His battle-pieces
live and resound again: what can be finer than Flodden field in _Marmion_,
and The Battle of Beal and Duine in _The Lady of the Lake_?
His love scenes are at once chaste, impassioned, and tender; and his harp
songs and battle lyrics are unrivalled in harmony. And, besides these
merits, he gives us everywhere glimpses of history, which, before his day,
were covered by the clouds of ignorance, and which his breath was to sweep
away.
Such are his claims as the first of the new romantic poets. We might here
leave him, to consider his prose works in another connection; but it seems
juster to his fame to continue and complete a sketch of his life, because
all its parts are of connected interest. The poems were a grand proem to
the novels.
While he was achieving fame by his poetry, and reaping golden rewards as
well as golden opinions, he was also ambitious to establish a family name
and estate. To this end, he bought a hundred acres of land on the banks of
the Tweed, near Melrose Abbey, and added to these from time to time by the
purchase of adjoining properties.
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