Chapter 1: Canto First

Each canto is introduced by one or more Spenserian stanzas, [5]forming a kind of prelude to it. Those prefixed to the first canto serveas an introduction to the whole poem, which is "inspired by the spiritof the old Scottish minstrelsy."

2. Witch-elm. The broad-leaved or wych elm (Ulmus montana), indigenousto Scotland. Forked branches of the tree were used in the olden time asdivining-rods, and riding switches from it were supposed to insure goodluck on a journey. In the closing stanzas of the poem (vi. 846) it iscalled the "wizard elm." Tennyson (In Memoriam, 89) refers to

"Witch-elms that counterchange the floor Of this flat lawn with dusk and bright."

Saint Fillan was a Scotch abbot of the seventh century who became famousas a saint. He had two springs, which appear to be confounded by someeditors of the poem. One was at the eastern end of Loch Earn, where thepretty modern village of St. Fillans now stands, under the shadow ofDun Fillan, or St. Fillan's Hills, six hundred feet high, on the top ofwhich the saint used to say his prayers, as the marks of his knees inthe rock still testify to the credulous. The other spring is at anothervillage called St. Fillans, nearly thirty miles to the westward, justoutside the limits of our map, on the road to Tyndrum. In this HolyPool, as it is called, insane folk were dipped with certain ceremonies,and then left bound all night in the open air. If they were found loosethe next morning, they were supposed to have been cured. This treatmentwas practised as late as 1790, according to Pennant, who adds thatthe patients were generally found in the morning relieved of theirtroubles—by death. Another writer, in 1843, says that the pool is stillvisited, not by people of the vicinity, who have no faith in its virtue,but by those from distant places. Scott alludes to this spring inMarmion, i. 29:

"Thence to Saint Fillan's blessed well, Whose springs can frenzied dreams dispel, And the crazed brain restore."

3. And down the fitful breeze, etc. The original MS. reads:

"And on the fitful breeze thy numbers flung, Till envious ivy, with her verdant ring, Mantled and muffled each melodious string,-- O Wizard Harp, still must thine accents sleep?"

10. Caledon. Caledonia, the Roman name of Scotland.

14. Each according pause. That is, each pause in the singing. InMarmion, ii. 11, according is used of music that fills the intervals ofother music:

"Soon as they neared his turrets strong, The maidens raised Saint Hilda's song, And with the sea-wave and the wind Their voices, sweetly shrill, combined, And made harmonious close; Then, answering from the sandy shore, Half-drowned amid the breakers' roar, According chorus rose."

The MS. reads here:

"At each according pause thou spokest aloud Thine ardent sympathy sublime and high."

28. The stag at eve had drunk his fill. The metre of the poem properis iambic, that is, with the accent on the even syllables, andoctosyllabic, or eight syllables to the line.

29. Monan's rill. St. Monan was a Scotch martyr of the fourth century.We can find no mention of any rill named for him.

31. Glenartney. A valley to the north-east of Callander, withBenvoirlich (which rises to the height of 3180 feet) on the north, andUam-Var (see 53 below) on the south, separating it from the valley ofthe Teith. It takes its name from the Artney, the stream flowing throughit.

32. His beacon red. The figure is an appropriate one in describing thisregion, where fires on the hill-tops were so often used as signals inthe olden time. Cf. the Lay, iii. 379:

"And soon a score of fires, I ween, From height, and hill, and cliff, were seen, Each with warlike tidings fraught; Each from each the signal caught," etc.

34. Deep-mouthed. Cf. Shakespeare, 1 Hen. VI. ii. 4. 12: "Betweentwo dogs, which hath the deeper mouth;" and T. of S. ind. 1. 18: "thedeep-mouthed brach" (that is, hound).

The MS. reads:

"The bloodhound's notes of heavy bass Resounded hoarsely up the pass."

35. Resounded... rocky. The poet often avails himself of "aptalliteration's artful aid," as here, and in the next two lines; mostfrequently in pairs of words.

38. As Chief, etc. Note here, as often, the simile put BEFORE thatwhich it illustrates,—an effective rhetorical, though not the logical,arrangement.

45. Beamed frontlet. Antlered forehead.

46. Adown. An instance of a purely poetical word, not admissible inprose.

49. Chase. Here put for those engaged in the chase; as in 101 and 171,below. One of its regular meanings is the OBJECT of the chase, or theanimal pursued.

53. Uam-Var. "Ua-Var, as the name is pronounced, or more properlyUaigh-mor, is a mountain to the north-east of the village of Callander,in Menteith, deriving its name, which signifies the great den, orcavern, from a sort of retreat among the rocks on the south side, said,by tradition, to have been the abode of a giant. In latter times, it wasthe refuge of robbers and banditti, who have been only extirpated withinthese forty or fifty years. Strictly speaking, this stronghold is not acave, as the name would imply, but a sort of small enclosure, or recess,surrounded with large rocks and open above head. It may have beenoriginally designed as a toil for deer, who might get in from theoutside, but would find it difficult to return. This opinion prevailsamong the old sportsmen and deer-stalkers in the neighborhood" (Scott).

