Chapter IX: Part 9

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.'

Stanza X. line 194. 'A large ruinous castle on the banks of the Tyne, about ten miles from Edinburgh. As indicated in the text, it was built at different times, and with a very differing regard to splendour and accommodation. The oldest part of the building is a narrow keep, or tower, such as formed the mansion of a lesser Scottish baron; but so many additions have been made to it, that there is now a large courtyard, surrounded by buildings of different ages. The eastern front of the court is raised above a portico, and decorated with entablatures, bearing anchors. All the stones of this front are cut into diamond facets, the angular projections of which have an uncommonly rich appearance. The inside of this part of the building appears to have contained a gallery of great length, and uncommon elegance. Access was given to it by a magnificent stair- case, now quite destroyed. The soffits are ornamented with twining cordage and rosettes: and the whole seems to have been far more splendid than was usual in Scottish castles. The castle belonged originally to the Chancellor, Sir William Crichton, and probably owed to him its first enlargement, as well as its being taken by the Earl of Douglas, who imputed to Crichton's counsels the death of his predecessor, Earl William, beheaded in Edinburgh Castle, with his brother, in 1440. It is said to have been totally demolished on that occasion; but the present state of the ruin shows the contrary. In 1483 it was garrisoned by Lord Crichton, then its proprietor, against King James III, whose displeasure he had incurred by seducing his sister Margaret, in revenge, it is said, for the Monarch having dishonoured his bed. From the Crichton family the castle passed to that of the Hepburns, Earls Bothwell; and when the forfeitures of Stewart, the last Earl Bothwell, were divided, the barony and cattle of Crichton fell to the share of the Earl of Buccleuch. They were afterwards the property of the Pringles of Clifton, and are now that of Sir John Callander, Baronet. It were to be wished the proprietor would take a little pains to preserve those splendid remains of antiquity, which are at present used as a fold for sheep, and wintering cattle; although, perhaps, there are very few ruins in Scotland which display so well the style and beauty of castle-architecture.'--SCOTT.

The ruin is now carefully protected, visitors being admitted on application at Crichtoun Manse adjoining.

Stanza XI. line 232. 'The castle of Crichton has a dungeon vault, called the Massy More. The epithet, which is not uncommonly applied to the prisons of other old castles in Scotland, is of Saracenic origin. It occurs twice in the "Epistolae Itineriae" of Tollius. "Carcer subterraneus, sive, ut Mauri appellant, MAZMORRA," p. 147; and again, "Coguntur omnes Captivi sub noctem in ergastula subterranea, quae Turcae Algezerani vocant MAZMORRAS," p. 243. The same word applies to the dungeons of the ancient Moorish castles in Spain, and serves to show from what nation the Gothic style of castle building was originally derived.'--SCOTT.

See further, Sir W. Scott's 'Provincial Antiquities,' vol. i.

Stanza XII. line 249. 'He was the second Earl of Bothwell, and fell in the field of Flodden, where, according to an ancient English poet, he distinguished himself by a furious attempt to retrieve the day:--

"Then on the Scottish part, right proud,
The Earl of Bothwell then out brast,
And stepping forth, with stomach good,
Into the enemies' throng he thrast;
And BOTHWELL! BOTHWELL! cried bold,
To cause his souldiers to ensue,
But there he caught a wellcome cold,
The Englishmen straight down him threw.
Thus Haburn through his hardy heart
His fatal fine in conflict found,"&c.
FLODDEN FIELD, a Poem; edited by H. Weber. Edin.
1808.'--SCOTT.

line 254. 'Adam was grandfather to James, Earl of Bothwell, too well known in the history of Queen Mary.'--SCOTT.

Stanza XIII. line 260. The Borough-moor extended from Edinburgh south to the Braid Hills.

Stanza XIV. line 280. Scott quotes from Lindsay of Pitscottie the story of the apparition seen at Linlithgow by James IV, when undergoing his annual penance for having taken the field against his father. Some of the younger men about the Court had devised what they felt might be an impressive warning to the King against going to war, and their show of supernatural interference was well managed. Lindsay's narrative proceeds thus:--

'The King came to Lithgow, where he happened to be for the time at the Council, very sad and dolorous, making his devotion to God, to send him good chance and fortune in his voyage. In this meantime, there came a man, clad in a blue gown, in at the kirk door, and belted about him in a roll of linen-cloth; a pair of brotikings1 on his feet, to the great of his legs; with all other hose and clothes conform thereto; but he had nothing on his head, but syde2 red yellow hair behind, and on his haffets3, which wan down to his shoulders; but his forehead was bald and bare. He seemed to be a man of two-and-fifty years, with a great pike-staff in his hand, and came first forward among the lords, crying and speiring4 for the King, saying, he desired to speak with him. While, at the last, he came where the King was sitting in the desk, at his prayers, but when he saw the King, he made him little reverence or salutation, but leaned down groffling on the desk before him, and said to him in this manner, as after follows: "Sir King, my mother hath sent me to you, desiring you not to pass, at this time, where thou art purposed; for if thou does, thou wilt not fare well in thy journey, nor none that passeth with thee. Further, she bade thee mell5 with no woman, nor use their counsel, nor let them touch thy body, nor thou theirs; for, if thou do it, thou wilt be confounded and brought to shame." -------------------------------------------------------- buskins1 long2 cheeks3 asking4 meddle5 --------------------------------------------------------

