On wing of jet, from his repofe Up flew the fnowy ptarmigan." P. 134. We should fill a confiderable space with that which many of our readers muft have obferved before, if we were to extract all the paffages of admirable description, which occur in the fix Cantos of this poem. We may particularize, as remarkable, the views of the Scottish Camp, and the City of of Edinburgh in Canto 4;-the various troops defcribed in Canto 5;-the figure of Lady Heron finging at the Scottish Court; Tantallon Castle, in Canto 6; and the whole view of the battle, which for rapidity and liveliness exceeds almost any thing that we have feen. From this latter we cannot refufe ourselves the pleasure of taking a specimen, where the Scots begin the battle by firing their tents. "But fee, look up, on Flodden bent, The Scottish foe has fired his tent', Told England, from his mountain throne Scarce could they hear or fee their foes, Until at weapon-point they close. They clofe in clouds of fmoke and duft, With fword-fway and with lance's thrust, Of fudden and portentous birth, And fiends in upper air. Long looked the anxious fquires, their eye "At length the freshening western blaft Afide the fhroud of battle caft, X X 4 And And first the ridge of mingled fpears If any thing can place a quiet reader in imaginary view of a battle it must be fuch a defcription as this, which, even in its indiftinctnefs, gives images fufficient to engage fill the mind. Such are the defcriptive beauties abounding in this poem. The fituations alfo which call them forth are various and interefting. The touches of character are lefs frequent, but fometimes are ftrong. Thus the feelings of an ardent warrior at viewing a fplendid hoft, though of an enemy, are here well expreffed. "Lord Marmion viewed the landfcape bright,- I Such glance did falcon never dart "Oh! well, Lord Lion, haft thou said, Were but a vain effay; For, by St. George, were that hoft mine, Should once my foul to peace incline In glorious battle fray!"? P. 217. The circumstances between old Angus and the King, and between the fame peer and Marmion at their parting, are also highly characteriflic. The attractions we have here enumerated, added to that of an eafy and natural verfification, which feems to be entirely unpremeditated, will fufficiently account for the great popularity of Marmion, notwithstanding the faults, which are many, in the plan and conduct of the flory. But the beauties prevail over the faults, because the former are feen Leen and felt át a glance, whereas the latter are chiefly per ceived upon reflection. It is a fault undoubtedly, in the firft place, that the hero is a perfonage avowedly fictitious; but it is a much more confiderable blemish that his character is altogether deteftable. Befides his courage and warlike fkill he has nothing about him to create refpect. He is not only a feducer and forfaker of virgins, but an avaricious fortune-hunter, a falfe and treacherous accufer, a fuborner of forgery, an unfeeling confpirer against high merit. Thefe low crimes, fo entirely inconfiftent with his high baronial pride, meet us at every part of the tale, and forbid us for a moment to feel interefted in his fate. The unfortunate nun whom he feduced, who might have been interefting, is alfo made odious by the unnatural and unrepented part which the bears in the confpiracy; a confpiracy fo evidently against herself, that the motive attributed to her can hardly be comprehended. In a tale of pure invention it is rather extraordinary that an author fhould felect circumftances, which, if they had been forced upon him by te ftubbornness of hiftorical truth, would have been deemed adverse and unfortunate. Still Marmion is the hero, and, by the predominance of his odious figure, the char &ters which ought to have created intereft are thrown completely into fhade. De Wilton, whose nocturnal triumph over Marinion, and generous forbearance, feem intended to exalt him in the reader's opinion, lofes that advantage by the hobgoblin terror which overpowers his brave antagonist in the encounter. Nor is the motive for his forbearance very interefting. It is not any generous feeling of his own, but the mere recollection of a promife, not at all likely to have been exacted, and little likely to have been recalled, in the temper of mind attributed to him at the time. Even poetical juftice is but partially obferved, for though the odious Marmion dies, he dies like a hero; and though his injured rival is made happy, his actions are kept out of fight, and only briefly intimated at the end; nor has he any open fatisfaction against his treacherous antagonist, We have fpoken of the poem as known probably to every reader, and therefore have not attempted to detail the fable. In the briefeft form it is this. Lord Marmion, a nobleman of high rank in Henry the Eighth's reign, who has forfaken one lady unjustly, and is feeking another by ftill greater injuftice, is fent on an embally to the court of Scotland. At this very period the unfortunate female whom he has left is put to death, and by a ftrange accident the other falls into his power. He performs his embaffy, and returns just time enough enough to join in the battle of Flodden-field, where he le killed, and the rival whom he had most treacherously fupplanted is reftored to his honour, and poffeffes the lady. The improbabilities in the conduct of the story are numerous and extraordinary, particularly the circumstances, without exception, that relate to the diíguiled De Wilton. Infomuch that the preternatural tales adopted from the ancient chroni clers are hardly to be esteemed the most incredible paffages. Yet, notwithstanding thefe exceptions, there is a charm in the whole, which has pleafed and muft please. It is a work of genius, and of that rank of genius which dares to offend, and yet is juftly confident of fuccefs. The fix cantos of the poem have each a poetical introduction, addreffed to fome efteemed friend of the author. But thefe are fo entirely detached from the poem itself that they form no part of the confideration. Nor do we fuppofe that they are often read in their places, on account of the total interruption to the ftory which they produce. It would not furely have been difficult to have given them more connection, and to have made them properly introductory to the feveral parts to which they are prefixed, But this has not been attempted. The author is content to address his friends on the fubject of their common taftes, pursuits, or focial intercourfe: or, where he comes the clofeft to his fubject, to introduce an apology for the flyle of his compofition. These introductions nevertheless have merit in themselves, and fuffer chiefly from the impropriety of their fituations. They are very well bred. gentlemen, but they intrude themselves where their company is not wanted. We fhould not do juftice to our own feelings, nor to the patriotifm of the poet, if we inferted not the noble encomium on Pitt, which adorns the first introduc tion. "Nor mourn ye lefs his perished worth, * Nelfon. Whe Who when the frantic crowd amain And brought the freeman's arm to aid the freeman's laws. Thy thrilling trump had roused the land, Our pilots had kept course aright; As fome proud column, though alone, Thy ftrength had propp'd the tottering throne. Now is the ftately column broke, The beacon light is quenched in fmoke, The trumpet's filver found is ftill, The warder filent on the hill ! "Oh, think how to his latest day, When Death, juft hovering, claim'd his prey, With Palinure's unalter'd mood, Firm at his dangerous poft he stood, He who preferved them, PITT, lies here." P. 9. In his various addreffes to his friends, Mr. Scott expreffes, with ability, much that is amiable in them and in himself: nor will many doubt the fincerity or the juftnefs of his praises, when they read the names of the perfons addressed. In his language Mr. Scott has thought it allowable to preferve fomething of the Border ftyle, fomething of the ancient Scottish and English, as thinking his readers fuffici ently schooled to thefe by his former publication. We doubt not, however, that many readers find him obfcure in thefe inftances, in which he has indulged perhaps too far. They |