54. Yelled. Note the emphatic force of the inversion, as in 59 below.Cf. 38 above.

Opening. That is, barking on view or scent of the game; a hunting term.Cf. Shakespeare, M. W. iv. 2. 209: "If I bark out thus upon no trailnever trust me when I open again."

The description of the echo which follows is very spirited.

66. Cairn. Literally, a heap of stones; here put poetically for therocky point which the falcon takes as a look-out.

69. Hurricane. A metaphor for the wild rush of the hunt.

71. Linn. Literally, a deep pool; but often = cataract, as in Bracklinn,ii. 270 below (cf. vi. 488), and sometimes = precipice.

73. On the lone wood. Note the musical variation in the measure here;the 1st, 3d, and 4th syllables being accented instead of the 2d and 4th.It is occasionally introduced into iambic metre with admirable effect.Cf. 85 and 97 below.

76. The cavern, etc. See on 53 above.

80. Perforce. A poetical word. See on 46 above.

84. Shrewdly. Severely, keenly; a sense now obsolete. Shrewd originallymeant evil, mischievous. Cf. Shakespeare, A. Y. L. v. 4. 179, where itis said that those

"That have endur'd shrewd days and nights with us Shall share the good of our returned fortune."

In Chaucer (Tale of Melibocus) we find, "The prophete saith: Fleeshrewdnesse, and do goodnesse" (referring to Ps. xxxiv. 14).

89. Menteith. The district in the southwestern part of Perthshire,watered by the Teith.

91. Mountain and meadow, etc. See on 35 above. Moss is used in theNorth-of-England sense of a boggy or peaty district, like the famousChat Moss between Liverpool and Manchester.

93. Lochard. Loch Ard is a beautiful lakelet, about five miles southof Loch Katrine. On its eastern side is the scene of Helen Macgregor'sskirmish with the King's troops in Rob Roy; and near its head, on thenorthern side, is a waterfall, which is the original of Flora MacIvor'sfavorite retreat in Waverley. Aberfoyle is a village about a mile and ahalf to the east of the lake.

95. Loch Achray. A lake between Loch Katrine and Loch Vennachar, lyingjust beyond the pass of the Trosachs.

97. Benvenue. A mountain, 2386 feet in height, on the southern side ofLoch Katrine.

98. With the hope. The MS. has "with the THOUGHT," and "flying HOOF" inthe next line.

102. 'Twere. It would be. Cf. Shakespeare, Macb. ii. 2. 73: "To know mydeed, 't were best not know myself."

103. Cambusmore. The estate of a family named Buchanan, whom Scottfrequently visited in his younger days. It is about two miles fromCallander, on the wooded banks of the Keltie, a tributary of the Teith.

105. Benledi. A mountain, 2882 feet high, northwest from Callander. Thename is said to mean "Mountain of God."

106. Bochastle's heath. A moor between the east end of Loch Vennacharand Callander. See also on v. 298 below.

107. The flooded Teith. The Teith is formed by streams from Loch Voiland from Loch Katrine (by way of Loch Achray and Loch Vennachar), whichunite at Callander. It joins the Forth near Stirling.

111. Vennachar. As the map shows, this "Lake of the Fair Valley" is themost eastern of the three lakes around which the scenery of the poemlies. It is about five miles long and a mile and a half wide.

112. The Brigg of Turk. This brig, or bridge (cf. Burns's poem of TheBrigs of Ayr), is over a stream that comes down from Glenfinlas andflows into the one connecting Lochs Achray and Vennachar. According toGraham, it is "the scene of the death of a wild boar famous in Celtictradition."

114. Unbated. Cf. Shakespeare, M. of V. ii. 6. 11:

"Where is the horse that doth untread again His tedious measures with the unbated fire That he did pace them first?"

115. Scourge and steel. Whip and spur. Steel is often used for the sword(as in v. 239 below: "foeman worthy of their steel"), the figure beingof the same sort as here—"the material put for the thing made of it."Cf. v. 479 below.

117. Embossed. An old hunting term. George Turbervile, in his Noble Artof Venerie or Hunting (A.D. 1576), says: "When the hart is foamy at themouth, we say, that he is emboss'd." Cf. Shakespeare, T. of S. ind. 1.17: "Brach Merriman, the poor cur, is emboss'd;" and A. and C. iv. 13.3:

"the boar of Thessaly Was never so emboss'd."

120. Saint Hubert's breed. Scott quotes Turbervile here: "The houndswhich we call Saint Hubert's hounds are commonly all blacke, yetneuertheless, the race is so mingled at these days, that we find themof all colours. These are the hounds which the abbots of St. Hubert hauealways kept some of their race or kind, in honour or remembrance of thesaint, which was a hunter with S. Eustace. Whereupon we may conceiuethat (by the grace of God) all good huntsmen shall follow them intoparadise."

