line 263. Dame Ganore is Guenevere, Arthur's Queen.

lines 258-262. Scott annotates these lines as follows:--

'The Romance of the Morte Arthur contains a sort of abridgment of the most celebrated adventures of the Round Table; and, being written in comparatively modern language, gives the general reader an excellent idea of what romances of chivalry actually were. It has also the merit of being written in pure old English; and many of the wild adventures which it contains are told with a simplicity bordering upon the sublime. Several of these are referred to in the text; and I would have ill.u.s.trated them by more full extracts, but as this curious work is about to be republished, I confine myself to the tale of the Chapel Perilous, and of the quest of Sir Launcelot after the Sangreal.

'"Right so Sir Lanncelot departed, and when he came to the Chapell Perilous, he alighted downe, and tied his horse to a little gate.

And as soon as he was within the churchyard, he saw, on the front of the chapell, many faire rich shields turned upside downe; and many of the shields Sir Launcelot had seene knights have before; with that he saw stand by him thirtie great knights, more, by a yard, than any man that ever he had seene, and all those grinned and gnashed at Sir Launcelot; and when he saw their countenance, hee dread them sore, and so put his shield afore him, and tooke his sword in his hand ready to doe battaile; and they were all armed in black harneis, ready, with their shields and swords drawen. And when Sir Launcelot would have gone through them, they scattered on every side of him, and gave him the way; and therewith he waxed all bold, and entered into the chapell, and then hee saw no light but a dimme lampe burning, and then was he ware of a corps covered with a cloath of silke; then Sir Launcelot stooped downe, and cut a piece of that cloath away, and then it fared under him as the earth had quaked a little, whereof he was afeard, and then hee saw a faire sword lye by the dead knight, and that he gat in his hand, and hied him out of the chappell. As soon as he was in the chappell-yerd, all the knights spoke to him with a grimly voice, and said, 'Knight, Sir Launcelot, lay that sword from thee, or else thou shalt die.'-- 'Whether I live or die,' said Sir Launcelot, 'with no great words get yee it againe, therefore fight for it and ye list.' Therewith he pa.s.sed through them; and beyond the chappell-yerd, there met him a faire damosell, and said, 'Sir Launcelot, leave that sword behind thee, or thou wilt die for it.'--'I will not leave it,' said Sir Launcelot, 'for no threats.'--'No?' said she; 'and ye did leave that sword, Queen Guenever should ye never see.'--'Then were I a foole and I would leave this sword,' said Sir Launcelot. 'Now, gentle knight,' said the damosell, 'I require thee to kisse me once.'-- 'Nay,' said Sir Launcelot, 'that G.o.d forbid!'--'Well, sir,' said she, 'and thou hadest kissed me thy life dayes had been done; but now, alas!' said she, 'I have lost all my labour; for I ordeined this chappell for thy sake, and for Sir Gawaine: and once I had Sir Gawaine within it; and at that time he fought with that knight which there lieth dead in yonder chappell, Sir Gilbert the b.a.s.t.a.r.d, and at that time hee smote off Sir Gilbert the b.a.s.t.a.r.d's left hand. And so, Sir Launcelot, now I tell thee, that I have loved thee this seaven yeare; but there may no woman have thy love but Queene Guenever; but sithen I may not rejoyice thee to have thy body alive, I had kept no more joy in this world but to have had thy dead body; and I would have balmed it and served, and so have kept it in my life daies, and daily I should have clipped thee, and kissed thee, in the despite of Queen Guenever.'--'Yee say well,' said Sir Launcelot; 'Jesus preserve me from your subtill craft." And therewith he took his horse, and departed from her."'

Sir Thomas Malory's 'Morte D'Arthure' was first printed by Caxton in 4to., 1485. A new issue of this belongs to 1634. The republication referred to by Scott is probably the edition published in 1816, in two vols. l8mo. The Roxburghe Club made a sumptuous reprint in 1819, and Thomas Wright, in 1858, edited the work in three handy 8vo.

vols. from the text of 1634. This edition is furnished with a very useful introduction and notes.

lines 267-70. 'One day when Arthur was holding a high feast with his Knights of the Round Table, the Sangreal, or vessel out of which the last pa.s.sover was eaten, (a precious relic, which had long remained concealed from human eyes, because of the sins of the land,) suddenly appeared to him and all his chivalry. The consequence of this vision was, that all the knights took on them a solemn vow to seek the Sangreal. But, alas! it could only be revealed to a knight at once accomplished in earthly chivalry, and pure and guiltless of evil conversation. All Sir Launcelot's n.o.ble accomplishments were therefore rendered vain by his guilty intrigue with Queen Guenever, or Ganore; and in this holy quest he encountered only such disgraceful disasters as that which follows:--

'But Sir Launcelot rode overthwart and endlong in a wild forest, and held no path, but as wild adventure led him; and at the last, he came unto a stone crosse, which departed two wayes, in wast land; and, by the crosse, was a stone that was of marble; but it was so dark, that Sir Launcelot might not well know what it was. Then Sir Launcelot looked by him, and saw an old chappell, and there he wend to have found people. And so Sir Launcelot tied his horse to a tree, and there he put off his shield, and hung it upon a tree, and then hee went unto the chappell doore, and found it wasted and broken.

