NOTES CANTO I 1. Harp of the North. Spirit of Scottish Minstrelsy. 2. Witch-elm. So called because its twigs were used as divining-rods. Saint Fillan. A Scotch abbot: eighth century. 10. Caledon. Shortened from Caledonia: the Roman name for Scotland. 14. According pause. When the minstrel paused in his chant or recitative, the harp accompaniment was heard "sublime and high. 29. Monan's rill. St. Monan: a fourth century Scotch martyr. 31, 33. Glenartney, Benvoirlich. See map, south of Loch Earn. 45. Beamed frontlet antlered forehead. 47. Tainted, with the odor of hunter and hounds. 53. Uam-Var. Ua-var, as the name is pronounced, or more properly Uaighmor, is a mountain to the northeast of the village of Callender in Menteith, deriving its name, which signifies the great den or cavern, 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 was the refuge of robbers and banditti, who have been only extirpated within these forty or fifty years. -SCOTT. 54. Opening (their mouths): barking at sight of the game. 67. Rout: the crowd of hunters and hounds. 71. Linn line 488. 84. Shrewdly-severely. 89. A collective name for the watershed of the river Teith. See canto vi, See map. 93-98. The places mentioned in these lines are all near Loch Katrine. 103. Cambusmore is near Callander on the Teith. Going west from here, the other places in this stanza are easily located. 120. Saint Hubert, according to legend, was a mighty hunter: the abbots of his order kept up a breed of hounds named in honor of their patron. 127. Quarry=the animal hunted. 138. Whinyard. A short sword or large knife. 145. Trossachs try around Loch Katrine. 166. Woe worth: (Bustling Country), a general name for the coun- Weorthan = to be, to become, and chase is really in the dative case. 197. Shinar. See the account of the Tower of Babel, Genesis xi, 1–9. 202. Pagod. The common form is pagoda. 208. Sheen English writers. shining. Very common in this sense in the Middle See canto v, line 10. 223. Aspen. Sometimes called the shivering poplar; its light leaves quake in the slightest breeze. See canto v, lines 829-832. This stanza (xii) is a capital example of description by enumeration, based upon close observation but not illuminated by any high imaginative power. The details selected are correct and suggestive in themselves, but the epithets are commonplace. Stanzas xi and xiv show much more inspiration. 263. Loch Katrine. See note on line 145 of this canto. dimensions of this lake are about eight miles by two. 285. Cloister, here: = The monastery: the part for the whole. 297. Bead. This word originally meant prayer: then, one of numerous little balls strung on a rosary and dropped to keep tally of prayers. 354-361. A charming passage, where the imagery is perfectly adapted to the subject which it is intended to embellish. 363. Snood: a band or ribbon worn by Scotch maidens, but not by married women. These wore the coif. Plaid (pronounced played): an outer garment of bright woolen cloth, some ten yards long, draped, belted, and extending to the knee. Each clan had colors and a pattern of its own. 404. Prune= = arrange. 425. The petty need he showed his need of food and rest. The object of showed is which, to be supplied. 438. A couch (of heather). See lines 666-667 of this Canto. 443. Rood (= rod) = the cross. 460. The visioned future. The second-sight is a singular faculty of seeing an otherwise invisible object without any previous means used by the person that used it for that end: the vision makes such a lively impression upon the seers, that they neither see nor think of anything else, except the vision, as long as it continues; and then they appear pensive or jovial, according to the object that was represented to them.. SCOTT. 464. Lincoln green. So called from the town in which it was made. Compare "bayonet," from Bayonne, and "damask," from Damascus. 476. Sooth truthful. = 492. The rocky isle. This is now known as Ellen's Isle. 504. Retreat. The Celtic chieftains, whose lives were continually exposed to peril, had usually, in the most retired spot of their domains, some place of retreat for the hour of necessity, which, as circumstances would admit, was a tower, a cavern, or a rustic hut, in a strong and secluded situation. One of these last gave refuge to the unfortunate Charles Edward, in his perilous wanderings after the battle of Culloden. - SCOTT. In Stevenson's Kidnapped, chapter xxiii, is a vivid description of Cluny's Cage on Ben Alder, the retreat of the exiled Macpherson, chief of the clan Vourich. 525. Idaean vine. The whortleberry? 565-567. This foreshadows the entrance of a new character, the owner of the sword, and suggests that he is known to Fitz-James. 573. Ferragus or Ascabart. These two sons of Anak flourished in romantic fable. The first is well known to the admirers of Ariosto by the name of Ferrau. Ascapart or Ascabart makes a very material figure in the History of Bevis of Hampton, by whom he was conquered. His effigies may be seen standing one side of the gate at Southampton, while the other is occupied by Bevis himself. - SCOTT. 