December 22, 1825 finds Sir Walter in a fine mood,. Among other things that day, he records 'The air of "Bonnie Dundee" running in my head to-day, I [wrote] a few verses to it before dinner, taking the key-note from the story of Clavers leaving the Scottish Convention of Estates in 1688-9....'
The full poem is published in "Scott's Poetical Works".
To the Lords of Convention 'twas Clavers who spoke,
'Ere the King's crown shall fall there are crowns to be broke;
So let each Cavalier who loves honour and me,
Come follow the bonnet of Bonny Dundee.
Come fill up my cup, come fill up my can,
Come saddle your horses, and call up your men;
Come open the West Port and let me gang free,
And it's room for the bonnets of Bonny Dundee!
Dundee he is mounted, he rides up the street,
The bells are rung backward, the drums they are beat;
But the Provost, douce man, said, "Just e'en let him be,
The Gude Town is weel quit of that Deil of Dundee."...
Showing posts with label Scott's Poetical Works. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Scott's Poetical Works. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
An Empty Easel
JMW Turner's passing was posted last year. Turner worked with Sir Walter Scott on Scott's "Provincial Antiquities of Scotland", and "Poetical Works". From American philosopher Elbert Hubbard comes the following on the collaboration between the two: 'One spot in Turner's life over which I like to linger is his friendship with Sir Walter Scott. They collaborated in the production of "Provincial Antiquities," and spent many happy hours together tramping over Scottish moors and mountains. Sir Walter lived out his days in happy ignorance concerning the art of painting, and although he liked the society of Turner, he confessed that it was quite beyond his ken why people bought his pictures.
"And as for your books," said Turner, "the covers of some are certainly very pretty."
Yet these men took a satisfaction in each other's society, such as brothers might enjoy, but without either man appreciating the greatness of the other. '
"And as for your books," said Turner, "the covers of some are certainly very pretty."
Yet these men took a satisfaction in each other's society, such as brothers might enjoy, but without either man appreciating the greatness of the other. '
Friday, May 7, 2010
The Rough Wooing
One of the phrases coined by Walter Scott, the Wars of the Rough Wooing referred to the effort on the part of England's Henry VIII to force a marriage between his son Edward and Mary Stuart. On May 7, 1542, the Earl of Hertford, who was Queen Jane Seymour's brother, invaded the Borderlands of Scotland, reaching Edinburgh in support of Henry's wishes.
Sir Walter Scott covers the Earl's (the Queene's brother) incursion the poem "Lord Ewrie", published in his Poetical Works:
Lord Ewrie was as brave a man
As ever stood in his degree;
The King has sent him a ftioad letter,
All for his courage and loyalty.!
...
With our Queene's brother * he hath been,
And rode rough shod through Scotland of late;
They have burn'd the Mers and Tiviotdale,
And knocked full loud at Edinburgh gate.
*The Earl of Hertford, afterward duke of Somerset, and brother of Queen Jane Seymour, made a furious incursion into Scotland, in 1545.
Sir Walter Scott covers the Earl's (the Queene's brother) incursion the poem "Lord Ewrie", published in his Poetical Works:
Lord Ewrie was as brave a man
As ever stood in his degree;
The King has sent him a ftioad letter,
All for his courage and loyalty.!
...
With our Queene's brother * he hath been,
And rode rough shod through Scotland of late;
They have burn'd the Mers and Tiviotdale,
And knocked full loud at Edinburgh gate.
*The Earl of Hertford, afterward duke of Somerset, and brother of Queen Jane Seymour, made a furious incursion into Scotland, in 1545.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville
PREFACE
TO
THE VISION OF DON RODERICK
by Walter Scott
I am too sensible of the respect due to the Public, especially by one who has already experienced more than ordinary indulgence, to offer any apology for the inferiority of the poetry to the subject it is chiefly designed to commemorate. Yet I think it proper to mention, that while I was hastily executing a work, written for a temporary purpose, and on passing erents, the task was most cruelly interrupted by the successive deaths of Lord President Blair 1, and Lord Viscount Melville. In those distinguished characters, I had not only to regret persons whose lives were most important to Scotland, but also whose notice and patronage honoured my entrance upon active life; and, I may add, with melancholy pride, who permitted my more advanced age to claim no common share in their friendship.
