785 Then forth the noble Douglas sprung, 791 796 801 820 824 My fairest earldom would I give 832 835 1. Give a brief account of what happened in the guard room. From various hints in the Canto try to piece out the story of John of Brent. What is your opinion of the King's army as described in stanza III? What do you think of young Lewis and his lame apology in the first six lines of stanza x? 2. What interesting facts about the life of a Highland minstrel did you learn? What mistake did John de Brent make? What lines in stanza XIII show admirable qualities in Roderick Dhu? Why was he preserved to die in the castle at Stirling? 3. What device does the poet make use of to tell the reader of the battle between Clan Alpine and the King's lieutenant, the Earl of Mar? In what lines in stanza XVIII does the minstrel pay Roderick a fine tribute? In what scene is the use of the supernatural especially effective? 4. How many cases of concealed identity are there in the poem? Where, in each case, is the identity disclosed? What are the hints in each case by which the poet lets the reader know of the real identity? Which of all is the most dramatic revelation? What justification 5 A character sketch of Fitz-James, Roderick Dhu, Ellen, Malcolm, or Douglas. The songs in the poem and the purpose served by each. The various verse-movements of the songs in the poem and how the music aids the thoughts and moods of the songs. The Lady of the Lake as a metrical romance. The beautiful relationship between Ellen and her father. Concealed identities in the poem. Scott's descriptions of dawn and evening. Scott's use of figurative language. The hospitality of the Highlanders. The superstitions of the Highlanders. Passages in the poem that reflect the poet's love of animals, especially horses and dogs.. Allan-bane, a typical Highland minstrel, and his place in the ancient Scottish clan. The apostrophe to the harp in the first three and last three stanzas of the poem. Scottish music illustrated with phonograph records. A Highland costume, illustrated by the articles themselves or by colored pictures. Scottish tartans illustrated by examples. The Spenserian verse and its use in the introductory stanza of each canto. Other heroes who believed that "The danger's self is lure alone." (Canto Fifth, stanza IV). "For he whom royal eyes disown When was his form to courtiers known." (Canto Fifth, stanza xxiv.) Other rulers who probably felt as did King James: "Thou many-headed monster thing, O who could wish to be thy king." (Canto Fifth, stanza xxx.) CHAPTER VII IVANHOE SIR WALTER SCOTT The condition of the English nation was at this time sufficiently miserable. King Richard was absent, a prisoner, and in the power of the perfidious and cruel Duke of Austria. Even the very place of his captivity was uncertain, and his fate but very imperfectly known to the generality of his subjects, who were, in the meantime, a 10 prey to every species of subaltern oppression. Prince John, in league with Philip of France, Coeur-de-Lion's mortal enemy, was using every species of influence with the Duke of Austria to prolong the captivity of his brother Richard, to whom he stood indebted for so many favors. In the meantime he was strengthening his own faction 20 in the kingdom, of which he proposed to dispute succession, in case of the 3. King Richard, Richard II (reigned 1189-1199). 350 King's death, with the legitimate heir, Arthur, Duke of Brittany, son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, the elder brother of John. This usurpation, it is well known, he afterwards effected. His own character being light, profligate, and perfidious, John easily attached to his person and faction not only all who had reason to dread the resent- 30 ment of Richard for criminal proceedings during his absence, but also the numerous class of "lawless resolutes" whom the crusades had turned back on their country, accomplished in the vices of the East, impoverished in substance, and hardened in character, and who placed their hopes of harvest in civil commotion. To these causes of public distress 40 and apprehension must be added the multitude of outlaws who, driven to despair by the oppression of the feudal nobility and the severe exercise of the forest laws, banded together in large gangs, and, keeping possession of the forests and the wastes, set at defiance the justice and magistracy of the country. The nobles themselves, each fortified within his own castle, and 50 playing the petty sovereign over his own dominions, were the leaders of bands scarce less lawless and oppressive than those of the avowed depredators. To maintain these retainers, and to support the extravagance and magnificence which their pride induced them to affect, the nobility borrowed sums of money from the Jews at the most usurious interest, which gnawed 60 into their estates like consuming cankers, scarce to be cured unless when circumstances gave them an opportunity of getting free by exercising upon their creditors some act of unprincipled violence. Under the various burdens imposed by this unhappy state of affairs, the people of England suffered deeply for the present, and had yet more dreadful cause. to fear for the future. To augment their misery, a contagious dis10 order of a dangerous nature spread through the land; and, rendered more virulent by the uncleanness, the indifferent food, and the wretched lodging of the lower classes, swept off many, whose fate the survivors were tempted to envy, as exempting them from the evils which were to come. Yet, amid these accumulated distresses, the poor as well as the rich, 20 the vulgar as well as the noble, in the event of a tournament, which was the grand spectacle of that age, felt as much interested as the half-starved citizen of