The Lady of the Lake
From these foul demons shield the midnight gloom:
Angels of fancy and love, be near.
And o'er the blank of sleep diffuse a bloom:
Evoke the sacred shades of Greece and Rome,
And let them virtue with a look impart;
But chief, awhile, O! lend us from the tomb
Those long-lost friends for whom in love we smart,
and fill with pious awe and joy-mixt woe the heart.
"Or are you sportive?--bid the morn of youth
Rise to new light, and beam afresh the days
Of innocence, simplicity, and truth;
To cares estranged, and manhood's thorny ways.
What transport, to retrace our boyish plays,
Our easy bliss, when each thing joy supplied;
The woods, the mountains, and the warbling maze
Of the wild books!"
The Critical Review says of the following stanza (xxxiv): "Such a
strange and romantic dream as may be naturally expected to flow from the
extraordinary events of the day. It might, perhaps, be quoted as one
of Mr. Scott's most successful efforts in descriptive poetry. Some
few lines of it are indeed unrivalled for delicacy and melancholy
tenderness."
704. Grisly. Grim, horrible; an obsolete word, much used in old poetry.
Cf. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 30: "her darke griesly looke;" Shakespeare,
1 Hen. VI. i. 4. 47: "My grisly countenance made others fly," etc. See
also iv. 322, etc. below.
723. Played, etc. The MS. reads:
"Played on/ the bosoms of the lake,
/ Lock Katrine's still expanse;
The birch, the wild rose, and the broom
Wasted around their rich perfume...
The birch-trees wept in balmy dew;
The aspen slept on Benvenue;
Wild were the heart whose passions' power
Defied the influence of the hour."
724. Passion's. The reading of the 1st ed. and that of 1821; some recent
eds. have "passions'."
738. Orisons. The 1st ed. has "orison" both here and in 740 (the ed. of
1821 only in the latter); but the word is almost invariably plural, both
in poetry and prose--always in Shakespeare and Milton.
Canto Second.
7. A minstrel gray. "That Highland chieftains, to a late period,
retained in their service the bard, as a family officer, admits of very
easy proof. The author of the Letters from the North of Scotland, an
officer of engineers, quartered at Inverness about 1720, who certainly
cannot be deemed a favorable witness, gives the following account of
the office, and of a bard, whom he heard exercise his talent of
recitation:--'The bard is killed in the genealogy of all the Highland
families, sometimes preceptor to the young laird, celebrates in Irish
verse the original of the tribe, the famous warlike actions of the
successive heads, and sings his own lyricks as an opiate to the chief,
when indisposed for sleep; but poets are not equally esteemed and
honored in all countries. I happened to be a witness of the dishonour
done to the muse, at the house of one of the chiefs, where two of these
bards were set at a good distance, at the lower end of a long table,
with a parcel of Highlanders of no extraordinary appearance, over a cup
of ale. Poor inspiration! They were not asked to drink a glass of wine
at our table, though the whole company consisted only of the great man,
one of his near relations, and myself. After some little time, the chief
ordered one of them to sing me a Highland song. The bard readily obeyed,
and with a hoarse voice, and in a tune of few various notes, began, as
I was told, one of his own lyricks; and when he had proceeded to the
fourth of fifth stanza, I perceived, by the names of several persons,
glens, and mountains, which I had known or heard of before, that it
was an account of some clan battle. But in his going on, the chief (who
piques himself upon his school-learning) at some particular passage,
bid him cease, and cryed out, "There's nothing like that in Virgil or
Homer." I bowed, and told him I believed so. This you may believe was
very edifying and delightful'" (Scott).
15. Than men, etc. "It is evident that the old bard, with his
second-sight, has a glimmering notion who the stranger is. He speaks
below {311} of 'courtly spy,' and James's speech had betrayed a
knowledge of the Douglas" (Taylor).
20. Battled. The reading of the 1st ed. and that of 1821; "battle" in
most others. Cf. i. 626 above.
22. Where beauty, etc. The MS. has "At tourneys where the brave resort."
The reference is to the tournaments, "Where," as Milton says (L'Allegro,
119),
"throngs of knights and barons bold.
In weeds of peace, high triumphs hold,
With store of ladies, whose bright eyes
Rain influence, and judge the prize
Of wit or arms, while both contend
To win her grace whom all commend."
Cf. 87 below.
26. Love's. The reading of the 1st ed. and that of 1821; most eds. have
"love."
29. Plaided. The plaid was properly the dress of a Highlander, though it
was worn also in the Lowlands.
51. The Harper on the islet beach. "This picture is touched with the
hand of the true poet" (Jeffrey).
56. As from. As if from. Cf. 64 and 83 below. This ellipsis was common
in Elizabethan English. Cf. Shakespeare, Macb. ii. 2. 28:
"One cried 'God bless us!' and 'Amen' the other,
As they had seen me with these hangman's hands."
65. In the last sound. For the measure, see on i. 73 above.
69. His fleet. That is, of ducks. Cf. i. 239 above.
80. Would scorn. Who would scorn. See on i. 528 above.
84. Turned him. See on i. 142 above, and cf. 106 below.
86. After. Afterwards; as in Shakespeare, Temp. ii. 2. 10: "And after
bite me," etc. The word is not now used adverbially of time, though we
may say "he followed after," etc. The 1st ed. reads "that knight."