'By this man had spoken thir words unto the King's grace, the evening-song was near done, and the King paused on thir words, studying to give him an answer; but, in the meantime, before the King's eyes, and in the presence of all the lords that were about him for the time, this man vanished away, and could no ways be seen nor comprehended, but vanished away as he had been a blink of the sun, or a whip of the whirlwind, and could no more be seen. I heard say. Sir David Lindesay, Lyon-herauld, and John Inglis the marshal, who were, at that time, young men, and special servants to the King's grace, were standing presently beside the King, who thought to have laid hands on this man, that they might have speired further tidings at him: But all for nought; they could not touch him; for he vanished away betwixt them, and was no more seen.' Buchanan, in more elegant, though not more impressive language, tells the same story, and quotes the personal information of our Sir David Lindesay: 'In iis, (i.e. qui propius astiterant) fuit David Lindesius, Montanus, homo spectatae fidei et probitatis, nec a literarum studiis alienus, et cujus totius vitae tenor longissime a mentiendo aberat; a quo nisi ego haec uti tradidi, pro certis accepissem, ut vulgatam vanis rumoribus fabulam omissurus eram."-- Lib. xiii. The King's throne, in St. Catherine's aisle, which he had constructed for himself, with twelve stalls for the Knights Companions of the Order of the Thistle, is still shown as the place where the apparition was seen. I know not by what means St. Andrew got the credit of having been the celebrated monitor of James IV; for the expression in Lindesay's narrative, "My mother has sent me," could only be used by St. John, the adopted son of the Virgin Mary. The whole story is so well attested, that we have only the choice between a miracle or an imposture. Mr. Pinkerton plausibly argues, from the caution against incontinence, that the Queen was privy to the scheme of those who had recourse to this expedient, to deter King James from his impolitic war.'

Stanza XV. line 287. 'In Scotland there are about twenty palaces, castles, and remains, or sites of such,

"Where SCOTIA'S kings of other years"

had their royal home.

'Linlithgow, distinguished by the combined strength and beauty of its situation, must have been early selected as a royal residence. David, who bought the title of saint by his liberality to the Church, refers several of his charters to his town of Linlithgow; and in that of Holyrood expressly bestows on the new monastery all the skins of the rams, ewes, and lambs, belonging to his castle of Linlitcu, which shall die during the year....The convenience afforded for the sport of falconry, which was so great a favourite during the feudal ages, was probably one cause of the attachment of the ancient Scottish monarchs to Linlithgow and its fine lake. The sport of hunting was also followed with success in the neighbourhood, from which circumstance it probably arises that the ancient arms of the city represent a black greyhound bitch tied to a tree....The situation of Linlithgow Palace is eminently beautiful. It stands on a promontory of some elevation, which advances almost into the midst of the lake. The form is that of a square court, composed of buildings of four storeys high, with towers at the angles. The fronts with the square, and the windows, are highly ornamented, and the size of the rooms, as well as the width and character of the staircases, are upon a magnificent scale. One banquet-room is ninety-four feet long, thirty feet wide, and thirty- three feet high, with a gallery for music. The King's wardrobe, or dressing-room, looking to the west, projects over the walls, so as to have a delicious prospect on three aides, and is one of the most enviable boudoirs we have ever seen.'--SIR WALTER SCOTT'S Provincial Antiquities.--Prose Works, vol. vii. p. 382.

line 288. With 'jovial June' cp. Gavin Douglas's 'joyous moneth tyme of June,' in prologue to the 13th AEneid, 'ekit to Virgill be Maphaeus Vegius,' and the description of the month in Lyndsay's 'Dreme,' as:--

'Weill bordourit with dasyis of delyte.'

line 291. 'I am glad of an opportunity to describe the cry of the deer by another word than BRAYING, although the latter has been sanctified by the use of the Scottish metrical translation of the Psalms. BELL seems to be an abbreviation of bellow. This silvan sound conveyed great delight to our ancestors, chiefly, I suppose, from association. A gentle knight in the reign of Henry VIII, Sir Thomas Wortley, built Wantley Lodge, in Wancliffe Forest, for the pleasure (as an ancient inscription testifies) of "listening to the hart's BELL"'--SCOTT.

line 298. Sauchie-burn, where James III fell, was fought 18 June, 1488., 'James IV,' says Scott, 'after the battle passed to Stirling, and hearing the monks of the chapel-royal deploring the death of his father, he was seized with deep remorse, which manifested itself in severe penances.' See below, note on V. ix.

line 300. 'When the King saw his own banner displayed against him, and his son in the faction of his enemies, he lost the little courage he ever possessed, fled out of the field, fell from his horse as it started at a woman and water-pitcher, and was slain, it was not well understood by whom.'--SCOTT.

