The Lady of the Lake
Gudeman of Ballenguich, when his astonishment at finding that the King
had been his guest afforded no small amusement to the merry monarch
and his courtiers; and to carry on the pleasantry, he was thenceforth
designated by James with the title of King of the Moors, which name and
designation have descended from father to son ever since, and they
have continued in possession of the identical spot, the property of Mr.
Erskine of Mar, till very lately, when this gentleman with reluctance
turned out the descendant and representative of the King of the Moors,
on account of his Majesty's invincible indolence, and great dislike to
reform or innovation of any kind, although, from the spirited example
of his neighbor tenants on the same estate, he is convinced similar
exertion would promote his advantage.'
"The author requests permission yet farther to verify the subject of his
poem, by an extract from the genealogical work of Buchanan of Auchmar,
upon Scottish surnames (Essay upon the Family of Buchanan, p. 74):
'This John Buchanan of Auchmar and Arnpryor was afterwards termed King
of Kippen [a small district of Perthshire] upon the following account:
King James V., a very sociable, debonair prince, residing at Stirling,
in Buchanan of Arnpryor's time, carriers were very frequently passing
along the common road, being near Arnpryor's house, with necessaries
for the use of the King's family; and he, having some extraordinary
occasion, ordered one of these carriers to leave his load at his house,
and he would pay him for it; which the carrier refused to do, telling
him he was the King's carrier, and his load for his Majesty's use; to
which Arnpryor seemed to have small regard, compelling the carrier,
in the end, to leave his load; telling him, if King James was King of
Scotland, he was King of Kippen, so that it was reasonable he should
share with his neighbor king in some of these loads, so frequently
carried that road. The carrier representing these usage, and telling the
story as Arnpryor spoke it, to some of the King's servants, it came
at length to his majesty's ears, who shortly thereafter, with a few
attendants, came to visit his neighbor king, who was in the meantime at
dinner. King James, having sent a servant to demand access, was denied
the same by a tall fellow with a battle-axe, who stood porter at the
gate, telling there could be no access till dinner was over. This answer
not satisfying the King, he sent to demand access a second time; upon
which he was desired by the porter to desist, otherwise he would find
cause to repent his rudeness. His Majesty finding this method would
not do, desired the porter to tell his master that the Goodman of
Ballangeigh desired to speak with the King of Kippen. The porter telling
Arnpryor so much, he, in all humble manner, came and received the King,
and having entertained him with much sumptuousness and jollity, became
so agreeable to King James, that he allowed him to take so much of any
provision he found carrying that road as he had occasion for; and seeing
he made the first visit, desired Arnpryor in a few days to return him a
second to Stirling, which he performed, and continued in very much favor
with the King, always thereafter being termed King of Kippen while he
lived.'
"The readers of Ariosto must give credit for the amiable features with
which James is represented, since he is generally considered as the
prototype of Zerbino, the most interesting hero of the Orlando Furioso."
743. Glided from her stay. The MS. has "shrinking, quits her stay."
Ruskin asks us to "note the northern love of rocks" in this passage, and
adds: "Dante could not have thought of his 'cut rocks' as giving rest
even to snow. He must put it on the pine branches, if it is to be at
peace." Taylor quotes Holmes, Autocrat of Breakfast Table: "She melted
away from her seat like an image of snow."
780. Pry. Look pryingly or curiously. In prose on would not be used with
pry.
784. To speed. To a fortunate issue; unless speed be the verb, and =
pass.
786. In life's more low but happier way. The MS. has "In lowly life's
more happy way."
789. The name of Snowdoun. Scott says: "William of Worcester, who
wrote about the middle of the fifteenth century, calls Stirling Castle
Snowdoun. Sir David Lindsay bestows the same epithet upon it in his
Complaint of the Papingo:
'Adieu, fair Snawdoun, with thy towers high, Thy chaple-royal, park, and table round; May, June, and July, would I
dwell in thee, Were I a man, to hear the birdis sound, Whilk doth agane
thy royal rock rebound.'
"Mr. Chalmers, in his late excellent edition of Sir David Lindsay's
works, has refuted the chimerical derivation of Snawdoun from snedding,
or cutting. It was probably derived from the romantic legend which
connected Stirling with King Arthur, to which the mention of the Round
Table gives countenance. The ring within which justs were formerly
practised in the Castle park, is still called the Round Table. Snawdoun
is the official title of one of the Scottish heralds, whose epithets
seem in all countries to have been fantastically adopted from ancient
history or romance.
"It appears from the preceding note that the real name by which James
was actually distinguished in his private excursions was the Goodman
of Ballenguich; derived from a steep pass leading up to the Castle of
Stirling, so called. But the epithet would not have suited poetry, and
would besides at once, and prematurely, have announced the plot to many
of my country men, among whom the traditional stories above mentioned
are still current."
798. My spell-bound steps. The MS. has
"Thy sovereign back | to Benvenue."
Thy sovereign's steps |
800. Glaive. Sword. See on iv. 274 above.
803. Pledge of my faith, etc. The MS. has "Pledge of Fitz-James's faith,
the ring."
808. A lightening. Some eds. have "A lightning."
809. And more, etc. The MS. reads:
"And in her breast strove maiden shame;
More deep she deemed the Monarch's ire
Kindled 'gainst him, who, for her sire,
Against his Sovereign broadsword drew;
And, with a pleading, warm and true,
She craved the grace of Roderick Dhu."