127. Quarry. The animal hunted; another technical term. Shakespeare usesit in the sense of a heap of slaughtered game; as in Cor. i. 1. 202:

"Would the nobility lay aside their ruth, And let me use my sword, I'd make a quarry With thousands of these quarter'd slaves," etc.

Cf. Longfellow, Hiawatha:

"Seldom stoops the soaring vulture O'er his quarry in the desert."

130. Stock. Tree-stump. Cf. Job, xiv. 8.

133. Turn to bay. Like stand at bay, etc., a term used when thestag, driven to extremity, turns round and faces his pursuers. Cf.Shakespeare, 1. Hen. VI. iv. 2. 52, where it is used figuratively (as invi. 525 below):

"Turn on the bloody hounds with heads of steel, And make the cowards stand aloof at bay;"

and T. of S. v. 2. 56: "'T is thought your deer does hold you at a bay,"etc.

137. For the death-wound, etc. Scott has the following note here: "Whenthe stag turned to bay, the ancient hunter had the perilous task ofgoing in upon, and killing or disabling, the desperate animal. Atcertain times of the year this was held particularly dangerous, awound received from a stag's horn being then deemed poisonous, and moredangerous than one from the tusks of a boar, as the old rhyme testifies:

'If thou be hurt with hart, it bring thee to thy bier, But barber's hand will boar's hurt heal, therefore thou need'st not fear.'

At all times, however, the task was dangerous, and to be adventured uponwisely and warily, either by getting behind the stag while he was gazingon the hounds, or by watching an opportunity to gallop roundly in uponhim, and kill him with the sword. See many directions to this purposein the Booke of Hunting, chap. 41. Wilson, the historian, has recordeda providential escape which befell him in the hazardous sport, while ayouth, and follower of the Earl of Essex:

'Sir Peter Lee, of Lime, in Cheshire, invited my lord one summer to huntthe stagg. And having a great stagg in chase, and many gentlemen in thepursuit, the stag took soyle. And divers, whereof I was one, alighted,and stood with swords drawne, to have a cut at him, at his coming out ofthe water. The staggs there being wonderfully fierce and dangerous, madeus youths more eager to be at him. But he escaped us all. And it was mymisfortune to be hindered of my coming nere him, the way being sliperie,by a falle; which gave occasion to some, who did not know mee, to speakas if I had falne for feare. Which being told mee, I left the stagg,and followed the gentleman who [first] spake it. But I found him of thatcold temper, that it seems his words made an escape from him; as by hisdenial and repentance it appeared. But this made mee more violent in thepursuit of the stagg, to recover my reputation. And I happened to be theonly horseman in, when the dogs sett him up at bay; and approaching nearhim on horsebacke, he broke through the dogs, and run at mee, and toremy horse's side with his hornes, close by my thigh. Then I quitted myhorse, and grew more cunning (for the dogs had sette him up againe),stealing behind him with my sword, and cut his hamstrings; and then gotupon his back, and cut his throate; which, as I was doing, the companycame in, and blamed my rashness for running such a hazard' (Peck'sDesiderata Curiosa, ii. 464)."

138. Whinyard. A short stout sword or knife; the same as the whinger ofthe Lay of Last Minstrel, v. 7:

"And whingers, now in friendship bare The social meal to part and share, Had found a bloody sheath."

142. Turned him. In Elizabethan, and still more in earlier English,personal pronouns were often used reflexively; and this, like many otherold constructions, is still used in poetry.

145. Trosachs. "The rough or bristled territory" (Graham); the wilddistrict between Lochs Katrine and Vennachar. The name is now especiallyapplied to the pass between Lochs Katrine and Achray.

147. Close couched. That is, as he lay close couched, or hidden. Suchellipses are common in poetry.

150. Amain. With main, or full force. We still say "with might andmain."

151. Chiding. Not a mere figurative use of chide as we now understand it(cf. 287 below), but an example of the old sense of the word as appliedto any oft-repeated noise. Shakespeare uses it of the barking of dogs inM. N. D. iv. 1. 120:

"never did I hear Such gallant chiding;"

of the wind, as in A. Y. L. ii. 1. 7: "And churlish chiding of thewinter's wind;" and of the sea, as in 1 Hen. IV. iii. 1. 45:

"the sea That chides the banks of England;"

and Hen. VIII. iii. 2. 197: "the chiding flood."

163. The banks of Seine. James visited France in 1536, and sued for thehand of Magdalen, daughter of Francis I. He married her the followingspring, but she died a few months later. He then married Mary of Guise,whom he had doubtless seen while in France.

166. Woe worth the chase. That is, woe be to it. This worth is from theA. S. weorthan, to become. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 32:

"Wo worth the man, That first did teach the cursed steele to bight In his owne flesh, and make way to the living spright!"

