Page:Marmion - Walter Scott (ed. Bayne, 1889).pdf/228

 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;—

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

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

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,—

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