a
tract of thirty-two miles, in three hours. Scott.
23. Coy. Reserved, shy. —30. Chalice. Cup or bowl.
76 THE LADY OF THE LAKE, canto hi.
Invisible in flecked sky 35
The lark sent down her revelry ;
The blackbird and the speckled thrush
Good-morrow gave from brake and bush;
In answer cooed the cushat dove
Her notes of peace and rest and love. 40
III.
No thought of peace, no thought of rest,
Assuaged the storm in Roderick's breast.
With sheathed broadsword in his hand,
Abrupt he paced the islet strand,
And eyed the rising sun, and laid 45
His hand on his impatient blade.
Beneath a rock, his vassals' care
Was prompt the ritual to prepare.
With deep and deatlif ul meaning fraught ;
For such Antig^uity had taught so
Was preface Ineet, ere yet abroad " '
The Cross of Fire should take its road.
The shrinking band stood oft aghast
At the impatient glance he cast ; —
Such glance the mountain eagle threw, 55
As, from the cliffs of Ben venue.
She spread her dark sails on the wind,
And, high in middle heaven reclined,
With her broad shadow on the lake.
Silenced the warblers of the brake. tjo
36. Revelry. iSloisy festivity .— 39. Cushat. Ring-dove or wood pigeon.
48. Ritual. Performance of religious service.
50. Antiquity. Olden times.
53. Aghast. Struck with amazement.
CANTO III. THE GATHERING. 77
^ IV. V-
A heap of withered boughs was piled,
Of juniper and rowan wild,
Mingled with shl:vers from the oak,
Rent by the lightning's recent stroke.
Brian the Hermit by it stood, 65
Barefooted, in his frock and hood.
His grizzled beard and matted hair
Obscured a visage of despair ; ^j
His naked arms and legs, seamed o'er,
The scars of frantic penance bore. 70
That monk, of savage form and face.
The impending danger of his race
Had drawn from deepest solitude,
Far in Benharrow's bosom rude.
Not his the mien of Christian priest, 75
But Druid's, from the grave released.
Whose hardened heart and eye might brook /^^'^^^
On human sacrifice to look ;
And much, 'twas said, of heathen lore
Mixed in the charms he muttered o'er. so
62. Rowan. European mountain-ash.
70. Penance. Suffering or labor self-inflicted or imposed by ecclesias-
tical authority as a punishment for faults.
71. That monk, etc. The state of religion in the middle ages afforded
considerable facilities for those whose mode of life excluded them from
regular worship, to secure, nevertheless, the ghostly assistance of con-
fessors, perfectly willing to adapt the nature of their doctrine to the
necessities and peculiar circumstances of their flock. Robin Hood, it is
well-known, had his celebrated domestic chaplain. Friar Tuck. Scott.
74. Benharrow. A mountain near Loch Lomond.
76. Druid. A priest of the Celtic inhabitants of Gaul and Britain.
They worshipped in groves, and made human sacrifices.
*
78 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto hi.
r
The hallowed creed gave only worse
And deadlier emphasis of curse.
No peasant sought that Hermit's prayer,
His cave the pilgrim shunned with care ;
The eager huntsman knew his bound, 85
And in mid chase called off his hound ;
Or if, in lonely glen or strath,
The desert-dweller met his path.
He prayed, and signed the cross between.
While terror took devotion's mien. 90
V.
Of Brian's birth strange tales were told.
His mother watched a midnight fold.
Built deep within a dreary glen.
Where scattered lay the bones of men
In some forgotten battle slain, 95
And bleached by drifting wind and rain.
It might have tamed a warrior's heart
To view such mockery of his art !
The knot-grass fettered there the hand
Which once could burst an iron band ; . loo
Beneath the broad and ample bone.
That bucklered heart to fear unknown,
A feeble and a timorous guest.
The fieldfare framed her lowly nest ;
81. Hallowed creed. The hallowed or Christian creed as distinguished
from heathen lore or knowledge.
87. Glen. A narrow valley through which a small stream usually
flows. — Strath. A valley of considerable size through which a river runs.
92. Fold. An inclosure for animals. — 99. Knot-grass. Twitch-grass,
a kind of grass that is difficult to exterminate. — 102. Bucklered. Pro-
tected by a shield. — 104. Fieldfare. A kind of thrush.
CANTO ^. THE GATHERING. 79
There the slow blindworm left his slime lOo
On the fleet limbs that mocked at time ;
And there, too, lay the leader's skull.
Still wreathed with chaplet, flushed and full,
For heath-bell with her purple bloom
Supplied the bonnet and the plume. no
All night, in this sad glen, the maid
Sat shrouded in her mantle's shade :
She said no shepherd sought her side,
No hunter's hand her snood untied,
Yet ne'er again to braid her hair 115
The virgin snood did Alice wear ;
Gone was her maiden glee and sport.
Her maiden girdle all too short.
Nor sought she, from that fatal night,
Or holy church or blessed rite, 120
But locked her secret in her breast.
And died in travail, unconfessed.
VI.
Alone, among his young compeers,
Was Brian from his infant years ;
A moody and heart-broken boy, 125
Estranged from sympathy and joy.
Bearing each taunt which careless tongue
On his mysterious lineage flung.
"Whole nights he spent by moonlight pale,
To wood and stream his hap to wail, 130
116. Snood. The snood, or riband, with which a Scottish lass braided
her hair, had an emblematical signification, and applied to her maiden
character. It was exchanged for the curch, toy, or coif, when she passed,
by marriage, into the matron state. Scott. — 123. Compeers. Compan-
ions. — 125. Moody. Sad. — 12(). Estranged. Withheld, alienated.
128. Mysterious lineage. Unknown parentage.
80 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto hi.
Till, frantic, he as truth received
What of his birth the crowd believed,
And sought, in mist and meteor fire,
To meet and know his Phantom Sire !
In vain, to soothe his wayward fate, 135
The cloister oped her pitying gate ;
In vain the learning of the age
Unclasped the sable-lettered page ;
Even in its treasures he could find
Food for the fever of his mind. 140
Eager he read whatever tells
Of magic, cabala, and spells,
And every dark pursuit allied
To curious and presumptuous pride ;
Till with fired brain and nerves o'erstrung, 145
And heart with mystic horrors wrung,
Desperate he sought Benharrow's den.
And hid him from the haunts of men.
VII.
The desert gave him visions wild,
Such as might suit the spectre's child. 150
Where with black cliffs the torrents toil.
He watched the wheeling eddies boil,
Till from their foam his dazzled eyes
Beheld the River Demon rise :
133. Meteor fire. Fiery appearance in the sky; a shooting star.
138. Sable-lettered page. Black lettered, so called because of the
heavy-faced type used in early prints.
142. Magic, cabala, spells. Enchantment, mystery, charms.
154. Kiver Demon. The River Demon, or River-horse, for it is that
form which he commonly assumes, is the Kelpy of the Lowlands, an evil
and malicious spirit, delighting to forebode and to witness calamity. Scott.
CANTO III. THE GATHERING. 81
The mountain mist took form and limb 155
Of noontide hag or goblin grim ;
The midnight wind came wild and dread,
Swelled with the voices of the dead ;
Far on the future battle-heath
His eye beheld the ranks of death : 160
Thus the lone Seer, from mankind hurled,
Shaped forth a disembodied world.
One lingering sympathy of mind
Still bound him to the mortal kind ;
The only parent he could claim 165
Of ancient Alpine's lineage came.
Late had he heard, in prophet's dream,
The fatal Ben-Shie's boding scream ;
Sounds, too, had come in midnight blast
Of charging steeds, careering fast 170
Along Benharrow's shingly side.
Where mortal horseman ne'er might ride ;
The thunderbolt had split the pine, —
All augured ill to Alpine's line.
156. Hag. An ugly old woman; a fury. — Goblin. An evil spirit.
162. Disembodied world. World of spirits.
168. Ben-Shie. Most great families in the Highlands were supposed to
have a tutelar, or rather a domestic spirit, attached to them, who took an
interest in their prosperity, and intimated by its wailings any apjiroaching
disaster. Ben-Shie implies a female fairy, whose lamentations were often
supposed to precede the death of a chieftain of particular families. Scott.
169. Sounds, too, had come. A presage of the kind alluded to in the
text, is still believed to announce death to the ancient Highland family of
M'Lean of Loch Buy. The spirit of an ancestor slain in battle is heard to
gallop along a stony bank, and then to ride thrice around the family resi-
dence, ringing his fairy bridle, and thus intimating the approaching
calamity. How easily the eye as well as the ear may be deceived upon
such occasions, is evident from the stories of armies in the air, and other
spectral phenomena with which history abounds. Scott.
171. Shingly. Gravelly. — 174. Augured. Foretold.
(^'
8^ THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto iii.
He girt his loins, and came to show 175
The signals of impending woe,
And now stood prompt to bless or ban,
As bade the Chieftain of his clan.
VIII.
'Twas all prepared ; — and from the rock
A goat, the patriarch of the flock, 180
Before the kindling pile was laid,
And pierced by Roderick's ready blade.
Patient the sickening victim eyed
The life-blood ebb in crimson tide
Down his clogged beard and shaggy limb, 185
^ Till darkness glazed his eyeballs dim.
)-t-f , f The grisly priest, with murmuring prayer,
A slender crosslet framed with care,
A cubit's length in measure due ;
The shaft and limbs were rods of yew, 190
Whose parents in Inch-Cailliach wave
Their shadoAVS o'er Clan-Alpine's grave,
176. Impending. Overhauging or threatening. — 177. Ban. To curse.
180. Patriarch. Father or leader. — 188. Crosslet. A little cross.
189. Cubit. A measure of length, being the distance from the elbow to
the end of the middle finger. /^^
190. Yew. An evergreen tree frequently found in British churchyards.
191. Inch-Cailliach. The Isle of Nuns, or of Old Women, is a most
beautiful island at the lower extremity of Loch Lomond. The church
belonging to the former nunnery was long used as the place of worship for
the parish of Buchanan, but scarce any vestiges of it now remain. The
burial ground continues to be used, and contains the family places of
sepulture of several neighboring clans. The monuments of the lairds of
MacGregor, and of other families, claiming a descent from the old Scottish
King Alpine, are most remarkable. The Highlanders are as zealous of
their rights of sepulture, as may be expected from a people, whose whole
laws and government, if clanship can be called so, turned upon the single
principle of family descent. Scott.
CANTO III. THE GATHERING. 83
And, answering Lomond's breezes deep,
Soothe many a chieftain's endless sleep.
The Cross thns formed he held on high, 195
With wasted hand and haggard eye,
And strange and mingled feelings woke,
Wliile his anathema he spoke: —
IX.
" Woe to the clansman who shall view
This symbol of sepulchral yew, 200
Forgetful that its branches grew
Where weep the heavens their holiest dew
On Alpine's dwelling low ! -
Deserter of his Chieftain's trust.
He ne'er shall mingle with their dust, 205
But, from his sires and kindred thrust.
Each clansman's execration just
Shall doom him wrath and Avoe."
He paused ; — the word the vassals took.
With forward step and fiery look, 210
On high their naked brands they shook.
Their clattering targets wildly strook ;
And first in murmur low.
Then, like the billow in his course.
That far to seaward finds his source, 215
And flings to shore his mustered force,
19G. Haggard. Sunken by suffering. — 198. Anathema. A ban ^
curse pronounced by the church.
200. Symbol. Emblem or sign. — Sepulchral. Pertaining to the grave.
— Yew. Yew-trees were often planted in cemeteries.
207. Execration. Curse".
200. Vassal. One holding lands of a superior, and vowing fidelity and
homage to him. Wb.— 212. Strook. Old form of struck.
84 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto hi.
Burst with loud roar their answer hoarse,
" Woe to the traitor, woe ! "
Ben-an's gray scalp the accents knew,
The joyous wolf from covert drew, 220
The exulting eagle screamed afar, —
They knew the voice of Alpine's war.
X.
The shout was hushed on lake and fell,
The Monk resumed his muttered spell :
Dismal and low its accents came, 225
The while he scathed the Cross with flame ;
And the few words that reached the air.
Although the holiest name was there,
Had more of blasphemy than prayer.
But when he shook above the crowd 230
Its kindled points, he spoke aloud : —
" Woe to the wretch who fails to rear
At this dread sign the ready spear !
For, as the flames this symbol sear.
His home, the refuge of his fear, 235
A kindred fate shall know ;
Far o'er its roof the volumed flame
Clan-Alpine's vengeance shall proclaim,
While maids and matrons on his name
Shall call down wretchedness and shame, 240
And infamy and woe."
Then rose the cry of females, shrill
As goshawk's whistle on the hill,
219. Ben-An's gray scalp. Bare top. —220. Covert. Shelter, thicket,
or hiding-place. — 226. Scathed. Charred.— 241. Infamy. Public dis-
grace. — 243. Goshawk. A slender, brown hawk, with white breast.
CANTO III. THE GATHERING. 85
Denouncing misery and ill,
Mingled with cliildhood's babbling trill 245
Of curses stammered slow ;
Answering with imprecation dread,
" Sunk be his home in embers red !
And cursed be the meanest shed
That e'er shall hide the houseless head 2oO
We doom to want and woe ! "
A sharp and shrieking echo gave,
Coir-Uriskin, thy goblin cave !
And the gray pass where birches wave
On Beala-nam-bo. 255
V
Then deeper paused the priest anew,
And hard his laboring breath he drew,
Wliile, with set teeth and clenched hand,
And eyes that glowed like fiery brand,
He meditated curse more dread, 260
And deadlier, on the clansman's head
Who, summoned to his chieftain's aid.
The signal saw and disobeyed.
The crosslet's points of sparkling wood
He quenched among the bubbling blood, 265
248. Embers. Lighted coals smouldering in ashes.
253. Coir-Uriskin, or Coir-nam-Uriskin ("the corry, or den, of the
wild men"), a hollow cleft in the northern side of Benvenue, supposed to
be haunted by fairies and evil spirits. It is surrounded by rocks and over-
shadowed by birch-trees, so as to give complete shelter. The Urisk is the
equivalent of the Grecian Satyr, having a human form with goat's feet.
Taylor.
255. Beala-nam-bo, or the pass of cattle, is a most magnificent glade,
overhung with aged birch-trees, a little higher up the mountain than the
Coir-nauj-Uriskin. Scott.
86 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto hi.
And, as again the sign he reared,
Hollow and hoarse his voice was heard :
" When flits this Cross from man to man,
Vich-Alpine's summons to his clan.
Burst be the ear that fails to heed ! 270
Palsied the foot that shuns to speed !
May ravens tear the careless eyes,
Wolves make the coward heart their prize !
As sinks that blood-stream in the earth,
So ma}^ his heart's-blood drench his hearth ! 275
As dies in hissing gore the spark,
Quench thou his light. Destruction dark !
And be the grace to him denied.
Bought by this sign to all beside ! "
He ceased ; no echo gave again 280
The murmur of the deep Amen.
" XII.
Then Roderick with impatient look
From Brian's hand the symbol took :
" Speed, Malise, speed ! " he said, and gave
The crosslet to his henchman brave. 285
'' The muster-place be Lanrick mead —
Instant the time — speed, Malise, speed ! "
Like heath-bird, when the hawks pursue,
A barge across Loch Katrine flew : ^i
High stood the henchman on the prow; ' '290
So rapidly the barge-men row.
The bubbles, where they launched the boat,
Were all unbroken and afloat,
271. Palsied. The muscles having lost their power of answering to the
will. — 286. Lanrick mead. A meadow bordering on Loch Yennachar.
CANTO III.
THE GATHERING. 87
Dancing in foam and ripple still,
When it had neared the mainland hill ; 295
And from the silver beach's side
.Still was the prow three fathom wide,
When lightly bounded to the land
The messenger of blood and brand.
xni.
Speed, Malise, speed ! the dun deer's hide 300
On fleeter foot was never tied.
Speed, Malise, speed ! such cause of haste
Thine active sinews never braced.
Bend 'gainst the steepy hill thy breast.
Burst down like torrent from its crest ; 305
With short and springing footstep pass
The trembling bog and false morass ;
Across the brook like roebuck bound.
And thread the brake like questing hound ;
The crag is high, the scaur is deep, 3io
Yet shrink not from the desperate leap :
Parched are thy burning lips and brow,
Yet by the fountain pause not now ;
Herald of battle, fate, and fear,
Stretch onward in thy fleet career ! 315
The wounded hind thou track'st not now,
Pursuest not maid through greenwood bough.
Nor pliest thou now thy flying pace
With rivals in the mountain race ;
."iOO. Dun deer's hide. The ancient huskin of the Highlander was made
of the undressed deer's hide, with the bair outwards.
'SOT. Morass. Soft, wet ground. — 301). Questing. Hunting.
310. Scaur [6c«/-]. Steep bank: cliff. —;31(;. Hind. Female deer.
88 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto hi.
But danger, death, and warrior deed 320
Are in thy course — speed, Malise, speed !
XIV.
Fast as the fatal symbol flies,
In arms the huts and hamlets rise ;
From winding glen, from upland brown.
They poured each hardy tenant down. 325
Nor slacked the messenger his pace ;
He showed the sign, he named the place.
And, pressing forward like the wind,
Left clamor and surprise behind.
The fisherman forsook the strand, 330
The swarthy smith took dirk and brand ;
With changed cheer, the mower blithe
Left in the half-cut swath his scythe ;
The herds without a keeper strayed,
The plough was in mid-furrow stayed, 335
The falconer tossed his hawk away.
The hunter left the stag at bay ;
Prompt at the signal of alarms.
Each son of Alpine rushed to arms ;
So swept the tumult and affray 340
Along the margin of Achray.
Alas, thou lovely lake ! that e'er
Thy banks should echo sounds of fear!
The rocks, the bosky thickets, sleep
So stilly on thy bosom deep, 345
The lark's blithe carol from the cloud
Seems for the scene too gayly loud.
329. Clamor. Loud outcry. — 330. Strand. Shore. — 331. Swarthy.
Black. — 333. Swath. The grass cut by the sweep of a scythe in mow-
ing.— 344. Bosky. Woody or bushy. — 346. Blithe carol. Merry song.
CANTO III.
THE GATHERING. 89
XV.
Speed, Malise, speed I The lake is past,
Duncraggan's huts appear at last,
And peep, like moss-grown rocks, half seen, 350
Half hidden in the copse so green ;
There mayst thou rest, thy labor done.
Their lord shall speed the signal on. —
As stoops the hawk upon his prey.
The henchman shot him down the way. 355
What woeful accents load the gale ?
The funeral yell, the female wail I
A gallant hunter's sport is o'er,
A valiant warrior fights no more.
Who, in the battle or the chase, 360
At Roderick's side shall fill his place ! —
Within the hall, where torch's ray
Supplies the excluded beams of day,
Lies Duncan on his lowly bier,
And o'er him streams his widow's tear,. 365
His stripling son stands mournful by,
His youngest weeps, but knows not why ;
The village maids and matrons round
The dismal coronach resound.
XVI.
He is gone on the mountain, 370
He is lost to the forest,
349. Duncraggan. A homestead near the Brigg of Turk.
369. Coronach. The Coronach of the Highlanders was a wild expres-
sion of lamentation, poured forth by the mourners over the body of a departed
friend. When the words of it were articulate, they expressed the praises of
the deceased, and the loss the clan would sustain by his death. Scott.
90 THE LADY OF THE LAKE.
(JANTO III.
Like a summer-dried fountain,
When our need was the sorest.
The font, reappearing.
From the rain-drops shall borrow, 375
But to us comes no cheering,
To Duncan no morrow !
The hand of the reaper
Takes the ears that are hoary,
But the voice of the weeper 380
Wails manhood in glory.
The autumn winds rushing
Waft the leaves that are searest,
But our flower was in flushing.
When blighting was nearest. 385
Fleet foot on the correi,
Sage counsel in cumber.
Red hand in the foray.
How sound is thy slumber!
Like the dew on the mountain, 390
Like the foam on the river.
Like the bubble on the fountain.
Thou art gone, and forever !
XVII. ■
See Stumah, who, the bier beside.
His master's corpse with wonder eyed, 3M5
Poor Stumah ! whom his least halloo
Could send like lightning o'er the dew,
379. Hoary. White with age; ripe for the harvest. — 383. Searest. Dry-
est. — 384. Flushing. Full bloom. — 386. Correi. The hollow side of the
hill, where game usually lies. — 387. Cumber. Trouble, perplexity.
394. Stumah. Faithful. The name of a dog.
CANTO III. THE GATHEniNG. 91
Bristles his crest, and points his ears,
As if some stranger step he hears.
'Tis not a mourner's muffled tread, 400
<
Who comes to sorrow o'er the dead,
But headlong haste or deadly fear
Urge the precipitate career^
All stand aghast : — unheeding all,
Tlie henchman bursts into the hall ; 405
Before the dead man's bier he stood,
Held forth the Cross besmeared with blood ;
" The muster-place is Lanrick mead ;
Speed forth the signal ! clansmen, speed ! "
xvni.
Angus, the heir of Duncan's line, 410
Sprung forth and seized the fatal sign.
In haste the stripling to his side
His father's dirk and broadsword tied ;
But wlien he saw his mother's eye
Watch him in speechless agony, 415
Back to her opened arms he flew.
Pressed on her lips a fond adieu, —
'* Alas ! " she sobbed, — " and yet be gone,
And ^peed thee forth, like Duncan's son ! "
One look he cast upon the bier, 420
Dashed from his eye the gathering tear.
Breathed deep to clear his laboring breast.
And tossed aloft his bonnet crest,
Then, like the high-bred colt when, freed,
First he essays his fire and speed, 425
He vanished, and o'er moor and moss
Sped forward with the Fiery Cross.
92 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto hi.
Suspended was the widow's tear
While yet his footsteps she could hear ;
And when she marked the henchman's eye 430
Wet with unwonted sympathy,
. " Kinsman," she said, " his race is run
Jli/. That should have sped thine errand on ;
The oak has fallen, — the sapling bough
Is all Duncraggan's shelter now. 435
Yet trust I well, his duty done.
The orphan's God will guard my son. —
And you, in many a danger true,
At Duncan's hest your blades that drew.
To arms, and guard that orphan's head ! 440
Let babes and women wail the dead."
Then weapon-clang and martial call
Resounded tln-ough the funeral hall.
While from the walls the attendant band
Snatched sword and targe with hurried hand ; 445
And short and flitting energy
Glanced from the mourner's sunken eye,
As if the sounds to warrior dear
Might rouse her Duncan from his bier.
But faded soon that borrowed force ; 450
Grief claimed his right, and tears their course.
XIX.
y Benledi saw the Gross bi Fire,
It glanced like^lightning up Strath-Ire.
439. Hest. Behest, command.— 445. Targe. Target.
453. Strath-Ire. The first stage of the Fiery Cross is to Duncraggan, a
place near the Brigg of Turk, where a short stream divides Loch Achray
from Loch Vennachar. From thence, it passes towards Callender, and
then, turning to the left up the pass of Leny, is consigned to Norman at
CANTO in. THE GATHERING. 93
O'er dale and hill the summons flew,
Nor rest nor pause young Angus knew ; 455
The tear that gathered in his eye
He left the mountain-breeze to dry ;
Until, where Teith's young waters roll
Betwixt him and a Avooded knoll
That graced the sable strath with green, 4go
The chapel of Saint Bride was seen.
Swoln was the stream, remote the bridge,
But Angus paused not on the edge ;
Though the dark waves danced dizzily,
Though reeled his sympathetic eje, 465
He dashed amid the torrent's roar :
His right hand high the crosslet bore,
His left the pole-axe grasped, to guide
And stay his footing in the tide.
He stumbled tmce, — the foam splashed high, 470
With hoarser swell the stream raced by ;
And had he fallen, — forever there.
Farewell Duncraggan's orphan heir!
But still, as if in parting life,
Firmer he grasped the Cross of strife, 475
Until the opposing bank he gained.
And up the chapel pathway strained.
XX.
A blithesome rout that morning-tide
Had sought the chapel of Saint Bride.
the chapel of Saint Bride, which stood on a small and romantic knoll in
the middle of the valley, called Strath-Ire. Tombea and Arnandave, or
Ardmandave, are names of places in the vicinity. The alarm is then sup-
posed to pass along the lake of Lubnaig, aud through the various glens in
the district of Balquidder, including the neighboring tracts of Glenfinlas and
Strath-Gartney. Scott.— 468. Pole-axe. A kind of long-handled hatchet.
94 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto hi.
Her troth Tombea's Mary gave 480
To Norman, heir of Armandave,
And, issuing from the Gothic arch.
The bridal now resumed their march.
In rude but glad procession came
Bonneted sire and coif-clad dame; 4«5
And plaided youth, with jest and jeer,
Which snooded maiden would not hear ;
And cliildren, that, unwitting why.
Lent the gay shout their shrilly cry ;
And minstrels, that in measures vied 490
Before the young and bonny bride.
Whose downcast eye and cheek disclose
The tear and blush of morning rose.