See also Ezek. xxx. 2.

180. And on the hunter, etc. The MS. reads:

"And on the hunter hied his pace, To meet some comrades of the chase;"

and the 1st ed. retains "pace" and "chase."

184. The western waves, etc. This description of the Trosachs waswritten amid the scenery it delineates, in the summer of 1809. TheQuarterly Review (May, 1810) says of the poet: "He sees everythingwith a painter's eye. Whatever he represents has a character ofindividuality, and is drawn with an accuracy and minuteness ofdiscrimination which we are not accustomed to expect from mere verbaldescription. It is because Mr. Scott usually delineates those objectswith which he is perfectly familiar that his touch is so easy, correct,and animated. The rocks, the ravines, and the torrents which he exhibitsare not the imperfect sketches of a hurried traveller, but the finishedstudies of a resident artist." See also on 278 below.

Ruskin (Modern Painters, iii. 278) refers to "the love of color" asa leading element in Scott's love of beauty. He might have quoted thepresent passage among the illustrations he adds.

195. The native bulwarks, etc. The MS. has "The mimic castles of thepass."

196. The tower, etc. Cf. Gen. xi. 1-9.

198. The rocky. The 1st ed. has "Their rocky," etc.

204. Nor were, etc. The MS. reads: "Nor were these mighty bulwarksbare."

208. Dewdrop sheen. Not "dewdrops sheen," or "dewdrops' sheen," assometimes printed. Sheen = shining, bright; as in v. 10 below. Cf.Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 10: "So faire and sheene;" Id. iii. 4. 51: "intop of heaven sheene," etc. See Wb. The MS. has here: "Bright glisteningwith the dewdrop sheen."

212. Boon. Bountiful. Cf. Milton, P. L. iv. 242:

"Flowers worthy of Paradise, which not nice art In beds and curious knots, but nature boon Pour'd forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain."

See also P. L. ix. 793: "jocund and boon."

217. Bower. In the old sense of chamber, lodging-place; as in iv. 413and vi. 218 below. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 58:

"Eftesoones long waxen torches weren light Unto their bowres to guyden every guest."

For clift (= cleft), the reading of the 1st ed. and unquestionably whatScott wrote, every other edition that we have seen reads "cliff."

219. Emblems of punishment and pride. See on iii. 19 below.

222, 223. Note the imperfect rhyme in breath and beneath. Cf. 224-25,256-57, 435-36, 445-46 below. Such instances are comparatively rarein Scott's poetry. Some rhymes that appear to be imperfect are to beexplained by peculiarities of Scottish pronunciation. See on 363 below.

227. Shaltered. The MS. has "scathed;" also "rugged arms athwart thesky" in 229, and "twinkling" for glistening in 231. The 1st ed. has"scattered" for shattered; corrected in the Errata.

231. Streamers. Of ivy or other vines.

238. Affording, etc. The MS. reads:

"Affording scarce such breadth of flood As served to float the wild-duck's brood."

247. Emerging, etc. The MS. has "Emerging dry-shod from the wood."

254. And now, to issue from the glen, etc. "Until the present road wasmade through the romantic pass which I have presumptuously attempted todescribe in the preceding stanzas, there was no mode of issuing out ofthe defile called the Trosachs, excepting by a sort of ladder, composedof the branches and roots of trees" (Scott).

263. Loch Katrine. In a note to The Fair Maid of Perth, Scott derivesthe name from the Catterans, or Highland robbers, that once infested theshores of the lake. Others make it "the Lake of the Battle," in memoryof some prehistoric conflict.

267. Livelier. Because in motion; like living gold above.

270. Benvenue. See on 97 above.

271. Down to. Most editions misprint "down on."

272. Confusedly. A trisyllable; as in ii. 161 below, and in the Lay,iii. 337: "And helms and plumes, confusedly tossed."

274. Wildering. Bewildering. Cf. Dryden, Aurungzebe, i. 1: "wilder'd inthe way," etc. See also 434 and v. 22 below.

275. His ruined sides, etc. The MS. reads:

"His ruined sides and fragments hoar, While on the north to middle air."

277. Ben-an. This mountain, 1800 feet high, is north of the Trosachs,separating that pass from Glenfinlas.

278. From the steep, etc. The MS. reads:

"From the high promontory gazed The stranger, awe-struck and amazed."

The Critical Review (Aug. 1820) remarks of this portion of the poem (184fol.): "Perhaps the art of landscape-painting in poetry has never beendisplayed in higher perfection than in these stanzas, to which rigidcriticism might possibly object that the picture is somewhat too minute,and that the contemplation of it detains the traveller somewhat too longfrom the main purpose of his pilgrimage, but which it would be an act ofthe greatest injustice to break into fragments and present by piecemeal.Not so the magnificent scene which bursts upon the bewildered hunteras he emerges at length from the dell, and commands at one view thebeautiful expanse of Loch Katrine."

