The Lady of the Lake Chapter 36: Part 36

of Stirling" (Lockhart). 548. 'T is Blanche, etc. The MS. has: "'A Saxon born, a crazy maid-- T is Blanche of Devan,' Murdoch said." 552. Bridegroom. Here accented on the second syllable. In 682 below it has the ordinary accent. 555. 'Scapes. The word may be so printed here, but not in Elizabethan poetry. We find it in prose of that day; as in Bacon, Adv. of L. ii. 14. 9: "such as had scaped shipwreck." See Wb., and cf. state and estate, etc. 559. Pitched a bar. That is, in athletic contests. Cf. v. 648 below. 562. See the gay pennons, etc. The MS. reads: "With thee these pennons will I share, Then seek my true love through the air; But I'll not lend that savage groom, To break his fall, one downy plume! Deep, deep, mid yon disjointed stones, The wolf shall batten his bones." 567. Batten. Fatten; as in Hamlet, iii. 4. 67: "Batten on this moor." Milton uses it transitively in Lycidas, 29: "Battening our flocks with the fresh dews of night." 575. The Lincoln green. "The Lowland garb" (520). Cf. also 376 above. 578. For O my sweet William, etc. The MS. reads: "Sweet William was a woodsman true, He stole poor Blanche's heart away; His coat was of the forest hue, And sweet he sung the Lowland Lay." 590. The toils are pitched. The nets are set. Cf. Shakespeare, L. L. L., iv. 3. 2: "they have pitched a toil," etc. "The meaning is obvious. The hunters are Clan-Alpine's men; the stag of ten is Fitz-James; the wounded doe is herself" (Taylor). 594. A stag of ten. "Having ten branches on his antlers" (Scott). Nares says that antlers is an error here, the word meaning "the short brow horns, not the branched horns;" but see Wb. Cf. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, i. 2: "Aud a hart of ten, Madam, I trow to be;" and Massinger, Emperor of the East, iv. 2: "He'll make you royal sport; he is a deer Of ten, at least." 595. Sturdily. As Taylor notes, the "triple rhymes" in this song are "of a very loose kind." 609. Blanche's song. Jeffrey says: "No machinery can be conceived more clumsy for effecting the deliverance of a distressed hero than the introduction of a mad woman, who, without knowing or caring about the wanderer, warns him by a song to take care of the ambush that was set for him. The maniacs or poetry have indeed had a prescriptive right to be musical, since the days of Ophelia downwards; but it is rather a rash extension of this privilege to make them sing good sense, and to make sensible people be guided by them." To this Taylor well replied: "This criticism seems unjust. The cruelty of Roderick's raids in the Lowlands has already been hinted at, and the sight of the Lowland dress might well stir associations in the poor girl's mind which would lead her to look to the knight for help and protection and also to warn him of his danger. It is plain, from Murdoch's surprise, that her being out of her captors' sight is looked on as dangerous, from which we may infer that she is not entirely crazed. Her song is not the only hint that Fitz-James follows. His suspicions had already twice been excited, so that the episode seems natural enough. As giving a distinct personal ground for the combat in canto v., it serves the poet's purpose still further. Without it, we should sympathize too much with the robber chief, who thinks that 'plundering Lowland field and fold is naught but retribution true;' but the sight of this sad fruit of his raids wins us back to the cause of law and order." 614. Forth at full speed, etc. The MS. reads: "Forth at full speed the Clansman went, But in his race his bow he bent, Halted--and back an arrow sent." 617. Thrilled. Quivered. 627. Thine ambushed kin, etc. The MS. transposes this line and the next, and goes on thus: "Resistless as the lightning's flame, The thrust betwixt his shoulder came." Just below it reads: "The o'er him hung, with falcon eye, And grimly smiled to see him die." 642. Daggled. Wet, soaked. Cf. the Lay, i. 316: "Was daggled by the dashing spray." 649. Helpless. The MS. has "guiltless." 657. Shred. Cut off; a sense now obsolete. Cf. Withal's Dictionary (ed. 1608): "The superfluous and wast sprigs of vines, being cut and shreaded off are called sarmenta." 659. My brain, etc. The MS. has "But now, my champion, it shall wave." 672. Wreak. Avenge. Cf. Shakespeare, R. and J. iii. 5. 102: "To wreak the love I bore my cousin Upon his body that hath slaughter'd him;" Spenser, F. Q. ii. 3. 13: "to wreak so foule despight;" etc. 679. God, in my need, etc. The MS. reads: "God, in my need, to me be true, As I wreak this on Roderick Dhu." 686. Favor. The token of the next line; referring to the knightly custom of wearing such a gift of lady-love or mistress. Cf. Rich. II. v. 3. 18: "And from the common'st creature pluck a glove, And wear it as a favour," etc. See also the Lay, iv. 334: "With favor in his crest, or glove, Memorial of his layde-love." 691. At bay. See on i. 133 above; and for the dangerous foe, cf. the note on i. 137. 