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

THE BRIDAL OF TRIERMAIN.

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romance; but in the estimation of his contemporaries, they probably derived their chief value
from their supposed historical authenticity. The
same may be generally said of the poetry of all
early ages. The marvels and miracles which the
poet blends with his song, do not exceed in number or extravagance the figments of the historians
of the same period of society; and, indeed, the
difference betwixt poetry and prose, as the vehicles
of historical truth, is always of late introduction.
Poets, under various denominations of Bards,
Scalds, Chroniclers, and so forth, are the first
historians of all nations. Their intention is to
relate the events they have witnessed, or the traditions that have reached them; and they clothe
the relation in rhyme, merely as the means of
rendering it more solemn in the narrative, or
more easily committed to memory. But as the
poetical historian improves in the art of conveying information, the authenticity of his narrative
unavoidably declines. He is tempted to dilate
and dwell upon the events that are interesting to
his imagination, and, conscious how indifferent his
audience is to the naked truth of his poem, his
history gradually becomes a romance.
It is in this situation that those epics are found,
which have been generally regarded the standards of poetry; and it has happened somewhat
strangely, that the moderns have pointed out as
the characteristics and peculiar excellences of