and contempt."

Perhaps so, to the purblind vision of a pedantic formalist; but,
nevertheless, _The Lay of the Last Minstrel_, that poem, whose varied
imagery and vivid originality, combined with all its other beauties, have
been, and ever will be, the delight and admiration of its readers, could
not exist without this so-called "capital deformity." This I shall
undertake to demonstrate, and in so doing to prove the "capital absurdity"
of such criticism as I have cited.

Let us therefore begin with the beginning. The widowed Lady of Branksome,
brooding over the outrage which had deprived her husband of life, meditates
only vengeance upon all the parties concerned in this affray. The lovely
Lady Margaret wept in wild despair, for her lover had stood in arms against
her father's clan:

"And well she knew, her mother dread,
Before Lord Cranstoun she should wed,
Would see her on her dying bed."

The first Canto of the poem contains that singular episode, when--

"(The Ladye) sits in secret bower
In old Lord David's western tower,
And listens to a heavy sound
That moans the mossy turrets round," &c.

"From the sound of Teviot's tide
Chafing with the mountain side,
&c. &c.
The Ladye knew it well!
It was the Spirit of the Flood that spoke,
And he called on the Spirit of the Fell."

And when the River Spirit asks concerning the fair Margaret, who had
mingled her tears with his stream:

"What shall be the maiden's fate?
Who shall be the maiden's mate?"

the Mountain Spirit replies, that, amid the clouds and mist which veil the
stars,--

"Ill may I read their high decree:
But no kind influence deign they shower
On Teviot's tide and Branksome's tower,
Till _pride be quelled_, and _love be free_."

I must here transcribe the following Section xviii.:

"The unearthly voices ceased,
And the heavy sound was still;
It died on the river's breast,
It died on the side of the hill.
But round Lord David's tower,
The sound still floated near,
For it rung in the Ladye's bower,
And it rung in the Ladye's ear,
She raised her stately head,
And her heart throbbed high with pride:
'Your mountains shall bend,
And your streams ascend,
Ere Margaret be our foeman's bride!'"

In pursuance of this stern resolution, "the Ladye sought the lofty hall"
where her retainers were assembled:

"And from amid the armed train
She calle