— 13—

Superstition forming one of the characteristic traits of former ages and not being disagreeable to the reader, except when represented as reality, for which the poet claims our faith, there is nothing to be objected to its being introduced into poetry. According to this principle we do not consider our poet blamable for the frequent representations of superstition. Notwithstanding we cannot but censure the way he does it.— The modern reader knows his forefathers to have believed in and been guided by superstition, but he knows not less all the fairies, witches, goblins, ghosts, sorcerers, seers, demons etc. to be either mere ficticious beings or real persons falsely reputed as the above. Now, as this belief in supernatural beings and its influence upon men's minds really excisted, we have no objection to their being represented in poetry. Whereas the supernatural beings themselves not having excisted as such and their pretended supernatural actions not having taken place, the poet ought to abstain from making these beings perform their supernatural actions before the eye of the reader, as if all were realityj. ¹) In his Lay“ as well as in the present poem W. Scott sometimes employs-what is called"machinerg“ in the latter of these ways, and wherever it is done it is, in our opinion, a deformity of the poem, nay absurd. As we do not like to prolong our essay too far, we restrict ourselves to point out one of the passages the latter criticism refers to: Canto I. st. 23. represents the minstrel as a real seer who foretells a number of details all of which happen exactly as he describes them beforehand.

„Each of the cantos begins with one or two stanzas usually containing some reflectionsintroduetory connected with the subject about to be entered upon“(Jeffrey.) These introductory 5 stanzas(and the concluding one at the end of the poem) are written in the Spenzerian Stanza. Though they are partly very fine(particularly the melancholy and contemplative ones preceding canto III.) they are far inferior to the introductory and concluding lines of the cantos of"The Lay of the last Minstrel“, written with such ineffable lyrical tenderness.

The course of the principal action of the poem under notice is frequently interrupted Sonss and by songs and ballads, which partly by their deyiating measure, partly by their lyrical melodiousness produce a very agreeable change. These twelve songs are distributed over the whole poem excepting the fifth canto, the course of which is not interrupted by any of them. Some of them, as we have already stated, are remarkable for their deviating measure, others for their lyrical strain as well. The finest of the latter class is the lullaby in canto I., st. 31. 32. By the gentleness of diction, the frequent melodious double rhymes (breaking, waking;— champing, tramping etc.) and by the substitution of the trochee measure for the jambic, it gives the impression of a fine piece of music. Much, however, of this impression depends upon the song being read not by itself but immediatly after the preceding stanzas, so that the reader, accustomed to the jambic measure, is struck by the sudden change.— The»Ballad' in canto IV.(st: 12 etc.) is also a nice piece ok lyric poetry. The simple diction, the good natured young people contrasted with the sulky Elfin King, the natural description of life in the wood and the unexpected disenchantment of Ethert Brand, are very pleasing. It is written in the Ballad Metre.

The"Coronach“(c. III. st. 15.)— the"Battle of Beal' an Duine“(c. VI. st. 15.);— the Lament“(c. VI. st. 22.) and especially the ay of the Imprisoned Huntman“(from which the following lines are taken) are all very fine:—

„I hate to learn the ebb of time Or mark it as the sunbeams crawl

From yon dull steeple's drowsy chime Inch after inch, along the wall.“

A few remarks may be added with regard to the versification. Except the songson the verst. alluded to, the poem is in octosyllable couplets(the measures being of course of thee jambie form.)— The majority of the rhymes are simple ones.— Those stanzas which contain an odd number of véèrses have one triplet either in the beginning(c. I. st. 18.), or at the end(c. I. st. 8.), or between the couplets(c. I. st. 23.); sometimes also the last verse of one, together with the first verse of the next stanza, form a couplet(c. IV. st. 4).

¹) Jamais au spectateur n'offrez rien d'incroyable... L'esprit west point ému de ce qu'il ne croit pas. Une merveille absurde est pour moi sans appas.](Boileau, Art poëtique, Chant 3.*)