by Walter Scott
103. Cambusmore. An estate owned by Scott's friends, the Buchanans, on the border of the Braes of Doune.
105. Benledi. A majestic mountain shutting in the horizon to the north of Loch Vennachar.
106. Bochastle's heath. The plain between Loch Vennachar and the river Teith.
112. Brigg of Turk. A romantic bridge, still in existence, between Loch Vennachar and Loch Achray.
120. dogs of black Saint Hubert's breed. A breed of dogs, usually black in color, very keen of scent and powerful in build, were kept by the abbots of St. Hubert in commemoration of their patron saint, who was a hunter.
138. whinyard. Obsolete term for sword.
145. Trossachs. A wild and beautiful defile between Loch Katrine and Loch Achray. The word signifies "rough or bristled country."
166. Woe worth the chase. "Woe worth" is an exclamation, equivalent to "alack!"
178. Round and around the sounds were cast. Notice the mimicry of the echo in the vowel sounds of the line.
196. tower ... on Shinar's plain. The Tower of Babel.
208. dewdrops sheen. What part of speech is sheen? Is this use of the word obsolete in prose?
227. frequent flung. "Frequent" is used in the original Latin sense (Lat. frequens) of "crowded together," "numerous."
256. Unless he climb, with footing nice. Scott says: "Until the present road was made through the romantic pass I have presumptuously attempted to describe, there was no mode of issuing out of the defile called the Trossachs, excepting by a sort of ladder, composed of the branches and roots of trees." What is the meaning of "nice" here? What other meanings has the word had?
313. Highland plunderers. The clans inhabiting the region about Loch Katrine were in the habit of making incursions into the neighboring Lowlands to plunder and lay waste the country. Their warlike habits were fostered by the rugged and almost inaccessible character of the country, which prevented the Lowlanders from retaliating upon them, and enabled them also to resist the royal authority.
363. snood. A ribbon worn by Scotch lassies and upon marriage replaced by the matron's "curch" or cap. plaid. A rectangular shawl-like garment made of the checkered cloth called tartan.
438. couch was pulled. Freshly pulled heather was the most luxurious bedding known to the Highlander.
440. ptarmigan and heath-cock. These birds are a species of grouse, the one red, the other black.
460. on the visioned future bent. The gift of second-sight was universally believed in at this period in the Highlands.
504. retreat in dangerous hour. "The Celtic chieftains, whose lives were continually exposed to peril, had usually, in the most retired spot of their domain, some place of retreat for the hour of necessity ... a tower, a cavern, or a rustic hut." (Scott's note in edition of 1830.)
546. target. What is the connection of this word with that used in archery and gun-practice?
566. brook to wield. "Brook" commonly means "endure." What is its exact meaning here?
573. Ferragus, or Ascabart. Two giants whose names appear frequently in medieval romances of chivalry. The first is better known as Ferran, under which name he figures in the Orlando Furioso of Ariosto. Ascabart plays a part in the old English metrical romance of Sir Bevis of Hampton.
580. To whom, though more than kindred knew. This is a very obscure expression for Scott, who is usually so careful to make himself clear. The meaning seems to be: Ellen regarded her as a mother, though that was more than the actual kinship of the two justified (literally "knew how to recognize").
591. Knight of Snowdoun, James Fitz-James. As appears later in the poem, these were not his true name and title, though he was entitled to bear them.
622. a harp unseen. In modern Scotland the bagpipe has altogether taken the place of the harp. A writer of the sixteenth century says: "They (the Highlanders) take great delight to deck their harps with silver and precious stones; the poor ones that cannot attain thereunto deck them with crystal. They sing verses prettily compounded (i.e., composed) containing for the most part praises of valiant men."
638. pibroch. (Pronounced pee-brock.) A wild tumultuous tune played on the bagpipes in the onset of battle.
642. bittern. A wading bird, allied to the heron.
657. reveillé. As the rhyme shows, this word is pronounced reh-vail'yah here. The common pronunciation in the United States is rev-a-lee'. It is the drum-beat or bugle-call at dawn to arouse soldiers.
CANTO SECOND
1. blackcock. See note to I, 440.
