W.S.
Abbotsford, April, 1830.
Our limits do not permit us to add any extended selections from
the many critical notices of the poem. The verdict of Jeffrey,
in the Edinburgh Review, on its first appearance, has been
generally endorsed:--
"Upon the whole, we are inclined to think more highly of The Lady
of the Lake than of either of its author's former publications
[the Lay and Marmion]. We are more sure, however, that it has
fewer faults than that it has greater beauties; and as its
beauties bear a strong resemblance to those with which the public
has been already made familiar in these celebrated works, we
should not be surprised if its popularity were less splendid and
remarkable. For our own parts, however, we are of opinion that
it will be oftener read hereafter than either of them; and that,
if it had appeared first in the series, their reception would
have been less favourable than that which it has experienced. It
is more polished in its diction, and more regular in its
versification; the story is constructed with infinitely more
skill and address; there is a greater proportion of pleasing and
tender passages, with much less antiquarian detail; and, upon the
whole, a larger variety of characters, more artfully and
judiciously contrasted. There is nothing so fine, perhaps, as
the battle in Marmion, or so picturesque as some of the scattered
sketches in the Lay; but there is a richness and a spirit in the
whole piece which does not pervade either of those poems, --a
profusion of incident and a shifting brilliancy of colouring that
reminds us of the witchery of Ariosto, and a constant elasticity
and occasional energy which seem to belong more peculiarly to the
author now before us."
Canto First.
Each canto is introduced by one or more Spenserian stanzas,[FN#5]
forming a kind of prelude to it. Those prefixed to the first
canto serve as an introduction to the whole poem, which is
"inspired by the spirit of the old Scottish minstrelsy."
2. Witch-elm. The broad-leaved or wych elm (Ulmus montana),
indigenous to Scotland. Forked branches of the tree were used in
the olden time as divining-rods, and riding switches from it were
supposed to insure good luck on a journey. In the closing
stanzas of the poem (vi. 846) it is called 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
famous as a saint. He had two springs, which appear to be
confounded by some editors of the poem. One was at the eastern
end of Loch Earn, where the pretty modern village of St. Fillans
now stands, under the shadow of Dun Fillan, or St. Fillan's
Hills, six hundred feet high, on the top of which the saint used
to say his prayers, as the marks of his knees in the rock still
testify to the credulous. The other spring is at another village
called St. Fillans, nearly thirty miles to the westward, just
outside the limits of our map, on the road to Tyndrum. In this
Holy Pool, 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 loose the next morning, they were supposed to
have been cured. This treatment was practised as late as 1790,
according to Pennant, who adds that the patients were generally
found in the morning relieved of their troubles--by death.
Another writer, in 1843, says that the pool is still visited, not
by people of the vicinity, who have no faith in its virtue, but
by those from distant places. Scott alludes to this spring in
Marmion, 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.
In Marmion, ii. 11, according is used of music that fills the
intervals of other 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
proper is iambic, that is, with the accent on the even syllables,
and octosyllabic, 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, with
Benvoirlich (which rises to the height of 3180 feet) on the
north, and Uam-Var (see 53 below) on the south, separating it
from the valley of the Teith. It takes its name from the Artney,
the stream flowing through it.
32. His beacon red. The figure is an appropriate one in
describing this region, where fires on the hill-tops were so
often used as signals in the 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:
"Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth;" and T. of S.
ind. 1. 18: "the deep-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 "apt
alliteration's artful aid," as here, and in the next two lines;
most frequently in pairs of words.
38. As Chief, etc. Note here, as often, the simile put BEFORE
that which 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 in prose.
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 the animal pursued.
53. Uam-Var. "Ua-Var, as the name is pronounced, or more
properly Uaigh-mor, is a mountain to the north-east of the
village of Callander, 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. Strictly speaking, this stronghold is not a cave, as
the name would imply, but a sort of small enclosure, or recess,
surrounded with large rocks and open above head. It may have
been originally designed as a toil for deer, who might get in
from the outside, but would find it difficult to return. This
opinion prevails among 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 trail never 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
the rocky 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
originally meant evil, mischievous. Cf. Shakespeare, A. Y. L. v.