281. Churchman. In its old sense of one holding high office in thechurch. Cf. Shakespeare, 2 Hen. VI. i. 3. 72, where Cardinal Beaufort iscalled "the imperious churchman," etc.

285. Cloister. Monastery; originally, the covered walk around the innercourt of the building.

287. Chide. Here, figuratively, in the modern sense. See in 151 above.

290. Should lave. The 1st ed. has "did lave," which is perhaps to bepreferred.

294. While the deep peal's. For the measure, see on 73 above.

300. To friendly feast, etc. The MS. has "To hospitable feast and hall."

302. Beshrew. May evil befall (see on shrewdly, 84 above); a mildimprecation, often used playfully and even tenderly. Cf. Shakespeare, 2Hen. IV. ii. 3. 45:

"Beshrew your heart, Fair daughter, you do draw my spirits from me With new lamenting ancient oversights!"

305. Some mossy bank, etc. The MS. reads:

"And hollow trunk of some old tree My chamber for the night must be."

313. Highland plunderers. "The clans who inhabited the romantic regionsin the neighborhood of Loch Katrine were, even until a late period, muchaddicted to predatory excursions upon their Lowland neighbors" (Scott).

317. Fall the worst. If the worst befall that can happen. Cf.Shakespeare, M. of V. i. 2. 96: "an the worst fall that ever fell, Ihope I shall make shift to go without him."

319. But scarce again, etc. The MS. reads:

"The bugle shrill again he wound, And lo! forth starting at the sound;"

and below:

"A little skiff shot to the bay. The hunter left his airy stand, And when the boat had touched the sand, Concealed he stood amid the brake, To view this Lady of the Lake."

336. Strain. The 1st ed. has a comma after strain, and a period afterart in 340. The ed. of 1821 points as in the text.

342. Naiad. Water nymph.

343. And ne'er did Grecian chisel, etc. The MS. reads:

"A finer form, a fairer face, Had never marble Nymph or Grace, That boasts the Grecian chisel's trace;"

and in 359 below, "a stranger tongue."

353. Measured mood. The formal manner required by court etiquette.

360. Dear. This is the reading of the 1st ed. and almost every otherthat we have seen. We are inclined, however, to believe that Scott wrote"clear." The facsimiles of his handwriting show that his d's and cl'smight easily be confounded by a compositor.

363. Snood. The fillet or ribbon with which the Scotch maidens boundtheir hair. See on iii. 114 below. It is the rich materials of snood,plaid, and brooch that betray her birth.

The rhyme of plaid with maid and betrayed is not imperfect, the Scottishpronunciation of plaid being like our played.

385. One only. For the inversion, cf. Shakespeare, J. C. i. 2. 157:"When there is in it but one only man;" Goldsmith, D. V. 39: "One onlymaster grasps the whole domain," etc.

393. Awhile she paused, etc. The MS. reads:

"A space she paused, no answer came,-- 'Alpine, was thine the blast?' the name Less resolutely uttered fell, The echoes could not catch the swell. 'Nor foe nor friend,' the stranger said, Advancing from the hazel shade. The startled maid, with hasty oar, Pushed her light shallop from the shore."

and just below:

"So o'er the lake the swan would spring, Then turn to prune its ruffled wing."

404. Prune. Pick out damaged feathers and arrange the plumage with thebill. Cf. Shakespeare, Cymb. v. 4. 118:

"his royal bird Prunes the immortal wing," etc.

408. Wont. Are wont, or accustomed; now used only in the participle. Theform here is the past tense of the obsolete won, or wone, to dwell. Thepresent is found in Milton, P. L. vii. 457:

"As from his lair the wild beast, where he wons In forest wild, in thicket, brake, or den."

Cf. Spenser, Virgil's Gnat:

"Of Poets Prince, whether we woon beside Faire Xanthus sprincled with Chimaeras blood, Or in the woods of Astery abide;"

and Colin Clouts Come Home Againe:

"I weened sure he was out God alone, And only woond in fields and forests here."

See also iv. 278 and 298 below.

409. Middle age. As James died at the age of thirty (in 1542), this isnot strictly true, but the portrait in other respects is quite accurate.He was fond of going about disguised, and some of his freaks of thiskind are pleasantly related in Scott's Tales of a Grandfather. See onvi. 740 below.

425. Slighting, etc. "Treating lightly his need of food and shelter."

432. At length. The 1st ed. has "at last."

433. That Highland halls were, etc. The MS. has "Her father's hall was,"etc.

434. Wildered. See on 274 above.

438. A couch. That is, the heather for it. Cf. 666 below.

441. Mere. Lake; as in Windermere, etc.

443. Rood. Cross, or crucifix. By the rood was a common oath; so by theholy rood, as in Shakespeare, Rich. III. iii. 2. 77, iv. 4. 165. Cf. thename of Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. See ii. 221 below.

