For illustration of forms observed at such contests, see Richard II,
i. 3.
line 524. Each knight declared on oath that he 'had his quarrel
just.' The fall of an unworthy knight is referred to below, VI. 961.
Stanza XXIX. line 545. This illustrates Henry's impulsive and
imperious character, and is not, necessarily, a premonition of his
final attitude towards Roman Catholicism.
line 555. dastard (Icel. doestr = exhausted, breathless; O. Dut.
dasaert = a fool) is very appropriately used here, after the
description above, St. xxii, to designate the poltroon that quails
only before death. Cp. Pope's Iliad, II. 427:--
'And die the dastard first, who dreads to die.'
Stanza XXX. line 568. Cp. Julius Caesar, ii. 2. 35:--
'It seems to me most strange that men should fear;
Seeing that death, a necessary end,
Will come when it will come.'
Stanza XXXI. line 573. the fiery Dane. See note on line 10 above.
Passing northwards after destroying York and Tynemouth, the Danes in
875 burned the monastery on Lindisfarne. The bishop and monks, with
their relics and the body of St. Cuthbert, fled over the Kylve
hills. See Raine, &c.
line 576. the crosier bends. Crosier (O. Fr. croiser; Fr. croix =
cross) is used both for the staff of an archbishop with a cross on
the top, and for the staff of a bishop or an abbot, terminating in a
carved or ornamented curve or crook. The word is used here
metaphorically for Papal power, as Bacon uses it, speaking of Anselm
and Becket, 'who with their CROSIERS did almost try it with the
king's sword.' Constance's prophecy refers to Henry VIII's
victorious collision with the Pope.
Stanza XXXII. lines 585-91. It is impossible not to connect this
striking picture with that of Virgil's Sibyl (Aeneid, VI. 45):--
'Ventum erat ad limen, cum virgo, 'poscere fata
Tempus,' ait; 'deus, ecce, deus.' Cui talia fanti
Ante fores subito non voltus, non color unus,
Non comptae mansere comae; sed pectus anhelum,
Et rabie fera corda tument; maiorque videri
Nec mortale sonans, adflata est numine quando
Iam propiore dei.'
line 588. Stared, stood up stiffly. Cp. Julius Caesar, iv. 3. 280,
and Tempest, i. 2. 213, 'with hair UPSTARING.'
line 600. See above, line 468, and note.
Stanza XXXIII. line 616. for terror's sake = because of terror. Cp.
'For fashion's sake,' As You Like It, iii. 2. 55.
line 620. The custom of ringing the PASSING bell grew out of the
belief that a church bell, rung when the soul was passing from the
body, terrified the devils that were waiting to attack it at the
moment of its escape. 'The tolling of the passing bell was retained
at the Reformation; and the people were instructed that its use was
to admonish the living, and excite them to pray for the dying. But
by the beginning of the l8th century the passing bell in the proper
sense of the term had almost ceased to be heard. 'A mourning bell is
still rung during funeral services as a mark of respect. See s. v.
'Bell,' Chambers's Encyclopaedia. Cp. Byron's 'Parisina,' St. xv.
'The convent bells are ringing,
But mournfully and slow;
In the grey square turret swinging
With a deep sound to and fro.'
In criticising 'Marmion,' in the Edinburgh Review, Lord Jeffrey says
that the sound of the knell rung for Constance 'is described with
great force and solemnity;' while a writer in the Scots Magazine of
1808 considers that 'the whole of this trial and doom presents a
high-wrought scene of horror, which, at the close, rises almost to
too great a pitch.'
INTRODUCTION TO CANTO THIRD.
'William Erskine, Esq. advocate, sheriff-depute of the Orkneys,
became a Judge of the Court of Session by the title of Lord
Kinnedder, and died in Edinburgh in August, 1823. He had been from
early youth the most intimate of the Poet's friends, and his chief
confidant and adviser as to all literary matters. See a notice of
his life and character by the late Mr. Hay Donaldson, to which Sir
Walter Scott contributed several paragraphs.'--LOCKHART.
There are frequent references to Erskine throughout Lockhart's Life
of Scott. The critics of the time were of his opinion that Scott as
a poet was not giving his powers their proper direction. Jeffrey
considered Marmion 'a misapplication in some degree of extraordinary
talents.' Fortunately, Scott decided for himself in the matter, and
the self-criticism of this Introduction is characterised not only by
good humour and poetic beauty but by discrimination and strong
common-sense.
line 14. a morning dream. This may simply be a poetic way of saying
that his method is unsystematic, but Horace's account of the vision
he saw when he was once tempted to write Greek verses is
irresistibly suggested by the expression:--
'Vetuit me tali voce Quirinus
Post mediam noctem visus, cum somnia vera:
"In silvam non ligna feras insanius, ac si
Magnas Graecorum malis implere catervas?'
Sat. I. x. 32.
line 24. all too well. This use of 'all too' is a development of the
Elizabethan expression 'all-to' = ALTOGETHER, QUITE, as 'all to
topple,' Pericles, iii. 2. 17; 'all to ruffled,' Comus, 380. In this
usage the original force of TO as a verbal prefix is lost sight of.
Chaucer has 'The pot to breaketh' in Prologue to Chanon Yeomanes
Tale. See note in Clarendon Press Milton, i. 290.
line 26. Desultory song may naturally command a very wide class of
those intelligent readers, for whom the Earl of Iddesleigh, in
'lectures and Essays,' puts forward a courageous plea in his
informing and genial address on the uses of Desultory Reading.
line 28. The reading of the first edition is 'loftier,' which
conveys an estimate of his own achievements more characteristic of
Scott than the bare assertion of his ability to 'build the lofty
rhyme' which is implied in the line as it stands. Perhaps the
expression just quoted from 'Lycidas' may have led to the reading of
all subsequent editions.
line 46. The Duke of Brunswick commanded the Prussian forces at
Jena, 14 Oct., 1806, and was mortally wounded. He was 72. For
'hearse,' cp. above, Introd. to I. 199.
line 54. The reigning house of Prussia comes from the Electors of
Brandenburg. In 1415 Frederick VI. of Hohenzollern and Nuremberg
became Frederick the First, Elector of Brandenburg. The Duchy of
Prussia fell under the sway of the Elector John Sigismund (1608-19),
and from that time to the present there has been a very remarkable
development of government and power. See Carlyle's 'Frederick the
Great,' and Mr. Baring-Gould's 'Germany' in the series 'Stories of
the Nations.'