Stanza XVI. line 312. In the church of St. Michael, adjoining the palace.

line 316. The earliest known mention of the thistle as the national badge is in the inventory of the effects of James III, Thistles were inscribed on the coins of the next four reigns, and they were accompanied in the reign of James VI for the first time by the motto Nemo me impune lacessit. James II of Great Britain formally inaugurated the Order of the Thistle on 29 May, 1687, but it was not till the reign of Anne, 31 Dec. 1703, that it became a fully defined legal institution. The Order is also known as the Order of St. Andrew.--See CHAMBERS'S Encyclopedia.

line 318. It was natural and fit that Lyndsay should be present. It is more than likely that he had a leading hand in the enterprise. As tutor to the young Prince, it had been a recognised part of his duty to amuse him by various disguises; and he was likewise the first Scottish poet with an adequate dramatic sense.

line 336. See St. John xix. 25-27.

Stanza XVII. line 350. The special reference here is to the influence of Lady Heron. See above, I. xvi. 265, and below, V. x. 261.

Stanza XIX. The skilful descriptive touches of this stanza are noteworthy. Cp. opening passages of Coleridge's 'Christabel,' especially the seven lines beginning, 'Is the night chilly and dark?'

Stanza XXI. line 440. Grimly is not unknown as a poetical adj. 'Margaret's GRIMLY ghost,' in Beaumont and FIetcher's 'Knight of the Burning Pestle,' II. i, is a familiar example. See above, p. 194, line 25, 'GRIMLY voice.' For 'ghast' as an adj., cp. Keats's 'Otho the Great,' V. v. 11, 'How ghast a train!'

line. 449. See below, V. xxiv, ''Twere long and needless here to tell,' and cp. AEneid I. 341:--

'Longa est iniuria, longae
Ambages; sed summa sequar fastigia rerum.'

Stanza XXII. line 461. See above, III. xxv. 503, and note.

lines 467-470. Rothiemurchus, near Alvie, co. of Inverness, on Highland Railway; Tomantoul in co. of Banff, N. E. of Rothiemurchus; Auchnaslaid in co. of Inverness, near S. W. border of Aberdeen; Forest of Dromouchty on Inverness border eastward of Loch Ericht; Glenmore, co-extensive with Caledonian Canal.

lines 477-480. Cp. the teaching of Coleridge's 'Ancient Mariner' and 'Christabel.' In the former these stanzas are specially notable:--

'O happy living things! no tongue
Their beauty might declare:
A spring of love gushed from my heart,
And I blessed them unaware:
Sure my kind saint took pity on me,
And I blessed them unaware.

The selfsame moment I could pray;
And from my neck so free
The Albatross fell off, and sank
Like lead into the sea.'

line 487. bowne = prepare. See below, V. xx, 'to bowne him for the war'; and 'Lay of the Last Minstrel,' V. xx, 'bowning back to Cumberland.' Cp. 'Piers the Plowman,' III. 173 (C Text):--

'And bed hem alle ben BOUN . beggeres and othere,
To wenden with hem to Westemynstre.'

Stanza XXIII. line 490. Dun-Edin = Edwin's hill-fort, poetic for Edinburgh.

line 497. The Braid Hills, S. E. of Edinburgh, recently added to the recreation grounds of the citizens.

Stanza XXIV. Blackford Hill has now been acquired by the City of Edinburgh as a public resort. The view from it, not only of the city but of the landscape generally, is striking and memorable.

lines 511-15. Cp. Wordsworth's 'The Fountain--a Conversation':--

'No check, no stay, this Streamlet fears:
How merrily it goes!
'Twill murmur on a thousand years,
And flow as now it flows.

And here on this delightful day,
I cannot choose but think
How oft, a vigorous man, I lay
Beside this fountain's brink.

My eyes are dim with childish tears,
My heart is idly stirred,
For the same sound is in my ears
Which in those days I heard.'

Stanza XXV. line 521. 'The Borough, or Common Moor of Edinburgh, was of very great extent, reaching from the southern walls of the city to the bottom of Braid Hills. It was anciently a forest; and, in that state, was so great a nuisance, that the inhabitants of Edinburgh had permission granted to them of building wooden galleries, projecting over the street, in order to encourage them to consume the timber; which they seem to have done very effectually. When James IV mustered the array of the kingdom there, in 1513, the Borough-moor was, according to Hawthornden, "a field spacious, and delightful by the shade of many stately and aged oaks." Upon that, and similar occasions, the royal standard is traditionally said to have been displayed from the Hare Stane, a high stone, now built into the wall, on the left hand of the highway leading towards Braid, not far from the head of Bruntsfield Links. The Hare Stane probably derives its name from the British word Har, signifying an army.'--SCOTT.

Stanza XXVI. lines 535-538. The proper names in these lines are Hebrides; East Lothian; Redswire, part of Carter Fell near Jedburgh; and co. of Ross.

Stanza XXVII. line 557. 'Seven culverins so called, cast by one Borthwick.'--SCOTT.

