Retains each grief, retains each crime,
Its earliest courfe was doomed to know ;
And, darker as it downward bears,
Is ftained with past and present tears.
Low as that tide has ebbed with me,
It ftill reflects to memory's eye
The hour, my brave, my only boy,
Fell by the fide of great Dundee,
Why, when the volleying mufket played
Against the bloody Highland blade,
Why was not I befide him laid!—
Enough he died the death of fame ;

Enough he died with conquering Græme.' p. 93. 94.

There are feveral other detached paffages of equal beauty, which might be quoted in proof of the effect which is produced by this dramatic interference of the narrator; but we haften to lay before our readers fome of the more characteristic parts of the perform

ance.

The antient romance owes much of its intereft to the lively picture which it affords of the times of chivalry, and of those ufages, manners and inftitutions which we have been accuftomed to affociate in our minds, with a certain combination of magnificence with fimplicity, and ferocity with romantic honour. The representations contained in thofe performances, however, are for the most part too rude and naked to give complete fatisfaction. The execution is always extremely unequal; and though the writer fometimes touches upon the appropriate feeling with great effect and felicity, ftill this appears to be done more by accident than defign; and he wanders away immediately into all forts of ludicrous or uninterefting details, without any apparent conscioufnefs of incongruity. Thefe defects Mr Scott has corrected with admirable addrefs and judgment in the greater part of the work now before us and while he has exhibited a very striking and impreffive picture of the old feudal ufages and inftitutions, he has fhewn ftill greater talent in engrafting upon thofe defcriptions all the tender or magnanimous emotions to which the circumftances of the story naturally give rife. Without impairing the antique air of the whole piece, or violating the fimplicity of the ballad ftyle, he has contrived, in this way, to impart a much greater dignity, and more powerful intereft to his production, than could ever be attained by the unfkilful and unfteady delineations of the old romancers. Nothing, we think, can afford a finer illuftration of this remark, than the opening ftanzas of the whole poem; they tranfport us at once into the days of knightly daring

and

and feudal hoftility, at the fame time that they fuggeft, in a very interefting way, all thofe fofter fentiments which arife out of fome parts of the defcription.

The feaft was over in Brankfome tower,

And the Ladye had gone to her fecret bower;
Her bower, that was guarded by word and by spell,
Deadly to hear, and deadly to tell-
Jefu Maria, fhield us well!

No living wight, fave the Ladye alone,
Had dared to cross the threshold ftone.

The tables were drawn, it was idleffe all;
Knight, and page, and household fquire,
Loitered through the lofty hall,

Or crowded round the ample fire.
The ftag-hounds, weary with the chase,
Lay ftretched upon the rushy floor,
And urged, in dreams, the forest race,
From Teviot-ftone to Efkdale-moor. '

P. 9. 10.

After a very picturefque reprefentation of the military establishment of this old baronial fortrefs, the minstrel proceeds: Many a valiant knight is here;

But he, the Chieftain of them all,
His fword hangs rufting on the wall,
Befide his broken fpear.

Bards long fhall tell,

How lord Walter fell!

When ftartled burghers fied, afar,

The furies of the Border war ;

When the flreets of high Dunedin

Saw lances gleam, and falchions redden,
And heard the flogan's deadly yell--
Then the Chief of Brankfome fell.

Can piety the difcord heal,

Or ftaunch the death feud's enmity?
Can Chriftian lore, can patriot zeal,
Can love of bleffed charity?
No! vainly to each holy fhrine,

In mutual pilgrimage, they drew;
Implored, in vain, the grace divine

For chiefs, their own red falchions flew
While Cefsford owns the rule of Car,

While Ettrick boafts the line of Scott,
The flaughtered chiefs, the mortal jar,
The havoc of the feudal war,

Shall never, never be forgot!

In forrow o'er Lord Walter's bier,
The warlike forefters had bent;
And many a flower and many a tear,
Cld Teviot's maids and matrons lent:
But, o'er her warrior's bloody bier,
The Ladye dropped nor figh nor tear!
Vengeance, deep-brooding o'er the flain,
Had locked the fource of fofter woe;
And burning pride, and high disdain,
Forbade the rifing tear to flow;
Until, amid his forrowing clan,

Her fon lifped from the nurfe's knee-
"And, if I live to be a man,

"My father's death revenged fhall be !"

Then faft the mother's tears did feek

To dew the infant's kindling cheek.' p. 12-15.

