Through forty foes his path he made, 'Bois-Guilbert-pushed over the draw-bridge, dispersing 'the archers who would have intercepted him. He was 'followed by his Saracens, and some five or six men at · arms, who had mounted their horses.-The towering 'flames had now surmounted every obstruction, and rose to 'the evening skies one huge and burning beacon, seen far ' and wide through the adjacent country. Tower after tower crashed down, with blazing roof and rafter; and the 'combatants were driven from the court-yard. The vanquished, of whom very few remained, scattered, and escaped ' into the neighbouring wood. The victors, assembling in large bands, gazed with wonder, not unmixed with fear, ' upon the flames, in which their own ranks and arms glanced dusky red. The maniac figure of the Saxon Ulrica was ' for a long time visible on the lofty stand she had chosen, tossing her arms abroad with wild exultation, as if she ' reigned empress of the conflagration which she had raised. At length, with a terrific crash, the whole turret gave way, and she perished in the flames which had consumed her tyrant. An awful pause of horror silenced each murmur ' of the armed spectators, who, for the space of several DD 'minutes, stirred not a finger, save to sign the cross. The ' voice of Locksley was then heard, Shout, yeomen! the 'den of tyrants is no more!''-Ivanhoe, vol. iii. ch. 1. "But oft Matilda look'd behind, As up the vale of Tees they wind, 'While he thus spoke, the carriage making a sudden turn, showed them, through the left window, the village at some distance, but still widely beaconed by the fire, which, having reached a storehouse where spirits were deposited, now rose high into the air, a wavering column of brilliant light.'-Guy Mannering, vol. iii. ch. 9. As he spoke, Ravenswood attained the ridge of the hill 'from which Wolf's Crag was visible; the flames had entirely sunk down, and to his great surprise there was only a dusky reddening upon the clouds immediately over the castle, which seemed the reflection of the embers of the 'sunken fire.'-Bride of Lammermoor, vol. ii. ch. 12. The kindling of a beacon is thus related in prose and in verse: 'He lighted the beacon accordingly, which threw up to 'the sky a long wavering train of light, startling the sea'fowl from their nests, and reflected far beneath by the reddening billows of the sea. The brother warders of Caxon being equally diligent, caught and repeated his signal. 'The lights glanced on headlands and capes and inland 'hills, and the whole district was alarmed by the signal of 'invasion.'-Antiquary, vol. iii. ch. 16. "The ready page, with hurried hand, For a sheet of flame, from the turret high, All flaring and uneven; And soon a score of fires, I ween, From height, and hill, and cliff, were seen, Each with warlike tidings fraught; Each from each the signal caught; Each after each they glanced to sight, As stars arise upon the night." Lay of the Last Minstrel, Canto III. St. 29. Let me now refresh your mind's eye with part of a morning picture ; 'The daylight had dawned upon the glades of the oak 'forest. The green boughs glittered with all their pearls of ' dew. The hind led her fawn from the covert of high fern 'to the more open walks of the green-wood.'-Ivanhoe, vol. iii. ch. 2. "The summer dawn's reflected hue To purple changed Loch-Katrine blue; Mildly and soft the western breeze Just kissed the lake, just stirred the trees. The doe awoke, and to the lawn Lady of the Lake, Canto III. St. 2. There are several circumstances in Lovel's nocturnal adventure at St. Ruth's*, which may remind you of the justly celebrated scene at Melrose in the Lay of the Last Minstrelt. The moonlight, the humid freshness of the flowers, the old and young man sitting down together amidst the ruins, and the figure of St. Michael trampling on the dragon, are common to both descriptions. In both there is a treasure to be sought beneath a tomb-stone, which being raised, in one narrative we are told that a supernatural light broke forth, in the other it is expressly mentioned that no such light appeared: but in both instances the adventurers are disturbed by mysterious noises in the cloister-galleries. In speaking of the moon as seen in a tempestuous sky, the novelist says that she waded amid the stormy and 'dusky clouds, which the wind from time to time drove across her 'surface.'-Antiquary, vol. ii. ch. 10. Thus too the poet, "The wading moon, with storm-presaging gleam, Now gave and now withheld her doubtful beam." In a clear night, "the cold light's uncertain shower Streams,"-&c. Lay of the Last Minstrel, Canto II. St. 1. * Antiquary, vol. ii. ch. 6. + Canto II. St. 7 to 22. "There's a silver shower on the alders dank.'-Monastery, vol. i. ch. 5. The following image in the description of a torrent "Each wave was crested with tawny foam, Like the mane of a chesnut steed—” Lay of the Last Minstrel, Canto I. St. 28. is thus in part repeated: 'She could see the crest of the torrent flung loose down 'the rock like the mane of a wild horse.'-Heart of Mid Lothian, vol. iv. ch. 13. The singular and interesting picture of a salmon-hunt, given in the second volume of Guy Mannering (chap. 5), occurs again in a reduced form, but clearly to be recognized, in a small poem (already alluded to) which is published with the Bridal of Triermain and Harold, beginning On • Ettrick Forest's mountains dun.' The prose passage is too long to be extracted; the verses are these: "'Tis blythe along the midnight tide, 6 Like Genii, armed with fiery spears." The following passages closely resemble each other: "Hark! the English are setting their watch.' The roll ' of the drum and shrill accompaniment of the fifes swelled up the hill-died away-resumed its thunder-and was ' at length hushed. The trumpets and kettle-drums of the 6 |