'Words that weep, and tears that speak.'
Stanza XVII. line 501. 'The ancient cry to make room for a dance or
pageant.'--SCOTT.
Cp. Romeo and Juliet, i. 5. 28: 'A hall! a hall! give room,' &c.
line 505. The tune is significant of a Scottish invasion of England.
See Scott's appropriate song to the 'ancient air,' 'Monastery,' xxv.
Reference is made in I Henry II, ii. 4. 368, to the head-dress of
the Scottish soldiers, when Falstaff informs Prince Hal that Douglas
is in England, 'and a thousand BLUE-CAPS more.'
Stanza XIX. line 545. Many of the houses in Old Edinburgh are built
to a great height, so that the common stairs leading up among a
group of them have sometimes been called 'perpendicular streets.'
Pitch, meaning 'height,' is taken from hawking, the height to which
a bird rose depending largely on the pitch given it.
Stanza XX. line 558. St. Giles's massive steeple is one of the
features of Edinburgh. The ancient church, recently renovated by the
munificence of the late William Chambers, is now one of the most
imposing Presbyterian places of worship in Scotland.
line 569. For bowne see above, IV. 487.
line 571. A certain impressiveness is given by the sudden
introduction of this pentameter.
Stanza XXI. Jeffrey, in reviewing' Marmion, 'fixed on this narrative
of the Abbess as a passage marked by 'flatness and tediousness,' and
could see in it 'no sort of beauty nor elegance of diction.' The
answer to such criticism is that the narrative is direct and
practical, and admirably suited to its purpose.
line 585. Despiteously, despitefully. 'Despiteous' is used in 'Lay
of the Last Minstrel,' V. xix. Cp. Chaucer's 'Man of Lawe,' 605
(Clarendon Press ed.):--
'And sey his wyf despitously yslayn.'
line 587. 'A German general, who commanded the auxiliaries sent by
the Duchess of Burgundy with Lambert Simnel. He was defeated and
killed at Stokefield. The name of this German general is preserved
by that of the field of battle, which is called, after him, Swart-
moor.--There were songs about him long current in England. See
Dissertation prefixed to RITSON'S Ancient Songs, 1792, p. lxi.'--
SCOTT.
line 588. Lambert Simnel, the Pretender, made a scullion after his
overthrow by Henry VII.
line 590. Stokefield (Stoke, near Newark, county Nottingham) was
fought 16 June, 1487.
line 607. 'It was early necessary for those who felt themselves
obliged to believe in the divine judgment being enunciated in the
trial by duel, to find salvos for the strange and obviously
precarious chances of the combat. Various curious evasive shifts,
used by those who took up an unrighteous quarrel, were supposed
sufficient to convert it into a just one. Thus, in the romance of
"Amys and Amelion," the one brother-in-arms, fighting for the other,
disguised in his armour, swears that HE did not commit the crime of
which the Steward, his antagonist, truly, though maliciously,
accused him whom he represented. Brantome tells a story of an
Italian, who entered the lists upon an unjust quarrel, but, to make
his cause good, fled from his enemy at the first onset. "Turn,
coward!" exclaimed his antagonist. "Thou liest," said the Italian,
"coward am I none; and in this quarrel will I fight to the death,
but my first cause of combat was unjust, and I abandon it." "Je vous
laisse a penser," adds Brantome, "s'il n'y a pas de l'abus la."
Elsewhere he says, very sensibly, upon the confidence which those
who had a righteous cause entertained of victory: "Un autre abus y
avoit-il, que ceux qui avoient un juste subjet de querelle, et qu'on
les faisoit jurer avant entrer au camp, pensoient estre aussitost
vainqueurs, voire s'en assuroient-t-ils du tout, mesmes que leurs
confesseurs, parrains et confidants leurs en respondoient tout-a-
fait, comme si Dieu leur en eust donne une patente; et ne regardant
point a d'autres fautes passes, et que Dieu en garde la punition a
ce coup la pour plus grande, despiteuse, et exemplaire."--Discours
sur le Duels.'--SCOTT.
Stanza XXII. line 612. Recreant, a coward, a disgraced knight. See
'Lady of the Lake,' V. xvi:--
'Let recreant yield who fears to die';
and cp. 'caitiff recreant,' Richard II, i. 2. 53.
line 633. The Tame falls into the Trent above Tamworth.
Stanza XXIII. line 662. Quaint, neat, pretty, as in Much Ado, iii.
4. 21: 'A fine, quaint, graceful, and excellent fashion.'
Stanza XXIV. line 704. St. Withold, St. Vitalis. Cp. King Lear, iii.
4. III. Clarendon Press ed., and note. This saint was invoked in
nightmare.
Stanza XXV. line 717. Malison, curse.
line 717. 'The Cross of Edinburgh was an ancient and curious
structure. The lower part was an octagonal tower, sixteen feet in
diameter, and about fifteen feet high. At each angle there was a
pillar, and between them an arch, of the Grecian shape. Above these
was a projecting battlement, with a turret at each corner, and
medallions, of rude but curious workmanship, between them. Above
this rose the proper Cross, a column of one stone, upwards of twenty
feet high, surmounted with a unicorn. This pillar is preserved in
the grounds of the property of Drum, near Edinburgh. The Magistrates
of Edinburgh, in 1756, with consent of the Lords of Session, (proh
pudor!) destroyed this curious monument, under a wanton pretext that
it encumbered the street; while, on the one hand, they left an ugly
mass called the Luckenbooths, and, on the other, an awkward, long,
and low guard-house, which were fifty times more encumbrance than
the venerable and inoffensive Cross.
'From the tower of the Cross, so long as it remained, the heralds
published the acts of Parliament; and its site, marked by radii,
diverging from a stone centre, in the High Street, is still the
place where proclamations are made.'--SCOTT.
