‘Oh, what a tangled web they weave’: Elon Musk gets poetic after firing Twitter lawyer James Baker
A statue of Sir Walter Scott sits in Perth, Scotland. One of his most famous works, The Fair Maid of Perth, was set in the town
The oft-used quote, Oh, what a tangled web they weave, when first they practice to deceive’ appears in the 1801 epic poem by Sir Walter Scott, Marion: A Tale of Flodden Field.
The plot revolves around Lord Marmion, a friend of Henry VIII’s and his attempt to woo wealthy heiress Clara de Clare by wrongly accusing her fiancée of treason.
The poem in full:
‘In brief, my lord, we both descried
(For then I stood by Henry’s side)
The Palmer mount, and outwards ride,
Upon the earl’s own favorite steed:
All sheathed he was in armor bright,
And much resembled that same knight,
Subdued by you in Cotswold fight:
Lord Angus wished him speed.”
The instant that Fitz-Eustace spoke,
A sudden light on Marmion broke:
“Ah! dastard fool, to reason lost!”
He muttered; “‘Twas nor fay nor ghost
I met upon the moonlight wold,
But living man of earthly mould.
O dotage blind and gross!
Had I but fought as wont, one thrust
Had laid De Wilton in the dust,
My path no more to cross.
How stand we now?—he told his tale
To Douglas; and with some avail;
‘Twas therefore gloomed his rugged brow.
Will Surrey dare to entertain,
‘Gainst Marmion, charge disproved and vain?
Small risk of that, I trow.
Yet Clare’s sharp questions must I shun;
Must separate Constance from the nun –
Oh, what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practice to deceive!
A Palmer too!—no wonder why
I felt rebuked beneath his eye:
I might have known there was but one
Whose look could quell Lord Marmion.’
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