813. Grace. Pardon.
825. Stained. Reddened.
829. The Graeme. Jeffrey says: "Malcolm Graeme has too insignificant
a part assigned him, considering the favor in which he is held both
by Ellen and the author; and in bringing out the shaded and imperfect
character of Roderick Dhu as a contrast to the purer virtue of his
rival, Mr. Scott seems to have fallen into the common error of making
him more interesting than him whose virtues he was intended to set off,
and converted the villain of the piece in some measure into its hero.
A modern poet, however, may perhaps be pardoned for an error of which
Milton himself is thought not to have kept clear, and for which there
seems so natural a cause in the difference between poetical and amiable
characters."
837. Warder. Guard, jailer.
841. Lockhart quotes here the following extract from a letter of Byron's
to Scott, dated July 6, 1812:
"And now, waiving myself, let me talk to you of the Prince Regent. He
ordered me to be presented to him at a ball; and after some saying,
peculiarly pleasing from royal lips, as to my own attempts, he talked to
me of you and your immoralities: he preferred you to every bard past
and present, and asked which of your works pleased me most. It was
a difficult question. I answered, I thought the Lay. He said his own
opinion was nearly similar. In speaking of the others, I told him that
I thought you more particularly the poet of princes, as they never
appeared more fascinating than in Marmion and The Lady of the Lake. He
was pleased to coincide, and to dwell on the description of your James's
as no less royal than poetical. He spoke alternately of Homer and
yourself, and seemed well acquainted with both."
842. Harp of the North, farewell! Cf. the introduction to the poem.
846. Wizard elm. See on i. 2 above.
850. Housing. Returning to the hive.
858. The grief devoured. For the figure, cf. Ps. xlii. 3, lxxx. 5, and
Isa. xxx. 20.
859. O'erlive. Several eds. misprint "o'erlived."
Addendum.
Since our first edition appeared we have had the privilege of examining
a copy of Scott's 2d ed. (1810), belonging to Mr. E. S. Gould, of
Yonkers, N. Y. This 2d ed. is in smaller type than the 1st, and in
octavo form, the 1st being in quarto. A minute collation of the text
with that of the 1st ed. and our own shows that Scott carefully revised
the poem for this 2d ed., and that the changes he afterwards made in
it were few and unimportant. For instance, the text includes the verbal
changes which we have adopted in i. 198, 290, 432, ii. 103, 201, 203,
534, iii. 30, 173, 190, 508, v. 106, 253, 728, 811, iv. 6, 112, 527,
556, 567, etc. In vi. 291 fol. it reads (including the omissions and
insertions) as in our text. In i. 336, 340, the pointing is the same as
in the 1st ed.; and in i. 360, the reading is "dear." In ii. 865, 866,
it varies from the pointing of the 1st ed.; but we are inclined to
regard this as a misprint, not a correction. In ii. 76 this 2d ed.
has "lingerewave" for "lingerer wave," and in ii. 217 it repeats the
preposterous misprint of "his glee" from the 1st ed. If Scott could
overlook such palpable errors as these, he might easily fail to detect
the misplacing of a comma. We have our doubts as to i. 336, 340, where
the 1st and 2d eds. agree; but there a misprint may have been left
uncorrected, as in ii. 217.
Jan. 25, 1884.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: One of Scott's (on vi. 47) has suffered badly in Lockhart's
edition. In a quotation from Lord Berners's Froissart (which I omit) a
whole page seems to have dropped out, and the last sentence, as it now
stands, is made up of pans of the one preceding and the one following
the lost matter. It reads thus (I mark the gap): "There all the
companyons made them[... ] breke no poynt of that ye have ordayned and
commanded.,' This is palpable nonsense, but it has been repeated without
correction in every reprint of Lockhart's edition for the last fifty
years.]
[Footnote 2: Lockhart says: "The lady with whom Sir Walter Scott held this
conversation was, no doubt, his aunt, Miss Christian Rutherford; there
was no other female relation DEAD when this Introduction was written,
whom I can suppose him to have consulted on literary questions. Lady
Capulet, on seeing the corpse of Tybalt, exclaims,--
'Tybalt, my cousin! O my brother's child!'"]
[Footnote 3: Lockhart quotes Byron, Don Juan, xi. 55:
"In twice five years the 'greatest living poet,'
Like to the champion in the fisty ring,
Is called on to support his claim, or show it,
Although 't is an imaginary thing," etc.]
[Footnote 4: "Sir Walter reigned before me," etc. (Don Juan, xi. 57).]
[Footnote 5: The Spenserian stanza, first used by Spenser in his Faerie
Queene, consists of eight lines of ten syllables, followed by a line
of twelve syllables, the accents throughout being on the even syllables
(the so-called iambic measure). There are three sets of rhymes: one for
the first and third lines; another for the second, fourth, fifth, and
seventh; and a third for the sixth, eighth, and ninth.]
[Footnote 6: Vide Certayne Matters concerning the Realme of Scotland, etc., as
they were Anno Domini 1597. London, 1603.]
[Footnote 7: See on ii. 319 above.]
[Footnote 8: Hallowe'en.]
[Footnote 9: To the raven that sat on the forked tree he gave his gifts.]
[Footnote 10: "This story is still current in the moors of Staffordshire, and
adapted by the peasantry to their own meridian. I have repeatedly