7. minstrel grey. Until well on in the eighteenth century it was customary for Highland chieftains to keep in their service a bard, whose chief duty it was to sing the exploits of the ancestors of the line.
69. Lead forth his fleet. What kind of figure is contained in the word fleet as applied to the flock of ducks?
131. harp, which erst Saint Modan swayed. St. Modan was not a harper, as Scott elsewhere ingenuously confesses, adding, however, that "Saint Dunstan certainly did play upon that instrument."
141. Wailed loud through Bothwell's bannered hall. The minstrel tries to account for the strange way in which his harp gives back mournful sounds instead of the joyous ones he is trying to evoke, by calling to Ellen's mind two other occasions when it behaved similarly. One of these was when it foreboded the death of Ellen's mother; the other when it foreboded the exile of the Douglasses during the minority of James V. For particulars, see the introduction on the historical setting of the poem. Bothwell Castle is on the Clyde, a few miles from Glasgow.
159. From Tweed to Spey. The Tweed is in the extreme southern part, the Spey in the northern part, of Scotland.
200. Lady of the Bleeding Heart. The minstrel calls Ellen so because a bleeding heart was the heraldic emblem of the Douglas family.
206. strathspey. A dance, named from the district of Strath Spey, in the north of Scotland. It resembled the reel, but was slower.
213. Clan-Alpine's pride. Clan Alpine was the collective name of the followers of Roderick Dhu, who figures later in the poem as Ellen's rejected suitor and the enemy of the mysterious "Knight of Snowdoun" who has just taken his departure from the island.
216. Lennox foray. Lennox is the district south of Menteith, in the Lowlands. It was the scene of innumerable forays and "cattle-drives."
221. In Holy-Rood a knight he slew. Holyrood is the royal castle at Edinburgh, where the court usually was held. It was deemed a heinous and desperate offense to commit an act of blood in the royal residence or its immediate neighborhood, since such an act was an indirect violation of the majesty of the king, and a breaking of "the king's peace." It was for this offense that Roderick Dhu was exiled, and compelled to live like an outlaw in his mountain fastness.
227. Who else dared give. Notice how skilfully Scott manages to give us the relations of the chief characters of the poem to each other, and to show that Ellen's father, pursued by the hatred of James V, has been given the island shelter in Loch Katrine by Roderick Dhu who is about to make his appearance in the story.
236. Full soon may dispensation sought. A papal dispensation was necessary, because Ellen and Roderick Dhu were cousins. See next note.
249. All that a mother could bestow. Here again the poet takes the indirect way of making clear his point, namely that the matron introduced in the first canto is the mother of Roderick Dhu. The phrase "an orphan in the wild," is in apposition with the following phrase "her sister's child"—i.e., Ellen herself. From this it appears that Lady Margaret is Ellen's aunt, and that Roderick Dhu is, therefore, Ellen's cousin.
260. Maronnan's cell. A chapel at the eastern extremity of Loch Lomond, dedicated to the rather obscure saint here named.
270. Bracklinn's thundering wave. The reference is to a cascade made by a mountain torrent at the Bridge of Bracklinn, near the village of Callender in Menteith. Notice how Scott's numerous references to places in the region where the poem is laid tend gradually to give us an idea of the richness and diversity of the landscape.
274. claymore. A large two-handed sword.
305. Thy father's battle-brand. Some swords, especially those which had been magically forged, were held to possess the property of drawing themselves from their scabbard at the approach of their owner's deadly enemy. This is the first vague hint which Scott gives us as to the real identity of the "Knight of Snowdoun." To throw a further glamor of romance about the prophetical weapon, he tells us that it was given by fairies to an ancestor of its present owner, namely, to Archibald, third Duke of Angus, called Tine-man (Loseman) because he always lost his men in battle, and that this gift was made while Archibald was in league with Harry Hotspur.
319. Beltane game. The sports of May Day.
327. canna. Cotton grass.
Stanza XVI. In this and the two following stanzas notice how skillfully description and narrative are woven together, and how the picture gains in detail and distinctness as the boats approach.
334. barges. What change has occurred in the use of this word?
335. Glengyle ... Brianchoil. Why does the poet introduce these proper names? Are they of any value as information?
343. tartans. See note to I, xix, 363.