lines 57-60. The Duke of Brunswick was defeated at Valmy in 1792,
and so failed to crush the dragon of the French Revolution in its
birth, as in all likelihood he would have done had he been
victorious on the occasion.
line 64. Prussia, without an ally, took the field instead of acting
on the defensive.
line 67. seem'd = beseemed, befitted; as in Spenser's May eclogue,
'Nought seemeth sike strife,' i.e. such strife is not befitting or
seemly.
line 69. Various German princes lost their dominions after Napoleon
conquered Prussia.
line 78. By defeating Varus, A. D. 9, Arminius saved Germany from
Roman conquest. See the first two books of the Annals of Tacitus, at
the close of which this tribute is paid to the hero: 'liberator
haud dubie Germaniae et qui non primordia populi Romani, sicut alii
reges ducesque, sed florentissimum imperium lacessierit, proeliis
ambiguus, bello non victus.'
lines 46-80. This undoubtedly vigorous and well-sustained tribute is
not without its special purpose. The Princess Caroline was daughter
of the Duke of Brunswick, and Scott was one of those who believed in
her, in spite of that 'careless levity' which he did not fail to
note in her demeanour when presented at her Court at Blackheath in
1806. This passage on the Duke of Brunswick had been read by the
Princess before the appearance of 'Marmion.' Lockhart (Life of
Scott, ii. 117) says: 'He seems to have communicated fragments of
the poem very freely during the whole of its progress. As early as
the 22nd February, 1807, I find Mrs. Hayman acknowledging, in the
name of the Princess of Wales, the receipt of a copy of the
Introduction to Canto III, in which occurs the tribute to her Royal
Highness's heroic father, mortally wounded the year before at Jena--
a tribute so grateful to her feelings that she herself shortly after
sent the poet an elegant silver vase as a memorial of her
thankfulness.'
line 81. The Red-Cross hero is Sir Sidney Smith, the famous admiral,
who belonged to the Order of Knights Templars. The eight-pointed
Templar's cross which he wore throughout his career is said to have
belonged to Richard Coeur-de-Lion. In early life, with consent of
the Government, Smith distinguished himself with the Swedes in their
war with Russia. He was frequently entrusted with the duty of
alarming the French coast, and once was captured and imprisoned, in
the Temple at Paris, for two years. His escape was effected by a
daring stratagem on the part of the French Royalist party. He and
his sailors helped the Turks to retain St. Jean d'Acre against
Napoleon, till then the 'Invincible,' who retired baffled after a
vain siege of sixty days (May, 1799). Had Acre been won, said
Napoleon afterwards, 'I would have reached Constantinople and the
Indies--I would have changed the face of the world.' See Scott's
'Life of Napoleon,' chap. xiii.
line 91. For metal'd see above, Introd. to I. 308.
line 92. For warped = 'frozen,' cp. As You Like It, ii. 7. 187,
where, addressing the bitter sky, the singer says:--
'Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp,
As friends remember'd not.'
line 94. The reference is to Sir Ralph Abercromby, who commanded the
expedition to Egypt, 1800-1, and fell at the battle of Alexandria.
Sir Sidney Smith was wounded in the same battle, and had to go home.
lines 100-10. Scott pays compliment to his friend Joanna Baillie
(1764-1851), with chivalrous courtesy asserting that she is the
first worthy successor of Shakespeare. 'Count Basil' and 'De
Montfort' are the two most remarkable of her 'Plays of the
Passions,' of which she published three volumes. 'De Montfort' was
played in London, Kemble enacting the hero. Several of Miss
Baillie's Scottish songs are among standard national lyrics.
line 100. Cp. opening of 'Lady of the Lake.'
lines 115-28. Lockhart notes the resemblance between this passage
and Pope's 'Essay on Man,' II. 133-148.
line 134. Cp. Goldsmith's 'Traveller,' 293:--
'The slow canal, the yellow-blossom'd vale,
The willow-tufted bank, the gliding sail.'
Batavia is the capital of the Dutch East Indies, with canals,
architecture, &c., after the home model.
line 137. hind, from Early Eng. hyne, servant (A. S. hina) is quite
distinct from hind, a female stag. Gavin Douglas, translating Tyrii
coloni of Aen. I. 12, makes them 'hynis of Tyre.' Shakespeare (Merry
Wives, iii. 5. 94) uses the word as servant, 'A couple of Ford's
knaves, his HINDS, were called forth.' The modern usage implies a
farm-bailiff or simply a farm-servant.
line 149. Lochaber is a large district in the south of
Invernesshire, having Ben Nevis and other Grampian heights within
its compass. It is a classic name in Scottish literature owing to
Allan Ramsay's plaintive lyric, 'Lochaber no more.'
line 153. For early influences, see Lockhart's Life, vol. i.
line 178. 'Smailholm Tower, in Berwickshire, the scene of the
author's infancy, is situated about two miles from Dryburgh Abbey.'-
-LOCKHART.
line 180. The aged hind was 'Auld Sandy Ormiston,' the cow-herd on
Sandyknows, Scott's grandfather's farm. 'If the child saw him in the
morning,' says Lockhart, 'he could not be satisfied unless the old
man would set him astride on his shoulder, and take him to keep him
company as he lay watching his charge.'
line 183. strength, stronghold. Cp. Par. Lost, vii. 141:--
'This inaccessible high strength...