4. 179, where it is 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: Flee
shrewdnesse, 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
the North-of-England sense of a boggy or peaty district, like the
famous Chat Moss between Liverpool and Manchester.
93. Lochard. Loch Ard is a beautiful lakelet, about five miles
south of Loch Katrine. On its eastern side is the scene of Helen
Macgregor's skirmish with the King's troops in Rob Roy; and near
its head, on the northern side, is a waterfall, which is the
original of Flora MacIvor's favorite retreat in Waverley.
Aberfoyle is a village about a mile and a half to the east of the
lake.
95. Loch Achray. A lake between Loch Katrine and Loch
Vennachar, lying just beyond the pass of the Trosachs.
97. Benvenue. A mountain, 2386 feet in height, on the southern
side of Loch Katrine.
98. With the hope. The MS. has "with the THOUGHT," and "flying
HOOF" in the next line.
102. 'Twere. It would be. Cf. Shakespeare, Macb. ii. 2. 73:
"To know my deed, 't were best not know myself."
103. Cambusmore. The estate of a family named Buchanan, whom
Scott frequently visited in his younger days. It is about two
miles from Callander, on the wooded banks of the Keltie, a
tributary of the Teith.
105. Benledi. A mountain, 2882 feet high, northwest from
Callander. The name is said to mean "Mountain of God."
106. Bochastle's heath. A moor between the east end of Loch
Vennachar and Callander. See also on v. 298 below.
107. The flooded Teith. The Teith is formed by streams from
Loch Voil and from Loch Katrine (by way of Loch Achray and Loch
Vennachar), which unite at Callander. It joins the Forth near
Stirling.
111. Vennachar. As the map shows, this "Lake of the Fair
Valley" is the most eastern of the three lakes around which the
scenery of the poem lies. 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 The Brigs of Ayr), is over a stream that comes down from
Glenfinlas and flows into the one connecting Lochs Achray and
Vennachar. According to Graham, it is "the scene of the death of
a wild boar famous in Celtic tradition."
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 being of 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 Art of Venerie or Hunting (A.D. 1576), says: "When the hart
is foamy at the mouth, 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
hounds which we call Saint Hubert's hounds are commonly all
blacke, yet neuertheless, the race is so mingled at these days,
that we find them of all colours. These are the hounds which the
abbots of St. Hubert haue always kept some of their race or kind,
in honour or remembrance of the saint, which was a hunter with S.
Eustace. Whereupon we may conceiue that (by the grace of God)
all good huntsmen shall follow them into paradise."
127. Quarry. The animal hunted; another technical term.
Shakespeare uses it 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 the
stag, driven to extremity, turns round and faces his pursuers.
Cf. Shakespeare, 1. Hen. VI. iv. 2. 52, where it is used
figuratively (as in vi. 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: "When the stag turned to bay, the ancient hunter had the
perilous task of going in upon, and killing or disabling, the
desperate animal. At certain times of the year this was held
particularly dangerous, a wound received from a stag's horn being
then deemed poisonous, and more dangerous 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 upon wisely and warily, either by getting behind the
stag while he was gazing on the hounds, or by watching an
opportunity to gallop roundly in upon him, and kill him with the
sword. See many directions to this purpose in the Booke of
Hunting, chap. 41. Wilson, the historian, has recorded a
providential escape which befell him in the hazardous sport,
while a youth, and follower of the Earl of Essex:
'Sir Peter Lee, of Lime, in Cheshire, invited my lord one summer
to hunt the stagg. And having a great stagg in chase, and many
gentlemen in the pursuit, 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 of the water. The staggs
there being wonderfully fierce and dangerous, made us youths more
eager to be at him. But he escaped us all. And it was my
misfortune 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 speak as 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 that cold temper, that it seems his
words made an escape from him; as by his denial and repentance it
appeared. But this made mee more violent in the pursuit of the
stagg, to recover my reputation. And I happened to be the only
horseman in, when the dogs sett him up at bay; and approaching
near him on horsebacke, he broke through the dogs, and run at
mee, and tore my horse's side with his hornes, close by my thigh.