1 [The Right Hon. Robert Blair of Avontoun, President of the Court of Session, was the son of the Rev. Robert Blair, author of " The Grave." After long filling the office of Solicitor-General in Scotland with high distinction, he was elevated to the Presidency in 1808. He died very suddenly on the 20th May 1811, in the 70th year of his age; and his intimate friend, Henry Dundas, first Viscount Melville, having gone into Edinburgh on purpose to attend his remains to the grave, was taken ill not less suddenly, and died there the very hour that the funeral took place, on the 28th of the same month.]
The text above references Henry Dundas' death. But on this day (April 28) in 1742, the future Lord Melville was born. The family Dundas took to law. Father Robert Dundas of Arniston served as Lord President of the Court of Sessions, as did Henry's half-brother Robert.
Lord Melville's career was closely tied to that of William Pitt (the Younger), under whom he served as War Secretary (1794-1801), then Treasurer and later First Lord of the Admiralty. Dundas has the dubious distinction of being the last individual to be tried under articles of impeachment in the House of Lords. The charges, for which he was acquitted, arose out of his term as Treasurer of the Admiralty.
At his peak, Melville's power was substantial, earning him the nickname "Harry the Ninth, Uncrowned King of Scotland".
TO
THE VISION OF DON RODERICK
by Walter Scott
I am too sensible of the respect due to the Public, especially by one who has already experienced more than ordinary indulgence, to offer any apology for the inferiority of the poetry to the subject it is chiefly designed to commemorate. Yet I think it proper to mention, that while I was hastily executing a work, written for a temporary purpose, and on passing erents, the task was most cruelly interrupted by the successive deaths of Lord President Blair 1, and Lord Viscount Melville. In those distinguished characters, I had not only to regret persons whose lives were most important to Scotland, but also whose notice and patronage honoured my entrance upon active life; and, I may add, with melancholy pride, who permitted my more advanced age to claim no common share in their friendship.
1 [The Right Hon. Robert Blair of Avontoun, President of the Court of Session, was the son of the Rev. Robert Blair, author of " The Grave." After long filling the office of Solicitor-General in Scotland with high distinction, he was elevated to the Presidency in 1808. He died very suddenly on the 20th May 1811, in the 70th year of his age; and his intimate friend, Henry Dundas, first Viscount Melville, having gone into Edinburgh on purpose to attend his remains to the grave, was taken ill not less suddenly, and died there the very hour that the funeral took place, on the 28th of the same month.]
The text above references Henry Dundas' death. But on this day (April 28) in 1742, the future Lord Melville was born. The family Dundas took to law. Father Robert Dundas of Arniston served as Lord President of the Court of Sessions, as did Henry's half-brother Robert.
Lord Melville's career was closely tied to that of William Pitt (the Younger), under whom he served as War Secretary (1794-1801), then Treasurer and later First Lord of the Admiralty. Dundas has the dubious distinction of being the last individual to be tried under articles of impeachment in the House of Lords. The charges, for which he was acquitted, arose out of his term as Treasurer of the Admiralty.
At his peak, Melville's power was substantial, earning him the nickname "Harry the Ninth, Uncrowned King of Scotland".
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Radical War
On April 1, 1820, a pamphlet calling for a national strike was circulated through Glasgow by a group calling itself A Committee for Forming a Provisional Government. What became known as the Radical War, or Insurrection of 1820, had as an antecedent the Massacre of Peterloo (August 16, 1819 - dubbed Peterloo after the Battle of Waterloo four years earlier), in which a crowd of 60,000 - 80,000 protesters gathered at St. Peter's Field in Manchester was charged on by armed cavalry.