He trusted to have seiz'd.'
line 194. slights, as pointed out by Mr. Rolfe, was 'sleights' in
the original, and, as lovers' stratagems are manifestly referred to,
this is the preferable reading. But both spellings occur in this
sense.
line 201. The Highlanders displayed such valour at Killiecrankie
(1689), and Prestonpans (1745).
line 207. 'See notes on the Eve of St. John, in the Border
Minstrelsy, vol. iv; and the author's Introduction to the
Minstrelsy, vol. i. p. 101.'--LOCKHART.
line 211. 'Robert Scott of Sandyknows, the grandfather of the
Poet.'--LOCKHART.
line 216. doom, judgment or decision. 'Discording,' in the sense of
disagreeing, is still in common use in Scotland both as an adj. and
a participle. 'They discorded' indicates that two disputants
approached without quite reaching a serious quarrel. In a note to
the second edition of the poem Scott states that the couplet
beginning 'whose doom' is 'unconsciously borrowed from a passage in
Dryden's beautiful epistle to John Driden of Chesterton.' Dryden's
lines are:--
'Just, good, and wise, contending neighbours come,
From your award to wait their final doom.'
line 221. 'Mr. John Martin, minister of Mertoun, in which parish
Smailholm Tower is situated.'--LOCKHART. With the tribute to the
clergyman's worth, cp. Walton's eulogy on George Herbert, 'Thus he
lived, and thus he died, like a saint,' &c.
line 225. For imp, cp. above Introd. to I. 37. A 'grandame's child'
is almost certainly spoiled. Shakespeare (King John, ii. i. 161)
utilizes the fact:--
'It grandam will
Give it a plum, a cherry, and a fig.'
CANTO THIRD.
Stanza I. Mr. Guthrie Wright, advocate, prosaically objected to the
indirect route chosen by the poet for his troopers. Scott gave the
true poetic answer, that it pleased him to take them by the road
chosen. He is careful, however, to assign (11.6-8) an adequate
reason for his preference.
line 16. wan, won, gained; still used in Scotland. Cp. Principal
Shairp's 'Bush Aboon Traquair':--
'And then they WAN a rest,
The lownest an' the best,
I' Traquair kirkyard when a' was dune.'
line 19. Lammermoor. 'See notes to the Bride of Lammermoor, Waverley
Novels, vols. xiii. and xiv.'--LOCKHART.
line 22. 'The village of Gifford lies about four miles from
Haddington; close to it is Yester House, the seat of the Marquis of
Tweeddale, and a little farther up the stream, which descends from
the hills of Lammermoor, are the remains of the old castle of the
family.'--LOCKHART.
Many hold that Gifford and not Gifford-gate, at the outskirts of
Haddington, was the birthplace of John Knox.
Stanza II. line 31. An ivy-bush or garland was a tavern sign, and
the flagon is an appropriate accompaniment. Chaucer's Sompnour
(Prol. 666) suggested the tavern sign by his head-gear:--
'A garland hadde he set upon his heed,
As gret as it were for an ALE-STAKE.'
See note in Clarendon Press ed., and cp. Epilogue of As You Like It
(and note) in same series:--'If it be true that good wine needs no
bush,' &c.
line 33. 'The accommodations of a Scottish hostelrie, or inn, in the
sixteenth century, may be collected from Dunbar's admirable tale of
"The Friars of Berwick." Simon Lawder, "the gay ostlier," seems to
have lived very comfortably; and his wife decorated her person with
a scarlet kirtle, and a belt of silk and silver, and rings upon her
fingers; and feasted her paramour with rabbits, capons, partridges,
and Bourdeaux wine. At least, if the Scottish inns were not good, it
was not from want of encouragement from the legislature; who, so
early as the reign of James I, not only enacted, that in all
boroughs and fairs there be hostellaries, having stables and
chambers, and provision for man and horse, but by another statute,
ordained that no man, travelling on horse or foot, should presume to
lodge anywhere except in these hostellaries; and that no person,
save innkeepers, should receive such travellers, under the penalty
of forty shillings, for exercising such hospitality. But, in spite
of these provident enactments, the Scottish hostels are but
indifferent, and strangers continue to find reception in the houses
of individuals.'--SCOTT.
It is important to supplement this note by saying that the most
competent judges still doubt whether Dunbar wrote 'The Friars of
Berwick.' It is printed among his doubtful works.
Stanza III. Such a kitchen as that described was common in Scotland
till recent times, and relics of a similar interior exist in remote
parts still. The wide chimney, projecting well into the floor,
formed a capacious tunnel to the roof, and numerous sitters could be
accommodated with comfort in front and around the fire. Smoke and
soot from the wood and peat fuel were abundant, and the 'winter
cheer,'--hams, venison, &c.--hung from the uncovered rafters, were
well begrimed before coming to the table.
line 48. The solan goose frequents Scottish haunts in summer. There
are thousands of them on Ailsa Craig, in the Frith of Clyde, and on
the Bass Rock, in the Frith of Forth, opposite Tantallon.
line 49. gammon (O. Fr. gambon, Lat. gamba, 'joint of a leg'), the
buttock or thigh of a hog salted and dried; the lower end of a
flitch.
Stanza IV. line 73. 'The winds of March' (Winter's Tale, iv. 3.
120), are a prominent feature of the month. The FRESHNESS of May has
fascinated the poets since it was told by Chaucer (Knightes' Tale,
175) how Emelie arose one fine morning in early summer:--
'Emilie, that fairer was to scene
Than is the lilie on hire stalke grene,
And fresscher than the May with floures newe.'
line 76. Cp. 'Jock o' Hazeldean':--
'His step is first in peaceful ha',
His sword in battle keen.'
line 78. buxom (A. S. bocsum, flexible, obedient, from BUGAN, to
bend) here means lively, fresh, brisk. Cp. Henry V, iii. 6. 27:--
'Bardolph, a soldier firm and sound of heart,
And of BUXOM valour.
Stanza VII. line 112. Cp. Spenser's Epithalamium:--
'Yet never day so long but late would passe,
Ring ye the bels to make it weare away.'
A familiar instance of 'speed' as a trans. verb is in Pope's
Odyssey, XV. 83:--'Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest.'
Stanza VIII. line 120. St. Valentine's day is Feb. 14, when birds
pair and lovers (till at any rate recent times) exchange artistic
tokens of affection. The latter observance is sadly degenerated. See
Professor Skeat's note to 'Parlement of Foules,' line 309, in
Chaucer's Minor Poems (Clarendon Press).
line 122. The myth of Philomela has been a favourite with English
sentimental poets. The Elizabethan Barnefield writes the typical
lyric on the theme. These lines contain the myth :--
'She, poor bird, as all forlorn,
Lean'd her breast against a thorn,
And there sung the dolefullest ditty
That to hear it was great pity.'
Stanza IX. In days when harvesting was done with the sickle, reapers
from the Highlands and from Ireland came in large numbers to the
Scottish Lowlands and cut the crops. At one time a piper played
characteristic melodies behind the reapers to give them spirit for
their work. Hence comes--
'Wha will gar our shearers shear?
