NOTES - Canto Fourth

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NOTES - Canto Fourth

2. And hope, etc. The MS. has "And rapture dearest when obscured by fears."

5. Wilding. Wild; a rare word, used only in poetry. Cf. Tennyson, Geraint and Enid: "And like a crag was gay with wilding flowers." Spenser has the noun (= wild apples) in F. Q. iii. 7. 17: "Oft from the forrest wildings he did bring," etc. Whom is used on account of the personification.

9. What time. Cf. ii. 307 and iii. 15 above.

19. Braes of Doune. The undulating region between Callander and Doune, on the north side of the Teith. The Doune of 37 below is the old Castle of that name, the ruins of which still form a majestic pile on the steep banks of the Teith. It figures in Waverley as the place where the hero was confined by the Highlanders.

36. Boune. Prepared, ready; a Scottish word. Cf. 157 and vi. 396 below.

42. Bide. Endure; not to be printed 'bide, as if a contraction of abide. Cf. Shakespeare, Lear, iii. 4. 29: "That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm," etc.

Bout. Turn (of fortune).

47. Repair. That is, to repair.

55. 'T is well advised. Well thought of, well planned. Cf. advised careful, well considered; as in M. of V. i. 1. 142: "with more advised watch," etc.

The MS. reads:

"'Tis well advised--a prudent plan,
Worthy the father of his clan."

59. Evening-tide. See on iii. 478 above.

63. The Taghairm. Scott says here: "The Highlanders, like all rude people, had various superstitious modes of inquiring into futurity. One of the most noted was the Taghairm, mentioned in the text. A person was wrapped up in the skin of a newly-slain bullock, and deposited beside a waterfall, or at the bottom of a precipice, or in some other strange, wild, and unusual situation, where the scenery around him suggested nothing but objects of horror. In this situation, he revolved in his mind the question proposed; and whatever was impressed upon him by his exalted imagination, passed for the inspiration of the disembodied spirits, who haunt these desolate recesses. In some of the Hebrides they attributed the same oracular power to a large black stone by the sea-shore, which they approached with certain solemnities, and considered the first fancy which came into their own minds, after they did so, to be the undoubted dictate of the tutelar deity of the stone, and, as such, to be, if possible, punctually complied with."

68. Gallangad. We do not find this name elsewhere, but it probably belongs to some part of the district referred to in Scott's note inserted here: "I know not if it be worth observing that this passage is taken almost literally from the mouth of an old Highland kern, or Ketteran, as they were called. He used to narrate the merry doings of the good old time when he was follower of Rob Roy MacGregor. This leader, on one occasion, thought proper to make a descent upon the lower part of the Loch Lomond district, and summoned all the heritors and farmers to meet at the Kirk of Drymen, to pay him black-mail; i.e., tribute for forbearance and protection. As this invitation was supported by a band of thirty or forty stout fellows, only one gentleman, an ancestor, if I mistake not, of the present Mr. Grahame of Gartmore, ventured to decline compliance. Rob Roy instantly swept his land of all he could drive away, and among the spoil was a bull of the old Scottish wild breed, whose ferocity occasioned great plague to the Ketterans. 'But ere we had reached the Row of Dennan,' said the old man, 'a child might have scratched his ears.' The circumstance is a minute one, but it paints the time when the poor beeve was compelled

'To hoof it o'er as many weary miles,
With goading pikemen hollowing at his heels,
As e'er the bravest antler of the woods' (Ethwald)."

73. Kerns. The Gaelic and Irish light-armed soldiers, the heavy-armed being known as gallowglasses. The names are often associated; as in Macbeth, i. 2. 13: "kerns and gallowglasses;" 2 Hen. VI. iv. 9. 26: "gallowglasses and stout kerns;" Drayton, Heroical Epist.: "the Kerne and Irish Galliglasse," etc.

74. Beal'maha. "The pass of the plain," on the east of Loch Lomond, opposite Inch-Cailliach. In the olden time it was one of the established roads for making raids into the Lowlands.

77. Dennan's Row. The modern Rowardennan, on Loch Lomond at the foot of Ben Lomond, and a favorite starting=point for the ascent of that mountain.