Stanza XXVIII. line 566. 'Each ensign intimated a different rank.'-- SCOTT.

line 567. As illustrating an early mode of English encampment, Scott quotes from Patten's description of what he saw after Pinkie, 1547:- -

'As they had no pavilions, or round houses, of any commendable compass, so wear there few other tentes with posts, as the used manner of making is; and of these few also, none of above twenty foot length, but most far under; for the most part all very sumptuously beset, (after their fashion,) for the love of France, with fleur-de-lys, some of blue buckeram, some of black, and some of some other colours. These white ridges, as I call them, that, as we stood on Fauxsyde Bray, did make so great muster toward us, which I did take then to be a number of tentes, when we came, we found it a linen drapery, of the coarser cambryk in dede, for it was all of canvas sheets, and wear the tenticles, or rather cabyns and couches of their soldiers; the which (much after the common building of their country beside) had they framed of four sticks, about an ell long a piece, whereof two fastened together at one end aloft, and the two endes beneath stuck in the ground, an ell asunder, standing in fashion like the bowes of a sowes yoke; over two such bowes (one, as it were, at their head, the other at their feet), they stretched a sheet down on both sides, whereby their cabin became roofed like a ridge, but skant shut at both ends, and not very close beneath on the sides, unless their sticks were the shorter, or their wives the more liberal to lend them larger napery; howbeit, when they had lined them, and stuff'd them so thick with straw, with the weather as it was not very cold, when they wear ones couched, they were as warm as they had been wrapt in horses dung.'--PATTEN'S Account of Somerset's Expedition.

line 578. 'The well-known arms of Scotland. If you will believe Boethius and Buchanan, the double tressure round the shield (mentioned above, vii. 141), counter fleur-de-lysed, or lingued and armed azure, was first assumed by Achaias, King of Scotland, contemporary of Charlemagne, and founder of the celebrated League with France but later antiquaries make poor Eochy, or Achy, little better than a sort of King of Brentford, whom old Grig (who has also swelled into Gregorius Magnus) associated with himself in the important duty of governing some part of the north-eastern coast of Scotland.'--SCOTT.

Stanza XXIX. lines 595-9. Cp. the 'rash, fruitless war,' &c., of Thomson's 'Edwin and Eleonora,' i. 1, and Cowper's 'Task,' v. 187:--

'War's a game which, were their subjects wise,
Kings would not play at.'

Stanza XXX. This description of Edinburgh is one of the passages mentioned by Mr. Ruskin in 'Modern Painters' as illustrative of Scott's quick and certain perception of the relations of form and colour. 'Observe,' he says, 'the only hints at form given throughout are in the somewhat vague words "ridgy," " massy," "close," and "high," the whole being still more obscured by modern mystery, in its most tangible form of smoke. But the COLOURS are all definite; note the rainbow band of them--gloomy or dusky red, sable (pure black), amethyst (pure purple), green and gold--a noble chord throughout; and then, moved doubtless less by the smoky than the amethystine part of the group,

"Fitz-Eustace' heart felt closely pent," &c.'

line 632. In the demi-volte (one of seven artificial equestrian movements) the horse rises on his hind feet and makes a half-turn. Cp. below, v. 33.

Stanza XXXI. line 646. 6 o'clock a.m., the first canonical hour of prayer.

lines 650-1. St. Catherine of Siena, a famous female Spanish saint, and St. Roque of France, patron of those sick of the plague, who died at Montpelier about 1327.

line 655. Falkland, in the west of Fife, at base of Lomond Hills, a favourite residence of the Stuart kings, and well situated for hunting purposes. The ancient stately palace is now the property of the Marquis of Bute.

Stanza XXXII. line 679. stowre, noise and confusion of battle. Cp. 'Faery Queene,' I. ii. 7, 'woeful stowre.'

INTRODUCTION TO CANTO FIFTH.

'GEORGE ELLIS, to whom this Introduction is addressed, is "the well- known coadjutor of Mr. Canning and Mr. Frere in the "Anti-Jacobin," and editor of "Specimens of Ancient English Romances," &c. He died 10th April, 1815, aged 70 years; being succeeded in his estates by his brother, Charles Ellis, Esq., created in 1827 Lord Seaford.'-- LOCKHART. See 'Life of Scott' and 'Dictionary of National Biography.'

line 36. See Introd. to Canto II.

line 37. 'The Old Town of Edinburgh was secured on the north side by a lake, now drained, and on the south by a wall, which there was some attempt to make defensible even so late as 1745. The gates, and the greater part of the wall, have been pulled down, in the course of the late extensive and beautiful enlargement of the city. My ingenious and valued friend, Mr. Thomas Campbell, proposed to celebrate Edinburgh under the epithet here borrowed. But the "Queen of the North" has not been so fortunate as to receive from so eminent a pen the proposed distinction.'--SCOTT.

line 57. 'Since writing this line, I find I have inadvertently borrowed it almost verbatim, though with somewhat a different meaning, from a chorus in "Caractacus":--

"Britain heard the descant bold,
She flung her white arms o'er the sea,
Proud in her leafy bosom to enfold
The freight of harmony."'-SCOTT.

line 58. For = instead of.

lines 60-1. gleam'st, with trans. force, is an Elizabethanism. Cp. Shakespeare's Lucrece, line 1378:--

'Dying eyes gleamed forth their ashy lights.'

line 67. See 'Faerie Queene,' III. iv.

line 78. "For every one her liked, and every one her loved." Spenser, as above.'--SCOTT.

