Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field in Six CantosScott, Walter
General
Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field in Six Cantos
Scott, Walter
Flodden, Battle of, England, 1513 -- Poetry
line 300. 'When the King saw his own banner displayed against him,
and his son in the faction of his enemies, he lost the little
courage he ever possessed, fled out of the field, fell from his
horse as it started at a woman and water-pitcher, and was slain, it
was not well understood by whom.'--SCOTT.
Stanza XVI. line 312. In the church of St. Michael, adjoining the
palace.
line 316. The earliest known mention of the thistle as the national
badge is in the inventory of the effects of James III, Thistles were
inscribed on the coins of the next four reigns, and they were
accompanied in the reign of James VI for the first time by the motto
Nemo me impune lacessit. James II of Great Britain formally
inaugurated the Order of the Thistle on 29 May, 1687, but it was not
till the reign of Anne, 31 Dec. 1703, that it became a fully defined
legal institution. The Order is also known as the Order of St.
Andrew.--See CHAMBERS'S Encyclopedia.
line 318. It was natural and fit that Lyndsay should be present. It
is more than likely that he had a leading hand in the enterprise. As
tutor to the young Prince, it had been a recognised part of his duty
to amuse him by various disguises; and he was likewise the first
Scottish poet with an adequate dramatic sense.
line 336. See St. John xix. 25-27.
Stanza XVII. line 350. The special reference here is to the
influence of Lady Heron. See above, I. xvi. 265, and below, V. x.
261.
Stanza XIX. The skilful descriptive touches of this stanza are
noteworthy. Cp. opening passages of Coleridge's 'Christabel,'
especially the seven lines beginning, 'Is the night chilly and
dark?'
Stanza XXI. line 440. Grimly is not unknown as a poetical adj.
'Margaret's GRIMLY ghost,' in Beaumont and FIetcher's 'Knight of the
Burning Pestle,' II. i, is a familiar example. See above, p. 194,
line 25, 'GRIMLY voice.' For 'ghast' as an adj., cp. Keats's 'Otho
the Great,' V. v. 11, 'How ghast a train!'
line. 449. See below, V. xxiv, ''Twere long and needless here to
tell,' and cp. AEneid I. 341:--
'Longa est iniuria, longae
Ambages; sed summa sequar fastigia rerum.'
Stanza XXII. line 461. See above, III. xxv. 503, and note.
lines 467-470. Rothiemurchus, near Alvie, co. of Inverness, on
Highland Railway; Tomantoul in co. of Banff, N. E. of Rothiemurchus;
Auchnaslaid in co. of Inverness, near S. W. border of Aberdeen;
Forest of Dromouchty on Inverness border eastward of Loch Ericht;
Glenmore, co-extensive with Caledonian Canal.
lines 477-480. Cp. the teaching of Coleridge's 'Ancient Mariner' and
'Christabel.' In the former these stanzas are specially notable:--
'O happy living things! no tongue
Their beauty might declare:
A spring of love gushed from my heart,
And I blessed them unaware:
Sure my kind saint took pity on me,
And I blessed them unaware.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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