82. Boss. Knob; in keeping with Targe.

83. Verge. Pronounced varge, as the rhyme shows. In v. 219 below it has its ordinary sound; but cf. v. 812.

84. The Hero's Targe. "There is a rock so named in the Forest of Glenfinlas, by which a tumultuary cataract takes its course. This wild place is said in former times to have afforded refuge to an outlaw, who was supplied with provisions by a woman, who lowered them down from the brink of the precipice above. His water he procured for himself, by letting down a flagon tied to a string into the black pool beneath the fall" (Scott).

98. Broke. Quartered. Cf. the quotation from Jonson below. Scott says here: "Everything belonging to the chase was matter of solemnity among our ancestors; but nothing was more so than the mode of cutting up, or, as it was technically called, breaking, the slaughtered stag. The forester had his allotted portion; the hounds had a certain allowance; and, to make the division as general as possible, the very birds had their share also. 'There is a little gristle,' says Tubervile, 'which is upon the spoone of the brisket, which we call the raven's bone; and I have seen in some places a raven so wont and accustomed to it, that she would never fail to croak and cry for it all the time you were in breaking up of the deer, and would not depart till she had it.' In the very ancient metrical romance of Sir Tristrem, that peerless knight, who is said to have been the very deviser of all rules of chase, did not omit the ceremony:

'The rauen he yaue his yiftes
Sat on the fourched tre.' [FN#9]

"The raven might also challenge his rights by the Book of St. Albans; for thus says Dame Juliana Berners:

'slitteth anon
The bely to the side, from the corbyn bone;
That is corbyns fee, at the death he will be.'

Jonson, in The Sad Shepherd, gives a more poetical account of the same ceremony:

'Marian. He that undoes him,
Doth cleave the brisket bone, upon the spoon
Of which a little gristle grows--you call it
Robin Hood. The raven's bone.
Marian. Now o'er head sat a raven
On a sere bough, a grown, great bird, and hoarse,
Who, all the while the deer was breaking up,
So croaked and cried for 't, as all the huntsmen,
Especially old Scathlock, thought it ominous.'"

115. Rouse. Rise, stand erect. Cf. Macbeth, v. 5. 12:

"The time has been, my senses would have cool'd
To hear a night-shriek, and my fell of hair
Would at a dismal treatise rouse and stir
As life were in 't."

119. Mine. Many eds. have "my."

128. Fateful. The reading of the 1st ed. and that of 1821; "fatal" in some recent eds.

132. Which spills, etc. The MS. has "Which foremost spills a foeman's life."

"Though this be in the text described as a response of the Taghairm, or Oracle of the Hide, it was of itself an augury frequently attended to. The fate of the battle was often anticipated, in the imagination of the combatants, by observing which party first shed blood. It is said that the Highlanders under Montrose were so deeply imbued with this notion, that on the morning of the battle of Tippermoor, they murdered a defenceless herdsman, whom they found in the fields, merely to secure an advantage of so much consequence to their party" (Scott).

140. A spy. That is, Fitz-James. For has sought, the 1st ed. has "hath sought."

144. Red Murdoch, etc. The MS. has "The clansman vainly deemed his guide," etc.

147. Those shall bring him down. For the ellipsis of who, see on i. 528 above. The MS. has "stab him down."

153. Pale. In the heraldic sense of "a broad perpendicular stripe in an escutcheon." See Wb.

155. I love to hear, etc Cf. v. 238 below.

156. When move they on? etc. The MS reads:

"'When move they on?' |'This sun | at noon
|'To-day |
'T is said will see them march from Doune.'
'To-morrow then |makes| meeting stern.'"
|sees |

160. Earn. That is, the district about Loch Earn and the river of the same name flowing from the lake.

164. Shaggy glen. As already stated, Trosachs means bristling.

174. Stance. Station; a Scottish word.

177. Trusty targe. The MS. has "Highland targe."

197. Shifting like flashes, etc. That is, like the Northern Lights. Cf. the Lay, ii. 86:

"And red and bright the streamers light
Were dancing in the glowing north.
. . . . . . .
He knew by the streamers that shot so bright
That spirits were riding the northern light."

The MS. reads:

"Thick as the flashes darted forth
By morrice-dancers of the north;
And saw at morn their |barges ride,
|little fleet,
Close moored by the lone islet's side.
Since this rude race dare not abide
Upon their native mountain side,
'T is fit that Douglas should provide
For his dear child some safe abode,
And soon he comes to point the road."