line 106. A knosp is an architectural ornament in form of a bud.

lines 111-12. See Genesis xviii.

line 118. 'Henry VI, with his Queen, his heir, and the chiefs of his family, fled to Scotland after the battle of Towton. In this note a doubt was formerly expressed whether Henry VI came to Edinburgh, though his Queen certainly did; Mr. Pinkerton inclining to believe that he remained at Kirkcudbright. But my noble friend, Lord Napier, has pointed out to me a grant by Henry, of an annuity of forty marks to his Lordship's ancestor, John Napier, subscribed by the King himself, AT EDINBURGH, the 28th day of August, in the thirtyninth year of his reign, which corresponds to the year of God, 1461. This grant, Douglas, with his usual neglect of accuracy, dates in 1368. But this error being corrected from the copy of Macfarlane's MSS., p. 119, to, removes all scepticism on the subject of Henry VI being really at Edinburgh. John Napier was son and heir of Sir Alexander Napier, and about this time was Provost of Edinburgh. The hospitable reception of the distressed monarch and his family, called forth on Scotland the encomium of Molinet, a contemporary poet. The English people, he says,--

"Ung nouveau roy creerent,
Par despiteux vouloir,
Le vieil en debouterent,
Et son legitime hoir,
Qui fuytyf alia prendre
D'Ecosse le garand,
De tous siecles le mendre,
Et le plus tollerant."
Recollection des Avantures'--SCOTT.

line 120. 'In January, 1796, the exiled Count d'Artois, afterwards Charles X of France, took up his residence in Holyrood, where he remained until August, 1799. When again driven from his country, by the revolution of July, 1830, the same unfortunate Prince, with all the immediate members of his family, sought refuge once more in the ancient palace of the Stuarts, and remained there until 18th September, 1833.'--LOCKHART.

line 140. 'Mr. Ellis, in his valuable Introduction to the "Specimens of Romance," has proved, by the concurring testimony of La Ravaillere, Tressan, but especially the Abbe de la Rue, that the courts of our Anglo-Norman Kings, rather than those of the French monarch, produced the birth of Romance literature. Marie, soon after mentioned, compiled from Armorican originals, and translated into Norman-French, or Romance language, the twelve curious Lays of which Mr. Ellis has given us a precis in the Appendix to his Introduction. The story of Blondel, the famous and faithful minstrel of Richard I, needs no commentary.'--SCOTT.

line 141. for that = 'because,' a common Elizabethan connective.

line 165. '"Come then, my friend, my genius, come along,
Oh master of the poet and the song!"
Pope to Bolingbroke.'--LOCKHART.

Cp. also the famous 'guide, philosopher, and friend,' in 'Essay on Man,' IV. 390.

lines 166-175. For a curious and characteristic ballad by Leyden on Ellis, see 'Life of Scott' i. 368; and for references to his state of ealth see 'Life,' ii, 17, in one of Scott's letters.

line 181. 'At Sunning-hill, Mr. Ellis's seat, near Windsor, part of the first two cantos of Marmion were written.'--LOCKHART. Ascot Heath is about six miles off.

CANTO FIFTH.

Stanza I. line 18. 'This is no poetical exaggeration. In some of the counties of England, distinguished for archery, shafts of this extraordinary length were actually used. Thus, at the battle of Blackheath, between the troops of Henry VII and the Cornish insurgents, in 1496, the bridge of Dartford was defended by a picked band of archers from the rebel army, "whose arrows," says Holinshed, "were in length a full cloth yard." The Scottish, according to Ascham, had a proverb, that every English archer carried under his belt twenty-four Scots, in allusion to his bundle of unerring shafts.'--SCOTT.

Stanza II. line 32. croupe = (1) the buttocks of the horse, as in Chaucer's 'Fryars Tale,' line 7141, 'thakketh his horse upon the croupe'; (2) the place behind the saddle, as here and in 'Young Lochinvar,' below, 351.

line 33. 'The most useful AIR, as the Frenchmen term it, IS TERRITERR, the courbettes, cabrioles, or un pas et un sault, being fitter for horses of parade and triumph than for soldiers: yet I cannot deny but a demivolte with courbettes, so that they be not too high, may be useful in a fight or meslee; for, as Labroue hath it, in his Book of Horsemanship, Monsieur de Montmorency having a horse that was excellent in performing the demivolte, did, with his sword, strike down two adversaries from their horses in a tourney, where divers of the prime gallants of France did meet; for, taking his time, when the horse was in the height of his courbette, and discharging a blow then, his sword fell with such weight and force upon the two cavaliers, one after another, that he struck them from their horses to the ground.'--Lord Herbert of Cherbury's Life, p. 48.--SCOTT.

line 35. 'The Scottish burgesses were, like yeomen, appointed to be armed with bows and sheaves, sword, buckler, knife, spear, or a good axe instead of a bow, if worth L100: their armour to be of white or bright harness. They wore WHITE HATS, i.e. bright steel caps, without crest or visor. By an act of James IV their weapon-schawings are appointed to be held four times a year, under the aldermen or bailiffs.'--SCOTT.

lines 40-48. Corslet, a light cuirass protecting the front of the body; brigantine, a jacket quilted with iron (also spelt 'brigandine'); gorget, a metal covering for the throat; mace, a heavy club, plain or spiked, designed to bruise armour.

