[Our three extracts are taken from "The Prince's Progress, and Other Poems" (edition 1866).]
"I LOOKED FOR THAT WHICH IS NOT, NOR CAN BE, AND HOPE DEFERRED MADE MY HEART SICK IN TRUTH;
BUT YEARS MUST PASS BEFORE A HOPE OF YOUTH IS RESIGNED UTTERLY."-CHRISTINA ROSSETTI.
[THE great Scotch poet and novelist, critic, essayist, and historian, was
born in the city of Edinburgh on the 15th of August 1771. He was edu-
cated at the High School and University of Edinburgh, acquiring some
knowledge of the ancient and modern languages, and a vast variety of mis-
cellaneous information. Among his school-fellows he acquired great fame
as a story-teller. Studying for the bar, he gained his advocate's gown in
1792; was married in 1797; and in 1799 obtained the appointment of Sheriff
of Selkirkshire. Three years previously he had published translations of
Pürger's "Lenore" and "The Wild Huntsman," which preserved all the
fire of the original; in 1802 appeared his "Minstrelsy of the Scottish
Border;" and in 1805 his "Lay of the Last Minstrel," which inaugurated
a career of romantic brilliancy. In 1806 he was appointed one of the princi-
pal Clerks of the Court of Session. His magnificent poetical romance of
"Marmion ""
was issued in 1808; "The Lady of the Lake" in 1810; "The
Vision of Don Roderick" in 1811; "Rokeby" in 1812. The old mine, says
Lord Lytton, now gave symptoms of exhaustion, but a new mine, ten times
more affluent, was discovered; and in the novel of "Waverley," published
anonymously in 1814, Scott took the reading world by storm. A long suc-
cession of brilliant fictions followed, the poorest of which would have made the
reputation of any other writer; and "The Antiquary,'
," "Guy Mannering,"
66
Ivanhoe," Kenilworth," "Old Mortality," "The Bride of Lammer-
moor," enchanted and enthralled thousands of delighted readers. Their
popularity has suffered no diminution, and they have been translated into
the principal European languages.
With the immense profits of these works Scott "created" the house and demesne of Abbotsford, on the banks of the Tweed, near Melrose, and
SHE SHALL DO BATTLE, SUFFER, AND ATTAIN.'" -ROSSETTI.
"CAN PIETY THE DISCORD HEAL, OR STAUNCH THE DEATH-FEUD'S ENMITY?-(SCOTT)
66 ONE CROWDED HOUR OF GLORIOUS LIFE-(Scott)
assumed the state of a landed proprietor. In 1820 he received the honour
of a baronetcy. Unfortunately, some speculations into which he had entered
conjointly with his publishers, and their disastrous bankruptcy in 1826,
clouded all this prosperity, and Scott found himself saddled with debts to
the amount of £117,000. Declining all offers of assistance, he gallantly set
to work to clear off this heavy burden by his literary exertions, and in four
years earned no less than £70,000. He still continued his labours; but
they broke him down. He had conquered, but paid for the victory with
his life. In 1830, and again in 1831, he suffered some attacks of paralysis.
As a last hope of recovering his shattered health, he made a voyage to
Naples; but his illness rapidly increased. At his urgent request he was
carried homewards with all possible speed, and arrived at Abbotsford
utterly and irretrievably prostrated. He survived but a few weeks, and
died on the 21st of September 1832, in the presence of all his children.
The general characteristics of Scott's poetry have been ably summed up by
the late Lord Jeffrey: "With regard to diction and imagery, it is obvious that
he has not aimed at writing either in a very pure or a very consistent style.
He seems to have been anxious only to strike, and to be easily and univer-
sally understood; and for this purpose to have culled the most glittering
and conspicuous expressions of the most popular authors, and to have inter-
woven them in splendid confusion with his own nervous diction and irregu-
lar versification. Indifferent whether he coins or borrows, and drawing
with equal freedom on his memory and his imagination, he goes boldly for-
ward, in full reliance on a never-failing abundance, and dazzles with his
richness and variety even those who are most apt to be offended with his
glare and irregularity. There is nothing in Scott of the severe and majestic
style of Milton-or of the terse and fine composition of Pope-or of the
elaborate elegance and melody of Campbell-or even of the flowing and
redundant diction of Southey. But there is a medley of bright images and
glowing words, set carelessly and loosely together—a diction tinged suc-
cessively with the careless richness of Shakespeare, the harshness and
antique simplicity of the old romances, the homeliness of vulgar ballads
and anecdotes, and the sentimental glitter of the most modern poetry-
passing from the borders of the ridiculous to those of the sublime-alter-
nately minute and energetic-sometimes artificial and frequently negli-
gent, but always full of spirit and vivacity-abounding in images that are
striking at first sight to minds of every contexture-and never expressing a
sentiment which it can cost the most ordinary reader any exertion to com-
prehend."]