207. No, Allan, etc. The MS. reads:

"No, Allan, no! His words so kind
Were but pretexts my fears to blind.
When in such solemn tone and grave
Douglas a parting blessing gave."

212. Fixed and high. Often misprinted "fixed on high."

215. Stroke. The MS. has "shock," and in the next line "adamantine" for invulnerable.

223. Trowed. Trusted, believed. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. v. 2. 34: "So much is more then [than] just to trow." See also Luke, xvii. 9.

231. Cambus-kenneth's fane. Cambus-kenneth Abbey, about a mile from Stirling, on the other side of the Forth. The massive tower is now the only part remaining entire.

235. Friends'. Many recent eds. misprint "friend's."

250. Sooth. True. See on i. 476 above.

261. Merry it is, etc. Scott says: "This little fairy tale is founded upon a very curious Danish ballad which occurs in the Kaempe Viser, a collection of heroic songs first published in 1591, and reprinted in 1695, inscribed by Anders Sofrensen, the collector and editor, to Sophia, Queen of Denmark."

The measure is the common ballad-metre, the basis of which is a line of eight syllables followed by one of six, the even syllables accented, with the alternate lines rhyming, so as to form a four-line stanza. It is varied by extra unaccented syllables, and by rhymes within the longer lines (both of which modifications we have in 263 and 271), and by "double rhymes" (like singing and ringing).

262. Mavis and merle. Thrush and blackbird.

267. Wold. Open country, as opposed to wood. Cf. Tennyson, In Memoriam, 11: "Calm and deep peace on this high wold," etc. See also 724 below.

274. Glaive. Broadsword. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. iv. 7. 38: "laying both his hands upon his glave," etc. See also v. 253 below.

277. Pall. A rich fabric used for making palls, or mantles. Cf. F. Q. i. 7. 16: "He gave her gold and purple pall to weare."

278. Wont. Were accustomed. See on i. 408 above.

282. 'Twas but, etc. The MS. reads:

"'Twas but a midnight chance;
For blindfold was the battle plied,
And fortune held the lance."

283. Darkling. In the dark; a poetical word. Cf. Milton, P. L. iii. 39:

"as the wakeful bird
Sings darkling;"

Shakespeare, Lear, i. 4. 237: "So out went the candle, and we were left darkling," etc. See also 711 below.

285. Vair. The fur of the squirrel. See Wb.

286. Sheen. See on i. 208 above.

291. Richard. Here accented on the final syllable. Such license is not unusual in ballad poetry.

298. Woned. Dwelt. See on i. 408 above. Scott has the following note here:

"In a long dissertation upon the Fairy Superstitions, published in the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, the most valuable part of which was supplied by my learned and indefatigable friend, Dr. John Leyden, most of the circumstances are collected which can throw light upon the popular belief which even yet prevails respecting them in Scotland. Dr. Grahame, author of an entertaining work upon the Scenery of the Perthshire Highlands, already frequently quoted, has recorded with great accuracy the peculiar tenets held by the Highlanders on this topic, in the vicinity of Loch Katrine. The learned author is inclined to deduce the whole mythology from the Druidical system--an opinion to which there are many objections.

'The Daoine Shi', or Men of Peace, of the Highlanders, though not absolutely malevolent, are believed to be a peevish, repining race of beings, who, possessing themselves but a scanty portion of happiness, are supposed to envy mankind their more complete and substantial enjoyments. They are supposed to enjoy, in their subterraneous recesses, a sort of shadowy happiness,--a tinsel grandeur; which, however, they would willingly exchange for the more solid joys of mortality.

'They are believed to inhabit certain round grassy eminences, where they celebrate their nocturnal festivities by the light of the moon. About a mile beyond the source of the Forth, above Loch Con, there is a placed called Coirshi'an, or the Cove of the Men of Peace, which is still supposed to be a favorite place of their residence. In the neighborhood are to be seen many round conical eminences, particularly one near the head of the lake, by the skirts of which many are still afraid to pass after sunset. It is believed that if, on Hallow-eve, any person, alone, goes round one of these hills nine times, towards the left hand (sinistrorsum) a door shall open, by which he will be admitted into their subterraneous abodes. Many, it is said, of mortal race have been entertained in their secret recesses. There they have been received into the most splendid apartments, and regaled with the most sumptuous banquets and delicious wines. Their females surpass the daughters of men in beauty. The seemingly happy inhabitants pass their time in festivity, and in dancing to notes of the softest music. But unhappy is the mortal who joins in their joys or ventures to partake of their dainties. By this indulgence he forfeits for ever the society of men, and is bound down irrevocably to the condition of Shi'ich, or Man of Peace.'"