'Bows and quivers were in vain recommended to the peasantry of Scotland, by repeated statutes; spears and axes seem universally to have been used instead of them. The defensive armour was the plate- jack, hauberk, or brigantine; and their missile weapons crossbows and culverins. All wore swords of excellent temper, according to Patten; and a voluminous handkerchief round their neck, "not for cold, but for cutting." The mace also was much used in the Scottish army! The old poem on the battle of Flodden mentions a band--

"Who manfully did meet their foes,
With leaden mauls, and lances long."

'When the feudal array of the kingdom was called forth, each man was obliged to appear with forty days' provision. When this was expended, which took place before the battle of Flodden, the army melted away of course. Almost all the Scottish forces, except a few knights, men-at-arms, and the Border-prickers, who formed excellent light-cavalry, acted upon foot.'--SCOTT.

Stanza III. line 48. swarthy, because of the dark leather of which it was constructed.

line 54. See above, Introd. to II. line 48.

line 56. Cheer, countenance, as below, line 244. Cp. Chaucer, 'Knightes Tale,' line 55:--

'The eldeste lady of hem alle spak
When sche hadde swowned with a dedly CHERE.'

Stanza IV. line 73. slogan, the war-cry. Cp. Aytoun's 'Burial March of Dundee':--

'Sound the fife and cry the slogan.'

line 96. The Euse and the Liddell flow into the Esk. For some miles the Liddell is the boundary between England and Scotland.

line 100. Brown Maudlin, dark or bronzed Magdalene. pied, variegated, as in Shakespeare's 'daisies pied.' kirtle = short skirt, and so applied to a gown or a petticoat.

Stanza V. For unrivalled illustration of what Celtic chiefs and clansmen were, see 'Waverley' and 'Rob Roy.'

lines 130-5 Cp. opening of Chapman's Homer's Iliad III.:--

'The Trojans would have frayed
The Greeks with noises, crying out, in coming rudely on
At all parts, like the cranes that fill with harsh confusion
Of brutish clanges all the air. '

Stanza VI. lines 143-157. Cp. Dryden's 'Palamon and Arcite,' iii. 1719-1739:--

'The neighing of the generous horse was heard,
For battle by the busy groom prepar'd:
Rustling of harness, rattling of the shield,
Clattering of armour furbish'd for the field,' &c.

line 157. following = feudal retainers.--SCOTT. To the poet's explanation Lockhart appends the remark that since Scott thought his note necessary the word has been 'completely adopted into English, and especially into Parliamentary parlance.'

line 166. Scott says:--'In all transactions of great or petty importance, and among whomsoever taking place, it would seem that a present of wine was a uniform and indispensable preliminary. It was not to Sir John Falstaff alone that such an introductory preface was necessary, however well judged and acceptable on the part of Mr. Brook; for Sir Ralph Sadler, while on an embassy to Scotland in 1539-40, mentions, with complacency, 'the same night came Rothesay (the herald so called) to me again, and brought me wine from the King both white and red.'--Clifford's Edition, p. 39.

line 168. For weeds see above, I. Introd. 256.

Stanza VII. line 172. For wassell see above, I. xv. 231; and cp. 'merry wassail' in 'Rokeby,' III. xv.

line 190. Cp. above, IV. Introd. 3.

line 200. An Elizabethan omission of relative.

Stanza VIII. The admirable characterisation, by which in this and the two following stanzas the King, the Queen, and Lady Heron are individually delineated and vividly contrasted, deserves special attention. There is every reason to believe that the delineations, besides being vivid and impressive, have the additional merit of historical accuracy.

line 213. piled = covered with a pile or nap. The Encyclopaedic Dict., s. v., quotes: 'With that money I would make thee several cloaks and line them with black crimson, and tawny, three filed veluet.'--Barry; Ram Alley, III. i.

line 221. A baldric (remotely from Lat. balteus, a girdle) was an ornamental belt passing over one shoulder and round the other side, and having the sword suspended from it. Cp. Pope's Iliad, III. 415:- -

'A radiant BALDRIC, o'er his shoulder tied,
Sustained the sword that glittered at his side.'

See also the 'wolf-skin baldric' in 'Lay of the Last Minstrel,' III. xvi.

Stanza IX. line 249. 'Few readers need to be reminded of this belt, to the weight of which James added certain ounces every year that he lived. Pitscottie founds his belief that James was not slain in the battle of Flodden, because the English never had this token of the iron-belt to show to any Scottishman. The person and character of James are delineated according to our best historians. His romantic disposition, which led him highly to relish gaiety, approaching to license, was, at the same time, tinged with enthusiastic devotion. These propensities sometimes formed a strange contrast. He was wont, during his fits of devotion, to assume the dress, and conform to the rules, of the order of Franciscans; and when he had thus done penance for some time in Stirling, to plunge again into the tide of pleasure. Probably, too, with no unusual inconsistency, he sometimes laughed at the superstitions observances to which he at other times subjected himself. There is a very singular poem by Dunbar, seemingly addressed to James IV, on one of these occasions of monastic seclusion. It is a most daring and profane parody on the services of the Church of Rome, entitled:--

"Dunbar's Dirige to the King,
Byding ewer lang in Striviling.
We that are here, in heaven's glory,
To you that are in Purgatory,
Commend us on our hearty wise;
I mean we folks in Paradise,
In Edinburgh, with all merriness,
To you in Stirling with distress,
Where neither pleasure nor delight is,
For pity this epistle wrytis," &c.