There are not many paffages in English poetry more impreffive than fome parts of this extract. As another illustration of the prodigious improvement which the ftyle of the old romance is capable of receiving from a more liberal admixture of pathetic fentiments and gentle affections, we infert the following paffage, where the effect of the picture is finely affifted by the contrast of its two compartments :

So paffed the day-the evening fell,
'Twas near the time of curfew bell;
The air was mild, the wind was calm,
The stream was fmooth, the dew was balm;
E'en the rude watchman, on the tower,
Enjoyed and bleffed the lovely hour.

Far more fair Margaret loved and blessed
The hour of filence aud of rest.
On the high turret, fitting lone,

She waked at times the lute's foft tone;
Touched a wild note, and all between
Thought of the bower of hawthorns green;

Her golden hair ftreamed free from band,
Her fair cheek refted on her hand,

Her blue eye fought the weft afar,
For lovers love the western ftar.

Is yon the ftar o'er Penchryst-Pen,

That rifes flowly to her ken,

And, fpreading broad its wavering light,
Shakes its loofe treffes on the night?

Is

yon red glare the western star?O, 'tis the beacon-blaze of war!

Scarce

Scarce could fhe draw her tightened breath;
For well fhe knew the fire of death!
The warder viewed it blazing strong,
And blew his war-note loud and long,
Till, at the high and haughty found,
Rock, wood and river, rung around;
The blaft alarmed the feltal hall,

And ftartled forth the warriors all;
Far downward in the caftle-yard,
Full many a torch and creffet glared;
And helms and plumes, confufedly toffed,
Were in the blaze half feen, half Íoft;
And fpears in wild diforder fhook,
Like reeds befide a frozen brook.

The Senefchal, whofe filver hair
Was reddened by the torches' glare,
Stood in the midft, with gefture proud,
And iffued forth his mandates loud→→→
"On Penchryft glows a bale of fire,

And three are kindling on Priefthaughfwire," &c. p. 83-85. In thefe paffages, the poetry of Mr Scott is entitled to a decided preference over that of the earlier minstrels, not only from the greater confiftency and condenfation of his imagery, but from an intrinfic fuperiority in the nature of his materials. From the improvement of tafte, and the cultivation of the finer feelings of the heart, poetry acquires, in a refined age, many new and invaluable elements, which are neceffarily unknown in a period of greater fimplicity. The defcription of external objects, however, is at all times equally inviting, and equally eafy; and many of the pictures which have been left by the ancient romancers, must be admitted to poffefs, along with great diffufenefs and homeliness of diction, an exactnefs and vivacity which cannot be eafily exceeded. In this part of his undertaking, Mr Scott therefore had fewer advantages; but we do not think that his fuccefs has been lefs remarkable. In the following defcription of Melrofe, which introduces the fecond canto, the reader will obferve how fkilfully he calls in the aid of fentimental affociations to heighten the effect of the picture which he presents to the eye. • If thou would't view fair Melrofe aright,

Go vifit it by the pale moon-light;
For the gay beams of lightfome day
Gild, but to flout, the ruins gray.
When the broken arches are black in night,
And each fhafted oriel glimmers white;

When

When the cold light's uncertain fhower
Streams on the ruined central tower;
When buttress and buttrefs, alternately,
Seem framed. of ebon and ivory;
When filver edges the imagery,

And the fcrolls that teach thee to live and die;
When diftant Tweed is heard to rave,

And the owlet to hoot o'er the dead man's grave;

Then go-but go alone the while-
Then view St David's ruined pile;
And, home returning, foothly fwear,
Was never fcene fo fad and fair!

P. 35, 36.

In the following paffage he is lefs ambitious, and confines himfelf, as an ancient minstrel would have done on the occafion, to a minute and picturefque reprefentation of the vifible object before

him.

When for the lifts they fought the plain,
The ftately Ladye's filken rein

Did noble Howard hold;
Unarmed by her fide he walked,

And much in courteous phrafe, they talked
Of feats of arms of old.

Coftly his garb-his Flemish ruff
Fell o'er his doublet fhaped of buff,
With fatin flashed, and lined;
Tawny his boot, and gold his fpur,
His clock was all of Poland fur,
His hofe with filver twined;
His Bilboa blade, by Marchmen felt,
Hung in a broad and ftudded belt;

Hence, in rude phrafe, the Borderers ftill

Called noble Howard, Belted Will.' p. 141.

The fame fcrupulous adherence to the ftyle of the old romance, though greatly improved in point of brevity and felection, is difcernible in the following animated defcription of the feaft, which terminates the poem.

The fpoufal rites were ended foon;
'Twas now the merry hour of noon,
And in the lofty-arched hall
Was fpread the gorgeous feftival:
Steward and fquire, with heedful haßte,
Marfhalled the rank of every guest;
Pages, with ready blade, were there,
The mighty meal to carve and share.
O'er capon, heron-fhew, and crane,
And princely peacock's gilded train,

And