"Lay of the Last Minstrel" (Vol. iii., p. 367.).
—The BORDERER, with whom, I fancy, every one will fully agree, has himself been guilty of incuria in charging it upon Walter Scott. The great festival at which Michael Scott marches off with the Goblin Page, was to celebrate, not the nuptials, but the betrothal, of the hero and heroine. I do not think I have read the Lay since I was a boy; but yet I will bet five nothings to one, that the following lines are spoken by the Lady, when she gives way, as she says, to Fate:—
"For this is your betrothing day,
And all these noble lords shall stay
And grace it with their company."
It would be an excellent thing if some of your correspondents would furnish you with materials for a corner, to be entitled, "The Prophecy of Criticism." It should give, by short extract, those presages in which criticism abounds, taken from the Reviews of twenty years or more preceding the current year. Thus, in this year of 1851, the corner should be open to any prophecy uttered in or before 1831, and palpably either fulfilled or falsified. In a little while, when the subject begins to cool, the admission should be restricted to prophecy of precisely twenty years of previous date. Such a corner would be useful warning to critics, and useful knowledge to their readers.
M.
Tingry (Vol. ii., p. 477.).
—In reply to E.V.'s Query, if there is any place in the north of France bearing that name, I may inform him that Tingry is a commune near Samer, in the arrondissement of Boulogne. Tingry Hill is the highest spot in the neighbourhood. In the Boulogne Museum are several mediæval antiquities found at Tingry.
P. S. KG.