A wandering Harper, scorn'd and poor, He pass'd where Newark's1 stately tower ["This is a massive square tower, now unroofed and ruinous, surrounded by an outward wall, defended by round flanking turrets. It is most beautifully situated, about three miles from Selkirk, upon the banks of the Yarrow, a fierce and precipitous stream, which unites with the Ettricke about a mile beneath the castle. "Newark Castle was built by James II. The royal arms, with the unicorn, are engraved on a stone in the western side of the tower. There was a much more ancient castle in its immediate vicinity, called Auldwark, founded, it is said, by Alexander III. Both were designed for the royal residence when the King was disposed to take his pleasure in the extensive forest of Ettricke. Various grants occur in the records of the Privy Seal, bestowing the keeping of the Castle of Newark upon different barons. There is a popular tradition, that it was once seized, and held out by the outlaw Murray, a noted character in song, who only surrendered Newark upon condition of being made hereditary sheriff of the forest. A long ballad, containing an account of this transaction, is preserved in the 'Border Minstrelsy' (vol. i. p. 369, ante.) Upon the marriage of James IV. with Margaret, sister of Henry VIII., the Castle of Newark, with the whole Forest of Ettricke, was assigned to her as a part of her jointure lands. But of this she could make little advantage; for, after the death of her husband, she is found complaining heavily, that Buccleuch had seized upon these lands. Indeed, the office of keeper was 2 [The Vignette which embellishes this volurne gives Newark as sketched in 1831 by Mr Turner." The Minstrel gazed with wishful eye- The embattled portal arch he pass'd, Against the desolate and poor. The Duchess1 marked his weary pace, latterly held by the family of Buccleuch, and with so firm a grasp, that when the Forest of Ettricke was disparked, they obtained a grant of the Castle of Newark in property. It was within the court-yard of this Castle that General Lesly did military execution upon the prisoners whom he had taken at the battle of Philiphaugh. The castle continued to be an occasional seat of the Buccleuch family for more than a century; and here, it is said, the Duchess of Monmouth and Buccleuch was brought up. For this reason, probably, Mr Scott has chosen to make it the scene in which the 'Lay of the Last Minstrel' is recited in her presence, and for her amusement."- -SCHETKY'S Illustrations of the Lay of the Last Minstrel. It may be added that Bowhill was the favourite residence of Lord and Lady Dalkeith (afterwards Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch), at the time when the poem was composed; the ruins of Newark are all but included in the park attached to that modern seat of the family; and Sir Walter Scott, no doubt, was influen⚫ ced in his choice of the locality, by the predilection of the charming lady who suggested the subject of his "Lay" for the scenery of the Yarrow-a beautiful walk on whose banks, leading from the house to the old castle, is called, in memory of her, the Duchess's Walk.-ED.] 1 Anne, Duchess of Buccleuch and Monmouth, representative of the ancient Lords of Buccleuch, and widow of the unfortu. nate James, Duke of Monmouth, who was beheaded in 1685. And bade her page the menials tell, Though born in such a high degree; When kindness had his wants supplied, Of good Earl Francis,1 dead and gone, And how full many a tale he knew, Though stiff his hand, his voice though weak, He could make music to her ear. The humble boon was soon obtain'd; The Aged Minstrel audience gain'd. 1 Francis Scott, Earl of Buccleuch, father of the Duchess. 1 Walter, Earl of Buccleuch, grandfather of the Duchess and a celebrated warrior. Perchance he wish'd his boon denied: And then, he said, he would full fain And much he wish'd, yet feared, to try The long-forgotten melody. Amid the strings his fingers stray'd, And oft he shook his hoary head. But when he caught the measure wild, With all a poet's ecstasy! In varying cadence, soft or strong, He swept the sounding chords along : The present scene, the future lot, 1 ["In the very first rank of poetical excellence, we are inclined to place the introductory and concluding lines of every Canto, in which the ancient strain is suspended, and the feelings and situation of the minstrel himself described in the words of the author. The elegance and the beauty of this setting, if we may so 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 encloses, and leads us to regret that the author should have wasted, in imitation and antiquarian researches, so much of those powers which scem fully equal to the task of raising him an independent reputation."-JEFFREY.] |