301. Why sounds, etc. "It has been already observed that fairies, if not positively malevolent, are capricious, and easily offended. They are, like other proprietors of forests, peculiarly jealous of their rights of vert and venison. ... This jealousy was also an attribute of the northern Duergar, or dwarfs; to many of whose distinctions the fairies seem so have succeeded, if, indeed, they are not the same class of beings. In the huge metrical record of German chivalry entitled the Helden-Buch, Sir Hildebrand, and the other heroes of whom it treats, are engaged in one of their most desperate adventures, from a rash violation of the rose-garden of an Elfin or Dwarf King.

"There are yet traces of a belief in this worst and most malicious order of fairies among the Border wilds. Dr. Leyden has introduced such a dwarf into his ballad entitled The Cout of Keeldar, and has not forgot his characteristic detestation of the chase.

'The third blast that young Keeldar blew,
Still stood the limber fern,
And a wee man, of swarthy hue,
Upstarted by a cairn.

'His russet weeds were brown as heath
That clothes the upland fell,
And the hair of his head was frizzy red
As the purple heather-bell.

'An urchin, clad in prickles red,
Clung cow'ring to his arm;
The hounds they howl'd, and backward fled,
As struck by fairy charm.

'"Why rises high the staghound's cry,
Where staghound ne'er should be?
Why wakes that horn the silent morn,
Without the leave of me?"--

'"Brown Dwarf, that o'er the muirland strays,
Thy name to Keeldar tell!"--
"The Brown Man of the Muirs, who stays
Beneath the heather-bell.

'"'T is sweet beneath the heather-bell
To live in autumn brown;
And sweet to hear the lav'rock's swell,
Far, far from tower and town.

'"But woe betide the shrilling horn,
The chase's surly cheer!
And ever that hunter is forlorn
Whom first at morn I hear."'

"The poetical picture here given of the Duergar corresponds exactly with the following Northumberland legend, with which I was lately favored by my learned and kind friend, Mr. Surtees of Mainsforth, who has bestowed indefatigable labor upon the antiquities of the English Border counties. The subject is in itself so curious, that the length of the note will, I hope, be pardoned:

'I have only one record to offer of the appearance of our Northumbrian Duergar. My narratrix is Elizabeth Cockburn, and old wife of Offerton, in this country, whose credit, in a case of this kind, will not, I hope, be much impeached when I add that she is by her dull neighbors supposed to be occasionally insane, but by herself to be at those times endowed with a faculty of seeing visions and spectral appearances which shun the common ken.

'In the year before the great rebellion, two young men from Newcastle were sporting on the high moors above Eldson, and after pursuing their game several hours, sat down to dine in a green glen near one of the mountain streams. After their repast, the younger lad ran to the brook for water, and after stooping to drink, was surprised, on lifting his head again, by the appearance of a brown dwarf, who stood on a crag covered with brackens, across the burn. This extraordinary personage did not appear to be above half the stature of a common man, but was uncommonly stout and broad-built, having the appearance of vast strength. His dress was entirely brown, the color of the brackens, and his head covered with frizzled red hair. His countenance was expressive of the most savage ferocity, and his eyes glared like a bull. It seems he addressed the young man first, threatening him with his vengeance for having trespassed on his demesnes, and asking him if he knew in whose presence he stood? The youth replied that he now supposed him to be the lord of the moors; that he offended through ignorance; and offered to bring him the game he had killed. The dwarf was a little mollified by this submission, but remarked that nothing could be more offensive to him than such an offer, as he considered the wild animals as his subjects, and never failed to avenge their destruction. He condescended further to inform him that he was, like himself, mortal, though of years far exceeding the lot of common humanity, and (what I should not have had an idea of) that he hoped for salvation. He never, he added, fed on anything that had life, but lived in the summer on whortleberries, and in winter on nuts and apples, of which he had great store in the woods. Finally, he invited his new acquaintance to accompany him home and partake his hospitality, an offer which the youth was on the point of accepting, and was just going to spring across the brook (which if he had done, says Elizabeth, the dwarf would certainly have torn him in pieces), when his foot was arrested by the voice of his companion, who thought he had tarried long, and on looking round again, "the wee brown man was fled." The story adds that he was imprudent enough to slight the admonition, and to sport over the moors on his way homewards, but soon after his return he fell into a lingering disorder, and died within the year'" (Scott).

