Independently of this, we think that too little pains is taken to
distinguish the Scotish character and manners from the English, or to
give expression to the general feeling of rivalry and mutual jealousy
which at that time existed between the two countries.
If there be any truth in what we have now said, it is evident that the
merit of this poem cannot consist in the story. And yet it has very
great merit, and various kinds of merit,--both in the picturesque
representation of visible objects, in the delineation of manners and
characters, and in the description of great and striking events. After
having detained the reader so long with our own dull remarks, it will
be refreshing to him to peruse a few specimens of Mr Scott's more
enlivening strains.
[Quotes over six hundred lines of _Marmion_ with brief comment.]
The powerful poetry of these passages can receive no illustration from
any praises or observations of ours. It is superior, in our
apprehension, to all that this author has hitherto produced; and, with a
few faults of diction, equal to any thing that has _ever_ been written
upon similar subjects.
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