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1 of 253523 objects
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)
The Lay of the last minstrel : a poem / Walter Scott. 1812
RCIN 1040306
Drawing Room, Osborne House
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The Lay of the Last Minstrel is a narrative poem set in the Scottish Borders of the late sixteenth century. Based on the historic feud between the Scott and Kerr clans, Scott was inspired to write it while working on his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, an anthology of ballads and local legends, first published in 1802. He had hoped to add a narrative poem of his own composition based on the songs in his second edition of Minstrelsy, but due to some confusion among his friends being taken as disapproval, he burned the manuscript. Scott rewrote the work during the remainder of 1803, recounting the tale through the mouth of a late-seventeenth-century minstrel, introduced to serve as an intermediary between the events of the story and the reader's present. The sixth and final canto was fininshed by August 1804 and the full poem was printed at Edinburgh by James Ballantyne for Archibald Constable on 12 January 1805. This copy of the 1812 edition was owned by George IV at Carlton House and was later taken to Osborne House, probably by Queen Victoria.
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