he had as yet adventured. Such a subject came to him at
last in a manner calculated to enlist all his enthusiasm in its
treatment, for it was given him by the Countess of Dalkeith, wife of the
heir-apparent to the dukedom of Buccleugh. The ducal house of Buccleugh
stood at the head of the clan Scott, and toward its representative the
poet always held himself in an attitude of feudal reverence. The Duke of
Buccleugh was his "chief," entitled to demand from him both passive
loyalty and active service; so, at least, Scott loved to interpret their
relationship, making effective in his own case a feudal sentiment which
had elsewhere somewhat lapsed. He especially loved to think of himself
as the bard of his clan, a modern representative of those rude poets
whom the Scottish chiefs once kept as a part of their household to chant
the exploits of the clan. Nothing could have pleased his fancy more,
therefore, than a request on the part of the lady of his chief to treat
a subject of her assigning--namely, the dark mischief-making of a dwarf
or goblin who had strayed from his unearthly master and attached himself
as page to a human household. The subject fell in with the poet's
reigning taste for strong supernaturalism. Gilpin Horner, the goblin
page, though he proved in the sequel a difficult character to put to
poetic use, was a figure grotesque and eerie enough to appeal even to
Monk Lewis. At first Scott thought of treating the subject in
ballad-form, but the scope of treatment was gradually enlarged by
several circumstances. To begin with, he chanced upon a copy of Goethe's
_Goetz von Berlichingen_, and the history of that robber baron suggested
to him the feasibility of throwing the same vivid light upon the old
Border life of his ancestors as Goethe had thrown upon that of the Rhine
barons. This led him to subordinate the part played by the goblin page
in the proposed story, which was now widened to include elaborate
pictures of medieval life and manners, and to lay the scene in the
castle of Branksome, formerly the stronghold of Scott's and the Duke of
Buccleugh's ancestors. The verse form into which the story was thrown
was due to a still more accidental circumstance, i.e., Scott's
overhearing Sir John Stoddard recite a fragment of Coleridge's
unpublished poem "Christabel." The placing of the story in the mouth of
an old harper fallen upon evil days, was a happy afterthought; besides
making a beautiful framework for the ma