302. Our moonlight circle's. The MS. has "Our fairy ringlet's."

306. The fairies' fatal green. "As the Daoine Shi', or Men of Peace, wore green habits, they were supposed to take offence when any mortals ventured to assume their favorite color. Indeed, from some reason, which has been, perhaps originally a general superstition, green is held in Scotland to be unlucky to particular tribes and counties. The Caithness men, who hold this belief, allege as a reason that their bands wore that color when they were cut off at the battle of Flodden; and for the same reason they avoid crossing the Ord on a Monday, being the day of the week on which their ill-omened array set forth. Green is also disliked by those of the name of Ogilvy; but more especially it is held fatal to the whole clan of Grahame. It is remembered of an aged gentleman of that name that when his horse fell in a fox-chase, he accounted for it at once by observing that the whipcord attached to his lash was of this unlucky color" (Scott).

308. Wert christened man. Scott says: "The Elves were supposed greatly to envy the privileges acquired by Christian initiation, and they gave to those mortals who had fallen into their power a certain precedence, founded upon this advantageous distinction. Tamlane, in the old ballad, describes his own rank in the fairy procession:

'For I ride on a milk-white steed,
And aye nearest the town;
Because I was a christen'd knight,
They give me that renown.'"

312. The curse of the sleepless eye. Cf. Macbeth, i. 3. 19:

"Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his pent-house lid," etc.

313. Part. Depart. See on ii. 94 above.

322. Grisly. See on i. 704 above.

330. Kindly. Kindred, natural. See Wb., and cf. Shakespeare, Much Ado, iv. 1. 75:

"that fatherly and kindly power
That you have in her," etc.

345. All is glistening show. "No fact respecting Fairy-land seems to be better ascertained than the fantastic and illusory nature of their apparent pleasure and splendour. It has been already noticed in the former quotations from Dr. Grahame's entertaining volume, and may be confirmed by the following Highland tradition:--'A woman, whose new-born child had been conveyed by them into their secret abodes, was also carried thither herself, to remain, however, only until she should suckle her infant. She one day, during this period, observed the Shi'ichs busily employed in mixing various ingredients in a boiling caldron, and as soon as the composition was prepared, she remarked that they all carefully anointed their eyes with it, laying the remainder aside for future use. In a moment when they were all absent, she also attempted to anoint her eyes with the precious drug, but had time to apply it to one eye only, when the Daoine Shi' returned. But with that eye she was henceforth enabled to see everything as it really passed in their secret abodes; she saw every object, not as she hitherto had done, in deceptive splendour and elegance, but in its genuine colours and form. The gaudy ornaments of the apartment were reduced to the walls of a gloomy cavern. Soon after, having discharged her office, she was dismissed to her own home. Still, however, she retained the faculty of seeing, with her medicated eye, everything that was done, anywhere in her presence, by the deceptive art of the order. One day, amidst a throng of people, she chanced to observe the Shi'ich, or man of peace, in whose possession she had left her child, though to every other eye invisible. Prompted by maternal affection, she inadvertently accosted him, and began to inquire after the welfare of her child. The man of peace, astonished at being thus recognized by one of mortal race, demanded how she had been enabled to discover him. Awed by the terrible frown of his countenance, she acknowledged what she had done. He spat in her eye, and extinguished it for ever.'

