The Lady of the Lake
from the lake is peculiarly grand and impressive.
530. The sickening pang, etc. Cf. The Lord of the Isles, vi. 1: "The
heartsick faintness of the hope delayed." See Prov. xiii. 12.
531. And memory, etc. The MS. reads:
"And memory brought the torturing train
Of all his morning visions vain;
But mingled with impatience came
The manly love of martial fame."
541. Brae. The brow or side of a hill.
545. The heath, etc. The metre of the song is the same as that of the
poem, the only variation being in the order of the rhymes.
546. Bracken. Fern; "the Pteris aquilina" (Taylor).
553. Fancy now. The MS. has "image now."
561. A time will come, etc. The MS. reads:
"A time will come for love and faith,
For should thy bridegroom yield his breath,
'T will cheer him in the hour of death,
The boasted right to thee, Mary."
570. Balquidder. A village near the eastern end of Loch Voil, the
burial-place of Rob Roy and the scene of many of his exploits. The Braes
extend along the north side of the lake and of the Balvaig which flows
into it.
Scott says here: "It may be necessary to inform the Southern reader that
the heath on the Scottish moorlands is often set fire to, that the sheep
may have the advantage of the young herbage produced, in room of the
tough old heather plants. This custom (execrated by sportsmen) produces
occasionally the most beautiful nocturnal appearances, similar almost to
the discharge of a volcano. This simile is not new to poetry. The charge
of a warrior, in the fine ballad of Hardyknute, is said to be 'like fire
to heather set.'"
575. Nor faster speeds it, etc. "The eager fidelity with which this
fatal signal is hurried on and obeyed, is represented with great spirit
and felicity" (Jeffrey).
577. Coil. Turmoil. Cf. Shakespeare, Temp. i. 2. 207:
"Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil
Would not infect his reason?"
C. of E. iii. 1. 48: "What a coil is there, Dromio?" etc.
579. Loch Doine. A lakelet just above Loch Voil, and almost forming a
part of it. The epithets sullen and still are peculiarly appropriate to
this valley. "Few places in Scotland have such an air of solitude and
remoteness from the haunts of men" (Black).
582. Strath-Gartney. The north side of the basin of Loch Katrine.
583. Each man might claim. That is, WHO could claim. See on i. 528
above.
600. No law but Roderick Dhu's command. Scott has the following note
here:
"The deep and implicit respect paid by the Highland clansmen to their
chief, rendered this both a common and a solemn oath. In other respects,
they were like most savage nations, capricious in their ideas concerning
the obligatory power of oaths. One solemn mode of swearing was by
kissing the dirk, imprecating upon themselves death by that, or a
similar weapon, if they broke their vow. But for oaths in the usual
form, they are said to have had little respect. As for the reverence
due to the chief, it may be guessed from the following odd example of a
Highland point of honour:
'The clan whereto the above-mentioned tribe belongs, is the only one
I have heard of which is without a chief; that is, being divided into
families, under several chieftains, without any particular patriarch
of the whole name. And this is a great reproach, as may appear from an
affair that fell out at my table, in the Highlands, between one of that
name and a Cameron. The provocation given by the latter was, "Name your
chief." The return of it at once was, "You are a fool." They went out
next morning, but having early notice of it, I sent a small party of
soldiers after them, which, in all probability, prevented some barbarous
mischief that might have ensued; for the chiefless Highlander, who
is himself a petty chieftain, was going to the place appointed with a
small-sword and pistol, whereas the Cameron (an old man) took with him
only his broadsword, according to the agreement.
'When all was over, and I had, at least seemingly, reconciled them, I
was told the words, of which I seemed to think but slightly, were,
to one of the clan, the greatest of all provocations' (Letters from
Scotland, vol. ii. p. 221)."
604. Menteith. See on i. 89 above.
607. Rednock. The ruins of Rednock Castle are about two miles to the
north of Loch Menteith, on the road to Callander. Cardross Castle (in
which Robert Bruce died) was on the banks of the Clyde, a few miles
below Dumbarton. Duchray Castle is a mile south of Lochard. Loch Con, or
Chon, is a lakelet, about three miles northwest from Lochard (into which
it drains) and two miles south of Loch Katrine.
