The Lady of the Lake | Page 4

restored the reading of the first edition, except in cases where I
have no doubt that the later reading is the poet's own correction or
alteration. There are obvious misprints in the first edition which Scott
himself overlooked (see on ii. 115, 217,, Vi. 527, etc.), and it is
sometimes difficult to decide whether a later reading--a change of a
plural to a singular, or like trivial variation--is a misprint or the author's
correction of an earlier misprint. I have done the best I could, with the
means at my command, to settle these questions, and am at least certain
that the text as I give it is nearer right than in any edition since 1821 As
all the variae lectiones are recorded in the Notes, the reader who does
not approve of the one I adopt can substitute that which he prefers.
I have retained all Scott's Notes (a few of them have been
somewhat
abridged) and all those added by Lockhart.[FN#l] My own I have made
as concise as possible. There are, of course, many of them which many
of my readers will not need, but I think there are none that may not be
of service, or at least of interest, to some of them; and I hope that no
one will turn to them for help without finding it.
Scott is much given to the use of Elizabethan words and
constructions,
and I have quoted many " parallelisms " from Shakespeare and his
contemporaries. I believe I have referred to my edition of Shakespeare
in only a single instance (on iii. 17), but teachers and others who have
that edition will find many additional illustrations in the Notes on the
passages cited.

While correcting the errors of former editors, I may have
overlooked
some of my own. I am already indebted to the careful proofreaders of
the University Press for the detection of
occasional slips in quotations
or references; and I shall be very grateful to my readers for a
memorandum of any others that they may discover.
Cambridge, June 23, 1883..
Argument.
The scene of the following Poem is laid chiefly in the vicinity of Loch
Katrine, in the Western Highlands of Perthshire. The time of Action
includes Six Days, and the transactions of each Day occupy a Canto.
THE LADY OF THE LAKE.
CANTO FIRST.
The Chase.
Harp of the North! that mouldering long hast hung
On the witch-elm that shades Saint Fillan's spring
And down the fitful
breeze thy numbers flung,
Till envious ivy did around thee cling,
Muffling with verdant ringlet
every string,--
O Minstrel Harp, still must shine accents sleep?
Mid rustling leaves
and fountains murmuring,
Still must thy sweeter sounds their silence keep,
Nor bid a warrior
smile, nor teach a maid to weep?
Not thus, in ancient days of Caledon,
Was thy voice mute amid the festal crowd,
When lay of hopeless love,
or glory won,

Aroused the fearful or subdued the proud.
At each according pause
was heard aloud
Thine ardent symphony sublime and high!
Fair dames and crested
chiefs attention bowed;
For still the burden of thy minstrelsy
Was Knighthood's dauntless
deed, and Beauty's matchless eye.
O, wake once more ! how rude soe'er the hand
That ventures o'er thy magic maze to stray;
O, wake once more !
though scarce my skill command
Some feeble echoing of shine earlier lay:
Though harsh and faint, and
soon to die away,
And all unworthy of thy nobler strain,
Yet if one heart throb higher at
its sway,
The wizard note has not been touched in vain.
Then silent be no more!
Enchantress, wake again!
I.
The stag at eve had drunk his fill,
Where danced the moon on
Monan's rill,
And deep his midnight lair had made
In lone
Glenartney's hazel shade;
But when the sun his beacon red
Had
kindled on Benvoirlich's head,
The deep-mouthed bloodhound's
heavy bay
Resounded up the rocky way,
And faint, from farther
distance borne,
Were heard the clanging hoof and horn.
II.
As Chief, who hears his warder call,
'To arms! the foemen storm the
wall,'
The antlered monarch of the waste
Sprung from his heathery

couch in haste.
But ere his fleet career he took,
The dew-drops from
his flanks he shook;
Like crested leader proud and high
Tossed his
beamed frontlet to the sky;
A moment gazed adown the dale,
A
moment snuffed the tainted gale,
A moment listened to the cry,

That thickened as the chase drew nigh;
Then, as the headmost foes
appeared,
With one brave bound the copse he cleared,
And,
stretching forward free and far,
Sought the wild heaths of Uam-Var.
III.
Yelled on the view the opening pack;
Rock, glen, and cavern paid
them back;
To many a mingled sound at once
The awakened
mountain gave response.
A hundred dogs bayed deep and strong,

Clattered a hundred steeds along,
Their peal the merry horns rung out,

A hundred voices joined the shout;
With hark and whoop and wild
halloo,
No rest Benvoirlich's echoes knew.
Far from the tumult fled
the roe,
Close in her covert cowered the doe,
The falcon,