See Fergusson's 'Plainstanes,' Poems, p. 48. The Cross was restored
by Mr. Gladstone in 1885, to commemorate his connexion with
Midlothian as its parliamentary representative.
line 735. 'This supernatural citation is mentioned by all our
Scottish historians. It was, probably, like the apparition at
Linlithgow, an attempt, by those averse to the war, to impose upon
the superstitious temper of James IV. The following account from
Pitscottie is characteristically minute, and furnishes, besides,
some curious particulars of the equipment of the army of James IV. I
need only add to it, that Plotcock, or Plutock, is no other than
Pluto. The Christians of the middle ages by no means disbelieved in
the existence of the heathen deities; they only considered them as
devils, and Plotcock, so far from implying any thing fabulous, was a
synonyme of the grand enemy of mankind." {2} "Yet all thir
warnings, and uncouth tidings, nor no good counsel, might stop the
King, at this present, from his vain purpose, and wicked enterprize,
but hasted him fast to Edinburgh, and there to make his provision
and famishing, in having forth of his army against the day
appointed, that they should meet in the Barrow-muir of Edinburgh:
That is to say, seven cannons that he had forth of the Castle of
Edinburgh, which were called the Seven Sisters, casten by Robert
Borthwick, the master-gunner, with other small artillery, bullet,
powder, and all manner of order, as the master-gunner could devise.
'"In this meantime, when they were taking forth their artillery, and
the King being in the Abbey for the time, there was a cry heard at
the Market-cross of Edinburgh at the hour of midnight, proclaiming
as it had been a summons, which was named and called by the
proclaimer thereof, the summons of Plotcock; which desired all men
to compear, both Earl, and Lord, and Baron, and all honest gentlemen
within the town, (every man specified by his own name,) to compear,
within the space of forty days, before his master, where it should
happen him to appoint, and be for the time, under the pain of
disobedience. But whether this summons was proclaimed by vain
persons, night-walkers, or drunken men, for their pastime, or if it
was a spirit, I cannot tell truly: but it was shewn to me, that an
indweller of the town, Mr. Richard Lawson, being evil disposed,
ganging in his gallery-stair foreanent the Cross, hearing this voice
proclaiming this summons, thought marvel what it should be, cried on
his servant to bring him his purse; and when he had brought him it,
he took out a crown, and cast over the stair, saying, 'I appeal from
that summons, judgment, and sentence thereof, and take me all whole
in the mercy of God, and Christ Jesus his son.' Verily, the author
of this, that caused me write the manner of this summons, was a
landed gentleman, who was at that time twenty years of age, and was
in the town the time of the said summons; and thereafter, when the
field was stricken, he swore to me, there was no man that escaped
that was called in this summons, but that one man alone which made
his protestation, and appealed from the said summons: but all the
lave were perished in the field with the king."'
Stanza XXIX. line 838. 'The convent alluded to is a foundation of
Cistertian nuns, near North Berwick, of which there are still some
remains. It was founded by Duncan, Earl of Fife, in 1216.'--SCOTT.
line 840. Two rocky islands off North Berwick.
Stanza XXX. line 899. Nares says: 'In the solemn form of
excommunication used in the Romish Church, the bell was tolled, the
book of offices for the purpose used, and three candles
extinguished, with certain ceremonies.' Cp. 'Lay of the Last
Minstrel,' VI. xxiii. 400, for the observance at a burial service.
Stanza. XXXI. line 914. 'This relates to the catastrophe of a real
Robert de Marmion, in the reign of King Stephen, whom William of
Newbury describes with some attributes of my fictitious hero: "Homo
bellicosus, ferosia, et astucia, fere nullo suo tempore impar." This
Baron, having expelled the monks from the church of Coventry, was
not long of experiencing the divine judgment, as the same monks, no
doubt, termed his disaster. Having waged a feudal war with the Earl
of Chester, Marmion's horse fell, as he charged in the van of his
troop, against a body of the Earl's followers: the rider's thigh
being broken by the fall, his head was cut off by a common foot-
soldier, ere he could receive any succour. The whole story is told
by William of Newbury.'--SCOTT.
line 926. The story of Judith and Holofernes is in the Apocrypha.
line 928. See Judges iv.
line 931. St. Antony's fire is erysipelas.
Stanza XXXII. line 947. This line, omitted in early editions, was
supplied by Lockhart from the MS.
Stanza XXXIII. line 973. Tantallon, owing to its position, presents
itself suddenly to those approaching it from the south.
line 980. Lockhart annotates thus:--
'During the regency (subsequent to the death of James V) the Dowager
Queen Regent, Mary of Guise, became desirous of putting a French
garrison into Tantallon, as she had into Dunbar and Inchkeith, in
order the better to bridle the lords and barons, who inclined to the
reformed faith, and to secure by citadels the sea-coast of the Frith
of Forth. For this purpose, the Regent, to use the phrase of the
time "dealed with" the (then) Earl of Angus for his consent to the
proposed measure. He occupied himself, while she was speaking, in
feeding a falcon which sat upon his wrist, and only replied by
addressing the bird, but leaving the Queen to make the application.
"The devil is in this greedy gled--she will never be fou." But when
the Queen, without appearing to notice this hint, continued to press
her obnoxious request, Angus replied, in the true spirit of a feudal
noble, "Yes, Madam, the castle is yours; God forbid else. But by the
might of God, Madam!" such was his usual oath, "I must be your
Captain and Keeper for you, and I will keep it as well as any you
can place there.'" -SIR WALTER SCOTT'S Provincial Antiquities, vol.
ii. p. 167.--Prose Works, vol. vii. p. 436.
Stanza XXXIV. line 998. Cp. AEneid, IV. 174:--
'Fama, malum qua non aliud velocius ullum.'
line 1001. Strongholds in Northumberland, near Flodden.
line 1017. Opposite Flodden, beyond the Till.
line 1032. 'bated of, diminished. Cp. Timon of Athens, ii. 2. 208:--
' You do yourselves
Much wrong; you BATE too much of your own merits.'
INTRODUCTION TO CANTO SIXTH.