Then I quitted my horse, and grew more cunning (for the dogs had
sette him up againe), stealing behind him with my sword, and cut
his hamstrings; and then got upon his back, and cut his throate;
which, as I was doing, the company came in, and blamed my
rashness for running such a hazard' (Peck's Desiderata Curiosa,
ii. 464)."
138. Whinyard. A short stout sword or knife; the same as the
whinger of the 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 other old constructions, is still used in poetry.
145. Trosachs. "The rough or bristled territory" (Graham); the
wild district between Lochs Katrine and Vennachar. The name is
now especially applied to the pass between Lochs Katrine and
Achray.
147. Close couched. That is, as he lay close couched, or
hidden. Such ellipses are common in poetry.
150. Amain. With main, or full force. We still say "with might
and main."
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 applied to any oft-repeated noise. Shakespeare uses
it of the barking of dogs in M. 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
the winter'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 the hand of Magdalen, daughter of Francis I. He married her
the following spring, 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 the A. 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
was written amid the scenery it delineates, in the summer of
1809. The Quarterly Review (May, 1810) says of the poet: "He sees
everything with a painter's eye. Whatever he represents has a
character of individuality, and is drawn with an accuracy and
minuteness of discrimination which we are not accustomed to
expect from mere verbal description. It is because Mr. Scott
usually delineates those objects with which he is perfectly
familiar that his touch is so easy, correct, and animated. The
rocks, the ravines, and the torrents which he exhibits are not
the imperfect sketches of a hurried traveller, but the finished
studies of a resident artist." See also on 278 below.
Ruskin (Modern Painters, iii. 278) refers to "the love of color"
as a leading element in Scott's love of beauty. He might have
quoted the present passage among the illustrations he adds.
195. The native bulwarks, etc. The MS. has "The mimic castles
of the pass."
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
bulwarks bare."
208. Dewdrop sheen. Not "dewdrops sheen," or "dewdrops' sheen,"
as sometimes printed. Sheen = shining, bright; as in v. 10
below. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 10: "So faire and sheene;" Id.
iii. 4. 51: "in top of heaven sheene," etc. See Wb. The MS. has
here: "Bright glistening with 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. 413 and 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 what Scott 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 rare in Scott's poetry. Some rhymes that appear to
be imperfect are to be explained by peculiarities of Scottish
pronunciation. See on 363 below.
227. Shaltered. The MS. has "scathed;" also "rugged arms
athwart the sky" 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 was made through the romantic pass which I have
presumptuously attempted to describe in the preceding stanzas,
there was no mode of issuing out of the defile called the
Trosachs, excepting by a sort of ladder, composed of the branches
and roots of trees" (Scott).
263. Loch Katrine. In a note to The Fair Maid of Perth, Scott
derives the name from the Catterans, or Highland robbers, that
once infested the shores of the lake. Others make it "the Lake
of the Battle," in memory of 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 in the 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 (184 fol.): "Perhaps the art of landscape-painting in poetry
has never been displayed in higher perfection than in these
stanzas, to which rigid criticism might possibly object that the
picture is somewhat too minute, and that the contemplation of it
detains the traveller somewhat too long from the main purpose of
his pilgrimage, but which it would be an act of the greatest
injustice to break into fragments and present by piecemeal. Not
so the magnificent scene which bursts upon the bewildered hunter
as he emerges at length from the dell, and commands at one view
the beautiful expanse of Loch Katrine."
281. Churchman. In its old sense of one holding high office in
the church. Cf. Shakespeare, 2 Hen. VI. i. 3. 72, where Cardinal
Beaufort is called "the imperious churchman," etc.