See the whole in Sibbald's Collection, vol. i. p. 234.'--SCOTT.

Since Scott's time Dunbar's poems have been edited, with perfect scholarship and skill, by David Laing (2 vols. post 8vo. 1824), and by John Small (in l885) for the Scottish Text Society. See Dict. of Nat. Biog.

lines 254-9. This perfect description may be compared, for accuracy of observation and dexterous presentment, with the steed in 'Venus and Adonis,' the paragon of horses in English verse. Both writers give ample evidence of direct personal knowledge.

Stanza X. line 261. 'It has been already noticed [see note to stanza xiii. of Canto I.] that King James's acquaintance with Lady Heron of Ford did not commence until he marched into England. Our historians impute to the King's infatuated passion the delays which led to the fatal defeat of Flodden. The author of "The Genealogy of the Heron Family" endeavours, with laudable anxiety, to clear the Lady Ford from this scandal; that she came and went, however, between the armies of James and Surrey, is certain. See PINKERTON'S History, and the authorities he refers to, vol. ii. p. 99. Heron of Ford had been, in 1511, in some sort accessory to the slaughter of Sir Robert Kerr of Cessford, Warden of the Middle Marches. It was committed by his brother the bastard, Lilburn, and Starked, three Borderers. Lilburn and Heron of Ford were delivered up by Henry to James, and were imprisoned in the fortress of Fastcastle, where the former died. Part of the pretence of Lady Ford's negotiations with James was the liberty of her husband.'--SCOTT.

line 271. love = beloved. Cp. Burns's 'O my love is like a red red rose.'

line 273. '"Also the Queen of France wrote a love-letter to the King of Scotland, calling him her love, showing him that she had suffered much rebuke in France for the defending of his honour. She believed surely that he would recompense her again with some of his kingly support in her necessity; that is to say, that he would raise her an army, and come three foot of ground on English ground, for her sake. To that effect she sent him a ring off her finger, with fourteen thousand French crowns to pay bis expenses." PITSCOTTIE, p.110.--A turquois ring--probably this fatal gift--is, with James's sword and dagger, preserved in the College of Heralds, London.'--SCOTT.

lines 287-8. The change of movement introduced by this couplet has the intended effect of arresting the attention and lending pathos to the description and sentiment.

Stanza XI. line 302. The wimple was a covering for the neck, said to have been introduced in the reign of Edward I. See Chaucer's 'Prologue,' 151:--

'Ful semely hire wympel i-pynched was.'

line 307. Cp. 2 Henry IV, iii. 2. 9, 'By yea and nay, sir.'

line 308. Cp. refrain of song, ''Twas within a mile o' Edinburgh Town,' in Johnson's Museum :--

'The lassie blush'd, and frowning cried, "No, no, it will not
do;
I cannot, cannot, wonnot, wonnot, mannot buckle too."'

Stanza XII. The skilful application of the anapaest for the production of the brilliant gallop of 'Lochinvar' has been equalled only by Scott himself in his 'Bonnets o' Bonnie Dundee.' Cp. Lord Tennyson's 'Northern Farmer' (specially New Style), and Mr. Browning's 'How they brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix.' 'The ballad of Lochinvar,' says Scott, 'is in a very slight degree founded on a ballad called " Katharine Janfarie," which may be found in the "Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," vol. ii. Mr. Charles Gibbon's 'Laird o' Lamington' is based on the same legend.

line 332. 'See the novel of "Redgauntlet" for a detailed picture of some of the extraordinary phenomena of the spring-tides in the Solway Frith.'--LOCKHART.

line 344. galliard (Sp. gallarda, Fr. gaillarda), a lively dance. Cp. Henry V, i. 2, 252, 'a nimble galliard,' and note on expression in Clarendon Press ed.

line 353. scaur, cliff or river bank. Cp. Blackie's 'Ascent of Cruachan' in 'Lays of the Highlands and Islands,' p. 98:--

'Scale the SCAUR that gleams so red.'

Stanza XIII. line 376. Cp. Dryden's 'Aurengzebe':-

'Love and a crown no rivalship can bear.'

line 382. Sir R. Kerr. See above, line 261.

line 383. Andrew Barton, High Admiral of Scotland, was one of a family of seamen, to whom James IV granted letters of reprisal against Portuguese traders for the violent death of their father. Both the King and the Bartons profited much by their successes. At length the Earl of Surrey, accusing Andrew Barton of attacking English as well as Portuguese vessels, sent two powerful men-of-war against him, and a sharp battle, fought in the Downs, resulted in Barton's death and the capture of his vessels. See Chambers's 'Eminent Scotsmen,' vol. v.

line 386. James sent his herald to Henry before Terouenne, calling upon him to desist from hostilities against Scotland's ally, the king of France, and sternly reminding him of the various insults to which Henry's supercilious policy had subjected him. Flodden had been fought before the messenger returned with his answer. Barclay a contemporary poet, had written about seven years earlier, in his 'Ship of Fooles':--

'If the Englishe Lion his wisedome and riches
Conjoyne with true love, peace, and fidelitie
With the Scottishe Unicornes might and hardines,
There is no doubt but all whole Christentie
Shall live in peace, wealth, and tranquilitie.'