Richard Heber (1773-1833) half-brother of Bishop Heber, was for some
time M. P. for Oxford University. His large inherited fortune
enabled him freely to indulge his love of books, and his, English
library of 105,000 volumes cost him L180,000. He had thousands
besides on the continent. As a cherished friend of Scott's he is
frequently mentioned in the 'Life.' He introduced Leyden to Scott
(Life, i. 333, 1837 ed.).
'Mertoun House, the seat of Hugh Scott, Esq., of Harden, is
beautifully situated on the Tweed, about two miles below Dryburgh
Abbey.'--LOCKHART.
line 7. 'The Iol of the heathen Danes (a word still applied to
Christmas in Scotland; was solemnized with great festivity. The
humour of the Danes at table displayed itself in pelting each other
with bones, and Torfaeus tells a long and curious story, in the
History of Hrolfe Kraka, of one Hottus, an inmate of the Court of
Denmark, who was so generally assailed with these missiles, that he
constructed, out of the bones with which he was overwhelmed, a very
respectable intrenchment, against those who continued the raillery.
The dances of the northern warriors round the great fires of pine-
trees, are commemorated by Olaus Magnus, who says, they danced with
such fury, holding each other by the hands, that, if the grasp of
any failed, he was pitched into the fire with the velocity of a
sling. The sufferer, on such occasions, was instantly plucked out,
and obliged to quaff off a certain measure of ale, as a penalty for
"spoiling the king's fire."'-SCOTT.
line 33. Scott, after explaining that in Roman Catholic countries
mass is never said at night except on Christmas eve, quotes as
illustrative of early celebrations of the festival the names and
descriptions of the allegorical characters in Jonson's 'Christmas
his Masque. 'The personages are Father Christmas himself and his ten
sons and daughters, led in by Cupid. 'Baby-Cake,' the youngest
child, is misprinted 'Baby-Cocke in Scott.
line 45. Post and pair, a game at cards, is one of the sons of
Father Christmas in Jonson's Masque. He comes in with 'a pair-royal
of aces in his hat; his garment all done over with pairs and purs;
his squire carrying a box, cards, and counters.'
line 55. The reference is to the ancient salt-cellar, which parted
superiors from inferiors at table.
line 75. 'It seems certain that the MUMMERS of England, who (in
Northumberland at least) used to go about in disguise to the
neighbouring houses, bearing the then useless ploughshares; and the
GUISARDS of Scotland, not yet in total disuse, present, in some
indistinct degree, a shadow of the old mysteries, which were the
origin of the English drama. In Scotland, (me ipso teste,) we were
wont, during my boyhood, to take the characters of the apostles, at
least of Peter, Paul, and Judas Iscariot; the first had the keys,
the second carried a sword, and the last the bag, in which the dole
of our neighbours' plum-cake was deposited. One played as a
champion, and recited some traditional rhymes; another was:--
...."Alexander, King of Macedon,
Who conquer'd all the world but Scotland alone.
When he came to Scotland his courage grew cold,
To see a little nation courageous and bold."
These, and many such verses, were repeated, but by rote, and
unconnectedly. There were also, occasionally, I believe, a Saint
George. In all, there was a confused resemblance of the ancient
mysteries, in which the characters of Scripture, the Nine Worthies,
and other popular personages, were usually exhibited. It were much
to be wished that the Chester Mysteries were published from the MS.
in the Museum, with the annotations which a diligent investigator of
popular antiquities might still supply. The late acute and valuable
antiquary, Mr. Ritson, showed me several memoranda towards such a
task, which are probably now dispersed or lost. See, however, his
"Remarks on Shakspeare," 1783, p. 38.
'Since the first edition of "Marmion" appeared, this subject has
received much elucidation from the learned and extensive labours of
Mr. Douce; and the Chester Mysteries (edited by J. H. Markland,
Esq.) have been printed in a style of great elegance and accuracy
(in 1818) by Bensley and Sons, London, for the Roxburghe Club.
1830.'--SCOTT.
line 93. The proverb 'Blood is warmer than water' is also common in
the form 'Blood is thicker than water.'
line 96. 'Mr. Scott of Harden, my kind and affectionate friend, and
distant relation, has the original of a poetical invitation,
addressed from his grandfather to my relative, from which a few
lines in the text are imitated. They are dated, as the epistle in
the text, from Mertoun-house, the seat of the Harden family:--
"With amber beard, and flaxen hair,
And reverend apostolic air,
Free of anxiety and care,
Come hither, Christmas-day, and dine;
We'll mix sobriety with wine,
And easy mirth with thoughts divine.
We Christians think it holiday,
On it no sin to feast or play;
Others, in spite, may fast and pray.
No superstition in the use
Our ancestors made of a goose;
Why may not we, as well as they,
Be innocently blithe that day,
On goose or pie, on wine or ale,
And scorn enthusiastic zeal?--
Pray come, and welcome, or plague rott
Your friend and landlord, Walter Scott.
"Mr. Walter Scott, Lessuden"
'The venerable old gentleman, to whom the lines are addressed was
the younger brother of William Scott of Raeburn. Being the cadet of
a cadet of the Harden family, he had very little to lose; yet he
contrived to lose the small property he had, by engaging in the
civil wars and intrigues of the house of Stuart. His veneration for
the exiled family was so great, that he swore he would not shave his
beard till they were restored: a mark of attachment, which, I
suppose, had been common during Cromwell's usurpation; for, in
Cowley's "Cutter of Coleman Street," one drunken cavalier upbraids
another, that, when he was not able to afford to pay a barber, he
affected to "wear a beard for the King." I sincerely hope this was
not absolutely the original reason of my ancestor's beard; which, as
appears from a portrait in the possession of Sir Henry Hay
Macdougal, Bart., and another painted for the famous Dr. Pitcairn,
was a beard of a most dignified and venerable appearance.'-- SCOTT.
line 111. 'See Introduction to the 'Minstrelsy,' vol. iv. p. 59.'--
LOCKHART.
lines 117-20. The Tweed winds and loiters around Mertoun and its
grounds as if fascinated by their attractiveness. With line. 120 cp.
