Our will be to the Abbot known,
Ere these strange news are wider blown,
To Cambuskenneth straight ye pass,
And deck the church for solemn mass,
To pay for high deliverance given,
A nation's thanks to gracious Heaven.
Let him array, besides, such state,
As should on princes' nuptials wait.
Ourself the cause, through fortune's spite,
That once broke short that spousal rite,
Ourself will grace, with early morn,
The bridal of the Maid of Lorn."

XXXVI
Turn we to Bruce, whose curious ear
Must from Fitz-Louis tidings hear;
With him, a hundred voices tell
Of prodigy and miracle,

“For the mute page had spoke.”— “Page!" said Fitz-Louis,“ rather say, An angel sent from realms of day,

To burst the English yoke.
I saw his plume and bonnet drop,
When hurrying from the mountain top;
A lovely brow, dark locks that wave,
To his bright eyes new lustre gave,
A step as light upon the green,
As if his pinions waved unseen !"
"Spoke he with none ?” -“With none-one

word
Burst when he saw the Island Lord,"
Returning from the battle-field."-
“ What answer made the Chief !” — "He

kneeld,
Durst not look up, but mutter'd low,
Some mingled sounds that none might know,
And greeted him 'twixt joy and fear,
As being of superior sphere."

XXXVII.
Even upon Bannock’s bloody plain,
Heap'd then with thousands of the slain,
'Mid victor monarch's musings high,
Mirth laugh'd in good King Robert's eye
“ And bore he such angelic air,
Such noble front, such waving hair ?
Hath Ronald kneeld to him ?" he said,
“ Then must we call the church to aid-

CONCLUSION.
Go forth, my Song, upon thy venturous way;
Go boldly forth; nor yet thy master blame,
Who chose no patron for his humble lay,
And graced thy numbers with no friendly

name,
Whose partial zeal might smooth thy path to

fame. There was—and O! how many sorrows crowd Into these two brief words !-there was a claim

By generous friendship given-had fate allowd, It well had bid thee rank the proudest of the

proud!

All angel now-yet little less than all,
While still a pilgrim in our world below!
What 'vails it us that patience to recall,
Which hid its own to soothe all other woe;
What 'vails to tell, how Virtue's purest glow

sufficiently national-and breathes nothing either of that ani 1 MS.-"Excepted to the Island Lord, mosity towards England, or that exultation over her defeat,

When turning," &c. which must have animated all Scotland at the period to which he refers; and ought, consequently, to have been the ruling

2 MS.—"Some mingled sounds of joy and woe." passion of his poem. Mr. Scott, however, not only dwells

The MS. adds :fondly on the valor and generosity of the invaders, but actually

“That priests and choir, with morning beams, makes an elaborate apology to the English for having ventured

Prepare, with reverence as beseems, to select for his theme a story which records their disasters.

To pay," &c. We hope this extreme courtesy is not intended merely to ap

4“ Brace issues orders for the celebration of the nuptials; pease critics, and attract readers in the southern part of the

whether they were ever solemnized, it is impossible to say. As island-and yet it is difficult to see

critics, we should certainly have forbidden the banns; be could be assumed. Mr. Scott certainly need not have been

cause, although it is conceivable that the mere lapse of time afraid either of exciting rebellion among his countrymen, or of

might not have eradicated the passion of Edith, yet how such bringing his own liberality and loyalty into question, although,

a circumstance alone, without even the assistance of an inin speaking of the events of that remote period, where an over

terview, could have created one in the bosom of Ronald, is bearing conqueror was overthrown in a lawless attempt to sube

altogether inconceivable. He must have proposed to marry due an independent kingdom, he had given full expression to the

her merely from compassion, or for the sake of her lands; hatred and exultation which must have prevailed among the

and, upon either supposition, it would have comported with victors, and are indeed the only passions which can be supposed

the delicacy of Edith to refuse his proffered hand."- Quar to be excited by the story of their exploits. It is not natural,

terly Review and we are sure it is not poetical, to represent the agents in such tremendous scenes as calm and indulgent judges of the “ To Mr. James Ballantyne --Dear Sir,-You have now motives or merits of their opponents; and, by lending such a the whole affair, excepting two or three concluding stanzas, character to the leaders of his host, the author has actually | As your taste for bride's-cake may induce you to desire to lessened the interest of the mighty fight of Bannockburn, to know more of the wedding, I will save you some criticism by that which might be supposed to belong to a well-regulated saying, I have settled to stop short as above.--Witness my tournament among friendly rivals." --JEFFREY.

