page_title: The Lay of the Last Minstrel
section_title: Preface
hierarchical_section_title: The Lay of the Last Minstrel / Preface
caption_attribution_description: English: "Lord Cranstoun and the Goblin Page." The lay of the last minstrel - by Sir Walter Scott, Illustrated by James Henry Nixon
context_page_description: The Lay of the Last Minstrel is a narrative poem in six cantos with copious antiquarian notes by Walter Scott. Set in the Scottish Borders in the mid-16th century, it is sung by a minstrel late in the 1600s.
context_section_description: "The Poem, now offered to the Public, is intended to illustrate the customs and manners which anciently prevailed on the Borders of England and Scotland. ...As the description of scenery and manners was more the object of the Author than a combined and regular narrative, the plan of the Ancient Metrical Romance 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."
caption: The lay of the last minstrel - by Sir Walter Scott, Illustrated by James Henry Nixon
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