#marmion

[take2intotheshower]

Fate Decides.

(The Musketeers Season 2, Episode 6 - Through a Glass Darkly)

[convergingtimelines]

“Oh, what a tangled web we weave...when first we practice to deceive.” ― Walter Scott, Marmion

[illustratus]

[immediatebreakfast]

Right over the town is the ruin of Whitby Abbey, which was sacked by the Danes, and which is the scene of part of "Marmion," where the girl was built up in the wall. 

So, a little bit of trivia here, the girl that Mina is referring to is called Constance de Beverley. The disgraced nun who abandoned her holy vows in Fontevraud to follow lord Marmion out of misplaced love, which eventually landed her in prison, then executed by the church via immurement. As in they put her inside a wall like Mina is saying.

The little detail that is missing, which I think makes Mina more realistic in her ramblings, is that Constance never set a foot on Whitby... she was imprisoned, then killed in Lindisfarne. An english holy island that was a monastery, and was invaded by the vikings in the year 793.

I don't know why, but it's such a tiny detail that could happens in real life, which makes Mina's character a little bit more comedic since she is practicing her memory skills for her journalism.

[warrioreowynofrohan]

A note for readers of Wildfell Weekly (as well as others): the book that Gilbert buys for Helen Graham, Marmion by Sir Walter Scott, appears to have been extremely popular in its time; it is mentioned by characters in several other famous novels of the 1800s.

St. John Rivers buys it for Jane in Jane Eyre:

“I have brought you a book for evening solace,” and he laid on the table a new publication—a poem: one of those genuine productions so often vouchsafed to the fortunate public of those days—the golden age of modern literature.  Alas! the readers of our era are less favoured.”

…While I was eagerly glancing at the bright pages of “Marmion” (for “Marmion” it was)…

…I had closed my shutter, laid a mat to the door to prevent the snow from blowing in under it, trimmed my fire, and after sitting nearly an hour on the hearth listening to the muffled fury of the tempest, I lit a candle, took down “Marmion,” and beginning—

“Day set on Norham’s castled steep,

And Tweed’s fair river broad and deep,

   And Cheviot’s mountains lone;

The massive towers, the donjon keep,

The flanking walls that round them sweep,

   In yellow lustre shone”—

I soon forgot storm in music.

It is also mentioned by Mina in Dracula (though she, or Stoker, makes a small error - the scene mentioned involves characters from Whitby Abbey, but occurs in Lindisfarne, a tidal island that was also, long ago, the home of the illuminated Lindisfarne Gospels):

Right over the town is the ruin of Whitby Abbey, which was sacked by the Danes, and which is the scene of part of “Marmion,” where the girl was built up in the wall.

The book is a poetic epic set at the time of the Battle of Flodden Field (1513); I like the poetry a great deal, and the plot is nicely dramatic and Romantic, despite values dissonance (I do not find the title character as sympathetic as Scott does).

All this is to say - would people be interested in reading this story beloved by so many of our favourite characters? I could put it together as a Substack newsletter and email it out a little a day (probably for a few months total) starting in the new year. It’s not long (about 150 pages), it’s a good read with excellent poetic cadences and lots of high drama and imagery, and it gives a sense of what was popular among people who enjoyed the Gothic and Romantic.

[litandlifequotes]

And come he slow, or come he fast, It is but Death who comes at last.

"Marmion" by Sir Walter Scott

[mzannthropy]

Do you think the title of A Tangled Web could also have been inspired by that line in Marmion? Oh what a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive. Not that they deceive, at least nobody gets up to anything dishonest (as far as I remember, I'm not participating in the book club (already doing other readalongs)) but they do get tangled up in the pursuit of the jug. So idk I'm probably way off, maybe LMM just liked the sound of it.

[lehoeing]

All coin toss moments

Leo Gregory as Marmion in The Musketeers || s02e06 - Through a Glass Darkly