While her mother did fret, and her father did fume, And the bridegroom stood dangling his bonnet and plume; One touch to her hand, and one word in her ear, When they reached the hall-door, and the charger stood near ; 'She is won! we are gone, over bank, bush, and scaur; There was mounting 'mong Græmes of the Netherby clan; So daring in love, and so dauntless in war, Have ye e'er heard of gallant like young Lochinvar." P.258-261. The relation of the battle has no parallel in verse, and is inimitable. The confusion and indistinctness are delineated in a most masterly manner. Our extract will be short, but it will exemplify. Clara, attended by two squires, is situated on an eminence, and beholds the war from afar : "Long looked the anxious squires; their eye XXVII. At length the freshening western blast But nought distinct they see: Fell England's arrow-flight like rain; Crests rose, and stooped, and rose again, Amid the scene of tumult, high They saw Lord Marinion's falcon fly: And many a rugged border clan, With Huntley, and with Home." P. 355, 356. Marmion wounded, is brought to this spot. He orders the squires to mingle in the fight, and redeem his pennon. The injured Clara alone remains-he cries for water to slake his thirst, on which the poet exclaims: "O, woman, in our hours of ease, Uncertain, coy, and hard to please, By the light quivering aspen made; When pain and anguish wring the brow, A ministering angel thou!" P. 362. And Clara comes to his relief. He learns from her the fate of Constance his anguish is finely described-a priest exhorts him to repentance; just at this moment "The war, that for a space did fail, Now trebly thundering swelled the gale, A light on Marmion's visage spread, He shook the fragment of his blade, And shouted Victory! 'Charge, Chester, charge! On, Stanley, on!' No painter, worthy of the name, can read that description, and sleep till he has embodied the imagination of the poet! A number of notes, equal to one third of the volume, is added to the poem, and they display a vast store of recondite reading, and necessary and entertaining illustration. As a proof we shall give one on the 6th canto. the savage Dane At Iol more deep the meed did drain.-P. 299. "The Iol of the heathen Danes, (a word still applied to Christmas in Scotland,) was solemnized with great festivity. The humour of the Danes at table displayed itself in pelting each other with bones; and Torfæus tells a long and curious story, in the history of Hrolfe Kraka, of one Hottus, an inmate of the court of Denmark, who was so generally assailed with these missiles, that he constructed, out of the bones with which he was overwhelmed, a very respectable entrenchment, against those who continued the raillery. The dances of the northern warriors round the great fires of pine-trees are commemorated by Olaus Magnus, who says, they danced with such fury, holding each other by the hands, that, if the grasp of any failed, he was pitched into the fire with the velocity of a sling. The sufferer, on such occasions, was instantly plucked out, and obliged to quaff off a certain measure of ale, as a penalty for "spoiling the king's fire." P. xcix. The last canto of this exquisite poem confers more lasting honour on Scotland than twenty Ossians, whose authenticity should have no loop hole to hang a doubt upon, and in excellence, as far as relates to its presumption, it may sing cedite, to all the days that are past. Kathleen, a Ballad from an Ancient Irish Tradition, in the Valley of Glandilough, County of Wicklow. By John Edwards, Esq. 4to. pp. 20. Chapple. 1808. THIS ballad, written by Mr. Edwards, author of Abradatas and Panthea, a tragedy from the Cyropædia, is founded on a traditionary tale, respecting the love of a maiden for St. Kevan, whose spirit was so superior to the temptations of the flesh, that though perpetually wooed, he was never won. Kathleen pursued him every where, till at last the saint was driven to make his bed in a rock almost inaccessible: "but," says the story, "in the morning when he wakened, he saw her face looking at him at the mouth of the cave; at which he was so vexed, that he gave her a push."-This was the death of her, for she fell into the lake below. The saint afterwards, "endued the cave with the miraculous power of preserving in childbed the life of every woman, who should have the courage to venture in it."—What made this holy man think of childbed on this occasion is not clear. The ballad is in easy verse, but being thirty five stanzas, it is too long to sing, and too short for a publication by itself. The melody of the old Irish air, in the key of G. which accompanies it, is simple and pleasing.-We recommend the reduction of Kathleen to a halfpenny ballad. A History of the early Part of the Reign of James 11. with an Introductory Chapter. By the Right Honourable Charles James Fox. To which is added an Appendix. 4to. pp. 486. 17. 16s. Miller. 