285. Cloister. Monastery; originally, the covered walk around
the inner court 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 be preferred.
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
mild imprecation, often used playfully and even tenderly. Cf.
Shakespeare, 2 Hen. 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
regions in the neighborhood of Loch Katrine were, even until a
late period, much addicted 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, I hope 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
after art 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
other that 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's might easily be confounded by a compositor.
363. Snood. The fillet or ribbon with which the Scotch maidens
bound their 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
Scottish pronunciation 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 only master 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 the bill. 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. The form here is the past tense of the obsolete won,
or wone, to dwell. The present 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 is not strictly true, but the portrait in other respects is
quite accurate. He was fond of going about disguised, and some
of his freaks of this kind are pleasantly related in Scott's
Tales of a Grandfather. See on vi. 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 the holy rood, as in Shakespeare, Rich. III. iii. 2. 77,
iv. 4. 165. Cf. the name 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."
"If force of evidence could authorize us to believe facts
inconsistent with the general laws of nature, enough might be
produced in favor of the existence of the second-sight. It is
called in Gaelic Taishitaraugh, from Taish, an unreal or shadowy
appearance; and those possessed of the faculty are called
Taishatrin, which may be aptly translated visionaries. Martin, a
steady believer in the second-sight, gives the following account
of it:--
'The second-sight is a singular faculty of seeing an otherwise
invisible object without any previous means used by the person
that uses if for that end: the vision makes such a lively
impression upon the seers, that they neither see nor think of any
thing 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.
'At the sight of a vision, the eyelids of the person are erected,
and the eyes continue staring until the object vanish. This is
obvious to others who are by when the persons happen to see a
vision, and occurred more than once to my own observation, and to
others that were with me. ...
'If a woman is seen standing at a man's left hand, it is a
presage that she will be his wife, whether they be married to
others, or unmarried at the time of the apparition.
'To see a spark of fire fall upon one's arm or breast is a
forerunner of a dead child to be seen in the arms of those
persons; of which there are several fresh instances. ...
'To see a seat empty at the time of one's sitting in it, is a
presage of that person's death soon after' (Martin's Description
of the Western Islands, 1716, 8vo, p. 300, et seq.).
"To these particulars innumerable examples might be added, all
attested by grave and credible authors. But, in despite of
evidence which neither Bacon, Boyle, nor Johnson were able to
resist, the Taish, with all its visionary properties, seems to be
now universally abandoned to the use of poetry. The exquisitely
beautiful poem of Lochiel will at once occur to 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 of hidden truth). Cf. v. 64 below.
478. Emprise. Enterprise. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 39: "But
give me leave to follow my emprise," etc.
485. His noble hand. The MS. has "This gentle hand;" and in the
next line, "the oars he drew."
490. Frequent. Often; one of the many instances of the
adjective used adverbially in the poem.
492. The rocky isle. It is still known as Ellen's Isle. "It is
rather high, and irregularly pyramidal. It is mostly composed of
dark-gray rocks, mottled with pale and gray lichens, peeping out
here and there amid trees that mantle them,--chiefly light,
graceful birches, intermingled with red-berried mountain ashes
and a few dark-green, spiry pines. The landing is beneath an
aged oak; and, as did the Lady and the Knight, the traveller now
ascends 'a clambering unsuspected road,' by rude steps, to the
small irregular summit of the island. A more poetic, romantic
retreat could hardly be imagined: it is unique. It is completely
hidden, not only by the trees, but also by an undergrowth of
beautiful and abundant ferns and the loveliest of heather"
(Hunnewell's Lands 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:
"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.
'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 and crevices, and some scattered wood interspersed.