And within he found a faire altar, full richly arrayed with cloth of silk, and there stood a faire candlestick, which beare six great candles, and the candlesticke was of silver. And when Sir Launcelot saw this light, hee had a great will for to enter into the chappell, but he could find no place where hee might enter. Then was he pa.s.sing heavie and dismaied. Then he returned, and came again to his horse, and tooke off his saddle and his bridle, and let him pasture, and unlaced his helme, and ungirded his sword, and laid him downe to sleepe upon his shield, before the crosse.

'And so hee fell on sleepe; and, halfe waking and halfe sleeping, hee saw come by him two palfreys, both faire and white, the which beare a litter, therein lying a sicke knight. And when he was nigh the crosse, he there abode still. All this Sir Launcelot saw and beheld, for hee slept not verily, and hee heard him say, "O sweete Lord, when shall this sorrow leave me, and when shall the holy vessell come by me, where through I shall be blessed, for I have endured thus long for little trespa.s.se!" And thus a great while complained the knight, and allwaies Sir Launcelot heard it. With that Sir Launcelot saw the candlesticke, with the fire tapers, come before the crosse; but he could see no body that brought it. Also there came a table of silver, and the holy vessel of the Sancgreall, the which Sir Launcelot had seen before that time in King Petchour's house. And therewithall the sicke knight set him upright, and held up both his hands, and said, "Faire sweete Lord, which is here within the holy vessell, take heed to mee, that I may bee hole of this great malady!" And therewith upon his hands, and upon his knees, he went so nigh, that he touched the holy vessell, and kissed it: And anon he was hole, and then he said, "Lord G.o.d, I thank thee, for I am healed of this malady." Soo when the holy vessell had been there a great while, it went into the chappell againe, with the candlesticke and the light, so that Sir Launcelot wist not where it became, for he was overtaken with sinne, that he had no power to arise against the holy vessell, wherefore afterward many men said of him shame. But he tooke repentance afterward. Then the sicke knight dressed him upright, and kissed the crosse. Then anon his squire brought him his armes, and asked his lord how he did. "Certainly,"

said hee, I thanke G.o.d right heartily, for through the holy vessell I am healed: But I have right great mervaile of this sleeping knight, which hath had neither grace nor power to awake during the time that this holy vessell hath beene here present."--"I dare it right well say," said the squire, "that this same knight is defouled with some manner of deadly sinne, whereof he has never confessed."-- "By my faith," said the knight, "whatsoeer he be, he is unhappie; for, as I deeme, hee is of the fellowship of the Round Table, the which is entered into the quest of the Sancgreall."--"Sir," said the squire, "here I have brought you all your armes, save your helme and your sword; and, therefore, by mine a.s.sent, now may ye take this knight's helme and his sword;' and so he did. And when he was cleane armed, he took Sir Launcelot's horse, for he was better than his owne, and so they departed from the crosse.

'Then anon Sir Launcelot awaked, and set himselfe upright, and he thought him what hee had there seene, and whether it were dreames or not; right so he heard a voice that said, "Sir Launcelot, more hardy than is the stone, and more bitter than is the wood, and more naked and bare than is the liefe of the fig-tree, therefore go thou from hence, and withdraw thee from this holy place;" and when Sir Launcelot heard this, he was pa.s.sing heavy, and wist not what to doe. And so he departed sore weeping, and cursed the time that he was borne; for then he deemed never to have had more worship; for the words went unto his heart, till that he knew wherefore that hee was so called.'--SCOTT.

line 273. Arthur is the hero of the 'Faery Queene.' In his explanatory letter to Sir Walter Raleigh, Spenser says, 'I chose the historye of King Arthure, as most fitte for the excellency of his person, being made famous by many mens former workes, and also furthest from the daunger of envy, and suspicion of present time.'

line 274. Milton is said to have meditated in his youth the composition of an epic poem on Arthur and the Round Table. In 'Paradise Lost' ix. 26, he states that the subject of that poem pleased him 'long choosing and beginning late,' and references both in 'Paradise Lost' and 'Paradise Regained' prove his familiarity with the Arthurian legend. Cp. Par. Lost, i. 580, and Par. Reg. ii.

