diately given, and buftling preparation made throughout the manfion. for defence. The Englith force under the coinmand of the Lords Howard and Dacre, speedily appears before the caftle, leading with them the young Buccleuch, and propofe that the lady fhould either give up Sir William of Deloraine (who had been her meffenger to Melrofe), as having incurred the guilt of march treaion, or receive an English garrifon within her walls. She anfwers, with much fpirit, that her kinfman will clear himself of the imputation of treaton by fingle combat, and that no foe fhall ever get admittance into her fortrefs. The English Lords, being fe cretly apprifed of the approach of powerful fuccours to the be fieged, agree to the propofal of the combat, and ftipulate that the boy fhall be restored to liberty or detained in bondage, according to the iffue of the battle. The lifts are appointed for the enfuing day; and a truce being proclaimed in the mean time, the oppofite bands mingle in hofpitality and friendship.

Deloraine being wounded, was expected to appear by his champion; and fome contention arifes for the honour of that fubftitution. This, however, is fpeedily terminated by a perfon in the armour of that warrior, who encounters the English champion, Days him, and leads his captive chieftain to the embraces of his mother. At this moment Deloraine himself appears, half-clothed and unarmed, to claim the combat which has been terminated in his abfence, and all flock around the stranger who had perfonated him fo fuccefsfully. He unclafps his helmet; and behold! Lord Cranstoun of Teviotfide! The lady, overcome with gratitude, and the remembrance of the fpirits' prophefy, confents to forego the feud, and to give the fair hand of Margaret to that of the enamoured Baron. The rites of betrothment are then celebrated with great magnificence, and a fplendid entertainment given to all the English and Scotifh chieftains whom the alarm had affembled at Brankfome. Lord Cranstoun's page plays feveral unlucky tricks during the festival, and breeds fome diffenfion among the warriors. To footh their ireful mood, the minstrels are introduced, who recite three ballad pieces of confiderable merit. Juft as their fongs are ended, a fupernatural darkness spreads itself through the hall, a tremendous flash of lightning and peal of thunder enfue, which break juft on the spot where the page had been feated, who is heard to cry Found! found! found!" and is no more to be seen, when the darknefs clears away. The whole party is chilled with terror at this extraordinary incident; and Deloraine protests that he diftinctly faw the figure of the ancient wizard Michael Scott in the middle of the lightning. The lady renoun çes for ever the unhallowed ftudy of magic; and all the chief tains, ftruck with awe and coniternation, vow to make a pil

A 3

grimage

grimage to Melrofe to implore rest and forgiveness for the fpirit of the departed forcerer. With the defcription of this ceremony the minstrel clofes his Lay.

From this little fketch of the ftory, our readers will eafily perceive, that, however well calculated it may be for the introduction of picturefque imagery, or the display of extraordinary incident, it has but little pretenfion to the praife of a regular or coherent narrative. The magic of the lady, the midnight vifit to Melrofe, and the mighty book of the enchanter, which occupy nearly one third of the whole poem, and engross the attention of the reader for a long time after the commencement of the narrative, are of no ufe whatfoever in the fubfequent developement of the fable, and do not contribute, in any degree, either to the production or explanation of the incidents that follow. The whole character and proceedings of the goblin page, in like manner, may be confidered as merely epifodical; for though he is employed in fome of the fubordinate incidents, it is remarkable that no material part of the fable requires the intervention of fupernatural agency. The young Buccleuch might have wandered into the wood, although he had not been decoyed by a goblin; and the dame might have given her daughter to the deliverer of her fon, although the had never liftened to the prattlement of the river and mountain fpirit. There is, befides all this, a great deal of gratuitous and digreffive defcription, and the whole fixth canto may be faid to be redundant. The ftory naturally concludes with the union of the lovers; and the account of the feaft, and the minstrelfy that folemnifed their betrothment, is a fort of epilogue, fuperadded after the catastrophe is complete.

But though we feel it to be our duty to point out these obvious defects in the structure of the fable, we have no hesitation in conceding to the author, that the fable is but a fecondary confideration in performances of this nature. A poem is intended to pleafe by the images it fuggefts and the feelings it infpires; and if it contain delightful images and affecting fentiments, our pleasure will not be materially impaired by fome flight want of probability or coherence in the narrative by which they are connected. The callida junctura of its members is a grace, no doubt, which ought always to be aimed at; but the quality of the members themfelves is a confideration of far higher importance, and that by which alone the character of the work must be ultimately decided. The adjuftment of a fable may indicate the induftry or the judgment of the writer, but the genius of the poet can only be fhewn in his management of its fucceflive incidents. In thefe more effential par ticulars, Mr Scott's merits, we think, are unequivocal: he writes

throughout

throughout with the fpirit and the force of a poet; and though he occafionally discovers a little too much, perhaps, of the brave neglect,' and is frequently inattentive to the delicate propriety and fcrupulous correctnefs of his diction, he compenfates for those defects by the fire and animation of his whole compofition, and the brilliant colouring and prominent features of the figures with which he has enlivened it. We shall now proceed to lay before our readers fome of the paffages which have made the greatest impreffion on our own minds, fubjoining, at the fame time, fuch obfervations as they have moft forcibly fuggefted.