451. Romantic. The MS. has "enchanting."

457. Yesternight. We have lost this word, though we retain yesterday.Cf. yester-morn in v. 104 below. As far = as far back as.

460. Was on, etc. The MS. reads: "Is often on the future bent." Ifforce of evidence could authorize us to believe facts inconsistent withthe general laws of nature, enough might be produced in favor of theexistence of the second-sight. It is called in Gaelic Taishitaraugh,from Taish, an unreal or shadowy appearance; and those possessed ofthe faculty are called Taishatrin, which may be aptly translatedvisionaries. Martin, a steady believer in the second-sight, gives thefollowing account of it:--

'The second-sight is a singular faculty of seeing an otherwise invisibleobject without any previous means used by the person that uses if forthat end: the vision makes such a lively impression upon the seers, thatthey neither see nor think of any thing else, except the vision, as longas it continues; and then they appear pensive or jovial, according tothe object that was represented to them.

'At the sight of a vision, the eyelids of the person are erected, andthe eyes continue staring until the object vanish. This is obvious toothers who are by when the persons happen to see a vision, and occurredmore than once to my own observation, and to others that were withme....

'If a woman is seen standing at a man's left hand, it is a presage thatshe will be his wife, whether they be married to others, or unmarried atthe time of the apparition.

'To see a spark of fire fall upon one's arm or breast is a forerunner ofa dead child to be seen in the arms of those persons; of which there areseveral fresh instances....

'To see a seat empty at the time of one's sitting in it, is a presageof that person's death soon after' (Martin's Description of the WesternIslands, 1716, 8vo, p. 300, et seq.).

"To these particulars innumerable examples might be added, all attestedby grave and credible authors. But, in despite of evidence which neitherBacon, Boyle, nor Johnson were able to resist, the Taish, with all itsvisionary properties, seems to be now universally abandoned to the useof poetry. The exquisitely beautiful poem of Lochiel will at once occurto the recollection of every reader" (Scott).

462. Birchen. Shaded by birches. Cf. Milton's "cedarn alleys" in Comus,990.

464. Lincoln green. A cloth made in Lincoln, much worn by hunters.

467. Heron. The early eds. have "heron's."

475. Errant-knight. Knight-errant.

476. Sooth. True. We find soothest in Milton, Comus, 823. The noun sooth(truth) is more common, and still survives in soothsayer (teller ofhidden truth). Cf. v. 64 below.

478. Emprise. Enterprise. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 39: "But give meleave to follow my emprise," etc.

485. His noble hand. The MS. has "This gentle hand;" and in the nextline, "the oars he drew."

490. Frequent. Often; one of the many instances of the adjective usedadverbially in the poem.

492. The rocky isle. It is still known as Ellen's Isle. "It is ratherhigh, and irregularly pyramidal. It is mostly composed of dark-grayrocks, mottled with pale and gray lichens, peeping out here andthere amid trees that mantle them,—chiefly light, graceful birches,intermingled with red-berried mountain ashes and a few dark-green, spirypines. The landing is beneath an aged oak; and, as did the Lady and theKnight, the traveller now ascends 'a clambering unsuspected road,' byrude steps, to the small irregular summit of the island. A morepoetic, romantic retreat could hardly be imagined: it is unique. It iscompletely hidden, not only by the trees, but also by an undergrowth ofbeautiful and abundant ferns and the loveliest of heather" (Hunnewell'sLands of Scott).

500. Winded. Wound; used for the sake of the measure, as in v. 22 below.We find the participle winded in Much Ado, i. 1. 243; but it is = blown.The verb in that sense is derived from the noun wind (air in motion),and has no connection with wind, to turn. Cf. Wb.

504. Here for retreat, etc. Scott has the following note here: "TheCeltic chieftains, whose lives were continually exposed to peril,had usually, in the most retired spot of their domains, some place ofretreat for the hour of necessity, which, as circumstances wouldadmit, was a tower, a cavern, or a rustic hut, in a strong and secludedsituation. One of these last gave refuge to the unfortunate CharlesEdward, in his perilous wanderings after the battle of Culloden.

"It was situated in the face of a very rough, high, and rocky mountain,called Letternilichk, still a part of Benalder, full of great stones andcrevices, and some scattered wood interspersed. The habitation calledthe Cage, in the face of that mountain, was within a small thick bush ofwood. There were first some rows of trees laid down, in order to levelthe floor for a habitation; and as the place was steep, this raised thelower side to an equal height with the other: and these trees, in theway of joists or planks, were levelled with earth and gravel. There werebetwixt the trees, growing naturally on their own roots, some stakesfixed in the earth, which, with the trees, were interwoven with ropes,made of heath and birch twigs, up to the top of the Cage, it being of around or rather oval shape; and the whole thatched and covered over withfog. The whole fabric hung, as it were, by a large tree, which reclinedfrom the one end, all along the roof, to the other, and which gave itthe name of the Cage; and by chance there happened to be two stones ata small distance from one another, in the side next the precipice,resembling the pillars of a chimney, where the fire was placed. Thesmoke had its vent out here, all along the fall of the rock, which wasso much of the same color, that one could discover no difference inthe clearest day' (Home's History of the Rebellion, Lond. 1802, 4to, p.381)."

