George Orwell

George Orwell is the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair, who was born this day, June 25^th, in 1903.  Many of his “1984” futurisms came late, but appear to have arrived in today’s society, with electronic tracking of individuals so readily available.  Orwell read Walter Scott, as this passage from Jeffrey Meyers review of Gordon Bowker’s “George Orwell” in Times Higher Education highlights:

‘Bowker could also have extracted more meaning from several passages. He misses Orwell's quotation of Sir Walter Scott's Marmion in "what tangled webs we weave" and an allusion to Maugham's story "The Hairless Mexican" in his unpublished story "The Hairless Ape". It is not "astonishing" that during his wife's mourning for her dead brother, Orwell lusted after Brenda Salkeld: when Eileen rejected him and withdrew into prolonged depression, he naturally sought the consolation of other women…’

Lambert Simnel

‘And once when jealous rage was high,

Lord Marmion said dispiteously,

Wilton was traitor in his heart,

And had made league with Martin Swart,

When he came here on Simnel’s part;

The pretender to the English throne, known as Lambert Simnel, was crowned in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin on this day, May 24^th, 1487.  This pretender bore a resemblance to the murdered sons of Edward IV, which served as the basis for the pretension.  Simnel and his army landed in England shortly after the ten year old was crowned, but didn’t reach much success.  Scot’s text above comes from “Marmion”.

Saint George

II

Saint George’s banner, broad and gay,
Now faded, as the fading ray
Less bright, and less, was flung;
The evening gale had scarce the power
To wave it on the donjon tower,
So heavily it hung.
The scouts had parted on their search,
The castle gates were barred;
Above the gloomy portal arch,
Timing his footsteps to a march,
The warder kept his guard,
Low humming, as he paced along,
Some ancient Border gathering song.

The text above is from Walter Scott’s poem “Marmion”.  April 23^rd is Saint George’s Day.  George was a Roman soldier, and a Christian.  He was beheaded for opposing Emperor Diacletian's efforts to slay Christians.  George is now the patron saint of England and Catalonia.

Salisbury Court Theatre

Monday 11 March 1660/61

At the office all the morning, dined at home and my father and Dr. Thos. Pepys with him upon a poor dinner, my wife being abroad. After dinner I went to the theatre, and there saw “Love’s Mistress” done by them, which I do not like in some things as well as their acting in Salsbury Court. At night home and found my wife come home, and among other things she hath got her teeth new done by La Roche, and are indeed now pretty handsome, and I was much pleased with it. So to bed.

The Salisbury Court Theatre, which Samuel Pepys records (in his diary) visiting in 1661, was originally built in 1629.  It was destroyed by soldiers in 1649, but restored once Charles II himself was restored to the throne in England.  Salisbury Court Theatre was repaired by William Beeston beginning in 1660, and visited by Pepys soon after being repoened.

One playwright whose works were presented at Salisbury Court was Shackerley Marmion.  Marmion’s “Holland’s Leaguer” was a comedy that ran for 6 days in 1631 (at a time when most plays lasted 1 day).  The Marmion name, of course, is very familiar to Scott fans.  In the prefatory comments (by James Maidment and W. H. Logan) to “The Dramatic Works of Shackerley Marmion” the following quote of Sir Walter Scott is reported: ‘Sir Walter Scott, in a note to his poem of Marmion, thus remarks as to the name: - “I have not created a new family, but only revived the titles of an old one in an imaginary personage” …’

Catherine of Aragon

And Catherine's hand the stocking threw;

And afterwards, for many a day,

That it was held enough to say,

In blessing to a wedded pair,

'Love they like Wilton and like Clare!'

From Canto IV of Walter Scott’s “Marmion”, in which he refers to Catherine of Aragon, and the custom that wedding guests would visit the bride and groom on the day after the wedding, and throw stockings at them. 

Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife, died on January 7, 1536.   

