Page 490

Sir Walter Scott. (1771–1832) (continued)

5135

And dar’st thou then
To beard the lion in his den,
The Douglas in his hall?

Marmion. Canto vi. Stanza 14.

5136

Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!

Marmion. Canto vi. Stanza 17.

5137

O woman! in our hours of ease
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please,
And variable as the shade
By the light quivering aspen made;
When pain and anguish wring the brow,
A ministering angel thou! 1

Marmion. Canto vi. Stanza 30.

5138

“Charge, Chester, charge! on, Stanley, on!”
Were the last words of Marmion.

Marmion. Canto vi. Stanza 32.

5139

Oh for a blast of that dread horn 2
On Fontarabian echoes borne!

Marmion. Canto vi. Stanza 33.

5140

To all, to each! a fair good-night,
And pleasing dreams, and slumbers light.

L’Envoy. To the Reader.

5141

In listening mood she seemed to stand,
The guardian Naiad of the strand.

Lady of the Lake. Canto i. Stanza 17.

5142

And ne’er did Grecian chisel trace
A Nymph, a Naiad, or a Grace
Of finer form or lovelier face.

Lady of the Lake. Canto i. Stanza 18.

Note 1.
See Shakespeare, Hamlet, Quotation 214.

Scott, writing to Southey in 1810, said: “A witty rogue the other day, who sent me a letter signed Detector, proved me guilty of stealing a passage from one of Vida’s Latin poems, which I had never seen or heard of.” The passage alleged to be stolen ends with,—
When pain and anguish wring the brow,
A ministering angel thou!”

which in Vida “ad Eranen,” El. ii. v. 21, ran,—
“Cum dolor atque supercilio gravis imminet angor,
Fungeris angelico sola ministerio.”

“It is almost needless to add,” says Mr. Lockhart, “there are no such lines.”—Life of Scott, vol. iii. p. 294. (American edition.) [back]

Note 2.
Oh for the voice of that wild horn!—Rob Roy, chap. ii. [back]

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