With virgin step and bashful hand
She held the kerchief's snowy band. 495
The gallant bridegroom by her side
Beheld his prize with victor's pride.
And the glad mother in her ear
Was closely whispering word of cheer.
XXI.
Who meets them at the churchyard gate ? soo
The messenger of fear and fate !
Haste in his hurried accent lies,
And grief is swimming in his eyes.
All dripping from the recent flood,
Panting and travel-soiled he stood, 505
The fatal sign of fire and sword
Held forth, and spoke the appointed word :
485, 495. Coif, kerchief. See line 116.
CANTO III.
THE GATHERING.
95
528.
. " The muster-place is Laiirick mead ;
vSpeed fortli the signal ! Norman, speed ! "
And must he change so soon the hand 5io
Just linked to his by holy band,
f For the fell Cross of blood and brand ?
■^' ^nd must the day so blithe that rose.
And promised rapture in the close,
Before its setting hour, divide sio
The bridegroom from the plighted bride ?
O fatal doom ! — it must ! it must !
Clan- Alpine's cause, her Chieftain's trust.
Her summons dread, brook no delay ;
Stretch to the race, — away ! away ! 520
XXII.
Yet slow he laid his plaid aside.
And lingering eyed his lovely bride,
Until he saw the starting tear
Speak woe he might not stop to cheer ;
Then, trusting not a second look, 525
In haste he sped him up the brook.
Nor backward glanced till on the heath
Where Lubnaig's kke supplies the Teith. —
What in the racer's bosom stirred ?
The sickening pang of hope deferred, 530
And memory with a torturing train
Of all his morning visions vain.
Mingled with love's impatience, came
The manly thirst for martial fame ;
The stormy joy of mountaineers 535
Ere yet they rush upon the spears ;
Lubnaig. " The lake of small bends," lying east of Ben Ledi.
96 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto in.
And zeal for Clan and Chieftain burning,
And hope, from well-fought field returning,
With war's red honors on his crest.
To clasp his Mary to his breast. 540
Stung by such thoughts, o'er bank and brae,
^>_ Like fire from flint he glanced away,^
^'^ While high resolve and feeling strong
Burst into voluntary song.
XXIII.
The heath this night must be my bed, 545
The bracken curtain for my head,
My lullaby the warder's tread,
Far, far, from love and thee, Mary ;
To-morrow eve, more stilly laid.
My couch may be my bloody plaid, 550
My vesper song thy wail, sweet maid !
It will not waken me, Mary !
I may not, dare not, fancy now
The grief that clouds thy lovely brow,
I dare not think upon thy vow, 5.w
And all it promised me, Mary.
No fond regret must Norman know ; , .
When bursts Clan- Alpine on the foe, ryj^
His heart must be like bended bow,
His foot like arrow free, Mary. 560
544. Voluntary. Of his own free will.
546. Bracken. Fern.
CANTO III. THE GATHERING. 97
A time will come with feeling fraught,
For, if I fall in battle fought,
Thy hapless lover's dying thought
Sliall be a thought on thee, Mary.
And if returned from conquered foes, so;"
How blithely will the evening close.
How sweet the linnet sing repose.
To my young bride and me, Mary !
XXIV.
Not faster o'er thy heathery braes,
Balquidder, speeds the midnight blaze, 570
Rushing in conflagration strong
Thy deep ravines and dells along.
Wrapping thy cliffs in purple glow,
And reddening the dark lakes below ;
Nor faster speeds it, nor so far, 575
As o'er thy heaths the voice of war.
The signal roused to martial coil
The sullen margin of Loch Voil,
Waked still Loch Doine, and to the source
Alarmed, Balvaig, thy swampy course ; 580
Thence southward turned its rapid road
Adown Strath-Gartney's valley broad,
570. Midnight blaze. The heath on the Scottish moorlands is often set
fire to, that the sheep may have the advantage of the young herbage pro-
duced, in room of the tough old heather plants. This custom (execrated
by sportsmen) produces occasionally the most beautiful nocturnal appear-
ances, similar almost to the discharge of a volcano. Scott.
572. Ravine. A deep and narrow hollow worn by a stream of water;
a gorge.
577. Coil. Tumult, confusion.
580. Balvaig. River flowing from Lochs Voil and Doine into Lubnaig.
582. Strath-Gartney. Valley bordering on Loch Katrine.
,7
y^
b
^:j.^tru<t^^
98 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto hi.
Till rose in arms each man might claim
A portion of Clan-Alpine's name,
From the gray sire, whose trembhng hand 585
Conlcl hardly buckle on his brand.
To the raw boy, whose shaft and bow
Were yet scarce terror to the crow.
Each valley, each sequestered glen.
Mustered its little horde of men, 590
That met as torrents from the height
In Highland dales their streams unite,
Still gathering, as they pour along,
A voice more loud, a tide more strong.
Till at the rendezvous they stood 595
By hundreds prompt for blows and blood,
Each trained to arms since life beo"an.
Owning no tie but to his clan,
No oath but by his chieftain's hand.
No law but Roderick Dhu's command. coo
XXV.
That summer morn had Roderick Dhu
Surveyed the skirts of Benvenue,
And sent his scouts o'er hill and heath.
To view the frontiers of Menteith.
589. Sequestered. Set apart or retired.
590. Horde. Clan or tribe.
595. Rendezvous. Au appointed place for meeting, especially for
troops or ships of war.
599. By his chieftain's hand. The deep and implicit respect paid by
the Highland clansmen to their chief, rendered this both a common and a
solemn oath. In other respects, they were like most savage nations,
capricious in their ideas concerning the obligatory power of oaths. Scott.
602. Skirts. Borders, margins.
CANTO ITT.
THE GATHERING. 99
All backward came with news of truce ; no.^
Still lay each martial Graeme and Bruce,
In Rednock courts no horsemen wait.
No banner waved on Cardross gate,
On Duchray's towers no beacon shone,
Nor scared the herons from Loch Con ; uio
All seemed at peace. — Now wot ye why
The Chieftain with such anxious eye,
Ere to the muster he repair.
This western frontier scanned with care ? —
In Benvenue's most darksome cleft, oi")
A fair though cruel pledge was left ;
For Douglas, to his promise true.
That morning from the isle withdrew.
And in a deep sequestered dell
Had sought a low and lonely cell. 620
By many a bard in Celtic tongue
Has Coir-nan-Uriskin been sung ;
A softer name the Saxons gave,
And called the grot the Goblin Cave.
XXVI.
It was a wild and strange retreat, fi25
As e'er was trod by outlaw's feet.
The dell, upon the mountain's crest,
Yawned like a gash on warrior's breast ;
(KX). Grseme. Canto II., line 100.— Bruce. A family illustrious in
Scottish history.— G07-0. Rednock, Cardross, Duchray. Castles.
GIO. Loch Con. "Lake of the dogs," lying between Benvenue and
Ben Lomond.
G14. Scanned. Examined with care.
G22. Coir-nan-TJriskin. Canto III., line 253.
100 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto hi.
Its trench had stayed full many a rock,
Hurled by primeval earthquake shock 630
From Beuvenue's gray summit wild,
And here, in random ruin piled,
They frowned incumbent o'er the spot,
And formed the rugged sylvan grot.
The oak and birch with mingled shade 635
At noontide there a twilight made,
Unless when short and sudden shone
Some straggling beam on cliff or stone,
With such a glimpse as prophet's eye
Gains on thy depth. Futurity. 640
No murmur waked the solemn still,
Save tinkling of a fountain rill ;
But when the wind chafed with the lake,
A sullen sound would upward break,
With dashing hollow voice, that spoke 645
The incessant war of wave and rock.
Suspended cliffs with hideous sway
Seemed nodding o'er the cavern gray.
From such a den the wolf had sprung,
In such the wild-cat leaves her young; 650
Yet Douglas and his daughter fair
Sought for a space their safety there.
Gray Superstition's whisper dread
Debarred the spot to vulgar tread ;
For there, she said, did fays resort, 655
And satyrs hold their sylvan court,
630. Primeval. Belonging to the first ages. — 632. Random. Without
aim.
G33. Incumbent. Lying npon, or overhanging.
656. Satyr [Sd'tijr]. Note, Canto III., line 253.
CANTO ITI.
THE GATHERING. . , ;. 101
By moonlight tread their mystic mazt^,
And Wast the rash beholder's gaze.
' J , J >
. > ^ , ' ' > ' '
XXVII.
Now eve, with western shadows long,
Floated on Katrine bright and strong, ^^^^
When Roderick with a chosen few
Repassed the heights of Benvenue.
Above the Goblin Cave they go.
Through the wild pass of Beal-nam-bo ;
The prompt retainers speed before, ^^5
To launch the shallop from the shore,
For 'cross Loch Katrine lies his way
To view the passes of Achray,
And place his clansmen in array.
Yet lags the Chief in musing mind, 670
Unwonted sight, his men behind.
A single page, to bear his sword.
Alone attended on his lord;
The rest their way through thickets break.
And soon await him by the lake.
It was a fair and gallant sight,
To view them from the neighboring height.
By the low-levelled sunbeam's light !
For strength and stature, from the clan
Each warrior was a chosen man, 680
As even afar might well be seen.
By their proud step and martial mien.
Their feathers dance, their tartans float.
Their targets gleam, as by the boat
072. Page. Boy-servant.
()75
102 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto hi.
A \vild ai^d warlike group tliey stand, 685
That well became such mountain-strand.
XXVIII.
J
090
Their Chief with step reluctant still
Was lingering on the craggy hill.
Hard by where turned apart the road
To Douglas's obscure abode.
It was but with that dawning morn
That Roderick Dhu had proudly SAvorn
To drown his love in war's wild roar,
Nor think of Ellen Douglas more ;
But he who stems a stream with sand, 695
And fetters flame with flaxen band,
Has 3^et a harder task to prove, —
By firm resolve to conquer love I
Eve finds the Chief, like restless ghost.
Still hovering near his treasure lost : 700
For though his haughty heart deny
A parting meeting to his eye.
Still fondly strains his anxious ear
The accents of her voice to hear,
And inly did he curse the breeze 7or)
That waked to sound the rustling trees.
But hark ! what mingles in the strain ?
It is the harp of Allan-bane,
That wakes its measure slow and high.
Attuned to sacred minstrelsy. 7io
What melting voice attends the strings ?
'Tis Ellen, or an angel, sings.
CAXTO III. THE GATHERING. 103
XXIX.
Pgmn to tijc Ji^irgin.
Ave Maria ! maiden mild !
Listen to a maiden's prayer !
Thou canst hear though from the wild, 715
Thou canst save amidst despair.
Safe may we sleep beneath thy care,
Though banished, outcast, and reviled —
Maiden ! hear a maiden's prayer ;
Mother, hear a suppliant child ! 720
Ave Maria!
Ave Maria ! undefiled !
The flinty couch we now must share
Shall seem with down of eider piled,
If thy protection hover there.
The murky cavern's heavy air 725
Shall breathe of balm if thou hast smiled ;
Then, Maiden I hear a maiden's prayer,
Mother, list a suppliant child !
Ave Maria!
Ave Maria! stainless styled!
Foul demons of the earth and air, 730
From this their wonted haunt exiled,
Shall flee before thy presence fair.
We bow us to our lot of care,
Beneath thy guidance reconciled ;
Hear for a maid a maiden's prayer, 735
And for a father hear a child !
Ave Maria!
713. Ave Maria! Hail. Mary! The beginning of the Roman Catholic
prayer to the Virgin Mary.
723. Down of eider. Soft, fine feathers of the eider duck, a sea-bird
living in extreme northern regions. — 725. Murky. Dark, gloomy.
104 THE LADY OE THE LAKE. <jamo hi.
XXX.
Died on the harp the closing hymn, —
Unmoved in attitude and limb,
As listening still, Clan-Alpine's lord
Stood leaning on his heavy sword, 74»
Until the page with humble sign
Twice pointed to the sun's decline.
Then while his plaid he round him cast,
'' It is the last time — 'tis the last,"
He muttered thrice, — "the last time e'er 745
That angel-voice shall Roderick hear ! "
It was a goading thought, — his stride
Hied hastier down the mountain-side ;
Sullen he flung him in the boat.
An instant 'cross the lake it shot. 75©
They landed in that silvery bay.
And eastward lield their hasty way,
Till, with the latest beams of light,
The band arrived on Lanrick height,
Where mustered in the vale below 755
Clan-Alpine's men in martial show.
* XXXI.
A various scene the clansmen made :
Some sat, some stood, some slowly strayed ;
But most, with mantles folded round.
Were couched to rest upon the ground, 76«
Scarce to be known by curious eye
From the deep heather where they lie,
So well was matched the tartan screen
With heath-bell dark and brackens green ;
A
CANTO HI.
THE GATHERING. 105
Unless where, here and there, a blade 765
Or lance's point a glimmer made.
Like glow-worm twinkling through the shade.
But when, advancing through the gloom.
They saw the Chieftain's eagle plume,
Their shout of welcome, shrill and wide, 770
Shook the steep mountain's steady side.
Thrice it arose, and lake and fell
Three times returned the martial yell ;
It died upon Bochastle's plain.
And Silence claimed her evening reign. tl5
OUTLINE OF CANTO FOURTH.
The clans are gathered, the Lowlanders are at Doune waiting
the command to advance, and Brian tries by a weird augury to
discover what shall be the issue of the fight. He takes care to
magnify his own courage and merit in so doing, and declares, as
the result of his spells, that the victory will rest with those that
draw the first blood. Meantime the Donglas has left his daughter
in Allan's charge, and himself is gone on some secret errand, which
he does not confide to them. Ellen's fears are aroused. She feels
as by instinct that her father has gone to purchase, by surrender of
himself, the release of Malcolm Grasme, whom they imagine to be
captive. In vain the minstrel seeks to cheer her grief. She gives
little heed to his song. It is hardly ended when Fitz-James again
appears, bent now on carrying her off with him to Stirling, away
from noise of battle. She has recognized his noble nature, and
feels that the safest way is to trust him with her secret. He offers
to stay for her protection ; but Ellen knows better than he the
danger that this would involve to them both, and declines the
offer. So he leaves with her a ring, a pledge, as he says, which he
received from the king, and which will assure her of the king's pro-
tection. He returns to his guide, who is really a clansman of
Roderick, set to draw him on, in the belief that he is a spy. They
set off eastward, when suddenly the guide gives a loud whoop.
Fitz-James, to whom Allan Bane has already suggested doubts of
the man's truth, fancies that this is a signal cry ; but Murdoch
manages for the time to lull his suspicions. Presently they come
upon a wild-looking woman, taken captive, as Murdoch relates, in
one of Clan-Alpine's raids in the Lowlands. It had been her
wedding-morn, and her husband had fallen by Roderick's sword.
Her reason had given way ; but one passion, that of revenge, is
awake still; She recognizes the knight's Lowland dress, and
OUTLINE OF CANTO FOURTH. 107
warns him in a wild song of his danger. He turns upon his
guide, and bids him disclose his treachery. But the man takes
to his heels, first discharging a Parthian shot, which grazes the
knight's helmet, and fatally wounds poor Blanche. Murdoch's
speed is vain ; he is overtaken and slain before he can reach his
friends; and Fitz-James, soothing the mad woman in her last
hour, swears to avenge her wrong on Roderick. Left without
guide in the midst of foes, he deems it prudent not to advance till
nightfall. Then he pursues his way as best he can ; but soon
comes full upon one of the enemy's watch-fires. He boldly avows
himself Roderick's foe ; but the stranger, assured that he is not a
spy, refuses to take advantage of his weariness, and gives him
shelter for the night, promising to guide him on the morrow to
the border of the king's domain. — Taylor.
THE PROPHECY.
I.
a
The rose is fairest when 'tis budding new,
And hope is brightest when it dawns from fears ;
The rose is sweetest washed with morning dew,
And love is loveliest when embalmed in tears.
O wilding rose, whom fancy thus endears, 5
I bid your blossoms in my bonnet wave,
Emblem of hope and love through future years ! "
Thus spoke young Norman, heir of Armandave,
What time the sun arose on Vennachar's broad wave.
II.
Such fond conceit, half said, half sung, lo
Love prompted to the bridegroom's tongue.
All while he stripped the wild-rose spray,
His axe and bow beside him lay.
For on a pass 'twixt lake and wood
A wakeful sentinel he stood. 15
Hark ! — on the rock a footstep rung,
And instant to his arms he sprung.
" Stand, or thou diest ! — What, Malise ? — soon
Art thou returned from Braes of Doune.
10. Conceit. Fancy, anticipation. — 11. Prompted. Suggested, urged.
19. Braes of Doune. Hill slopes on the north side of the Teith.
CANTO IV. THE PROPHECY. 109
By thy keen step and glance I know, 20
Thou bring'st us tidings of the foe." —
For while the Fiery Cross hied on,
On distant scout had Malise gone. —
"Where sleeps the Chief?" the henchman said.
" Apart, in yonder misty glade ; 25
To his lone couch I'll be your guide." —
Then called a slumberer by his side,
And stirred him with his slackened bow, —
" Up, up, Glentarkin ! rouse thee, ho !
We seek the Chieftain ; on the track 30
Keep eagle watch till I come back."
III.
Together up the pass they sped:
" What of the foeman? " Norman said. —
" Varying reports from near and far ;
This certain, — that a band of war 35
Has for two days been ready boune.
At prompt command to march from Doune ;
King James the while, with princely powers,
Holds revelry in Stirling towers.
Soon will this dark and gathering cloud 40
Speak on our glens in thunder loud.
Inured to bide such bitter bout.
The warrior's plaid may bear it out ;
But, Norman, how wilt thou provide
A shelter for thy bonny bride ? " — 45
" What ! know ye not that Roderick's care
36. Boune. Prepared.
42. Inured. Hardened, accustomed. — Bide. Endure. — Bout. A con-
flict, contest.
110 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto iv.
To the lone isle hath caused repair
Each maid and matron of the clan,
And every child and aged man
Unfit for arms ; and given his charge, 50
Nor skiff, nor shallop, boat nor barge,
Upon these lakes shall float at large.
But all beside the islet moor.
That such dear pledge may rest secure?" —
IV.
" 'Tis well advised, — the Chieftain's plan 55
Bespeaks the father of his clan.
But wherefore sleeps Sir Roderick Dhu
Apart from all his followers true ? "
" It is because last evening-tide
Brian an augury hath tried.
Of that dread kind which must not be
Unless in dread extremity.
The Taghairm called ; by which, afar.
Our sires foresaw the events of war.
Duncraggan's milk-white bull they slew
60
»5
— 65
60. Augury. The foretelling of events ; an omen.
63. Taghairm. The Highlanders, like all rude people, had various
superstitious modes of inquiring into futurity. One of the most noted was the
Taghairm mentioned in the text. A person was wrapped up in the skin of a
newly-slain bullock, and deposited beside a waterfall, or at the bottom of
a precipice, or in some other strange, wild, and unusual situation, where
the scenery around him suggested nothing but objects of horror. In this
situation he revolved in his mind the question proposed, and whatever
was impressed upon him by his exalted imagination passed for the inspira-
tion of the disembodied spirits who haunt the desolate recesses. — Scott.
CANTO IV. THE PROPHECY. Ill
MALISE.
'* Ah ! well the gallant brute I knew !
The choicest of the prey we had
When swept our merrymen Gallangad.
His hide was snow, his horns were dark,
His red eye glowed like fiery spark ; 70
So fierce, so tameless, and so fleet.
Sore did he cumber our retreat.
And kept our stoutest kerns in awe.
Even at the pass of Beal 'maha.
But steep and flinty was the road, 75
And sharp the hurrying pikeman's goad,
And when we came to Dennan's Row
A child might scathless stroke his brow."
V.
NORMAN.
" That bull was slain ; his reeking hide
They stretched the cataract beside, 80
Whose waters their wild tumult toss
Adown the black and craggy boss
Of that huge cliff whose ample verge
Tradition calls the Hero's Targe.
Couched on a shelf beneath its brink, 85
Close where the thundering torrents sink,
73. Kerns. Foot-soldiers of the lowest rank.
74. Beal 'maha. " The pass of the plain," on the east of Loch Lomond.
77. Dennan's Row. A starting-place for ascending Ben Lomond.
78. Scathless. Without harm.
82. Boss. A protuherance.
84. Hero's Targe. The name of a rock in the Forest of Glenfinlas by
which a noisy cataract rims.
112 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto iv.
Rocking beneath their headlong sway,
And drizzled by the ceaseless spray,
'Midst groan of rock and roar of stream,
The wizard waits prophetic dream. 90
Nor distant rests the Chief ; — but hush !
See, gliding slow through mist and bush,
The hermit gains yon rock, and stands
To gaze upon our slumbering bands.
Seems he not, Malise, like a ghost, 95
That hovers o'er a slaughtered host ?
Or raven on the blasted oak.
That, watching while the deer is broke,
His morsel claims with sullen croak ? "
MALISE.
" Peace ! peace ! to other than to me lOO
Thy words were evil augury ;
But still I hold Sir Roderick's blade.
Clan- Alpine's omen and her aid.
Not aught that, gleaned from heaven or hell.
Yon fiend-begotten Monk can tell. los
The Chieftain joins liim, see — and now
Together they descend the brow."
YI.
And, as they came, with Alpine's Lord
The Hermit Monk held solemn word : —
98. Broke. Quartered. Everything belonging to the chase was mat-
ter of solemnity among our ancestors; but nothing was more so than
the mode of cutting up, or, as it was technically called, breaking the
slaughtered stag. The forester had his allotted portion ; the hounds had
a certain allowance; and, to make the division as general as possible, the
very birds had their share also. — Scott.
103. Omen. Sign of good or evil; foreboding.
CANTO IV. THE PROPHECY. 113
" Roderick ! it is a fearful strife, no
For man enclowecl with mortal life,
Whose shroud of sentient clay can still
Feel feverish pang and fainting chill.
Whose eye can stare in stony trance.
Whose hair can rouse like warrior's lance, — ii5
'Tis hard for such to view, unfurled.
The curtain of the future world.
Yet, witness every quaking limb.
My sunken pulse, mine eyeballs dim,
My soul with harrowing anguish torn, 120
This for my Chieftain have I borne ! —
The shapes that sought my fearful couch
A human tongue may ne'er avouch ;
No mortal man — save he, wdio, bred
Between the living and the dead, 125
Is gifted beyond nature's law —
Had e'er survived to say he saw.
At length the fateful answer came
In characters of living flame !
Not spoke in word, nor blazed in scroll, 130
But borne and branded on my soul: —
Which spills the foremost foeman's life,
That party conquers ik the strife."
<^.
112. Sentient. Having sensation or feeling; conscious.
114. Trance. A state of insensibility to the things of this world.
123. Avouch. Affirm.
130. Blazed. Displayed; published. — Scroll. A roll of paper or
parchment usually containing some writing.
133. That party conquers in the strife. Though this be in the text
described as a response of the Tagahirm, or Oracle of the Hide, it was
of itself an augury frequently attended to. The fate of the battle was
often anticipated in the imagination of the combatants, by observing
which party first shed blood. It is said that the Highlanders under
114 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto iv.
VII.
" Thanks, Brian, for thy zeal and care !
Good is thine augury, and fair. 135
Clan-Alpine ne'er in battle stood
But first our broadswords tasted blood.
A surer victim still I know,
Self-offered to the auspicious blow :
A spy has sought my land this morn, — 140
No eve shall witness his return I
My followers guard each pass's mouth,
To east, to westward, and to south ;
Red Murdoch, bribed to be his guide.
Has charge to lead his steps aside, 145
Till in deep path or dingle brown
He light on those shall bring him down. —
But see, who comes his news to show !
Malise ! what tidings of the foe ? "
~- VIII.
" At Doune, o'er many a spear and glaive 150
Two Barons proud their banners wave.
I saw the Moray's silver star,
And marked the sable -pale of Mar."
Montrose were so deeply imbued with this notion, that, on the morning of
the battle of Tippermoor, they murdered a defenceless herdsman, whom
they found in the fields, merely to secure an advantage of so much con-
sequence to their party. — Scott.
139. Auspicious. Of good omen ; fortunate.
150. Glaive. A broadsword.
152-53. Moray's silver star . . . sable pale of Mar. The Earls of Moray
and Mar were supporters of the King. The shield or banner of the one
bore a star, the other a black band going perpendicularly down the centre
of the shield, called a pale.
CANTO IV.
THE PROPHECY. 115
" By Alpine's soul, high tidings those !
I love to hear of worthy foes. 155
When move the}^ on ? " " To-morrow's noon
Will see them here for battle boune."
" Then shall it see a meeting stern !
But, for the place, say, — couldst thou learn
Nought of the friendly clans of Earn ? 160
Strengthened by them, Ave well might bide
The battle on Benledi's side.
Thou couldst not ? — well ! Clan-Alpine's men
Shall man the Trosachs' shaggy glen ;
Within Loch Katrine's gorge we'll fight, 165
All in our maids' and matrons' sight,
Each for his hearth and household fire.
