Marmion

by Walter 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 illustration (‘Satires and Epistles,’ v. 209), may be compared with this passage;-

  ‘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 entitled ‘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 prick’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 amusement 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 associate.’-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 passage which it closes. Intensity of expression is given by the triplet which closes the passage 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 principal 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 passed 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 gr
ain, 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 principal rooms of state for solemn occasions, and also the prison of the fortress; from which last circumstance 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 analogy to a body of horse:-

  “There is a knight of the North Country,

  Which leads a lusty 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:-

  ‘But hollow men, like horses hot at hand,

  Make gallant show and promise of their mettle.’

  ‘Metal’ in the same sense is frequent in Shakespeare. See Meas. for Meas. i. I; Julius Caesar, i. 2; Hamlet, iii 2.

  line 35. palisade (Fr. paliser, to enclose with pales), a firm row of stakes presenting a sharp point to an advancing party.

  line 38. hasted, Elizabethanism = hastened. Cp. Merch. of Venice, ii. 2. 104-‘Let it be so hasted that supper be ready at the farthest by five of the clock.’

  line 42. sewer, taster; squire, knight’s attendant; seneschal, steward. See ‘Lay of the Last Minstrel,’ vi. 6, and note on Par. Lost, ix. 38, in Clarendon Press Milton:-

  ‘Then marshalled feast

  Served up in hall with sewers, and seneschals.’

  Stanza IV. line 43. Malvoisie = Malmsey, from Malvasia, now Napoli di Malvasia, in the Morea.

  line 55. portcullis, a strong timber framework within the gateway of a castle, let down in grooves and having iron spikes at the bottom.

  Stanzas V and VI. Marmion, strenuous in arms and prudent in counsel, has a kinship in spirit and achievement with the Homeric heroes. Compare him also with the typical knight in Chaucer’s Prologue and the Red Cross Knight at the opening of the ‘Faerie Queene.’ Scott annotates ‘Milan steel’ and the legend thus:-

  ‘The artists of Milan were famous in the middle ages for their skill in armoury, as appears from the following passage, in which Froissart gives an account of the preparations made by Henry, Earl of Hereford, afterwards Henry IV, and Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marischal, for their proposed combat in the lists at Coventry:-”These two lords made ample provisions of all things necessary for the combat; and the Earl of Derby sent off messengers to Lombardy, to have armour from Sir Galeas, Duke of Milan. The Duke complied with joy, and gave the knight, called Sir Francis, who had brought the message, the choice of all his armour for the Earl of Derby. When he had selected what he wished for in plated and mail armour, the Lord of Milan, out of his abundant love for the Earl, ordered four of the best armourers in Milan to accompany the knight to England, that the Earl of Derby might be more completely armed.”-JOHNES’ Froissart, vol. iv. p.597.

  ‘The crest and motto of Marmion are borrowed from the following story:-

  Sir David de Lindsay, first Earl of Cranford, was, among other gentlemen of quality, attended, during a visit to London in 1390, by Sir William Dalzell, who was, according to my authority, Bower, not only excelling in wisdom, but also of a lively wit. Chancing to be at the Court, he there saw Sir Piers Conrtenay, an English knight, famous for skill in tilting, and for the beauty of his person, parading the palace, arrayed in a new mantle, bearing for device an embroidered falcon, with this rhyme,-

  “I bear a falcon, fairest of night,

  Whoso pinches at her, his death is dight1

  In graith2.”

  ――――――――――――――――――――――――――-

  1prepared. 2armour.

  ――――――――――――――――――――――――――-

  ‘The Scottish knight, being a wag, appeared next day in a dress exactly similar to that of Courtenay, but bearing a magpie instead of the falcon, with a motto ingeniously contrived to rhyme to the vaunting inscription of Sir Piers:-

  “I bear a pie picking at a piece,

  Whoso picks at her, I shall pick at his nese3,

  In faith.”

  ――――――――――――――――――――――――――-

  3nose

  ――――――――――――――――――――――――――-

  ‘This affront could only be expiated by a just with sharp lances. In the course, Dalzell left his helmet unlaced, so that it gave way at the touch of his antagonist’s lance, and he thus avoided the shock of the encounter. This happened twice:-in the third encounter, the handsome Courtenay lost two of his front teeth. As the Englishman complained bitterly of Dalzell’s fraud in not fastening his helmet, the Scottishman agreed to run six courses more, each champion staking in the hand of the King two hundred pounds, to be forfeited, if, on entering the lists, any unequal advantage should be detected. This being agreed to, the wily Scot demanded that Sir Piers, in addition to the loss of his teeth, should consent to the extinction of one of his eyes, he himself having lost an eye in the fight of Otterburn. As Courtenay demurred to this equalisation of optical powers, Dalzell demanded the forfeit; which, after much altercation, the King appointed to be paid to him, saying, he surpassed the English both in wit and valour. This must appear to the reader a singular specimen of the humour of that time. I suspect the Jockey Club would have given a different decision from Henry IV.’

  lines 85-6. ‘The arms of Marmion would be Vairee, a fesse gules-a simple bearing, testifying to the antiquity of the race. The badge was An ape passant argent, ringed and chained with gold. The Marmions were the hereditary champions of England. The office passed to the Dymokes, through marriage, in the reign of Edward III.’-’Notes and Queries,’ 7th S. III. 37.

  Stanza VII. line 95. ‘The principal distinction between the independent esquire (terming him such who was attached to no knight’s service) and the knight was the spurs, which the esquire might wear of silver, but by no means gilded.’-Scott’s ‘Essay on Chivalry,’ p.64.

  With the squire’s ‘courteous
precepts’ compare those of Chaucer’s squire in the Prologue,-

  ‘He cowde songes make and wel endite,

  Juste and eek daunce, and wel purtreye and write.

  . . .

  Curteys he was, lowely, and servysable,