The habitation called the Cage, in the face of that mountain, was
within a small thick bush of wood. There were first some rows of
trees laid down, in order to level the floor for a habitation;
and as the place was steep, this raised the lower side to an
equal height with the other: and these trees, in the way of
joists or planks, were levelled with earth and gravel. There
were betwixt the trees, growing naturally on their own roots,
some stakes fixed 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 a round or rather oval shape; and
the whole thatched and covered over with fog. The whole fabric
hung, as it were, by a large tree, which reclined from the one
end, all along the roof, to the other, and which gave it the name
of the Cage; and by chance there happened to be two stones at a
small distance from one another, in the side next the precipice,
resembling the pillars of a chimney, where the fire was placed.
The smoke had its vent out here, all along the fall of the rock,
which was so much of the same color, that one could discover no
difference in the clearest day' (Home's History of the Rebellion,
Lond. 1802, 4to, p. 381)."
525. Idoean vine. Some have taken this to refer to the "red
whortleberry," the botanical name of which is Vaccinium vitis
Idoea; but as that is not a climber, it is more probably that the
common vine is here meant. Idoean is from Ida, a mountain near
ancient Troy (there was another in Crete), famous for its vines.
526. Clematis. The Climatis vitalba, one of the popular English
names of which 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 to die;" 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 what is endured against one's will or inclination. It seems
to be a favorite word with Scott.
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. He was an antagonist of Orlando,
and was at length slain by him in single combat. ... 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
guarding one side of the gate at Southampton, 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, or more than (such) kindred (usually) knew (in way of
affection).
585. Though all unasked, etc. "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 from the
benefit of the assistance he stood in need of" (Scott).
591. Snowdoun. An old name of Stirling Castle. See vi. 789
below.
592. Lord of a barren heritage. "By the misfortunes of the
earlier Jameses, and the internal feuds of the Scottish chiefs,
the kingly power had become little more than a name. Each chief
was a petty king in his own district, and gave just so much
obedience to the king's authority as suited his convenience"
(Taylor).
596. Wot. Knows; the present of the obsolete wit (the
infinitive to wit is still use in legal forms), not of weet, as
generally stated. See Matzner, 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 in witchcraft; like the "weird sisters" of Macbeth. Down
= hill (the Gaelic dun).
622. A harp unseen. Scott has the following note here: "'"They
[the Highlanders] delight much in musicke, but chiefly in harps
and clairschoes of their own fashion. The strings of the
clairschoes are made of brasse wire, and the strings of the harps
of sinews; which strings they strike either with their nayles,
growing long, or else with an instrument appointed for that use.
They take great pleasure to decke their harps and clairschoes
with silver and precious stones; the poore ones that cannot
attayne hereunto, decke them with christall. They sing verses
prettily compound, contayning (for the most part) prayses of
valiant men. There is not almost any other argument, whereof
their rhymes intreat. They speak the ancient French language,
altered a little."[FN#6]
'The harp and chairschoes are now only heard of in the Highlands
in ancient song. At what period these instruments ceased to be
used, is not on record; and tradition is silent on this head.
But, as Irish harpers occasionally visited the Highlands and
Western Isles till lately, the harp might have been extant so
late as the middle of the present century. Thus far we know,
that from remote times down to the present, harpers were received
as welcome guests, particularly in the Highlands of Scotland; and
so late as the latter end of the sixteenth century, as appears by
the above quotations, the harp was in common use among the
natives of the Western Isles. How it happened that the noisy and
inharmonious bagpipe banished the soft and expressive harp, we
cannot say; but certain it is, that the bagpipe is now the only
instrument that obtains universally in the Highland districts'
(Campbell's Journey through North Britain. London, 1808, 4to, i.
175).
"Mr. Gunn, of Edinburgh, has lately published a curious Essay
upon the Harp and Harp Music of the Highlands of Scotland. That
the instrument was once in common use there, is most certain.
