The poetical works of Sir Walter Scott, with memoir of the author.

24 INTRODUCTION TO THE
tents of the chapters of the Faery Queen, such
as"Babe's bloody hands may not be cleansed,
The face of golden Mean:
Her sisters two, Extremities,
Her strive to banish clean."
I entirely agreed with my friendly critic in the
necessity of having some sort of pitch-pipe, which
might make readers aware of the object, or rather
the tone, of the publication. But I doubted
whether, in assuming the oracular style of Spenser's mottos, the interpreter might not be censured as the harder to be understood of the two.
I therefore introduced the Old Minstrel, as an
appropriate prolocutor, by whom the lay might
be sung, or spoken, and the introduction of whom
betwixt the cantos, might remind the reader, at
intervals, of the time, place, and circumstances of
the recitation. This species of cadre, or frame,
afterwards afforded the poem its name of " The
Lay of the Last Minstrel."
The work was subsequently shown to other
friends during its progress, and received the
imprimatur of Mr. Francis Jeffrey, who had been
already for some time distinguished by his critical talent.
The poem, being once licensed by the critics
as fit for the market, was soon finished, proceeding at about the rate of a canto per week. There