James.—Quære—Pierce, or rather stab—wound is faint.
Scott.—"Pierce."
Stanza XXII.—"Forgive, brave fallen, the imperfect lay."
James.—Don't like "brave fallen" at all; nor "appropriate praise," three lines after. The latter in particular is prosaic.
Scott.—"Forgive, brave dead," —— "The dear-earned praise."[Back to Contents]
CHAPTER XXXVI.
field of waterloo published. — revision of paul's letters, etc. — quarrel and reconciliation with hogg. — football match at carterhaugh. — songs on the banner of buccleuch. — dinner at bowhill. — design for a piece of plate to the sutors of selkirk. — letters to the duke of buccleuch, joanna baillie, and mr. morritt.
1815.
The poem of The Field of Waterloo was published before the end of October; the profits of the first edition being the author's contribution to the fund raised for the relief of the widows and children of the soldiers slain in the battle. This piece appears to have disappointed those most disposed to sympathize with the author's views and feelings. The descent is indeed heavy from his Bannockburn to his Waterloo: the presence, or all but visible reality of what his dreams cherished, seems to have overawed his imagination, and tamed it into a weak pomposity of movement. The burst of pure native enthusiasm upon the Scottish heroes that fell around the Duke of Wellington's person bears, however, the broadest marks of the "Mighty Minstrel:"—
"Saw gallant Miller's fading eye
Still bent where Albyn's standards fly,
And Cameron, in the shock of steel,
Die like the offspring of Lochiel," etc.;—