358.

line 275. Scott quotes from Dryden's 'Essay on Satire,' prefixed to the translation of Juvenal, regarding his projected Epic. 'Of two subjects,' says Dryden, 'I was doubtful whether I should choose that of King Arthur conquering the Saxons, which, being further distant in time, gives the greater scope to my invention; or that of Edward the Black Prince, in subduing Spain, and restoring it to the lawful prince, though a great tyrant, Pedro the Cruel....I might perhaps have done as well as some of my predecessors, or at least chalked out a way for others to amend my errors in a like design; but being encouraged only with fair words by King Charles II, my little salary ill paid, and no prospect of a future subsistence, I was then discouraged in the beginning of my attempt; and now age has overtaken me, and want, a more insufferable evil, through the change of the times, has wholly disabled me.'

lines 281-3. Dryden's dramas, certain of his translations, and various minor pieces adapted to the prevalent taste of his time, are unworthy of his genius. Pope's reflections on the poet forgetful of the dignity of his office, with the allusion to Dryden as an ill.u.s.tration ('Satires and Epistles,' v. 209), may be compared with this pa.s.sage;--

'I scarce can think him such a worthless thing, Unless he praise some monster of a king; Or virtue, or religion turn to sport, To please a lewd, or unbelieving court.

Unhappy Dryden! In all Charles's days, Roscommon only boasts unspotted bays.'

line 283. Cp. Gray's 'Progress of Poesy,' 103--

'Behold, where Dryden's less presumptuous car Wide o'er the fields of glory bear Two coursers of ethereal race, With necks in thunder cloth'd, and long-resounding pace';

and Pope's 'Satires and Epistles,' v. 267--

'Dryden taught to join The varying verse, the full-resounding line, The long majestic march, and energy divine.'

line 286. To break a lance is to enter the lists, to try one's strength. The concussion of two powerful knights would suffice to shiver the lances. Hence comes the figurative use. Cp. I Henry VI.

iii. 2,--

'What will you do, good greybeard? break a lance, And run a tilt at death within a chair?'

lines 288-309. The Genius of Chivalry is to be resuscitated from the deep slumber under which baneful spells have long effectually held him. The appropriateness of this is apparent when the true meaning of Chivalry is considered. Scott opens his 'Essay on Chivalry'

thus:--'The primitive sense of this well-known word, derived from the French Chevalier, signifies merely cavalry, or a body of soldiers serving on horseback; and it has been used in that general acceptation by the best of our poets, ancient and modern, from Milton to Thomas Campbell.' See Par. Lost, i. 307, and Battle of Hohenlinden.

line 294. To spur forward his horse on an expedition of adventures, like Spenser's Red Cross Knight. For the accoutrements and the duties of a knight see Scott's 'Essay on Chivalry' (Miscellaneous Works, vol. vi.). Cp. 'Faery Queene,' Book I, and (especially for the personified abstractions from line 300 onwards) Montgomerie's allegory, 'The Cherrie and the Slae.'

line 312. Ytene's oaks. 'The New Forest in Hampshire, anciently so called.'--SCOTT. Gundimore, the residence of W. S. Rose, was in this neighbourhood, and in an unpublished piece ent.i.tled 'Gundimore,'

Rose thus alludes to a visit of Scott's:--

'Here Walter Scott has woo'd the northern muse; Here he with me has joy'd to walk or cruise; And hence has p.r.i.c.k'd through Yten's holt, where we Have called to mind how under greenwood tree, Pierced by the partner of his "woodland craft,"

King Rufus fell by Tyrrell's random shaft.'

line 314. 'The "History of Bevis of Hampton" is abridged by my friend Mr. George Ellis, with that liveliness which extracts amus.e.m.e.nt even out of the most rude and unpromising of our old tales of chivalry. Ascapart, a most important personage in the romance, is thus described in an extract:--

"This geaunt was mighty and strong, And full thirty foot was long.

He was bristled like a sow; A foot he had between each brow; His lips were great, and hung aside; His eyen were hollow, his mouth was wide; Lothly he was to look on than, And liker a devil than a man.

His staff was a young oak, Hard and heavy was his stroke."

Specimens of Metrical Romances, vol. ii. p. 136.

'I am happy to say, that the memory of Sir Bevis is still fragrant in his town of Southampton; the gate of which is sentinelled by the effigies of that doughty knight errant and his gigantic a.s.sociate.'- -SCOTT.

CANTO FIRST.