But such a desirable consummation was to wait yet a while.

Stanza XIV. line 398. 'Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus,' says Scott, 'a man remarkable for strength of body and mind, acquired the popular name of Bell-the-Cat, upon the following remarkable occasion:--James the Third, of whom Pitscottie complains that he delighted more in music, and "policies of building," than in hunting, hawking, and other noble exercises, was so ill advised as to make favourites of his architects and musicians, whom the same historian irreverently terms masons and fiddlers. His nobility, who did not sympathise in the King's respect for the fine arts, were extremely incensed at the honours conferred on those persons, particularly on Cochrane, a mason, who had been created Earl of Mar; and, seizing the opportunity, when, in 1482, the King had convoked the whole array of the country to march against the English, they held a midnight council in the church of Lauder, for the purpose of forcibly removing these minions from the King's person. When all had agreed on the propriety of this measure, Lord Gray told the assembly the apologue of the Mice, who had formed a resolution, that it would be highly advantageous to their community to tie a bell round the cat's neck, that they might hear her approach at a distance; but which public measure unfortunately miscarried, from no mouse being willing to undertake the task of fastening the bell. "I understand the moral," said Angus, "and, that what we propose may not lack execution, I will bell the cat."'

The rest of the strange scene is thus told by Pitscottie:--

'By this was advised and spoken by thir lords foresaid, Cochran, the Earl of Mar, came from the King to the council, (which council was holden in the kirk of Lauder for the time,) who was well accompanied with a band of men of war; to the number of three hundred light axes, all clad in white livery, and black bends thereon, that they might be known for Cochran the Earl of Mar's men. Himself was clad in a riding-pie of black velvet, with a great chain of gold about his neck, to the value of five hundred crowns, and four blowing horns, with both the ends of gold and silk, set with a precious stone, called a berryl, hanging in the midst. This Cochran had his heumont born before him, overgilt with gold, and so were all the rest of his horns, and all his pallions were of fine canvas of silk, and the cords thereof fine twined silk, and the chains upon his pallions were double overgilt with gold.

'This Cochran was so proud in his conceit, that he counted no lords to be marrows to him, therefore he rushed rudely at the kirk-door. The council inquired who it was that perturbed them at that time. Sir Robert Douglas, Laird of Lochleven, was keeper of the kirk-door at that time, who inquired who that was that knocked so rudely; and Cochran answered, "This is I, the Earl of Mar." The which news pleased well the lords, because they were ready boun to cause take him, as is before rehearsed. Then the Earl of Angus past hastily to the door, and with him Sir Robert Douglas of Lochleven, there to receive in the Earl of Mar, and go many of his complices who were there, as they thought good. And the Earl of Angus met with the Earl of Mar, as he came in at the door, and pulled the golden chain from his craig, and said to him, a tow1 would set him better. Sir Robert Douglas syne pulled the blowing horn from him in like manner, and said, "He had been the hunter of mischief over long." This Cochran asked, "My lords, is it mows2, or earnest?" They answered, and said, "It is good earnest, and so thou shalt find; for thou and thy complices have abused our prince this long time; of whom thou shalt hare no more credence, but shalt have thy reward according to thy good service, as thou hast deserved in times bypast; right so the rest of thy followers." ------------------------------------- 1rope. 2jest. ------------------------------------- 'Notwithstanding, the lords held them quiet till they caused certain armed men to pass into the King's pallion, and two or three wise men to pass with them, and give the King fair pleasant words, till they laid hands on all the King's servants and took them and hanged them before his eyes over the bridge of Lawder. Incontinent they brought forth Cochran, and his hands bound with a tow, who desired them to take one of his own pallion tows and bind his hands, for he thought shame to have his hands bound with such tow of hemp, like a thief. The lords answered, he was a traitor, he deserved no better; and, for despight, they took a hair tether3, and hanged him over the bridge of Lawder, above the rest of his complices.'--PITSCOTTIE, p. 78, folio edit. ------------------------------------- 3halter. ------------------------------------- line 400. Hermitage Castle is on Hermitage water, which falls into the Liddell. The ruins still exist.

line 402. Bothwell Castle is on the right bank of the Clyde, a few miles above Glasgow. While staying there in 1799 Scott began a ballad entitled 'Bothwell Castle,' which remains a fragment. Lockhart gave it in the 'Life,' i. 305, ed. 1837. There, as here, he makes reference to the touching legendary ballad, 'Bothwell bank thou bloomest fair,' which a traveller before 1605 heard a woman singing in Palestine.

line 406. Reference to Cicero's cedant arma togae, a relic of an attempt at verse.