The Radicals were largely comprised of weavers, who, according to Rev. Robert Rennie, were among the better educated tradespeople. The weavers saw their economic quality of life deteriorating in the first two decades of the 19th century, impacted by the Napoleonic Wars. Earnings fell by half between 1800 and 1808, and much further over the next decade. The pamphlets circulated on April 1st called for a national strike:
"Friends and Countrymen! Rouse from that state in which we have sunk for so many years, we are at length compelled from the extremity of our sufferings, and the contempt heaped upon our petitions for redress, to assert our rights at the hazard of our lives." by "taking up arms for the redress of our common grievances". "Equality of rights (not of property)... Liberty or Death is our motto, and we have sworn to return home in triumph - or return no more.... we earnestly request all to desist from their labour from and after this day, the first of April [until] in possession of those rights..." It called for a rising "To show the world that we are not that lawless, sanguinary rabble which our oppressors would persuade the higher circles we are but a brave and generous people determined to be free."
A footnote added: "Britons – God – Justice – the wish of all good men, are with us. Join together and make it one good cause, and the nations of the earth shall hail the day when the Standard of Liberty shall be raised on its native soil."
The following Monday, a strike did occur, followed by violent incidents at Bonnymuir and Greenock. The Radical War had little chance of succeeding, and its main instigators, James Wilson, John Baird, and Andrew Hardie were captured, tried, and executed.
Fallout from the Insurrection of 1820 included the scheduling of a visit by King George IV to Scotland, which Sir Walter Scott organized very effectively. Scott authored a poem for this event, "Carle, now the King's Come":
"The news has flown frae mouth to mouth,
the North for once has bang'd the South;
The deil a Scotsman's die o' drouth,
Carle, now the King's come!
..."
The Radicals were largely comprised of weavers, who, according to Rev. Robert Rennie, were among the better educated tradespeople. The weavers saw their economic quality of life deteriorating in the first two decades of the 19th century, impacted by the Napoleonic Wars. Earnings fell by half between 1800 and 1808, and much further over the next decade. The pamphlets circulated on April 1st called for a national strike:
"Friends and Countrymen! Rouse from that state in which we have sunk for so many years, we are at length compelled from the extremity of our sufferings, and the contempt heaped upon our petitions for redress, to assert our rights at the hazard of our lives." by "taking up arms for the redress of our common grievances". "Equality of rights (not of property)... Liberty or Death is our motto, and we have sworn to return home in triumph - or return no more.... we earnestly request all to desist from their labour from and after this day, the first of April [until] in possession of those rights..." It called for a rising "To show the world that we are not that lawless, sanguinary rabble which our oppressors would persuade the higher circles we are but a brave and generous people determined to be free."
A footnote added: "Britons – God – Justice – the wish of all good men, are with us. Join together and make it one good cause, and the nations of the earth shall hail the day when the Standard of Liberty shall be raised on its native soil."
The following Monday, a strike did occur, followed by violent incidents at Bonnymuir and Greenock. The Radical War had little chance of succeeding, and its main instigators, James Wilson, John Baird, and Andrew Hardie were captured, tried, and executed.
Fallout from the Insurrection of 1820 included the scheduling of a visit by King George IV to Scotland, which Sir Walter Scott organized very effectively. Scott authored a poem for this event, "Carle, now the King's Come":
"The news has flown frae mouth to mouth,
the North for once has bang'd the South;
The deil a Scotsman's die o' drouth,
Carle, now the King's come!
..."
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Union of the Crowns
"A fancied moss-trooper, frc.
This was the usual appellation of the marauders upon the Borders ; a profession diligently pursued by the inhabitants on both sides, and by none more actively and successfully than by Buccleuch's clan. Long after the union of the crowns, the mosstroopers, although sunk in reputation, and no longer enjoying the pretext of national hostility, continued to pursue their calling.
