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Then rest you in Tantallon Hold.-P. 158.

The ruins of Tantallon Castle occupy a high rock projecting into the German Ocean, about two miles east of North Berwick. The circuit is of large extent, fenced upon three sides by the precipice which overhangs the sea, and on the fourth by a double ditch and very strong outworks. Tantallon was a principal castle of the Douglas family, and when the Earl of Angus was banished, in 1527, it continued to hold out against James V. The castle and barony were sold in the beginning of the eighteenth century to President Dalrymple of North Berwick, by the then Marquis of Douglas.

He wears their motto on his blade.-P. 158.

A very ancient sword, in possession of Lord Douglas, bears, among a great deal of flourishing, two hands pointing to a heart, which is placed betwixt them, and the date 1329, being the year in which Bruce charged the Good Lord Douglas to carry his heart to the Holy Land. It resembles a Highland claymore, of the usual size, and is of an excellent temper.

Perchance some form was unobserved.-P. 162.

It was early necessary for those who felt themselves obliged to believe in the divine judgment being enunciated in the trial by duel, to find salvos for the strange and obviously precarious chances of the combat. Various curious evasive shifts, used by those who took up an unrighteous quarrel, were supposed sufficient to convert it into a just one.

Dun-Edin's Cross, a pillared stone.-P. 164.

The Cross of Edinburgh was an ancient and curious structure. The lower part was an octagonal tower, sixteen feet in diameter, and about fifteen feet high. At each angle there was a pillar, and between them an arch, of the Grecian shape. Above these was a projecting battlement, with a turret at each corner, and medallions, of rude but curious workmanship, between them. Above this rose the proper Cross, a column of one stone, upwards of twenty feet high, surmounted with an unicorn. From the tower of the Cross, so long as it remained, the heralds published the Acts of Parlia ment; and its site, marked by radii, diverging from a stone centre, in the High Street, is still the place where proclamations are made.

Before a venerable pile.-P. 166.

The convent alluded to is a foundation of Cistertian nuns, near North Berwick, of which there are still some remains. It was founded by Duncan, Earl of Fife, in 1216.

Drove the Monks forth of Coventry.-P. 168.

This relates to the catastrophe of a real Robert de Marmion, in the reign of King Stephen. The whole story is told by William of Newbury.

At Iol more deep the mead did drain.-P. 170.

The Iol of the heathen Danes (a word still applied to Christmas in Scotland), was solemnized with great festivity. The humour of the Danes at table displayed itself in pelting each other with bones. The dances of the northern warriors round the great fires of pinetrees are commemorated by Olaus Magnus, who says, they danced with such fury, holding each other by the hands, that, if the grasp of any failed, he was pitched into the fire with the velocity of a sling.

On Christmas eve the mass was sung.-P. 171.

In Roman Catholic countries mass is never said at night, except en Christmas eve.

Traces of ancient mystery.-P. 172.

The Mummers of England and the Guisards of Scotland present, in some indistinct degree, a shadow of the old mysteries, which were the origin of the English drama.

Will on a Friday morn look pale.-P. 173.

The Daoine shi, or Men of Peace, of the Scottish Highlanders, rather resemble the Scandinavian Duergar than the English Fairies. Notwithstanding their name, they are, if not absolutely malevolent, at least peevish, discontented, and apt to do mischief on slight provocation. The belief of their existence is deeply impressed on the Highlanders, who think they are particularly offended with mortals who talk of them, who wear their favourite colour, green, or in any respect interfere with their affairs. This is especially to be avoided on Friday, when, whether as dedicated to Venus, with whom, in Germany, this subterraneous people are held nearly connected, or for a more solemn reason, they are more active, and possessed of greater powers.

By the last lord of Franchemont.-P. 174.

It is firmly believed by the peasantry, in the neighbourhood of Franchemont, that the last Baron deposited, in one of the vaults of the castle, a ponderous chest, containing an immense treasure in gold and silver, which, by some magic spell, was intrusted to the care of the devil, who is constantly found sitting on the chest in the shape of a huntsman. Any one adventurous enough to touch the chest, is instantly seized with the palsy. Yet if anybody can discover the mystic words used by the person who deposited the treasure, and pronounce them, the fiend must instantly decamp.

The very form of Hilda fair.-P. 177.

It is believed by many that Lady Hilda still renders herself visible on some occasions in the abbey of Streanshalh, or Whitby, where she so long resided.

A bishop by the altar stood.-P. 181.

The well-known Gawain Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld, son of Archibald Bell-the-Cat, Earl of Angus. He was author of a Scottish metrical version of the Eneid, and of many other poetical pieces of great merit. He had not at this period attained the mitre.

As wood-knife lops the sapling spray.-P. 182.

Angus had strength and personal activity corresponding to his courage. Spens of Kilspindie, a favourite of James IV., having spoken of him lightly, the Earl met him while hawking, and compelling him to single combat, at one blow cut asunder his thigh bone, and killed him on the spot.