Father for child, and son for sire.
Lover for maid beloved ! — But why —
Is it the breeze affects mine eye ? 170
Or dost thou come, ill-omened tear !
A messenger of doubt or fear ?
No I sooner may the Saxon lance
Unfix Benledi from his stance.
Than doubt or terror can pierce through 175
The unyielding heart of Roderick Dhu !
-^•'Tis stubborn as his trusty targe.
Each to his post! — all know their charge."
The pibroch sounds, the bands advance.
The broadswords gleam, the banners dance, 180
Obedient to the Chieftain's glance. —
1 turn me from the martial roar,
And seek Coir-Uriskin once more.
IGO. Earn. District about Loch Earn.
174. Stance. Station; foundation.
116 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto iv.
IX.
Where is the Douglas? — he is gone ;
And Ellen sits on the gray stone 185
Fast by the cave, and makes her moan,
While vainly Allan's words of cheer
Are poured on her unheeding ear.
" He will return — dear lady, trust ! —
With joy return ; — he will — he must. 190
Well was it time to seek afar
Some refuge from impending war.
When e'en Clan Alpine's rugged swarm
Are cowed by the approaching storm.
I saw their boats with many a light, 195
Floating the livelong yesternight,
Shifting like flashes darted forth
By the red streamers of the north ;
I marked at morn how close they ride.
Thick moored by the lone islet's side, 200
Like wild ducks couching in the fen
When stoops the hawk upon the glen.
Since this rude race dare not abide
The peril on the mainland side,
Shall not thy noble father's care 205
Some safe retreat for thee prepare ? "
X.
ELLEK.
" No, Allan, no ! Pretext so kind
My wakeful terrors could not blind.
198. Red streamers of the North. Aurora Borealis, or northern lights.
201. Fen. Marsh.
CANTO IV. THE PROPHECY. 117
When in such tender tone, yet grave,
Douglas a parting blessing gave, 210
The tear that glistened in his eye
Drowned not his purpose fixed and high.
My soul, thougli feminine and weak.
Can image his ; e'en as the lake,
Itself disturbed by slightest stroke, 215
Reflects the invulnerable rock.
He hears report of battle rife.
He deems liimself the cause of strife.
I saw him redden when the theme
Turned, Allan, on thine idle dream 220
Of Malcolm Grseme in fetters bound.
Which I, thou saidst, about him wound.
Think'st thou he trowed thine omen aught?
O no ! 'twas apprehensive thought
For the kind youth, — for Roderick too — 225
Let me be just — that friend so true ;
In danger both, and in our cause !
Mhistrel, the Douglas dare not pause.
Why else that solemn warning given,
" If not on earth, we meet in heaven ! " 230
Why else, to Cambus-kenneth's fane,
If eve return him not again.
Am I to hie and make me known ?
Alas ! he goes to Scotland's throne.
Buys his friends' safety with his own ; 235
He goes to do — what I had done.
Had Douglas' daughter been his son ! "
210. Invulnerable. That cannot be injured: enduring. — 217. Eife. Pre-
vailing. — 22o. Trowed. Believed. — 224. Apprehensive. Fearful of danger.
231. Cambus-kenneth's fane. An abbey near Stirling.
118 THE LADY OF THE LAKE.
XI.
CANTO IV,
" Nay, lovely Ellen ! — dearest, nay !
If aught should his return delay.
He only named yon holy fane 240
As fitting place to meet again.
Be sure he's safe ; and for the Graeme, —
Heaven's blessing on his gallant name ! —
My visioned sight may yet prove true.
Nor bode of ill to him or you. 245
When did my gifted dream beguile ?
Think of the stranger at the isle.
And think upon the harpings slow
That presaged this approaching woe !
Sooth was my prophecy of fear ; 250
Believe it when it augurs cheer.
Would he had left this dismal spot !
Ill luck still haunts a fairy grot.
Of such a wondrous tale I know —
Dear lady, change that look of woe, 255
My harp was wont thy grief to cheer."
ELLEN.
" Well, be it as thou wilt ; I hear.
But cannot stop the bursting tear."
The Minstrel tried his simple art.
But distant far was Ellen's heart. 26O
246. Beguile. Deceive. —249. Presaged. Predicted ; prophesied.
253. Grot. Grotto; secluded place.
CANTO IV
THE PROPHECY. 119
xn.
ALICE BRAND.
Merry it is in the good greenwood,
When the mavis and merle are singing,
When the deer sweeps by, and the hounds are in cry,
And the hunter's horn is ringing.
" O Alice Brand, my native land 265
Is lost for love of you;
And we must hold by wood and wold,
As outlaws wont to do.
" O Alice, 'twas all for thy locks so bright.
And 'twas all for thine eyes so blue, 270
That on the night of our luckless flight
Thy brother bold I slew.
" Now must I teach to hew the beech
The hand that held the glaive.
For leaves to spread our lowly bed, 276
And stakes to fence our cave.
" And for vest of pall, thy fingers small.
That wont on harp to stray,
A cloak must shear from the slaughtered deer.
To keep the cold away." 280
" O Richard ! if my brother died,
'Twas but a fatal chance ;
262. Mavis. Thrush. —Merle. Blackbird.
267. Wold. Open grassy country.
277. Vest of pall. An outer garment of rich material.
120 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto iv.
For darkling was the battle tried,
And fortune sped the lance.
" If pall and vair no more I wear, 285
Nor thou the crimson sheen,
As warm, we'll say, is the russet gray,
As gay the forest-green.
" And, Richard, if our lot be hard,
And lost thy native land, 290
Still Alice has her own Richard,
And he his Alice Brand."
XIII.
^allnb Conthm^b'.
'Tis merry, 'tis merry, in good greenwood ;
So blithe Lady Alice is singing ;
On the beech's pride, and oak's brown side, 295
Lord Richard's axe is ringing.
Up spoke the moody Elfin King,
Who woned within the hill, —
Like wind in the porch of a ruined church,
His voice was ghostly shrill. 300
" Why sounds yon stroke on beech and oak,
Our moonlight circle's screen?
Or who comes here to chase the deer.
Beloved of our Elfin Queen ?
283. Darkling. In the dark.— 285. Vair. The fur of a small, bluish-
gray animal resembling a polecat. Such furs were only worn by ladies of
rank. Yonge. — 298. Woned. Dwelt.
304. Elfin Queen. Fairies, if not positively malevolent, are capricious
and easily offended. They are, like other proprietors of forests, peculiarly
jealous of their rights of vert and venison. Scott.
CANTO IV. THE PROPHECY. 121
Or who may dare on wold to wear 305
The fairies' fatal green ?
" Up, Urgan, up ! to yon mortal hie,
For thou wert christened man ;
For cross or sign thou wilt not fly.
For muttered word or ban. 310
" Lay on him the curse of the withered heart,
The curse of the sleepless eye ;
Till he wish and pray that his life would part,
Nor yet find leave to die."
XIV.
^allab Conlinucb.
'Tis merry, 'tis merry, in good greenwood, 3i5
Though the birds have stilled their singing ;
The evening blaze doth Alice raise.
And Richard is fagots bringing.
Up Urgan starts, that hideous dwarf.
Before Lord Richard stands, 320
And, as he crossed and blessed himself,
^' I fear not sign," quoth the grizzly elf,
" That is made with bloody hands."
But out then spoke she, Alice Brand,
That woman void of fear, — 325
" And if there's blood upon his hand,
'Tis but the blood of deer."
306. Fatal green. As the Daoine Shi', or Men of Peace, wore green
habits, they were supposed to take offence when any mortals ventured to
assume their favorite color. Indeed, from some reason, which has been,
perhaps, originally a general superstitiou, r/ree/i is held in Scotland to be
unlucky to particular tribes and counties. — Scott.
122 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto iv.
" Now loud thou liest, thou bold of mood !
It cleaves unto his hand,
The stain of thine own kindly blood, 330
The blood of Ethert Brand."
Then forward stepped she, Alice Brand,
And made the holy sign, —
" And if there's blood on Richard's hand,
A spotless hand is mine. 335
" And I conjure thee, demon elf.
By Him whom demons fear,
To show us whence thou art thyself,
And what thine errand here ? "
XV.
^allab Cotttinuebf.
" 'Tis merry, 'tis merry, in Fairy-land, 340
When fairy birds are singing,
When the court doth ride by their monarch's side.
With bit and bridle ringing :
'* And gayly shines the Fairy-land —
But all is glistening show, 345
Like the idle gleam that December's beam
Can dart on ice and snow.
" And fading, like that varied gleam.
Is our inconstant shape.
Who now like knight and lady seem, 350
And now like dwarf and ape.
330. Kindly. Kindred. — 33(5. Conjure. Implore.
349. Inconstant. Changeable.
CANTO IV.
THE PROPHECY. 123
" It was between the night and day,
When the Fairy King has power,
That I sunk down in a sinful fray,
And 'twixt life and death was snatched away 355
To the joyless Elfin bower.
" But wist I of a woman bold,
Who thrice my brow durst sign,
I might regain my mortal mould.
As fair a form as thine." 360
She crossed him once — she crossed him twice —
That lady was so brave ;
The fouler grew his goblin hue.
The darker grew the cave.
She crossed him thrice, that lady bold ; 365
He rose beneath her hand
The fairest knight on Scottish mould.
Her brother, Ethert Brand !
Merry it is in good greenwood,
When the mavis and merle are singing, 370
But merrier were they in Dunfermline gray,
When all the bells were ringing.
XVI.
Just as the minstrel sounds were stayed,
A stranger climbed the steepy glade ;
His martial step, his stately mien, 375
His hunting-suit of Lincoln green,
357. Wist. Knew. — 359. Mould. Form. — 367. Mould. Soil.
371. Dunfermline. A town on the Firth of Forth; the seat of an ex-
tensive abbey, and the residence of the kings of Scotland in early times.
124 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto iv.
His eagle glance, remembrance claims —
'Tis Snowdoun's Knight, 'tis James Fitz-James.
Ellen beheld as in a dream.
Then, starting, scarce suppressed a scream : 380
" O stranger ! in such hour of fear
What evil hap has brought thee here ? "
" An evil hap how can it be
That bids me look again on thee ?
By promise bound, my former guide 385
Met me betimes this morning-tide,
And marshalled over bank and bourne
The happy path of my return."
" The happy path ! — what ! said he naught
Of war, of battle to be fought, 390
Of guarded pass ? " " No, by my faith !
Nor saw I aught could augur scathe."
" O haste thee, Allan, to the kern :
Yonder his tartans I discern ;
Learn thou his purpose, and conjure 395
That he will guide the stranger sure ! —
What prompted thee, unhappy man?
The meanest serf in Roderick's clan
Had not been bribed, by love or fear.
Unknown to him to guide thee here." 400
XVII.
" Sweet Ellen, dear my life must be,
Since it is worthy care from thee ;
Yet life I hold but idle breath
When love or honor's weighed with death.
386. Betimes. Early. — 387. Bourne. Stream.
392. Augur scathe. Predict injury. — 398. Serf. Slave.
CANTO IV. THE PROPHECY. 125
Then let me profit by my chance, 405
And speak my purpose bokl at once.
I come to bear thee from a wild
Where ne'er before such blossom smiled,
By this soft hand to lead thee far
From frantic scenes of feud and war. 410
Near Bochastle my horses wait ;
They bear us soon to Stirling gate.
I'll place thee in a lovely bower,
I'll guard thee like a tender flower — "
" O hush. Sir Knight ! 'twere female art, 415
To say I do not read thy heart ;
Too much, before, my selfish ear
Was idly soothed my praise to hear.
That fatal bait hath lured thee back.
In deathful hour o'er dangerous track ; 420
And how, O how, can I atone
The wreck my vanity brought on ! —
One way remains — I'll tell him all —
Yes ! struggling bosom, forth it shall !
Thou, whose light folly bears the blame, 425
Buy thine own pardon with thy shame !
But first — my father is a man
Outlawed and exiled, under ban ;
The price of blood is on his head,
With me 'twere infamy to wed. 430
Still wouldst thou speak ? — then hear the truth !
Fitz-James, there is a noble youth —
If yet he is ! — exposed for me
And mine to dread extremity —
410. Feud. A deadly strife between clans.
126 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto iv.
Thou hast the secret of my heart ; ^35
Forgive, be generous, and depart ! "
XVIII.
Fitz-James knew every wily train
A lady's fickle heart to gain,
But here he knew and felt them vain.
There shot no glance from Ellen's eye, 440
To give her steadfast sj^eech the lie ;
In maiden confidence she stood,
Though mantled in her cheek the blood,
And told her love with such a sigh
Of deep and hopeless agony, 445
As death had sealed her Malcolm's doom
And she sat sorrowing on his tomb.
Hope vanished from Fitz- James's eye.
But not with hope fled sympathy.
He proffered to attend her side, 450
As brother would a sister guide.
"O little know'st thou Roderick's heart!
Safer for both we go apart.
O haste thee, and from Allan learn
If thou mayst trust yon wily kern." 455
With hand upon his forehead laid,
The conflict of his mind to shade,
A parting step or two he made ;
Then, as some thought had crossed his brain.
He paused, and turned, and came again. 460
437. Train. Persuasion or enticement.
455. Wily. Artful, sly.
CANTO IV. THE PROPHECY. 127
XIX.
" Hear, lady, yet a parting word ! —
It chanced in fight that my poor sword
Preserved the life of Scotland's lord.
This ring the grateful Monarch gave.
And bade, when I had boon to crave, 465
To bring it back, and boldly claim
The recompense that I would name.
Ellen, I am no courtly lord,
But one who lives by lance and sword,
Whose castle is his helm and shield, 470
His lordship the embattled field.
What from a prince can I demand,
Who neither reck of state nor land ?
Ellen, thy hand — the ring is thine ;
Each guard and usher knows the sign. 475
Seek thou the King without delay ;
This signet shall secure thy way :
And claim thy suit, whate'er it be,
As ransom of his pledge to me."
He placed the golden circlet on, 480
Paused — kissed her hand — and then was gone.
The aged Minstrel stood aghast,
So hastily Fitz-James shot past.
He joined his guide, and wending down
The ridges of the mountain brown, 485
Across the stream they took their way
That joins Loch Katrine to Achray.
4C5. Boon to Crave. Favor to ask.
470. Helm. Helmet; defensive armor for the head.
471. Hi^lordship the embattled field. His estate the battle-field.
473. Keck of. Mind or care for. —477. Signet. Seal in the ring.
128 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto iv.
XX.
All in the Trosachs' glen was still,
Noontide was sleeping on the hill :
Sudden liis guide whooped loud and high — 490
" Murdoch ! was that a signal cry ? " —
He stammered forth, " I shout to scare
Yon raven from his dainty fare."
He looked — he knew the raven's prey,
His own brave steed : " Ah ! gallant gray ! 495
For thee — for me, perchance — 'twere well
We ne'er had seen the Trosachs' dell. —
Murdoch, move first — but silently ;
Whistle or whoop, and thou shalt die I "
Jealous and sullen on they fared, 500
Each silent, each upon his guard.
XXI.
Now wound the path its dizzy ledge
Around a precipice's edge.
When lo ! a wasted female form.
Blighted by wrath of sun and storm, 505
In tattered weeds and wild array,
Stood on a cliff beside the way,
And glancing round her restless eye.
Upon the wood, the rock, the sky.
Seemed naught to mark, yet all to spy. 5io
Her brow was wreathed with gaudy broom ;
With gesture wild she waved a plume
Of feathers, which the eagles fling
To crag and cliff from dusky wing
500. Fared. Journeyed. — 506. Weeds. Dress.
CANTO IV. THE PROPHECY. 129
Such spoils her desperate step had sought, 515
Where scarce was footing for the goat.
The tartan plaid she first descried,
And shrieked till all the rocks replied ;
As loud she laughed when near they drew.
For then the Lowland garb she knew ; 520
And then her hands she wildly wrung,
And then she wept, and then she sung —
She sung I — the voice, in better time.
Perchance to harp or lute might chime ;
And now, though strained and roughened, still 525
Rung wildly sweet to dale and hill.
XXII.
They bid me sleep, they bid me pray,
They say my brain is warped and wrung, —
I cannot sleep on Highland brae,
I cannot pray in Highland tongue. 530
But were I now where Allan glides,
Or heard my native Devan's tides.
So sweetly would I rest, and pray
That heaven would close my wintry day !
'Twas thus my hair they bade me braid, 535
They made me to the church repair ;
It was my bridal morn they said,
And my true love would meet me there.
But woe betide the cruel guile
That drowned in blood the morning smile ! 540
531-532. Allan, Devan. Small streams tributary to the Forth.
539. Guile. Deceit.
130 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto iv.
And woe betide the fairy dream !
I only waked to sob and scream.
xxin.
" Who is this maid ? what means her lay ?
She hovers o'er the hollow way,
And flutters wide her mantle gray, 545
As the lone heron spreads his wing.
By twilight, o'er a haunted spring,"
" 'Tis Blanche of Devan," Murdoch said,
" A crazed and captive Lowland maid,
Ta'en on the morn she was a bride, 550
When Roderick forayed De van-side.
The gay bridegroom resistance made,
And felt our Chief's unconquered blade.
I marvel she is now at large,
But oft she 'scapes from Maudlin's charge. — 555
Hence, brain-sick fool ! " — He raised his bow : —
" Now, if thou strik'st her but one blow,
I'll pitch thee from the cliff as far
As ever peasant pitched a bar ! "
" Thanks, champion, thanks I " the Maniac cried, 560
And pressed her to Fitz-James's side.
" See the graj^ pennons I prepare.
To seek my true love through the air !
I will not lend that savage groom.
To break his fall, one downy plume ! 565
No ! — deep amid disjointed stones.
The wolves shall batten on his bones,
551. For'ayed. Plundered.
562. Pennons. Lar2:e wing-feathers. —567. Batten, Fatten.
CAXTO IV. THE PROPHECY. 131
And then shall his detested plaid,
By bush and brier in mid-air stayed,
Wave forth a banner fair and free, 570
Meet signal for their revelry."
XXIY.
" Hush thee, poor maiden, and be still ! "
" O ! thou look'st kindly, and I will.
Mine eye has dried and wasted been.
But still it loves the Lincoln green ; 575
And, though mine ear is all unstrung,
Still, still it loves the Lowland tongue.
" For O my sweet William was forester true.
He stole poor Blanche's heart away !
His coat it was all of the greenwood hue, 580
And so blithely he trilled the Lowland lay !
" It was not that I meant to tell . . .
But thou art wise and guessest well."
Then, in a low and broken tone.
And hurried note, the song went on. 585
Still on the Clansman fearfully
She fixed her apprehensive eye.
Then turned it on the Knight, and then
Her look glanced wildly o'er the glen.
XXV.
" The toils are pitched, and the stakes are set, — soo
Ever sing merrily, merrily ;
578. my sweet William. The sight of the Lincoln green reminds
Blanche of her husband, and she is led to warn the stranger of his peril.
590. Toils. Xets, snares.
132 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto iv.
The bows they bend, and the knives they whet,
Hunters live so cheerily.
" It was a stag, a stag of ten,
Bearing its branches sturdily ; 595
He came stately down the glen, —
Ever sing hardily, hardily.
" It was there he met with a wounded doe,
She was bleeding deathfully ;
She warned him of the toils below, 600
O, so faithfully, faithfully !
" He had an eye, and he could heed, —
Ever sing warily, warily ;
He had a foot, and he could speed, —
Hunters watch so narrowly." 605
XXVI.
Fitz-James's mind was passion-tossed,
When Ellen's hints and fears were lost ;
But Murdoch's shout suspicion wrought,
And Blanche's song conviction brought.
Not like a stag that spies the snare, eio
But lion of the hunt aware.
He waved at once his blade on high,
" Disclose thy treachery, or die ! "
Forth at full speed the Clansman flew,
But in his race his bow he drew. 6i5
593. Hunters live so cheerily, etc. The hunters are Clan- Alpine's
men; the stag of ten is Fitz- James; the wounded doe is Blanche herself.
594. Stag of ten. Stag having ten branches on his horns.
603. Warily. Cautiously. — G08. Wrought. Worked; caused.
CANTO IV. THE PROPHECY. 133
The shaft just grazed Fitz-James's crest,
And thrilled in Blanche's faded breast. —
Murdoch of Alpine ! prove thy speed,
For ne'er had Alpine's son such need ;
With heart of fire, and foot of wind, 620
The fierce avenger is behind !
Fate judges of the rapid strife —
The forfeit death — the prize is life ;
Thy kindred ambush lies before,
Close couched upon the heathery moor ; 625
Them couldst thou reach ! — it may not be —
Thine ambushed kin thou ne'er shalt see.
The fiery Saxon gains on thee I —
Resistless speeds the deadly thrust,
As lightning strikes the pine to dust ; 630
With foot and hand Fitz-James must strain
Ere he can win his blade again.
Bent o'er the fallen with falcon eye.
He grimly smiled to see him die,
Then slower wended back his way, 635
Where the poor maiden bleeding lay.
xxvn.
She sat beneath the birchen tree.
Her elbow resting on her knee ;
She had withdrawn the fatal shaft,
And gazed on it, and feebly laughed ; 640
Her wreath of broom and feathers gray.
Daggled with blood, beside her lay.
623, Forfeit. Penalty; fine. — G24. Ambush. Armed men lyiug cou-
cealod. — 042. Daggled. Spattered.
134 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto iv.
The Knight to stanch the life-stream tried, —
" Stranger, it is in vain ! " she cried.
" This hour of death has given me more 645
Of reason's power than years before ;
For, as these ebbing veins decay,
My frenzied visions fade away.
A helpless injured wretch I die,
And something tells me in thine eye 650
That thou wert mine avenger born.
Seest thou this tress? — O, still I've worn
This little tress of yellow hair.
Through danger, frenzy, and despair !
It once was bright and clear as thine, 655
But blood and tears have dimmed its shine.
I will not tell thee when 'twas shred,
Nor from what guiltless victim's head, —
My brain would turn ! — but it shall wave
Like plumage on thy helmet brave, 660
Till sun and wind shall bleach the stain,
And thou wilt bring it me again.
I waver still. — O God ! more bright
Let reason beam her parting light I —
O, by thy knighthood's honored sign, 665
And for thy life preserved by mine,
When thou shalt see a darksome man.
Who boasts him Chief of Alpine's Clan,
With tartans broad and shadowy plume,
And hand of blood, and brow of gloom, 670
Be thy heart bold, thy weapon strong.
And wreak poor Blanche of Devan's Avrong ! —
648. Frenzied Distracted. — 657. Shred. Rent, torn.
CANTO IV.
THE PROrHECY. 135
They watch for thee by pass and fell . . .
Avoid the path . . . O God ! . . . farewell."
. XXVIII.
A kindly heart had brave Fitz-Janies ; 675
Fast poured his eyes at pity's claims ;
And now, with mingled grief and ire,
He saw the murdered maid expire.
" God, in my need, be my relief.
As I wreak this on yonder Chief ! " 680
A lock from Blanche's tresses fair
He blended with her bridegroom's hair;
The mingled braid in blood he dyed,
And placed it on his bonnet-side:
" By Him whose word is truth, I swear, 685
No other favor will I wear.
Till this sad token I imbrue
In the best blood of Roderick Dhu ! —
But hark ! what means yon faint halloo ?
The chase is up, — but they shall know, 690
The stag at bay's a dangerous foe."
Barred from the known but guarded way,
Through copse and cliffs Fitz-James must stray,
And oft must change his desperate track.
By stream and precipice turned back. 605
Heartless, fatigued, and faint, at length.
From lack of food and loss of strength.
He couched him in a thicket hoar.
And thought his toils and perils o'er : —
().S0. Wreak. Avenge.— 080. Favor. Gift of a lady to a Knight, as
a glove or a scarf to be worn by him. — 087. Imbrue. Drench.
136 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto iv.
" Of all my rash adventures past, too
This frantic feat must prove the last !
Who e'er so mad but might have guessed
That all this Highland hornet's nest
Would muster up in swarms so soon
As e'er they heard of bands at Doune ? — 705
Like bloodhounds now they search me out, —
Hark, to the whistle and the shout ! —
If farther through the wilds I go,
I only fall upon the foe :
I'll couch me here till evening gray, 7io
Then darkling try my dangerous way."
XXIX.
The shades of eve come slowly down.
The woods are wrapt in deeper brown,
The owl awakens from her dell,
The fox is heard upon the fell ; 715
Enough remains of glimmering light
To guide the wanderer's steps aright,
Yet not enough from far to show
His figure to the watchful foe.
With cautious step and ear awake, 720
He climbs the crag and threads the brake *
And not the summer solstice there
Tempered the midnight mountain air.
But every breeze that swept the wold
Benumbed his drenched limbs with cold. 725
In dread, in danger, and alone.
Famished and chilled, through ways unknown,
722. Summer solstice. The longest clay, when the heat is greatest.
CANTO IV. THE PROPHECY. 137
Tangled and steep, he journeyed on ;
Till, as a. rock's huge j^oint he turned,
A watch-fire close before him burned.