Shone yet more lovely in a form so fair ::
And, least of all, what 'vails the world should

know,

That one poor garland, twined to deck thy hair, Is hung upon thy hearse, to droop and wither

there !

1 The reader is referred to Mr. Hogg's “ Pilgrims of the other sauce, De Wilton; and although he certainly falls inSun" for some beautiful lines, and a highly interesting note, finitely short of that accomplished swimmer Malcolm Grame, on the death of the Duchess of Buccleuch. See ante, p. 412. yet he rises proportionably above the red-haired Redmond.

2 The Edinburgh Reviewer (Mr. Jeffrey) says, “ The story Lord Ronald, indeed, bating his intended marriage with one of the Lord of the Isles, in so far as it is fictitious, is palpably woman while he loves another, is a very noble fellow; and, deficient both in interest and probability; and, in so far as it is were he not so totally eclipsed by “The Bruce,' he would have founded on historical truth, seems to us to be objectionable, served very well to give a title to any octosyllabic epic, were it both for want of incident, and want of variety and connection even as vigorous and poetical as the present. Nevertheless, it in the incidents that occur. There is a romantic grandeur, would bave been just as proper to call Virgil's divine poem however, in the scenery, and a sort of savage greatness and The Anchiseid,' as it is to call this The Lord of the Isles.' rade antiquity in many of the characters and events, which To all intents and purposes the aforesaid quarto is, and ought relieves the insipidity of the narrative, and atones for many to be, 'The Bruce.'” defects in the execution."

The Monthly Reviewer thus concludes his article :-“In After giving copious citations from what he considers as some detached passages, the present poem may challenge any ** the better parts of the poem," the critic says, “to give a of Mr. Scott's compositions; and perhaps in the Abbot's incomplete and impartial idea of it, we ought to subjoin some voluntary blessing it excels any single part of any one of them, from its more faulty passages. But this is but an irksome task The battle, too, and many dispersed lines besides, have transat all times, and, with such an author as Mr. Scott, is both in cendent merit. In point of fable, however, it has not the grace vidious and unnecessary. His faults are nearly as notorious as and elegance of. The Lady of the Lake,' nor the general clearhis beauties; and we have announced in the outset, that they ness and vivacity of its narrative; nor the unexpected happiare equally conspicuous in this as in his other productions. ness of its catastrophe; and still less does it aspire to the praise There are innumerable harsh lines and uncouth expressions, of the complicated, but very proper and well-managed story passages of a coarse and heavy diction,--and details of unin of Rokeby.' It has nothing so pathetic as 'The Cypress teresting minuteness and oppressive explanation. It is need Wreath ;' nothing so sweetly touching as the last evening scene less, after this, to quote such couplets as

at Rokeby, before it is broken by Bertram ; nothing (with the

exception of the Abbot) so awfully melancholy as much of • A damsel tired of midnight bark,

Mortham's history, or so powerful as Bertram's farewell to Or wanderers of a moulding stark,'

Edmund. It vies, as we have already said, with · Marmion,' « 'Tis a kind youth, but fanciful,

in the generally favorite part of that poem ; but what has it Unfit against the tide to pull;'—