Wha will bind up the brags of weir?'
in a lyric by Hamilton of Gilbertfield (1665-1751). The reaper's
song is the later representative of this practice. See Wordsworth's
'Solitary Highland Reaper'--immortalized by her suggestive and
memorable singing--and compare the pathetic 'Exile's Song' of Robert
Gilfillan (1798-1850):--
'Oh! here no Sabbath bell
Awakes the Sabbath morn;
Nor song of reapers heard
Among the yellow corn.'
For references to Susquehanna and the home-longing of the exile, see
Campbell's 'Gertrude of Wyoming,' I. i.-vi. The introduction of
reaping-machines has minimised the music and poetry of the harvest
field.
Stanzas X, XI. The two pictures in the song are very effectively
contrasted both in spirit and style. The lover's resting-place has
features that recall the house of Morpheus, 'Faery Queene,' I. i.
40-1. Note the recurrence of the traitor's doom in Marmion's
troubled thoughts, in VI. xxxii. The burden 'eleu loro' has been
somewhat uncertainly connected with the Italian ela loro, 'alas! for
them.'
Stanza XIII. lines 201-7. One of the most striking illustrations of
this is in Shakespeare's delineation of Brutus, who is himself made
to say (Julius Caesar, ii. I. 18):--
'The abuse of greatness is, when it disjoins
Remorse from power.'
For the sentiment of the text cp. the character of Ordonio in
Coleridge's 'Remorse,' the concentrated force of whose dying words
is terrible, while indicative of native nobility:--
'I stood in silence like a slave before her
That I might taste the wormwood and the gall,
And satiate this self-accusing heart
With bitterer agonies than death can give.'
line 211. 'Among other omens to which faithful credit is given among
the Scottish peasantry, is what is called the "dead-bell," explained
by my friend James Hogg to be that tinkling in the ears which the
country people regard as the secret intelligence of some friend's
decease. He tells a story to the purpose in the "Mountain Bard," p.
26 [pp. 31-2, 3rd edit.].'--SCOTT.
Cp. Tickell's 'Lucy and Colin,' and this perfect stanza in Mickle's
'Cumnor Hall,' quoted in Introd. to 'Kenilworth':--
'The death-bell thrice was heard to ring,
An aerial voice was heard to call,
And thrice the raven flapp'd its wing
Around the towers of Cumnor Hall.'
line 217. Cp. Midsummer Night's Dream, v. I. 286: 'The death of a
dear friend would go near to make a man look sad.'
Stanza XIV. lines 230-5. Cp. the effect of Polonius on the King
(Hamlet, iii. I. 50):--
'How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience!'
Hamlet himself, ib. line 83, says:--
'Thus conscience does make cowards of us all.'
line 234. For vail = lower, see close of Editor's Preface.
Stanza XV. line 243. For practised on = plotted against, cp. King
Lear, iii. 2. 57, 'Hast practised on man's life.'
lines 248-51. See above, II. xxix.
Stanza XVII. line 286. Cp. Burns's 'Bonnie Doon':--
'And my fause lover staw my rose,
But ah! he left the thorn wi' me.'
Stanza XVIII. line 307. Loch Vennachar, in the south of Perthshire,
is the most easterly of the three lakes celebrated in the 'Lady of
the Lake.'
line 321. Cp. 'wonder-wounded hearers,' Hamlet, v. I. 265.
Stanza XIX. line 324. Clerk is a scholar, as in Chaucer's 'Clerk of
Oxenford,' &c., and the 'learned clerks' of 2 Henry VI, iv. 7. 76.
See below, VI. xv. 459, 'clerkly skill.'
line 325. Alexander III (1240-1286) came to the throne at the age of
nine, and proved himself a vigorous and large-hearted king. He was
killed by a fall from his horse, near Kinghorn, Fife, where there is
a suitable monument to his memory. The contemporary lament for his
death bewails him as one that 'Scotland led in love and lee.' Sir
Walter Scott (Introductory Remarks to 'Border Minstrelsy') calls him
'the last Scottish king of the pure Celtic race.'
line 333. 'A vaulted hall under the ancient castle of Gifford, or
Yester (for it bears either name indifferently), the construction of
which has, from a very remote period, been ascribed to magic. The
Statistical Account of the Parish of Garvald and Baro, gives the
following account of the present state of this castle and
apartment:--"Upon a peninsula, formed by the water of Hopes on the
east, and a large rivulet on the west, stands the ancient castle of
Yester. Sir David Dalrymple, in his annals, relates that 'Hugh
Gifford de Yester died in 1267; that in his castle there was a
capacious cavern, formed by magical art, and called in the country
Bo-Hall, i.e. Hobgoblin Hall.' A stair of twenty-four steps led
down to this apartment, which is a large and spacious hall, with an
arched roof; and though it hath stood for so many centuries, and
been exposed to the external air for a period of fifty or sixty
years, it is still as firm and entire as if it had only stood a few
years. From the floor of this hall, another stair of thirty-six
steps leads down to a pit which hath a communication with Hopes-
water. A great part of the walls of this large and ancient castle
are still standing. There is a tradition that the castle of Yester
was the last fortification, in this country, that surrendered to
General Gray, sent into Scotland by Protector Somerset."--
Statistical Account, vol. xiii. I have only to add, that, in 1737,
the Goblin Hall was tenanted by the Marquis of Tweedale's falconer,
as I learn from a poem by Boyse, entitled "Retirement," written upon
visiting Yester. It is now rendered inaccessible by the fall of the
stair.
'Sir David Dalrymple's authority for the anecdote is in Fordun,
whose words are:--"A. D. MCCLXVII. Hugo Giffard de Yester moritur;
cujus castrum, vel saltem caveam, et donglonem, arte daemonica
antique relationes ferunt fabrifactas: nam ibidem habetur mirabilis
specus subterraneus, opere mirifico constructus, magno terrarum
spatio protelatus, qui communiter BO-HALL appellatus est." Lib. x.
cap. 21.--Sir David conjectures, that Hugh de Gifford must either
have been a very wise man, or a great oppressor.'--SCOTT.