'clipped in with the sea,' I Henry IV, iii. I. 45.
line 126. Cp. 2 Henry IV, iii. 2. 228: 'We have heard the chimes at
midnight, Master Shallow!'
line 132. Scott quotes from Congreve's 'Old Bachelor,'--'Hannibal
was a pretty fellow, sir--a very pretty fellow in his day,' which is
part of a speech by Noll Bluffe, one of the characters.
line 139. With 'Limbo lost,' cp. the 'Limbo large and broad' of
'Paradise Lost,' iii. 495. Limbo is the borders of hell, and also
hell itself.
line 143. 'John Leyden, M. D., who had been of great service to Sir
Walter Scott in the preparation of the 'Border Minstrelsy,' sailed
for India in April, 1803, and died at Java in August, 1811, before
completing his 36th year.
"Scenes sung by him who sings no more!
His brief and bright career is o'er,
And mute his tuneful strains;
Quench'd is his lamp of varied lore,
That loved the light of song to pour;
A distant and a deadly shore
Has LEYDEN'S cold remains."
Lord of the Isles, Canto IV.
'See a notice of his life in the Author's Miscellaneous Prose Works,
vol. iv.'--LOCKHART.
line 146. For the solemn and powerful interview of Hercules and
Ulysses, see close of Odyssey XI. Wraith (Icel. vordhr, guardian) is
here used for SHADE. In Scottish superstition it signifies the
shadow of a person seen before death, as in 'Guy Mannering,' chap.
x: 'she was uncertain if it were the gipsy, or her WRAITH.' The
most notable use of the word and the superstition in recent poetry
is in Rossetti's 'King's Tragedy':--
'And the woman held his eyes with her eyes:--
"O King; thou art come at last;
But thy WRAITH has haunted the Scottish sea
To my sight for four years past.
"Four years it is since first I met,
'Twixt the Duchray and the Dhu,
A shape whose feet clung close in a shroud,
And that shape for thine I knew,"' &c.
line 148. AEneid, III. 19.
line 159. 'This passage is illustrated by "Ceubren yr Ellyll, or the
Spirit's Blasted Tree," a legendary tale, by the Reverend George
Warrington, who says:--
'"The event, on which the tale is founded, is preserved by tradition
in the family of the Vaughans of Hengwyrt; nor is it entirely lost,
even among the common people, who still point out this oak to the
passenger. The enmity between the two Welsh chieftains, Howel Sele,
and Owen Glendwr, was extreme, and marked by vile treachery in the
one, and ferocious cruelty in the other. {3} The story is somewhat
changed and softened, as more favourable to the character of the two
chiefs, and as better answering the purpose of poetry, by admitting
the passion of pity, and a greater degree of sentiment in the
description. Some trace of Howel Sele's mansion was to be seen a few
years ago, and may perhaps be still visible, in the park of Nannau,
now belonging to Sir Robert Vaughan, Baronet, in the wild and
romantic tracks of Merionethshire. The abbey mentioned passes under
two names, Vener and Cymmer. The former is retained, as more
generally used."--See the Metrical Tale in Sir
Walter Scott's Poetical Works, vol. vii. pp. 396-402.'--LOCKHART.
line 161. By a victory gained at Maida, 6 July 1806, Sir John Stuart
broke the power of the French in southern Italy.
line 163. 'The Daoine shi,' or Men of Peace, of the Scottish
Highlanders, rather resemble the Scandinavian Duergar, than the
English Fairies. Notwithstanding their name, they are, if not
absolutely malevolent, at least peevish, discontented, and apt to do
mischief on slight provocation. The belief of their existence is
deeply impressed on the Highlanders, who think they are particularly
offended at mortals, who talk of them, who wear their favourite
colour green, or in any respect interfere with their affairs. This
is especially to be avoided on Friday, when, whether as dedicated to
Venus, with whom, in Germany, this subterraneous people are held
nearly connected, or for a more solemn reason, they are more active
and possessed of greater power. Some curious particulars concerning
the popular superstitions of the Highlanders may be found in Dr.
Graham's Picturesque Sketches of Perthshire.'--SCOTT.
Friday (the day of the goddess Freya) is regarded as lucky for
marriages. Mr. Thiselton Dyer in 'Domestic Folk-lore,' p. 39, quotes
the City Chamberlain of Glasgow as affirming that 'nine-tenths of
the marriages in Glasgow are celebrated on a Friday.' In Hungary
nothing of any importance is undertaken on a Friday, and there is a
Hungarian proverb which says that 'whoever is merry on a Friday is
sure to weep on the Sunday.' The Sicilians make the exception for
weddings. In America Friday is a lucky day-the New World, no doubt,
upsetting in this as other matters the conservatism of the Old. The
superstition of sailors about Friday is famous. Cp. the old English
song 'The Mermaid.' For further discussion of the subject see 'Notes
and Queries,' 6th S. vol. vi.
line 175. 'The journal of the Friend, to whom the Fourth Canto of
the poem is inscribed, furnished me with the following account of a
striking superstition:--
'"Passed the pretty little village of Franchemont (near Spaw), with
the romantic ruins of the old castle of the counts of that name. The
road leads through many delightful vales, on a rising ground: at
the extremity of one of them stands the ancient castle, now the
subject of many superstitions legends. It is firmly believed by the
neighbouring peasantry, that the last Baron of Franchemont
deposited, in one of the vaults of the castle, a ponderous chest,
containing an immense treasure in gold and silver, which, by some
magic spell, was intrusted to the care of the Devil, who is
constantly found sitting on the chest in the shape of a huntsman.
