Marmion

his squire carrying a box, cards, and counters.’

line 55. The reference is to the ancient salt-cellar, which parted superiors from inferiors at table.

line 75. ‘It seems certain that the Mummers of England, who (in Northumberland at least) used to go about in disguise to the neighbouring houses, bearing the then useless ploughshares; and the Guisards of Scotland, not yet in total disuse, present, in some indistinct degree, a shadow of the old mysteries, which were the origin of the English drama. In Scotland, (me ipso teste,) we were wont, during my boyhood, to take the characters of the apostles, at least of Peter, Paul, and Judas Iscariot; the first had the keys, the second carried a sword, and the last the bag, in which the dole of our neighbours’ plum-cake was deposited. One played as a champion, and recited some traditional rhymes; another was:-

              ....“Alexander, King of Macedon, 
      Who conquer’d all the world but Scotland alone. 
      When he came to Scotland his courage grew cold, 
      To see a little nation courageous and bold.”

These, and many such verses, were repeated, but by rote, and unconnectedly. There were also, occasionally, I believe, a Saint George. In all, there was a confused resemblance of the ancient mysteries, in which the characters of Scripture, the Nine Worthies, and other popular personages, were usually exhibited. It were much to be wished that the Chester Mysteries were published from the MS. in the Museum, with the annotations which a diligent investigator of popular antiquities might still supply. The late acute and valuable antiquary, Mr. Ritson, showed me several memoranda towards such a task, which are probably now dispersed or lost. See, however, his “Remarks on Shakspeare,” 1783, p. 38.

‘Since the first edition of “Marmion” appeared, this subject has received much elucidation from the learned and extensive labours of Mr. Douce; and the Chester Mysteries (edited by J. H. Markland, Esq.) have been printed in a style of great elegance and accuracy (in 1818) by Bensley and Sons, London, for the Roxburghe Club. 1830.’- SCOTT.

line 93. The proverb ‘Blood is warmer than water’ is also common in the form ‘Blood is thicker than water.’

line 96. ‘Mr. Scott of Harden, my kind and affectionate friend, and distant relation, has the original of a poetical invitation, addressed from his grandfather to my relative, from which a few lines in the text are imitated. They are dated, as the epistle in the text, from Mertoun-house, the seat of the Harden family:-

     “With amber beard, and flaxen hair, 
      And reverend apostolic air, 
      Free of anxiety and care, 
      Come hither, Christmas-day, and dine; 
      We’ll mix sobriety with wine, 
      And easy mirth with thoughts divine.

      We Christians think it holiday, 
      On it no sin to feast or play; 
      Others, in spite, may fast and pray.

      No superstition in the use 
      Our ancestors made of a goose; 
      Why may not we, as well as they, 
      Be innocently blithe that day, 
      On goose or pie, on wine or ale, 
      And scorn enthusiastic zeal?-

      Pray come, and welcome, or plague rott 
      Your friend and landlord, Walter Scott.

                       “Mr. Walter Scott, Lessuden”

‘The venerable old gentleman, to whom the lines are addressed was the younger brother of William Scott of Raeburn. Being the cadet of a cadet of the Harden family, he had very little to lose; yet he contrived to lose the small property he had, by engaging in the civil wars and intrigues of the house of Stuart. His veneration for the exiled family was so great, that he swore he would not shave his beard till they were restored: a mark of attachment, which, I suppose, had been common during Cromwell’s usurpation; for, in Cowley’s “Cutter of Coleman Street,” one drunken cavalier upbraids another, that, when he was not able to afford to pay a barber, he affected to “wear a beard for the King.” I sincerely hope this was not absolutely the original reason of my ancestor’s beard; which, as appears from a portrait in the possession of Sir Henry Hay Macdougal, Bart., and another painted for the famous Dr. Pitcairn, was a beard of a most dignified and venerable appearance.’- SCOTT.

line 111. ‘See Introduction to the ‘Minstrelsy,’ vol. iv. p. 59.’-LOCKHART.

lines 117-20. The Tweed winds and loiters around Mertoun and its grounds as if