525. Idoean vine. Some have taken this to refer to the "redwhortleberry," the botanical name of which is Vaccinium vitis Idoea; butas that is not a climber, it is more probably that the common vine ishere meant. Idoean is from Ida, a mountain near ancient Troy (there wasanother in Crete), famous for its vines.

526. Clematis. The Climatis vitalba, one of the popular English names ofwhich is virgin-bower.

528. And every favored plant could bear. That is, which could endure.This ellipsis of the relative was very common in Elizabethan English.Cf. Shakespeare, M. for M. ii. 2. 23: "I have a brother is condemned todie;" Rich. II. ii. 2. 128: "The hate of those love not the king," etc.See also John, iii. 11, etc.

532. On heaven and on thy lady call. This is said gayly, or sportively,as keeping up the idea of a knight-errant. Cf. 475 above.

542. Careless. See on 490 above.

546. Target. Buckler; the targe of iii. 445, etc. See Scott's note on v.380 below.

548. Store. Stored, laid up; an obsolete adjective. Cf. iii. 3 below,and see also on vi. 124.

551. And there the wild-cat's, etc. The MS. reads:

"There hung the wild-cat's brindled hide, Above the elk's branched brow and skull, And frontlet of the forest bull."

559. Garnish forth. Cf. furnish forth in 442 above.

566. Brook. Bear, endure; now seldom used except with reference to whatis endured against one's will or inclination. It seems to be a favoriteword with Scott.

573. Ferragus or Ascabart. "These two sons of Anak flourished inromantic fable. The first is well known to the admirers of Ariosto bythe name of Ferrau. He was an antagonist of Orlando, and was at lengthslain by him in single combat.... Ascapart, or Ascabart, makes a verymaterial figure in the History of Bevis of Hampton, by whom he wasconquered. His effigies may be seen guarding one side of the gate atSouthampton, while the other is occupied by Bevis himself" (Scott).

580. To whom, though more than kindred knew. The MS. reads:

"To whom, though more remote her claim, Young Ellen gave a mother's name."

She was the maternal aunt of Ellen, but was loved as a mother by her, ormore than (such) kindred (usually) knew (in way of affection).

585. Though all unasked, etc. "The Highlanders, who carried hospitalityto a punctilious excess, are said to have considered it as churlishto ask a stranger his name or lineage before he had taken refreshment.Feuds were so frequent among them, that a contrary rule would in manycases have produced the discovery of some circumstance which might haveexcluded the guest from the benefit of the assistance he stood in needof" (Scott).

591. Snowdoun. An old name of Stirling Castle. See vi. 789 below.

592. Lord of a barren heritage. "By the misfortunes of the earlierJameses, and the internal feuds of the Scottish chiefs, the kingly powerhad become little more than a name. Each chief was a petty king in hisown district, and gave just so much obedience to the king's authority assuited his convenience" (Taylor).

596. Wot. Knows; the present of the obsolete wit (the infinitive towit is still use in legal forms), not of weet, as generally stated. SeeMatzner, Eng. Gram. i. 382. Cf. Shakespeare, Rich. III. ii. 3. 18: "No,no, good friends, God wot." He also uses wots (as in Hen. V. iv. 1. 299)and a participle wotting (in W. T. iii. 2. 77).

602. Require. Request, ask; as in Elizanethan English. Cf. Shakespeare,Hen. VIII. ii. 4. 144: "In humblest manner I require your highness,"etc.

603. The elder lady's mien. The MS. has "the mother's easy mien."

606. Ellen, though more, etc. The MS. reads:

"Ellen, though more her looks betrayed The simple heart of mountain maid, In speech and gesture, form and grace, Showed she was come of gentle race; 'T was strange, in birth so rude, to find Such face, such manners, and such mind. Each anxious hint the stranger gave, The mother heard with silence grave."

616. Weird women we, etc. See on 35 above. Weird here = skilled inwitchcraft; like the "weird sisters" of Macbeth. Down = hill (the Gaelicdun).

