The whole of the poem shows high conceptive power and elevated sentiment. I shall quote a few lines from his piece-"A Thought suggested by the New Year":— "The more we live, more brief appears Our life's succeeding stages: A day to childhood seems a year, Steals, lingering like a river smooth But as the careworn cheek grows wan, Ye stars that measure life to man, Why seem your courses quicker? When joys have lost their bloom and breath, And life itself is vapid, Why, as we reach the falls of death, See we the tide more rapid?" His Specimens of the British Poets, with biographical and critical notices, which appeared in 1818, is a work of much value. The truth, justness, and beauty of his criticisms have been universally recognised, and some of them present elegant models of this branch of literature. Sir Walter Scott 17 was not only a distinguished poet, but also a novelist of the first rank, and wrote on various other subjects. He studied law, and was called to the bar in 1792. He was a diligent reader, and acquired some knowledge of the German, French, Italian, and Spanish languages; but from his early years the bent of his mind was manifested in his fondness for ballads and romantic stories. In 1799 he was appointed sheriff of Selkirkshire. He had already begun to collect the materials for the ballad literature of the Border; and the result appeared in his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, two volumes of which were published in 1802, containing more than forty pieces never before published, along with a large quantity of prose illustration, in the form of introduction and notes. The following year, a third volume appeared, which contained some imitations of the old ballads by Scott himself and his friends. After performing other editorial work in the field of early rhyme, he made an independent effort, which appeared in 1805, under the title of The Lay of the Last Minstrel. 17 Born in 1771; died 1832. This poem at once placed him in the front rank of living poets. His chief gifts and powers were admirably displayed in it. Its success was great and unexampled in Scotland; and, for a time, Scott was worshipped as the poet of the day. But, unfortunately, his natural ambition to found a family to vie with the ancient Border names seems to have developed into an over-ruling passion, which obscured his sagacity and good sense, and thus he was led into doubtful projects, and financial responsibilities which proved ruinous. In 1808, his remarkable poem of Marmion was published; and the same year he published his edition of Dryden. Scott was now fairly launched as a poet, and volumes from his pen flowed rapidly. In 1810, The Lady of the Lake appeared, which was exceedingly popular. The following year, The Vision of Don Roderick was published; in 1713, Rokeby and The Bride of Triermain; in 1814, The Lord of the Isles; in 1815, The Field of Waterloo; and in 1817, Harold the Dauntless. By this time, it had become manifest that his later poems were inferior to his earlier ones, while the star of Byron was rising, and the readers of poetry were turning to the new worship. No one with any title to give an opinion on the point would venture to place Scott upon a par with Byron. Scott had merits of his own, within a limited circle of poetic conception and execution he is a real poet. For emotional power, passion, and poetic fire, as well as intellectual qualities, Byron stands above Scott. In short, Byron is, perhaps, the greatest poet that has appeared in Britain during the past two centuries. He has the true glow of poetic fire, which in intensity of emotion, passion, and intellectual qualities, warms his poetry to a high pitch. ment. Scott himself was no doubt well aware of this, and turned his attention to fiction, in which his genius attained its highest developThe Lady of the Lake was the most popular of his poems; in a few months twenty thousand copies of it were sold. His poems, though still read, are not so popular as his novels. It is unnecessary to dwell on his poetry, and I shall only quote a few lines from Marmion, which is mainly a tale of Flodden field. The following refers to the close of the battle : "Tweed's echoes heard the ceaseless plash, Disordered through her current dash, To gain the Scottish land; To town and tower, to down and dale, To tell red Flodden's dismal tale, Where shivered was fair Scotland's spear, And broken was her shield." The next poet was a contemporary and friend of Scott's. James Hogg, 18 a native of the vale of Ettrick, in Selkirkshire, was descended from a family of shepherds, and is best known by his poetic name of "The Ettrick Shepherd." He was sent to service when a child, and received but little education: however, his mother was in the habit of reciting old legends and ballads, and many of the evenings in his early years were occupied in listening eagerly to her. He also became an earnest reader of poetry and romances, and devoured the contents of a circulating library in Peebles. He assisted Sir Walter Scott in the collection of old ballads for the Minstrelsy of the Border. At first he tried his hand in song writing, and in 1801, he published a small volume of pieces. He soon acquired a felicity of imitating the style of the old ballads; and under the title of The Mountain Bard, he published another volume of songs and poems, in 1807. In 1810, he published a collection of songs called The Forest Minstrel ; and in 1813, his legendary poem, entitled The Queen's Wake, appeared. This work consists of a number of tales and ballads supposed to be sung to Queen Mary of Scots by the native bards of Scotland assembled at a royal wake at Holyrood, so that the fair Queen might prove "The wondrous powers of Scottish song." The work was well conceived, and its elaboration so complete that Hogg was soon placed in the front rank of Scottish poets. At the end of this poem, he alluded to his friend Scott, and adverts to an advice which Sir Walter had once given him, to abstain from his worship of poetry : "The land was charmed to list his lays; It knew the harp of ancient days. The border chiefs that long had been In sepulchres unhearsed and green, 18 Born in 1771, and died in 1836. Passed from their mouldy vaults away Watched my first notes with curious eye, I struck upon a chord was new; But sure a bard might well have known Subsequently, Hogg wrote many other works-Mador of the Moor, a poem in the Spenserian stanza; The Pilgrims of the Sun, in blank verse; The Poetic Mirror; Queen Hynde; Dramatic Tales, etc. He also produced several novels-Winter Evening Tales; The Three Perils of Man; The Three Perils of Woman, etc., and Jacobite Relics, referred to in a preceding volume. He was a strong and versatile man, a veritable genius. His imaginative and reproductive faculties were of a high order, his sympathies were wide and catholic, and his power of realisation has rarely been excelled. What he wanted was culture, and more art. There are passages in his writings which, for lofty imaginative representation, few poets or painters have ever surpassed. It is true, that both his poetry and prose is unequal in composition; yet few can read them without being impressed with the poet's inspiration. The following is from his verses to the Comet of 1811:— "How lovely is this wildered scene, As twilight from her vaults so blue, Steals soft o'er Yarrow's mountains green, Dread traveller of immensity! Stranger of heaven! I bid thee hail ! Broad pennon of the King of heaven! From angel's ensign staff unfurled? Waved o'er a sordid, sinful world? Whate'er portends thy front of fire, Thy streaming locks so lovely pale- Stranger of heaven, I bid thee hail ! O! on thy rapid prow to glide ! To sail the boundless skies with thee, Like foam-bells on a tranquil sea! Then far to other systems run, Where other moons and planets roll!" His lyric, "The Skylark," has often been quoted as one of the best of his short pieces; and his song, "When the Kye comes Hame," is also fine. His life was recently published by his daughter, Mrs. Garden. Sir Alexander Boswell, 19 the eldest son of Johnson's biographer, was the author of some amusing songs which were very popular, such as "Jenny's Bawbee," "Jenny Dang the Weaver," etc. This gentle 19 He was born in 1775. "When politics ran high, he unfortunately wrote some personal satires, for one of which he received a challenge from Mr. Stuart of Dunearn. The parties met at Auchtertool in Fifeshire. Conscious of his error, Sir Alexander resolved not to fire at his opponent, but Mr. Stuart's shot took effect, and the unfortunate baronet fell. He died from the wound on the following day, the 26th of March, 1822. He had been elevated to the baronetcy only the previous year. His brother, James, was an accomplished scholar and student of early literature, and edited Malone's edition of Shakespeare, 21 vols., in 1821; but he died in 1822, and Sir Alexander had just returned from the funeral of his brother when he engaged in the fatal duel." |