730
XXX.
Beside its embers red and clear,
Basked in his plaid a mountaineer ;
And up he sprung with sword in hand, —
" Thy name and purpose ! Saxon, stand ! "
" A stranger." " What dost thou require? " 735
" Rest and a guide, and food and fire.
My life's beset, my path is lost.
The gale has chilled my limbs with frost."
" Art thou a friend to Roderick ? " " No "
" Thou dar'st not call thyself a foe ? " 740
" I dare ! to him and all the band
He brings to aid his murderous hand."
"Bold words! — but, though the beast of game
The privilege of chase may claim,
Though space and law the stag we lend, 745
Ere hound we slip or bow we bend,
Who ever recked, where, how, or when.
The prowling fox Avas trapped or slain ?
Thus treacherous scouts, — yet sure they lie.
Who say thou cam'st a secret spy ! " — 750
" They do, by heaven ! — come Roderick Dim,
And of his clan the boldest two,
And let me but till morning rest,
I write the falsehood on their crest."
732. Basked. Lay exposed to genial heat.
74G. Slip. Let loose for the game.
138 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto iv.
" If by the blaze I mark aright, 755
Thou bear'st the belt and spur of Knight."
" Then by these tokens mayst thou know
Each proud oppressor's mortal foe."
"Enough, enough; sit down and share
A soldier's couch, a soldier's fare." 760
XXXI.
He gave him of his Highland cheer.
The hardened flesh of mountain deer ;
Dry fuel on the fire he laid,
And bade the Saxon share his plaid.
He tended him like welcome guest, 765
Then thus his further speech addressed : —
" Stranger, I am to Roderick Dhu
A clansman born, a kinsman true ;
Each wordiagainst his honor spoke
Demands of me avenging stroke ; 770
Yet more, — upon thy fate, 'tis said,
A mighty augury is laid.
It rests with me to wind my horn, —
Thou art with numbers overborne ;
It rests with me, here, brand to brand, 775
Worn as thou art, to bid thee stand :
But, not for clan, nor kindred's cause.
Will I depart from honor's laws ;
To assail a wearied man were shame,
And stranger is a holy name ; . 780
762. Hardened flesh. The Scottish Highlanders in former times had a
way of preparing their venison without cooking, by simply pressing it be-
tween two pieces of wood, so as to force out the blood and render it ex-
tremely hard. This was considered a great delicacy.
CANTO IV. THE PROPHECY. 139
Guidance and rest, and food and fire,
In vain he never must require.
Then rest thee here till dawn of day ;
Myself will guide thee on the way,
O'er stock and stone, through watch and ward, 785
Till past Clan- Alpine's outmost guard.
As far as Coilantogle's ford ;
From thence thy warrant is thy sword."
" I take thy courtesy, by heaven.
As freely as 'tis nobly given ! " 790
"Well, rest thee ; for the bittern's cry
Sings us the lake's wild lullaby."
With that he shook the gathered heath,
And spread his plaid upon the wreath;
And the brave foemen, side by side, 795
Lay peaceful down like brothers tried,
And slept until the dawning beam
Purpled the mountain and the stream.
785. Through watch and ward. Through the midst of those who keep
watch by night and guard by day.
787. Coilantogle's ford. On arriving at Coilantogle's ford, near the
foot of Loch Vennachar, Fitz-James, having passed beyond the limits of
the lawless Highlands, came within the district loyal to the Scottish king,
and, therefore, needed no further protection from the Highland chief.
788. Warrant. Safeguard.
OUTLINE OF CANTO FIFTH.
After a hasty morning meal the two start upon their journey,
and the Gael's enquiries as to the knight's object in thus venturing
in these wilds without a pass from the chief lead to an interesting
conversation betwixt them. Fitz-James shows that Roderick's
suspicions of a war-gathering are mistaken, but hints that his
preparations may possibly lead to an encounter which had not
been intended. He avows his enmity against Roderick, with
whom he has vowed to match himself, and expresses the keenest
desire to meet " the rebel chieftain and his band." " Have, then,
thy wish," is the reply. His companion's shrill signal makes the
whole hillside bristle with armed men, who have been lying concealed
among the heather and the bracken, and the guide proclaims him-
self the very man whom he seeks. At a fresh sign the warriors
disappear as suddenly as they sprang to light, and the two pursue
their course. They pass the foot of Lake Vennachar, and at last
reach the ford, which is the limit of Roderick's protection. There
Fitz-James must defend himself with his own sword. The Gael,
to make the fight more equal, throws away his targe, and thus the
science which makes the good blade both sword and shield gives
the knight the advantage over his adversary. The latter, thrice
severely wounded, loses his sword, but makes a final effort, and
springs at his opponent's throat. Clasj)ed in his strong arms the
knight falls under him, and the issue of the fight would have been
changed had not Roderick turned giddy from loss of blood and
missed his aim. Poor Blanche is thus revenged. The victor
winds his bugle, and four attendants come galloping to the spot.
Leaving two of them to look to the wounded man, he hastes with
the others back to Stirling. As they come to the castle they catch
sight of the Douglas, who comes to give himself up to the king
OUTLINE OF CANTO FIFTH. 141
in the hope of liberating the Graeme, and of saving Roderick from
a calamitous war. On his arrival he finds the town in a bustle of
preparation for the burghers' sports, and determines to take part
in them, and so introduce himself to the king. He proves victor
in all that he undertakes, so that the multitude begin to suspect
who he is ; but the king gives him the prize as to an utter stranger.
All this he bears patiently ; but when his hound, Ellen's plajrfellow,
is maltreated by the king's huntsman, he can bear it no longer, and,
with a sound cuff, stretches the offender on the ground, and pro-
claims himself and his purpose in coming. He is carried off cap-
tive to the castle. The people attempt a rescue, but are appeased
by Douglas himself, and retire, though with gloomy forebodings of
his fate.
While the king is brooding over the fickleness of the crowd, a
messenger comes from the Earl of Mar to warn him that Clan-
Alpine is rising, and that he must confine his sport to guarded
ground. The earl himself is gone to quell the rising, and hopes
soon to encounter the foe. James sends in all speed to stay the
army's march, as Roderick is already a captive, and the people
must not suffer for his crimes. But the message, as will be seen,
comes too late. — Taylor.
A
THE COMBAT.
I.
Fair as the earliest beam of eastern light,
When first, by the bewildered pilgrim spied.
It smiles upon the dreary brow of night,
And silvers o'er the torrent's foaming tide.
And lights the fearful path on mountain-side, — 5
Fair as that beam, although the fairest far,
Giving to horror grace, to danger pride.
Shine martial Faith, and Courtesy's bright star.
Through all the wreckful storms that cloud the
\ brow of War.
II.
That early beam, so fair and sheen, lo
Was twinkling through the hazel screen,
When, rousing at its glimmer red.
The warriors left their lowly bed.
Looked out upon the dappled sky,
Muttered their soldier matins by, 15
And then awaked their fire, to steal.
As short and rude, their soldier meal.
That o'er, the Gael around him threw
8. Martial. AVarlike. — 14. Dappled. Spotted. — 16. To steal their
meal. To eat hurriedly. — 18. Gael. The Highlander is called f/ae^, and
the Lowlauder Saxon.
CANTO V
THE COMBAT. 143
20
His graceful plaid of varied hue,
And, true to promise, led the way,
By thicket green and mountain gray.
A wildering path ! — they winded now
Along the precipice's brow.
Commanding the rich scenes beneath.
The windings of the Forth and Teith, 25
And all the vales between that lie,
Till Stirling's turrets melt in sky;
Then, sunk in copse, their farthest glance
Gained not the length of horseman's lance.
'Twas oft so steep, the foot was fain 30
Assistance from the hand to gain ;
So tangled oft that, bursting through.
Each hawthorn shed her showers of dew, —
That diamond dew, so pure and clear,
It rivals all but Beauty's tear ! 35
III.
At leno-th thev came where, stern and steep.
The hill sinks down upon the deep.
Here Vennachar in silver flows.
There, ridge on ridge, Benledi rose ;
Ever the hollow path twined on, 40
Beneath steep bank and threatening stone ;
A hundred men might hold the post
With hardihood against a host.
The rugged mountain's scanty cloak
Was dwarfish shrubs of birch and oak, 45
With shingles bare, and cliffs between.
And patches bright of bracken green,
46. Shingles. Gravel.
144 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto v.
And heather black, that waved so high,
It held the copse in rivalry.
But where the lake slept deep and still, so
Dank osiers fringed the swamp and hill ;
And oft both path and hill were torn,
Where wintry torrent down had borne,
And heaped upon the cumbered land
Its wreck of gravel, rocks, and sand. 55
So toilsome was the road to trace.
The guide, abating of his pace,
Led slowly through the pass's jaws.
And asked Fitz-James by what strange cause
He sought these wilds, traversed by few, oo
Without a pass from Roderick Dhu.
IV.
" Brave Gael, my pass, in danger tried,
Hangs in my belt and by my side ;
Yet, sooth to tell," the Saxon said,
" I dreamt not now to claim its aid. 65
When here, but three days since, I came.
Bewildered in pursuit of game.
All seemed as peaceful and as still
As the mist slumbering on yon hill ;
Thy dangerous Chief was then afar, 70
Nor soon expected back from war.
Thus said, at least, my mountain-guide,
Though deep perchance the villain lied."
" Yet why a second venture try ? "
" A warrior thou, and ask me why ! — 75
51. Dank osiers. Damp willows.
CANTO V. THE COMBAT. 145
Moves our free course by such fixed cause
As gives the poor mechanic laws ?
Enough, I sought to drive away
The lazy hours of peaceful day;
Slight cause will then suffice to guide 80
A Knight's free footsteps far and wide, —
A falcon flown, a greyhound strayed,
The merry glance of mountain maid ;
Or, if a path be dangerous known,
The danger's self is lure alone." 85
V.
'' Thy secret keep, I urge thee not ; —
Yet, ere again ye sought this spot.
Say, heard ye naught of Lowland war,
Against Clan- Alpine, raised by Mar ? "
" No, by my word ; — of bands prepared 90
To guard King James's sports I heard ;
Nor doubt I aught, but, when they hear
This muster of the mountaineer.
Their pennons will abroad be flung.
Which else in Doune had peaceful hung." 95
" Free be they flung ! for Ave were loath
Their silken folds should feast the moth.
Free be they flung ! — as free shall wave
Clan-Alpine's pine in banner brave.
But, stranger, peaceful since you came, lOO
Bewildered in the mountain-game,
85. Lure. Enticement: that which invites by the prospect of advantage
or pleasure. — 03. Muster. Gathering. — 94. Pennons. Flags or streamers.
95. Doune. Note, Canto V., line 492.
146 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto v.
Whence the bold boast by which you show
Vich-Alpine's vowed and mortal foe ? "
" Warrior, but yester-morn I knew
Naught of thy Chieftain, Roderick Dhu, 105
Save as an outlawed, desperate man,
The chief of a rebellious clan,
Who, in the Regent's court and sight.
With ruffian dagger stabbed a knight ;
Yet this alone might from his part no
Sever each true and loyal heart."
VI.
Wrathful at such arraignment foul.
Dark lowered the clansman's sable scowl.
A space he paused, then sternly said,
"And heardst thou why he drew his blade ? ii5
Heardst thou that shameful word and blow
Brought Roderick's vengeance on his foe ?
What recked the Chieftain if he stood
On Highland heath or Holy-Rood ?
He rights such wrong where it is given, 120
If it were in the court of heaven."
" Still was it outrage ; — yet, 'tis true.
Not then claimed sovereignty his due ;
While Albany with feeble hand
Held borrowed truncheon of command, 125
The young King, mewed in Stirling tower,
Was stranger to respect and power.
112. Arraignment. Accusation. —113. Lowered. Frowned.
119. Holy Rood. Note, Canto 11., line 221. — 124. Albany. John
Stewart, Duke of Albany, was regent or ruler during the minority of the
king. — 125. Truncheon. Staff. — 126. Mewed. Imprisoned.
127. Stranger to respect and power. There is scarcely a more dis-
CANTO V. THE COMBAT. 147
But then, thy Chieftain's robber life I —
Winning mean prey by causeless strife,
Wrenching from ruined Lowland swain 130
His herds and harvest reared in vain, —
Methinks a soul like thine should scorn
The spoils from such foul foray borne."
VII.
The Gael beheld him grim the while.
And answered with disdainful smile : 135
" Saxon, from yonder mountain high,
I marked thee send delighted eye
Far to the south and east, where lay.
Extended in succession gay,
Deep waving fields and pastures green, 140
With gentle slopes and groves between : —
These fertile plains, that softened vale.
Were once the birthright of the Gael,
The stranger came with iron hand.
And from our fathers reft the land. 145
Where dwell we now ? See, rudely swell
Crag over crag, and fell o'er fell.
Ask we this savage hill we tread
For fattened steer or household bread,
Ask we for flocks these shingles dry, 15C
And well the mountain might reply, —
' To you, as to your sires of yore,
Belong the target and claymore !
orderly period in Scottish history than that which succeeded the battle of
riodden, and occupied the minority of James V. Feuds of ancient stand-
ing broke out like old wounds, and every quarrel among the independent
nobility, which occurred daily, and almost hourly, gave rise to fresh blood-
shed. Scott.
148 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto v.
I give you shelter in my breast,
Your own good blades must win the rest.' 155
Pent in this fortress of the North,
Think'st thou we will not sally forth,
To spoil the spoiler as we may.
And from the robber rend the prey?
Ay, by my soul ! — While on yon plain 160
The Saxon rears one shock of grain.
While of ten thousand herds there strays
But one along yon river's maze, —
The Gael, of plain and river heir.
Shall with strong hand redeem his share. 165
Where live the mountain Chiefs who hold
That plundering Lowland field and fold
Is aught but retribution true ?
Seek other cause 'gainst Roderick Dhu."
VIII.
Answered Fitz-James : " And, if I sought, 170
Think'st thou no other could be brought ?
What deem ye of my path waylaid?
My life given o'er to ambuscade?"
156. Pent. Shut up. — 161. Shock. A pile of sheaves or bundles of
grain. — 163. Maze. Wiuding course.
169. Seek other cause 'gainst Roderick Dhu. So far, indeed, was a
Crecu/h, or foray, from being held disgraceful, that a young chief was
always expected to show his talents for command, so soon as he assumed it,
by leading his clan on a successful enterprise of this nature, either against
a neighboring sept, for which constant feuds usually furnished an apology,
or against the Saxons, or Lowlanders, for which no apology was necessary.
The Gael, great traditional historians, never forgot that the Lowlands bad,
at some remote period, been the property of their Celtic forefathers, which
furnished an ample vindication of all the ravages that they could make o'n
the unfortunate districts which lay within their reach. Scott.
173. Ambuscade. A concealed place where troops lie hidden.
CANTO V. THE COMBAT. 149
" As of a meed to rashness due :
Hadst thou sent warning fair and true, — 175
I seek my hound or falcon strayed,
I seek, good faith, a Highland maid, —
Free hadst thou been to come and go ;
But secret path marks secret foe.
Nor yet for this, even as a spy, iso
Hadst thou, unheard, been doomed to die,
Save to fulfil an augury."
"Well, let it pass; nor will I now
Fresh cause of enmity avow.
To chafe thy mood and cloud thy brow. 185
Enough, I am by j^romise tied
To match me with this man of pride :
Twice have I sought Clan- Alpine's glen
In peace ; but when I come again,
I come with banner, brand, and bow, 190
As leader seeks his mortal foe.
For love-lorn swain in lady's bower
Ne'er panted for the appointed hour,
As I, until before me stand
This rebel Chieftain and his band ! " 195
IX.
" Have then thy wish ' " — He whistled shrill.
And he was answered from the hill ;
Wild as the scream of the curlew,
From crag to crag the signal flew.
Instant, through copse and heath, arose 200
Bonnets and spears and bended bows ;
198. Curlew. Wading-bird frequenting the sea-shore in winter and the
mountains in summer.
150 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto v.
On right, on left, above, below,
Sprung up at once the lurking foe ;
From shingles gray their lances start.
The bracken busli sends forth the dart, 205
The rushes and the willow-wand
Are bristling into axe and brand.
And every tuft of broom gives life
To plaided w^arrior armed for strife.
That whistle garrisoned the glen 210
At once with full five hundred men.
As if the yawning liill to heaven
A subterranean host had given.
Watching their leader's beck and will.
All silent there they stood and still. 215
Like the loose crags whose threatening mass
Lay tottering o'er the hollow pass.
As if an infant's touch could urge
Their headlong passage down the verge.
With step and weapon forward flung, 220
Upon the mountain-side they hung.
The Mountaineer cast glance of pride
Along Benledi's living side.
Then fixed his eye and sable brow
Full on Fitz-James: "How say'st thou now? 225
These are Clan-Alj^ine's warriors true ;
And, Saxon, — I am Roderick Dhu ! "
X.
Fitz-James was brave : — though to his heart
The life-blood thrilled with sudden start,
210. Garrisoned. Defended. —213. Subterranean. Lying under the
surface of the earth. — 214. Beck. Nod.
CANTO V. THE COMBAT. 151
He manned himself with dauntless air, 230
Returned the Chief his haughty stare,
His back against a rock he bore,
And firmly placed his foot before : —
"Come one, come all! this rock shall fly
From its firm base as soon as I." 235
Sir Roderick marked, — and in his eyes
Respect was mingled with surprise.
And the stern joy which warriors feel
In foeman worthy of their steel.
Short space he stood — then waved his hand: 240
Down sunk the disappearing band ;
Each warrior vanished where he stood.
In broom or bracken, heath or wood ;
Sunk brand and spear and bended bow.
In osiers pale and copses low ; 245
It seemed as if their mother Earth
Had swallowed up her warlike birth.
The wind's last breath had tossed in air
Pennon and plaid and plumage fair, —
The next but swept a lone hill-side, 250
Where heath and fern were Avaving wide :
The sun's last glance was glinted back
From spear and glaive, from targe and jack, —
The next, all unreflected, shone
On bracken green and cold gray stone. 255
xr.
Fitz-James looked round, — yet scarce believed
The witness that his sight received ;
252. Glinted. Flashed. —253. Prom targe and jack. From shield
and coat of armor. The peasant's coat of armor was a leathern jacket.
152 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto v.
Such apparition well might seem
Delusion of a dreadful dream.
Sir Roderick in suspense he eyed, 260
And to his look the Chief replied :
" Fear naught — nay, that I need not say —
But — doubt not aught from mine array.
Thou art my guest ; — I pledged my word
As far as Coilantogle ford : 265
Nor would I call a clansman's brand
For aid against one valiant hand.
Though on our strife lay every vale
Rent by the Saxon from the Gael.
So move we on; — I only meant 270
To show the reed on which you leant.
Deeming this path you might pursue
Without a pass from Roderick Dhu."
They moved ; — I said Fitz-James was brave
As ever knight that belted glaive, 275
Yet dare not say that now his blood
Kept on its wont and tempered flood,
As, following Roderick's stride, he drew
That seeming lonesome pathway through,
Which yet by fearful proof was rife 280
With lances, that, to take his life,
Waited but signal from a guide.
So late dishonored and defied.
258. Apparition. Sudden appearance. — 259. Delusion. Deception.
260. Suspense. Dread uncertainty.
273. "Without a pass from Roderick Dhu. This incident, like some
other passages in the poem, illustrative of the character of the ancient
Gael, is not imaginary, but borrowed from fact. The Highlanders, with
the inconsistency of most nations in the same state, were alternately capable
of great exertions of generosity, and of cruel revenge and perfidy. Scott.
CANTO V. THE COMBAT. 153
Ever, by stealth, his eye sought round
The vanished guardians of the ground, 285
And still from copse and heather deep
Fancy saw spear and broadsword peep.
And in the plover's shrilly strain
The signal whistle heard again.
Nor breathed he free till far behind 290
The pass was left , for then they wind
Along a wide and level green.
Where neither tree nor tuft was seen,
Nor rush nor bush of broom was near,
To hide a bonnet or a spear. 295
XII.
The Chief in silence strode before.
And reached that torrent's sounding shore,
Which, daughter of three mighty lakes,
From Yennachar in silver breaks.
Sweeps through the plain, and ceaseless mines 300
On Bochastle the mouldering lines,
Where Rome, the Empress of the world.
Of yore her eagle wings unfurled.
And here his course the Chieftain stayed,
288. Plover. A bird frequenting the sea-shore and banks of rivers.
298. Three mighty lakes. Katrine, Achray, and Yennachar.
301. Bochastle. The torrent which discharges itself from Loch Yen-
nachar, the lowest and eastmost of the three lakes which form the scenery
adjoining to the Trosachs, sweeps through a flat and extensive moor called
Bochastle. Upon a small eminence called the Bun of Bochastle, and, in-
deed, on the plain itself, are some intrenchments which have been thought
Roman. Pcott.
303. Eagle wings unfurled. The eagle was the principal standard of
the Roman army.
154 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto v.
Threw down his target and his plaid, 305
And to the Lowland warrior said :
" Bold Saxon ! to his promise just,
Vich-Alpine has discharged his trust.
This murderous Chief, this ruthless man.
This head of a rebellious clan, 310
Hath led thee safe, through watch and ward.
Far past Clan-Alpine's outmost guard.
Now, man to man, and steel to steel,
A Chieftain's vengeance thou shalt feel.
See, here all vantageless I stand, 315
Armed like thyself with single brand ;
For this is Coilantogle ford.
And thou must keep thee with thy sword."
XIII.
The Saxon paused: "I ne'er delayed.
When foeman bade me draw my blade ; 320
Nay more, brave Chief, I vowed thy death ;
Yet sure thy fair and generous faith.
And my deep debt for life preserved,
A better meed have well deserved :
Can naught but blood or feud atone ? 325
Are there no means ? " — " No, stranger, none !
And hear, — to fire thy flagging zeal, —
The Saxon cause rests on thy steel;
For thus spoke Fate by prophet bred
Between the living and the dead : 330
'Who spills the foremost foeman's life,
His party conquers in the strife.' "
" Then, by my word," the Saxon said,
" The riddle is already read.
CANTO V. THE COMBAT. I55
Seek yonder brake beneath the cliff, 335
. There lies Red Murdoch, stark and stiff.
Thus Fate hath solved her prophecy ;
Then yield to Fate, and not to me.
To James at Stirlino- let us go.
When, if thou wilt be still his foe,
Or if the King shall not agree
To grant thee grace and favor free,
I plight mine honor, oath, and word
That, to thy native strengths restored,
With each advantage shalt thou stand
That aids thee now to guard thy land."
340
345
XIV.
Dark lightning flashed from Roderick's eye :
'' Soars thy presumption, then, so high.
Because a wretched kern ye slew.
Homage to name to Roderick Dhu ? 350
He yields not, he, to man nor Fate I
Thou add'st but fuel to my hate ;
My clansman's blood demands revenge.
Not yet prepared? — By heaven, I change
My thought, and hold thy valor light 355
As that of some vain carpet knight.
Who ill deserved my courteous care,
And whose best boast is but to wear
A braid of his fair lady's hair."
" I thank thee, Roderick, for the word ! m
It nerves my heart, it steels my sword ;
350. Homage. Deference, submission.
35G. Carpet knight. One who wins his honors in royal halls by
favoritism rather than by bravery on the battle-field.
156 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto v.
For I have sworn this braid to stain
In the best blood that warms th}^ vein.
Now, trnce, farewell ! and, ruth, begone ! —
Yet think not that by thee alone, 365
Proud Chief ! can courtesy be shown ; £.^ 'j
Though not from copse, or heath, or can-n,
Start at my whistle clansmen stern,
Of this small horn one feeble blast
Would fearful odds against thee cast. sto
But fear not — doubt not — which thou wilt —
We try this quarrel hilt to hilt."
Then each at once his falchion drew,
Each on the ground his scabbard threw,
Each looked to sun and stream and plain 375
As what they ne'er might see again ;
Then foot and point and eye opposed,
In dubious strife they darkly closed.
XY.
Ill fared it then with Roderick Dhu,
That on the field his targe he threw, 380
Whose brazen studs and tough bull-hide
Had death so often dashed aside ;
For, trained abroad his arms to wield,
Fitz-James's blade was sword and shield.
He practised every pass and ward, 385
To thrust, to strike, to feint, to guard ;
364. Truce. Temporary cessation of hostilities. — Ruth. Pity.
380. His targe he threw, etc. A round target of light wood, covered
with strong leather, and studded with brass or iron, was a necessary part
of a Highlander's equipment. In charging regular troops, they received
the thrust of the bayonet in this buckler, twisted it aside, and used the
broadsword against the encumbered soldier. Scott.
386. Feint. To pretend an attack.
CANTO V. THE COMBAT. 157
While less expert, though stronger far,
The Gael maintained unequal war.
Three times in closing strife they stood,
And thrice the Saxon blade drank blood ; 3<k)
No stinted draught, no scanty tide.
The gushing flood the tartans dyed.