"It is very remarkable that this story, translated by Dr. Grahame from popular Gaelic tradition, is to be found in the Otia Imperialia of Gervase of Tilbury. [FN #10] A work of great interest might be compiled upon the original of popular fiction, and the transmission of similar tales from age to age, and from country to country. The mythology of one period would then appear to pass into the romance of the next century, and that into the nursery tale of the subsequent ages. Such an investigation, while it went greatly to diminish our ideas of the richness of human invention, would also show that these fictions, however wild and childish, possess such charms for the populace as enable them to penetrate into countries unconnected by manners and language, and having no apparent intercourse to afford the means of transmission. It would carry me far beyond my bounds to produce instances of fable among nations who never borrowed from each other any thing intrinsically worth learning. Indeed the wide diffusion of popular factions may be compared to the facility with which straws and feathers are dispersed abroad by the wind, while valuable metals cannot be transported without trouble and labour. There lives, I believe, only one gentleman whose unlimited acquaintance with this subject might enable him to do it justice,--I mean my friend Mr. Francis Douce, of the British Museum, whose usual kindness will, I hope, pardon my mentioning his name while on a subject so closely connected with his extensive and curious researches" (Scott).

355. Snatched away, etc. "The subjects of Fairy-land were recruited from the regions of humanity by a sort of crimping system, which extended to adults as well as to infants. Many of those who were in this world supposed to have discharged the debt of nature, had only become denizens of the 'Londe of Faery'" (Scott).

357. But wist I, etc. But if I knew, etc. Wist is the past tense of wit (Matzner). See on i. 596 above.

371. Dunfermline. A town in Fifeshire, 17 miles northwest of Edinburgh. It was long the residence of the Scottish kings, and the old abbey, which succeeded Iona as the place of royal sepulture, has been called "the Westminster of Scotland." Robert Bruce was the last sovereign buried here.

374. Steepy. Cf. iii. 304 above.

376. Lincoln green. See on i. 464 above.

386. Morning-tide. Cf. iii. 478 above.

387. Bourne. Bound, limit. Cf. the quotation from Milton in note on iii. 344 above.

392. Scathe. Harm, mischief. Spenser uses the word often; as in F. Q. i. 12, 34: "To worke new woe and improvided scath," etc. Cf. Shakespeare, K. John, ii. 1. 75: "To do offence and scathe in Christendom;" Rich. III. i. 3. 317: "To pray for them that have done scathe to us," etc.

393. Kern. See on 73 above.

395. Conjure. In prose we should have to write "conjure him."

403. Yet life I hold, etc. Cf. Julius Caesar, i. 2. 84:

"If it be aught toward the general good,
Set honor in one eye and death i' the other,
And I will look on both indifferently;
For let the gods so speed me as I love
The name of honor more than I fear death."

411. Near Bochastle. The MS. has "By Cambusmore." See on i. 103 and 106 above.

413. Bower. Lodging, dwelling. See on i. 217 above.

415. Art. Affectation.

417. Before. That is, at his visit to the Isle. Cf. ii. 96 fol. above.

418. Was idly soothed, etc. The MS. has "Was idly fond thy praise to hear."

421. Atone. Atone for. Shakespeare uses the verb transitively several times, but in the sense of reconcile; as in Rich. II. i. 1. 202: "Since we cannot atone you," etc. Cf. v. 735 below.

433. If yet he is. If he is still living.

437. Train. Lure; as in Macbeth, iv. 3. 118:

"Devilish Macbeth
By many of these trains hath sought to win me
Into his power."

Cf. the use of the verb (= allure, entice); as in C. of E. iii. 2. 45: "O, train me not, sweet mermaid, with thy note;" Scott's Lay, iii. 146: "He thought to train him to the wood," etc. James was much given to gallantry, and many of his travels in disguise were on adventures of this kind. See on i. 409 above and vi. 740 below.

446. As death, etc. As if death, etc. See on ii. 56 above, and cf. 459 below.

464. This ring. The MS. has "This ring of gold the monarch gave."

471. Lordship. Landed estates.

473. Reck of. Care for; poetical.

474. Ellen, thy hand. The MS. has "Permit this hand;" and below:

"'Seek thou the King, and on thy knee
Put forth thy suit, whate'er it be,
As ransom of his pledge to me;
My name and this shall make thy way.'
He put the little signet on," etc.

492. He stammered, etc. The MS. reads:

"He stammered forth confused reply:
'Saxon, | I shouted but to scare
'Sir Knight, |
Yon raven from his dainty fare.'"

500. Fared. Went; the original sense of the word. Cf. farewell (which was at first a friendly wish for "the parting guest"), wayfarer, thoroughfare, etc.

