usually thought to afford stronger presumption of affinity than similar perfections.

It may be worth while, however, in concluding, to notice one insignificant exception to what has been said of the versatility exhibited by our authors in their dramatic pictures of character: I mean the marked failure of both in scenes of bold and unmitigated vulgarity. These are but seldom attempted, and it is evident they are not written con amore; they appear sordidly coarse, and want that free spirit of joyous insolence which alone, on such occasions, can compel us to overlook the vileness of the subject. John of Brent and his comrades, in the Lady of the Lake, are at least as saucy and irreverent as Burns's Merry Beggars; but the soldiers, with all their licence, are coldly and formally debauched; while the joviality of Posie-Nansie's is so animated and glowing, that the whole spirit of the revel rushes upon us, and vagrancy appears almost sublime in the lines

"Here's to budgets, bags, and wallets!

Here's to all the wandering train!
Here's our ragged brats and callets!
One and all cry out, Amen!

A fig for those by law protected,
Liberty's a glorious feast!

Courts for cowards were erected,

Churches built to please the priest !"

Inglis the trooper in Old Mortality*, Frank Levitt the thief in The Heart of Mid-Lothian†, and noble Captain Craigengelt in The Bride of Lammermoor‡, are at times even re

* See the last vol. ch. 14.
+ Vol. iii. ch. 4.
Vol. ii. ch. 8: the conversation with Bucklaw

pulsively coarse; but their coarseness is of that kind which neither illustrates the character nor invigorates the language; it is at once overcharged and ineffective, plainly indicating that the writer, unsuccessful in seizing the spirit of genuine blackguardism, has made an aggravated display of its outward signs, to conceal or atone for the essential deficiency. In portraying that unconscious vulgarity which. results from selfishness, conceit, and bad education, the author of Waverley exhibits all his accustomed felicity, as in the character of Mrs. Nosebag*, and occasionally in that of Sir Dugald Dalgetty; but he has not yet caught, with his usual nice apprehension, the reckless and ribald audacity of the 'lewd rabble,' and those who adopt their manners; and his essays of this kind, having all the rudeness of reality, without affording the pleasure which is produced by judicious imitation, remind us of the economical humorist, in Miss Burney's Cecilia, who appears at a masquerade with the borrowed suit of a real chimney-sweeper.

In the general remarks which I offered on the style of these two writers, I mentioned, as one of its distinguishing features, a tendency to diffuseness. This, however, is by no means a prevailing characteristic of their dialogue, which, in all its happiest parts, is peculiarly terse and compact, and becomes, according to the occasion, sententious or epigrammatic, without any diminution of ease, or sacrifice of propriety. Hence it is, that when the stories of these authors have been compressed for the stage (as the Constrictor serpent compresses a lordly stag), it has commonly been found expedient to retain the original dialogue, not only of the novels, but occasionally even of the

Waverley, vol. iii. ch. 14.

poems*, as more effective than any which could be substituted, and better calculated for developing the fable with animation, propriety, and distinctness.

I cannot support these observations better than by referring to that scene in Marmion where the hero is received by King James in the banqueting-room at Holy-rood. The monarch, in addressing Marmion, glances a splenetic taunt at the Earl of Angus:

"Then rest you in Tantallon Hold;
Your host shall be the Douglas bold,-
A chief unlike his sires of old.
He wears their motto on his blade,
Their blazon o'er his towers display'd;
Yet loves his sovereign to oppose,
More than to face his country's foes.

Under your guard these holy maids
Shall safe return to cloister shades,
And, while they at Tantallon stay,
Requiem for Cochran's soul may say.'-
And, with the slaughter'd favourite's name,
Across the monarch's brow there came

A cloud of ire, remorse, and shame.

In answer nought could Angus speak;
His proud heart swell'd well nigh to break :
He turn❜d aside, and down his cheek

A burning tear there stole.

His hand the monarch sudden took,

That sight his kind heart could not brook:

* The Lady of the Lake was performed at a minor theatre, with (I believe) scarcely any alteration of the colloquial parts.

Now, by the Bruce's soul,
Angus, my hasty speech forgive!
For sure as doth his spirit live,
As he said of the Douglas old,
I well may say of you,-*

That never king did subject hold,

In speech more free, in war more bold,
More tender and more true.

Forgive me, Douglas, once again.'-
And while the king his hand did strain,
The old man's tears fell down like rain.
To seize the moment Marmion tried,
And whisper'd to the king aside :

Oh! let such tears unwonted plead
For respite short from dubious deed!
A child will weep a bramble's smart,
A maid to see her sparrow part,
A stripling for a woman's heart:
But woe awaits a country, when
She sees the tears of bearded men.
Then, oh! what omen, dark and high,
When Douglas wets his manly eye!'-

Displeased was James, that stranger view'd And tamper'd with his changing mood. 'Laugh those that can, weep those that may,' Thus did the fiery monarch ṣay, 'Southward I march by break of day; And if within Tantallon strong The good Lord Marmion tarries long, Perchance our meeting next may fall At Tamworth, in his castle hall.'— The haughty Marmion felt the taunt, And answer'd, grave, the royal vaunt:

'Much honour'd were my humble home,
If in its halls King James should come ;
But Nottingham has archers good,

And Yorkshire men are stern of mood;
Northumbrian prickers wild and rude.
On Derby hills the paths are steep;

In Ouse and Tyne the fords are deep;

And many a banner will be torn,
And many a knight to earth be borne,
And many a sheaf of arrows spent,
Ere Scotland's king shall cross the Trent:
Yet pause, brave prince, while yet you may.'-
The monarch lightly turn'd away,

And to his nobles loud did call,

'Lords, to the dance,a hall, a hall!'

Himself his cloak and sword flung by,
And led dame Heron gallantly;

And minstrels, at the royal order,

Rung out-Blue bonnets o'er the Border.'

Marmion, Canto V. St. 15-17.

The bravado of Risingham

"Mine is but half the dæmon's lot,

For I believe, but tremble not,"

Rokeby, Canto III. St. 20.

if quaint, is at least well turned. The conversations between Fitz-James and Roderick Dhu, in the Lady of the Lake (Cantos IV. and V.), contain many neat points, urged with great spirit, and, occasionally, with much felicity of expression. Waldemar's reply to Prince John, in the following passage, is happy retort, and contains a weighty

moral reflection :

Saxon or Jew,' answered the prince, Saxon or Jew,