Any one adventurous enough to touch the chest is instantly seized
with the palsy. Upon one occasion, a priest of noted piety was
brought to the vault: he used all the arts of exorcism to persuade
his infernal majesty to vacate his seat, but in vain; the huntsman
remained immovable. At last, moved by the earnestness of the priest,
he told him, that he would agree to resign the chest, if the
exorciser would sign his name with blood. But the priest understood
his meaning, and refused, as by that act he would have delivered
over his soul to the Devil. Yet if any body can discover the mystic
words used by the person who deposited the treasure, and pronounced
them, the fiend must instantly decamp. I had many stories of a
similar nature from a peasant, who had himself seen the Devil, in
the shape of a great cat."'--SCOTT.
line 190. Begun has always been a possible past tense in poetry, and
living poets continue its use. There is an example in Mr. Browning's
'Waring':--
'Give me my so-long promised son,
Let Waring end what I BEGUN;
and Lord Tennyson writes:--
'The light of days when life BEGUN!
in the memorial verses prefixed to his brother's 'Collected Sonnets'
(1879).
line 205. Robert Lindsay of Pittscottie (a Fife estate, eastward of
Cupar) lived in the first half of the sixteenth century, and wrote
'Chronicles of Scotland' from James II to Mary. Nothing further of
him is known with certainty. Like the Lion King he was a cadet of
the noble family of Lindsay, including Crawford and Lindsay and
Lindsay of the Byres.
line 207. See above, IV. xiv.
line 212. John of Fordun (a village in Kincardineshire) about the
end of the fourteenth century wrote the first five of the sixteen
books of the 'Scotochronicon,' the work being completed by Walter
Bower, appointed Abbot of St. Colm's, 1418.
line 220. Gripple, tenacious, narrow. See 'Waverley,' chap. lxvii. -
-'Naebody wad be sae gripple as to take his gear'; and cp. 'Faerie
Queene,' VI. iv. 6:--
'On his shield he GRIPPLE hold did lay.'
line 225. They hide away their treasures without using them, as the
magpie or the jackdaw does with the articles it steals.
CANTO SIXTH.
Stanza I. line 6. Cp. Job xxxix. 25.
line 8. Terouenne, about thirty miles S. E. of Calais.
line 9. Leaguer, the besiegers' camp. Cp. Longfellow's 'Evangeline,'
I. 5,--
'Like to a gipsy camp, or a LEAGUER after a battle.'
Stanza II. lines 27-30. Cp. 'Faerie Queene,' III. iv. 7.:--
'The surges hore
That 'gainst the craggy clifts did loudly rore,
And in their raging surquedry disdaynd
That the fast earth affronted them so sore.'
lines 34-6. The cognizance was derived from the commission Brace
gave the Good Lord James Douglas to carry his heart to Palestine.
The FIELD is the whole surface of the shield, the CHIEF the upper
portion. The MULLET is a star-shaped figure resembling the rowel of
a spur, and having five points.
line 45. Bartisan, a small overhanging turret.
line 46. With vantage-coign, or advantageous corner, cp. 'Macbeth,'
i. 6. 7.
Stanza III. line 69. Adown, poetical for down. Cp. Chaucer, 'Monkes
Tale,' 3630, Clarendon Press ed.:--
'Thus day by day this child bigan to crye
Til in his fadres barme ADOUN it lay.'
lines 86-91. Cp. Coleridge's 'Christabel,' line 68.
'I guess, 'twas frightful there to see
A lady so richly clad as she--
Beautiful exceedingly.'
Stanza IV. lines 106-9. Cp. 'Il Penseroso,' 161-6,--
'There let the pealing organ blow
To the full voic'd quire below,
In service high, and anthems clear,
As may with sweetness, through mine ear,
Dissolve me into ecstasies,
And bring all Heav'n before mine eyes.'
See also Coleridge's 'Dejection,' v.:--
'O pure of heart! thou need'st not ask of me
What this strong music in the soul may be!' &c.
line 112. 'I shall only produce one instance more of the great
veneration paid to Lady Hilda, which still prevails even in these
our days; and that is, the constant opinion, that she rendered, and
still renders herself visible, on some occasions, in the Abbey of
Streamshalh, or Whitby, where she so long resided. At a particular
time of the year (viz. in the summer months), at ten or eleven in
the forenoon, the sunbeams fall in the inside of the northern part
of the choir; and 'tis then that the spectators, who stand on the
west side of Whitby churchyard, so as just to see the most northerly
part of the abbey pass the north end of Whitby church, imagine they
perceive, in one of the highest windows there, the resemblance of a
woman, arrayed in a shroud. Though we are certain this is only a
reflection caused by the splendour of the sunbeams, yet fame reports
it, and it is constantly believed among the vulgar, to be an
appearance of Lady Hilda in her shroud, or rather in a glorified
state; before which, I make no doubt, the Papists, even in these our
days, offer up their prayers with as much zeal and devotion, as
before any other image of their most glorified saint." CHARLTON'S
History of Whitby, p. 33.'--SCOTT.
Stanza V. line 131. What makes, what is it doing? Cp. Judges xviii.
3: 'What makest thou in this place?' The usage is frequent in
Shakespeare; as e.g. As Yo Like It, i. I. 31: 'Now sir! what make
you here?'
line 137. Blood-gouts, spots of blood. Cp. 'gouts of blood,'
Macbeth, ii. I. 46.
line 150. Shakespeare, King John, iv. 2. 13, makes Salisbury say
that--
'To smooth the ice, or add another hue
Unto the rainbow, or with taper-light
To seek the beauteous eye of heaven to garnish
Is wasteful, and ridiculous excess.'
Stanza VI. line 174. Beadsman, one hired to pray for another. Cp.
'Piers the Plowman,' B, III. 40:--
'I shal assoille the my-selue . for a seme of whete,
And also be thi BEDEMAN.'
Edie Ochiltree, the Blue-gown in 'The Antiquary,' belongs to the
class called King's Bedesmen, 'an order of paupers to whom the kings
of Scotland were in the custom of distributing a certain alms, in
conformity with the ordinances of the Catholic Church, and who were
expected in return to pray for the royal welfare and that of the
state.' See Introd. to the novel. Cp. also Henry V, iv. I. 315:--
'Five hundred poor I have in yearly pay,' &c.