1808. Concluded from P.34. WE are now come to the history of the early part of the reign of James II. which is commenced with some account of the rebellious attempts (1685,) in Scotland, by the earl of Argyle, and in England, by the duke of Monmouth, of which the king had informed his parliament. Argyle, was son to the marquis of Argyle so unjustly executed. James, duke of Monmouth, was the eldest of the late king's natural children. Amongst his private motives was a declared enmity to his uncle, the duke of York, whose prospect of succession to the crown was intolerable to him. Mr. Fox thinks his attachment to the protestant religion was sincere, that his ambition was not inspired by Shaftesbury, (see Hume,) and that his intention of succeeding to the crown so boldly imputed to him, for many reasons doubtful, p. 168. In another motive, we read Mr. Fox's notion of a true Whig, than whom no one can be more amiable, and every man must indeed wish, that if the name conferred the quality, the whole world were sworn Whigs. "Something may be attributed to his admiration of the talents of some, to his personal friendship for others, among the leaders of the Whigs, more to the aptitude of a generous nature to adopt, and, if I may so say, to become enamoured of, those principles of justice, benevolence, and equality, which form the true creed of the party which he espoused." P. 167. Treating of the exiles which took place at this period, 1685, he gives us his opinion on resistance to government by arms. Burnet thought that though injustices had been committed, the misgovernment had not been of such a nature, as to justify resistance by arms. Fox finds it difficult to accede to this, "But," says he, “the prudential reasons against resistance at that time were exceedingly strong; and there is no point in human concerns, wherein the dictates of virtue, and worldly prudence, are so identified, as in this great question of resistance by force to established government. Success, it has been invidiously remarked, constitutes, in most instances, the sole difference between the traitor and the deliverer of his country. A rational probability of success, it may be truly said, distinguishes the well considered enterprize of the patriot, from the rash schemes of the disturber of the public peace. To command success, is 6 not in the power of man; but to deserve success, by choosing a proper time, as well as a proper object, by the prudence of his means, no less than by the purity of his views, by a cause not only intrinsically just, but likely to ensure general support, is the indispensible duty of him, who engages in an insurrection against an existing government. Upon this subject, the opinion of Ludlow, who though often misled, appears to have been an honest and enlightened man, is striking and forcibly expressed. ‹ We We ought,' says he, to be very careful and circumspect in that particular, and at least be assured of very probable grounds, to be lieve the power under which we engage, to be sufficiently able to protect us in our undertaking; otherwise, I should account myself not only guilty of my own blood, but also, in some measure, of the ruin and destruction of all those that I should induce to engage with me, though the cause were never so just."* Reasons of this nature, mixed more or less with considerations of personal caution, and in some, perhaps, with dislike and distrust of their leaders, induced many, who could not but abhor the British government, to wait for better opportunities, and to prefer either submission at home, or exile, to an undertaking, which, if not hopeless, must have been deemed by all, hazardous in the extreme." P. 175-7. The historian represents Monmouth reluctant, and Argyle impatient in their exile, to attempt the invasion of England. Throughout his account of Monmouth, he seems to us to entertain a very undue partiality for him and his motives. Argyle's expedition sails on the 2d May 1685, from Vly. The dissensions in his party; the earl's capture; and the indignities offered to him, are then detailed with great force and some novelty. The whole of this picture, his magnanimity, mildness and resignation are finely drawn, and most affecting and powerful in simplicity. This incident before his execution, is very striking. "Before he left the castle he had his dinner at the usual hour, at which he discoursed, not only calmly, but even cheerfully with Mr. Charteris and others. After dinner he retired, as was his custom, to his bed-chamber, where, it is recorded, that he slept quietly for about a quarter of an hour. While he was in bed, one of the members of the council came and intimated to the attendants a desire to speak with him: : upon being told that the earl was asleep, and had left orders not to be disturbed, the manager disbelieved the account, which he considered as a device to avoid further questionings. To satisfy him, the Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 235. |