Poetical Works ... With illustrations

Front matter

Poetical Works OF SIR WALTER SCOTT, Bart. Sftitlj Illustrations Published at LEWI S'S MARKET STREET, MANCHESTER INTRODUCTORY. AN Introduction to Scott's Poems would hardly be complete without a brief account of the conditions under which they were written, and the man who wrote them, even though to write of Scott is to tell a thrice-told tale. Walter Scott, the lineal descendant of that Border hero who took three days to consider whether he would marry Sir Gideon Murray's ugly daughter, Meikle-mouthed Meg, or hang on Sir Gideon's gallows, was the son of a Writer to the Signet, whose portrait he has drawn in the character of Alexander Fairford, in Redgauntlet. His mother was a Miss Rutherford, the daughter of a physician. He was thus born in perhaps the most advantageous rank of life for an ambitious lad, for he belonged to a good old family, of whicli he might be justly proud, and was taught by all around him that the road to success lies through hard work.

If he inherited little of his father's love of order, thrift, and stately ceremonial manners, he learned from his example industry and perseverance. He was born on August 15th, i77r, the ninth of twelve children, of whom six died in infancy. At the age of eighteen months the child fell lame, and remained so throughout life. But this lameness did not affect his activity of body, which was always very remarkable. His reputation at school was better among his comrades than with his masters, who, however, seem to have recognised the ability of the precocious boy, who would extemporise stories when he was not organising street fights or climbing the Castle rocks. He became a lawyer, and practised at the bar, nominally, for fourteen years, never making any large income by his work, though he is said to have been a sound lawyer.

Eight years after being called, he was appointed Sheriff of Selkirkshire, a post worth a-year, and he discharged the duties of a Clerk of Session for five years gratuitously, in order to secure his succession when the post should fall vacant. The acceptance of these two posts shows clearly that he had little hope of real or brilliant success in his profession. Lawyers who hope to obtain the splendid prizes of the profession do not accept these small offices. During these years, however, he was becoming known for other things than the law : he was an enthusiastic anti quarian ; he loved ballads ; and he was drifting gradually, but surely, into literature. His first serious attempt was a translation of Burger's Lcnorc, vigorous and spirited. " Tramp ! tramp ! along the land they rode ; Splash ! splash ! along the sea : The scourge is red, the spur drops blood, The flashing pebbles flee."

Preface

TO THE FIRST EDITION. The Poem, now offered to the Public, is intended to illustrate the customs and manners which anciently prevailed on the Borders of England and Scotland. The inhabitants, living in a state partly pastoral and parity warlike, and combining habits of constant depredation with the influence of a rude spirit of chivalry, were often engaged in scenes highly susceptible of poetical ornament. As the description of scenery and manners was more the object of the Author than a combined and regular narrative, the plan of the Ancient Metrical Romance was adopted, which allows greater latitude, in this respect, than would be consistent with the dignity of a regular Poem. The same model offered other facilities, as it permits an occasional alteration of measure, which, in some degree, authorises the change of rhythm in the text.

The machinery, also, adopted from fopular belief, would have seemed puerile in a Poem which did not partake ofthe rudeness ofthe old Ballad, or Metrical Romance. For these reasons, the Poem was put into the mouth of an ancient Minstrel, the last of the race, who, as he is supposed to have survived the Revolution, might have caught somewhat of the refinement of modern poetry, without losing the simplicity of his original model. The date of the Tale itself is about the middle of the sixteenth century, when most of the personages actually flourished. The time occupied by the action is Three Nights and Three Days.