Letters, which came up in a night and perished in a night, has proved the type of authority so absolute, and ' of fame so diffused.' Letter XII. The Prophet's gourd ' did not wither more suddenly.'-Kenilworth, vol. iii. ch. 11. The fondness for scriptural allusions evinced by both writers in a multitude of instances, and arising evidently from an intimate acquaintance with the Sacred Volume, is among their strongest peculiarities; and I refer now rather to the language employed by them when speaking in their own persons, than to that by which they distinguish imaginary characters. 66 "What becomes of those victims,' asks Miss Vernon, 'who are condemned to a convent by the will of others— if they are born to enjoy life, and feel its blessings?'They are like imprisoned singing birds, condemned to "wear out their lives in confinement, which they try to be" guile by the exercise of accomplishments, which would ' have adorned society, had they been left at large.' "I shall be,' returned Miss Vernon- that is,' said she, correcting herself— I would be rather like the wild hawk, 'who, barred the free exercise of his soar through heaven, • will dash himself to pieces against the bars of his cage.' – Rob Roy, vol. i. ch. 5. Thus, in the Lady of the Lake, "The captive thrush may brook the cage, Canto vi. st. 22. The imagery and turn of thought in these two sentences are strikingly similar: "Prince, beware! From the chafed tiger rend the prey, Rush on the lion when at bay, But shun that lovely snare!" Bridal of Triermain, Canto i. st. 19. Arouse the tiger of Hyrcanian deserts, Of wild Fanaticism.-Anonymous. Ivanhoe, vol. iii. ch. 5. Motto. The following mode of introducing words supposed to proceed from a supernatural personage, is used by both writers "So! com'st thou ere the spell is spoke? 'Daughter of dust,' the Deep Voice said," &c. "The Deep Voice said, 'O wild of will,'" &c. "Know'st thou not me?' the Deep Voice cried." Antiquary, vol. i. c. 10. Christie of the Clint-hill, never rode a foray, without duly saying his pater-noster, as William of Deloraine used to repeat an Ave Mary on similar occasions*. It may be worthy of notice, that in Harold the Dauntless †, * Monastery, vol. iii. ch.7; Lay of the last Minstrel, canto ii. st. 6. † Canto i. st. 21. there is a wise and good Canon Eustace, as in The Monastery, and a Prior of Jorvaux, who is robbed *, as in Ivanhoe. Colonel Mannering's eyes, in moments of indignation, 'flashed a dark light.' Dark lightning flashed from Ro'derick's eye,' when Fitz-James proposed his submitting to the royal mercy t. There is in the novels and poems, a peculiar coinage of noms-de-guerre, apparently issuing from one and the same fancy; as, for instance, Dickon Draw-the-sword, Arthur Fire-the-braest, Tony Fire-the-Faggot, Lawrence Lockthe-doors, Diccon Bend-the-bow ||, and Michael Wingthe-Wind ¶. The Flemish women,' observes the traveller Paul, 'are "not, I think, so handsome as my fair countrywomen, or my 'walks and visits were unfortunate in the specimens they pre'sented of female beauty. But then, you have the old dress, 'with the screen, or mantle, hanging over the head, and falling • down upon each shoulder, which was formerly peculiar to 'Scotland. The colour of this mantle is indeed different; in Scotland it was usually tartan; and in Flanders, it is 6 uniformly black.'-Paul's Letters, Letter I. The same similarity of costume is more than once noticed in the novels. Her hands trembled-as she adjusted the scarlet tartan screen or muffler made of plaid, which the Scottish women *Harold the Dauntless, canto i. st. 16; Ivanhoe, vol. iii. ch. 3. + Guy Mannering, vol. i. ch. 13; Lady of the Lake, canto v. st. 14. Lay of the Last Minstrel, canto vi. st. 7, 8. § Kenilworth, vol. i. ch. 2. iii. ch. 4. 1 Ivanhoe, vol. iii. ch. 3. Abbot, vol. ii. ch. 3. wore, much in the fashion of the black silk veils, still a part of female dress in the Netherlands.'-Heart of Mid Lothian, vol. ii. ch. 2. In one of the female forms which tripped along the 'street, muffled in a veil of striped silk, like the women of 'Brussels at this day, his eye had discerned something which 6 closely resembled the exquisite shape and spirited bearing ' of Catherine Seyton.'-Abbot, vol. ii. ch. 2. A thought in the following lines from the Lady of the Lake, is repeated with some slight variation in a far more beautiful passage "For me, whose memory scarce conveys An image of more splendid days, This little flower, that loves the lea, It drinks heaven's dew as blithe as rose, Allan, a bard is bound to swear He ne'er saw coronet so fair." Lady of the Lake, Cantò ii. St. 9. . What signifies,' said she, that I have rank and honour in reality, if I am to live an obscure prisoner, without ' either society or observance, and suffering in my character, as one of dubious or disgraced reputation? I care not for all those strings of pearl, which you fret me by warping into my tresses, Janet. I tell you, that at Lidcote Hall, if I put but a fresh rose-bud among my hair, my good father would call me to him, that he might see it more closely, and the kind old curate would smile, and Master 'Mumblazen would say something about roses gules; and now I sit here, decked out like an image, with gold and gems, and no one to see my finery but you, Janet. There 'was the poor Tressilian too-but it avails not speaking of him.'-Kenilworth, vol. ii. ch. 10. The two lines “O for a blast of that dread horn, On Fontarabian echoes borne-" Marmion, Canto vi. St. 33. are copied almost word for word in the verses of Francis Osbaldistone, so unmercifully criticised by his father. "O for the voice of that wild horn, On Fontarabian echoes borne-" Rob Roy, vol. i. ch. 2. A refined speculator might perhaps conceive that so glaring a repetition as this could not be the effect of inadvertence, but that the novelist, induced by some transient whim or caprice, had intentionally appropriated the verses of his great contemporary. I cannot, however, imagine any motive for such a proceeding, more especially as it must appear somewhat unhandsome to take possession of another man's lines, for the mere purpose of exhibiting them in a ridiculous light. Nor does it seem to me at all unlikely that the author of Marmion, supposing him to be also the author of Rob Roy, should have unconsciously repeated himself in this instance, for we find him more than once apologising in his avowed works, for having, in the haste of composition, snatched up expressions, and even whole lines of other writers*: * See Marmion, note 2 to canto v. Same work, conclusion of the notes. Lady of the Lake, conclusion of the notes. |