Sir David Dalrymple

‘…Sir David Dalrymple, in his Annals, relates, that ' Hugh Gifford de Yester died in 1267; that in his castle there was a capacious cavern formed by magical art, and called in the country Bo-hall, i. e. Hobgoblin Hall.' A stair of twenty-four steps led down to this apartment, which is a large and spacious hall, with an arched roof; and though it hath stood for so many centuries, and been exposed to the external air for a period of fifty or sixty years, it is still as firm and entire as if it had only stood a few years. From the floor of this hall, another stair of thirty-six steps leads down to a pit which hath a communication with Hopes-water. A great part of the walls of this large and ancient castle arc still standing. There is a tradition, that the castle of Yester was the last fortification in this country that surrendered to General Gray, sent into Scotland by Protector Somerset." Statistical Account, Vol. XIII. I have only to add, that, in 1737, the Goblin Hall was tenanted by the Marquis of Tweedale's falconer, as I learn from a poem by Boyse, entitled "Retirement," written upon visiting Yester. It is now rendered inaccessible by the fall of the stair.

Sir David Dalrymple's authority for the anecdote is Fordun, whose words are,—" A. D. Mcclxvii, Hugo Giffard de Yester moritur; cujus castrum, vel saltem caveam, et dongionem, arte damonicd antiques relationes ferunt fabrifactas f nam ibidem habetur mirabilis specus subterraneus, opere mirifico construclus, magna terrarum spatio protelatus, qui communiter Bo Hall appellatus est." Lib. X. cap. 21.— Sir David conjectures, that Hugh de Gifford must have been either a very wise man, or a great oppressor…’

The text above is from the notes to Walter Scott’s “Marmion”.  Dalrymple, or Lord Hailes, is known for his historical writing, and for being a fair and honorable judge.  A friend to the Boswell’s, he is thought to have interceded between James Boswell and his father Alexander occasionally to reconcile them.  Unlike Alexander Boswell, who had a famous altercation with Samuel Johnson, Dalrymple enjoyed a friendship with the dictionary writer.  James Boswell mentions Dalrymple in his "The Life of Samuel Johnson":

Sir David Dalrymple, now one of the Judges of Scotland by the title of Lord Hailes, had contributed much to increase my high opinion of Johnson, on account of his writings, long before I attained to a personal acquaintance with him; I, in return, had informed Johnson of Sir David's eminent character for learning and religion; and Johnson was so much pleased, that at one of our evening meetings he gave him for his toast. I at this time kept up a very frequent correspondence with Sir David; and I read to Dr. Johnson to-night the following passage from the letter which I had last received from him:

'..."It gives me pleasure to think that you have obtained the friendship of Mr. Samuel Johnson. He is one of the best moral writers which England has produced. At the same time, I envy you the free and undisguised converse with such a man. May I beg you to present my best respects to him, and to assure him of the veneration which I entertain for the authour of the Rambler and of Rasselas? Let me recommend this last work to you; with the Rambler you certainly are acquainted. In Rasselas you will see a tender-hearted operator, who probes the wound only to heal it. Swift, on the contrary, mangles human nature. He cuts and slashes, as if he took pleasure in the operation, like the tyrant who said, Ita feri ui se sentiat emori." Johnson seemed to be much gratified by this just and well-turned compliment....'

Among Dalrymple’s written works is the “Annals of Scotland”, quoted in Scott's note above.  Lord Hailes was born on October 28, 1726.

William Borlase

William Borlase was a Cornish antiquary, who was born in 1696, and died on August 31, 1772; one year after Scott was born.  His publications include “Antiquities of Cornwall”, “Observations on the Ancient and Present State of the Islands of Scilly”, and “Natural History of Cornwall”.  Scott referred to Borlase in the notes to his “Marmion”.

Note VI.

