CHAPTER XVIII
THE LADY OF THE LAKE--MARMION--JOHN GILPIN--EDINBURGH AFTER FLODDEN--HORATIUS--THE ARMADA
In times of war, as you know, people sometimes have to go into hiding. Long ago, a nobleman, Earl Douglas, who lived during the reign of King James V of Scotland, had offended the King, or rather some words he was falsely reported to have uttered had been told the King, and he was in danger of imprisonment. Earl Douglas took refuge in the Highlands of Scotland with his kinsman, Sir Roderick Dhu, the head or chief of the clan Alpine, who was unwilling to acknowledge that he owed allegiance to anyone. Ellen Douglas, a very beautiful young woman, shared her father's exile. As it happened, King James went on a hunting expedition as a knight, not a king, in the same part of his kingdom. There he met Ellen, who had never seen the King and did not know who he was. The King called himself James Fitz-James. Roderick Dhu, who is in love with Ellen, plans a rising of his clan. Fitz-James is brave. He is in peril, but he wishes to extricate himself without calling on his soldiers. The story is told by Sir Walter Scott in a poem called _The Lady of the Lake_. You will find this romance in verse easy to read and very interesting.
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The scene is laid in the West Highlands of Perthshire. Much of what happens takes place in the neighbourhood of a beautiful lake, Loch Katrine. Scott, you will remember, is a master in the description of romantic scenery. After a short introduction, the story begins with an account of stag-hunting. James Fitz-James and a few of his men are the hunters.
The stag at eve had drunk his fill, Where danced the moon on Monan's rill, And deep his midnight lair had made In lone Glenartney's hazel shade; But, when the sun his beacon red Had kindled on Benvoirlich's head, The deep-mouthed bloodhound's heavy bay Resounded up the rocky way, And faint, from farther distance borne, Were heard the clanging hoof and horn.
The tale is made to unroll itself like a picture before our eyes. The scenes are wonderfully picturesque, and the story is exciting. What happens to Ellen, Roderick Dhu, young Malcolm Graeme who also is in love with Ellen and whom she loves, and to Fitz-James, you must discover for yourself by reading _The Lady of the Lake_.
But before leaving the poem, let us quote part of the stanza which tells how in answer to Fitz-James's wish, Roderick Dhu gives the signal which calls his men from hiding in the glen where he and Fitz-James are to take leave of each other.
"Have then thy wish!"--he whistled shrill, And he was answered from the hill; Wild as the scream of the curlew, From crag to crag the signal flew. {120} Instant, through copse and heath, arose Bonnets, and spears, and bended bows; On right, on left, above, below, Sprung up at once the lurking foe; From shingles gray their lances start, The bracken-bush sends forth the dart, The rushes and the willow-wand Are bristling into axe and brand, And every tuft of broom gives life To plaided warrior armed for strife. That whistle garrisoned the glen At once with full five hundred men. . . . . . . . . . . . Watching their leader's beck and will, All silent there they stood and still; . . . . . . . . . . . The mountaineer cast glance of pride Along Benledi's living side, Then fixed his eye and sable brow Full on Fitz-James--"How say'st thou now? These are Clan-Alpine's warriors true; And, Saxon,--I am Roderick Dhu!"
_Marmion_ is one of the most romantic and moving of Scott's narratives. Lord Marmion is a fictitious character. Scott wished to tell the story of Flodden Field, a battle fought between the English and the Scotch in 1513 in which the English were victorious. It was a most disastrous battle for the Scots, who lost their King and the flower of their nobility. Lord Marmion, who was an Englishman, and many among the English, were also slain. The poem opens with a vivid description of life in England and Scotland in the Middle Ages. We visit a feudal castle in England, Norham Castle, where Sir Hugh Heron welcomes Lord Marmion. A Palmer returning {121} from the Holy Land has also come to Norham Castle.
His sable cowl o'erhung his face; In his black mantle was he clad, With Peter's keys, in cloth of red, On his broad shoulders wrought, The scallop shell, his cap did deck; The crucifix around his neck Was from Loretto brought; His sandals were with travel tore; Staff, budget, bottle, scrip, he wore; The faded palm branch in his hand Showed pilgrim from the Holy Land.
We visit as well, by the magic of Scott's verses, a convent, a monastery and an inn, and learn many things of the way in which people lived in the Middle Ages. It is in _Marmion_ that we find one of Sir Walter Scott's famous songs, "Lochinvar", which is introduced in the fifth canto. But the most memorable part of _Marmion_ is the description of the battle of Flodden with which the poem concludes. The sixth canto tells the story of the battle. Turn to the thirty-fourth stanza of that canto, and you may read how the Scots tried to save their king. These lines are judged to be among the noblest that Sir Walter Scott ever wrote. Other tales in verse by Scott are _The Lay of the Last Minstrel_, _Rokeby_, and _The Lord of the Isles_.
Four stories by other writers of verse, which you will like, and in which you will find humour or heroic valour, are told somewhat in the fashion of ballads or lays; we listen to them with special {122} enjoyment when they are spoken by a skilled reciter.
The first of these is "The Diverting History of John Gilpin", showing how he went farther than he intended, and came safe home again. It was written by the English poet Cowper who, although he was often sad himself, in this story has left as wholesome and carefree humour as anyone may wish to discover in a story. John Gilpin was a London citizen of long ago. His wife said that, although they had been married twenty years, they had never had a holiday. She proposed that they should take her sister, and her sister's child, and their own three children, and drive to an inn at Edmonton not far away. But, since the carriage would be crowded, John Gilpin was to come on horseback. John was delayed, first by one thing, then another, but finally got started. Then his horse wanted to trot, and John was not a good rider. Besides that, he had two stone bottles of wine, one tied to each side of his leathern belt. The horse ran away with John. He lost his wig. The stone bottles were broken. The horse raced past the inn at Edmonton where his wife and children were waiting, and galloped on to its owner's house at Ware which was ten miles further. The friend who had lent Gilpin the horse asked what it was all about. John, who was a plucky, good-humoured fellow, and loved a joke, answered him.
I came because your horse would come, And, if I well forebode, My hat and wig will soon be here, They are upon the road.
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His friend started him back to Edmonton, but even yet John had adventures. There was to be no family dinner at Edmonton that day. Yet John Gilpin at last got safe home as you may read in Cowper's story.
"Edinburgh After Flodden", by a writer called Aytoun, is the story of how the people of Edinburgh first heard the news of the great defeat. Most people, certainly most boys and girls, must thrill as they read the opening stanza.
News of battle!--news of battle! Hark! 'tis ringing down the street: And the archways and the pavement Bear the clang of hurrying feet. News of battle! who hath brought it? News of triumph? Who should bring Tidings from our noble army, Greetings from our gallant King?
These lines are part only of the first stanza. They are taken from the book known as Aytoun's _Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers_.
Lord Macaulay, who was a distinguished historian, wrote a famous _History of England_. He wrote also a number of lays, or stories in verse. Some of the best-known are about the deeds of the Romans, that remarkable people who gave the world much that is great in law and government. You likely will have heard of the story of Horatius, who, with two others, held the bridge over the Tiber, and saved Rome when Lars Porsena came with an army to take the city. It is a famous story. Read it, in Macaulay's _Lays of Ancient Rome_. The last poem in this same {124} book of lays is called "The Armada". It also tells a thrilling tale. What a pity it would be if any mischievous sprite were to take away and hide the books in which are the stories written of in this chapter!
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