xxiii. 1. Dun-Edin.] Celtic name for Edinburgh, being a translation of the Saxon name. Dun (Cf. note, I. ii. 4) means a hill, or fortress on a hill. Cf. Lugdunum, etc. Edinburgh is the fort of Edwin, a Saxon king of Northumbria, who in the seventh century possessed the South of Scotland.

8, 11. Braid.] A short range of rocky hills to the south of Edinburgh; Blackford hill, to the north of them, between them and Edinburgh.

xxiv. 8. Saint Giles's is the Cathedral of Edinburgh. It has a very fine spire, in the shape of an octagonal lantern.

xxv. 6. Borough-moor.] "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, 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 Burntsfield Links. The Hare Stane probably derives its name from the British word har, signifying an army."-S.

xxvi. 1. Hebudes.] Ancient name of the Hebrides, which are very rugged and mountainous. It is well known that mountains attract rain : hence the epithet in the text.

2. Lodon]=Lothian. Cf. supra, note, II. xv. 5.

3. Redswire.] A part of the Carter Mountain, in the extreme south of Scotland, about ten miles from Jedburgh. There is a ballad, called "The Raid of Redswire," in the "Border Minstrelsy," vol. ii. In the MS. it is spelt Reidsquhair. Swair (or Swire) = the descent of a hill. Red is either (1) from the colour of the heath; or (2) Reid-water, a small river which rises at no great distance.

4. Rosse, usually Ross-shire, the northernmost county in Scotland, except Sutherland and Caithness.

xxvii. 9. Borthwick's sisters seven,] i.e., cannon cast by a man named Borthwick.

xxix. 6. Falcon.] Marmion's crest. Cf. I. vi. 8.

XXX. 20. Ochil.] A range of mountains in Perth, Clackmannan, and Stirling. The highest is Ben Clench, and the best known, Dunmyat.

XXX. 23. Of. the following lines:

"Traced like a map the landscape lies,
In cultured beauty stretching wide;
There Pentland's green acclivities;

There Ocean with its azure tide;

There Arthur's Seat; and gleaming through,
Thy southern wing, Dunedin blue!
While in the Orient, Lammer's daughters,

A distant giant-range, are seen,

North Berwick Law, with cone of green,
And Bass amid the waters."

-"Delta" (nom de plume of the late David Macbeth Moir, of Musselburgh, a contributor to Blackwood, author of "Mansie Waugh," the "Legend of Genevieve," etc.)

24. Preston Bay.] A small bay by the village of Prestonpans, on the south coast of the Frith of Forth, memorable for the battle (Sept. 21, 1745) in which Prince Charles Edward, the Young Pretender, with his Highlanders, defeated the royal troops under Sir J. Cope.

Berwick Law.] Vide infra, note on V. xxix. 2.

28. "Observe, 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."-Ruskin, "Modern Painters," vol. iii. p. 280.

xxxi. 9. The whilst.] Cf. I. xiii. 9; VI. xxxi. 10, "Alas the while," and "Lady of the Lake," II. ii. 7. "Then, stranger, go! good speed the while." It is explained as a Scottish idiom; but it may be compared with the classical Tò vuv, etc. May it not be a substantive? Cf. " a long while."

xxxi. 14. To St. Katharine's of Sienne,] i. e. to the chapel dedicated to her in the church of Linlithgow. (Cf. supra, note, xvi. 9.) "This popular saint was the daughter of a dyer; she took the vows when only eight years of age. Her revelations and miracles gained her so high a repute, that she succeeded in inducing Gregory XI. to remove the Holy See from Avignon after it had been fixed there for seventy years. She died in 1400, and was canonised in 1461."-Murray's "Handbook to Central Italy."

xxxi. 15. Saint Rocque,] or Roche. According to Chalmers's "Caledonia" (iii. 666), no account can be found of this saint, though more than one chapel is dedicated to him. This chapel was at the end of the Bridge of Stirling, and James made frequent offerings in it. There is

another in Glasgow; and upon the heights above Bingen on the Rhine is one dedicated to St. Roch, or Rochus. His festival, of which Goethe wrote an account, is on the Sunday after August 15.

19. Falkland Woods,] in Fifeshire, south-west from Cupar. There was a palace of the Scotch kings at Falkland.

CANTO V.-THE COURT.

