Nothing could surpass, for vivid force, the meeting and the duel between the disguised king and the rebel chieftain, Roderick Dhu, or that rapid flight of the Fiery Cross over mountain and moor by which the clansmen are summoned to the tryst. The opening of Michael Scott's grave in The Lay of the Last Minstrel, and the battle of Flodden at the close of Marmion, are pictures that none but true genius could paint. The fine songs scattered through the works of Scott afford further evidence of his great poetic powers. Who does not know and delight in "Young Lochinvar" and "Bonnie Dundee "?

Scott was eminently a painter in words. The picturesque was his forte. Witness the magnificent descriptions of natural scenery-sunsets, stormy sea, deep woodland glades-with which many of his chapters open. But his portraitures surpass his landscapes. For variety and true painting of character he was undoubtedly the Shakespeare of our English prose. What a crowd of names, "familiar as household words," come rushing on the mind as we think of the gallery of portraits his magical pencil has left for our endless delight and study!

LOCHINVAR.
I.

Он, young Lochinvar is come out of the West,-
Through all the wide Border his steed was the best!
And, save his good broadsword, he weapon had none,-
He rode all unarmed, and he rode all alone.

So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war,

There never was knight like the young Lochinvar.

5

II.

He stayed not for brake, and he stopped not for stone,
He swam the Eske river where ford there was none;
But, ere he alighted at Netherby gate,

The bride had consented, the gallant came late:

For a laggard in love, and a dastard in war,
Was to wed the fair Ellen of brave Lochinvar.

So boldly he entered the Netherby hall,
'Mong bridesmen, and kinsmen, and brothers, and all:
Then spoke the bride's father, his hand on his sword

(For the poor craven bridegroom said never a word),

'Oh, come ye in peace here, or come ye in war,

Or to dance at our bridal, young Lord Lochinvar ?”-

IV.

"I long wooed your daughter,-my suit you denied ;-
Love swells like the Solway, but ebbs like its tide;
And now am I come, with this lost love of mine
To lead but one measure, drink one cup of wine.

ANALYSIS.-7. He stayed not; that is, he hesitated not.

8. Dispose of none.

9. Parse ere.

10. Name the modifiers of consented.... the gallant came late. To whom does this refer?

11 What is the meaning of laggard?

12. Give the grammatical construction of to wed.

13. Give the syntax of so. What are the modifiers of entered!

15. Supply ellipsis, and give the syntax of hand.

16. Parse never.

19. Write in prose order.

20. Point out the figure in this line. Explain the line.

21. am come. What is the common form?

with this lost love. What does the phrase modify?

Give the syntax of mine.

22. To lead but one measure.

Give the meaning.

10

15

20

There are maidens in Scotland, more lovely by far,
That would gladly be bride to the young Lochinvar."

The bride kissed the goblet; the knight took it up;
He quaffed off the wine, and he threw down the cup.
She looked down to blush, and she looked up to sigh,
With a smile on her lip, and a tear in her eye.

He took her soft hand, ere her mother could bar,-
Now tread we a measure!" said young Lochinvar.

VI.

So stately his form, and so lovely her face,
That never a hall such a galliard did grace;

While her mother did fret, and her father did fume,
And the bridegroom stood dangling his bonnet and plume;
And the bride-maidens whispered, ""Twere better, by far,
To have matched our fair cousin with young Lochinvar."

VII.

One touch to her hand, and one word in her ear,

When they reached the hall-door, and the charger stood near; So light to the croupe the fair lady he swung,

So light to the saddle before her he sprung:

ANALYSIS.-23. Give the construction of There and fur.

23, 24. Name the modifiers of maidens.

25. Parse up.

26. Give the syntax of off and down.

29. What is the meaning of bar?

30. "Now tread we a measure!" What is the meaning? Give the syntax of tread.

30 What is the object of said?

32 What is the meaning of galliard?

35. What is the object of whispered? Give the grammatical con sti iction of 'Twere and far. Name the modifiers of better.

56. Give the construction of To have matched.

39. Give the construction of light.

37, 38. Explain these lines.

29. What is the meaning of croupe?

25

30

35

40

45

"She is won! we are gone! over bank, bush, and scaur; They'll have fleet steeds that follow," quoth young Lochinvar.

VIII.

There was mounting 'mong Græmes of the Netherby clan;
Forsters, Fenwicks, and Musgraves, they rode and they ran:
There was racing and chasing on Cannobie Lee,
But the lost bride of Netherby ne'er did they see.
So daring in love, and so dauntless in war,
Have ye e'er heard of gallant like young Lochinvar?

ANALYSIS.-41. Parse gone. Name the modifiers of gone. 41. scaur here means a precipitous rock.

42. Name the antecedent of that. Give the syntax and the modifiers of quoth.

see.

43. 'mong. What figure of orthography? Explain the line. 46. ne'er. Of what is this a contraction?

47. What do daring and dauntless modify?

Give the modifiers of

48. Explain the contraction e'er. Give the construction of like and Lochinvar.

THE LAST MINSTREL.

THE way was long, the wind was cold,
The Minstrel was infirm and old;
His withered cheek, and tresses gray,
Seemed to have known a better day;
The harp, his sole remaining joy,
Was carried by an orphan boy:
The last of all the Bards was he
Who sung of Border chivalry;
For, well-a-day! their date was fled,
His tuneful brethren all were dead;
And he, neglected and oppressed,
Wished to be with them, and at rest.
No more, on prancing palfrey borne,
He caroled, light as lark at morn;

No longer, courted and caressed,

High placed in hall, a welcome guest,
He poured, to lord and lady gay,
The unpremeditated lay.

Old times were changed, old manners gone;
A stranger fills the Stuarts' throne;
The bigots of the iron time.

Had called his harmless art a crime.
A wandering harper, scorned and poor,
He begged his way from door to door;
And tuned, to please a peasant's ear,
The harp a king had loved to hear.

PATRIOTISM.

BREATHES there a man with soul so dead Who never to himself hath said,

This is my own, my native land?Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned, As home his footsteps he hath turned

From wandering on a foreign strand? If such there breathe, go, mark him well; For him no minstrel raptures swell; High though his titles, proud his name, Boundless his wealth as wish can claim, Despite those titles, power, and pelf, The wretch, concentred all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonored, and unsung.