THE CENTENARY GARLAND

Being Pictorial Illustrations of the Novels of Sir Walter Scott,
inTheir Order of Publication.

By George Cruikshank, and Other Artists of Eminence.

With Descriptions, Memoir, Etc.

Edinburgh:

William P. Nimmo.

1871.

Who comes, alone, with soul of fire,And in his hand the Border lyre?He sweeps the strings, and in his strainOld times and manners live again;'Tis Scott! great Master of his art,He fires, subdues, or storms the heart!Rapt by the magic of his rhymes,I seem to live in feudal times;I hear the swelling bugle's call,And see the warder on the wall;And many a squire, and many a knight,In mail and gloves of steel bedight,Impatient for the fiery fight.Captain Charles Gray.The land was charm'd to list his lays;It knew the harp of ancient days.The Border chiefs, that long had beenIn sepulchres unhearsed and green,Passed f rom their mouldy vaults away,In armour red and stern array,And by their moonlight halls were seen,In visor helm, and habergean.Even fairies sought our land again,So powerful was the magic strain.The Ettrick Shepherd.

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PREFATORY NOTE,

BY THE EDITOR.

THE enthusiasm with which Scotsmen and others have hailed the proposal tocelebrate in public demonstration the Centenary of Sir Walter Scott'sbirth, has suggested the publication of this little work. The Memoirincludes some interesting particulars omitted by preceding biographers;while a history of the Scott Monument at Edinburgh has been prepared fromoriginal materials. The illustrations are printed on stone by MessrsSchenck & M'Farlane, from steel plates by artists of eminence. Thespirited etchings by Mr George Cruikshank will be especially welcomed bythe numerous admirers of that distinguished artist. It has been theEditor's aim to produce a souvenir worthy of the occasion, and he isinclined to believe that his intentions have been in some measurerealised.

CHARLES ROGERS.

Snowdoun Villa,

Lewisham, Kent,

June 1871.