506. In tattered weeds, etc. The MS. has "Wrapped in a tattered mantle gray." Weeds is used in the old sense of garments. Cf. Shakespeare, M. N. D. ii. 1. 256: "Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in;" Id. ii. 2. 71: "Weeds of Athens he doth wear;" Milton L'Allegro, 120: "In weeds of peace," etc. See also v. 465 below.

523. In better time. That is, in better times or days; not in the musical sense.

524. Chime. Accord, sing; a poetical use of the word. Cf. vi. 592 below.

531. Allan. "The Allan and Devan are two beautiful streams--the latter celebrated in the poetry of Burns--which descend from the hills of Perthshire into the great carse, or plain, of Stirling" (Lockhart).

548. 'T is Blanche, etc. The MS. has:

"'A Saxon born, a crazy maid--
T is Blanche of Devan,' Murdoch said."

552. Bridegroom. Here accented on the second syllable. In 682 below it has the ordinary accent.

555. 'Scapes. The word may be so printed here, but not in Elizabethan poetry. We find it in prose of that day; as in Bacon, Adv. of L. ii. 14. 9: "such as had scaped shipwreck." See Wb., and cf. state and estate, etc.

559. Pitched a bar. That is, in athletic contests. Cf. v. 648 below.

562. See the gay pennons, etc. The MS. reads:

"With thee these pennons will I share,
Then seek my true love through the air;
But I'll not lend that savage groom,
To break his fall, one downy plume!
Deep, deep, mid yon disjointed stones,
The wolf shall batten his bones."

567. Batten. Fatten; as in Hamlet, iii. 4. 67: "Batten on this moor." Milton uses it transitively in Lycidas, 29: "Battening our flocks with the fresh dews of night."

575. The Lincoln green. "The Lowland garb" (520). Cf. also 376 above.

578. For O my sweet William, etc. The MS. reads:

"Sweet William was a woodsman true,
He stole poor Blanche's heart away;
His coat was of the forest hue,
And sweet he sung the Lowland Lay."

590. The toils are pitched. The nets are set. Cf. Shakespeare, L. L. L., iv. 3. 2: "they have pitched a toil," etc. "The meaning is obvious. The hunters are Clan-Alpine's men; the stag of ten is Fitz-James; the wounded doe is herself" (Taylor).

594. A stag of ten. "Having ten branches on his antlers" (Scott). Nares says that antlers is an error here, the word meaning "the short brow horns, not the branched horns;" but see Wb. Cf. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, i. 2:

"Aud a hart of ten,
Madam, I trow to be;"

and Massinger, Emperor of the East, iv. 2:

"He'll make you royal sport; he is a deer
Of ten, at least."

595. Sturdily. As Taylor notes, the "triple rhymes" in this song are "of a very loose kind."

609. Blanche's song. Jeffrey says: "No machinery can be conceived more clumsy for effecting the deliverance of a distressed hero than the introduction of a mad woman, who, without knowing or caring about the wanderer, warns him by a song to take care of the ambush that was set for him. The maniacs or poetry have indeed had a prescriptive right to be musical, since the days of Ophelia downwards; but it is rather a rash extension of this privilege to make them sing good sense, and to make sensible people be guided by them."

To this Taylor well replied: "This criticism seems unjust. The cruelty of Roderick's raids in the Lowlands has already been hinted at, and the sight of the Lowland dress might well stir associations in the poor girl's mind which would lead her to look to the knight for help and protection and also to warn him of his danger. It is plain, from Murdoch's surprise, that her being out of her captors' sight is looked on as dangerous, from which we may infer that she is not entirely crazed. Her song is not the only hint that Fitz-James follows. His suspicions had already twice been excited, so that the episode seems natural enough. As giving a distinct personal ground for the combat in canto v., it serves the poet's purpose still further. Without it, we should sympathize too much with the robber chief, who thinks that 'plundering Lowland field and fold is naught but retribution true;' but the sight of this sad fruit of his raids wins us back to the cause of law and order."

614. Forth at full speed, etc. The MS. reads:

"Forth at full speed the Clansman went,
But in his race his bow he bent,
Halted--and back an arrow sent."

617. Thrilled. Quivered.

627. Thine ambushed kin, etc. The MS. transposes this line and the next, and goes on thus:

"Resistless as the lightning's flame,
The thrust betwixt his shoulder came."