Where Lennel's convent closed their march.-P. 186.

This was a Cistertian house of religion, now almost entirely demolished, situated near Coldstream, almost opposite to Cornhill, and consequently very near to Flodden Field.

The Till by Twisel Bridge.-P. 186.

The battle of Flodden was fought on 9th September, 1513. The ancient bridge of Twisel, by which the English crossed the Till, is still standing beneath Twisel Castle, a splendid pile of Gothic architecture, as now rebuilt by Sir Francis Blake, Bart., whose extensive plantations have so much improved the country around. The glen is romantic and delightful, with steep banks on each side, covered with copse, particularly with hawthorn. Beneath a tall rock, near the bridge, is a plentiful fountain, called St. Helen's Well.

With Brian Tunstall, stainless knight.-P. 189.

Sir Brian Tunstall, called, in the romantic language of the time, Tunstall the Undefiled, was one of the few Englishmen of rank slain

at Flodden. Tunstall, perhaps, derived his epithet of undefiled from his white armour and banner, the latter bearing a white cock about to crow, as well as from his unstained loyalty and knightly faith. His place of residence was Thurland Castle.

View not that corpse mistrustfully.-P. 196.

There can be no doubt that King James fell in the battle of Flodden. He was killed, says the curious French Gazette, within a lance's length of the Earl of Surrey; and the same account adds, that none of his division were made prisoners, though many were killed; a circumstance that testifies the desperation of their resistance. Other reports gave a still more romantic turn to the king's fate, and averred that James, weary of greatness after the carnage among his nobles, had gone on a pilgrimage to merit absolution for the death of his father, and the breach of his oath of amity to Henry. In particular, it was objected to the English, that they could never show the token of the iron belt; which, however, he was likely enough to have laid aside on the day of battle, as encumbering his personal exertions. They produce a better evidence, the monarch's sword and dagger, which are still preserved in the Heralds' College in London.

The fair cathedral stormed and took.-P. 196. This storm of Lichfield cathedral, which had been garrisoned on the part of the king, took place in the great civil war. Lord Brook, who, with Sir John Gill, commanded the assailants, was shot with a musket-ball through the visor of his helmet. The magnificent church in question suffered cruelly upon this and other occasions, the principal spire being ruined by the fire of the besiegers.

THE LADY OF THE LAKE.

Disturbed the heights of Uam-var.-P. 202.

Ua-var, as the name is pronounced, or more properly Uaigh-mor, is a mountain to the north-east of the village of Callander in Menteith, deriving its name, which signifies "the great den," or cavern, from a sort of retreat among the rocks on the south side, said, by tradition, to have been the abode of a giant.

Two dogs of black St. Hubert's breed.-P. 203.

"The hounds which we call Saint Hubert's hounds, are commonly all blacke, yet neuertheless, their race is so mingled at these days, that we find them of all colours. These are the hounds which the abbots of St. Hubert haue always kept some of their race or kind, in honour or remembrance of the saint, which was a hunter with S. Eustace."-Art of Venerie, or Hunting.

No pathway meets the wanderer's ken.-P. 206.

Until the present road was made through the romantic pass which I have presumptuously attempted to describe in the preceding stanzas, there was no mode of issuing out of the defile called the Trosachs, excepting by a sort of ladder, composed of the branches and roots of the trees.

Was on the visioned future bent.-P. 210.

If force of evidence could authorize us to believe facts inconsistent with the general laws of nature, enough might be produced in favour of the existence of the second-sight. It is called in Gaelic Taishitaraugh, from Taish, an unreal or shadowy appearance; and those possessed of the faculty are called Taishatrin, which may be aptly translated "visionaries.

Some chief had framed a rustic bower.-P. 211.

The Celtic chieftains, whose lives were continually exposed to peril, had usually, in the most retired spot of their domains, some place of retreat for the hour of necessity, which, as circumstances would admit, was a tower, a cavern, or a rustic hut, in a strong and secluded situation.

Of Ferragus or Ascabart.-P. 213.

These two sons of Anak flourished in romantic fable. The first is well known to the admirers of Ariosto, by the name of Ferrau. He was an antagonist of Orlando, and was at length slain by him in single combat. Ascapart, or Ascabart, makes a very material figure in the History of Bevis of Hampton, by whom he was conquered.

Though all unasked his birth or name.-P. 213.

The Highlanders, who carried hospitality to a punctilious excess, are said to have considered it as churlish to ask a stranger his name or lineage, before he had taken refreshment. Feuds were so frequent among them, that a contrary rule would, in many cases, have produced the discovery of some circumstance which might have excluded the guest from the benefit of the assistance he stood in need of.

Morn's genial influence waked a minstrel grey.-P. 216. Highland chieftains, to a late period, retained in their service the bard, as a family officer.