Madrid, who has not a real left to buy provisions for his family, feels in the issue of a bull-feast. Neither duty nor infirmity could keep youth or age from such exhibitions. The passage of arms, as it was called, 30 which was to take place at Ashby, in the county of Leicester, as champions of the first renown were to take the field in the presence of Prince John himself, who was expected to grace the lists, had attracted universal attention, and an immense confluence of persons of all ranks hastened upon the appointed morning to the place of combat. had grown to an immense size. The ground, as if fashioned on purpose for the martial display which was in- 50 tended, sloped gradually down on all sides to a level bottom, which was inclosed for the lists with strong palisades, forming a space of a quarter of a mile in length, and about half as broad. The form of the inclosure was an oblong square, save that the corners were considerably rounded off, in order to afford more convenience for the spectators. The openings for the 60 entry of the combatants were at the northern and southern extremities of the lists, accessible by strong wooden gates, each wide enough to admit two horsemen riding abreast. At each of these portals were stationed two heralds, attended by six trumpets, as many pursuivants, and a strong body of men-at-arms, for maintaining order, and ascertaining the quality of the 70 knights who proposed to engage in this martial game. On a platform beyond the southern entrance, formed by a natural elevation of the ground, were pitched five magnificent pavilions, adorned with pennons of russet and black, the chosen colors of the five knights challengers. The cords of the tents were of the same color. Before each pa- so vilion was suspended the shield of the knight by whom it was occupied, and beside it stood his squire, quaintly disguised as a salvage or silvan man, or in some other fantastic dress, according to the taste of his master and the character he was pleased to assume during the game The central pavilion, as the place of honor, had been assigned to Brian de Bois-Guilbert, 90 whose renown in all games of chivalry, no less than his connection with the knights who had undertaken this passage of arms, had occasioned him to be eagerly received into the company of the challengers, and even adopted as their chief and leader, though he had so recently joined them. On one side of his tent were pitched those of Reginald Front-de-Boeuf and Richard [Philip] de Malvoisin, and on the other was the pavilion of Hugh de Grantmesnil, a noble baron in the 10 vicinity, whose ancestor had been Lord High Steward of England in the time of the Conqueror and his son William Rufus. Ralph de Vipont, a knight of St. John of Jerusalem, who had some ancient possessions at a place called Heather, near Ashby-dela-Zouche, occupied the fifth pavilion. From the entrance into the lists a gently sloping passage, ten yards in 20 breadth, led up to the platform on which the tents were pitched. It was strongly secured by a palisade on each side, as was the esplanade in front of the pavilions, and the whole was guarded by men-at-arms. The northern access to the lists terminated in a similar entrance of thirty feet in breadth, at the extremity of which was a large inclosed space 30 for such knights as might be disposed to enter the lists with the challengers, behind which were placed tents containing refreshments of every kind for their accommodation, with armorers, farriers, and other attendants, in readiness to give their services wherever they might be necessary. The exterior of the lists was in part occupied by temporary galleries, 40 spread with tapestry and carpets, and accommodated with cushions for the convenience of those ladies and nobles who were expected to attend the tournament. A narrow space betwixt these galleries and the lists gave accommodation for yeomanry and spectators of a better degree than the mere vulgar, and might be compared 12. Conqueror, William the Conqueror. to the pit of a theater. The promiscuous multitude arranged themselves 50 upon large banks of turf prepared for the purpose, which, aided by the natural elevation of the ground, enabled them to overlook the galleries and obtain a fair view into the lists. Besides the accommodation which these stations afforded, many hundreds had perched themselves on the branches of the trees which surrounded the meadow; and even the steeple of a 60 country church, at some distance, was crowded with spectators. It only remains to notice respecting the general arrangement, that one gallery in the very center of the eastern side of the lists, and consequently exactly opposite to the spot where the shock of the combat was to take place, was raised higher than the others, more richly decorated, and 70 graced by a sort of throne and canopy, on which the royal arms were emblazoned. Squires, pages, and yeomen in rich liveries waited around this place of honor, which was designed for Prince John and his attendants. Opposite to this royal gallery was another, elevated to the same height, on the western side of the lists; and more gaily, if less sumptuously, decorated so than that destined for the Prince himself. A train of pages and of young maidens, the most beautiful who could be selected, gaily dressed in fancy habits of green and pink, surrounded a throne decorated in the same colors. Among pennons and flags bearing wounded hearts, burning hearts, bleeding hearts, bows and quivers, and all the commonplace 90 emblems of the triumphs of Cupid, a blazoned inscription informed the spectators that this seat of honor was designed for La Royne de la Beaulté et des Amours. But who was to represent 94. La Royne de la Beaulté et des Amours, the queen of beauty and love. |