Stanza XX. line 354. 'In 1263, Haco, King of Norway, came into the
Frith of Clyde with a powerful armament, and made a descent at
Largs, in Ayrshire. Here he was encountered and defeated, on the 2nd
October, by Alexander III. Haco retreated to Orkney, where he died
soon after this disgrace to his arms. There are still existing, near
the place of battle, many barrows, some of which, having been
opened, were found, as usual, to contain bones and urns.'--SCOTT.
line 358. Ayrshire in early times comprised three divisions,
Cunninghame in the north, Kyle between the Irvine and the Doon, and
Carrick to the south of that stream. Burns, by his song 'There was a
Lad was born in Kyle,' has immortalised the middle division, which
an old proverb had distinguished as productive of men, in
contradistinction to the dairy produce and the stock of the other
two.
line 362. '"Magicians, as is well known, were very curious in the
choice and form of their vestments. Their caps are oval, or like
pyramids, with lappets on each side, and fur within. Their gowns are
long, and furred with fox-skins, under which they have a linen
garment reaching to the knee. Their girdles are three inches broad,
and have many cabalistical names, with crosses, trines, and circles
inscribed on them. Their shoes should be of new russet leather, with
a cross cut upon them. Their knives are dagger-fashion; and their
swords have neither guard nor scabbard."--See these, and many other
particulars, in the Discourse concerning Devils and Spirits, annexed
to REGINALD SCOTT'S Discovery of Witchcraft, edition 1665.'--SCOTT.
line 369. Scott quotes thus from Reginald Scott's 'Discovery of
Witchcraft' (1665):--
'A pentacle is a piece of fine linen, folded with five corners,
according to the five senses, and suitably inscribed with
characters. This the magician extends towards the spirits which he
invokes, when they are stubborn and rebellious, and refuse to be
conformable unto the ceremonies and rights of magic.'
line 373. The term 'Combust' is applied to the moon or the planets,
when, through being not more than eight and a half degrees from the
sun, they are invisible in his light. Chaucer, in the 'Astrolabe,'
has 'that he be not retrograd ne COMBUST.' 'Retrograde' is the term
descriptive of the motion of the planets from east to west. This is
the case when the planets are visible on the side opposite to the
sun. See Airy's 'Popular Astronomy,' p. 124. 'Trine' refers to the
appearance of planets 'distant from each other 120 degrees, or the
third part of the zodiac. 'Trine was considered a favourable
conjunction. Cp. note on Par. Lost, X. 659, in Clarendon Press
Milton--
'In sextile, square, and TRINE, and opposite.'
Stanza XXII. line 407. 'It is a popular article of faith that those
who are born on Christmas or Good Friday have the power of seeing
spirits and even of commanding them. The Spaniards imputed the
haggard and downcast looks of their Philip II to the disagreeable
visions to which this privilege subjected him.'--SCOTT.
line 408. See St. Matthew xxvii. 50-53.
line 415. Richard I of England (1189-99) could not himself have
presented the sword, but the line is a spirited example of poetic
licence.
line 416. Tide what tide is happen what may. Cp. Thomas the Rhymer's
remarkable forecast regarding the family of Haig in Scott's
country;--
'Betide, betide, whate'er betide,
Haig shall be Haig of Bemerside.'
line 420. Alexander III was the last of his line, which included
three famous Malcolms, viz. Malcolm II, grandfather of the 'gracious
Duncan,' who died in 1033; Malcolm Canmore, who fell at Alnwick in
1093; and Malcolm IV, 'The Maiden,' who was only 34 at his death in
1165. The reference here is probably to Canmore.
Stanza XXIII. line 438. See Chambers's 'Encyclopaedia,' articles on
'Earth-houses' and 'Picts' Houses.'
line 445. Legends tell of belated travellers being spell-bound in
such spots.
line 461. The reference is to Edward I, who went as Prince Edward to
Palestine in 1270, so that the legend at this point embodies an
anachronism, Edward became king in 1274. His shield and banner were
emblazoned with 'three leopards courant of fine gold set on red.'
Stanza XXIV. line 472. Largs, on the coast of Ayrshire, opposite
Bute.
line 479. The ravens on the Norse banners were said to flutter their
wings before a victory, and to let them droop in prospect of a
defeat.
line 487. 'For an account of the expedition to Copenhagen in 1801,
see Southey's "Life of Nelson," chap. vii.'--LOCKHART. There may
possibly be a reference to the bombardment of Copenhagen in 1807.
Stanza XXV. line 497. The slight wound was due to the start
mentioned in line 462. He had been warned against letting his heart
fail him.
line 503. Scott quotes thus from the essay on 'Fairy Superstitions'
in the 'Border Minstrelsy,' vol. ii., to show 'whence many of the
particulars of the combat between Alexander III and the Goblin
Knight are derived':--
'Gervase of Tilbury (Otia Imperial ap. Script, rer. Brunsvic, vol.
i. p. 797), relates the following popular story concerning a fairy
knight: "Osbert, a bold and powerful baron, visited a noble family
in the vicinity of Wandlebury, in the bishopric of Ely. Among other
stories related in the social circle of his friends, who, according
to custom, amused each other by repeating ancient tales and
traditions, he was informed, that if any knight, unattended, entered
an adjacent plain by moonlight, and challenged an adversary to
appear, he would be immediately encountered by a spirit in the form
of a knight. Osbert resolved to make the experiment, and set out,
attended by a single squire, whom he ordered to remain without the
limits of the plain, which was surrounded by an ancient
intrenchment. On repeating the challenge, he was instantly assailed
by an adversary, whom he quickly unhorsed, and seized the reins of
his steed. Daring this operation, his ghostly opponent sprung up,
and darting his spear, like a javelin, at Osbert, wounded him in the
thigh. Osbert returned in triumph with the horse, which he committed
to the care of his servants. The horse was of a sable colour, as
well as his whole accoutrements, and apparently of great beauty and
vigour. He remained with his keeper till cock-crowing, when, with
eyes flashing fire, he reared, spurned the ground, and vanished. On
disarming himself, Osbert perceived that he was wounded, and that
one of his steel boots was full of blood." Gervase adds, that, "as
long as he lived, the scar of his wound opened afresh on the
anniversary of the eve on which he encountered the spirit." Less
fortunate was the gallant Bohemian knight, who travelling by night
with a single companion, "came in sight of a fairy host, arrayed
under displayed banners. Despising the remonstrances of his friend,
the knight pricked forward to break a lance with a champion, who
advanced from the ranks apparently in defiance. His companion beheld
the Bohemian overthrown, horse and man, by his aerial adversary; and
returning to the spot next morning, he found the mangled corpses of
the knight and steed."--Hierarchy of Blessed Angels, p. 554.
