1 MS.-"And lingering still 'mid that unchanging race." 2"The Introduction, we confess," says the Quarterly Reviewer, does not please us so well as the rest of the poem, though the reply of the Mountain Spirit is exquisitely written." The Edinburgh critic, after quoting stanzas ix. x. and xi. says The Introduction, though splendidly written, is too long for so short a poem; and the poet's dialogue with his native mountains is somewhat too startling and unnatural. The most spirited part of it, we think, is their direction to Spanish themes."

The Monthly Review, for 1811, in quoting this stanza, says Scarcely any poet, of any age or country, has excelled Mr. Scott in bringing before our sight the very scene which he is describing--in giving a reality of existence to every object on

which he dwells; and it is on such occasions, especially suited as they seem to the habits of his mind, that his style itself catches a character of harmony, which is far from being uni versally its own. How vivid, yet how soft, is this picture!" 4 MS. For, stretch'd beside the river's margin damp, Their proud pavilions hide the meadow green."

6 MS.-"Bore javelins slight."

The Critical Reviewer, having quoted stanzas i. ii. and iii. says--"To the specimens with which his former works abound, of Mr. Scott's unrivalled excellence in the descriptions, both of natural scenery and romantic manners and costume, these stanzas will be thought no mean addition."

7 See Appendix, Note E

2 MS.-"The haughty monarch's heart could evil brook.” The Quarterly Reviewer says--"The moonlight scenery of the camp and burial-ground is evidently by the same powerful hand which sketched the Abbey of Melrose; and in this picture of Roderick's confession, there are traits of even a higher cast of sublimity and pathos."

The Edinburgh Reviewer introduces his quotations of the i. ii. v. and vi, stanzas thus-" The poem is substantially divided into two compartments;--the one representing the fabulous or prodigious acts of Don Roderick's own time,--and the other the recent occurrences which have since signalized the same quarter of the world. Mr. Scott, we think, is most at home in the first of these fields; and we think, upon the whole, has most success in it. The opening affords a fine specimen of bis unrivalled powers of description."

The reader may be gratified with having the following lines, from Mr. Southey's Roderick, inserted here :

"Then Roderick knelt

Before the holy man, and strove to speak:

Thou seest,' he cried, shou seest'-but memory And auffocating thoughts represt the word, And shudderings, like an ague fit, from head

To foot convulsed him: till at length, subduing

His nature to the effort, he exclaim'd,
Spreading his hands, and lifting up his face,

As if resolved in penitence to bear

A human eye upon his shame- Thou seest
Roderick the Goth! That name should have sufficed

To tell the whole abhorred history:

He not the less pursued,-the ravisher,
The cause of all this ruin!-Having said,

In the same posture motionless he knelt,

Arms straiten'd down, and hands outspread, and eyes
Raised to the Monk, like one who from his voice
Expected life or death."-

Mr. Southey, in a note to these lines, says, "The vision of Don Roderick supplies a singular contrast to the picture which is represented in this passage. I have great pleasure in quoting the stanzas (v. and vi.); if the contrast had been intentional, it could not have been more complete."

4 The predecessor of Roderick upon the Spanish throne, and slain by his connivance, as is affirmed by Rodriguez of Toledo, the father of Spanish history.

6 MS." He spare to smite the shepherd, lest the sheep be lost.'

And sees the pale assistants stand aloof; While cruel Conscience brings him bitter proof,

His folly or his crime have caused his grief; And while above him nods the crumbling roof, He curses earth and Heaven-himself in chief[lief] Desperate of earthly aid, despairing Heaven's reXXV.

That scythe-arm'd Giant turn'd his fatal glass And twilight on the landscape closed her wings;

Far to Asturian hills the war-sounds pass,

And in their stead rebeck or timbrel rings; And to the sound the bell-deck'd dancer springs, Bazaars resound as when their marts are met In tourney light the Moor his jerrid flings,

And on the land as evening seem'd to set, The Imaum's chant was heard from mosque or minaret.

XXVI.

So pass'd that pageant. Ere another came, The visionary scene was wrapp'd in smoke, Whose sulph'rous wreaths were cross'd by sheets of flame;

With every flash a bolt explosive broke, Till Roderick deem'd the fiends had burst their yoke, [falone! And waved 'gainst heaven the infernal gonFor War a new and dreadful language spoke, Never by ancient warrior heard or known; Lightning and smoke her breath, and thunder was her tone.

XXVII.

From the dim landscape roll the clouds away-
The Christians have regain'd their heritage;
Before the Cross has waned the Crescent's ray
And many a monastery decks the stage,
And lofty church, and low-brow'd hermitage.
The land obeys a Hermit and a Knight,-
The Genii those of Spain for many an age;

And who had thus again forsaken him.
Siverian's helm and cuirass on the grass
Lay near; and Julian's sword, its hilt and chain
Clotted with blood; but where was he whose hand
Had wielded it so well that glorious day?"

SOUTHEY'S Roderick. "The manner in which the pageant disappears is very beautiful."-Quarterly Review.

4" We come now to the Second Period of the Vision; and we cannot avoid noticing with much commendation the dexterity and graceful ease with which the first two scenes are connected. Without abruptness, or tedious apology for tran sition, they melt into each other with very harmonious effect; and we strongly recommend this example of skill, perhaps, ex hibited without any effort, to the imitation of contemporary poets."-Monthly Review.