berg became Frederick the First, Elector of Brandenburg. The Duchy of Prussia fell under the sway of the Elector John Sigismund (1608–19), and from that time to the present there has been a very remarkable development of government and power. See Carlyle's 'Frederick the Great,' and Mr. Baring-Gould's 'Germany' in the series 'Stories of the Nations.'
ll. 57-80. The Duke of Brunswick was defeated at Valmy in 1792, and so failed to crush the dragon of the French Revolution in its birth, as in all likelihood he would have done had he been victorious on the occasion.
l. 64. Prussia, without an ally, took the field instead of acting on the defensive.
l. 67. seem'd = beseemed, befitted; as in Spenser's May eclogue, 'Nought seemeth sike strife,' i.e. such strife is not befitting or seemly.
l. 69. Various German princes lost their dominions after Napoleon conquered Prussia.
l. 78. By defeating Varus, A.D. 9, Arminins saved Germany from Roman conquest. See the first two books of the Annals of Tacitus, at the close of which this tribute is paid to the hero: 'liberator haud dubie Germaniae et qui non primordia populi Romani, sicut alii reges ducesque, sed florentissimum imperium lacessierit, proeliis ambiguus, bello non victus.'
ll. 46-80. This undoubtedly vigorous and well-sustained tribute is not without its special purpose. The Princess Caroline was daughter of the Duke of Brunswick, and Scott was one of those who believed in her, in spite of that 'careless levity' which he did not fail to note in her demeanour when presented at her Court at Blackheath in 1806. This passage on the Duke of Brunswick had been read by the Princess before the appearance of 'Marmion.' Lockhart (Life of Scott, ii. 117) says: 'He seems to have communicated fragments of the poem very freely during the whole of its progress. As early as the 22nd February, 1807, I find Mrs. Hayman acknowledging, in the name of the Princess of Wales, the receipt of a copy of the Introduction to Canto III, in which occurs the tribute to her Royal Highness's heroic father, mortally wounded the year before at Jena—a tribute so grateful to her feelings that she herself shortly after sent the poet an elegant silver vase as a memorial of her thankfulness.'
l. 81. The Red-Cross hero is Sir Sidney Smith, the famous admiral, who belonged to the Order of Knights Templars. The