Stanza VII. line 218. The Palmer's dress is put off like the
serpent's slough. Cp. the Earl of Surrey's Spring sonnet--
'The adder all her slough away she flings.'
Stanza VIII. line 261. Featly, cleverly, dexterously. Cp. Tempest,
i. 2. 380:--
'Foot it FEATLY here and there.'
Stanza IX. line 271. See Otterbourne, 'Border Minstrelsy,' i. p.
345. Douglas's death, during the battle was kept secret, so that
when his men conquered, as if still under his command, the old
prophecy was fulfilled that a dead Douglas should, win the field.
line 280. James encamped in Twisel glen (local spelling 'Twizel')
before taking post on Flodden.
line 282. The squire's final act of qualification for knighthood was
to watch by his armour till midnight. In his Essay on 'Chivalry'
Scott says: 'The candidates watched their arms ALL NIGHT in a
church or chapel, and prepared for the honour to be conferred on
them by vigil, fast, and prayer.' For a hasty and picturesque
ceremony of knighthood see Scott's 'Halidon Hill,' I. ii.
Stanza XI. With the moonlight scene opening this stanza, cp. 'Lay of
Last Minstrel,' II. i. Scott is fond of moonlight effects, and he
always succeeds with them. See e.g. a passage in 'Woodstock,' chap.
xix, beginning 'There is, I know not why, something peculiarly
pleasing to the imagination in contemplating the Queen of Night,'
&c.
line 327. 'The well-known Gawain Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld, son of
Archibald Bell-the-Cat, Earl of Angus. He was author of a Scottish
metrical version of the "AEneid," and of many other poetical pieces
of great merit. He had not at this period attained the mitre.'--
SCOTT.
A word of caution is necessary as to the 'many pieces' mentioned
here. Besides his 'AEneid, ' Douglas's extant works are 'Palice of
Honour,' 'King Hart,' and a poem of four stanzas entitled
'Conscience.' To each book of the 'AEneid,' however, as well as to
the supplementary thirteenth book of Maphaeus Vegius, which he also
translates, he prefixes an introductory poem, so that there is a
sense in which it is correct to call him the author of 'many
pieces.' His works were first published in complete form in 1874, in
four volumes,
admirably edited by the late Dr. John Small. See 'Dict. of Nat.
Biog.'
line 329. Rocquet, a linen surplice.
line 344, 'Angus had strength and personal activity corresponding to
his courage. Spens of Kilspindie, a favourite of James IV, having
spoken of him lightly, the Earl met him while hawking, and,
compelling him to single combat, at one blow cut asunder his thigh-
bone, and killed him on the spot. But ere he could obtain James's
pardon for this slaughter, Angus was obliged to yield his castle of
Hermitage, in exchange for that of Bothwell, which was some
diminution to the family greatness. The sword with which he struck
so remarkable a blow, was presented by his descendant, James Earl of
Morton, afterwards Regent of Scotland, to Lord Lindesay of the
Byres, when he defied Bothwell to single combat on Carberry-hill.
See Introduction to the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border'--SCOTT.
Stanza XII. line 379. With the use of fall = befall cp. Antony and
Cleopatra, iii. 7. 38:--
'No disgrace
Shall FALL you for refusing him at sea.'
Stanza XIV. line. Saint Bride is Saint Bridget of Ireland, who
became popular in England and Scotland under the abbreviated form of
her name. She was 'a favourite saint of the house of Douglas, and of
the Earl of Angus in particular.' See note to Clarendon Press 'Lay
of Last Minstrel,' VI. 469.
line 437. 'This ebullition of violence in the potent Earl of Angus
is not without its example in the real history of the house of
Douglas, whose chieftains possessed the ferocity, with the heroic
virtues, of a savage state. The most curious instance occurred in
the case of Maclellan, Tutor of Bombay, who, having refused to
acknowledge the pre-eminence claimed by Douglas over the gentlemen
and Barons of Galloway, was seized and imprisoned by the Earl, in
his castle of the Thrieve, on the borders of Kirkcudbrightshire. Sir
Patrick Gray, commander of King James the Second's guard, was uncle
to the Tutor of Bombay, and obtained from the King a "sweet letter
of supplication," praying the Earl to deliver his prisoner into
Gray's hand. When Sir Patrick arrived at the castle, he was received
with all the honour due to a favourite servant of the King's
household; but while he was at dinner, the Earl, who suspected his
errand, caused his prisoner to be led forth and beheaded. After
dinner, Sir Patrick presented the King's letter to the Earl, who
received it with great affectation of reverence; "and took him by
the hand, and led him forth to the green, where the gentleman was
lying dead, and showed him the manner, and said, 'Sir Patrick, you
are come a little too late; yonder is your sister's son lying, but
he wants the head; take his body, and do with it what you will.'--
Sir Patrick answered again with a sore heart, and said, 'My lord, if
ye have taken from him his head, dispone upon the body as ye
please;' and with that called for his horse, and leaped thereon; and
when he was on horseback, he said to the Earl on this manner: 'My
Lord, if I live, you shall be rewarded for your labours, that you
have used at this time, according to your demerits.'
'"At this saying the Earl was highly offended, and cried for horse.
Sir Patrick, seeing the Earl's fury, spurred his horse, but he was
chased near Edinburgh ere they left him; and had it not been his led
horse was so tried and good, he had been taken."'--PITSCOTTIE'S
History, p. 39.'--SCOTT.
Stanza XV. line 456. Cp. above, III. 429, and see As You Like It, i.