395. The chorus first could Allan know. The chorus was the first part of the song which the harper, listening from the shore, could distinctly make out.
408. Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu. The words vich and dhu are Gaelic, the first meaning "descendant of," the second "black or swarthy." King Alpine was the half-mythical ancestor from whom the clan of Alpine sprung. The line means, therefore, "Black Roderick, descendant of Alpine." Compare II, xii, 220, where Allan-bane calls the chieftain "Black Sir Roderick."
410. Blooming at Beltane. See note to II, 319.
416. Breadalbane. A large district in the western part of the county of Perth.
419–426. Glen Fruin, Bannochar, Glenn Luss, Ross-dhu, Leven-glen. What, in simple language, should you say was the value of this array of obscure names in the song?
431. the rose-bud that graces yon islands. To whom do the singers metaphorically refer?
497. Percy's Norman pennon. Captured by the Douglas in the raid which led to the battle of Otterburn, as celebrated in the old ballad of Chevy Chase. (Sprague.)
504. The waned crescent. This may be taken as referring to some victory over the Turkish armies in the East, or to the defeat of Scott's ancestor, Sir Walter Scott of Buccleugh, who was defeated in an attempt to set the young king free from the Douglas. The shield of Sir Walter bore a crescent moon.
506. Blantyre. A priory on the banks of the Clyde near Bothwell castle, of which ruins still remain.
574. Glenfinlas. A valley to the northeast of Loch Katrine, between Ben-An and Ben-Ledi.
577. royal ward. Malcolm, as a minor, was still under the king's guardianship.
583. Strath-Endrick glen. A valley on the southeast of Loch Lomond, presumably Malcolm's home.
623–625. The Meggat, the Yarrow, and the Ettrick are successive tributaries, the waters of which eventually reach the Tweed. The Teviot is also a tributary of the Tweed. All five rivers are in the southern part of Scotland.
678. Links of Forth. Banks of the river Forth. In general the word "links" means flat or undulating stretches of sandy soil, partially covered with grass or heather.
692. There are who have. How does this differ from the prose idiom?
801. pity 'twere such cheek should feel the midnight air. Was there anything in the Highland character and training which would make these words seem particularly cutting? Notice how the insult is deepened later by the assumption on Rhoderick Dhu's part that Malcolm is capable of treachery toward Douglas and the Clan of Alpine.
809. henchman. This word is said to have been originally "haunch-man" because it was the duty of this retainer to stand beside his master's chair (at his haunches as it were) at the feast, in readiness to do his bidding or to defend him if attacked.
831. Fiery Cross. The signal for the gathering of the clan to war. The preparation and carrying abroad of this cross is described in the next canto.
CANTO THIRD
39. cushat dove. Better known as the ringdove.
63. shivers. "Slivers" is the more common word, but the verb "to shiver," meaning to break in pieces, keeps the original meaning.
74. Benharrow. This mountain is near the north end of Loch Lomond.
87. strath. A wide open valley, distinguished from a glen, which is narrow.
104. fieldfare. A species of thrush.
116. virgin snood. See note to I, 363.
154. River Demon. Concerning this creature Scott gives the current observation: "The River Demon, or River-horse, is an evil spirit, delighting to forebode and witness calamity. He frequents most Highland lakes and rivers; and one of his most memorable exploits was performed upon the banks of Loch Vennachar: it consisted in the destruction of a bridal party with all its attendants."
156. noontide hag. A gigantic emaciated female figure which, contrary to the general rule of ghostly creatures, appeared in the full blaze of noon.
168. Ben-Shie's boding scream. The ben-shie or banshee was a tutelar spirit, supposed to forebode by midnight howlings the death of a member of a family to which it was attached. The superstition is still prevalent in Ireland.
191. Inch-Cailliach. An island in Loch Lomond, used as a place of burial for several neighboring clans, of whom the descendants of King Alpine were the chief. The name means "Isle of Nuns," or "Isle of Old Women."
Stanza IX. Notice the change in the rime system which marks the break from flowing narrative to solemn dramatic speech, and is continued through the stanza to increase the effect of solemnity.