'Besides these instances of Elfin chivalry above quoted, many others
might be alleged in support of employing fairy machinery in this
manner. The forest of Glenmore, in the North Highlands, is believed
to be haunted by a spirit called Lham-dearg, in the array of an
ancient warrior, having a bloody hand, from which he takes his name.
He insists upon those with whom he meets doing battle with him; and
the clergyman, who makes up an account of the district, extant in
the Macfarlane MS., in the Advocates' Library, gravely assures us,
that, in his time, Lham-dearg fought with three brothers whom he met
in his walk, none of whom long survived the ghostly conflict.
Barclay, in his "Euphormion," gives a singular account of an officer
who had ventured, with his servant, rather to intrude upon a haunted
house, in a town in Flanders, than to put up with worse quarters
elsewhere. After taking the usual precautions of providing fires,
lights, and arms, they watched till midnight, when, behold! the
severed arm of a man dropped from the ceiling; this was followed by
the legs, the other arm, the trunk, and the head of the body, all
separately. The members rolled together, united themselves in the
presence of the astonished soldiers, and formed a gigantic warrior,
who defied them both to combat. Their blows, although they
penetrated the body, and amputated the limbs, of their strange
antagonist, had, as the reader may easily believe, little effect on
an enemy who possessed such powers of self-union; nor did his
efforts make more effectual impression upon them. How the combat
terminated I do not exactly remember, and have not the book by me;
but I think the spirit made to the intruders on his mansion the
usual proposal, that they should renounce their redemption; which
being declined, he was obliged to retreat.
'The most singular tale of this kind is contained in an extract
communicated to me by my friend Mr. Surtees of Mainsforth, in the
Bishopric, who copied it from a MS. note in a copy of Burthogge "On
the Nature of Spirits," 8vo, 1694, which had been the property of
the late Mr. Gill, attorney-general to Egerton, Bishop of Durham.
"It was not," says my obliging correspondent" in Mr. Gill's own
hand, but probably an hundred years older, and was said to be, E
libro Convent. Dunelm. per T. C. extract., whom I believe to have
been Thomas Cradocke, Esq., barrister, who held several offices
under the See of Durham a hundred years ago. Mr. Gill was possessed
of most of his manuscripts." The extract, which, in fact, suggested
the introduction of the tale into the present poem, runs thus:--
"Rem miram hujusmodi que nostris temporibus evenit, teste viro
nobili ac fide dignissimo, enarrare haud pigebit. Radulphus Bulmer,
cum e castris, quae tunc temporis prope Norham posita erant,
oblectationis causa, exiisset, ac in ulteriore Tuedae ripa praaedam
cum canibus leporariis insequeretur, forte cum Scoto quodam nobili,
sibi antehac, ut videbatur, familiariter cognito, congressus est;
ac, ut fas erat inter inimicos, flagrante bello, brevissima
interrogationis mora interposita, alterutros invicem incitato cursu
infestis animis petiere. Noster, primo occursu, equo praeacerrimo
hostis impetu labante, in terram eversus pectore et capite laeso,
sanguinem, mortuo similis, evomebat. Quern ut se aegre habentem
comiter allocutus est alter, pollicitusque, modo auxilium non
abnegaret, monitisque obtemperans ab omni rerum sacrarum cogitatione
abstineret, nec Deo, Deiparae Virgini, Sanctove ullo, preces aut
vota efferret vel inter sese conciperet, se brevi eum sanum
validumque restiturum esse. Prae angore oblata conditio accepta est;
ac veterator ille nescio quid obscaeni murmuris insusurrans,
prehensa manu, dicto citius in pedes sanum ut antea sublevavit.
Noster autem, maxima prae rei inaudita novitate formidine perculsus,
MI JESU! exclamat, vel quid simile; ac subito respiciens nec hostem
nec ullum alium conspicit, equum solum gravissimo nuper casu
afflictum, per summam pacem in rivo fluvii pascentem. Ad castra
itaque mirabundus revertens, fidei dubius, rem primo occultavit,
dein, confecto bello, Confessori suo totam asseruit. Delusoria
procul dubio res tota, ac mala veteratoris illius aperitur fraus,
qua hominem Christianum ad vetitum tale auxilium pelliceret. Nomen
utcunque illius (nobilis alias ac clari) reticendum duco, cum haud
dubium sit quin Diabolus, Deo permittente, formam quam libuerit,
immo angeli lucis, sacro oculo Dei teste, posse assumere."
'The MS. chronicle, from which Mr. Cradocke took this curious
extract, cannot now be found in the Chapter Library of Durham, or,
at least, has hitherto escaped the researches of my friendly
correspondent.
'Lindesay is made to allude to this adventure of Ralph Bulmer, as a
well-known story, in the 4th Canto, Stanza xxii. p. 103.
'The northern champions of old were accustomed peculiarly to search
for, and delight in, encounters with such military spectres. See a
whole chapter on the subject in BARTHOLINUS De Causis contemptae
Mortis a Danis, p. 253.'
line 508. Sir Gilbert Hay, as a faithful adherent of Bruce, was
created Lord High Constable of Scotland. See note in 'Lord of the
Isles,' II. xiii. How 'the Haies had their beginning of nobilitie'
is told in Holinshed's 'Scottish Chronicle,' I. 308.
Stanza XXVI. line 510. Quaigh, 'a wooden cup, composed of staves
hooped together.'--SCOTT.
Stanza XXVIII. line 551. Darkling, adv. (not adj. as in Keats's
'darkling way' in 'Eve of St. Agnes'), really means 'in the dark.'
Cp. 'Lady of the Lake,' IV. (Alice Brand):--
'For darkling was the battle tried';
and see Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. 2. 86; King Lear, i. 4. 237.
Lord Tennyson, like Keats, uses the word as an adj. in 'In
Memoriam,' xcix:--
'Who tremblest through thy darkling red.'
Cp. below, V. Introd. 23, 'darkling politician.' For scholarly
discussion of the term, see Notes and Queries, VII iii. 191.
