Walter Scott - Marmion

I do not rhyme to that dull elf,

Who cannot image to himself,

That all through Flodden’s dismal night,

Wilton was foremost in the fight;

That, when brave Surrey’s steed was slain,

‘Twas Wilton mounted him again;

‘Twas Wilton’s brand that deepest hew’d,

Amid the spearmen’s stubborn wood:

Unnamed by Hollinshed or Hall,

He was the living soul of all;

That, after fight, his faith made plain,

He won his rank and lands again;

And charged his old paternal shield

With bearings won on Flodden Field.

Nor sing I to that simple maid,

To whom it must in terms be said,

That King and kinsmen did agree,

To bless fair Clara’s constancy;

Who cannot, unless I relate,

Paint to her mind the bridal’s state;

That Wolsey’s voice the blessing spoke,

More, Sands, and Denny, pass’d the joke:

That bluff King Hal the curtain drew,

And Catherine’s hand the stocking threw;

And afterwards, for many a day,

That it was held enough to say,

In blessing to a wedded pair,

‘Love they like Wilton and like Clare!’

TO THE READER.

Why then a final note prolong,

Or lengthen out a closing song,

Unless to bid the gentles speed,

Who long have listed to my rede?

To Statesmen grave, if such may deign

To read the Minstrel’s idle strain,

Sound head, clean hand, and piercing wit,

And patriotic heart-as PITT!

A garland for the hero’s crest,

And twined by her he loves the best;

To every lovely lady bright,

What can I wish but faithful knight?

To every faithful lover too,

What can I wish but lady true?

And knowledge to the studious sage;

And pillow to the head of age.

To thee, dear school-boy, whom my lay

Has cheated of thy hour of play,

Light task, and merry holiday!

To all, to each, a fair good-night,

And pleasing dreams, and slumbers light!

With regard to the Introductions generally, Lockhart writes, in Life of Scott, ii. 150:-‘Though the author himself does not allude to, and had perhaps forgotten the circumstance, when writing the Introductory Essay of 1830-they were announced, by an advertisement early in 1807, as “Six Epistles from Ettrick Forest,” to be published in a separate volume, similar to that of the Ballads and Lyrical Pieces; and perhaps it might have been better that this first plan had been adhered to. But however that may be, are there any pages, among all he ever wrote, that one would be more sorry he should not have written? They are among the most delicious portraitures that genius ever painted of itself-buoyant, virtuous, happy genius-exulting in its own energies, yet possessed and mastered by a clear, calm, modest mind, and happy only in diffusing happiness around it.

‘With what gratification those Epistles were read by the friends to whom they were addressed it is superfluous to show. He had, in fact, painted them almost as fully as himself; and who might not have been proud to find a place in such a gallery? The tastes and habits of six of those men, in whose intercourse Scott found the greatest pleasure when his fame was approaching its meridian splendour, are thus preserved for posterity; and when I reflect with what avidity we catch at the least hint which seems to afford us a glimpse of the intimate circle of any great poet of former ages, I cannot but believe that posterity would have held this record precious, even had the individuals been in themselves far less remarkable than a Rose, an Ellis, a Heber, a Skene, a Marriott, and an Erskine.’

William Stewart Rose (1775-1843), to whom Scott addresses the Introduction to Canto First, was a well-known man of letters in his time. He addressed to Hallam, in 1819, a work in two vols., entitled ‘Letters from the North of Italy,’ and escaped a prohibitory order from the Emperor of Austria by ingeniously changing his title to ‘A Treatise upon Sour Krout,’ &c. His other original works are, ‘Apology addressed to the Travellers’ Club; or, Anecdotes of Monkeys’; ‘Thoughts and Recollections by one of the Last Century’; and ‘Epistle to the Hon. J. Hookham Frere in Malta.’ His translations are these:-‘Amadis of Gaul: a Poem in three Books, freely translated from the French version of Nicholas de Herberay’ (1803); ‘Partenopex de Blois, a Romance in four Cantos, from the French of M. Le Grand’ (1807); ‘Court and Parliament of Beasts, translated from the Animali Parlanti of Giambatista Casti’ (1819); and ‘Orlando Furioso, translated into English Verse’ (1825-1831). The closing lines of this Introduction refer to Rose’s ‘Amadis’ and ‘Partenopex.’