The Introduction is written on a basis of regular four-beat couplets, each line being technically an iambic tetrameter; lines 96, 205, and 283 are Alexandrines, or iambic hexameters, each serving to give emphasis and resonance (like the ninth of the Spenserian stanza) to the pa.s.sage which it closes. Intensity of expression is given by the triplet which closes the pa.s.sage ending with line 125. The metrical basis of the movement in the Canto is likewise iambic tetrameter, but the trimeter or three-beat line is freely introduced, and the poet allows himself great scope in his arrangement.

Stanza I. line 1. 'The ruinous castle of Norham (anciently called Ubbanford) is situated on the southern bank of the Tweed, about six miles above Berwick, and where that river is still the boundary between England and Scotland. The extent of its ruins, as well as its historical importance, shows it to have been a place of magnificence, as well as strength. Edward I resided there when he was created umpire of the dispute concerning the Scottish succession. It was repeatedly taken and retaken during the wars between England and Scotland; and, indeed, scarce any happened, in which it had not a princ.i.p.al share. Norham Castle is situated on a steep bank, which overhangs the river. The repeated sieges which the castle had sustained, rendered frequent repairs necessary. In 1164, it was almost rebuilt by Hugh Pudsey, Bishop of Durham, who added a huge keep, or donjon; notwithstanding which, King Henry II, in 1174, took the castle from the bishop, and committed the keeping of it to William de Neville. After this period it seems to have been chiefly garrisoned by the King, and considered as a royal fortress. The Greys of Chillinghame Castle were frequently the castellans, or captains of the garrison: Yet, as the castle was situated in the patrimony of St. Cuthbert, the property was in the see of Durham till the Reformation. After that period, it pa.s.sed through various hands. At the union of the crowns, it was in the possession of Sir Robert Carey, (afterwards Earl of Monmouth,) for his own life, and that of two of his sons. After King James's accession, Carey sold Norham Castle to George Home, Earl of Dunbar, for L6000. See his curious Memoirs, published by Mr. Constable of Edinburgh.

'According to Mr. Pinkerton, there is, in the British Museum. Cal.

B. 6. 216, a curious memoir of the Dacres on the state of Norham Castle in 1522, not long after the battle of Flodden. The inner ward, or keep, is represented as impregnable:--"The provisions are three great vats of salt eels, forty-four kine, three hogsheads of salted salmon, forty quarters of grain, besides many cows and four hundred sheep, lying under the castle-wall nightly; but a number of the arrows wanted feathers, and a good Fletcher [i.e. maker of arrows] was required."--History of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 201, note.

'The ruins of the castle are at present considerable, as well as picturesque. They consist of a large shattered tower, with many vaults, and fragments of other edifices, enclosed within an outward wall of great circuit.'--SCOTT.

line 4. battled = embattled, furnished with battlements. See Introd.

to Canto V. line 90, and cp. Tennyson's 'Dream of Fair Women,' line 220:--

'The valleys of grape-loaded vines that glow Beneath the BATTLED TOWER.'

the donjon keep. 'It is perhaps unnecessary to remind my readers, that the donjon, in its proper signification, means the strongest part of a feudal castle; a high square tower, with walls of tremendous thickness, situated in the centre of the other buildings, from which, however, it was usually detached. Here, in case of the outward defences being gained, the garrison retreated to make their last stand. The donjon contained the great hall, and princ.i.p.al rooms of state for solemn occasions, and also the prison of the fortress; from which last circ.u.mstance we derive the modern and restricted use of the word dungeon. Ducange (voce DUNJO) conjectures plausibly, that the name is derived from these keeps being usually built upon a hill, which in Celtic is called DUN. Borlase supposes the word came from the darkness of the apartments in these towers, which were thence figuratively called Dungeons; thus deriving the ancient word from the modern application of it.'--SCOTT.

line 6. flanking walls, walls protecting it on the sides. Cp. the use of FLANKED in Dryden's 'Annus Mirabilis' xxvi;--

'By the rich scent we found our perfumed prey, Which, FLANKED with rocks, did close in covert lie.'

Stanza II. line 14. St. George's banner. St. George's red cross on a white field was the emblem on the English national standard. Saint George is the legendary patron saint who slew the dragon.

Stanza III. line 29. Horncliff-hill is one of the numerous hillocks to the east of Norham. There is a village of the same name.

A plump of spears. Scott writes, 'This word applies to flight of water-fowl; but is applied by a.n.a.logy to a body of horse:--

"There is a knight of the North Country, Which leads a l.u.s.ty PLUMP of spears."

Flodden Field'

line 33. mettled, same as metalled (mettle being a variant of metall, spirited, ardent. So 'mettled hound' in 'Jock o' Hazeldean.'

Cp. Julius Caesar, iv. 2. 23:--