Stanza XXX. lines 585-9. Iago understands the 'contending flow' of
passions when in a glow of self-satisfied feeling he exclaims;
'Work on,
My medicine, work! Thus credulous fools are caught.'
Othello, iv. I. 44.
Stanza XXXI. line 597. 'Yode, used by old poets for WENT.'--SCOTT.
It is a variant of 'yod' or 'yede,' from A. S. eode, I went. Cp.
Lat. eo, I go. See Clarendon Press 'Specimens of Early English,' II.
71:--
'Thair scrippes, quer thai rade or YODE,
Tham failed neuer o drinc ne fode.'
Spenser writes, 'Faerie Queene,' II. vii. 2:--
'So, long he YODE, yet no adventure found.'
line 599. Selle, saddle. Cp. 'Faerie Queene,' II. v. 4:--
On his horse necke before the quilted SELL.'
INTRODUCTION TO CANTO FOURTH.
'James Skene, Esq., of Rubislaw, Aberdeenshire, was Cornet in the
Royal Edinburgh Light Horse Volunteers; and Sir Walter Scott was
Quartermaster of the same corps.'--LOCKHART.
For Skene's account of the origin of this regiment, due in large
measure to 'Scott's ardour,' see 'Life of Scott,' i. 258.
line 2. See Taming of the Shrew, i. 4. 135, and 2 Henry IV, v. 3.
143, where a line of an old song is quoted:--
'Where is the life that late I led?'
line 3. See As you Like It, ii. 7. 12.
line 7. Scott made the acquaintance of Skene, recently returned from
a lengthened stay in Saxony, about the end of 1796, and profited
much by his friend's German knowledge and his German books. In later
days he utilized suggestions of Skene's in 'Ivanhoe' and 'Quentin
Durward.' See 'Life of Scott,' PASSIM, and specially i. 257, and iv.
342.
line 37. Blackhouse, a farm 'situated on the Douglas-burn, then
tenanted by a remarkable family, to which I have already made
allusion--that of William Laidlaw.'--'Life,' i. 328. Ettrick Pen is
a hill in the south of Selkirkshire.
line 46. 'Various illustrations of the Poetry and Novels of Sir
Walter Scott, from designs by Mr. Skene, have since been
published.'--LOCKHART.
line 48. Probably the first reference in poetry to the Scottish
heather is, says Prof. Veitch ('Feeling for Nature,' ii. 52), in
Thomson's 'Spring,' where the bees are represented as daring
'The purple heath, or where the wild thyme grows.'
lines 55-97. With this striking typical winter piece, cp. in
Thomson's 'Winter,' the vivid and pathetic picture beginning:--
'In his own loose-revolving fields, the swain
Disastered stands.'
See also Burns's 'Winter Night,' which by these lines may have
suggested Scott's 'beamless sun':--
'When Phoebus gies a short-liv'd glow'r
Far south the lift;
Dim-dark'ning thro' the flaky show'r,
Or whirling drift.'
The 'tired ploughman,' too, may owe something to this farther line
of Burns:--
'Poor labour sweet in sleep was lock'd';
while the animals seeking shelter may well follow this inimitable
and touching description:--
'List'ning the doors an' winnocks rattle,
I thought me on the ourie cattle,
Or silly sheep, wha bide this brattle
O' winter war,
And thro' the drift, deep-lairing, sprattle
Beneath a scaur.'
line 91. 'I cannot help here mentioning that, on the night on which
these lines were written, suggested as they were by a sudden fall of
snow, beginning after sunset, an unfortunate man perished exactly in
the manner here described, and his body was next morning found close
to his own house. The accident happened within five miles of the
farm of Ashestiel.'--SCOTT.
line 101. 'The Scottish Harvest-home.'--SCOTT. Perhaps the name
'kirn' is due to the fact that a churnful of cream is a feature of
the night's entertainment. In Chambers's Burns, iii. 151, Robert
Ainslie gives an account of a kirn at Ellisland in 1790.
line 102. Cp. the 'wood-notes wild' with which Milton credits
Shakespeare, 'L'Allegro,' 131.
lines 104-5. The ideal pastoral life of the Golden Age.
line 132. 'Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo, Baronet; unequalled,
perhaps, in the degree of individual affection entertained for him
by his friends, as well as in the general respect and esteem of
Scotland at large. His "Life of Beattie," whom he befriended and
patronised in life, as well as celebrated after his decease, was not
long published, before the benevolent and affectionate biographer
was called to follow the subject of his narrative. This melancholy
event very shortly succeeded the marriage of the friend, to whom
this introduction is addressed, with one of Sir William's
daughters.'--SCOTT.
line 133. 'The Minstrel' is Beattie's chief poem; it is one of the
few poems in well-written Spenserian stanza.
line 147. Ps. lxviii. 5.
line 151. Prov. xxvii. 10.
line 155. For account of Sir W. Forbes, see his autobiographical
'Memoirs of a Banking House'; Chambers's 'Eminent Scotsmen'; and
'Dictionary of National Biography.'
line 163. Cp. Pope, 'Essay on Man,' IV. 380, and Boileau, 'L'Art
Poetique, 'Chant I:--
'Heureux qui, dans ses vers, sait d'une voix legere
Passer du grave au doux, du plaisant an severe.'
line 172. 'Tirante el Blanco,' a Spanish romance by Johann Martorell
(1480), praised in 'Don Quixote.'
line 174. 'Camp was a favourite dog of the Poet's, a bull terrier of
extraordinary sagacity. He is introduced in Raeburn's portrait of
Sir Walter Scott, now at Dalkeith Palace.'--LOCKHART.
line 181. Cp. Tempest, v. i. 93.
line 191. 'Colin Mackenzie, Esq., of Portmore. See "Border
Minstrelsy," iv. 351.'--LOCKHART. Mackenzie had been Scott's friend
from boyhood, and he received his copy of 'Marmion' at Lympstone,
where he was, owing to feeble health, as mentioned in the text. He
was a son-in-law of Sir William Forbes, and in acknowledging receipt
of the poem he said, 'I must thank you for the elegant and delicate
allusion in which you express your friendship for myself--Forbes--
and, above all, that sweet memorial of his late excellent father.'--
'Life of Scott,' ii. 152.