(with the exception before stated) equal to the immurement of

Constance ? On the whole, however, we prefer it to "Maror to reite the many weary pages which contain the collo- | mion;' which, in spite of much merit, always had a sort of quies of Isabel and Edith, and set forth the unintelligible rea noisy royal-circus air with it; a clap-trappery, if we may venrons of their unreasonable conduct. The concerns of these ture on such a word. Marmion,' in short, has become quite two young ladies, indeed, form the heaviest part of the poem, identified with Mr. Braham in our minds; and we are thereThe mawkish generosity of the one, and the piteous fidelity fore not perhaps unbiased judges of its perfections. Finally, of the other, are equally oppressive to the reader, and do not we do not hesitate to place. The Lord of the Isles' below both tend at all to put him in good humor with Lord Ronald, -- of Mr. Scott's remaining longer works; and as to • The Lay of who, though the beloved of both, and the nominal hero of the the Last Minstrel,' for numerous commonplaces and separate work, is certainly as far as possible from an interesting person. beauties, that poem, we believe, still constitutes one of the The lovers of poetry have a particular aversion to the incon highest steps, if not the very highest, in the ladder of the austancy of other lovers, -and especially to that sort of incon thor's reputation. The characters of the present tale (with staney which is liable to the suspicion of being partly inspired the exception of The Bruce,' who is vividly painted from by worldly ambition, and partly abjured from considerations history-and of some minor sketches) are certainly, in point of of a still meaner selfishness. We suspect, therefore, that they invention, of the most novel, that is, of the most Minerva-press will have but little indulgence for the fickleness of the Lord of description; and, as to the language and versification, the the Isles, who breaks the troth he had pledged to the heiress of poem is in its general course as inferior to · Rokeby' (by much Lorn, as soon as he sees a chance of succeeding with the the most correct and the least justly appreciated of the author's King's sister, and comes back to the slighted bride, when his works) as it is in the construction and conduct of its fable. royal mistress takes the vows in a convent, and the heiress It supplies whole pages of the most prosaic narrative ; but, as gets into possession of her lands, by the forfeiture of her bro- we conclude by recollecting, it displays also whole pages of ther. These characters, and this story, form the great blemish

me and this story. form the great blemish the noblest poetry." of the poem ; but it has rather less fire and flow and facility, we think, on the whole, than some of the author's other performances."

The British Critic says: “No poem of Mr. Scott has yet appeared with fairer claims to the public attention. If it have

less pathos than the Lady of the Lake, or less display of charThe Monthly Reviewer thus assails the title of the poem : acter than Marmion, it surpasses them both in grandeur of "The Lord of the Isles himself, selon les règles of Mr. Scott's conception, and dignity of versification. It is in every respect compositions. being the hero, is not the first person in the decidedly superior to Rokeby; and though it may not reach poem. The attendant here is always in white muslin, and the Lay of the Last Minstrel in a few splendid passages, it is Tilburina herself in white linen. Still, among the Deutero far more perfect as a whole. The fame of Mr. Scott, among protoi (or second best of the author, Lord Ronald holds a re those who are capable of distinguishing the rich ore of poetry spectable rank. He is not so mere a magic-lantern figure, from the dross which surrounds it, will receive no small advanceonce seen in bower and once in field, as Lord Cranstoun; he ment by this last effort of his genius. We discover in it a far exceeds that came rabbit boiled to rags without onion or brilliancy in detached expressions, and a power of language in

the combination of images, which has never yet appeared in from the poem, combined with the brief remarks sabjoined to any of his previous publications.

each canto, will sufficiently show, that althongh the Lord of “We would also believe that as his strength has increased, the Isles is not likely to add very much to the reputation of so his glaring errors have been diminished. But so imbedded | Mr. Scott, yet this must be imputed rather to the greatness of and ingrained are these in the gems of his excellence, that no his previous reputation, than to the absolute inferiority of the blindness can overlook, no art can divide or destroy their con- poem itself. Unfortunately, its merits are merely incidental, nection. They must be tried together at the ordeal of time, while its defects are mixed up with the very elements of the and descend unseparated to posterity. Could Mr. Scott but poem. But it is not in the power of Mr. Scott to write with * endow his purposes with words'-could he but decorate the tameness ; be the subject what it will (and he could not easily justice and the splendor of his conceptions with more unal have chosen one more impracticable), he impresses upon whatloyed aptness of expression, and more uniform strength and ever scenes he describes, so much movement and activity,-he harmony of numbers, he would claim a place in the highest infuses into his narrative such a flow of life, and, if we rank among the poets of natural feeling and natural imagery.

