The Lady of the Lake
"To the history of this sentient and prescient weapon, I beg leave to
add, from memory, the following legend, for which I cannot produce any
better authority. A young nobleman, of high hopes and fortune, chanced
to lose his way in the town which he inhabited, the capital, if I
mistake not, of a German province. He had accidentally involved himself
among the narrow and winding streets of a suburb, inhabited by the
lowest order of the people, and an approaching thunder-shower determined
him to ask a short refuge in the most decent habitation that was near
him. He knocked at the door, which was opened by a tall man, of a grisly
and ferocious aspect, and sordid dress. The stranger was readily ushered
to a chamber, where swords, scourges, and machines, which seemed to be
implements of torture, were suspended on the wall. One of these swords
dropped from its scabbard, as the nobleman, after a moment's hesitation,
crossed the threshold. His host immediately stared at him with such a
marked expression, that the young man could not help demanding his name
and business, and the meaning of his looking at him so fixedly. 'I am,'
answered the man, 'the public executioner of this city; and the incident
you have observed is a sure augury that I shall, in discharge of my
duty, one day cut off your head with the weapon which has just now
spontaneously unsheathed itself.' The nobleman lost no time in leaving
his place of refuge; but, engaging in some of the plots of the period,
was shortly after decapitated by that very man and instrument.
"Lord Lovat is said, by the author of the Letters from Scotland (vol.
ii. p. 214), to have affirmed that a number of swords that hung up in
the hall of the mansion-house, leaped of themselves out of the scabbard
at the instant he was born. The story passed current among his clan,
but, like that of the story I have just quoted, proved an unfortunate
omen."
311. If courtly spy hath, etc. The 1st ed. has "If courtly spy, and
harbored," etc. The ed. of 1821 reads "had harbored."
319. Beltane. The first of May, when there was a Celtic festival in
honor of the sun. Beltane = Beal-tein, or the fire of Beal, a Gaelic
name for the sun. It was celebrated by kindling fires on the hill-tops
at night, and other ceremonies, followed by dances, and merry-making.
Cf. 410 below. See also The Lord of the Isles, i. 8: "The shepherd
lights his belane-fire;" and Glenfinlas:
"But o'er his hills, in festal day,
How blazed Lord Ronald's beltane-tree!"
323. But hark! etc. "The moving picture--the effect of the sounds--and
the wild character and strong peculiar nationality of the whole
procession, are given with inimitable spirit and power of expression"
(Jeffrey).
327. The canna's hoary beard. The down of the canna, or cotton-grass.
335. Glengyle. A valley at the northern end of Lock Katrine.
337. Brianchoil. A promontory on the northern shore of the lake.
342. Spears, pikes, and axes. The 1st ed. and that of 1821 have Spears,
but all the recent ones misprint "Spear." The "Globe" ed. has "Spear,
spikes," etc.
343. Tartans. The checkered woollen cloth so much worn in Scotland.
Curiously enough, the name is not Gaelic but French. See Jamieson or Wb.
Brave. Fine, beautiful; the same word as the Scottish braw. Cf.
Shakespeare, Sonn. 12. 2: "And see the brave day sunk in hideous night;"
Ham. ii. 2. 312: "This brave o'erhanging firmament," etc. It is often
used of dress, as also is bravery (= finery); as in T. of S. iv. 3. 57:
"With scarfs and fans and double change of bravery." See also Spenser,
Mother Hubberds Tale, 858: "Which oft maintain'd his masters braverie"
(that is, dressed as well as his master).
351. Chanters. The pipes of the bagpipes, to which long ribbons were
attached.
357. The sounds. Misprinted "the sound" in the ed. of 1821, and all the
more recent eds. that we have seen. Cf. 363 below.
363. Those thrilling sounds, etc. Scott says here: "The connoisseurs in
pipe-music affect to discover in a well-composed pibroch, the imitative
sounds of march, conflict, flight, pursuit, and all the 'current of a
heady fight.' To this opinion Dr. Beattie has given his suffrage,
in that following elegant passage:--'A pibroch is a species of tune,
peculiar, I think, to the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland. It
is performed on a bagpipe, and differs totally from all other music. Its
rhythm is so irregular, and its notes, especially in the quick movement,
so mixed and huddled together, that a stranger finds it impossible to
reconcile his ear to it, so as to perceive its modulation. Some of
these pibrochs, being intended to represent a battle, begin with a grave
motion, resembling a march; then gradually quicken into the onset;
run off with noisy confusion, and turbulent rapidity, to imitate the
conflict and pursuit; then swell into a few flourishes of triumphant
joy; and perhaps close with the wild and slow wailings of a funeral
procession' (Essay on Laughter and Ludicrious Composition, chap. iii.
note)."
367. Hurrying. Referring to their, or rather to the them implied in that
word.
392. The burden bore. That is, sustained the burden, or chorus, of the
song. Cf. Shakespeare, Temp. i. 2. 381: "And, sweet sprites, the burden
bear."
399. Hail to the Chief, etc. The metre of the song is dactylic; the
accents being on the 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th syllables. It is little
used in English. Tennyson's Charge of the Light Brigade and Longfellow's
Skeleton in Armor are familiar examples of it.
405. Bourgeon. Bud. Cf. Fairfax, Tasso, vii. 76: When first on trees
bourgeon the blossoms soft;" and Tennyson, In Memoriam, 115:
"Now burgeons every maze of quick
About the flowering squares," etc.
408. Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu. "Besides his ordinary name and surname,
which were chiefly used in the intercourse with the Lowlands, every
Highland chief had an epithet expressive of his patriarchal dignity
as head of the clan, and which was common to all his predecessors and
successors, as Pharaoh to the kings of Egypt, or Arsaces to those of
Parthia. This name was usually a patronymic, expressive of his descent
from the founder of the family. Thus the Duke of Argyll is called
MacCallum More, or the son of Colin the Great. Sometimes, however, it
is derived from armorial distinctions, or the memory of some great feat;
thus Lord Seaforth, as chief of the Mackenzies, or Clan-Kennet, bears
the epithet of Caber-fae, or Buck's Head, as representative of Colin
Fitzgerald, founder of the family, who saved the Scottish king, when
endangered by a stag. But besides this title, which belonged to his
office and dignity, the chieftain had usually another peculiar to
himself, which distinguished him from the chieftains of the same race.
This was sometimes derived from complexion, as dhu or roy; sometimes
from size, as beg or more; at other times, from some peculiar exploit,
or from some peculiarity of habit or appearance. The line of the text
therefore signifies,
Black Roderick, the descendant of Alpine.
"The song itself is intended as an imitation of the jorrams, or boat
songs, of the Highlanders, which were usually composed in honor of a
favorite chief. They are so adapted as to keep time with the sweep of
the oars, and it is easy to distinguish between those intended to
be sung to the oars of a galley, where the stroke is lengthened and
doubled, as it were, and those which were timed to the rowers of an
ordinary boat" (Scott).
410. Beltane. See on 319 above.
415. Roots him. See on i. 142 above.
416. Breadalbane. The district north of Loch Lomond and around Loch
Tay. The seat of the Earl of Breadalbane is Taymouth Castle, near the
northern end of Loch Tay.
For Menteith, see on i. 89 above.
419. Glen Fruin. A valley to the southwest of Loch Lomond. The ruins
of the castle of Benuchara, or Bannochar (see on 422 just below), still
overhang the entrance to the glen.
Glen Luss is another valley draining into the lake, a few miles from
Glen Fruin, and Ross-dhu is on the shore of the lake, midway between the
two. Here stands a tower, the only remnant of the ancient castle of the
family of Luss, which became merged in that of Colquhoun.
422. The best of Loch Lomond, etc. Scott has the following note here:
"The Lennox, as the district is called which encircles the lower
extremity of Loch Lomond, was peculiarly exposed to the incursions of
the mountaineers, who inhabited the inaccessible fastnesses at the upper
end of the lake, and the neighboring district of Loch Katrine. These
were often marked by circumstances of great ferocity, of which the noted
conflict of Glen Fruin is a celebrated instance. This was a clan-battle,
in which the Macgregors, headed by Allaster Macgregor, chief of the
clan, encountered the sept of Colquhouns, commanded by Sir Humphry
Colquhoun of Luss. It is on all hands allowed that the action was
desperately fought, and that the Colquhouns were defeated with
slaughter, leaving two hundred of their name dead upon the field. But
popular tradition has added other horrors to the tale. It is said that
Sir Humphry Colquhoun, who was on horseback, escaped to the Castle of
Benechra, or Bannochar, and was next day dragged out and murdered by
the victorious Macgregors in cold blood. Buchanan of Auchmar, however,
speaks of his slaughter as a subsequent event, and as perpetrated by the
Macfarlanes. Again, it is reported that the Macgregors murdered a
number of youths, whom report of the intended battle had brought to be
spectators, and whom the Colquhouns, anxious for their safety, had shut
up in a barn to be out of danger. One account of the Macgregors denies
this circumstance entirely; another ascribes it to the savage and
bloodthirsty disposition of a single individual, the bastard brother of
the Laird of Macgregor, who amused himself with this second massacre of
the innocents, in express disobedience to the chief, by whom he was left
their guardian during the pursuit of the Colquhouns. It is added that
Macgregor bitterly lamented this atrocious action, and prophesied the
ruin which it must bring upon their ancient clan. ...
"The consequences of the battle of Glen Fruin were very calamitous to
the family of Macgregor, who had already been considered as an unruly
clan. The widows of the slain Colquhouns, sixty, it is said, in number,
appeared in doleful procession before the king at Stirling, each riding
upon a white palfrey, and bearing in her hand the bloody shirt of
her husband displayed upon a pike. James VI. was so much moved by the
complaints of this 'choir of mourning dames,' that he let loose his
vengeance against the Macgregors without either bounds or moderation.
The very name of the clan was proscribed, and those by whom it had been
borne were given up to sword and fire, and absolutely hunted down by
bloodhounds like wild beasts. Argyll and the Campbells, on the one hand,
Montrose, with the Grahames and Buchanans, on the other, are said to
have been the chief instruments in suppressing this devoted clan. The
Laird of Macgregor surrendered to the former, on condition that he would
take him out of Scottish ground. But, to use Birrel's expression, he
kept 'a Highlandman's promise;' and, although he fulfilled his word to
the letter, by carrying him as far as Berwick, he afterwards brought
him back to Edinburgh, where he was executed with eighteen of his clan
(Birrel's Diary, 2d Oct. 1903). The clan Gregor being thus driven to
utter despair, seem to have renounced the laws from the benefit of which
they were excluded, and their depredations produced new acts of council,
confirming the severity of their proscription, which had only the
effect of rendering them still more united and desperate. It is a most