line 194. 'Sir William Rae of St. Catherine's, Bart., subsequently
Lord Advocate of Scotland, was a distinguished member of the
volunteer corps to which Sir Walter Scott belonged; and he, the
Poet, Mr. Skene, Mr. Mackenzie, and a few other friends, had formed
themselves into a little semi-military club, the meetings of which
were held at their family supper tables in rotation.'--LOCKHART.
line 195. 'The late Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo, Bart., son of
the author of the "Life of Beattie."'--LOCKHART.
line 196. The Mimosa pudica, or sensitive plant. See Shelley's poem
on the subject:--
'The Sensitive Plant was the earliest
Upgathered into the bosom of rest;
A sweet child weary of its delight,
The feeblest and yet the favourite,
Cradled within the embrace of night.'
line 200. Cp. 'L'Allegro,' 31, 'Sport that wrinkled Care derides.'
line 206. See King Lear, iii. 4. 138, where Edgar, as Poor Tom, says
that he has had 'three suits to his back, six shirts to his body,
horse to ride, and weapon to wear.'
CANTO FOURTH.
line 31. 'ALIAS "Will o' the Wisp." This personage is a strolling
demon or esprit follet, who, once upon a time, got admittance into a
monastery as a scullion, and played the monks many pranks. He was
also a sort of Robin Goodfellow, and Jack o' Lanthern. It is in
allusion to this mischievous demon that Milton's clown speaks,--
"She was pinched, and pulled, she said,
And he by FRIAR'S LANTHERN led."
'"The History of Friar Rush" is of extreme rarity, and, for some
time, even the existence of such a book was doubted, although it is
expressly alluded to by Reginald Scot, in his "Discovery of
Witchcraft." I have perused a copy in the valuable library of my
friend Mr. Heber; and I observe, from Mr. Beloe's "Anecdotes of
Literature," that there is one in the excellent collection of the
Marquis of Stafford.'--SCOTT.
It may be added, on the authority of Keightley, that Friar Rush
'haunted houses, not fields, and was never the same with Jack-o'-
the-Lanthorn.' See note on Milton's 'L'Allegro,' 104, in Clarendon
Press edition, also Preface to Midsummer Night's Dream in same
series.
Stanza IV. line 69. Humbie and Saltoun are adjoining parishes in S.
W. of Haddingtonshire. To this day there is a charm in the remote
rural character of the district. There are, about Humble in
particular, wooded glades that might well represent the remains of
the scene witnessed by Marmion and his troopers. East and West
Saltoun are two decayed villages, about five miles S. W. of the
county town. Between them is Saltoun Hall, the seat of the
Fletchers.
line 91. 'William Caxton, the earliest English printer, was born in
Kent, A. D. 1412, and died 1401. Wynken de Worde was his next
successor in the production of those
"Rare volumes, dark with tarnished gold,"
which are now the delight of bibliomaniacs.'--LOCKHART.
Stanza VI. line 119. The four heraldic terms used are for the
colours--red, silver, gold, and blue.
line 120, The King-at-arms was superintendent of the heralds.
Stanza VII. line 133. Sir David Lyndsay's exposure of ecclesiastical
abuses in his various satires, especially in his 'Complaynts' and
his Dialog, 'powerfully forwarded the movement that culminated in
the Reformation. It would, however, be a mistake to consider him an
avowed Protestant reformer. He was concerned about the existing
wrongs both of Church and State, and thought of rectifying these
without revolutionary measures.
line 135. The cap of the Lion King' was of scarlet velvet turned up
with ermine.'
lines 141-4. The double tressure was an ornamental tracing round the
shield, at a fixed distance from the border. As to the fleur-de-lis
(flower of the lily, emblem of France) Scott quotes Boethius and
Buchanan as saying that it was 'first assumed by Achaius, king of
Scotland, contemporary of Charlemagne, and founder of, the
celebrated League with France.' Historical evidence, however, would
seem to show that 'the lion is first seen on the seal of Alexander
II, and the tressure on that of Alexander III.' This is the heraldic
description of the arms of Scotland: 'Or, a lion rampant gules,
armed and langued azure, within a double tressure flory counterflory
of fleur-de-lis of the second.' The supporters are 'two unicorns
argent maned and unguled, or gorged with open crowns.' The crest is
'a lion sejant affronte gules crowned or,' &c. The adoption of the
thistle as the national Scottish emblem is wrapt in obscurity,
although an early poet attributes it to a suggestion of Venus.
line 153. Scott mentions Chalmers's edition of Lyndsay's works,
published in 1806. More recent and very satisfactory editions are
those of Dr. David Laing, (1) a library edition in three volumes,
and (2) a popular edition in two. Lyndsay was born about 1490 and
died about 1555. The Mount was his estate, near Cupar-Fife. 'I am
uncertain,' says Scott, 'if I abuse poetic license, by introducing
Sir David Lindesay in the character of Lion-Herald, sixteen years
before he obtained that office. At any rate, I am not the first who
has been guilty of that anachronism; for the author of "Flodden
Field" despatches Dallamount, which can mean nobody but Sir David de
la Mont, to France on the message of defiance from James IV to Henry
VIII. It was often an office imposed on the Lion King-at-arms, to
receive foreign ambassadors; and Lindesay himself did this honour to
Sir Ralph Sadler, in 1539-40. Indeed, the oath of the Lion, in its
first article, bears reference to his frequent employment upon royal
messages and embassies. The office of heralds, in feudal times,
being held of the utmost importance, the inauguration of the Kings-
at-arms, who presided over their colleges, was proportionally
solemn. In fact, it was the mimicry of a royal coronation, except
that the unction was made with wine instead of oil. In Scotland, a
namesake and kinsman of Sir David Lindesay, inaugurated in 1502,
"was crowned by King James with the ancient crown of Scotland, which
was used before the Scottish Kings assumed a close Crown;" and, on
occasion of the same solemnity, dined at the King's table, wearing
the crown. It is probable that the coronation of his predecessor was
not less solemn. So sacred was the herald's office, that, in 1515,
Lord Drummond was by Parliament declared guilty of treason, and his
lands forfeited, because he had struck, with his fist, the Lion
King-at-arms, when he reproved him for his follies. Nor was he
restored, but at the Lion's earnest solicitation.'