The battled towers, the donjon keep. -P- 93It is perhaps unnecessary to remind, my readers, that the donjon, in its proper signification, means the strongest part of a feudal castle; a high square tower, with walls of tremendous thickness, situated in the centre of the other buildings, from which, however, it was usually detached. Here, in case of the outward defences being gained, the garrison retreated to make their last stand. The donjon contained the great hall, and principal rooms of state for solemn occasions,

and also the prison of the fortress; from which last circumstance we derive the modern and restricted use of the word dungeon. Ducange {voce Dunjo) conjectures plausibly, that the name is derived from these keeps being usually built upon a hill, which in Celtic is called' Dun. Borlase supposes the word came from the darkness of the apartments in these towers, which were thence figuratively called Dungeons: thus deriving the ancient word from the modern application of it.

Satyricon

Sir Walter Scott, as we know, was born on August 15, 1832.  Another Scottish poet, John Barclay, arrived at his death on the same day, in the year 1621; possibly by poison.  The connection doesn’t end on dates.  Sir Walter Scott read Barclay in his research for “Marmion.  Barclay’s major work was “Argensis”, but it is the “Euphormionis Satyricon “ that is quoted  in the notes of “Marmion”.

‘Barclay, in his "Euphormion," gives a singular account of an officer who had ventured,

 with his servant, rather to intrude upon a haunted house, in a town in Flanders, than to put up 

with worse quarters elsewhere. After taking the usual precautions of providing fires, lights, and arms,

 they watched till midnight, when, behold! The severed arm of a man dropped from the ceiling;

 this was followed by the legs, the other arm, the trunk, and the head of the body, all separately.

The members rolled together, united themselves in the presence of the astonished soldiers,

 and formed a gigantic warrior, who defied them both to combat. Their blows, although they

 penetrated the body, and amputated the limbs, of their strange antagonist, had, as the reader may

 easily believe, little effect on an enemy who possessed such powers of self-union; nor did his efforts

 make more effectual impression upon them. How the combat terminated I do not exactly remember,

 and have not the book by me; but I think the spirit made to the intruders on his mansion the usual

 proposal, that they should renounce their redemption; which being declined, he was obliged to retreat.

The Thistle and the Rose

COMPOSITION OF ‘MARMION.’

In 1791 Scott accompanied an uncle into Northumberland, and made his first acquaintance with the scene of Flodden.  Writing to his friend William Clerk (Lockhart’s Life, ii. 182), he says, ‘Never was an affair more completely bungled than that day’s work was.  Suppose one army posted upon the face of a hill, and secured by high grounds projecting on each flank, with the river Till in front, a deep and still river, winding through a very extensive valley called Milfield Plain, and the only passage over it by a narrow bridge, which the Scots artillery, from the hill, could in a moment have demolished.  Add that the English must have hazarded a battle while their troops, which were tumultuously levied, remained together; and that the Scots, behind whom the country was open to Scotland, had nothing to do but to wait for the attack as they were posted.  Yet did two-thirds of the army, actuated by the perfervidum ingenium Scotorum, rush down and give an opportunity to Stanley to occupy the ground they had quitted, by coming over the shoulder of the hill, while the other third, under Lord Home, kept their ground, and having seen their King and about 10,000 of their countrymen cut to pieces, retired into Scotland without loss.’  Fifteen years after this was written Scott began the composition of ‘Marmion,’ and it is interesting to note that, so early in life as the date of this letter indicates, he was so keenly alive to the great blunder in military tactics made by James IV and his advisers, and so manifestly stirred to eloquent expression of his feeling.

Today’s remembrance (August 8^th ) is the marriage of James IV of Scotland to Margaret Tudor, Henry VII of England’s daughter.  The year was 1503.  This wedding, uniting the thistle and the rose, brought perpetual peace to the kingdoms of England and Scotland, as had been agreed under the Treaty of Everlasting Peace in 1502.  Ten years later, perpetuity ended, with Scotland caught between its alliance with France, and its treaty with England.

James declared war on England after Henry VIII sailed to France for battle.  The war ended quickly for James, at Flodden Field (1513).  The Battle of Flodden Field did provide fodder for Walter Scott to produce  his poem “Marmion”.  The text above is from the preface to Marmion.

"If you give away your money before you are dead..."

