was adopted, which allows greater latitude, in this respect, than would be consistent with the dignity of a regular Poem. ...For these reasons, the Poem was put into the mouth of an ancient Minstrel, the last of the race, who, as he is supposed to have survived the Revolution, might have caught somewhat of the refinement of modern poetry, without losing the simplicity of his original model. The date of the Tale itself is about the middle of the sixteenth century, when most of the personages actually flourished. The time occupied by the action is Three Nights and Three Days." Plot An aging minstrel seeks hospitality at Newark Castle and in recompense tells his hostess, Duchess of Buccleuch and her ladies a tale of a sixteenth-century Border feud. In the poem, Lady Margaret Scott of Buccleuch, the "Flower of Teviot" is beloved by Baron Henry of Cranstoun an ally of the Ker Clan, but a deadly feud exists between the two border clans of Scott and Carr/Ker, which has resulted in the recent murder of Lady Margaret's father, Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch by the Kers on the High Street in Edinburgh. Margaret's widowed mother hates the Ker clan as a result, and is adamant in refusing her consent to any suggestion of marriage between the lovers until Henry's brave conduct results in the restoration of her young son from captivity and induces her to change her mind. The poem is concerned with loyalty to one’s homeland, but also with the manner in which the poet draws his art from his connection to his country and traditions. Canto summary Introduction: At the end of the 17th century a destitute minstrel is offered hospitality by the Duchess of Buccleuch at Newark Tower and sings the following lay: Canto 1: Lady Scott of Branksome, widow of Sir Walter Scott, dispatches the moss-trooper William of Deloraine to fetch a scroll or book from a tomb in Melrose Abbey. Canto 2: Deloraine retrieves a mighty book from Michael Scott's tomb with the help of the monk who had buried it. Back at Branksome the Lady's daughter Margaret slips out at dawn to meet her beloved Henry of Cranstoun, with whose clan the Scotts are at feud. They part when Henry's goblin page Gilpin Horner warns of approaching danger. Canto 3: Attacked by the returning Deloraine, Henry wounds him and asks Horner (who has taken