622. A harp unseen. Scott has the following note here: "'"They[the Highlanders] delight much in musicke, but chiefly in harps andclairschoes of their own fashion. The strings of the clairschoes aremade of brasse wire, and the strings of the harps of sinews; whichstrings they strike either with their nayles, growing long, or else withan instrument appointed for that use. They take great pleasure to decketheir harps and clairschoes with silver and precious stones; the pooreones that cannot attayne hereunto, decke them with christall. They singverses prettily compound, contayning (for the most part) prayses ofvaliant men. There is not almost any other argument, whereof theirrhymes intreat. They speak the ancient French language, altered alittle." [6]

"The harp and chairschoes are now only heard of in the Highlands inancient song. At what period these instruments ceased to be used, is noton record; and tradition is silent on this head. But, as Irish harpersoccasionally visited the Highlands and Western Isles till lately,the harp might have been extant so late as the middle of the presentcentury. Thus far we know, that from remote times down to the present,harpers were received as welcome guests, particularly in the Highlandsof Scotland; and so late as the latter end of the sixteenth century, asappears by the above quotations, the harp was in common use amongthe natives of the Western Isles. How it happened that the noisy andinharmonious bagpipe banished the soft and expressive harp, we cannotsay; but certain it is, that the bagpipe is now the only instrumentthat obtains universally in the Highland districts' (Campbell's Journeythrough North Britain. London, 1808, 4to, i. 175).

"Mr. Gunn, of Edinburgh, has lately published a curious Essay upon theHarp and Harp Music of the Highlands of Scotland. That the instrumentwas once in common use there, is most certain. Cleland numbers anacquaintance with it among the few accomplishments which his satireallows to the Highlanders:--

'In nothing they're accounted sharp, Except in bagpipe or in harm.'"

624. Soldier, rest! etc. The metre of this song is trochaic; that is,the accents fall regularly on the odd syllables.

631. In slumber dewing. That is, bedewing. For the metaphor, cf.Shakespeare, Rich. III. iv. 1. 84: "the golden dew of sleep;" and J. C.ii. 1. 230: "the honey-heavy dew of slumber."

635. Morn of toil, etc. The MS. has "noon of hunger, night of waking;"and in the next line, "rouse" for reach.

638. Pibroch. "A Highland air, suited to the particular passion whichthe musician would either excite or assuage; generally applied to thoseairs that are played on the bagpipe before the Highlanders when they goout to battle" (Jamieson). Here it is put for the bagpipe itself. Seealso on ii. 363 below.

642. And the bittern sound his drum. Goldsmith (D. V. 44) calls the bird"the hollow-sounding bittern;" and in his Animated Nature, he says thatof all the notes of waterfowl "there is none so dismally hollow as thebooming of the bittern."

648. She paused, etc. The MS. has "She paused—but waked again the lay."

655. The MS. reads: "Slumber sweet our spells shall deal ye;" and in657:

"Let our slumbrous spells| avail ye | beguile ye."

657. Reveille. The call to rouse troops or huntsmen in the morning.

669. Forest sports. The MS. has "mountain chase."

672. Not Ellens' spell. That is, not even Ellen's spell. On the passage,cf. Rokeby, i. 2:

"Sleep came at length, but with a train Of feelings true and fancies vain, Mingling, in wild disorder cast, The expected future with the past."

693. Or is it all a vision now? Lockhart quotes here Thomson's Castle ofIndolence:

"Ye guardian spirits, to whom man is dear, From these foul demons shield the midnight gloom: Angels of fancy and love, be near. And o'er the blank of sleep diffuse a bloom: Evoke the sacred shades of Greece and Rome, And let them virtue with a look impart; But chief, awhile, O! lend us from the tomb Those long-lost friends for whom in love we smart, and fill with pious awe and joy-mixt woe the heart.

"Or are you sportive?—bid the morn of youth Rise to new light, and beam afresh the days Of innocence, simplicity, and truth; To cares estranged, and manhood's thorny ways. What transport, to retrace our boyish plays, Our easy bliss, when each thing joy supplied; The woods, the mountains, and the warbling maze Of the wild books!"

The Critical Review says of the following stanza (xxxiv): "Such astrange and romantic dream as may be naturally expected to flow from theextraordinary events of the day. It might, perhaps, be quoted as oneof Mr. Scott's most successful efforts in descriptive poetry. Somefew lines of it are indeed unrivalled for delicacy and melancholytenderness."

704. Grisly. Grim, horrible; an obsolete word, much used in old poetry.Cf. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 30: "her darke griesly looke;" Shakespeare,1 Hen. VI. i. 4. 47: "My grisly countenance made others fly," etc. Seealso iv. 322, etc. below.

723. Played, etc. The MS. reads:

"Played on/ the bosoms of the lake, / Lock Katrine's still expanse; The birch, the wild rose, and the broom Wasted around their rich perfume... The birch-trees wept in balmy dew; The aspen slept on Benvenue; Wild were the heart whose passions' power Defied the influence of the hour."

724. Passion's. The reading of the 1st ed. and that of 1821; some recenteds. have "passions'."

738. Orisons. The 1st ed. has "orison" both here and in 740 (the ed. of1821 only in the latter); but the word is almost invariably plural, bothin poetry and prose—always in Shakespeare and Milton.