A man who may have been a model for Charles Dickens' character Ebenezer Scrooge died on April 20, 1836. James (Jemmy) Wood was an early private banker, and was reputedly stingy; also exceedingly rich. He owned the Gloucester Old Bank, which had been founded by his grandfather. William Haig Miller discusses Wood in his "On the bank's Threshold...".

'The private bankers grew up under the shadow of the Bank of England, like dwarfs beside a giant. Many of them were men of penurious habits, and accumulated great wealth. We remember in our day James Wood, of Gloucester, who left upwards of two millions sterling. His will caused much litigation. To the end of his days he kept a little draper's shop next his bank, and was very particular that his banking customers should continue to buy their drapery from him when once they had begun to do so. He appears to have been of a sadly miserly spirit. We have looked over two folio volumes of printed matter, containing the pleadings in the Probate Court relative to his will, which, as we have said, was the subject of legal proceedings. They contained many proofs of his niggardliness. He was fond, we are told by one witness, of quoting, as a reason for not parting with his money during his lifetime, some verses said to be inscribed in a country church on a tombstone, which had on it the figure of a man with an axe beside him. The lines were to the following effect:—

"If you give away your money before you are dead,
Then take up this axe and chop off your head."

Miller weaves Sir Walter Scott into his work several times. Based on the following, it's possible that Scott could have developed an aversion to bankers:

'The private banking establishment of Sir William Forbes & Co. also long flourished in Edinburgh. Its first partner was the friend and biographer of Beattie, the poet, and a man so full of benevolence that it was said of him by the author of " Marmion :"

"If mortal charity dare claim
The Almighty's attributed name,
Inscribe above his mouldering clay,
'The widow's shield—the orphan's stay.'''

His son and banking successor was an attached friend of Sir Walter Scott, and also his rival in love, having carried off the hand of the young lady—the daughter of Sir John Stuart—for whom Sir Walter, then a youth, had formed a romantic passion, he having become acquainted with her by offering her the share of his umbrella as she walked home on a rainy day from Greyfriars Church. To the end of his days, Sir Walter, it may be remembered, cherished the recollection of this youthful episode; and after the lady's death, and when he was himself a widower, he poured out his sorrows in his diary in the following touching words: "I went to make a visit, and fairly softened myself with recalling old stories, till I was fit for nothing but shedding tears and repeating verses for the whole night. This is sad work. The very grave gives up its dead, and time rolls back thirty years to add to my perplexities,"...'

Feast of Saint Benedict

The feast of Saint Benedict of Nursia occurs on March 21st, which is believed to be the day of his death, in 547AD.  Benedict's name is remembered in the Benedictine Order, which Walter Scott includes in his poem "Marmion".

XIX.


There, met to doom in secrecy,
Were placed the heads of convents three:
All servants of Saint Benedict,
The statutes of whose order strict
On iron table lay;
In long black dress, on seats of stone,
Behind were these three judges shown
By the pale cresset's ray:
The Abbess of Saint Hilda's, there,
Sat for a space with visage bare,
Until, to hide her bosom's swell,
And tear-drops that for pity fell,
She closely drew her veil:
Von shrouded figure, as I guess,
By her proud mien and flowing dress,
Is Tynemouth's haughty Prioress,
And she with awe looks pale:
And he, that Ancient Man, whose sight
Has long been quenched by age's night,
Upon whose wrinkled brow alone,
Nor ruth, nor mercy's trace is shown,
Whose look is hard and stern,—
Saint Cuthbert's Abbot is his style;
For sanctity call'd, through the isle,
The Saint of Lindisfarne.

Samuel Smiles

Scottish author Samuel Smiles was born on December 23, 1812.  Smiles is best known for his work titled "Self-Help", which sold more than a quarter million copies during his lifetime.  In "Self-Help",  Smiles dispensed wisdom such as: ' The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual; and, exhibited in the lives of many, it constitutes the true source of national vigour and strength. Help from without is often enfeebling in its effects, but help from within invariably invigorates. Whatever is done for men or classes, to a certain extent takes away the stimulus and necessity of doing for themselves; and where men are subjected to over-guidance and over-government, the inevitable tendency is to render them comparatively helpless.'

Smiles also authored biographies, including "The Life of George Stephenson", and more directly related to Sir Walter Scott "A Publisher and his Friends. Memoir and Correspondence of the Late John Murray".  From that work:

 'Some of the most important events in Murray's career occurred during the first year of his married life. Chief among them may perhaps be mentioned his part share in the publication of "Marmion" (in February 1808)--which brought him into intimate connection with Walter Scott--and his appointment for a time as publisher in London of the Edinburgh Review; for he was thus brought into direct personal contact with those forces which ultimately led to the chief literary enterprise of his life--the publication of the Quarterly Review.


Mr. Scott called upon Mr. Murray in London shortly after the return of the latter from his marriage in Edinburgh.


"Mr. Scott called upon me on Tuesday, and we conversed for an hour....

He appears very anxious that 'Marmion' should be published by the King's birthday....

He said he wished it to be ready by that time for very particular reasons; and yet he allows that the poem is not completed, and that he is yet undetermined if he shall make his hero happy or otherwise."...'

Battle of Flodden Field

Walter Scott's poem "Marmion" is set at the Battle of Flodden Field, which took place on September 9, 1513.  Scott's Lord Marmion is a favorite of England's Henry VIII, against whose army James IV of Scotland fought.  James and most of his nobles were killed at Flodden Field, a disastrous event in Scottish history.

XX.


And why stands Scotland idly now,
Dark Flodden! on thy airy brow,
Since England gains the pass the while,
And struggles through the deep defile?
What checks the fiery soul of James?
Why sits that champion of the dames
Inactive on his steed,
And sees, between him and his land,
Between him and Tweed's southern strand,
His host Lord Surrey lead?
What 'vails the vain knight-errant's brand?--
O, Douglas, for thy leading wand!
Fierce Randolph, for thy speed!
O for one hour of Wallace wight,
Or well-skill'd Bruce, to rule the fight,
And cry--'Saint Andrew and our right!'
Another sight had seen that morn,
From Fate's dark book a leaf been torn,
And Flodden had been Bannockbourne!--
The precious hour has pass'd in vain,
And England's host has gain'd the plain;
Wheeling their march, and circling still,
Around the base of Flodden hill.
 

Robert Fergusson

The poet Robert Fergusson was born on September 5, 1750.  Fergusson, led a raucous life and short life, dying three years after Walter Scott was born (died Oct 16, 1774), at the age of 24.  The circumstances of his death are unfortunate.  He died while under medical care after receiving a head injury. Nonetheless, Fergusson, who wrote in both Scottish and English dialects, left a mark on Scottish life and literature, notably influencing Robert Burns' work.

Fergusson's works are collected in  "The Works of Robert Fergusson", by Robert Fergusson and Alexander Balloch Grosart, which was published in 1857.  Brosart includes several references to Walter Scott in this collection, as in the following from a poem titled "Mutual Complaint of Plainstanes and Causey" (Scottish dialect):

CAUSEY

I dinna care a single jot,
Tho' summon'd by a shelly-coat,
Sac leally I'll propone defences,
As get ye flung for my expcnces;
Your libel I'll impugn verbatim,
And hae a magnum damnum datum;
For tho' frae Arthur's seat I sprang,
And am in constitution strang,
Wad it no fret the hardest stane
Beneath the Luckenbooths l to grane ?
Tho' magistrates the Cross 2 discard,
It makes na whan they leave the Guard, 3

1 Where Ramsay had his 'Shop' in which the first circulating library was established, and from which issued his peerless Pastoral and subsequently Burns's Poems, and many of the most celebrated works of the last century, from the press of Creech. The Luckenbooths consisted of a series of tenements which rose nearly to the height of the adjacent houses, built within a few yards of the church of St. Giles headed at their western extremity by the Old Tolbooth of Edinburgh.— Vide Arnot—Wilson—Cliambers.

2 The market-cross had been removed in 1752, as touchingly and with levin-fire lamented by Sir Walter Scott, at whose seat of Abbotsford the ornamental stones of it are still preserved.


Dun Edin's Cross, a pillar'd stone,
Rose on a turret octagon ;
But now is razed that monument,
Whence royal edict rang,
And voice of Scotland's law was sent
In glorious trumpet clang.
0 ! be his tomb as lead to lead,
Upon its dull destroyer's head!—
A minstrel's malison is said.

Marmion, Canto V. v. 25.

3 " The Guard-house was a long, low, ugly building (removed in 1787-8) which to a fanciful imagination might have suggested the idea of a long black snail crawling up the middle of the High Street, and deforming its beautiful esplanade."—Scott:—Heart of Midlothian, c. vi. A portrait of the Guard-house forms one of the curious Collection by Kay, No. CLXX. Edin. 2 vols. 4to.

Battle of the Nile

The Battle of the Nile took place on August 2, 1798.  In this battle, Napoleon's navy under Vice Admiral Francois-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers was defeated by the British Royal Navy under Admiral Horatio Nelson.  The British navy gained the upper hand in the Napoleonic Wars with this victory.

Walter Scott references this battle in the line 'On Egypt...' in his poem Marmion.

'Nor mourn ye less his perished worth,
Who bade the conqueror go forth,
And launch'd that thunderbolt of war
On Egypt, Hafnia, Trafalgar;
Who, born to guide such high emprize,
For Britain's weal was early wise;
Alas! to whom the Almighty gave,
For Britain's sins, an early grave!
His worth, who, in his mightiest hour,
A bauble held the pride of power,
Spum'd at the sordid lust of pelf,
And served his Albion for herself;
Who, when the frantic crowd amain
Strain'd at subjection's bursting rein,
O'er their wild mood full conquest gain'd,
The pride, he would not crush, restrain'd,
Show'd their fierce zeal a worthier cause,
And brought the freeman's arm, to aid the freeman's laws...'

Double Header

July 28, 1540 was a big day in the life of King Henry VIII.  Early on his list of to-do's that day was the beheading of his former minister Thomas Cromwell, guilty of treason for recommending Henry marry Anne of Cleves.  Henry could not bring himself to consumate his marriage with Anne.

Next on his list that day was his marriage to Catherine Howard.  This one he would consumate; it was Catherine who was repulsed.  Catherine lasted until February 13, 1542, when she was executed for failing to disclose a marriage contract that predated her marriage to Henry.  There were also many stories of Catherine's indiscretions that reached Henry's ear.

Walter Scott includes Henry VIII, or the circumstances of his times in more than one work.  In his poem Marmion, the title character is a favorite of Henry's.  Marmion had marital troubles of his own:

'XXIX



"Still was false Marmion's bridal staid;
To Whitby's convent fled the maid,
The hated match to shun.
'Ho! shifts she thus?' king Henry cried,
'Sir Marmion, she shall be thy bride,
If she were sworn a nun.'
One way remained—the King's command
Sent Marmion to the Scottish land:
I linger'd here, and rescue plann'd
For Clara and for me:
This caitiff Monk for gold did swear
He would to Whitby's shrine repair,
And by his drugs my rival fair
A saint in heaven should be.
is But ill the dastard kept his oath,
Whose cowardice has undone us both.

The Water Poet Visit's St. Winifred's Well

The Book of Days reports that on July 1, 1652, Thames waterman John Taylor visited St. Winifred's Well at Holywell in Flintshire. According to Coleen Seguin in her article "Cures and Controversy in Early Modern Wales", Taylor reported afterward that "the fair chapel" over the well "is now much defaced by the injury of these late wars...it is frequented daily by many people of rich and poor, of all diseases."

At this well, according to legend, St. Beuno restored his niece Winifred's head to her body, and give her back her life.  The head had been severed by one Cardoc, whose advances Winifred rejected.  Winifred went on to lead a devout life, becoming an abbess.