Cleland numbers an acquaintance with it among the few
accomplishments which his satire allows 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
which the musician would either excite or assuage; generally
applied to those airs that are played on the bagpipe before the
Highlanders when they go out to battle" (Jamieson). Here it is
put for the bagpipe itself. See also 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 that of all the notes of waterfowl "there is none
so dismally hollow as the booming 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 in 657:
"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 of Indolence:
"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 a
strange and romantic dream as may be naturally expected to flow
from the extraordinary events of the day. It might, perhaps, be
quoted as one of Mr. Scott's most successful efforts in
descriptive poetry. Some few lines of it are indeed unrivalled
for delicacy and melancholy tenderness."
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. See also 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 recent eds. have "passions'."
738. Orisons. The 1st ed. has "orison" both here and in 740
(the ed. of 1821 only in the latter); but the word is almost
invariably plural, both in poetry and prose--always in
Shakespeare and Milton.
Canto Second.
7. A minstrel gray. "That Highland chieftains, to a late
period, retained in their service the bard, as a family officer,
admits of very easy proof. The author of the Letters from the
North of Scotland, an officer of engineers, quartered at
Inverness about 1720, who certainly cannot be deemed a favorable
witness, gives the following account of the office, and of a
bard, whom he heard exercise his talent of recitation:--'The bard
is killed in the genealogy of all the Highland families,
sometimes preceptor to the young laird, celebrates in Irish verse
the original of the tribe, the famous warlike actions of the
successive heads, and sings his own lyricks as an opiate to the
chief, when indisposed for sleep; but poets are not equally
esteemed and honored in all countries. I happened to be a witness
of the dishonour done to the muse, at the house of one of the
chiefs, where two of these bards were set at a good distance, at
the lower end of a long table, with a parcel of Highlanders of no
extraordinary appearance, over a cup of ale. Poor inspiration!
They were not asked to drink a glass of wine at our table, though
the whole company consisted only of the great man, one of his
near relations, and myself. After some little time, the chief
ordered one of them to sing me a Highland song. The bard readily
obeyed, and with a hoarse voice, and in a tune of few various
notes, began, as I was told, one of his own lyricks; and when he
had proceeded to the fourth of fifth stanza, I perceived, by the
names of several persons, glens, and mountains, which I had known
or heard of before, that it was an account of some clan battle.
But in his going on, the chief (who piques himself upon his
school-learning) at some particular passage, bid him cease, and
cryed out, "There's nothing like that in Virgil or Homer." I
bowed, and told him I believed so. This you may believe was very
edifying and delightful'" (Scott).
15. Than men, etc. "It is evident that the old bard, with his
second-sight, has a glimmering notion who the stranger is. He
speaks below [311] of 'courtly spy,' and James's speech had
betrayed a knowledge of the Douglas" (Taylor).
20. Battled. The reading of the 1st ed. and that of 1821;
"battle" in most others. Cf. i. 626 above.
22. Where beauty, etc. The MS. has "At tourneys where the brave
resort." The reference is to the tournaments, "Where," as Milton
says (L'Allegro, 119),
"throngs of knights and barons bold.
In weeds of peace, high triumphs hold,
With store of ladies, whose bright eyes
Rain influence, and judge the prize
Of wit or arms, while both contend
To win her grace whom all commend."
Cf. 87 below.
26. Love's. The reading of the 1st ed. and that of 1821; most
eds. have "love."
29. Plaided. The plaid was properly the dress of a Highlander,
though it was worn also in the Lowlands.
51. The Harper on the islet beach. "This picture is touched
with the hand of the true poet" (Jeffrey).
56. As from. As if from. Cf. 64 and 83 below. This ellipsis
was common in Elizabethan English. Cf. Shakespeare, Macb. ii. 2.
28:
"One cried 'God bless us!' and 'Amen' the other,
As they had seen me with these hangman's hands."
65. In the last sound. For the measure, see on i. 73 above.
69. His fleet. That is, of ducks. Cf. i. 239 above.
80. Would scorn. Who would scorn. See on i. 528 above.
84. Turned him. See on i. 142 above, and cf. 106 below.
86. After. Afterwards; as in Shakespeare, Temp. ii. 2. 10: "And
after bite me," etc. The word is not now used adverbially of
time, though we may say "he followed after," etc. The 1st ed.
reads "that knight."