In the very first rank of poetical excellence, we are inclined to place the introductory and concluding lines of every canto, in which the antient ftrain is fufpended, and the feelings and fituation of the minstrel himself defcribed in the words of the author. The elegance and the beauty of this fetting, if we may fo call it, though entirely of modern workmanship, appears to us to be fully more worthy of admiration than the bolder relief of the antiques which it enclofes, and leads us to regret that the author fhould have wafted, in imitation and antiquarian refearches, fo much of thofe powers which feem fully equal to the talk of raifing him an independent reputation. In confirmation of thefe remarks, we give a confiderable part of the introduction to the whole poem.

The way was long, the wind was cold,
The Minstrel was infirm and old;
His withered cheek, and treffes gray,
Seemed to have known a better day;
The harp, his fole remaining joy,
Was carried by an orphan boy.
The laft of all the Bards was he,
Who fung of Border chivalry;
For, well-a-day! their date was fled,
His tuneful brethren all were dead ;
And he, neglected and oppreffed,
Wifhed to be with them, and at reft.
No more, on prancing palfrey borne,
He carolled, light as lark at morn;
No longer, courted and careffed,
High placed in hall, a welcome guest,
He poured, to lord and lady gay,

The unpremeditated lay;

Old times were changed, old manners gone,

A ftranger filled the Stuarts' throne;

The bigots of the iron time

Had called his harmlefs art a crime.

A wandering harper, fcorned and poor,

I begged his bread from door to door;
And tuned, to please a peasant's ear,

The harp, a King had loved to hear. ' P. 3. 4.

After defcribing his introduction to the prefence of the Dutchefs, and his offer to entertain her with his mufic, the defcription pro

ceeds.

The humble boon was foon obtained;
The aged Minstrel audience gained.
But, when he reached the room of state,
Where fhe, with all her ladies, fate,
Perchance he wished his boon denied ;
For, when to tune his harp he tried,
His trembling hand had loft the ease,
Which marks fecurity to please ;
And fcenes, long paft, of joy and pain,
Came wildering o'er his aged brain-
Amid the ftrings his fingers ftrayed,
And an uncertain warbling made-
And oft he shook his hoary head.
But when he caught the measure wild,
The old man raifed his face, and fmiled;
And lightened up his faded eye,
With all a poet's extacy!

In varying cadence, foft or ftrong,
He fwept the founding chords along;
The prefent fcene, the future lot,
His toils, his wants, were all forgot;
Cold diffidence, and age's froft,
In the full tide of fong were loft.
Each blank, in faithlefs memory void,
The poet's glowing thought fupplied;
And, while his harp refponfive rung,

'Twas thus the LATEST MINSTREL fung.' p. 6.-8.

We add, chiefly on account of their brevity, the following lines, which immediately fucceed the defcription of the funeral rites of the English champion.

The harp's wild notes, though hushed the fong,

The mimic march of death prolong;

Now feems it far, and now a-near,

Now meets, and now eludes the ear;

Now feems fome mountain's fide to sweep,

Now faintly dies in valley deep;

Seems now as if the Minstrel's wail,
Now the fad requiem loads the gale;

Laft, o'er the warrior's clofing grave,

the full choir in choral ftave. p. 155. 156.

Rung

The

The chefe of the whole poem is as follows:
Hufhed is the harp-the Minstrel gone.
And did he wander forth alone?
Alone, in indigence and age,
To linger out his pilgrimage?
No-clofe beneath proud Newark's tower,
Arofe the Minstrel's lowly bower;
A fimple hut; but there was feen
The little garden hedged with green,
The cheerful hearth, and lattice clean.
There sheltered wanderers, by the blaze,
Oft heard the tale of other days;
For much he loved to ope his door,
And give the aid he begged before.
So paffed the winter's day-but ftill,
When fummer fmiled on fweet Bowhill,
And July's eve, with balmy breath,
Waved the blue-bells on Newark heath;
And flourished, broad, Blackandro's oak,
The aged Harper's foul awoke!
Then would he fing achievements high,
And circumftance of Chivalry,

Till the rapt traveller would stay,

Forgetful of the clofing day;

And Yarrow, as he rolled along,

Bore burden to the Minstrel's fong.' p. 193.-4.

Besides thefe, which are altogether detached from the lyric effufions of the minstrel, fome of the most interefting paffages of the poem are thofe in which he drops the business of his story to moralife, and apply to his own fituation the images and reflections it has fuggefted. After concluding one canto with an account of the warlike array which was prepared for the reception of the English invaders, he opens the fucceeding one with the following beautiful verfes :

• Sweet Teviot! on thy filver tide,

The glaring bale-fires blaze no more;
No longer fteel-clad warriors ride

Along thy wild and willowed fhore ;
Where'er thou wind'ft by dale or hill,
All, all is peaceful, all is ftill,

As if thy waves, fince Time was born,
Since first they rolled their way to Tweed,
Had only heard the fhepherd's reed,
Nor ftarted at the bugle-horn.

Unlike the tide of human time,

Which, though it change in ceafelefs flow,

Retains