Fuller includes, among the wonders of Cumberland, "The moss-troopers: so strange in the condition of their living, if considered in their Original, Increase, Height, Decay, and Buine. "
The quote above is a note from Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel", which references the Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland. On March 24, 1603, Queen Elizabeth I of England died at Richmond Palace, to be followed by James VI of Scotland/I of England. The moss-troopers operated largely during the time of the English Commonwealth, relying of their knowledge of border bogs for stealthy operations.
This was the usual appellation of the marauders upon the Borders ; a profession diligently pursued by the inhabitants on both sides, and by none more actively and successfully than by Buccleuch's clan. Long after the union of the crowns, the mosstroopers, although sunk in reputation, and no longer enjoying the pretext of national hostility, continued to pursue their calling.
Fuller includes, among the wonders of Cumberland, "The moss-troopers: so strange in the condition of their living, if considered in their Original, Increase, Height, Decay, and Buine. "
The quote above is a note from Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel", which references the Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland. On March 24, 1603, Queen Elizabeth I of England died at Richmond Palace, to be followed by James VI of Scotland/I of England. The moss-troopers operated largely during the time of the English Commonwealth, relying of their knowledge of border bogs for stealthy operations.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Feast of Saint Cuthbert
On the feast of Saint Cuthbert (Cuthbert died March 20, 687), who has been covered in a previous post, two passages that reference him. The first is from Scott's "The Lord of the Isles" (canto X). The second from John Barbour's "The Brus" (Book IV, v.1), which provided reference for the Scott passage. Barbour's work is included as an explanatory note to "The Lord of the Isles" in "The Poetical Works of Sir Walter Scott". The historical reference is to Robert Bruce receiving a false signal, in the form of a bonfire on the shore near Turnberry Castle, which was his mother's ancestral home, that indicated he should re-enter Scotland.
Scott:
"...'Twas I,' said Edward, 'found employ Of nobler import for the boy. Deep pondering in my anxious mind,
A fitting messenger to find,
To bear thy written mandate o'er
To Cuthbert on the Carrick shore,
I chanced, at early dawn, to pass
The chapel gate to snatch a mass.
I found the stripling on a tomb
Low-seated, weeping for the doom
That gave his youth to convent gloom.
I told my purpose, and his eyes
Flash'd joyful at the glad surprise.
He bounded to the skiff, the sail
Was spread before a prosperous gale,
And well my charge he hath obey'd ;
For, see ! the ruddy signal made,
That Clifford, with his merry-men all,
•Guards carelessly our father's hall.' ..."
Barbour:
"...Thai rowit fast, with all thair mycht,
Till that apon thaim fell the nycht,
That woux myrk. apon gret mancr,
Swa that thai wyst nocht quhar thai wer
For thai na nedill had, na stane ;
Bot rowyt alwayis in till anc,
Sterand all tyme apon the fyr,
That thai saw brynnand lycht and schyr12
It wes bot auentur 13 thaim led :
And thai in schort tyme sa thaim sped.
That at the fyr arywyt thai;
And went to land bot mar delay.
And Cuthbert, that has sene the fyr,
Was full off angyr, and off ire:
For he durst nocht do it away;
And wes alsua dowtand ay
That his lord suld pass to se.
Tharfor thair cummyn waytit he,
And met thaim at thair arywing.
He wes wele sone broucht to the King,
That speryt at him how he had done.
And he with sar hart tauld him sone.
How that he fand nane weill luffand;
Bot all war fayis, that he fand:
And that the lord the Persy,
With ner thre hundre in cumpany,
Was in the castell thar besid,
Fullfillyt off dispyt and prid.
Bot ma than twa partis off his rowt
War herberyt in the toune without;
"And dyspytyt vow mar, Schir King,
Than men may dispyt ony thing."
Than said the King, in full gret ire;
" Tratour, quhy maid thowthan the fyr?"—
" A I Schyr," said he, " sa God me se I
The fyr wes newyr maid for me.
Na, or the nycht, I wyst it nocht;
Bot fra I wyst it, weill I thocht
That ye, and haly your menye,
In hy M suld put yow to the se.
For thi I cum to mete yow her,
To tell perellys that may aper."
Scott:
"...'Twas I,' said Edward, 'found employ Of nobler import for the boy. Deep pondering in my anxious mind,
A fitting messenger to find,
To bear thy written mandate o'er
To Cuthbert on the Carrick shore,
I chanced, at early dawn, to pass
The chapel gate to snatch a mass.
I found the stripling on a tomb
Low-seated, weeping for the doom
That gave his youth to convent gloom.
I told my purpose, and his eyes
Flash'd joyful at the glad surprise.
He bounded to the skiff, the sail
Was spread before a prosperous gale,
And well my charge he hath obey'd ;
For, see ! the ruddy signal made,
That Clifford, with his merry-men all,
•Guards carelessly our father's hall.' ..."
Barbour:
"...Thai rowit fast, with all thair mycht,
Till that apon thaim fell the nycht,
That woux myrk. apon gret mancr,
Swa that thai wyst nocht quhar thai wer
For thai na nedill had, na stane ;
Bot rowyt alwayis in till anc,
Sterand all tyme apon the fyr,
That thai saw brynnand lycht and schyr12
It wes bot auentur 13 thaim led :
And thai in schort tyme sa thaim sped.
That at the fyr arywyt thai;
And went to land bot mar delay.
And Cuthbert, that has sene the fyr,
Was full off angyr, and off ire:
For he durst nocht do it away;
And wes alsua dowtand ay
That his lord suld pass to se.
Tharfor thair cummyn waytit he,
And met thaim at thair arywing.
He wes wele sone broucht to the King,
That speryt at him how he had done.
And he with sar hart tauld him sone.
How that he fand nane weill luffand;
Bot all war fayis, that he fand:
And that the lord the Persy,
With ner thre hundre in cumpany,
Was in the castell thar besid,
Fullfillyt off dispyt and prid.
Bot ma than twa partis off his rowt
War herberyt in the toune without;
"And dyspytyt vow mar, Schir King,
Than men may dispyt ony thing."
Than said the King, in full gret ire;
" Tratour, quhy maid thowthan the fyr?"—
" A I Schyr," said he, " sa God me se I
The fyr wes newyr maid for me.
Na, or the nycht, I wyst it nocht;
Bot fra I wyst it, weill I thocht
That ye, and haly your menye,
In hy M suld put yow to the se.
For thi I cum to mete yow her,
To tell perellys that may aper."
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Joseph Mallord William Turner
Turner passed this day, December 19, in 1775. Always a private individual, Turner had a residence in Chelsea which he holed up in, preparing to die. Friends found him the day before his death.
Turner was the son of a barber, and was born in his father's shop. The elder Turner supported the son's interest in art, and the two remained close throughout life. In 1789, Turner entered the Royal Academy (RA) as a student. In 1802 he was elected an academician. In 1807, he became professor of perspective at the RA. That year, his "Liber Studiorum" was issued, full of engravings by himself and others. The "Liber Studiorum" was issued in several volumes over several years, and included several Walter Scott related subjects. In 1831, Scott's publisher Robert Cadell wrote to Turner, asking him to illustrate a new edition of "Scott's Poetical Works". Turner replied favorably, offering 24 designs at 25 guineas each; well under the rate Cadell anticipated.
Turner was the son of a barber, and was born in his father's shop. The elder Turner supported the son's interest in art, and the two remained close throughout life. In 1789, Turner entered the Royal Academy (RA) as a student. In 1802 he was elected an academician. In 1807, he became professor of perspective at the RA. That year, his "Liber Studiorum" was issued, full of engravings by himself and others. The "Liber Studiorum" was issued in several volumes over several years, and included several Walter Scott related subjects. In 1831, Scott's publisher Robert Cadell wrote to Turner, asking him to illustrate a new edition of "Scott's Poetical Works". Turner replied favorably, offering 24 designs at 25 guineas each; well under the rate Cadell anticipated.
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