94. Parts. Departs; as often in poetry and earlier English. Cf.
Goldsmith, D. V. 171: "Beside the bed where parting life was
laid;" Gray, Elegy, 1: "the knell of parting day," etc. On the
other hand, depart was used in the sense of part. In the
Marriage Service "till death us do part" is a corruption of "till
death us depart." Wiclif's Bible, in Matt. xix. 6, has "therfor
a man departe not that thing that God hath ioyned."
103. Another step, etc. The MS. has "The loveliest Lowland fair
to spy;" and the 1st ed. reads "The step of parting fair to spy."
109. The Graeme. Scott has the following note here: "The
ancient and powerful family of Graham (which, for metrical
reasons, is here smelled after the Scottish pronunciation) held
extensive possessions in the counties of Dumbarton and Stirling.
Few families can boast of more historical renown, having claim to
three of the most remarkable characters in the Scottish annals.
Sir John the Graeme, the faithful and undaunted partaker of the
labors and patriotic warfare of Wallace, fell in the unfortunate
field of Falkirk, in 1298. The celebrated Marquis of Montrose,
in whom De Retz saw realized his abstract idea of the heroes of
antiquity, was the second of these worthies. And, not
withstanding the severity of his temper, and the rigor with which
he executed the oppressive mandates of the princes whom he
served, I do not hesitate to name as the third, John Graeme, of
Claverhouse, Viscount of Dundee, whose heroic death, in the arms
of victory, may be allowed to cancel the memory of his cruelty to
the non-conformists, during the reigns of Charles II. and James
II."
112. Bower. The word meant a chamber (see on i. 217 above), and
was often used of the ladies' apartments in a house. In hall and
bower = among men and women. The words are often thus
associated. Cf. Spenser, Astrophel, 28: "Merily masking both in
bowre and hall," etc.
115. Arose. The 1st ed. misprints "Across;" not noted in the
Errata.
126. And the proud march. See on i. 73 above.
131. Saint Modan. A Scotch abbot of the 7th century. Scott
says here: "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. 'But labouring once in these
mechanic arts for a devout matrone that had sett him on work, his
violl, that hung by him on the wall, of its own accord, without
anie man's helpe, distinctly sounded this anthime: Gaudent in
coelis animae sanctorum qui Christi vestigia sunt secuti; et quia
pro eius amore sanguinem suum fuderunt, ideo cum Christo gaudent
aeternum. Whereat all the companie being much astonished, turned
their eyes from beholding him working, to looke on that strange
accident. ... Not long after, manie of the court that hitherunto
had born a kind of fayned friendship towards him, began now
greatly to envie at his progresse and rising in goodness, using
manie crooked, backbiting meanes to diffame his vertues with the
black markes of hypocrisie. And the better to authorise their
calumnie, they brought in this that happened in the violl,
affirming it to have been done by art magick. What more? this
wicked rumour encreased, dayly, till the king and others of the
nobilitie taking hould thereof, Dunstan grew odious in their
sight. Therefore he resolued to leaue the court, and goe to
Elphegus, surnamed the Bauld, then bishop of Winchester, who was
his cozen. Which his enemies understanding, they layd wayte for
him in the way, and hauing throwne him off his horse, beate him,
and dragged him in the durt in the most miserable manner, meaning
to have slaine him, had not a companie of mastiue dogges, that
came unlookt uppon them, defended and redeemed him from their
crueltie. When with sorrow he was ashamed to see dogges more
humane than they. And giuing thankes to Almightie God, he
sensibly againe perceaued that the tunes of his violl had giuen
him a warning of future accidents' (Flower of the Lives of the
most renowned Sainets of England, Scotland, and Ireland, by the
R. Father Hierome Porter. Doway, 1632 4to. tome i. p. 438).