Fierce Roderick felt the fatal drahi.
And showered his blows like wintry rain ; JLv"^^
And, as firm rock or castle-roof 395
Against the winter shower is proof.
The foe, invulnerable still.
Foiled his wild rage by steady skill ;
Till, at advantage ta'en, his brand
Forced Roderick's weapon from his hand, 400
And backward borne upon the lea.
Brought the proud Chieftain to his knee.
XVI.
" Now yield thee, or by Him who made
The world, thy heart's blood dies my blade ! "
" Thy threats, thy mercy, T defy ! 405
Let recreant yield, who fears to die.''
Like adder darting from his coil, /^.^*>wV»
Like wolf that dashes through the toil, ^^^^^^.^.xj)^
Like mountain-cat who guards her young, ^^►vw^'
Full at Fitz- James's throat he sprung ; 4io
Received, but recked not of a Avound,
And locked his arms his foeman round. —
Now, gallant Saxon, hold thine own !
No maiden's hand is round thee thrown!
406. Recreant, A cowardly wretch.
158 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto v.
That desperate grasp thy frame might feel 4i5
Through bars of brass and triple steel !
They tug, they strain ! down, down they go,
The Gael above, Fitz-James below.
Tlie Chieftain's gripe his throat compressed.
His knee was planted on his breast ; 420
His clotted locks he backward threw,
Across his broAV his hand he drew,
From blood and mist to clear his sight,
Then gleamed aloft his dagger bright !
But hate and fury ill supplied 425
The stream of life's exhausted tide.
And all too late the advantage came,
To turn the odds of deadly game ;
For, while the dagger gleamed on high.
Reeled soul and sense, reeled brain and eye. 430
Down came the blow ! but in the heath
The erring blade found bloodless sheath.
The struggling foe may now unclasp
The fainting Chief's relaxing grasp ;
Unwounded from the dreadful close, 435
But breathless all, Fitz-James arose.
xvir.
He faltered thanks to Heaven for life.
Redeemed, unhoped, from desperate strife ;
Next on his foe his look he cast.
Whose every gasp appeared his last ; 440
In Roderick's gore he dipped the braid, —
" Poor Blanche ! thy wrongs are dearly paid;
416. Triple steel. Three-fold armor. —435. Close. Grapple.
CANTO V. THE COMBAT. 159
Yet with thy foe must die or live
The praise that faith and valor give."
With that he blew a bugle note, 445
Undid the collar from his throat,
Unbonneted, and by the wave
Sat doAvn his brow and hands to lave.
Then faint afar are heard the feet
Of rushing steeds in gallop fleet ; 450
The sounds increase, and now are seen
Four mounted squires in Lincoln green ;
Two who bear lance, and two who lead
By loosened rein a saddled steed ;
Each onward held his headlong course, 455
And by Fitz-James reined up his horse, —
With wonder viewed the bloody spot, —
" Exclaim not,, gallants ! question not. —
You, Herbert and Luffness, alight.
And bind the wounds of yonder knight ; 4r)0
Let the gray palfrey bear his weight,
We destined for a fairer freight.
And bring him on to Stirling straight ;
I will before at better speed,
To seek fresh horse and fitting weed. 465
The sun rides high ; — I must be boune
To see the archer-game at noon ;
But lightly Bayard clears the lea. —
De Yaux and Herries, follow me.
458. Gallants. Brave men.
401. Palfrey. A small saddle-horse for ladies' use.
4GG. Boune. Ready.
160 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto v.
XVIII.
"Stand, Bayard, stand!" — the steed obeyed, 470
With arching neck and bended head.
And glancing eye and quivering ear.
As if he loved his lord to hear.
No foot Fitz-James in stirrup stayed,
No grasp upon the saddle laid, 475
But wreathed his left hand in the mane,
And lightly bounded from the plain.
Turned on the horse his armed heel.
And stirred his courage with the steel.
Bounded the fiery steed in air, 480
The rider sat erect and fair,
Then like a bolt from steel crossbow
Forth launched, along the plain they go.
They dashed that rapid torrent through.
And u]3 Carhonie's hill they flew ; 485
Still at the gallop pricked the Knight,
His merrymen followed as they might.
Along thy banks, swift Teitli ! they ride.
And in the race they mock thy tide ;
Torry and Lendrick now are past, 490
And Deanstown lies behind them cast ;
They rise, the bannered toAvers of Doune,
They sink in distant woodland soon ;
486. Pricked. Spurred or rode.
490-497. Torry, Lendrick, Dernstown, Blair-Drummond, Ochtertyre,
and Kier lie on the banks of the Teith, and were all familiar to Scott in
his early years.
492. The bannered towers of Doune. The ruins of Doune Castle,
formerly the residence of the Earls of Menteith, now the property of
the Earl of Moray, are situated at the confluence of the Ardoch and the
Teith. Scott.
^^^To ^'- THE COMBAT. 1(31
Blair-Dnimmond sees the hoofs strike fire,
They sweep like breeze through Ochtertjre ; 495
They mark just gLance and disappear
The lofty brow of ancient Kier ;
They bathe their coursers' sweltering sides,
Dark Forth ! amid thy sluggish tides.
And on the opposing shore take ground, 500
With plash, with scramble, and with bound.
Right-hand they leave thy chffs, Craig-Forth !
And soon the bulwark of the North,
Gray Stirling, with her towers and town,
Upon their fleet career looked down. 505
XIX.
As up the flinty path they strained,
Sudden his steed the leader reined ;
A signal to his squire he flung.
Who instant to his stirrup sprung :
" Seest thou, De Vaux, yon woodsman gray, 5io
Who townward holds the rocky way,
Of stature tall and poor array ?
Mark'st thou the firm, yet active stride.
With which he scales the mountain-side ?
Know'st thou from whence he comes, or whom?" 515
" No, by my word ; — a burly groom
He seems, who in the field or chase
A baron's train would nobly grace — "
" Out, out, De Vaux ! can fear supply,
And jealousy, no sharper eye ? 520
504. Stirling. This castle was one of the principal fortresses of Scot-
land and the residence of James Y. Standing upon a lofty rock, it com-
mands a fine view of the surrounding country and Firth of Forth
162 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto v.
Afar, ere to the hill he drew,
That stately form and step I knew ;
Like form in Scotland is not seen,
Treads not such step on Scottish green.
'Tis James of Douglas, by Saint Serle ! 525
The uncle of the banished Earl.
Away, away, to court, to show
The near approach of dreaded foe :
The King must stand upon his guard;
Douglas and he must meet prepared." 530
Then right-hand wheeled their steeds, and straight
They won the Castle's postern gate.
XX.
The Douglas, who had bent his way
From Cambus-kenneth's abbey gray,
NoAV, as he climbed the rocky shelf, 535
Held sad communion with himself : —
" Yes ! all is true my fears could frame ;
A prisoner lies the noble Grseme,
And fiery Roderick soon will feel
The vengeance of the royal steel. 540
I, only I, can ward their fate, —
God grant the ransom come not late !
The Abbess hath her promise given.
My child shall be the bride of Heaven ; —
Be pardoned one repining tear ! 545
For He who gave her knows how dear,
532. Postern gate. Back gate.
544. Bride of Heaven. One whose life is wholly devoted to the
church.
CANTO V. THE COMBAT. 163
How excellent ! — but that is by,
And now my business is — to die. —
Ye towers ! within whose circuit dread
A Douglas by his sovereign bled ; 550
And thou, O sad and fatal mound !
That oft hast heard the death-axe sound.
As on the noblest of the land
Fell the stern headsman's bloody hand, —
The dungeon, block, and nameless tomb 555
Prepare — for Douglas seeks his doom !
But hark ! what blithe and jolly peal
Makes the Franciscan steeple reel?
And see ! upon the crowded street,
In motley groups what masquers meet ! 560
Banner and pageant, pipe and drum.
And merry morrice-dancers come.
I guess, by all this quaint array.
The burghers hold their sports to-day.
547. By. Past.
uoO. Douglas. The fate of William, eighth Earl of Douglas, whom
James II. stabbed iu Stirling Castle with his owu hand, and while under
his royal safe conduct, is familiar to all who read Scottish history. Scott.
551. sad and fatal mound. An eminence on the north-east of the
Stirling Castle where state criminals were executed. Stirling was often
polluted with noble blood. Scott.
558. Franciscan. A Roman Catholic order founded by St. Francis on
the principle of poverty. He held that neither the individual nor an insti-
tution should acquire or hold any right of property. —5G0. Motley. Made
up of various kinds. —Masquers. Players disguised in masks.
562. Morrxce-dancers. Performers of a Moorish dance, a popular
amusement of the day, in which all classes of society joined. The actors,
personating certain characters, as Friar Tuck, Robin Hood, etc., were dis-
guised iu curious vestments of fawn-colored silk in the form of a tunic,
with trappings of green and red satin, and wore bells around their ankles,
with which they kept time to the music. See note, Canto V., line 615.
56.'^.. Quaint. Odd and fanciful.
5(>i. The burghers hold their sports to-day. Every burgh of Scotland
164 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto v.
James will be tliere : he loves such show, 565
Where the good yeoman bends his bow,
And the tough wrestler foils his foe,
As well as where, in proud career,
The high-born tilter shivers spear.
I'll foUoAv to the Castle-park, 570
And play my prize ; — King James shall mark
If age has tamed these sinews stark,
Whose force so oft in liappier days
His boyish wonder loved to praise."
XXI.
The Castle gates were open flung, 575
The quivering drawbridge rocked and rung.
And echoed loud the flinty street
Beneath the coursers' clattering feet,
As slowly down the steejD descent
Fair Scotland's King and nobles went, 580
While all along the crowded way
Was jubilee and loud huzza.
And ever James was bending low
To his white jennet'^ saddle-bow,
of the least note, but more especially the considerable towns, had their
solemn itlay, or festival, when feats of archery were exhibited, and prizes
distributed to those who excelled in wrestling, hurling the bar, and the
other gymnastic exercises of the period. Stirling, a usual place of royal
residence, was not likely to be deficient in pomp upon such occasions,
especially since James V. was very partial to them. His ready participa-
tion in these popular amusements was one cause of his acquiring the title
of King of the Commons. — Scott.
566. Yeoman. A countryman; in England, next in order of rank to
the gentry. The term is also applied to a member of the King's guard.
569, Tilter. One using the lance on horseback.
571. Stark. Strong, rugged. —575. Castle. Stirling. Note, Canto V.,
line 504. —584. Jennet. A small Spanish horse.
CANTO V. THE COMBAT. 165
Doffing his cap to city dame, 585
Who smiled and blushed for pride and shame.
And well the simperer might be vain, —
He chose the fairest of the train.
Gravely he greets each city sire.
Commends each pageant's quaint attire, 590
Gives to the dancers thanks aloud,
And smiles and nods upon the crowd.
Who rend the heavens with their acclaims, —
" Long live the Commons' King, King James ! "
Behind the King thronged peer and knight, 595
And noble dame and damsel bright.
Whose fiery steeds ill brooked the stay
Of the steep street and crowded way.
But in the train you might discern
Dark lowering brow and visage stern ; goo
There nobles mourned their pride restrained,
And the mean burgher's joys disdained ;
And chiefs, who, hostage for their clan.
Were each from home a banished man.
There thought upon their own gray tower, 605
Their waving woods, their feudal power.
And deemed themselves a shameful part
Of pageant which they cursed in heart.
585. Doffing. Taking off.
594. Commons' King. So called because he favored the common people
as opposed to the nobles.
603. Hostage. A person given as security for the performance of the
conditions of a treaty.
600. Feudal power. Power to command the services of tenants or
vassals iu case of war.
166 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto v.
XXII.
Now, in the Castle-park, drew out
Their checkered bands the joyous rout. cio
There morricers, with bell at heel
And blade in hand, their mazes wheel ;
But chief, beside the butts, there stand
Bold Robin Hood and all his band, —
Friar Tuck with quarter staff and cowl, 615
Old Scathelocke with his surly scowl,
Maid Marian, fair as ivory bone,
Scarlet, and Mutch, and Little John ;
Their bugles challenge all that will.
In archery to prove their skill. 620
The Douglas bent a bow of might, —
His first shaft centred in the white,
And when in turn he shot again,
His second split the first in twain.
From the King's hand must Douglas take 625
A silver dart, the archers' stake ;
Fondly he watched, with watery eye.
Some answering glance of sympathy, —
No kind emotion made reply !
Indifferent as to archer wight, 630
The monarch gave the arrow bright.
610. Checkered bands. Compauies of players in gay dresses. — Rout.
Noisy crowd. — 613. Butts. Targets.
614. Eobin Hood. A noted robber or outlaw in the reign of Richard I.,
about the year 1190. The exhibition of this renowned outlaw and his band
was a favorite frolic at festivals in which king-; did not disdain to be actors.
615-lfi. Friar Tuck, Scathelocke, Maid Marian, Scarlet, Mutch, and
Little John were companions of Robin Hood, renowned in ballad, and
mentioned in Scott's Iranhoe. — Quarterstaff . A stout staff used as a
weapon of defence. — Cowl. A monk's hood.
630. Archer wight. Common archer.
CANTO V.
THE COMBAT. 167
XXIIT.
Now, clear the ring I for, hand to hand.
The manly wrestlers take their stand.
Two o'er the rest superior rose,
And proud demanded mightier foes, — 635
Nor called in vain, for Douglas came. —
For life is Hugh of Larbert lame ;
Scarce better John of Alloa's fare,
Whom senseless home his comrades bare.
Prize of the wrestling match, the King 640
To Douglas gave a golden ring.
While coldly glanced his eye of blue, )
As frozen drop of wintry dew. A"^-^^^ '
Douglas would speak, but in his breast
His struggling soul his words suppressed ; 645
Indignant then he turned him where
Their arms the brawny yeomen bare,
To hurl the massive bar in air.
When each his utmost strength had shown,
The Douglas rent an earth-fast stone 650
From its deep bed, then heaved it high.
And sent the fragment through the sky
A rood beyond the farthest mark ;
And still in Stirling's royal park.
The gray-haired sires, who know the past, 655
To strangers point the Douglas cast,
And moralize on the decay
Of Scottish strength in modern day.
647. Brawny. Sinewy, strong.
665
1(38 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. cantg v.
XXIV.
The vale with loud applauses rang,
The Ladies' Rock sent back the clang. 660
The King, with look unmoved, bestowed
A purse well filled with pieces broad.
Indignant smiled the Douglas proud,
And threw the gold among the crowd,
Who now with anxious wonder scan,
And sharper glance, the dark gray man ;
Till whispers rose among the throng.
That heart so free, and hand so strong.
Must to the Douglas blood belong.
The old men marked and shook the head, 670
To see his hair with silver spread,
And winked aside, and told each son
Of feats upon the English done.
Ere Douglas of the stalwart hand
Was exiled from his native land. 675
The women praised his stately form,
Though wrecked by many a winter's storm ;
The youth with awe and wonder saw
His strength surpassing Nature's law.
Thus judged, as is their wont, the crowd, 680
Till murmurs rose to clamors loud.
But not a glance from that proud ring
Of peers who circled round the King
With Douglas held communion kind.
Or called the banished man to mind ; 685
No, not from those who at the chase
Once held his side the honored place,
660. The Ladies' Rock. The ladies' stand for viewing the sports.
674. Stalwart. Strong.
CANTO V. THE COMBAT. Igg
Begirt his board, and in the field
Found safet}^ underneath Ids shield ;
For he ^^'hom royal eyes disown, 690
When was his form to courtiers known !
XXV.
The Monarch saw the gambols flag,
And bade let loose a gallant stag.
Whose pride, the holiday to crown.
Two favorite greyhounds should pull down, 695
That venison free and Bourdeaux wine
Might serve the archery to dine.
But Lufra, — whom from Douglas' side
Nor bribe nor threat could e'er divide.
The fleetest hound in all the North, — 700
Brave Lufra saw, and darted forth.
She left the royal hounds midway.
And dashing on the antlered prey,
Sunk her sharp muzzle in his flank.
And deep the flowing life-blood drank. 705
The King's stout huntsman saw the sport
By strange intruder broken short.
Came up, and with his leash unbound
In anger struck the noble hound.
The Douglas had endured, that morn, 710
The King's cold look, the nobles' scorn,
And last, and worst to spirit proud.
Had borne the pity of the crowd ;
But Lufra had been fondly bred.
To share his board, to watch his bed, 7i5
708. Leash. A thoug of leather, or long line, by which a hunter holds
his dog.
170 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto v.
And oft would Ellen Liifra's neck
In maiden glee with garlands deck ;
They were such playmates that with name
Of Lufra Ellen's image came.
His stifled wrath is brimming high, 720
In darkened brow and flashing eye ;
As waves before the bark divide,
The crowd gave way before his stride ;
Needs but a buffet and no more.
The groom lies senseless in his gore. 725
Such blow no other hand could deal.
Though gauntleted in glove of steel.
XXVI.
Then clamored loud the roval train,
And brandished swords and staves amain,
Bat stern the Baron's warning: "Back! 730
Back, on your lives, ye menial pack !
Beware the Douglas. — Yes ! behold.
King James ! The Douglas, doomed of old.
And vainly sought for near and far,
A victim to atone the war, 735
A willing victim, now attends,
Nor craves thy grace but for his friends." —
" Thus is my clemency repaid ?
Presumptuous Lord ! " the Monarch said :
" Of thy misproud ambitious clan, 740
Thou, James of Bothwell, wert the man.
The only man, in whom a foe
My woman-mercy would not know ;
724. Buffet. A blow with the hand ; a cuff.
738. Clemency. Mercy. —740. Misproud. Mistakenly proud.
CANTO V.
THE COMBAT. 171
But shall a Monarch's presence brook
Injurious blow and haughty look ? — 745
What ho ! the Captam of our Guard ! ^
Give the offender fitting ward. —
Break off the sports ! " — for tumult rose,
And yeomen 'gan to bend their bows, —
" Break off the sports ! " he said and frowned, 750
" And bid our horsemen clear the ground."
XXVII.
Then uproar wild and misarray
Marred the fair form of festal day.
The horsemen pricked among the crowd,
Repelled by threats and insult loud; 755
To earth are borne the old and weak.
The timorous fly, the women shriek ;
With flint, with shaft, with staff, with bar,
The hardier urge tumultuous war.
At once round Douglas darkly sweep 760
The royal spears in circle deep.
And slowly scale the pathway steep.
While on the rear in thunder pour
The rabble with disordered roar.
With grief the noble Douglas saw 765
The Commons rise against the law,
And to the leading soldier said :
" Sir John of Hyndford, 'twas my blade
That knighthood on thy shoulder laid ;
747. Fitting ward. Suitable confinement under guard.
700. Knighthood. This degree was conferred with a stroke of the flat
part of a sword upon the shoulder by the prince or his representative. See
note, Canto I., line 18.
172 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto v.
For that good deed permit me then 770
A word with these misguided men. —
XXVIII.
" Hear, gentle friends, ere yet for me
Ye break the bands of fealty.
My life, my honor, and my cause,
I tender free to Scotland's laws. 775
Are these so weak as must require
The aid of your misguided ire ?
Or if I suffer causeless wrong.
Is then my selfish rage so strong,
My sense of public weal so low, 780
That, for mean vengeance on a foe,
Those cords of love I should unbind
Which knit my country and my kind ?
O no ! Believe, in yonder tower
It will not soothe my captive hour, 785
To know those sj)ears our foes should dread
For me in kindred gore are red :
To know, in fruitless brawl begun.
For me that mother wails her son.
For me that widow's mate expires, 790
For me that orphans weep their sires,
That patriots mourn insulted laws.
And curse the Douglas for the cause.
O let your patience ward such ill.
And keep your right to love me still ! " 795
773. Fealty. Loyalty.
CANTO V.
THE COMBAT. 173
XXIX.
The crowd's wild fury sunk again
In tears, as tempests melt in rain.
With lifted hands and eyes, they prayed
For blessings on his generous head
Who for his country felt alone, 800
And prized her blood beyond his own.
Old men upon the verge of life
Blessed him who stayed the civil strife ;
And mothers held their babes on high.
The self-devoted Chief to spy, 805
Triumphant over wrongs and ire.
To whom the prattlers owed a sire.
Even the rough soldier's heart was moved ;
As if behind some bier beloved.
With trailing arms and drooping head, 8io
The Douglas up the hill he led,
And at the Castle's battled verge.
With sighs resigned his honored charge.
XXX.
The offended Monarch rode apart.
With bitter thought and swelling heart, 815
And would not now vouchsafe again
Through Stirling streets to lead his train.
" O Lennox, who would wish to rule
This changeling crowd, this common fool?
Hear'st thou," he said, " the loud acclaim 820
With which they shout the Douglas name ?
810. Trailing arms. Carrying a gun in an oblique position, pointing
forward with the breech near tlie ground.
812. Battled Verge. See note, Canto I., line 199.
174 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto v.
With like acclaim the vulgar throat
Strained for King James their morning note ;
With like acclaim thev hailed the dav
When first I broke the Douglas sway ; 825
And like acclaim would Douglas greet
If he could hurl me from my seat.
Who o'er the herd would wish to reign,
Fantastic, fickle, fierce, and vain ?
Vain as the leaf upon the stream, 830
And fickle as a changeful dream ;
Fantastic as a woman's mood.
And fierce as Frenzy's fevered blood.
Thou many-headed monster-thing,
Avho would Avish to be thy king ? — 835
XXXI.
" But soft ! what messenger of speed
Spurs hitherward his panting steed ?
1 guess his cognizance afar —
What from our cousin, John of Mar?"
" He prays, my liege, your sports keep bound 8io
Within the safe and guarded ground :
For some foul purpose yet unknown, —
Most sure for evil to the throne, —
The outlawed Chieftain, Roderick Dhu,
Has summoned his rebellious crew ; 845
'Tis said, in James of Bothwell's aid
These loose banditti stand arraj^ed.
The Earl of Mar this morn from Doune
To break their muster marched, and soon
838. Cognizance. A badge by which a knight in armor could be recog-
nized. —847. Banditti. Robbers.
CANTO V.
THE COMBAT. 175
Your Grace will hear of battle fought ; 850
But earnestly the Earl besought,
Till for such danger he provide,
With scanty train you will not ride."
XXXII.
" Thou warn'st me I have done amiss, —
I should have earlier looked to this; 855
I lost it in this bustling day. —
Retrace with speed thy former way ;
Spare not for spoiling of thy steed,
The best of mine shall be thy meed.
Say to our faithful Lord of Mar, 860
We do forbid the intended war ;
Roderick this morn in single fight
Was made our prisoner by a knight,
And Douglas hath himself and cause
Submitted to our kingdom's laws. 865
The tidings of their leaders lost
Will soon dissolve the mountain host,
Nor would we that the vulgar feel.
For their Chiefs crimes, avenging steel.
Bear Mar our message, Braco, fly ! 870
He turned his steed, — " My liege, I hie,
Yet ere I cross this lily lawn
I fear the broadswords will be drawn."
The turf the flying courser spurned.
And to his towers the King returned. 875
868. Vulgar. Common people.
176 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto r.
xxxni.
Ill with King James's mood that day
Suited gay feast and minstrel lay ;
Soon were dismissed the courtly throng,
And soon cut short the festal song.
Nor less upon the saddened town 88o
The evening sunk in sorrow down.
The burghers spoke of civil jar,
Of rumored feuds and mountain war.
Of Moray, Mar, and Roderick Dhu,
All up in arms ; — the Douglas too, 885
They mourned him pent within the hold,
"Where stout Earl William was of old." —
And there his word the speaker stayed.
And finger on his lip he laid.
Or pointed to his dagger blade. 890
But jaded horsemen from the west
At evening to the Castle pressed.
And busy talkers said they bore
Tidings of fight on Katrine's shore ;
At noon the deadly fray begun, 895
And lasted till the set of sun.
Thus giddy rumor shook the town,
Till closed the Night her pennons brown. V^/^-M' ^
887. Earl William. Note, Canto V., line 550.
OUTLINE OF CAXTO SIXTH.
This Canto introduces us to the guard-room in Stirling Castle,
amid the remains of the debauch which has followed the games of the
previous day. "While the few soldiers who remain awake are finish-
ing their carouse, and talking over the rumors of yesterday's battle,
they are joined by one of their mates who has been in the field,
and brings with hini a maiden and a minstrel (Ellen and Allan
Bane). They are at first disposed to treat the maiden roughly,
but the sight of her innocent beauty and her story of misfortune
touch the heart of one of the roughest in the company, who be-
comes her champion. Presently they are joined by the officer of
the guard, who, at sight of Fitz-James's ring, commits the lady to
proper care, while John of Brent, the guardsman who had inter-
fered, grants Allan's request to see his master ; but, fancying that
the minstrel is one of Roderick's clansmen, he shows him into the
wrong cell, where he finds the wounded chief. After anxious
inquiries as to the safety of his kindred, Roderick asks news of the
fight, and the minstrel, in spii'ited verse, sings the battle of Beal'
an Duine, whose issue was left doubtful by the arrival of a mes-
senger from the king with orders to stay the fight. But before he
had finished his song the stern spirit had fled, and the minstrel's
harp changes its tune from battle-song to death-dirge.
