and Sir William de Lancey were among the lost. The last-named was married in the preceding April. Colonel Miller, when mortally wounded, desired to see the colors of the regiment once more ere he died. They were waved over his head, and the expiring officer declared himself satisfied. Colonel Cameron, of Fassie fern, so often distinguished in Lord Wellington's despatches from Spain, fell in the action at Quatre Bras (16th June, 1815), while leading the 92d or Gordon Highlanders, to charge a body of cavalry supported by infantry. Colonel Alexander Gordon fell by the side of his chief.] Line 446. Redoubled Picton's soul of fire. [James. From long association, this epithet strikes me as conveying a semi-ludicrous idea. Scott. It is here appropriate, and your objection seems merely personal to your own association.'] HAROLD THE DAUNTLESS. Page 381, line 8. Some reverend room, some prebendary's stall. [It is possible that in these introductory lines, Scott did have a half sly purpose of throwing readers off the scent as to the authorship of the poem. Nobody would suspect Scott of such dreams, though the sentiment might easily have been attached to Erskine, a son of an Episcopal clergyman, and by his temper and predilections, quite likely to entertain such hopes.] Line 14. There might I share my Surtees' happier lot. [Robert Surtees of Mainsforth. A Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and author of The History and Antiquities of the County Palatine of Durham. He was an early and dear friend of Scott's. A club for the publication of documents connected with the history of the English border was formed, named The Surtees Club.] Page 385, line 27. And such-if fame speak truth-the honored Barrington. [Shute Barrington, Bishop of Durham, was a friend of Scott's. The lives of Bishops Matthew and Morton are recorded by Surtees in his History of the Bishopric of Durham.] Page 398, line 380. A tale six cantos long, yet scorned to add a note. [Scott here gives a sly dig at the Scott, whose name was not attached to Harold the Dauntless, and whose predilection for notes was well known.] THE NORMAN HORSE-SHOE. Page 399, line 14. In crimson light on Rymny's 's stream. Rymny is a stream which divides the counties of Monmouth and Glamorgan. Caerphili, the scene of the supposed battle, is a vale upon its banks, dignified by the ruins of a very ancient castle. EPILOGUE TO THE APPEAL.' Page 439, line 10. Since the New Jail became our next-door neighbor. It is necessary to mention, that the allusions in this piece are all local, and addressed only to the Edinburgh audience. The new prisons of the city, on the Calton Hill, are not far from the theatre. Line 22. With the tempestuous question, Up or down? At this time, the public of Edinburgh was much agitated by a lawsuit betwixt the magistrates and many of the inhabitants of the city, concerning a range of new buildings on the western side of the North Bridge, which the latter insisted should be removed as a deformity. THE BATTLE OF SEMPACH. Page 442, line 27. The Switzer priest has ta'en the field. All the Swiss clergy who were able to bear arms fought in this patriotic war. Line 52. Might well-nigh load a wain. This seems to allude to the preposterous fashion, during the middle ages, of wearing boots with the points or peaks turned upwards, and so long, that in some cases they were fastened to the knees of the wearer with small chains. When they alighted to fight upon foot, it would seem that the Austrian gentlemen found it necessary to cut off these peaks that they might move with the necessary activity. THE NOBLE MORINGER. Page 444. The original of these verses occurs in a collection of German popular songs, entitled Sammlung Deustcher Volkslieder, Berlin, 1807, published by Messrs. Busching and Von der Hagen, both, and more especially the last, distinguished for their acquaintance with the ancient popular poetry and legendary history of Germany. In the German editor's notice of the ballad, it is stated to have been extracted from a manuscript Chronicle of Nicolaus Thomann, chaplain to Saint Leonard in Weisenhorn, which bears the date 1533; and the song is stated by the author to have been generally sung in the neighborhood at that early period. Thomann, as quoted by the German editor, seems faithfully to have believed the event he narrates. He quotes tombstones and obituaries to prove the existence of the personages of the ballad, and discovers that there actually died, on the 11th May, 1349, a Lady Von Neuffen, Countess of Marstetten, who was, by birth, of the house of Moringer. This lady he supposes to have been Moringer's daughter, mentioned in the ballad. He quotes the same authority for the death of Berckhold Von Neuffen, in the same year. The editors, on the whole, seem to embrace the opinion of Professor Smith, of Ulm, who, from the language of the ballad, ascribes its date to the 15th century. CARLE, NOW THE KING'S COME. Page 469, line 47. Come, Clerk, and give your bugle breath. Sir George Clerk, of Pennycuik, Bart. The Baron of Pennycuik is bound by his tenure, whenever the king comes to Edinburgh, to receive him at the Harestone (in which the standard of James IV. was erected when his army encamped on the Boroughmuir, before his fatal expedition to England), now built into the park THE BANNATYNE CLUB. Page 471. [This club was instituted in 1822 for the publication of rare and curious works connected with the history and antiquities of Scotland. It consisted, at first, of a very few members, - gradually extended to one hundred They assume the name from George Bannatyne, of whom little is known beyond that prodigios effort which produced his present honors, and is, perhaps, one of the most singular instances of its kind which the literature of any countrý exhibits. His labors as an amanuensis were undertaken during the time of pestilence, in 1568. The dread of infection had induced him to retire into solitude, and under such circumstances he had the energy to form and execute the plan of saving the literature of the whole nation; and, undisturbed by the general mourn ing for the dead, and general fears of the living to devote himself to the task of collecting and recording the triumphs of human genius in the poetry of his age and country; thus, amid the wreck of all that was mortal, employing himself in preserving the lays by which immortality is at once given to others, and obtained for the writer himself. He informs us of some of the numerous difficulties he had to contend with in this self-imposed task. The volume containing his labors, deposited in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh, is no less than eight hundred pages in length, and very neatly and closely written, containing nearly all the ancient poetry of Scotland now known to exist.'] To J. G. LOCKHART, ESQ. Page 475, line 2. Fat worship. [So also at foot of the page; Fatsman, one of the many aliases of Mr. James Ballantyne, Speats and rares are spits and ranges.'] rochet, bishop's short surplice. rood, cross (as in Holy-Rood). room, piece of land. rowan, mountain-ash. ruth, pity, compassion. sack, Sherry or Canary wine. sackless, innocent. saga, Scandinavian epic. saltier, stirrup. salvo-shot, salute of artillery. saye, say, assertion. scalds, Scandinavian minstrels. scapular, ecclesiastical scarf. scathe, harm, injury. scaur, cliff, precipice. scrae, bank of loose stones. Scrogg, shady wood. sea-dog, seal. selcouth, strange, uncouth. selle, saddle. seneschal, steward of castle. sewer, officer who serves up a feast. shalm, shawm, musical instrument. sheeling, shepherd's hut. sheen, bright, shining. shent, shamed. shrieve, shrive, absolve. shroud, garment, plaid. sleights, tricks, stratagems. slogan, Highland battle-cry. snood, maiden's hair-band or fillet. soland, solan-goose, gannet. sooth, true, truth. sped, despatched,' done for.' speer, speir, ask. spell, make out, study out. sperthe, a battle-axe. springlet, small spring. spule, shoulder. spurn, kick. stag of ten, one having ten branches on his ant lers. |