698. Couched him. Lay down. See on i. 142 above. 700. Rash adventures. See on 437 above. 701. Must prove. The 1st ed. has "will prove." 705. Bands at Doune. Cf. 150 above. 711. Darkling. See on 283 above. 722. Not the summer solstice. Not even the heat of the summer. 724. Wold. See on 267 above. 731. Beside its embers, etc. The MS. reads: "By the decaying flame was laid A warrior in his Highland plaid." For the rhyme here, see on i. 363 above. Cf. 764 below. 741. I dare, etc. The MS. reads: "I dare! to him and all the swarm He brings to aid his murderous arm." 746. Slip. A hunter's term for letting loose the greyhounds from the slips, or nooses, by which they were held until sent after the game. Tubervile (Art of Venerie) says: "We let slip a greyhound, and we cast off a hound." Cf. Shakespeare, Cor. i. 6. 39: "Holding Corioli in the name of Rome, Even like a fawning greyhound in the leash, To let him slip at will;" and for the noun, Hen. V. iii. 1. 31: "I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, Straining upon the start." 747. Who ever recked, etc. Scott says: "St. John actually used this illustration when engaged in confuting the plea of law proposed for the unfortunate Earl of Strafford: 'It was true, we gave laws to hares and deer, because they are beasts of chase; but it was never accounted either cruelty or foul play to knock foxes or wolves on the head as they can be found, because they are beasts of prey. In a word, the law and humanity were alike: the one being more fallacious, and the other more barbarous, than in any age had been vented in such an authority' (Clarendon's History of the Rebellion)." 762. The hardened flesh of mountain deer. "The Scottish Highlanders, in former times, had a concise mode of cooking their venison, or rather of dispensing with cooking it, which appears greatly to have surprised the French, whom chance made acquainted with it. The Vidame of Chartres, when a hostage in England, during the reign of Edward VI., was permitted to travel into Scotland, and penetrated as far as to the remote Highlands (au fin fond des Sauvages). After a great hunting-party, at which a most wonderful quantity of game was destroyed, he saw these Scottish savages devour a part of their venison raw, without any farther preparation than compressing it between two batons of wood, so as to force out the blood, and render it extremely hard. This they reckoned a great delicacy; and when the Vidame partook of it, his compliance with their taste rendered him extremely popular. This curious trait of manners was communicated by Mons. de Montmorency, a great friend of the Vidame, to Brantome, by whom it is recorded in Vies des Hommes Illustres, lxxxix. 14.... After all, it may be doubted whether la chaire nostree, for so the French called the venison thus summarily prepared, was anything more than a mere rude kind of deer ham" (Scott). 772. A mighty augury. That of the Taghairm. 777. Not for clan. The 1st ed. has "nor for clan." 785. Stock and stone. Cf. i. 130 above. 787. Coilantogle's ford. On the Teith just below its exit from Loch Vennachar. 791. The bittern's cry. See on i. 642 above. 797. And slept, etc. The MS. has "streak" and "lake" for beam and stream. Canto Fifth. 1. Fair as the earliest beam, etc. "This introductory stanza is well worked in with the story. The morning beam 'lights the fearful path on mountain side' which the two heroes of the poem are to traverse, and the comparison which it suggest enlists our sympathy for Roderick, who is to be the victim of defeat" (Taylor). 5. And lights, etc. The MS. has "And lights the fearful way along its side." 10. Sheen. See on i. 208. 14. The dappled sky. Cf. Milton, L'Allegro, 44: "Till the dappled dawn doth rise;" and Shakespeare, Much Ado, v. 3. 25: "and look, the gentle day, Before the wheels of Phoebus, round about Dapples the drowsy east with spots of gray." 15. By. The word is used for the rhyme, but perhaps gives the idea of a hurry--muttered off the prayers. 16. Steal. The word here is expressive of haste. 18. Gael. "The Scottish Highlander calls himself, Gael, or Gaul, and terms the Lowlanders Sassenach, or Saxons" (Scott). 22. Wildering. Bewildering. See on i. 274 above. For winded, see on i. 500. 32. Bursting through. That is, as it burst through--"a piece of loose writing" (Taylor). 36. At length, etc. The MS. reads: "At length they paced the mountain's side, And saw beneath the waters wide." 44. The rugged mountain's scanty cloak, etc. The MS. reads: "The rugged mountain's stunted screen Was dwarfish | shrubs | with cliffs between." | copse | 46. Shingles. Gravel or pebbles. See on iii. 171 above. Taylor says: "Note how the details of this description are used in stanza ix.--shingles, bracken, broom." 51. Dank. Damp, moist. Cf. Shakespeare, R. and J. ii. 3. 6: "and night's dank dew;" Milton, Sonnet to Mr. Lawrence: "Now that the fields are dank, and ways are mire," etc. 64. Sooth to tell. To tell the