Each age has deemed the new-born year The fittest time for festal cheer.

These lines are from Walter Scott’s long narrative poem *Marmion* (1808), in the opening canto where Scott turns from the martial tale to a reflective, scene-setting preface. In that introductory passage he evokes the social customs of Scotland and England and the seasonal rhythms that shape communal life. The couplet appears as part of Scott’s observation that the turning of the year has long been marked by public and private celebration—an idea that would have resonated with early nineteenth-century readers familiar with Hogmanay/New Year traditions and with the broader Romantic interest in inherited rites and “old” festivity.

Scott’s couplet observes a long-standing cultural pattern: the turn of the year is repeatedly treated as a privileged moment for communal celebration. By calling the year “new-born,” he personifies time itself, suggesting renewal, hope, and a symbolic fresh start that invites “festal cheer.” The phrasing “Each age has deemed” implies continuity across generations—whatever changes in politics, fashion, or belief, people reliably mark the calendar’s reset with ritual and conviviality. The lines also carry a mild, reflective tone: the impulse to celebrate is not merely personal but historical, almost anthropological, rooted in shared human habits of finding meaning in cyclical time.