Taylor is referenced in the Introduction to Canto Second in Scott's "Marmion":

…' The second day of June the king passed out of Edinburgh to the hunting, with many of the nobles and gentlemen of Scotland with him, to the number of twelve thousand men; and then passed to Meegitland, and hounded and hawked all the country and bounds; that is to say, Crammat, Pappert-law, St. Mary-laws, Carlavirick, Chapel, Ewindoores. and Longhope. I heard say, he slew, in these bounds, eighteen score of harts."


These huntings had, of course, a military character, and attendance upon them was a part of the duty of a vassal. The act for abolishing ward, or military tenures, in Scotland, enumerates the services of hunting, hosting, watching, and warding, as those which were in future to be illegal.

Taylor, the water-poet, has given an account of the mode in which these huntings were conducted in the highlands of Scotland, in the seventeenth century, having been present at Bremar upon such an occasion :

" There did I find the truly noble and right honourable lords, John Erskine, Earl of Mar; James Stewart, Earl of Murray; George Gordon, Earl of Engye, son and heir to the Marquis of Huntly, James Erskine, Earl of Buchan; and John, Lord Erskine, son and heir to the Earl of Mar, and their countesses, with my much honoured, and my last secured and approved friend, Sir William Murray, knight of Abercarney, and hundreds of others, knights, esquires, and their followers; all and every man, in general, in one habit, as if Lycurgus had been there, and made laws of equality: for once in the year, which is the whole month of August, and sometimes part of September, many of the nobility and gentry of the kingdom (for their pleasure) do come into these highland countries to hunt: where they do conform themselves to the habit of the highland-men, who, for the most part, speak nothing but Irish: and, in former time, were those people which were called the Red-shanks. Their habit is—shoes, with but one sole a-piece; stockings, (which they call short nose,) Made of a warm stuff of diverse colour, which they call tartan …

John Murray

John Murray's birth was covered in an earlier post, along with some of the contributions he made to the publishing house his father started.  His death occurred on June 27, 1843.  His life roughly covers that of Walter Scott's.  Murray first published Scott's work in 1807; Marmion.  He also became part owner of the Edinburgh Review that year.

Among Murray's other major contributions to the literary world were his publication of Lord Byron's "Childe Harold", and Thomas Moore's "The Life of Lord Byron".

Henry VIII Acceeds to the Throne

Henry VIII took the throne of England upon the death of his father Henry VII, on April 21, 1509.  Aspects of Henry VIII's reign are used as material for Walter Scott's "Marmion".  Marmion himself is portrayed as a favorite of King Henry.  The action takes place around the Battle of Flodden Field (September 9, 1513), in which King James VI of Scotland declared war on England to honor an alliance with France.  James marched into Northumberland, where he was met by English forces under Earl Thomas Howard of Surrey.  Surrey carried the day, in a very one-sided battle.

From Marmion:

CANTO FIRST.



THE CASTLE.


Day set on Norham's castled steep,
And Tweed's fair river, broad and deep,
And Cheviot's mountains lone:
The battled towers, the donjon keep,
The loophole grates, where captives weep,


The flanking walls that round it sweep,
In yellow lustre shone.
The warriors on the turrets high,
Moving athwart the evening sky,
Seem'd forms of giant height:
Their armour, as it caught the rays,
Flash'd back again the western blaze,
In lines of dazzling light....

Saint Stephen's Day

Saint Stephen's Day is the first day after the celebration of Christ's birth, in honor of Saint Stephen having been the first of Jesus' followers to become martyred.  Stephen was stoned to death.

On Stephen's Day, on old and no longer practiced tradition involved the letting of horses blood.  The thinking was that this would protect the horses against sickness in the coming year.

More from Marmion:

"...Then followeth Saint Stephen’s Day, whereon doth every roan
His horses jaunt and course abroad, as swiftly as he can.
Until they do extremely sweat, and then they let them blood,
For this being (lone upon this day, they say doth do them good,
And keeps them from all maladies and sickness through the year,
As if that Stephen any time took charge of horses here...."