Meanwhile Ellen waits anxiously and impatiently for her audience
with the king. At last Fitz-James appears to escort her to the
audience chamber. Faltering, she looks round to find the king,
and sees, to her surprise, that her companion alone remains covered,
and " Snowdoun's knight is Scotland's king." He tells her how
the feud with Douglas is at an end, and that her father is now to
be " the friend and bulwark of his throne." But she has still the
ring, still some boon to ask. She begs for Roderick's life, but that
is past giving ; and when she shrinks from further request, "the king
calls forth Malcolm, and throws over him a golden chain, which he
gives to Ellen to keep. — Taylor.
THE GUARD-ROOM.
I.
The sun, awakening, through the smoky air
Of the dark city casts a sullen glance,
Rousing each caitiff to his task of care,
Of sinful man the sad inheritance ;
Summoning revellers from the lagging dance, 5
Scaring the prowlhig robber to his den ;
Gilding on battled tower the warder's lance.
And warning student pale to leave his pen.
And yield his drowsy eyes to the kind nurse of men.
What various scenes, and O, what scenes of woe, lo
Are witnessed by that red and struggling beam !
The fevered patient, from his pallet low,
Through crowded hospital beholds it stream ;
The ruined maiden trembles at its gleam.
The debtor wakes to thought of gyve and jail, 15
The love-lorn wretch starts from tormenting dream ;
The wakeful mother, by the glimmering pale.
Trims her sick infant's couch, and soothes his feeble wail.
II.
At dawn the towers of Stirling rang
With soldier-step and weapon-clang, 20
3. Caitiff. Miserable wretch. — 12. Pallet. Bed of straw.
15. Gyve [jiv]. A fetter or chain to confine the legs.
CANTO VI.
THE GUARD-KOOM. 179
While drums with rolling note foretell
Relief to wear}- sentinel.
Through narrow loop and casement barred,
The sunbeams sought the Court of Guard,
And, struggling with the smoky air, 25
Deadened the torches' yellow glare.
In comfortless alliance shone
The lights through arch of blackened stone,
And showed wild shapes in garb of war.
Faces deformed with beard and scar, 30
All haggard from the midnight watch,
And fevered with the stern debauch ;
For the oak table's massive board.
Flooded with wine, with fragments stored.
And beakers drained, and cups o'erthrown, 35
Showed in what sport the night had flown.
Some, weary, snored on floor and bench ;
Some labored still their thirst to quench ;
Some, chilled with watching, spread their hands
O'er the huge chimney's dying brands, -io
While round them, or beside them flung,
At every step their harness rung.
III.
These drew not for their fields the sword,
Like tenants of a feudal lord.
Nor owned the patriarchal claim 45
Of Chieftain in their leader's name ;
23. Loop. Loop-hole ; a narrow opening in a fortification through
which small arms are discharged. — Casement. Window.
35. Beakers. Large drinkiug-cups. —42. Harness. Armor.
180 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. caxto vi.
Adventurers they, from far who roved,
To live by battle which they loved.
There the Italian's clouded face.
The swarthy Spaniard's there you trace ; 50
The mountain-loving Switzer there
More freely breathed in mountain-air ;
The Fleming there desj)ised the soil
That paid so ill the laborer's toil ;
Their rolls showed French and German name ; 55
And merry England's exiles came,
To share, with ill-concealed disdain,
Of Scotland's pay the scanty gain.
All brave in arms, well trained to wield
The heavy halberd, brand, and shield ; 60
In camps licentious, wild, and bold ;
In pillage fierce and uncontrolled ;
And now, by holytide and feast,
From rules of discipline released.
IV.
They held debate of bloody fray, 65
Fought 'twixt Loch Katrine and Achray.
Fierce was their speech, and 'mid their words
Their hands oft grappled to their swords ;
47. Adventurers. The Scottish armies consisted chiefly of the nobility
and barons, with their vassals, who held lands under them, for military
service by themselves and their tenants. James V. seems first to have
introduced, in addition to the militia furnished from these sources, the
service of a small number of mercenaries, who formed a body-guard, called
the Foot-Band, Scott. — 51. Switzer. An inhabitant of Switzerland.
53. Fleming. A citizen of Flanders, now part of Belgium.
60. Halberd. A kind of broad axe now rarely used.
63. Holytide. Holiday; festal season (tide means time).
CANTO VI. THE GUARD-ROOM. 181
Nor sunk their tone to spare the ear
Of wounded comrades groaning near, 70
Whose mangled limbs and bodies gored
Bore token of the mountain sword,
Though, neighboring to the Court of Guard,
Their prayers and feverish wails were heard, —
Sad burden to the ruffian joke, 75
And savage oath by fury spoke ! —
At length up started John of Brent,
A yeoman from the banks of Trent ;
A stranger to respect or fear.
In peace a chaser of the deer, 80
In host a hardy mutineer.
But still the boldest of the crew
When deed of danger was to do.
He grieved that day their games cut short.
And marred the dicer's brawling sport, 85
And shouted loud, " Renew the bowl !
And, while a merry catch I troll,
Let each the buxom chorus bear.
Like brethren of the brand and spear."
V.
Our vicar still preaches that Peter and Poule 90
Laid a swinging long curse on the bonny brown bowl.
That there's wrath and despair in the jolly black-jack.
And the seven deadly sins in a flagon of sack ;
71. Gored. Pierced and torn. — 81. Host. An army.
87. Troll. Sing loudly. —88. Buxom. Brisk; frolicsome.
92. Black-jack. A pitcher made of leather-colored black.
182 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. oanto ri.
Yet whoop, Barnaby ! off with thy liquor,
Drink upsees out, and a fig for the vicar !
Our vicar he calls it damnation to sip
The ripe ruddy dew of a woman's dear lip,
Says that Beelzebub lurks in her kerchief so sly,
And Apollyon shoots darts from her merry black eye ;
Yet whoop, Jack ! kiss Gillian the quicker, lOO
Till she bloom like a rose, and a fig for the vicar !
Our vicar thus preaches, — and why should he not ?
For the dues of his cure are the placket and pot ; ^-t^
And 'tis right of his office poor laymen to lurch
Who infringe the domains of our good Mother Church. 105
Yet whoop, bully-boys ! off with your liquor,
Sweet Marjorie's the word, and a fig for the vicar !
VI.
The warder's challenge, heard without,
Stayed in mid-roar the merry shout.
A soldier to the portal went, — no
"Here is old Bertram, sirs, of Ghent;
And — beat for jubilee the drum ! —
A maid and minstrel wdth him come."
Bertram, a Fleming, gray and scarred.
Was entering now the Court of Guard, lis
A harper with him, and, in plaid
All muffled close, a mountain maid,
Who backward shrunk to 'scape the view
Of the loose scene and boisterous crew.
" What news ? " they roared : — "I only know, 120
From noon till eve we fought with foe,
CANTO VI. THE GUARD-ROOM. 183
As wild and as untamable
As the rude mountains where they dwell ;
On both sides store of blood is lost,
Nor much success can either boast." — 125
"But whence thy captives, friend? such spoil
As theirs must needs reward thy toil.
Old dost thou wax, and wars grow sharp ;
Thou now hast glee-maiden and harp !
Get thee an ape, and trudge the land, 130
The leader of a juggler band."
VII.
" No, comrade ; — no such fortune mine.
After the fight these sought our line.
That aged harper and the girl.
And, having audience of the Earl, 135
Mar bade I should purvey them steed.
And bring them hitherward with speed.
Forbear your mirth and rude alarm.
For none shall do them shame or harm." —
" Hear ye his boast ? " cried John of Brent, 140
j^ver to strife and jangling bent ;
^^' Shall he strike doe beside our lodge,
. And yet the jealous niggard grudge
To pay the forester his fee ^
I'll have my share howe'er it be, 145
Despite of Moray, Mar, or thee."
131. Juggler. The jugglers used to call in the aid of various assistants
to render these performances as captivating as possible. The glee-maiden
was a necessary attendant. Her duty was tumbling and dancing; and,
therefore, the Anglo-Saxon version of Saint Mark's Gospel states Herodias
to have vaulted or tumbled before King Herod. Scott.
ISO. Purvey. Provide.
184 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto vi.
Bertram his forward step withstood ;
And, burning in his vengeful mood,
Old Allan, though unfit for strife,
Laid hand upon his dagger-knife ; 150
But Ellen boldly stepped between,
And dropped at once the tartan screen : —
So, from his morning cloud, appears
The sun of May through summer tears.
The savage soldiery, amazed, 155
As on descended angel gazed ;
Even hardy Brent, abashed and tamed.
Stood half admiring, half ashamed.
VIII.
Boldly she spoke : " Soldiers, attend !
My father was the soldier's friend, 160
Cheered him in camps, in marches led,
And with him in the battle bled.
Not from the valiant or the strong"
Should exile's daughter suffer wrong."
Answered De Brent, most forward still 165
In every feat of good or ill ;
" I shame me of the part I played ;
And thou an outlaw's child, poor maid 1
An outlaw I by forest laws.
And merry Needwood knows the cause. 170
Poor Rose, — if Rose be living now," —
He wiped his iron eye and brow, —
" Must bear such age, I think, as thou. —
Hear ye, my mates ! I go to call
The Captain of our watch to hall : 175
170. Needwood. A royal forest in England.
CANTO VI. THE GUARD-ROOM. 185
There lies my halberd on the floor ;
And he that steps my halberd o'er,
To do the maid injurious part,
My shaft shall quiver in his heart !
Beware loose speech, or jesting rough ; 180
Ye all know John de Brent. Enough."
IX.
Their Captain came, a gallant young, —
Of Tullibardine's house he sprung, —
Nor wore he yet the spurs of knight ;
Gay was his mien, his humor light, 185
And, though by courtesy controlled,
Forward his speech, his bearing bold.
The liigh-born maiden ill could brook
The scanning of his curious look
And dauntless eye : — and yet, in sooth, 190
Young Lewis was a generous youth ;
But Ellen's lovely face and mien,
111 suited to the garb and scene.
Might lightly bear construction strange,
And give loose fancy scope to range. 195
" Welcome to Stirling towers, fair maid !
Come ye to seek a champion's aid,
On palfrey white, with harper hoar.
Like errant damosel of yore ?
Does thy high quest a knight require, 200
Or may the venture suit a squire ? "
Her dark eje flashed ; — she paused and sighed : —
" O what have I to do with pride ! —
183. Tullibardine's house. The seat of the Miirrays, who were noted
for their pride. — VX). Errant damosel. Wandering maiden.
186 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto vi.
Through scenes of sorrow, shame, and strife,
A suppliant for a father's Ufe, 205
I crave an audience of the King.
Behold, to back my suit, a ring,
The royal pledge of grateful claims,
Given by the Monarch to Fitz-James."
X.
The signet ring young Lewis took 210
With deep respect and altered look.
And said : " This ring our duties own ; ♦
And pardon, if to worth unknown.
In semblance mean obscurely veiled,
Lady, in aught my folly failed. 215
Soon as the day flings wide his gates,
The King shall know what suitor waits.
Please you meanwhile in fitting bower
Repose you till his waking hour ;
Female attendance shall obey 220
Your hest, for service or array.
Permit I marshal you the way."
But, ere she followed, with the grace
And open bounty of her race.
She bade her slender purse be shared 225
Among the soldiers of the guard.
The rest with thanks their guerdon took,
But Brent, with shy and awkward look.
On the reluctant maiden's hold
Forced bluntly back the proffered gold : — 230
" Forgive a haughty English heart.
And O, forget its ruder part !
221. Array. Dress.— 227. Guerdon. Qitt; reward.
CANTO VI. THE GUARD-ROOM. 187
The vacant purse shall be my share,
Which in my barret-cap I'll bear,
Perchance, in jeopardy of war, 235
Where gayer crests may keep afar."
With thanks — 'twas all she could — the maid
His rugged courtes}- repaid.
XI.
When Ellen forth with Lewis went,
Allan made suit to John of Brent : — 240
'' My lady safe, O let your grace
Give me to see my master's face I
His minstrel I, — to share his doom
Bound from the cradle to the tomb.
Tenth in descent, since first my sires 245
Waked for his noble house their lyres.
Nor one of all the race Avas known
But prized its weal above their own.
With the Chief's birth begins our care ;
Our harp must soothe the infant heir, 250
Teach the youth tales of fight, and grace
His earliest feat of field or chase ;
In peace, in war, our rank we keep.
We cheer his board, we soothe his sleep.
Nor leave him till we pour our verse — 255
A doleful tribute I — o'er his hearse.
Then let me share his captive lot ;
It is my right, — deny it not ! "
" Little we reck," said John of Brent,
" We southern men, of long descent ; 260
234. Barret-cap. A cap formerly worn by soldiers.
235. Jeopardy. Peril.
188 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto vi.
Nor wot we how a name — a word —
Makes clansmen vassals to a lord :
Yet kind m}" noble landlord's part, —
God bless the house of BeaudesertU
And, but I loved to drive the deer 265
More than to guide the laboring steer,
I had not dwelt an outcast here.
Come, good old Minstrel, follow me ;
Thy Lord and Chieftain shalt thou see."
XII.
Then, from a rusted iron hook, 270
A bunch of ponderous keys he took,
Lighted a torch, and Allan led
Through grated arch and passage dread.
Portals they passed, where, deep Avithin,
Spoke prisoner's moan and fetters' din ; 275
Through rugged vaults, where, loosely stored,
Lay wheel, and axe, and headsman's sword.
And many a hideous engine grim.
For wrenching joint and crushing limb,
By artists formed who deemed it shame 280
And sin to give their work a name.
They halted at a low-browed porch,
And Brent to Allan gave the torch,
While bolt and chain he backward rolled.
And made the bar uuhasp its hold. 285
They entered : — 'twas a prison-room
Of stern security and gloom.
Yet not a dungeon ; for the day
Through lofty gratings found its way.
CANTO VI. THE GUARD-ROOM. 189
And rude and antique garniture 290
Decked the sad walls and oaken floor,
Such as the rugged days of old
Deemed fit for captive noble's hold.
'' Here," said De Brent, " thou niajst remain
Till the Leech visit him again. 295
Strict is his charge, the warders tell,
To tend the noble prisoner well."
Retiring then the bolt he drew,
And the lock's murmurs growled anew.
Roused at the sound, from lowlv bed 300
A captive feebly raised his head ;
The wondering Minstrel looked, and knew —
Not his dear lord, but Roderick Dhu !
For, come from where Clan-Alpine fought,
They, erring, deemed the Chief he sought. . 305
XIII.
As the tall ship, whose lofty prore
Shall never stem the billows more,
Deserted by her gallant band.
Amid the breakers lies astrand, —
So on his couch lay Roderick Dhu ! 3io
And oft his fevered limbs he threw
In toss abrupt, as when her sides
Lie rocking in the advancing tides.
That shake her frame with ceaseless beat,
Yet cannot heave her from her seat ; — 315
290. Antique garniture. Ancient decoration or furnishings.
295. Leech. Pli^si<!ian. — 30G. Prore. The prow or forward part of a
ship. — 309. Astrand. Ashore.
190 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto vi.
O, how unlike her course at sea !
Or his free step on hill and lea ! —
Soon as the Minstrel he could scan, —
" What of thy lady ? — of my clan ? —
My mother ? — Douglas ? — tell me all ! 320
Have they been ruined in my fall ?
Ah, yes I or wherefore art thou here ?
Yet speak, — speak boldly, — do not fear." —
For Allan, who his mood well knew.
Was choked wdth grief and terror too. — 325
" Who fought ? — who fled ? — Old man, be brief ; —
Some might, — for they had lost their Chief.
Who basely live ? — who bravely died ? "
" O, calm thee, Chief I " the Minstrel cried,
" Ellen is safe ! " '^ For that thank Heaven I " 330
" And hopes are for the Douglas given ; —
The Lady Margaret, too, is well ;
And, for thy clan, — on field or fell.
Has never harp of minstrel told
Of combat fought so true and bold. 335
Thy stately Pine is yet unbent,
Though many a goodly bough is rent."
XIV.
The Chieftain reared his form on high,
And fever's fire was in his eye ;
But ghastly, pale, and livid streaks 340
Checkered his swarthy brow and cheeks.
*' Hark, Minstrel ! I have heard thee play,
With measure bold on festal day.
In yon lone isle, — again where ne'er
Shall harper play or warrior hear ! — 345
CANTO VI. THE GUARD-ROOM. 191
That stirring air that peals on high,
O'er Dermid's race our victory. —
Strike it! — and then, — for Avell thou canst, —
Free from thy minstrel-spirit glanced,
Fling me the picture of the fight, 350
When met my clan the Saxon might.
I'll listen, till my fancy hears
The clang of swords, the crash of spears !
These grates, these walls, shall vanish then
For the fair field of fighting men, 355
And my free spirit burst away.
As if it soared from battle fray."
The trembling Bard with awe obeyed, —
Slow on the harp his hand he laid ;
But soon remembrance of the sight 360
He witnessed from the mountain's height,
With w^hat old Bertram told at night,
Awakened the full power of song,
And bore him in career along ; —
As shallop launched on river's tide, 365
That slow and fearful leaves the side.
But, when it feels the middle stream,
Drives downward swift as lightning's beam.
XV.
§Mt of §car an guinc.
" The Minstrel came once more to view
The eastern ridge of Benvenue, 370
365. Shallop. Boat. — 369. Battle of Beal' an Duine. A skirmish
actually took place at a pass thus called in the Trosachs, and closed with
the remarkable incident mentioned in the text. It was greatly posterior
in date to the reign of James V. Scott.
192 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto vi.
For ere lie parted he would say
Farewell to lovely Loch Achray —
Where shall he find, in foreign land.
So lone a lake, so sweet a strand ! —
There is no breeze upon the fern, 375
No ripple on the lake,
Upon her eyry nods the erne.
The deer has sought the brake ;
The small birds will not sing aloud,
The springing trout lies still, 380
So darkly glooms yon thunder-cloud.
That swathes, as with a purple shroud,
Benledi's distant hill.
Is it the thunder's solemn sound
That mutters deep and dread, 385
Or echoes from the groaning ground
The warrior's measured tread ?
Is it the lightning's quivering glance
That on the thicket streams.
Or do they flash on spear and lance 390
The sun's retiring beams? —
I see the dagger-crest of Mar,
I see the Moray's silver star,
Wave o'er the cloud of Saxon war.
That up the lake comes winding far ! 395
To hero bound for battle-strife.
Or bard of martial lay,
'Twere worth ten years of peaceful life,
One glance at their array !
377. Eyry. The eagle's uest. — Erne. The sea-eagle.
CANT« VI. THE GUARD-ROOM. 193
XVI.
" Their light-armed archers far and near 400
Surveyed the tangled ground,
Their centre ranks, with pike and spear,
A twilight forest frowned,
Their barded horsemen in the rear
The stern battalia crowned. 405
No cymbal clashed, no clarion rang.
Still were the pipe and drum ;
Save heavy tread, and armor's clang.
The sullen march was dumb.
There breathed no wind their crests to shake, 4io
Or wave their flags abroad ;
Scarce the frail aspen seemed to quake,
That shadowed o'er their road.
Their vaward scouts no tidings bring.
Can rouse no lurking foe, 415
Nor spy a trace of living thing.
Save when they stirred the roe ;
The host moves like a deep-sea wave.
Where rise no rocks its pride to brave,
High-swelling, dark, and slow, 420
The lake is passed, and now they gain
A narrow and a broken plain.
Before the Trosach's rugged jaws ;
And here the horse and spearmen pause.
While, to explore the dangerous glen, 425
Dive through the pass the archer-men.
■AOi. Barded. Wearing armor. —405. Battalia. Order of battle.
406. Cymbals. Brass musical iustrumeuts, circular iu form, which, being
struck together, produce a sharp ringing sound.
414. Vaward scouts. A small body of men sent out in advance of an
army to gain information of the enemy.
194 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto vi.
XVII.
" At once there rose so wild a yell
Within that dark and narrow dell,
As all the fiends from heaven that fell
Had pealed the banner-cry of hell I 430
Forth from the pass in tnmnlt driven,
Like chaff before the wind of heaven.
The archery appear :
For life ! for life I their flight they ply —
And shriek, and shout, and battle-cry, 435
And plaids and bonnets waving high.
And broadswords flashing to the sky.
Are maddening in the rear.
Onward they drive in dreadful race,
Pursuers and pursued ; 440
Before that tide of flight and chase.
How shall it keep its rooted place.
The spearmen's twilight wood ? —
' Down, down,' cried Mar, ' your lances down !
Bear back both friend and foe 1 ' — 445
Like reeds before the tempest's frown,
That serried grove of lances brown
At once lay levelled low ;
And closely shouldering side to side.
The bristling ranks the onset bide. — 460
'We'll quell the savage mountaineer,
As their Tinchel cows the game !
They come as fleet as forest deer,
We'll drive them back as tame.'
V
447. Serried. Crowded.
452. Tinchel. A circle of sportsmen, by surrounding a great space,
and gradually narrowing, brought immense quantities of deer together,
which usually made desperate efforts to break through the Tinchel. Scott.
CANTO VI. THE GUARD-ROOM. 195
455
XVIII.
" Bearing before them ia their course
The relics of the archer force,
Like wave with crest of sparkling foam,
Right onward did Clan-Alpine come.
Above the tide, each broadsword bright
Was brandishing like beam of light, 400
Each targe was dark below ;
And with the ocean's mighty swing, *
When heaving to the tempest's wing,
They hurled them on the foe.
I heard the lance's shivering crash, 465
As when the whirlwind rends the ash ;
I heard the broadsword's deadly clang,
As if a hundred anvils rang !
But Moray wheeled his rearward rank
Of horsemen on Clan-Alpine's flank, — 470
' My banner-man, advance I
I see,' he cried, ' their column shake.
Now, gallants ! for your ladies' sake,
Upon them with the lance ! ' —
The horsemen dashed among the rout, 475
As deer break through the broom ;
Their steeds are stout, their swords are out,
They soon make lightsome room.
Clan-Alpine's best are backward borne —
Where, where was Roderick then ! 480
One blast upon his bugle-horn
Were worth a thousand men.
And refluent through the pass of fear
The battle's tide was poured ;
483. Refluent. Flowing back : ebbing.
196 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto vi.
Vanished the Saxon's struggling spear, 485
Vanished the mountain-sword.
As Bracklinn's chasm, so black and steep,
Receives her roaring linn,
As the dark caverns of the deep
Suck the wild whirlpool in, 490
So did the deep and darksome pass
Devour the battle's mingled mass ;
None linger now upon the plain,
Save those who ne'er shall fight again.
XIX.
" Now westward rolls the battle's din, 495
That deep and doubling pass within. —
Minstrel, away ! the work of fate
Is bearing on ; its issue wait.
Where the rude Trosachs' dread defile
Opens on Katrine's lake and isle. 500
Gray Ben venue I soon repassed.
Loch Katrine lay beneath me cast.
The sun is set ; — the clouds are met,
The lowering scowl of heaven
An inky hue of livid blue 505
To the deep lake has given ;
Strange gusts of wind from mountain glen
Swept o'er the lake, then sunk again.
I heeded not the eddying surge.
Mine eye but saw the Trosachs' gorge, 5io
Mine ear but heard that sullen sound.
Which like an earthquake shook the ground.
And spoke the stern and desperate strife
That parts not but with parting life.
CANTO VI. THE GUARD-ROOM. 197
Seeming, to minstrel ear, to toll 615
The dirge of many a passing soul.
Nearer it comes — the dim-wood olen
The martial flood disgorged again,
But not in mingled tide ;
The plaided warriors of the North 520
High on the mountain thunder forth
And overhang its side.
While by the lake below appears
The darkening cloud of Saxon spears.
At weary bay each shattered band, 625
Eying their foemen, sternly stand ;
Their banners stream like tattered sail,
That flings its fragments to the gale,
And broken arms and disarray
Marked the fell havoc of the day. 530
XX.
" Viewing the mountain's ridge askance.
The Saxons stood in sullen trance.
Till Moray pointed with his lance.
And cried : ' Behold yon isle ! —
See ! none are left to guard its strand 635
But women weak, that wring the hand :
'Tis there of yore the robber band
Their booty wont to pile ; —
My purse, with bonnet-pieces store.
To him will swim a bow-shot o'er, 540
And loose a shallop from the shore.
516. Dirge. Mournful music accompanying funeral rites.
539. Bonnet pieces. A gold coin on which the king's head was rep-
resented with a bonnet instead of a crown, coined by the "Commons'
King." Taylor.
198 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto vi.
Lightly Ave '11 tame the war-wolf then,
Lords of his mate, and brood, and den.'
Forth from the ranks a spearman sprung,
On earth his casque and corselet rung, 545
He plunged him in the wave : —
All saw the deed, — the purpose knew,
And to their clamors Ben venue
A mingled echo gave ;
The Saxons shout, their mate to cheer, 550
The helpless females scream for fear.
