Page:Marmion - Walter Scott (ed. Bayne, 1889).pdf/330

 the watchword of all imaginative writers. Cp. Thackeray's "Rebecca and Rowena.'

1. 1155. Hall and Holinshed were chroniclers of the sixteenth century, to both of whom Shakespeare was indebted for pliant material.

1. 1168. Sir Thomas More, Lord Sands, and Anthony Denny. See Henry VIII.

11. 1169-70. The references are to old homely customs at weddings. See Brand's 'Popular Antiquities.'

L'Envoy.

Scott's fondness for archaisms makes him add his L'Envoy in the manner of early English and Scottish poets. See e.g. Spenser's 'Shepherd's Calendar' and the 'Phoenix' of James VI.

1. 4. Rede, 'used generally for tale or discourse:'-Scott.

1. 6. Cp. William Morris's introduction to 'Earthly Paradise,' where the poet calls himself

'The idle singer of an empty day.'

1. 17. This hearty wish is uttered, no doubt, with certain reminiscences of the author's own school days. His youthful spirit, and his genial sympathy with the young, are prominent features in the character of Sir Walter Scott.

THE END.