611. Wot ye. Know ye. See on i. 596 above.
622. Coir-nan-Uriskin. Scott has the following note here: "This is
a very steep and most romantic hollow in the mountain of Benvenue,
overhanging the southeastern extremity of Loch Katrine. It is surrounded
with stupendous rocks, and overshadowed with birch-trees, mingled with
oaks, the spontaneous production of the mountain, even where its cliffs
appear denuded of soil. A dale in so wild a situation, and amid a
people whose genius bordered on the romantic, did not remain without
appropriate deities. The name literally implies the Corri, or Den, of
the Wild or Shaggy Men. Perhaps this, as conjectured by Mr. Alexander
Campbell (Journey from Edinburgh, 1802, p. 109), may have originally
only implied its being the haunt of a ferocious banditti. But tradition
has ascribed to the Urisk, who gives name to the cavern, a figure
between a goat and a man; in short, however much the classical reader
may be startled, precisely that of the Grecian Satyr. The Urisk seems
not to have inherited, with the form, the petulance of the silvan deity
of the classics; his occupation, on the contrary, resembled those of
Milton's Lubbar Fiend, or of the Scottish Brownie, though he differed
from both in name and appearance. 'The Urisks,' says Dr. Graham, 'were a
sort of lubberly supernaturals, who, like the Brownies, could be gained
over by kind attention to perform the drudgery of the farm, and it
was believed that many families in the Highlands had one of the order
attached to it. They were supposed to be dispersed over the Highlands,
each in his own wild recess, but the solemn stated meetings of the order
were regularly held in this Cave of Benvenue. This current superstition,
no doubt, alludes to some circumstance in the ancient history of this
country' (Scenery on the Southern Confines of Perthshire, p. 19, 1806).
It must be owned that the Coir, or Den, does not, in its present state,
meet our ideas of a subterraneous grotto or cave, being only a small and
narrow cavity, among huge fragments of rocks rudely piled together. But
such a scene is liable to convulsions of nature which a Lowlander cannot
estimate, and which may have choked up what was originally a cavern. At
least the name and tradition warrant the author of a fictitious tale to
assert its having been such at the remote period in which this scene is
laid."
639. With such a glimpse, etc. See on 28 above.
641. Still. Stillness; the adjective used substantively, for the sake of
the rhyme.
656. Satyrs. "The Urisk, or Highland satyr" (Scott).
664. Beal-nam-bo. See on 255 above; and for the measure of the first
half of the line, on i. 73 above.
667. 'Cross. Scott (1st ed.) prints "cross," as in 750 below.
672. A single page, etc. Scott says: "A Highland chief, being as
absolute in his patriarchal authority as any prince, had a corresponding
number of officers attached to his person. He had his body-guards,
called Luichttach, picked from his clan for strength, activity, and
entire devotion to his person. These, according to their deserts, were
sure to share abundantly in the rude profusion of his hospitality. It is
recorded, for example, by tradition, that Allan MacLean, chief of that
clan, happened upon a time to hear one of these favorite retainers
observe to his comrade, that their chief grew old. 'Whence do you infer
that?' replied the other. 'When was it,' rejoined the first, 'that a
solider of Allan's was obliged, as I am now, not only to eat the flesh
from the bone, but even to tear off the inner skin, or filament?' The
hint was quite sufficient, and MacLean next morning, to relieve his
followers from such dire necessity, undertook an inroad on the mainland,
the ravage of which altogether effaced the memory of his former
expeditions for the like purpose.
"Our officer of Engineers, so often quoted, has given us a distinct list
of the domestic officers who, independent of Luichttach, or gardes de
corps, belonged to the establishment of a Highland chief. These are,
1. The Henchman. 2. The Bard. See preceding notes. 3. Bladier, or
spokesman. 4. Gillie-more, or sword-bearer, alluded to in the text. 5.
Gillie-casflue, who carried the chief, if on foot, over the fords. 6.
Gillie-comstraine, who leads the chief's horse. 7. Gillie-Trushanarinsh,
the baggage-man. 8. The piper. 9. The piper's gillie, or attendant, who
carries the bagpipe (Letters from Scotland, vol. ii. p. 158). Although
this appeared, naturally enough, very ridiculous to an English officer,
who considered the master of such a retinue as no more than an English
gentleman of £500 a year, yet in the circumstances of the chief, whose
strength and importance consisted in the number and attachment of his
followers, it was of the last consequence, in point of policy, to have
in his gift subordinate offices, which called immediately round his
person those who were most devoted to him, and, being of value in their
estimation, were also the means of rewarding them."
693. To drown, etc. The MS. reads:
"To drown his grief in war's wild roar,
Nor think of love and Ellen more."
713. Ave Maria! etc. "The metrical peculiarity of this song is that the
rhymes of the even lines of the first quatrain (or set of four lines)
are taken up as those of the odd lines in the second, and that they are
the same in all three stanzas" (Taylor).
722. We now must share. The MS. has "my sire must share;" and in 725
"The murky grotto's noxious air."
733. Bow us. See on i. 142, and cf. 749 below.
754. Lanrick height. Overlooking Lanrick Mead. See on 286 above.
755. Where mustered, etc. The MS. reads:
"Where broad extending far below,
Mustered Clan-Alpine's martial show."
On the first of these lines, cf. i. 88 above.
773. Yell. See on 357 above.
774. Bochastle's plain. See on i. 106 above.
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: