Marmion

fascinated by their attractiveness. With line. 120 cp. ‘clipped in with the sea,’ I Henry IV, iii. I. 45.

line 126. Cp. 2 Henry IV, iii. 2. 228: ‘We have heard the chimes at midnight, Master Shallow!’

line 132. Scott quotes from Congreve’s ‘Old Bachelor,’-’Hannibal was a pretty fellow, sir-a very pretty fellow in his day,’ which is part of a speech by Noll Bluffe, one of the characters.

line 139. With ‘Limbo lost,’ cp. the ‘Limbo large and broad’ of ‘Paradise Lost,’ iii. 495. Limbo is the borders of hell, and also hell itself.

line 143. ‘John Leyden, M. D., who had been of great service to Sir Walter Scott in the preparation of the ‘Border Minstrelsy,’ sailed for India in April, 1803, and died at Java in August, 1811, before completing his 36th year.

     “Scenes sung by him who sings no more! 
      His brief and bright career is o’er, 
         And mute his tuneful strains; 
      Quench’d is his lamp of varied lore, 
      That loved the light of song to pour; 
      A distant and a deadly shore 
         Has LEYDEN’S cold remains.”

                        Lord of the Isles, Canto IV.

‘See a notice of his life in the Author’s Miscellaneous Prose Works, vol. iv.’-LOCKHART.

line 146. For the solemn and powerful interview of Hercules and Ulysses, see close of Odyssey XI. Wraith (Icel. vordhr, guardian) is here used for shade. In Scottish superstition it signifies the shadow of a person seen before death, as in ‘Guy Mannering,’ chap. x: ‘she was uncertain if it were the gipsy, or her wraith.’ The most notable use of the word and the superstition in recent poetry is in Rossetti’s ‘King’s Tragedy’:-

     ‘And the woman held his eyes with her eyes:- 
        “O King; thou art come at last; 
      But thy wraith has haunted the Scottish sea 
        To my sight for four years past.

      “Four years it is since first I met, 
       ‘Twixt the Duchray and the Dhu, 
      A shape whose feet clung close in a shroud, 
        And that shape for thine I knew,”‘ &c.

line 148. AEneid, III. 19.

line 159. ‘This passage is illustrated by “Ceubren yr Ellyll, or the Spirit’s Blasted Tree,” a legendary tale, by the Reverend George Warrington, who says:-

‘“The event, on which the tale is founded, is preserved by tradition in the family of the Vaughans of Hengwyrt; nor is it entirely lost, even among the common people, who still point out this oak to the passenger. The enmity between the two Welsh chieftains, Howel Sele, and Owen Glendwr, was extreme, and marked by vile treachery in the one, and ferocious cruelty in the other. {3}  The story is somewhat changed and softened, as more favourable to the character of the two chiefs, and as better answering the purpose of poetry, by admitting the passion of pity, and a greater degree of sentiment in the description. Some trace of Howel Sele’s mansion was to be seen a few years ago, and may perhaps be still visible, in the park of Nannau, now belonging to Sir Robert Vaughan, Baronet, in the wild and romantic tracks of Merionethshire. The abbey mentioned passes under two names, Vener and Cymmer. The former is retained, as more generally used.”-See the Metrical Tale in Sir

Walter Scott’s Poetical Works, vol. vii. pp. 396-402.’-LOCKHART.

line 161. By a victory gained at Maida, 6 July 1806, Sir John Stuart broke the power of the French in southern Italy.

line 163. ‘The Daoine shi,’ or Men of Peace, of the Scottish Highlanders, rather resemble the Scandinavian Duergar, than the English Fairies. Notwithstanding their name, they are, if not absolutely malevolent, at least peevish, discontented, and apt to do mischief on slight provocation. The belief of their existence is deeply impressed on the Highlanders, who think they are particularly offended at mortals, who talk of them, who wear their favourite colour green, or in any respect interfere with their affairs. This is especially to be avoided on Friday, when, whether as dedicated to Venus, with whom, in Germany, this subterraneous people are held nearly connected, or for a more solemn reason, they are more active and possessed of greater power. Some curious particulars concerning the popular superstitions of the Highlanders may be found in Dr. Graham’s Picturesque Sketches of Perthshire.’-SCOTT.

Friday (the day of the goddess Freya) is regarded as lucky for marriages. Mr. Thiselton Dyer in ‘Domestic Folk-lore,’ p. 39, quotes the City Chamberlain of Glasgow as affirming that ‘nine-tenths of the