Poured forth the glory of the Græme.-P. 219.

The ancient and powerful family of Graham (which, for metrical reasons, is here spelled after the Scottish pronunciation), held extensive possessions in the counties of Dumbarton and Stirling.

This harp which erst Saint Modan swayed.-P. 219.

I am not prepared to show that Saint Modan was a performer on the harp. It was, however, no unsaintly accomplishment; for Saint Dunstan certainly did play upon that instrument, which, retaining, as was natural, a portion of the sanctity attached to its master's character, announced future events by its spontaneous sound.

Ere Douglasses, to ruin driven.--P. 219.

The downfall of the Douglasses of the house of Angus, during the reign of James V., is the event alluded to in the text.

Disowned by every noble peer.-P. 221.

The exiled state of this powerful race is not exaggerated in this and subsequent passages. The hatred of James against the race of Douglas was so inveterate, that, numerous as their allies were, and disregarded as the regal authority had usually been in similar cases, their nearest friends, even in the most remote parts of Scotland, durst not entertain them, unless under the strictest and closest disguise.

A votaress in Maronnan's cell.-P. 222.

The parish of Kilmaronock, at the eastern extremity of Loch Lomond, derives its name from a cell or chapel, dedicated to Saint Marouoch, or Marnoch, or Maronan.

But wild as Bracklinn's thundering wave.-P. 222.

This is a beautiful cascade made at a place called the Bridge of Bracklinn, by a mountain stream called the Keltie, about a mile from the village of Callander, in Menteith.

For Tine-man forged by fairy lore.-P. 223.

Archibald, the third Earl of Douglas, was so unfortunate in all his enterprises, that he acquired the epithet of TINE-MAN, because he tined, or lost, his followers in every battle which he fought.

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Did, self-unscabbarded, fore-show.-P. 223.

The ancient warriors, whose hope and confidence rested chiefly in their blades, were accustomed to deduce omens from them, especi ally from such as were supposed to have been fabricated by enchanted skill.

Roderigh Vich Alpine Dhu, ho! ieroe!-P. 225.

Besides his ordinary name and surname, every Highland chief had an epithet expressive of his patriarchal dignity as head of the clan, and which was common to all his predecessors and successors.

Malise, what ho!-his hench-man came.-P. 233.

This officer was a sort of secretary, and was upon all occasions te venture his life in defence of his master; and at drinking-bouts he stood behind his seat, at his haunch, from whence his title is derived, and watched the conversation, to see if any one offended his patron.

And while the Fiery Cross glanced, like a meteor, round.-P. 234.

When a chieftain designed to summon his clan, upon any sudden or important emergency, he slew a goat, and making a cross of any light wood, seared its extremities in the fire, and extinguished them in the blood of the animal. This was called the Fiery Cross, also Crean Tarigh, or the Cross of Shame, because disobedience to what the symbol implied, inferred infamy. It was delivered to a swift and trusty messenger, who ran full speed with it to the next hamlet, where he presented it to the principal person, with a single word, implying the place of rendezvous. He who received the symbol was bound to send it forward, with equal despatch, to the next village; and thus it passed with incredible celerity through all the district which owed allegiance to the chief, and also among his allies and neighbours, if the danger was common to them. At sight of the Fiery Cross, every man, from sixteen years old to sixty, capable of bearing arms, was obliged instantly to repair, in his best arms and accoutrements, to the place of rendezvous. He who failed to appear suffered the extremities of fire and sword, which were emblematically denounced to the disobedient by the bloody and burnt marks upon this warlike signal. During the civil war of 1745-6, the Fiery Cross often made its circuit; and upon one occasion it passed through the whole district of Breadalbane, a tract of thirty-two miles, in three hours.

That Monk, of savage form and face.-P. 236.

The state of religion in the middle ages afforded considerable facilities for those whose mode of life excluded them from regular worship, to secure, nevertheless, the ghostly assistance of confessors, perfectly willing to adapt the nature of their doctrine to the necessities and peculiar circumstances of their flock. Robin Hood, it is well known, had his celebrated domestic chaplain, Friar Tuck.

The virgin snood did Alice wear.--P. 236.

The snood, or riband, with which a Scottish lass braided her hair, had an emblematical signification, and applied to her maiden cha racter. It was exchanged for the curch, toy, or coif, when she passed, by marriage, into the matron state. But if the damsel was so unfortunate as to lose pretensions to the name of maiden, without gaining a right to that of matron, she was neither permitted to use the snood, nor advanced to the graver dignity of the curch.

Beheld the River Dæmon rise.-P. 237.

The River Dæmon, or River Horse, for it is that form which he commonly assumes, is the Kelpy of the Lowlands, an evil and malicious spirit, delighting to forebode and to witness calamity. He frequents most Highland lakes and rivers.

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