The Vision of Don Roderick

On 30 April 1811 Scott wrote from Ashiestiel to Lady Abercorn that he had retired to the country to compose a poem in aid of "the suffering Portuguese", and that James Ballantyne and his brother had generously promised him a hundred guineas (£105).

[2] On 12 May he was able to inform James Ballantyne: "A great deal of the poem is finishd at least in dead colours as the painters say for it wants much touching",[3] and the correction was almost complete by the 25th.

When the chamber is opened, the king and prelate find themselves in a vast marble hall, with two giant bronze statues standing on either side.

[6] The Vision of Don Roderick was published on 2 July 1811 in Edinburgh by John Ballantyne and Co., and later in the month in London by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown.

[9] Francis Jeffrey in The Edinburgh Review is typical with his verdict that Scott 'has fewer new images than in his other poetry,—his tone is less natural and varied,—and he moves, upon the whole, with a slower and more laborious pace'.