364 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 80. 



ON 



'the lay of the xast minstrel." 



I resume the subject commenced in tlie com- 

 ments on "a Passage in Mcmwori" printed in 

 No. 72., March 15, 185i ; and I here propose to 

 consider the groundwork and mechanism of the 

 most original, though not quite the iirst produc- 

 tion of Scott's muse, The Lmj of the Last Minstrel. 

 In the Introduction prefixed to this poem, nearly 

 thirty years after its publication, Sir Walter Scott 

 informs the world that the young Countess of 

 Dalkeith, much interested and delighted with the 

 wild Border tradition of the goblin called " Gilpin 

 Horner" (which is given at length in the notes 

 appended to the poem), enjoined^ on him the task 

 of composing a ballad on the subject : 



" And thus " (says Su- Walter) " the gobhn story 

 ohjected to hy several critics as an excrescence upon the 

 poem, was, in fact, the occasion of its being written." 



Yes, and more than this ; for, strange as it may 

 appear to those who have not critically and minutely 

 attempted to unravel the very artful and compli- 

 cated plot of this singular- poem, the Goblin Page 

 is, as it were, the key-note to the whole composi- 

 tion, the agent through whose instrumentality the 

 fortunes of the house of Branksome are built up 

 anew by the pacitication of ancient feud, and the 

 union of the fair Margaret with Henry of Cran- 

 stoun. Yet, so deeply veiled is the plot, and so 

 intricately contrived the machinery, that I ques- 

 tion if this fiict be apparent to one reader out of a 

 thousand ; and assuredly it has never been pre- 

 sented to my view by any one of the critics with 

 whose comments I have become acquainted. 



The Aristarchus of the Edinburgh Review, Mr. 

 Jeffrey, who forsooth thought fit to regard the new 

 and original creations of a mighty and inventive 

 genius "as a misapplicati(m, in some desree, of 

 very extraordinary talents," and " conceived it 

 his duty to make one strong effort to bring back 

 the great apostle of this (literary)^ heresy to the 

 wholesome creed of his instructor" seems not to 

 have penetrated one inch below the surface. lu 

 his opinion "the Goblin Page is the capital de- 

 formity of the poem," "a perpetual burden to the 

 poet and to the readers," "an undignified and im- 

 probable fiction, which excites neither terror, ad- 

 miration, nor astonishment, but needlessly debases 

 the strain of the whole work, and excites at once 

 our incredulity and contempt." 



Perhaps so, to the purblind vision of a pedantic 

 formalist ; but, nevertheless. The Lay of the Last 

 Minstrel, that poem, whose varied imagery and 

 vivid originality, combined with all its other 

 beauties, have been, and ever will be, the delight 

 and admiration of its readers, could not exist 

 without this so-called " capital deformity." This 

 I shall undertake to demonstrate, and in so doing 



to prove the " capital absurdity " of such criticism 

 as I have cited. 



Let us therefore begin with the beginning. 

 The widowed Lady of Branksome, brooding over 

 the outrage which had deprived her husband of 

 life, meditates only vengeance upon all the parties 

 concerned in this affray. The lovely Lady Mar- 

 garet wept in wild despair, for her lover had stood 

 in arms agaijist her father's clan : 



" And well she knew, her mother dread, 

 Before Lord Cranstopn she should wed. 

 Would see her on her dying bed." 



The first Canto of the poem contains that sin- 

 gular episode, when — 



" (The Ladye) sits in secret bower 

 In old Lord David's western tower. 

 And listens to a heavy sound 

 That moans the mossy turrets round," &e. 



" From the sound of Tev lot's tide 

 Chafing with the mcuntain side, 

 &;c. he. 

 The Ladye knew it well ! 

 It was the Spirit of the Flood that spoke. 

 And he called on the Spirit of the Feil." 



And when the River Spirit asks concerning the 

 fair Margaret, who had mingled her tears with his 

 stream : 



" What shall be the maiden's fate? 

 Who shall be the maiden's mate? " 



the Mountain Spirit replies, that, amid the clouds 

 and mist which veil the stars, — 



" 111 may I read their high decree: 

 But no kind influence deign tliey sliower 

 On Teviot's tide and Branksome's tower, 

 Till pride be quelled, and love be free." 



I must here transcribe the following Section 

 xviii. : 



" The unearthly voices ceased, 



And the heavy sound was still ; 

 It died on the river's breast, 



It died on the side of the hill. 

 But round Lord David's tower. 



The sound still floated near, 

 For it rung in the Ladye's bower, 



And it rung in the Ladye's ear, 

 Sbe raised her stately head, 



And her heart throbbed high with pride : 

 ' Your mountains shall bend, 

 And your streams ascend. 



Ere Margaret be our foeman's bride 1 ' " 



In pursuance of this stern resolution, "the Ladye 

 sought the lofty hall" where hex retainers were 

 assemble^ : 



" And from amid the at-med train 

 She called to her William of Deloraine." 



She then gives him the commission, well remem- 

 bered by every reader, to proceed on that night to 

 Melrose Abbey to unclose the grave of JNIichael 