so express ourselves, of animal spirits, that withont satisfying Even as it is, with all his fanlts, we love him still; and when the judgment, or moving the feelings, or elevating the mind, or he shall cease to torite, we shall find it difficult to supply his

even very greatly interesting the curiosity, he is able to seize place with a better."

upon, and, as it were, exhilarate the imagination of his readers, in a manner which is often truly unaccountable. This quality Mr. Scott possesses in an admirable degree ; and supposing that

he had no other object in view than to convince the world of The Quarterly Reviewer, after giving his outline of the story the great poetical powers with which he is gifted, the poem of the Lord of the Isles, thus proceeds :—“In whatever point before us would be quite sufficient for his purpose. Bet this of view it be regarded, whether with reference to the incidents | is of very inferior importance to the public; what they want it contains, or the agents by whom it is carried on, we think is a good poem, and as experience has shown, this can only be that one less calculated to keep alive the interest and curiosity constructed upon a solid foundation of taste and judgment of the reader could not easily have been conceived. Of the and meditation." characters, we cannot say much; they are not conceived with “These passages (referring to the preceding extract from the any great degree of originality, nor delineated with any par Quarterly, and that from the Edinburgh Review, at the ticular spirit. Neither are we disposed to criticise with mi commencement of the poem] appear to me to condense the nuteness the incidents of the story; but we conceive that the result of deliberate and candid reflection, and I have therefore whole poem, considering it as a narrative poem, is projected quoted them. The most important remarks of either Essayist upon wrong principles.

on the details of the plot and execution are annexed to the last “The story is obviously composed of two independent plots, edition of the poem ; and show such an exact coincidence of connected with each other merely by the accidental circum- judgment in two masters of their calling, as had not hitherto stances of time and place. The liberation of Scotland by been exemplified in the professional criticism of his metrical Bruce has not naturally any more connection with the loves of romances. The defects which both point out, are, I presume, Ronald and the Maid of Lorn, than with those of Dido and but too completely explained by the preceding statement of

or are we able to conceive any possible motive which the rapidity with which this, the last of those great perfor should have induced Mr. Scott to weave them as he has done mances, had been thrown off ; [see Life, vol. v. pp. 13 into the same narrative, except the desire of combining the ad -nor do I see that either Reviewer has failed to do sufficient vantages of an heroical, with what we may call, for want of an I justice to the beauties which redeem the imperfections of the appropriate word, an ethical subject; an attempt which we Lord of the Isles-except as regards the whole character of feel assured he never would have made, had he duly weighed Bruce, its real hero, and the picture of the Battle of Bannockthe very different principles upon which these dissimilar sorts burn, which, now that one can compare these works from of poetry are founded. Thus, had Mr. Scott introduced the something like the same point of view, does not appear to me loves of Ronald and the Maid of Lorn as an episode of an in the slightest particular inferior to the Flodden of Marmion. epic poem upon the subject of the battle of Bannockburn, its “This poem is now, I believe, abont as popular as Rokeby; want of connection with the main action might have been ex but it has never reached the same station in general favor with cused, in favor of its intrinsic merit; bat, by a great singu- the Lay, Marmion, or the Lady of the Lake. The first edition larity of judgment, he has introduced the battle of Bannockburn of 1800 copies in quarto, was, however, rapidly disposed of, as an episode, in the loves of Ronald and the Maid of Lorn. and the separate editions in 8vo, which ensued before his poTo say nothing of the obvious preposterousness of such a de etical works were collected, amounted together to 15,250 copies sign, abstractedly considered, the effect of it has, we think, This, in the case of almost any other anthor, would have been decidedly been to destroy that interest which either of them splendid success; but, as compared with what he had premight separately have created : or, if any interest remain re viously experienced, even in his Rokeby, and still more so as specting the fate of the ill-requited Edith, it is because at no compared with the enormous circulation at once attained by moment of the poem do we feel the slightest degree of it, re Lord Byron's early tales, which were then following each other specting the enterprise of Bruce.