matter and style of the poem.

"The first canto begins with a description of a staghunt in the
Highlands of Perthshire. As the chase lengthens, the sportsmen drop
off; till at last the foremost horseman is left alone; and his
horse, overcome with fatigue, stumbles and dies. The adventurer,
climbing up a craggy eminence, discovers Loch Katrine spread out in
evening glory before him. The huntsman winds his horn; and sees, to
his infinite surprise, a little skiff, guided by a lovely woman,
glide from beneath the trees that overhang the water, and approach
the shore at his feet. Upon the stranger's approach, she pushes the
shallop from the shore in alarm. After a short parley, however, she
carries him to a woody island, where she leads him into a sort of
silvan mansion, rudely constructed, and hung round with trophies of
war and the chase. An elderly lady is introduced at supper; and the
stranger, after disclosing himself to be 'James Fitz-James, the
knight of Snowdoun,' tries in vain to discover the name and history
of the ladies.

"The second canto opens with a picture of the aged harper,
Allan-bane, sitting on the island beach with the damsel, watching
the skiff which carries the stranger back to land. A conversation
ensues, from which the reader gathers that the lady is a daughter
of the Douglas, who, being exiled by royal displeasure from court,
had accepted this asylum from Sir Roderick Dhu, a Highland
chieftain long outlawed for deeds of blood; that this dark chief is
in love with his fair _protegee_, but that her affections are
engaged to Malcolm Graeme, a younger and more amiable mountaineer.
The sound of distant music is heard on the lake; and the barges of
Sir Roderick are discovered, proceeding in triumph to the island.
Ellen, hearing her father's horn at that instant on the opposite
shore, flies to meet him and Malcolm Graeme, who is received with
cold and stately civility by the lord of the isle. Sir Roderick
informs the Douglas that his retreat has been discovered, and that
the King (James V), under pretence of hunting, has assembled a
large force in the neighborhood. He then proposes impetuously that
they should unite their fortunes by his marriage with Ellen, and
rouse the whole Western Highlands. The Douglas, intimating that his