kings and lords, who could not ride quite to their satisfaction, were to be regarded as slow coaches and spoons.
This question has another aspect.
It has been thought by some that the genius of Walter Scott, which delighted in the romantic and chivalrous aspect of feudalism, has had considerable influence in obtaining for the aristocratic spirit the ascendancy it held in England for the first quarter of the nineteenth century. It seemed a vain imagination in Wordsworth to attempt to establish a respectable pedlar in the roll of honour which was appropriated to bold buccaneers and respectable[1] cow-stealers. Indeed, what was that foray which closed with the Battle of Otterburne? Does not the old ballad say
"Doughty Douglas was boun' to ride
To England to drive a prey"?
An ancient name and lineage were indispensable, and really Scott had wonderful success in stamping impressions that I can hardly admit were a very
- ↑ By "respectable" here is meant a cow-stealer who was in a large way of business, and would have thought it beneath the character of a gentleman to steal a single cow, or anything less than a herd of cows with the bull or bulls.