2. 222: 'Hercules be thy speed!' The short epistle of St. Jude is
uncompromising in its condemnation of those who have fallen from
their faith--who have forgotten, so to speak, their vows of true
knighthood. It closes with the beautiful ascription--'To Him that is
able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before
the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.' There is deep
significance, therefore, in this appeal of the venerable and
outraged knight for the protection of St. Jude.
line 457. 'Lest the reader should partake of the Earl's
astonishment, and consider the crime as inconsistent with the
manners of the period, I have to remind him of the numerous
forgeries (partly executed by a female assistant) devised by Robert
of Artois, to forward his suit against the Countess Matilda; which,
being detected, occasioned his flight into England, and proved the
remote cause of Edward the Third's memorable wars in France. John
Harding, also, was expressly hired by Edward IV to forge such
documents as might appear to establish the claim of fealty asserted
over Scotland by the English monarchs.'--SCOTT.
line 458. It likes was long used impersonally, in the sense of it
pleases. Cp. King John, ii. 2. 234: 'It likes us well.'
line 460. St. Bothan, Bythen, or Bethan is said to have been a
cousin of St. Columba and his successor at Iona. His name is
preserved in the Berwickshire parish, Abbey-Saint-Bathan's; where,
towards the close of the twelfth century, a Cistertian nunnery, with
the title of a priory, was dedicated to him by Ada, daughter of
William the Lion. There is no remaining trace of this structure.
line 461. The other sons could at least sign their names. Their
signatures are reproduced in facsimile in 'The Douglas Book' by Sir
William Eraser, 4 vols. 4to, Edin. 1886 (privately printed).
line 468. Fairly, well, elegantly, as in Chaucer's Prol. 94:--
'Well cowde he sitte on hors, and FAIRE ryde';
and in 'Faerie Queene,' I. i. 8:--
'Full jolly knight he seemed, and FAIRE did sitt.'
Stanza XVI. line 498. This line is a comprehensive description of a
perfectly satisfactory charger or hunter.
line 499. Sholto is one of the Douglas family names. One of the
Earl's sons, being sheriff, could not go with his brothers to the
war.
line 500. 'His eldest son, the Master of Angus.'--SCOTT.
Stanza XVII. line 532. In Bacon's ingenious essay, 'Of Simulation
and Dissimulation,' he states these as the three disadvantages of
the qualities:--'The first, that Simulation and Dissimulation
commonly carry with them a show of fearfulness, which, in any
business, doth spoil the feathers of round flying up to the mark.
The second, that it puzzleth and perplexeth the conceits of many,
that would otherwise co-operate with him, and makes a man almost
alone to his own ends. The third, and greatest, is that it depriveth
a man of one of the most principal instruments for action; which is
trust and belief.'
Stanza XVIII. line 540. 'This was a Cistertian house of religion,
now almost entirely demolished. Lennel House is now the residence of
my venerable friend, Patrick Brydone, Esquire, so well known in the
literary world. {4} It is situated near Coldstream, almost opposite
Cornhill, and consequently very near to Flodden Field.'--SCOTT.
line 568. traversed, moved in opposition, as in fencing. Cp. Merry
Wives, ii. 3. 23: 'To see thee fight, to see thee foin, to see thee
traverse,' &c.
Stanza XIX line 573, 'On the evening previous to the memorable
battle of Flodden, Surrey's headquarters were at Barmoor Wood, and
King James held an inaccessible position on the ridge of Flodden-
hill, one of the last and lowest eminences detached from the ridge
of Cheviot. The Till, a deep and slow river, winded between the
armies. On the morning of the 9th September, 1513, Surrey marched in
a north-westerly direction, and crossed the Till, with his van and
artillery, at Twisel Bridge, nigh where that river joins the Tweed,
his rear-guard column passing about a mile higher, by a ford. This
movement had the double effect of placing his army between King
James and his supplies from Scotland, and of striking the Scottish
monarch with surprise, as he seems to have relied on the depth of
the river in his front. But as the passage, both over the bridge and
through the ford, was difficult and slow, it seems possible that the
English might have been attacked to great advantage while straggling
with these natural obstacles. I know not if we are to impute James's
forbearance to want of military skill, or to the romantic
declaration which Pitscottie puts in his mouth, "that he was
determined to have his enemies before him on a plain field," and
therefore would suffer no interruption to be given, even by
artillery, to their passing the river.
'The ancient bridge of Twisel, by which the English crossed the
Till, is still standing beneath Twisel Castle, a splendid pile of
Gothic architecture, as now rebuilt by Sir Francis Blake, Bart.,
whose extensive plantations have so much improved the country
around. The glen is romantic and delightful, with steep banks on
each side, covered with copse, particularly with hawthorn. Beneath
a tall rock, near the bridge, is a plentiful fountain, called St.
Helen's Well.'--SCOTT.
That James was credited by his contemporaries with military skill
and ample courage will be seen by reference to Barclay's 'Ship of
Fooles,' formerly referred to. The poet proposes a grand general
European movement against the Turks, and suggests James IV as the
military leader. The following complimentary acrostic is a feature
of the passage:--
'I n prudence pereles is this moste comely kinge;
A nd as for his strength and magnanimitie
C onceming his noble dedes in every thinge,
O ne founde on grounde like to him can not be.
B y birth borne to boldenes and audacitie,
U nder the bolde planet of Mars the champion,
S urely to subdue his enemies eche one.'
line 583. Sullen is admirably descriptive of the leading feature in
the appearance of the Till just below Twisel Bridge. No one
contrasting it with the Tweed at Norham will have difficulty in
understanding the saying that:--
'For a'e man that Tweed droons, Till droons three.'
Stanza XX. line 608. The earlier editions have vails, 'lowers' or
'checks'; as in Venus and Adonis, 956, 'She vailed her eyelids.' The
edition of 1833 reads 'VAILS, contr. for 'avails.'
line 610. Douglas and Randolph were two of Bruce's most trusted
leaders.
line 611. See anecdote in 'Border Minstrelsy,' ii. 245 (1833 ed.),
with its culmination, 'O, for one hour of Dundee!' Cp. 'Pleasures of
Hope' (close of Poland passage):--
'Oh! once again to Freedom's cause return
The Patriot Tell--the Bruce of Bannockburn!'
and Wordsworth's sonnet, 'In the Pass of Killicranky,' in which the
aspiration for 'one hour of that Dundee' is prompted by the fear of
an invasion in 1803.