253. Coir-Uriskin, thy goblin cave. This cave and the pass of Beala-nam-bo were on the slopes of Ben Venue, a mountain near Loch Katrine. See notes to 622 and 664.
286. Lanrick mead. This meadow is still pointed out to the traveler on the road from Loch Vennachar to the Trossachs.
300. dun deer's hide. It was their shoes made of untanned deer's hide, with the hair outwards, which gave the Highlander's their nickname, "Red-shanks."
349. Duncraggan. A village between Loch Achray and Loch Vennachar.
369. coronach. Death-song.
386. correi. Scott explains this as "the hollow side of the hill, where game usually lies."
387. cumber. Trouble, perplexity.
394. Stumah. The name of a dog, signifying "faithful."
461. chapel of St. Bride. This chapel stood on the knoll of Strath-Ire, mentioned at the beginning of the stanza, halfway up the pass of Leny. Scott is singularly careful not to take liberties with the geography of the localities where his story is laid.
468. pole-ax. An old weapon consisting of a broad ax-head fastened to a long pole, with a prick at the back.
480. Tombea's Mary. Tombea and Armandave are names of places in the vicinity of Strath-Ire.
546. bracken. Fern.
570. Balquidder. The braes of Balquidder extended west from Loch Voil, to the northward of the scene of the poem. midnight blaze. The heather on the moorlands is often set on fire by the shepherds in order that new herbage may spring up.
578. Loch Voil, etc. This and the following names are of poetic value in suggesting tangibly the rapid passage of the runner from place to place.
622. Coir-nan-Uriskin. Scott says that this name, signifying "Den of the Shaggy Men," was derived from the mythical inhabitants of the place, creatures half man and half goat, resembling the satyrs of classical mythology.
641. still, stillness. Can you instance other cases of the use of adjective for noun?
656. satyrs. See note to 622.
664. Beal-nam-bo. The name signifies "Pass of cattle." It is described as a "most magnificent glade, overhung with aged birch-trees, a little higher up the mountains than the Coir-nan-Uriskin."
672. A single page, to bear his sword. The sword bearer, like the henchman and the bard, was a regular officer attached to the person of a Highland Chief. He w
as called in Gaelic "Gilliemore," or sword-man.
CANTO FOURTH
19. Braes of Doune. Doune is a village on the Teith, a few miles northwest of Stirling. The word "brae" means slope or declivity; the braes of Doune stretch away east and north from the village.
36. boune. An obsolete word meaning "prepared."
63. Taghairm. The word means "Augury of the Hide."
68. When swept our merrymen Gallangad. The reference is to one of the forays or "cattledrives" which the Highland chiefs were fond of making at the expense of their neighbors. The situation of Gallangad is now unknown, but it was presumably a portion of the Lennox district.
73. kerns. The kern or cateran of the Highlands was a light-armed infantryman, as opposed to the heavy-armed "gallowglass."
78. scatheless. Without fear of injury, because of the weariness of the animal after the march.
82. boss. The word means knob or protuberance, especially that in the center of a shield. What the boss of a cliff can be it is a little difficult to understand.
98. watching while the deer is broke. The cutting up of the deer and allotting of the various portions was technically known as the "breaking" of the deer. A certain gristly portion was given, by long custom, to the birds, and came to be known as "the raven's bone."
140. A spy has sought my land. Roderick refers, as appears later, to the "Knight of Snowdoun" of Canto I.
150. glaive, sword.
153. sable pale. An heraldic term, applied to a black perpendicular stripe in a coat of arms.
174. stance, station, foundation.
231. Cambus-kenneth's fane. The ruins of Cambus-kenneth Abbey are still to be seen on the banks of the Forth near Stirling.
262. mavis and merle, thrush and blackbird.
283. darkling was the battle tried. Scott first wrote "blindfold" in place of "darkling."
285. pall. A rich cloth, from which mantles of noblemen were made. Vair. A fur much used for the garments of nobility in medieval times.
298. wonn'd, an obsolete equivalent of "dwelt."
306. fairies' fatal green. The elves or gnomes wore green, and were angered when any mortal ventured to wear that color. For this or some other reason green was held an unlucky color in many parts of Scotland.
