Lay of the Last Minstrel, The

Lay of the Last Minstrel, The, a poem in six cantos by Sir W. Scott, published in 1805. Scott's first important original work, it is a metrical romance in irregular stanzas (much of it in rhymed octosyllabics) put in the mouth of an ancient minstrel, the last of his race, who bewails the decline of his art and his nation as he tells a Border tale of feud and witchcraft and frustrated love set in the mid-16th cent. The story is involved and violent, featuring the vengeful Lady of Branksome Hall, her daughter Margaret, the ‘stark moss trooping’ Deloraine, and the legend of the wizard Michael Scott: it contains the well remembered invocation of Melrose (Canto Second) ‘If thou wouldst view fair Melrose aright, Go visit it by pale moonlight’. The narrative also encloses several ballads, and ends with a version of the ‘Dies Irae’.