Just below it reads:

"The o'er him hung, with falcon eye,
And grimly smiled to see him die."

642. Daggled. Wet, soaked. Cf. the Lay, i. 316: "Was daggled by the dashing spray."

649. Helpless. The MS. has "guiltless."

657. Shred. Cut off; a sense now obsolete. Cf. Withal's Dictionary (ed. 1608): "The superfluous and wast sprigs of vines, being cut and shreaded off are called sarmenta."

659. My brain, etc. The MS. has "But now, my champion, it shall wave."

672. Wreak. Avenge. Cf. Shakespeare, R. and J. iii. 5. 102:

"To wreak the love I bore my cousin
Upon his body that hath slaughter'd him;"

Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 13: "to wreak so foule despight;" etc.

679. God, in my need, etc. The MS. reads:

"God, in my need, to me be true,
As I wreak this on Roderick Dhu."

686. Favor. The token of the next line; referring to the knightly custom of wearing such a gift of lady-love or mistress. Cf. Rich. II. v. 3. 18:

"And from the common'st creature pluck a glove,
And wear it as a favour," etc.

See also the Lay, iv. 334:

"With favor in his crest, or glove,
Memorial of his layde-love."

691. At bay. See on i. 133 above; and for the dangerous foe, cf. the note on i. 137.

698. Couched him. Lay down. See on i. 142 above.

700. Rash adventures. See on 437 above.

701. Must prove. The 1st ed. has "will prove."

705. Bands at Doune. Cf. 150 above.

711. Darkling. See on 283 above.

722. Not the summer solstice. Not even the heat of the summer.

724. Wold. See on 267 above.

731. Beside its embers, etc. The MS. reads:

"By the decaying flame was laid
A warrior in his Highland plaid."

For the rhyme here, see on i. 363 above. Cf. 764 below.

741. I dare, etc. The MS. reads:

"I dare! to him and all the swarm
He brings to aid his murderous arm."

746. Slip. A hunter's term for letting loose the greyhounds from the slips, or nooses, by which they were held until sent after the game. Tubervile (Art of Venerie) says: "We let slip a greyhound, and we cast off a hound." Cf. Shakespeare, Cor. i. 6. 39:

"Holding Corioli in the name of Rome,
Even like a fawning greyhound in the leash,
To let him slip at will;"

and for the noun, Hen. V. iii. 1. 31:

"I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start."

747. Who ever recked, etc. Scott says: "St. John actually used this illustration when engaged in confuting the plea of law proposed for the unfortunate Earl of Strafford: 'It was true, we gave laws to hares and deer, because they are beasts of chase; but it was never accounted either cruelty or foul play to knock foxes or wolves on the head as they can be found, because they are beasts of prey. In a word, the law and humanity were alike: the one being more fallacious, and the other more barbarous, than in any age had been vented in such an authority' (Clarendon's History of the Rebellion)."

762. The hardened flesh of mountain deer. "The Scottish Highlanders, in former times, had a concise mode of cooking their venison, or rather of dispensing with cooking it, which appears greatly to have surprised the French, whom chance made acquainted with it. The Vidame of Chartres, when a hostage in England, during the reign of Edward VI., was permitted to travel into Scotland, and penetrated as far as to the remote Highlands (au fin fond des Sauvages). After a great hunting-party, at which a most wonderful quantity of game was destroyed, he saw these Scottish savages devour a part of their venison raw, without any farther preparation than compressing it between two batons of wood, so as to force out the blood, and render it extremely hard. This they reckoned a great delicacy; and when the Vidame partook of it, his compliance with their taste rendered him extremely popular. This curious trait of manners was communicated by Mons. de Montmorency, a great friend of the Vidame, to Brantome, by whom it is recorded in Vies des Hommes Illustres, lxxxix. 14. ... After all, it may be doubted whether la chaire nostree, for so the French called the venison thus summarily prepared, was anything more than a mere rude kind of deer ham" (Scott).

772. A mighty augury. That of the Taghairm.

777. Not for clan. The 1st ed. has "nor for clan."

785. Stock and stone. Cf. i. 130 above.

787. Coilantogle's ford. On the Teith just below its exit from Loch Vennachar.

791. The bittern's cry. See on i. 642 above.

797. And slept, etc. The MS. has "streak" and "lake" for beam and stream.

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