And yells for rage the mountaineer.
'Twas then, as by the outcry riven,
Poured down at once the lowering heaven :
A whirlwind swept Loch Katrine's breast, 555
Her billows reared their snowy crest.
Well for the swimmer swelled tliey high.
To mar the Highland marksman's eye ;
For round him showered, mid rain and hail.
The vengeful arrows of the Gael. 560
Li vain. — He nears the isle — and lo !
His hand is on a shallop's bow.
Just then a flash of lightning came.
It tinged the waves and strand with flame ;
I marked Duncraggan's widowed dame, 565
Behind an oak I saw her stand,
A naked dirk gleamed in her hand : —
It darkened, — but amid the moan
Of waves I heard a dying groan j —
Another flash I — the spearman floats 570
A weltering corse beside the boats,
545. Casque. A piece of armor for protecting the head and neck in battle;
a hehnet. — Corselet. A piece of armor for protecting the front of the body.
CAN-TO VI. THE GUAKD-ROOM. 199
And the stern matron o'er him stood^
Her hand and dagger streaming blood.
XXI.
" ' Revenge I revenge ! ' tlie Saxons cried,
The Gaels' exulting shout replied. 575
Despite the elemental rage,
Again they hurried to engage ;
But, ere they closed in desperate fight,
Bloody with spurring came a knight.
Sprung from his horse, and from a crag 580
Waved 'twixt the hosts a milk-white flag.
Clarion and trumpet by his side
Rung forth a truce-note high and wide.
While, in the Monarch's name, afar
A herald's voice forbade the war, 585
For Bothwell's lord and Roderick bold
Were both, he said, in captive hold." —
But here the lay made sudden stand,
The harp escaped the Minstrel's hand !
Oft had he stolen a glance, to spy 5[»o
How Roderick brooked his minstrelsy :
At first, the Chieftain, to the chime,
With lifted hand kept feeble time ;
That motion ceased, — yet feeling strong
Varied his look as changed the song ; 595
At length, no more his deafened ear
The minstrel melody can hear ;
His face grows sharp, — his hands are clenched.
As if some pang his heart-strings wrenched ;
Set are his teeth, his fading eye coo
Is sternly fixed on vacancy ;
200 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto xi.
Thus, motionless and moanless, drew
His parting breath stout Rederick Dhu ! —
Old Allan-bane looked on aghast,
While grim and still his spirit jDassed ; 605
But when he saw that life was fled.
He poured his wailing o'er the dead.
XXII.
ITamenl.
" And art thou cold and lowly laid,
Thy foeman's dread, thy peo^^le's aid,
Breadalbane's boast. Clan- Alpine's shade I . 6if
For thee shall none a requiem say? —
For thee, who loved the minstrel's lay^
For thee, of Bothwell's house the stay^
The shelter of her exiled line,
E'en in this prison-house of thine, 615
I'll wail for Alpine's honored Pine !
" What groans shall yonder valleys fill !
What shrieks of grief shall rend yon hill !
What tears of burning rage shall thrill.
When mourns thy tribe thy battles done, 62i
Thy fall before the race was won, , ip )^
Thy sword ungirt ere set of sun ! ,■
There breathes not clansman of thy line,
But would have given his life for thine.
O, woe for Alpine's honored Pine ! 625
" Sad was thy lot on mortal stage ! —
The captive thrush may brook the cage,
611. Bequiem. A hymn, or mass, sung for the repose of the soul after
death.
CANT© VI. THE GUAKD-KOOM. 211
The prisoned eagle dies for rage.
Brave spirit, do not scorn my strain !
And, when its notes awake again, 63«
Even she, so long beloved in vain,
Shall with my harp her voice combine,
And mix her woe and tears with mine.
To wail Clan-Alpine's honored Pine."
XXIII.
Ellen the while, with bursting heart, 635
Remained in lordly bower apart.
Where played, with many-colored gleams,
Through storied pane the rising beams.
In vain on gilded roof they fall.
And lightened up a tapestried Avail, 64«
And for her use a menial train
A rich collation spread in vain.
The banquet proud, the chamber gay,
Scarce draw one curious glance astray ;
Or if she looked, 'twas but to say, 645
With better omen dawned the day
In that lone isle, where waved on high
The dun-deer's hide for canopy ;
Where oft her noble father shared
The simple meal her care prepared, 65#
While Lufra, crouching by her side.
Her station claimed with jealous pride.
And Douglas, bent on woodland game,
Spoke of the chase to Malcolm Gr^me,
638. Storied pane. Windows adorned with historical paintings.
640. Tapestried. Hung with an ornamental figured cloth of wool or
silk. — Gil. Menial train. A train of servants.
202 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto vi.
AVhose answer, oft at random made, 655
The wandering of his thoughts betrayed.
Those who such simple joys have known
Are taught to prize them when they're gone.
But sudden, see, she lifts her head.
The window seeks with cautious tread. eeu
What distant music has the power
To win her in this Avoful hour?
'Twas from a turret that o'erhung
Her latticed bower, the strain was sung.
XXIV.
I^ag of t^e Imprisoneb punlsman.
" My hawk is tired of perch and hood, 665
My idle gre3diound loathes his food.
My horse is weary of his stall.
And I am sick of captive thrall.
I wish I were as I have been,
Hunting the hart in forest green, 670
With bended bow and bloodhound free.
For that's the life is meet for me.
I hate to learn the ebb of time
From yon dull steeple's drowsy chime.
Or mark it as the sunbeams crawl, 675
Inch after inch, along the wall.
The lark was wont my martins ring,
The sable rook my vespers sing ;
These towers, although a king's they be,
Have not a hall of joy for me. 680
No more at dawning morn I rise,
CANTO VI. THE GUAKD-ROOM. 203
And sun myself in Ellen's eyes,
Drive the fleet deer the forest through,
And homeward wend with evening dew ;
A blithesome welcome blithely meet, 685
And lay my trophies at her feet.
While fled the eve on wing of glee, —
That life is lost to love and me ! "
XXV.
The heart-sick lay was hardl}* said,
The listener had not turned her head, 690
It trickled still, the starting tear.
When light a footstep struck her ear.
And Snowdoun's graceful Knight was near.
vShe turned the hastier, lest again
The prisoner should renew his strain. 695
" O welcome, brave Fitz-James ! " she said;
" How may an almost orphan maid
Pay the deep debt — " " O say not so !
To me no gratitude you owe.
Not mine, alas ! the boon to give, too
And bid thy noble father live ;
I can but be thy guide, sweet maid,
With Scotland's King thy suit to aid.
No tyrant he, though ire and pride
May lay his better mood aside. 705
Come, Ellen, come I 'tis more than time.
He holds his court at morning prime."
With beating heart, and bosom wrung,
As to a brother's arm she clung.
707. Morning prime. Dawn.
204 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto vi.
Gently he dried the falling tear, 7io
And gently whispered hope and cheer ;
Her faltering steps half led, half stayed,
Through gallery fair and high arcade,
Till at his touch its wings of pride
A portal arch unfolded wide. 715
XXVI.
Within 'twas brilliant all and light,
A thronging scene of figures bright ;
It glowed on Ellen's dazzled sight.
As when the setting sun has given.
Ten thousand hues to summer even, 720
And from their tissue fancy frames
Aerial knights and fairy dames.
Still by Fitz-James her footing staid ;
A few faint steps she forward made,
Then slow her drooping head she raised, 725
And fearful round the presence gazed ;
For him she sought who owned this state.
The dreaded Prince whose will was fate ! —
She gazed on man}^ a princely port
Might well have ruled a royal court ; 730
On many a splendid garb she gazed, —
Then turned bewildered and amazed,
For all stood bare ; and in the room
Fitz-James alone wore cap and plumes
To him each lady's look was lent, 735
On him each courtier's eye was bent \
713. Arcade. A series of openings, or recesses, with arched ceilings
supported by columns. — 720. Presence. Presence-chamber; the room in
which a great person receives guests.
CANTO VI. y THE (ILARD-HOOM. ^^^T ' ' 205
Midst fui's and silks and jewels sheen, (^
He stood, in simple Lincoln green,
The centre of the glittering ring, —
And Snowdoun's Knight is Scotland's King I 740
/- ^ . /xxvii. r /.
t
As wreath of snow 9n mountain-breast
Slides from the rock that gave it rest,
Poor Ellen glided from her stay,__/ .
And at (the Monarch's feet slie lay ; '^''^
No word her choking voice commands, — 745
She showed; the ring^ — she clasped her hands.
O, not a moment could he brook.
The generous Prince,) that suppliant look ! /^
Gently- he raised her, — and, the while.
Checked with a glance the circle's smile ; "50
Graceful,! but grave, lier brow he kissed,
And bade her ter^^ors be dismissed : —
" Yes, fair ; the Wandering poor Fitz- James
The fealty of Scotland claims.
To him thy woes, thy wishes, bring ; 7.55
He will redeem his signet ring.
Ask naught for Douglas ; — yester even.
His Prince and he have much forgiven ;
740. Snowdoun's Knight is Scotland's King. James V., of whom we
are treating, was a monarch whose good and benevolent intentions often
r.-ndered his romantic freaks venial, if not respectable, since, from his
anxious attention to the interests of the lower and most oppressed class of
his subjects, he was, as we have seen, popularly termed the Kinu of the
Commons. For the purpose of seeing that justice was regularly adminis-
tered, and frequently from the less justifiable motive of gallantry, he used
to traverse the vicinage of his several palaces in various disguises. Scott.
757. Yester even. Yesterday evening.
206 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto vi.
Wrong hath he had from slanderous tongue,
I, from his rebel kmsmen, wrong. 760
We would not to the vulgar crowd,
Yield what they craved with clamor loud ;
Calmly we heard and judged his cause.
Our council aided and our laws.
I stanched thy father's death-feud stern 765
With stout De Vaux and gray Glencairn ;
And Bothwell's Lord henceforth we own
The friend and bulwark of our throne. —
But, lovely inlidel, how now ?
What clouds thy misbelieving brow ? 770
Lord James of Douglas, lend thine aid ;
Thou must confirm this doubting maid.'*
XXVIII. ^
Then forth the noble Douglas sprung,
And on his neck his daughter hung.
The Monarch drank, that happy hour, 775
The sweetest, holiest draught of Power, —
When it can say with godlike voice,
Arise, sad Virtue, and rejoice !
Yet would not James the general eye
On nature's raptures long should pry ; 780
He stepped between — " Nay, Douglas, nay,
Steal not my proselyte away I
The riddle 'tis my right to read,
That brought this happy chance to speed.
Yes, Ellen, when disguised I stray 785
In life's more low but happier way,
782. Proselyte. New convert. 784. To speed. To a successful result.
CANTO VI. THE GUARD-ROOM. 207
'Tis under name which veils my power,
Nor falsely veils, — for Stirling's tower
Of yore the name of Snowdoun claims.
And Normans call me James Fitz- James. 790
Thus watch I o'er insulted laws.
Thus learn to right the injured cause." •
Then, in a tone apart and low, —
" Ah, little traitress ! none must know
What idle dream, what lighter thought, 795
What vanity full dearly bought.
Joined to thine eye's dark witchcraft, drew
My spell-bound steps to Benvenue
In dangerous hour, and all but gave
Thy Monarch's life to mountain glaive ! " 800
Aloud he spoke : " Thou still dost hold
That little talisman of gold.
Pledge of my faith, Fitz-James's rijig, —
What seeks fair Ellen of the King ? "
XXIX.
Full well the conscious maiden guessed 805
He probed the weakness of her breast ;
But with that consciousness there came
A lightening of her fears for Graeme,
And more she deemed the Monarch's ire
Kindled 'gainst him who for her sire 8io
Rebellious broadsword boldly drew ;
And, to her generous feeling true.
She craved the grace of Roderick Dhu.
802. Talisman. An image supposed to produce a magical or extraordi-
nary effect in preventing evil.
208 THE LADY OF THE LAKE. canto vi.
" Forbear thy suit ; — the King of kings
Alone can stay life's parting wings. 815
I know his heart, I know his hand,
Have shared his cheer, and proved his brand ; —
My fairest earldom would I give
To bid Clan-Alpine's Chieftain live ! —
Hast thou no other boon to crave ? 820
No other captive friend to save ? "
Blushing, she turned her from the King,
And to the Douglas gave the ring,
As if she wished her sire to speak
The suit that stained her glowing cheek. 825
" Nay, then, my pledge has lost its force,
And stubborn justice holds her course.
Malcolm, come forth ! " — and, at the word,
Down kneeled the Graeme to Scotland's Lord.
" For thee, rash youth, no suppliant sues, 830
From thee may Vengeance claim her dues.
Who nurtured underneath our smile,
Hast paid our care by treacherous wile,
And sought amid thy faithful clan
A refuge for an outlawed man, 835
Dishonoring thus thy loyal name. —
Fetters and warder for the Graeme ! "'
His chain of gold the King unstrung,
The links o'er Malcolm's neck he flung.
Then gently drew the glittering band, 840
And laid the clasp on Ellen's hand.
825. stained. Flushed.
833. Treacherous wile. A plot for tlie betrayal of a trust.
CANTO VI. THE GUARD-ROOM. 209
«
Harp of the North, farewell ! The hills grow dark,
On purple peaks a deeper shade descending ;
In twilight copse the glow-worm lights her spark,
The deer, half seen, are to the covert wending. 845
Resume thy wizard elm 1 the fountain lending,
And the wild breeze, thy wilder minstrelsy ;
Thy numbers sweet with nature's vespers blending.
With distant echo from the fold and lea.
And herd-boy's evening pipe, and hum of housing bee.
Yet, once again, farewell, thou Minstrel Harp I 85i
Yet, once again, forgive my feeble sway.
And little reck I of the censure sharp
May idly cavil at an idle lay.
Much have I owed thy strains on life's long way, 855
Through secret woes the world has never known.
When on the weary night dawned wearier day.
And bitterer was the grief devoured alone. —
That I o'erlive such woes, Enchantress I is thine OAvn.
Hark ! as my lingering footsteps slow retire, 860
Some Spirit of the Air has waked thy string !
'Tis now a seraph bold, with touch of fire,
'Tis now the brush of Fairy's frolic wing.
Receding now the dying numbers ring
Fainter and fainter down the rugged dell ; so.")
And now the mountain breezes scarcely bring
A wandering witch-note of the distant spell —
And now, 'tis silent all ! — Enchantress, fare thee well !
854. Cavil. Fiud fault, without cause.
862. Seraph. Au augel of the highest rank.
IlfTDEX TO NOTES.
[The Numbers refer to Pages.]
According pause, 4.
Adventures, 180.
Aghast, 76.
Albany, 146.
Allan, 129.
Allan-bane, 37.
Allies, 65.
Alpine, 46.
Amain, 11.
Ambuscade, 148.
Ambush, 133.
Anathema, 83.
And the best of Loch Lomond, etc., 55.
Antique garniture, 189.
Antiquity, 76.
Apparition, 152.
Apprehensive, 117.
Arcade, 204.
Archer wight, 1(36.
Ardent symphony, 4.
Arraignment, 146.
Array, 186.
Ascabart, 28.
Aspen, 14.
.\ssuage, 44.
Astound, 06.
Astrand, 189.
Aught, 59.
Augured, 81.
Augur scathe, 124.
Augury, 110.
Auspicious, 114.
Ave Maria, 103.
Avouch, 113.
Balvaig, 97.
Ban, 82.
Banditti, 174.
Bannered jrlne, 52.
Bannochar, 55.
Barded, 193.
Barret-cap, 187.
Basked, 137.
Battalia, 193.
Batten, 130.
Battled fence, 66.
Battled verge, 173.
Battlement, 13.
Battle of Bear an Duine, 191.
Beacon, 5.
Bead, 17.
Beala-nambo, 85.
Bear maha. 111.
Beakers, 179.
Beamed frontlet, 5.
Beck, 150.
Beetled, 66.
Beguile, 118.
Beltane game, 51.
Ben-an, 16.
Ben-an's gray scalp, 84.
Benharrow, 77.
Benighted, 22.
Benledi, 8.
Ben-Shie, 81.
Benvenue, 8.
Benvoirlich, 5.
Beshrew, 17.
Betimes, 124.
212
THE LADY OF THE LAKE.
Bide, 109.
Bittern, 31.
Black-jack, 181.
Black Sir Roderick, 46.
Blair-Drumraond, 160.
Blautj^re, 58.
, Blazed, 113.
\ Bleeding Heart, 45.
\ Blench, 05.
^ Blithe carol, 88.
Bochastle, 153.
^^ochastle's heath, 8.
Boding, 44.
Bonnet pieces, 197.
Bonnets, 52.
Boon to crave, 127.
Bootless, 65.
Bosky, 88.
Boss, 111.
Both well's bannered hall, 43.
Boune, 109, 159.
Bout, 109.
Bourne, 124.
Bower, 41.
Bracken, 96.
Bracklinn, 49.
Braes, 63.
Braes of Doune, 108.
Brake, 9.
Brand, 34.
Brawny, 167.
Breadalbane, 55.
Bride of Heaven, 162.
Brigg of Turk, 9.
Broke, 112.
Brooch, 19.
Brook, 28.
Broom, 15.
Bruce, 99.
Bucklered, 78.
Buffet, 170.
Burden, 54.
Burgeon, 54.
Butts, 166.
Buxom, 181.
By, 103.
By his chieftain's hand, 98.
By the rood, 22.
Cabala, 80.
Cadence, 31, 54.
Cairn, 6.
Caitiff, 178.
Caledon, 3.
Cambus-kenneth's fane, 117.
Cambusmou. 8.
Canna, 51.
Cardross, 99.
Carpet knight, 155.
Casement, 179.
Casque, 198.
Castle, 164.
Cavil, 209.
Chalice, 74.
Chanter, 52.
Checkered bauds, 166.
Checkered shroud, 68.
Chiding, 11.
Clamor, 88.
Clan, 41.
Clarion, 53.
Claymore, 49,
Clemency, 170.
Cloister, 16.
Close, 158.
Cognizance, 174.
Coif, 94.
Coil, 97.
Coilantogle's ford, 139.
Coir-Uriskin, 85, 99.
Combating, 67.
Common's King, 165.
Compeers, 79.
Conceit, 108.
Conjure, 122.
Copse, 6.
Cormorant, 72.
Coronach, 89.
INDEX.
213
Coronet, 45.
Correi, CO.
Corselet, 198.
Couched, 11.
Courier, 62.
Covert, 84.
Cowl, 1G(3.
Coy, 74.
Crested, 4.
Crosslet, 82.
Cubit, 82.
Cumber, 90.
Curlew, 149.
Cushat, 76.
Cymbals, 193.
Daggled, 133.
Dappled, 142.
Dank osiers, 144.
Darkling, 120.
Death halloo, 10.
Death wound, 10.
Dell, 72.
Delusion, 152.
Dennan's Row, 111.
Dernstown, IGO.
Despite old spleen, 61.
Devan, 129.
Device, 25.
Dewing, 30.
Dingle, 12.
Dirge, 197.
Disembodied world, 81.
Dispensation, 47.
Disowned by every noble peer, 47,
Doffing, 165.
Domain, 67.
Douglases, 43, 163.
Doune, 145, 160.
Down, 71.
Down of eider, 103.
Druid, 77.
Duchray, 99.
Dun, 27.
Dun deer's hide, 87.
Duncraggan, 89.
Dun of crmline, 123.
Eagle wings unfurled, 153.
Earl William, 176.
Earn, 115.
Earth-born castles, 13.
Eglantine, 13.
Elfin Queen, 120.
Embers, 85.
Emblem, 44.
Embossed, 9.
Emprise, 24.
Enow, 65.
Envenomed, 68.
Erne, 192.
Errant damosel, 185.
Errant-knight, 24.
Erst, 42.
Espial, 63.
Estranged, 79.
Ettrick, 63.
Execration, 83.
Eyry, 192.
Fabled goddess, 59.
Fain, 7.
Falchion, 18.
Falcon, 6.
Fallow, 31.
Fared, 128.
Fatal green, 121.
Favor, 135.
Fay, 23.
Fealty, 172.
Feint, 156.
Fell, 70.
Fellest, 29.
Fen, 116.
Ferragus, 28.
Feud, 125.
Feudal power, 165.
Field fare, 78.
214
THE LADY OF THE LAKE.
Fiery Cross, 74.
Filial love, 20.
Fitting ward, 171.
Fleet, 40.
Fleming, 180.
Flushing, 90.
Foiled, 65.
Fold, 78.
Forayed, 130.
Forfeit, 133.
For retreat in dangerous hour, 25.
Franciscan, 163.
Fraught, 43.
Frenzied, 134.
Friar Tuck, 166.
From targe and jack, 151.
Gael, 142.
Gallants, 159.
Garnish, 27.
Garrisoned, 150.
Gauntlet, 33.
Glade, 13.
Glaive, 114.
Glen, 78.
Glen Artney, 5.
Glenfinlas, 61.
Glen Fruin, 55.
Glen Luss, 55.
Glinted, 151.
Glosing, 62.
Goblin, 81.
Goshawk, 84.
Gored, 181.
Graces, 19.
Graeme, 41, 99.
Grisly visage, 33.
Grot, 118.
Guerdon, 47, 186.
Guile, 120.
Guise, 59.
Gyve, 178.
Hag, 81.
Haggard, 83.
Halberd, 180.
Hallowed creed, 78.
Hap, 38.
Hardened flesh, 138.
Harebell, 44.
Harness, 179.
Harp of the North, 3.
Hazard our relief, 47.
Heath, 8, 74.
Heath cock, 22.
Helm, 127.
Henchman, 70.
Heritage, 29.
Heron, 23.
Hero's targe, 111.
Hest, 92.
Hied, 12.
Highland plunderers, 17.
Hind, 87.
His Border spears with Hotspur's
bows, 50.
His lordship the embattled lield, 127.
His targe he threw, etc., 156.
Hoary, 90.
Holy-Rood, 46, 146.
Holytide, 180.
Homage, 155.
Homicide, 47.
Horde, 98.
Host, 180.
Hostage, 165.
Hunters live so cheerily, etc., 132.
Hurricane, 7.
Idaean vine, 26.
Imbrue, 135.
Impending, 82.
Incessant, 66.
Inch-Cailliach, 82.
Inconstant, 122.
Incumbent, 100.
Infamy, 84.
In Holy-Rood a knight he slew, 46.
INDEX.
215
Insulated, 13.
Inured, 109.
Invulnerable, 117.
Jennet, 164.
Jeopardy, 187.
Juggler, 183.
Ken, 7.
Kerchief, 94.
Kernes, 111.
Kier, IGO.
Kindly, 122.
Knell, 42.
Knighthood, 4, 171.
Knot-grass, 78.
Lackey, 70.
Ladies' Rock, 1(58.
Lair, 5.
Lanrick mead, 86.
Lave, 17.
Lay, 37.
Lea, 44.
Leagued, 50.
Leash, 169.
Leech, 189.
Legends, 74.
Lendrick, 160.
Lenox foray, 46.
Level way, 12.
Leven-glen, 55.
Lichens, 39.
Limpid, 57.
Lincoln green, 23.
Lineage of the Bleeding Heart, 65.
Links of Forth, 65.
Linn, 7.
Linnet, 37.
Little John, 166.
Loch Achray, 8.
Lochard, 8.
Loch Con, 99.
Loch Katrine, 15.
Loch Lomond, 46,
Loop, 179,
Lowered, 146.
Lubnaig, 95.
Lure, 145.
Magic, 80.
Maid :Marian, 166,
Main, 38.
Marauding, 47.
Marouuau, 48.
Martial, 142.
Masquers, 163.
Matins, 17, 37.
Mavis, 119.
Maze, 4.
Measured mood, 19.
Meed, 38,
Meggat, 63.
Menials, 28,
Menial train, 201.
Menteith, 7, 55.
Mere, 22.
Merle, 119.
Meteor fire, 80.
Mewed, 146.
Midnight blaze, 97.
Mien, 23.
Mimicry, 61.
Minaret, 13,
Minstrel, 3.
Minstrelsy, 4.
Misproud, 170.
Moat, 15,
Monan, 4.
Monk, 77.
Monument of Grecian Art, 18,
Moody, 79.
Moor, 71.
Morass, 87.
Moray's silver star, 114.
More than kindred knew, 28.
Morning prime, 203.
Morrice-dancers, 163.
216 THE LADY OF THE LAKE.
Mosque, 13.
Pole-axe, 95.
Motley, 163.
Pomp, 58.
Mould, 123.
Port, 28.
Murky, 103.
Portals, 63.
Muster, 145.
Postern gate, 162.
Mutch, 166.
Prelude, 53.
]My sovereign holds in ward my
Presaged, 118.
lauds, 71.
Presence, 204.
Mysterious lineage, 79.
Pretext, 63.
Pricked, 160.
Naiad, 18.
Primeval, 100.
