From the peculiar advantage of possessing the original plates, he is enabled to produce a volume profusely illustrated, at a price within the reach of all the admirers of this admirable poem, and in a style to render it worthy of a place in the boudoir, or on the drawing-room table. Fleet Street, March 1, 1835. PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. THE Poem, now offered to the Public, is intended to illustrate the customs and manners, which anciently prevailed on the Borders of England and Scotland. The inhabitants, living in a state partly pastoral and partly warlike, and combining habits of constant depredation with the influence of a rude spirit of chivalry, were often engaged in scenes highly susceptible of poetical ornament. As the description of scenery and manners was more the object of the Author than a combined and regular narrative, the plan of the ancient Metrical Romance was adopted, which allows greater latitude, in this respect, than would be consistent with the dignity of a regular Poem. The same model offered other facilities, as vi PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. it permits an occasional alteration of measure, which, in some degree, authorises the change of rhyme in the text. The machinery also, adopted from popular belief, would have seemed puerile in a Poem, which did not partake of the rudeness of the old Ballad, or Metrical Romance. For these reasons, the Poem was put into the mouth of an ancient Minstrel, the last of the race, who, as he is supposed to have survived the Revolution, might have caught somewhat of the refinement of modern poetry, without losing the simplicity of his original model. The date of the Tale itself is about the middle of the sixteenth century, when most of the personages actually flourished. The time occupied by the action is three Nights and three Days. ILLUSTRATIONS. The Armorial Bearings in the Title Page are those of This lady was Duchess of Buccleuch and Monmouth, The minstrel's voice began to fail; Full slyly smiled the observant page, And gave the withered hand of age A goblet, crowned with mighty wine, See a description of these majestic ruins in the last |