585. Unasked his birth and name. The Highlanders, who carried hospitality to a punctilious excess, are said to have considered it as churlish to ask a stranger his name or lineage, before he had taken refreshment. Feuds were so frequent among them, that a contrary rule would in many cases have produced the discovery of some circumstance which might have excluded the guest of the benefit of the assistance he stood in need of. SCOTT. 587. Fellest = deadliest. Notice the alliteration in this line. 591. Snowdoun. See Canto vi, 785-790. It is hardly He has another slumber 624. Soldier, rest. This song shows Scott at his best. surpassed even by the lyrics in Tennyson's Princess. song, not inferior to this, entitled "Lullaby of an Infant Chief," which he wrote for Terry's dramatization of Guy Mannering. 657. Reveille, from the old French resveiller, to awake: the bugle-call for awakening soldiers. The rime in 655 shows what pronunciation Scott here desired. See 666. The stranger's bed. See lines 437-438 of this Canto 678-679. An allusion to the closing scenes in the life of James V. the account of his death in Scott's Tales of a Grandfather, chapter xxxviii, last paragraph (p. xxix. of this book). 704. grisly 729. Exiled race. For the relations between James and the Douglas, see Scott's Tales of a Grandfather, chapter xxvi (page ix of this book); also, note to Canto ii, line 230. This Canto is stronger in descriptive passages than in narrative, even if we acknowledge that the opening action of the stag-chase is finely told. Stanzas xi-xiv will repay close study as descriptions of natural scenery: Stanzas xviixix and xxi as descriptions of character. Notice that Scott's method is almost entirely objective: i. e, he gives the person or the place, concretely and vividly, just as it would appear to the spectator; he gives very little of the effect upon the emotions of the spectator (subjective). 17. speed = success or prosperity. Correctly used in Pope's line, Welcome the coming, speed (= prosper) the going guest, and in the common proverb: More haste, less speed (= success). 61. A bad tautology here. 65. sped: See note there. Explain it. sent forth: a derivative use from that shown in line 17. 109. Græme. The ancient and powerful family of Graham (which, for metrical reasons, is here spelt after the Scottish pronunciation) held extensive possessions in the counties of Dumbarton and Stirling. Few families can boast of more historical renown. SCOTT. 112. Bower: originally the inner or sleeping room of an English cottage, as distinguished from the hall or outer or living room. Secondarily, bower= the ladies' room as distinguished from the men's (the hall); hence hall and bower = wherever men and women assemble. 131. Saint Modan. I am not prepared to show that Saint Modan was a performer on the harp. It was, however, no unsaintly accomplishment; for Saint Dunstan certainly did play upon that instrument, which retaining, as was natural, a portion of the sanctity attached to its master's character, announced future events by its spontaneous sound. - SCOTT. 141. Bothwell's bannered hall. The ruins of this castle may still be seen, near Glasgow. 142. Douglases. See the extracts from Scott's Tales of a Grandfather, referred to in notes to Canto i, line 729. 159. From Tweed to Spey from south of Scotland to north. Compare the Scriptural " from Dan to Beersheba," and the American "from Maine to Florida." See note on lines 676-678 of this canto, 170. reave to take away by force. 200. The Bleeding Heart. The story goes that Robert Bruce, on his death-bed, charged his friend James Douglas to carry his heart to Jerusalem. Hence, the Douglases assumed a bleeding heart as their cognizance, 206. Strathspey: a Scottish dance. 213. Alpine: a mythical Highland king, 214. Loch Lomond. West of Loch Katrine. See map. 215. Lennox foray: a foray into the territory of the Lenoxes, whose estates lay south of Loch Lomond. 221. Holy-Rood (Castle): the King's residence in Edinburgh. A knight he slew. This was by no means an uncommon occurrence in the court of Scotland; nay, the presence of the sovereign himself scarcely restrained the ferocious and inveterate feuds which were the perpetual source of bloodshed among the Scottish nobility. — SCOTT. 230. Disowned by every noble peer. The exiled state of this powerful race is not exaggerated in this and subsequent passages. The hatred of James against the race of Douglas was so inveterate, that, numerous as their allies were, and disregarded as the regal authority had usually been in similar cases, their nearest friends, even in the most remote parts of Scotland, durst not entertain them, unless under the strictest and closest disguise. James Douglas, son of the banished Earl of Angus, afterwards well known by the title of Earl of Morton, lurked, during the exile of his family, in the north of |