Native buhvarks, 13.
Prompted, 108.
Needwood, 184.
Prore, 189.
Nighted, 68.
Proselyte, 206.
Numbers, 3.
Prune, 21.
Nuptial torch, 65.
Ptarmigan, 22.
Purvey, 183.
Ochtertyre, 160.
Omen, 112.
Quail, 60.
O my sweet William, 131.
Quaint, 163.
On the visioned future bent, 23.
Quarry, 9.
Opening pack, 6.
Quarterstaff, 166.
Orisons, 34.
Questing, 87.
sad and fatal mound, 163.
Outlawed, 47.
Rampart, 10.
Random, 100.
Page, 101.
Raven, 20.
Pageant pomp, 70.
Ravine, 97.
Pagod, 13.
Reave, 44.
Palfrey, 159.
Reck of, 127.
Pallet, 178.
Recreant, 157.
Palsied, 86.
Rednock, 99.
Parley, 62.
Red streamers of the north, 116
Patriarch, 82.
Reeking red, 49.
Penance, 77.
Refluent, 195.
Pennons, 130, 145.
Reft, 61.
Pent, 148.
Rendezvous, 98.
Percy's Norman pennon, 58.
Requiem, 200.
Phantom, 32.
Reveille, 31.
Pibroch, 30.
Revelry, 76.
Pinnacle, 12.
Rife, 117.
Plaid, 19.
Rifted, 55.
Plaided, 38.
Ritual, 76.
Plover, 153.
River Demon, 80.
INDEX.
217
Robin Hood, 166.
Rocky isle, 24.
Roderick Vich Alpine. 54.
Roe, 6.
Ross-dhn, 55.
Rout, 6.
Rowan, 77.
Royal ward, 61.
Ruth, 156.
Ruthless, 63.
Sable, 50.
Sable-lettered page, 00.
Sable pale of Mar, 114.
Saint Fillan, 3.
Saint Hubert, 9.
Saint Modan, 42.
Satyr, 100.
Scaled, 66.
Scanned, 99.
Scarlet, 166.
Scathed, 84.
Scathelocke, 166.
Scathless, 111.
Scaur, 87.
Scourge and steel, 9.
Scroll, 113.
Searest, 90.
Sedgy, 31.
Seek other cause 'gainst Roderick
Dhu, 148.
Seine, 11.
Sentient, 113.
Sentinel, 16.
Sepulchral, S3.
Sequestered, 98.
Seraph, 209.
Serf, 124.
Serried, 194.
Shallop, 191.
Sheen, 13.
Shingles, 143.
Shingly, 81.
Shock, 148.
Shred, 134.
Shrewdly, 7.
Shrouds, 48.
Signet, 127.
Signet sage, 21.
Skirts, 98.
Slaked, 49.
Slighting the need, 22.
Slip, 137.
Slogan, 55.
Snood, 19, 79.
Snowdoun, 29.
Snowdoun's Knight is Scotland's
King, 205.
Sooth, 24.
Sounds, too, had come, 81.
Speed, 38.
Spells, 80.
Spey, 44.
Stag of ten, 132.
Stained, 208.
Stalwart, 168.
Stance, 115.
Stanch hound, 9.
Stark, 164.
Stirling's porch, 65, 161.
Stock, 9.
Storied pane, 201.
Straight or strait, 63.
Strand, 88.
Stranger to respect and power, 146.
Strath, 78.
Strath Endrick glen, 61.
Strath-Gartney, 97.
Strath-Ire, 92.
Strathspey, 46.
Strook, 83.
Stumah, 90. ^
Subterranean, 150.
Such cheek should feel the mid-
night air, 70.
Suitor, 50.
Summer solstice, 136.
Suspense, 152.
218
THE LADY OF THE LAKE.
Swarthy, 88.
Swath, 88.
Switzer, 180,
Sylvan war, 7.
Symbol, 83.
Taghairm, 110.
Tainted gale, 5.
Talisman, 207.
Tamed the Border-Side, 63.
Tapestried, 201.
Targe, 92.
Target, 27.
Tartans brave, 52.
Teviot, G3.
That monk of savage form and
face, 77.
That party conquers in the strife, 113.
The bannered towers of Doune, 160.
The burghers hold their sports to-
day, 163.
The flooded Teith, 8.
Three mighty lakes, 153.
Thrilling sounds, etc., 52.
Through watch and ward, 139.
Tilter, 164.
Tinchell, 194.
Tine-man, 50.
Toils, 131.
Torry, 160.
To speed, 206.
To steal their meal, 142.
Tower, 13.
Trailing arms, 173.
Train, 126.
Trance, 113.
Treacherous wile, 208.
Triple »teel, 158.
Troll, 181.
Trophies, 27.
Trosachs, 10.
Trowed, 117.
Truce, 156.
Truncheon, 146.
Tullibardine's house, 185.
Turn to bay, 10.
Turret, 13.
Tweed, 44.
Uam-Var, 6.
Unasked his birth and name, 28.
Undaimted, 47.
Unhooded, 59.
Unless he climb, etc., 15.
Unwont, 42.
Vair, 120.
Vassal, 83.
Vaward scouts, 193.
Veering, 14.
Vennachar, 9.
Ventures, 74.
Verge, 66.
Vest of Pall. 119.
Vied, 67.
Vindictive, 9.
Voluntary, 96.
Votaress, 48.
Vulgar, 175.
Wan, 67.
Waned crescent, 58.
Ward, 53.
Warder, 5.
Warily, 132.
Warrant, 139. ^
Weal, 72.
Weeds, 128.
Weird, 30.
Whinyard, 10.
White-haired Allan-bane, 37.
Wildering, 16.
Wiled, 45.
Wily, 126.
Wist, 123.
Witch-elm, 3.
Without a pass from Roderick
Dhu, 152.
INDEX.
219
Wizard, 4.
Woe worth the chase, 11.
Wold, 119.
Woned, 120.
Wont, 21.
Wot, 29.
Wreak, 135.
Wrought, 132.
Yarrow, 63.
Yeoman, 164.
Yester even, 205.
Yew, 82.
Yore, 50.
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By Miss Ellen H. Richards, of the Mass. Institute of Technolog}'.
50 pp. Mailing Price, 10 cents.
Nos. VIII. to XL are in freparation.
GIXN, HEATH, & CO., Publishers,
BOSTON, NEW YORK, and CHICAGO.
HAZEN'S
COMPLETE SPELLING-BOOK,
FOR
Primary, Intermediate ^ and Gratnmar Schools,
The old-fashioned spelling-book contained a huddle of words,
most of them unknown to the child, many almost unknowable, rarely
to be met with in his reading or used in his writing. Such a barbarous
plan could not produce good results. It was a tyranny, and, like
every other tyranny, it had to be overthrown. Spelling-books were
declared a "common enemy."
But to use no speller has proved as real an evil as to use a bad
one. Few teachers are willing and able to make their own lists
of words, fewer still have the time ; and, after all, why should such
hastily-made spelling-books be better than a printed one, prepared
by a specially qualified person after special study and ample time ?
HAZEN'S COMPLETE SPELLING-BOOK is presented as a
" Golden Mean.*' It is a common-sense INIanual for common-sense
teachers, adapted to the entire range of grades, and containing be-
sides the old and approved features many new and original ones,
that enable the teacher to quadruple the benefits of this branch of
studv.
Introduction Price, 25 cts. Allowance for old Book, 10 cts.
GINN, HEATH. & CO., Publishers,
Boston, New York, and Chicago.
WOOD-WORKING TOOLS;
HOW TO USE THEM.
Edited (for the Industrial School Association) by Channing Whitaker,
Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. i6mo. 104 pages. With 80 illustrations. A handbook
for teachers and pupils.
Metail Price 50 cts,
A course of simple lessons in the use of the universal tools : the
hammer, knife, axe, plane, rule, chalk-line, square, gauge, chisel,
saw, and augur. The lessons are so amply illustrated that any
bright boy will find the book alone a great help in his endeavors to
learn the right way of using common tools. Nearly half of the
SCOKING.
FAKING.
illustrations were taken from life, and are efficient substitutes for
lengthy and important printed instructions. The book is the result
of actual experiments successfully made by the Industrial School
Association of Boston. It will help people, who are interested in
systematic and efficient industrial education, to begin it.
24 GINN, HEATH, &^ CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.
also thirty- two shorter pieces from other speeches. From Bacon
thirty of the fifty-eight Essays, all given entire, and several choice
selections from Advanatnefit of Learning.
E. N. Potter, Pres. of Union College, says, " They are especially
valuable in connection with any course of English Literature or His-
tory. They enable students, and readers generally, to acquire an
adequate knowledge, not of mere extracts, but of representative
portions of the best works of world-famed writers. The pupil or
reader learns not only the 'where,' 'when,' etc., with regard to an
author's life, but gains a knowledge of the man himself, from famil-
iarity with his writings."
Hudson's Pamphlet Selections Prose and Poetry.
Annotated, 1 2mo. Paper. Mailing price of each, 25 cts. ; Introduc-
tion price, 20 cts.
To meet a growing demand for standard literature in cheap form ,
we have bound in paper covers, for school use, the following portions
of Hudson's Text-Book of Prose and Text-Book of Poetry.
Any two or more of the pamphlets will be bound in one volume
to suit customers ordering one hundred or more copies.
Edmund Burke, section i .
Five Speeches and ten Papers, comprising : Obedience to Instruc-
tions ; Speech to the Electors of Bristol', Growth of the American
Trade ; Character of George Grenville ; Lord Chathajn a?id Charles
Townshend ; State of Things in France ; The Revolution z« France ;
Liberty in the Abstract', Freedom as an Inheritance ; The Revohition-
ary Third Estate ; The Rights of Men ; Abuse of History ; English
Toleration ; How a Wise Statesman Proceeds ; The Principles of
Reform ; Fanaticism of Liberty.
Edmund Burke, section ii.
Introduced by a Sketch of his Life, and comprising: The Ethics
of Vanity ; The Old and the New Whigs ; A Letter to a Noble Lord ;
France at War with Humanity ; Fanatical Atheism ; How to Deal
with Jacobin France ; Desolation of the Carnatic ; Unlawfulness of
Arbitrary Power ', Cruelties of Debi Sing; Impeachment of Hastings ',
Justice and Revenge ; Appeal for Judgment upon Hastings.
ENGLISH LITERATURE. 25
Daniel Webster, section i.
Including his celebrated Reply to Hayne ; Blessings of the Con-
stitution ; Presidential Nullijication ; The Spoils to the Victors ;
Fraudulent Party-Outcries; The Position of Mr. Calhoun; South-
Carolina Nullification.
Daniel Webster, section ii.
Introduced by a Sketch of his Life, and containing extracts from
twenty-five Speeches on The Presidential Protest; The Character
of Washington ; Alexafider Hamilton ; First Settlement of Neiiy
Engla7id ; The First Century of New England ; The Second Cetitury
of New Englatid; An Appeal against the Slave-Trade; Bunker-Hill
Monument Begun; Bimker-Hill Mo?iu7nent Fijiished; Adams in the
Congress ofiyjS ; Right use of Learning; The Murder of Mr. White ;
Character of Lord Byron ; Character of Judge Story ; Religion as
a?t Element of Greatness ; Each to Interpret the Law for Himself;
Irredeemable Paper; Benefits of the Credit System ; Abuse of Execu-
tive Patronage ; Philanthropic Love of Power ; The Spirit of Dis-
union ; Importance of the Navy ; The Log-Cabin ; Speakifig for the
Union ; Peaceable Secession ; Standing upon the Constitution ; An
Appeal for the Utiion.
Lord Bacon.
Introduced by a Sketch of his Life, and comprising extracts from
thirty Essays, treating of Truth ; Death ; Unity in Religion ; Revenge ;
Adversity ; Marriage and Single Life ; Great Place ; Goodness and
Goodness of Nature ; Atheism; Superstition; Travel; Wisdom for
a Manx's Self; Innovations ; Seeming Wise ; Friendship ; Expetise ;
Suspicion ; Discourse ; Riches ; Nature in Men ; Custom and
Education ; Youth and Age ; Beauty ; Deformity ; Studies ; Praise ;
Judicature; Anger; Discredits of Learning; Value of Knowledge.
Wordsworth. Section I.
Life of Wordsworth, the Prelude, and thirty-three Poems.
Wordsworth. Section II.
Sixty Poems and Sonnets, accompanied by foot-notes, historical
and explanatory.
26
GINN, HEATH, 6- CO:S PUBLICATIONS.
Coleridge and Burns.
Containing, in addition to the Biographical Sketches of the Poets,
the Notes and Glossaries, forty-five Poems, such as : The Ancient
Marnier ', Christabel ; The Cotter's Sattirday Night \ To a Mouse;
and many other universal favorites.
Addison and Goldsmith.
Comprising a brief Sketch of the Life of each, together with fifteen
Papers from Addison, and eleven Prose Selections from Goldsmith,
followed by a reprint of ''The Deserted Village.'''' The Prose Selec-
tions include: Sir Roger de Coverly; Superstition; Modesty; Cheer-
fulness ; True and False Wit ; Fortune-Nunters ; Dr. Primrose in
Prison; The Character of Hypatia; A Hard World for Poets;
English and French Politeness; etc., etc., etc.
In forming the mind and taste of the young, is it not better to use
authors who have already lived long enough to afford some guar-
anty that they may survive the next twenty years ?
A. P. Peabody, Harvard Coll.:
The extracts are, without exception,
admirably chosen ; there is not one
of them which ought not to have its
favored place in the literature at the
command of every person of even mod-
erate intelligence. The editorial matter
— memoir, note, and glossary — is am-
ple for its purpose, manifests the skill
of an experienced teacher no less than
of an accomplished scholar, and is val-
uable equally for what it embodies and
for what, with a wise parsimony, it
omits ; for there is much that is tempt-
ing to an editor which would be sur-
plusage in a school-book.
Henry A. Coit, Prin. St. Patd's
School, Concord, NH. : I heartily ap-
prove, admire, and commend. It is
miles beyond and above, in value, the
so-called Advanced Reader.
Horace H. Purness, Phila.: If
such selections could only be intro-
duced into all our public schools, the
next generation will show a race of
statesmen with " hands that the rod of
empire might sway," and that would
make us lift our head among the na-
tions.
Dr. Wm. T. Harris : I think you
are doing a great service to the cause
of literature in the country by printing
and circulating these books. Mr. Hud-
son is effecting a revolution in our
methods of teaching literature by his
series of school-texts, — Shakespeare,
Burke, Wordsworth, etc. I can only
wish I were an autocrat, and could
force these books into the schools of
the country.
ENGLISH LITERATURE.
27
Hudson 's Classical English Reader.
For High Schools, Academies, and the upper grades of Grammar Schools.
Containing selections from Bryant, Burke, Burns, Byron, Carlyle, Cole-
ridge, Cowley, Cowper, Dana, Froude, Gladstone, Goldsmith, Gray,
Helps, Herbert, Hooker, Hume, Irving, Keble, Lamb, Landor, Long-
fellow, Macaulay, Milton, Peabody, Scott, Shakespeare, Southey, Spen-
ser, Talfourd, Taylor, Webster, Whittier, Wordsworth, and other stand-
ard authors. With explanatory and critical foot-notes. i2mo. Cloth.
425 pages. MaiHng price, $i.io; Introduction, ^i.oo; Allowance for
old book in use, 30 cents.
Se?td Postal for Special Circular.
Not one of the pieces has been taken for the author's sake ; the
selection has proceeded on the twofold ground of intrinsic merit
and of fitness to the purposes of the volume ; due care being had,
withal, for a reasonable variety both in matter, style, and author-
ship. Including as it does the choicest extracts from so many stand-
ard authors, it admirably supplements and emphasizes the ordinary
course in English Literature.
F. J. Child, Prof. ofEng. in Ha -
vard Univ. : A boy who knew this
book as well as boys who are good for
anything generally know their readers,
might almost be said to be liberally
educated. And how rich must the
literature be, when, after it has been
ransacked for " extracts " (not always
by men who know where to go and
what to take, as Mr. Hudson does), a
school-book can be made that is so
select and so unstaled. I am going to
finish my education on it myself, and
bring up a certain boy on it, and some
girls. If I had seen only the selections
from Schiller's W^allenstein, I should
be sure that the book was what I want
for young people. The man that put
those in knows what they like and need.
R. R. Raymond, Pres. of Boston
School of Oratory : It is just the book
that needed to be made ; and, now that it
is here, one is surprised that it did not
come before.
A. P. Peabody, Harvard Univ. :
I must express to you my strong sense of
its superlative worth. It ought to make
its way into every Grammar-School and
Academy in the country. It will do
more than any or all books of the kind
(there are none of the kind) now in use
toward creating a taste for good liter-
ature, and furnishing fit materials for
the culture of such a taste.
H. A. Coit, Prin. of St. Paul's Sch.,
Concord, N.H. : There is no book to be
compared with it in America. There is
the most refreshing good taste and re-
finement manifested in every selection,
to say nothing of the thorough knowl-
edge of the best English literature, to
which it witnesses.
R. G. Hibbard, Prof, of Elocution,
W'esleyan Univ. : As a book for the
use of classes in our High Schools, both
in the study of English Literature and
Reading, it has no superior.
28
GINN, HEATH, &- CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.
First Two Books of Milton's Paradise Lost ; and
Milton's Lycidas. By Homer B. Sprague, Ph.D., Principal of Girls'
High School, Boston. i2mo. Cloth. 198 pages. Mailing price, 55
cts.; Introduction, 45 cts.
These books, the sublimest of Milton's poetry, are here prepared
for class use, as well as for private reading. The edition differs, it
is believed, from all other school editions, —
1. In containing some of the results of the most recent studies
and criticisms, as set forth by Masson, Prof. Himes, the French
critic Edmond Scherer, De Quincey, Lowell, Morley, etc.
2. In being illustrated by diagrams, representing Milton's cos-
mography, showing the relative positions he assigned in space to the
empyreal heavens, to hell, to the earth between them, and to chaos.
3. In omitting fifteen or twenty objectionable lines that need not
be read in school, and that have often and properly caused the ex-
clusion of the book from the class-room.
4. In furnishing more convenient and suggestive notes, with
better type and arrangement.
5. In presenting an approved formula for conducting class
exercises.
P. A. March, Prof, of Eng., La-
fayette Coll. : It is a very lively and
suggestive book, with quite learning
enough in it for our schools.
Pres. Warren, Boston Univ. : It
seems to me admirably adapted to its
purpose.
John A. Himes, Prof, of Eng.
Lit., Penn. Coll., Gettysburg : I have
seen no other annotated edition of
Paradise Lost, in the ground covered,
so free from errors or so safe as this.
W. J. Rolfe : An admirable school
edition. It is the first really good in-
troduction to the study of the poet
which has appeared in this country,
and seems to us better than anything
of the kind published in England.
New England Journal of Ed-
ucation : There is probably no Ameri-
can scholar better fitted to prepare an
edition of Milton's poems for educa-
tional uses than Homer B. Sprague.
He brings to bear upon his labors the
skill of the gifted critic, and the practi-
cal wisdom of an able instructor, for
many years, in English literature. His
notes are admirable.
C. T. Lane, Prin. High School,
Fort Wayne, Ind. : I am using it in my
class in English Literature, and cannot
too strongly express my admiration
for it.
W. C. Crippin, recent Prin. of
yohnson Normal School, Vt. : It is in-
comparably the best edition for class
use that has yet appeared.
E. H. Russell, Prin. Worcester
Normal School : The three main quali-
ties of a good text-book maker, namely,
scholarship, judgment, and enthusiasm,
Dr. Sprague shows in this book.
ENGLISH LITERATURE. 39
Six Selections from Iruing's S ketch-Book.
With full notes, questions, etc., for home and school use. By Homer
B. Sprague, Ph.D., and M. E. Scates, of the Girls' High School, Bos-
ton. i2mo. Cloth. 126 pages. Mailing price, 40 cents; Introduc-
tion, 35 cents. Boards: Mailing price, 30 cents; Introduction, 25 cents.
The volume comprises : T/ie Voyage, lVest7nmster Abbey, The
Widow and her Son, Rip Van Winkle, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,
and Christmas .
These six selections are complete sketches, each chosen for its
fitness to illustrate the variety, as well as the characteristics, of
Irving's style ; as pathetic, humorous, etc. The notes, the sugges-
tions to teachers, questions (whether for examination or to stimulate
inquiry), and the guides to the analysis of sentences and construction
of others equivalent to those of the text, all are the outgrowth of many
years experience and actual trial in the school-room. Teachers will
be interested in the extracts quoted from the Board of School Super-
visors of Boston, in regard to the study of English Literature in the
High Schools, and all will find the Chronological Table of the Life
and Works of Irving an invaluable aid to collateral study and reading.
This book has recently been introduced into the High Schools
of Cambridge, Springfield, Charlestown, Dorchester, Roxbury,
Portland, Gloucester, Beverly, Medford, Brighton, Jamaica Plain,
Bellows Falls, Great Barrington, Westboro, Ouincy, New London,
Rockland, Castine. Wareham, Newton, Greenfield, Townsend, etc.,
etc.
A. P. Blaisdell, author of "Out- volunteers. Among other things re-
lines of English Literature" : It is the quired, I insist upon a sketch of the
best-edited " English Classic " (I mean
for common, every-day use in the
schools) I have ever seen. The ques-
tions, suggestions, notes, &c., are ad-
mirable.
C. T. Haynes, Prin. Wash. School,
Worcester : I have found this book just
the thing to form and cultivate a literary
taste, I have a class now taking up
reading which is designed to lay the
foundation for a permanant and pro-
gressive culture. In it are some twenty 1 literary direction for li.'^
author, an oral abstract of the selection,
and a set of written questions upon it
for me to answer. The chronology of
Irving's life at the outset is a fine idea.
The hints to teachers so tell how to do
the thing that it can be done. The
whole book is an excellent lesson on
language, and most of the questions,
like baited fish-hooks are likely to draw
up a live answer. That little book in
the hands of wise teachers may turn
scores of young minds in the right
BOOKS FOR PRIMARY AND GRAMMAR SCHOOLS.
iNTaoE. Pbicb.
March 's A-B-C Book 20
Hazen 's Spelling-Book • 25
Church's Stories of the Old World 4°
Hudson & Lamb's Merchant of Venice 25
Lambert's Robineon Crusoe 35
" Memory Gems 3°
Yonge's Scott's Quentin Durward 4°
Turner's Stories for Young Children. Boards
Hudson's Old Edition of Shakespeare's Plays. Paper. . ..each .20
l^ew " " " " Cloth . . . . " .45
" " " " " " Paper ..." .30
" Burke, No. I. (Speeches and Papers) 20
Burke, No. 11. (Life, Papers, Letters, and Speeches) . .20
" Webster, No. I. (Reply to Hayne, and other Speeches) .20
" Webster, No. //. (Life, and Extracts from Speeches) . .20
" Bacon. (Life, and thirty Essays) 20
Wordsworth, No. I. (Prelude to Excursion, and 33 Poems) .20
" Wordsworth, No. II. (Sixty Poems and Sonnets) 20
Coleridge and Burns. " (Lives, and forty-five Poems) . . .20
Addison and Goldsmith. (Lives, Papers, and Poems) . . .20
Sprague's Six Selections from Inking 's Sketch-Book. Cloth, .35, Bds. .25
" Two Books of Milton 's Paradise Lost, and Lycidas. Cloth, .45
Bigsby's Elements of English Composition 35
Gilmore's Outlines of the Art of Expression 60
Whitney & Knox's Elementary Lessons in English. Part I. ''How
to Speak and Write Correctly'' 45
Knox's Teacher's Edition of above, with plans for oral lessons . . .60
Whitney 's Essentials of English Grammar (for high schools) . . .90
Ginn's Addition Tablets 3-oo
Hill's Geometry for Beginners 100
Wentworth & Hill's Examination Manual. Arithmetic 35
fitz's Terrestrial 6-inch Globe 12.00
Terrestrial 12-inch Globe 25.00
Hall's Our World Geography, No. 1 60
" Our World Geography, No. II i-5o
yo/jnsi-o/7 's Z-ar^re lya// /lfa/?s (Classical, Political, Physical) . . . . 3.50
Hyatt's About Pebbles 1°
Soodale's Concerning a few Common Plants 10
Hyatt's Commercial and other Sponges 20
igassiz 's First Lesson in Natural History 25
'Hyatt's Corals and Echinoderms 20
" Mollusca 25
Worms and Crustacea 25
Pros6/ 's Common Minerals and Rocks 25
Shaler's First Book of Geology 10°
Mason 's Primary Music Reader ^°
Second Music Reader 20
" Third Music Reader 20
" Intermediate Music Reader 4°
Independent Music Reader • -"^
Independent Music Reader and Hymn and Tune Book. .94
Allen 's L atin Primer ^^
WhKaker's How to Use Wood-Working Tools 6°
Monoyer' a Sight-Test for Schools • • < 12 and .32
1 1
1 1
ru .-17059
541684
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
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