THE BALLAD OF LOVELY ROSABELLE.
LISTEN, listen, ladies gay!
No haughty feats of arms I tell ;
Soft is the note and sad the lay
That mourns the lovely Rosabelle. —
IS WORTH AN AGE WITHOUT A NAME."-SCOTT.
CAN CHRISTIAN LOVE, CAN PATRIOT ZEAL, CAN LOVE OF BLESSED CHARITY?"-SCOTT.
IN HALLS, IN GAY ATTIRE IS SEEN; IN HAMLETS, DANCES ON THE GREEN;-(SIR WALTER SCOTT)
"IN PEACE, LOVE TUNES the shepherd's reed;
THE BALLAD OF LOVELY ROSABELLE.
"Moor, moor the barge, ye gallant crew!
And, gentle ladye, deign to stay!
Rest thee in Castle Ravensheuch,
Nor tempt the stormy firth to-day.
"The blackening wave is edged with white;
To inch and rock the sea-mews fly;
The fishers have heard the Water-Sprite,
Whose screams forebode that wreck is nigh,
"Last night the gifted Seer did view
A wet shroud rolled round ladye gay :
Then stay thee, Fair, in Ravensheuch;
Why cross the gloomy firth to-day?"-
"'Tis not because Lord Lindesay's heir
To-night at Roslin leads the ball;
But that my ladye-mother there
Sits lonely in her castle hall.
"'Tis not because the ring they ride,
And Lindesay at the ring rides well;
But that my sire the wine will chide,
If 'tis not filled by Rosabelle.'
O'er Roslin all that dreary night
A wondrous blaze was seen to gleam;
'Twas broader than the watch-fire's light,
And redder than the bright moonbeam.
IN WAR, HE MOUNTS THE WARRIOR's steed;
LOVE RULES THE COURT, THE CAMP, THE GROVE; AND MEN BELOW, AND SAINTS ABOVE."-SCOTT.
"THE TIDE OF HUMAN TIME, THOUGH IT CHANGE IN CEASELESS FLOW,-(SIR WALTER SCOTT)
ALL MOURN THE MINSTREL'S HARP UNSTRUNG,-(SCOTT)
RETAINS EACH GRIEF, RETAINS EACH CRIME, ITS EARLIEST COURSE WAS DOOMED TO KNOW."-SCOTT.
It glared on Roslin's castled rock,
It ruddied all the copse-wood glen;
'Twas seen from Dryden's groves of oak,
And seen from caverned Hawthornden.
Seemed all on fire that chapel proud,
Where Roslin's chiefs uncoffined lie;
Each baron, for a sable shroud,
Sheathed in his iron panoply.
Seemed all on fire within, around,
Deep sacristy and altar's pale;
Shone every pillar foliage-bound,
And glimmered all the dead men's mail;
Blazed battlement and pinnet high,
Blazed every rose-carved buttress fair-
So still they blaze, when fate is nigh
The lordly line of high St. Clair.
THEIR NAME UNKNOWN, THEIR PRAISE UNSUNG."-SCOTT.
"CALL IT NOT VAIN-THEY DO NOT ERR, WHO SAY, THAT WHEN THE POET DIES
And each St. Clair was buried there,
With candle, with book, and with knell;
But the sea-caves rung, and the wild winds sung,
The dirge of lovely Rosabelle !
[From "The Lay of the Last Minstrel," canto vi.]
HYMN FOR THE DEAD.
HAT day of wrath, that dreadful day,
When heaven and earth shall pass away!
What power shall be the sinner's stay?
How shall he meet that dreadful day?
MEET NURSE FOR A POETIC CHILD!"-SCOTT.
MUTE NATURE MOURNS HER WORSHIPPER, AND CELEBRATES HIS OBSEQUIES."-SCOTT.
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