Stanza XXI. line 626. Hap what hap, come what may. Cp. above 'tide
what tide,' III. 416.
line 627. Basnet, a light helmet.
Stanza XXIII. line 682. 'The reader cannot here expect a full
account of the Battle of Flodden: but, so far as is necessary to
understand the romance, I beg to remind him, that, when the English
army, by their skilful countermarch, were fairly placed between King
James and his own country, the Scottish monarch resolved to fight;
and, setting fire to his tents, descended from the ridge of Flodden
to secure the neighbouring eminence of Brankstone, on which that
village is built. Thus the two armies met, almost without seeing
each other, when, according to the old poem of "Flodden Field,"--
"The English line stretch'd east and west,
And southward were their faces set;
The Scottish northward proudly prest,
And manfully their foes they met."
The English army advanced in four divisions. On the right, which
first engaged, were the sons of Earl Surrey, namely, Thomas Howard,
the Admiral of England, and Sir Edmund, the Knight Marshal of the
army. Their divisions were separated from each other; but, at the
request of Sir Edmund, his brother's battalion was drawn very near
to his own. The centre was commanded by Surrey in person; the left
wing by Sir Edward Stanley, with the men of Lancashire, and of the
palatinate of Chester. Lord Dacres, with a large body of horse,
formed a reserve. When the smoke, which the wind had driven between
the armies, was somewhat dispersed, they perceived the Scots, who
had moved down the hill in a similar order of battle, and in deep
silence. {5} The Earls of Huntley and of Home commanded their left
wing, and charged Sir Edmund Howard with such success as entirely to
defeat his part of the English right wing. Sir Edmund's banner was
beaten down, and he himself escaped with difficulty to his brother's
division. The Admiral, however, stood firm; and Dacre advancing to
his support with the reserve of cavalry, probably between the
interval of the divisions commanded by the brothers Howard, appears
to have kept the victors in effectual check. Home's men, chiefly
Borderers, began to pillage the baggage of both armies; and their
leader is branded, by the Scottish historians, with negligence or
treachery. On the other hand, Huntley, on whom they bestow many
encomiums, is said, by the English historians, to have left the
field after the first charge. Meanwhile the Admiral, whose flank
these chiefs ought to have attacked, availed himself of their
inactivity, and pushed forward against another large division of the
Scottish army in his front, headed by the Earls of Crawford and
Montrose, both of whom were slain, and their forces routed. On the
left, the success of the English was yet more decisive; for the
Scottish right wing, consisting of undisciplined Highlanders,
commanded by Lennox and Argyle, was unable to sustain the charge of
Sir Edward Stanley, and especially the severe execution of the
Lancashire archers. The King and Surrey, who commanded the
respective centres of their armies, were meanwhile engaged in close
and dubious conflict. James, surrounded by the flower of his
kingdom, and impatient of the galling discharge of arrows, supported
also by his reserve under Bothwell, charged with such fury that the
standard of Surrey was in danger. At that critical moment, Stanley,
who had routed the left wing of the Scottish, pursued his career of
victory, and arrived on the right flank, and in the rear of James's
division, which, throwing itself into a circle, disputed the battle
till night came on. Surrey then drew back his forces; for the
Scottish centre not having been broken, and the left wing being
victorious, he yet doubted the event of the field. The Scottish
army, however, felt their loss, and abandoned the field of battle in
disorder, before dawn. They lost, perhaps, from eight to ten
thousand men; but that included the very prime of their nobility,
gentry, and even clergy. Scarce a family of eminence but has an
ancestor killed at Flodden; and there is no province in Scotland,
even at this day, where the battle is mentioned without a sensation
of terror and sorrow. The English also lost a great number of men,
perhaps within one-third of the vanquished, but they were of
inferior note.--See the only distinct detail of the Field of Flodden
in PINKERTON'S History, Book xi; all former accounts being full of
blunders and inconsistency.
'The spot from which Clara views the battle, must be supposed to
have been on a hillock commanding the rear of the English right
wing, which was defeated, and in which conflict Marmion is supposed
to have fallen.'--SCOTT.
Lockhart adds this quotation:--'In 1810, as Sir Carnaby
Haggerstone's workmen were digging in Flodden Field, they came to a
pit filled with human bones, and which seemed of great extent; but,
alarmed at the sight, they immediately filled up the excavation, and
proceeded no farther.
'In 1817, Mr. Grey of Millfield Hill found, near the traces of an
ancient encampment, a short distance from Flodden Field, a tumulus,
which, on removing, exhibited a very singular sepulchre. In the
centre, a large urn was found, but in a thousand pieces. It had
either been broken to pieces by the stones falling upon it when
digging, or had gone to pieces on the admission of the air. This urn
was surrounded by a number of cells formed of flat stones, in the
shape of graves, but too small to hold the body in its natural
state. These sepulchral recesses contained nothing except ashes, or
dust of the same kind as that in the urn."--Sykes' Local Records (2
vols. 8vo, 1833), vol. ii. pp. 60 and 109.'
Stanza XXIV. line 717. 'Sir Brian Tunstall, called in the romantic
language of the time, Tunstall the Undefiled, was one of the few
Englishmen of rank slain at Flodden. He figures in the ancient
English poem, to which I may safely refer my readers, as an edition,
with full explanatory notes, has been published by my friend, Mr.
Henry Weber. Tunstall, perhaps, derived his epithet of undefiled
from his white armour and banner, the latter bearing a white cock,
about to crow, as well as from his unstained loyalty and knightly
faith. His place of residence was Thurland Castle.'--SCOTT.
Stanza XXV. line 744. Bent, the slope of the hill. It is less likely
to mean the coarse grass on the hill--also a possible meaning of the
word--because spectators would see the declivity and not what was on
it. For the former usage see Dryden, 'Palamon and Arcite,'
II. 342-45:--
