Poetry > Lady of the lake

LADY OF THE LAKE,
5
The frequent custom of James IV., and particu¬
larly of James V., to walk through their kingdom
in disghise, afforded me the hint of an incident,
which never fails to be interesting if managed with
the slightest address or dexterity.
I may now confess, however, that the employ¬
ment, though attended with great pleasure, was
not without its doubts and anxieties. A lady, to
whom I was nearly related, and with whom I lived,
during her whole life, on the most brotherly terms
of affection, was residing with me at the time when
the work was in progress, and used to ask me,
what I could possibly do to rise so early in the
morning (that happening to be the most conve¬
nient time to me for composition.) At last I told
her the subject of my meditations; and I can never
forget the anxiety and affection expressed in her
reply. “ Do not be so rash,” she said, “ my
dearest cousin.1 You are already popular—more
’ [The lady with whom Sir Walter Scott held this conversa¬
tion, was, no doubt, his aunt, Miss Christian Rutherford; there
was no other female relation dead when this Introduction was
written, whom I can suppose him to have consulted on literary
questions. Lady Capulet, on seeing the corpse of Tybalt, ex¬
claims —
“ Tybalt, my cousin ! oh my brother’s child !'*—Ep.'