The Prose Marmion

The Prose Marmion, by Sara D.
Jenkins

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Title: The Prose Marmion A Tale of the Scottish Border
Author: Sara D. Jenkins
Release Date: January 22, 2004 [EBook #10778]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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PROSE MARMION ***

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THE PROSE MARMION
A TALE OF THE SCOTTISH BORDER
ADAPTED FROM

SCOTT'S "MARMION"
BY
SARA D. JENKINS
ITHACA, N.Y.
Author of the Prose "Lady of the Lake," etc.
1903

[Illustration: SIR WALTER SCOTT. (Bust.)]
[Illustration: SIR WALTER SCOTT. (From painting by Wm.
Nicholson.)]

INTRODUCTION.
Sir Walter Scott, poet and novelist, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland,
five years before the Declaration of Independence in America. Unlike
most little Scotch boys, he was not sturdy and robust, and in his second
year, a lameness appeared that never entirely left him. Being frail and
delicate, he received the most tender care from parents and
grandparents. Five consecutive years of his life, from the age of three to
the age of eight, were spent on his grandfather's farm at Sandyknow. At
the end of this period, he returned to Edinburgh greatly improved in
health, and soon after, entered the high school, where he remained four
years. A course at the university followed the high school, but Scott
never gained distinction as a scholar. He loved romances, old plays,
travels, and poetry too well, ever to become distinguished in
philosophy, mathematics, or the dry study of dead languages.
In his early years, he had formed a taste for ballad literature, which
very significantly influenced, if it did not wholly determine, the
character of his writings. The historical incidents upon which the

ballads were founded, their traditional legends, affected him profoundly,
and he wished to become at once a poet of chivalry, a writer of
romance. His father, however, had other plans for his son, and the lad
was made a lawyer's apprentice in the father's office. Continuing, as
recreation, his reading, he gave six years to the study of law, being
admitted to the bar when only twenty-one. For years, he cultivated
literature as a relaxation from business.
At the age of twenty-six he married, and about this time accepted the
office of deputy sheriff of Selkirkshire, largely moved to do so by his
unwillingness to rely upon his pen for support. Nine years later, 1806,
through family influence he was appointed, at a good salary, to one of
the chief clerkships in the Scottish court of sessions. The fulfillment of
his long-cherished desire of abandoning his labors as an advocate, in
order to devote himself to literature, was now at hand. He had already
delighted the public by various early literary efforts, the most important
being the "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," parts of which had
occupied him since childhood. This was followed by "Sir Tristrem" and
the "Lay of the Last Minstrel." Scott was now enrolled among the poets
of the day, and while never neglecting the duties of office, he entered
upon his literary career with unflagging industry. "Marmion," "The
Lady of the Lake," "Don Roderick," and "Rokeby" reflected his
romantic fervor.
Lord Byron now had entered the field of letters, and Scott, conscious of
the power of his rival, determined to seek fame in other than poetic
paths. This determination produced "Waverly," whose success gave
birth to Scott's desire to be numbered among the landed gentry of the
country. Under the influence of this passion, the novels now associated
with his name followed with startling rapidity, and their growth
developed in the author an unwillingness to be known as a penman
writing for fortune. Literary fame was less dear to him than the
upbuilding of a family name. The novels went for a time fatherless, but
the baronial mansion, still one of the most famous shrines of the
curious, grew into the stately proportions of Abbotsford.
In 1820. George IV. conferred upon Scott the baronetcy, dearer than all

the plaudits of the public. But
"Giddy chance never bears, That mortal bliss shall last for years,"
and the failure of banker and of publisher disclosed that the landed
baronet had been a silent partner in the house of his printer for a quarter
of a century, for whose debts Scott was liable to the extent of one
hundred thousand pounds and to his bankers for enough more to make
the entire debt one hundred fifty thousand pounds. Unappalled by the
loss, Scott refused all