94. Parts. Departs; as often in poetry and earlier English. Cf.
Goldsmith, D. V. 171: "Beside the bed where parting life was laid;"
Gray, Elegy, 1: "the knell of parting day," etc. On the other hand,
depart was used in the sense of part. In the Marriage Service "till
death us do part" is a corruption of "till death us depart." Wiclif's
Bible, in Matt. xix. 6, has "therfor a man departe not that thing that
God hath ioyned."
103. Another step, etc. The MS. has "The loveliest Lowland fair to spy;"
and the 1st ed. reads "The step of parting fair to spy."
109. The Graeme. Scott has the following note here: "The ancient and
powerful family of Graham (which, for metrical reasons, is here smelled
after the Scottish pronunciation) held extensive 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 patriotic 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, not withstanding
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 the third, John Graeme, of Claverhouse, Viscount of Dundee,
whose heroic death, in the arms of victory, may be allowed to cancel
the memory of his cruelty to the non-conformists, during the reigns of
Charles II. and James II."
112. Bower. The word meant a chamber (see on i. 217 above), and was
often used of the ladies' apartments in a house. In hall and bower =
among men and women. The words are often thus associated. Cf. Spenser,
Astrophel, 28: "Merily masking both in bowre and hall," etc.
115. Arose. The 1st ed. misprints "Across;" not noted in the Errata.
126. And the proud march. See on i. 73 above.
131. Saint Modan. A Scotch abbot of the 7th century. Scott says here: "I
am not prepared to show that Saint Modan was a performer on the harp. It
was, however, no unsaintly 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 its spontaneous sound. 'But labouring once in these
mechanic arts for a devout matrone that had sett him on work, his violl,
that hung by him on the wall, of its own accord, without anie man's
helpe, distinctly sounded this anthime: Gaudent in coelis animae
sanctorum qui Christi vestigia sunt secuti; et quia pro eius amore
sanguinem suum fuderunt, ideo cum Christo gaudent aeternum. Whereat all
the companie being much astonished, turned their eyes from beholding him
working, to looke on that strange accident.... Not long after, manie of
the court that hitherunto had born a kind of fayned friendship towards
him, began now greatly to envie at his progresse and rising in goodness,
using manie crooked, backbiting meanes to diffame his vertues with the
black markes of hypocrisie. And the better to authorise their calumnie,
they brought in this that happened in the violl, affirming it to have
been done by art magick. What more? this wicked rumour encreased, dayly,
till the king and others of the nobilitie taking hould thereof, Dunstan
grew odious in their sight. Therefore he resolued to leaue the court,
and goe to Elphegus, surnamed the Bauld, then bishop of Winchester, who
was his cozen. Which his enemies understanding, they layd wayte for him
in the way, and hauing throwne him off his horse, beate him, and dragged
him in the durt in the most miserable manner, meaning to have slaine
him, had not a companie of mastiue dogges, that came unlookt uppon them,
defended and redeemed him from their crueltie. When with sorrow he
was ashamed to see dogges more humane than they. And giuing thankes to
Almightie God, he sensibly againe perceaued that the tunes of his violl
had giuen him a warning of future accidents' (Flower of the Lives of
the most renowned Sainets of England, Scotland, and Ireland, by the R.
Father Hierome Porter. Doway, 1632 4to. tome i. p. 438).
"The same supernatural circumstance is alluded to by the anonymous
author of Grim, the Collier of Croydon:
'-----[Dunstant's harp sounds on the wall.]
'Forrest. Hark, hark, my lord, the holy abbot's harp
Sounds by itself so hanging on the wall!
'Dunstan. Unhallow'd man, that scorn'st the sacred rede,
Hark, how the testimony of my truth
Sounds heavenly music with an angel's hand,
To testify Dunstan's integrity,
And prove thy active boast of no effect.'"
141. Bothwell's bannered hall. The picturesque ruins of Bothwell Castle
stand on the banks of the Clyde, about nine miles above Glasgow. Some
parts of the walls are 14 feet thick, and 60 feet in height. They are
covered with ivy, wild roses, and wall-flowers.
"The tufted grass lines Bothwell's ancient hall,
The fox peeps cautious from the creviced wall,
Where once proud Murray, Clydesdale's ancient lord,
A mimic sovereign, held the festal board."
142. Ere Douglases, to ruin driven. Scott says: "The downfall of the
Douglases of the house of Angus, during the reign of James V., is the
event alluded to in the text. The Earl of Angus, it will be remembered,
had married the queen dowager, and availed himself of the right which he
thus acquired, as well as of his extensive power, to retain the king
in a sort of tutelage, which approached very near to captivity. Several
open attempts were made to rescue James from this thraldom, with
which he was well known to be deeply disgusted; but the valor of the
Douglases, and their allies, gave them the victory in every conflict.
At length, the king, while residing at Falkland, contrived to escape by
night out of his own court and palace, and rode full speed to Stirling