LORD MARMION is received by King James, whilst giving a parting entertainment to the Scottish nobles, with a courtesy which soon changes to coldness, when the King perceives that Marmion seems to have an old acquaintance with Lady Heron, then an object of the King's attentions. Lord Marmion had been sent to ask why the Scotch army was being collected. King James enumerates the reasons which prompted him to make war. But as Marmion's commission said that he was to stay in the North whilst there was the slightest hope of peace, the King commands him to be entertained by Earl Douglas at Tantallon Castle. The Abbess of Whitby, with her attendant nuns, had been captured by a Scotch galley on their return from Lindisfarne. The King wished now to send them back to England under escort of Lord Marmion. The Abbess, knowing his character, and also his designs on Clara, is in great fear; wherefore, at Edinburgh, she seeks counsel from the Palmer, and intrusts to his hand the proof of Lord Marmion's guilt and of De Wilton's innocence. Their converse is suddenly stopped by an apparition seen upon the town-cross of Edinburgh. The party moves towards Tantallon : from North Berwick the Abbess and nuns return by ship to Whitby; but Clara, in spite of her own protestations and those of the Abbess, is still detained by Douglas, in consequence of a letter which Lord Marmion had shown him.

i. 6. Carried pikes.] Probably some method of saluting. "To carry arms," however, in the present day means to trail, not to salute. 18. Cloth-yard arrows.] Cf. I. viii. 20.

ii. 27. Mace of weight.] Cf. II. iii. 21, relic-shrine of cost.

iv. 29. Liddell's tide.] In xiv. 13, Liddesdale, the valley of the Liddel, a tributary of the Esk. It flows through Roxburghshire, and is the valley on the north side of the Cheviot Hills.

33. Maudlin.] A corruption of Magdalen. Cf. the pronunciation of Magdalen College. The adjective maudlin is said to be derived from Magdalen also, because painters represent her with swollen eyes, and confused with weeping.

v. 1. Celtic.] The Highlanders are Celtic or Gaelic, whilst the Lowlanders are of Saxon or Scandinavian origin. The names of Celtic tribes may be thus connected: Celta, Kelta, Galatæ, Galli, Gael, Wales,

Cornwall, Walloon. Cf. Cæsar, B. G. I. i. " qui ipsorum lingua Celtæ, nostra Galli appellantur."

vi. 22. Following.] Scott, on using this word, added the explanation "feudal retainers" in a note. It is now common enough, especially as used of a Parliamentary party.

27. Holy Rood.] Cf. I. xxi. 25.

30. Costly wines.] A customary present to ambassadors.

vii. 12. Maskers.] Actors in masks. Cf. Shakespeare's "Henry VIII." I. iv. Hence the word masquerade.

viii. 16. Thistle.] Cf. supra, IV. xiv. 13.

17. Toledo.] A very ancient city of Spain, once its capital, situated on the River Tagus, and thirty-seven miles south-west of Madrid. Its architecture is chiefly Moorish, the result of the occupation of Spain by the Saracens, but its history dates from a much earlier period. It is mentioned by Livy (xxxv. 22), "Toletum ibi parva urbs erat sed loco munito," and (xxxix. 30) he tells us of its capture by M. Fabius Nobilior, 193 B.C. By the Goths, it was made the capital of their monarchy. It has long been famous for its manufacture of swords, the Moors having brought the art from the East. Charles III. had a huge building erected for this object, about two miles from the city. The sword-blades were remarkable for their temper, and a proof of their elasticity is given by the fact that they were sometimes sold in boxes, coiled up like the mainspring of a watch. "Compassed like a good Bilboa, in the circumference of a peck, hilt to point, heel to head." Falstaff in Shakespeare's "Merry Wives of Windsor," ш. v. 110.

ix. 20. Iron belt.] Cf. IV. xv. 15.

x. 2. Sir Hugh the Heron's wife.] In I. xvii. Sir Hugh had announced that his wife was at the Scotch court: in IV. ix. 10, Sir David Lyndsay had called her a spy for England: the warning against woman's wiles, in IV. xvii. 12, is directed against her. It is said by most historians that "the delays which led to the fatal defeat of Flodden" (S.) are to be traced to the influence which this lady exercised over the King.

Lingard (vol. iv. p. 150, note), however, denies that there were any such delays, because Norham surrendered on the 29th of August, whilst Surrey reached Alnwick on the 3rd of September, and Ford, Etall, and Wark were taken in the meantime. Scott's answer to another such defender of Lady Ford, is that it is certain she came and went between the armies of James and Surrey-evidence, however, insufficient for conviction. Her husband had been accessory to the slaughter of Sir Robert Kerr of Cessford, Warden of the Middle Marches, for which he had been delivered up to King James. Lady Ford's object was to obtain her husband's liberty.

x. 10. Queen of France.] Anne of Brittany, widow of Charles VIII., and second wife of Louis XII. It was through her marriage with two

Kings of France that Brittany, the last of the great fiefs, was united to the crown of France. The account of her message to James is from Pitscottie.

The turquois ring is said to be now in the London College of Heralds.

x. 27. Margaret.] Daughter of Henry VII. of England. After the death of James IV. at Flodden, she married secondly Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, from whom she was divorced; and thirdly Henry Stuart, Lord Methvin. It was through the marriage of Margaret to James IV. that James VI. was heir to the English crown, and at his accession united the crowns of England and Scotland.

28. Lithgow.] Same as Linlithgow. Cf. supra, IV. xv. 4.

xii. 1. Lochinvar.] The Gordons were Lords of Lochinvar, a castle by a lake of the same name, in the parish of Dalry in Kirkcudbright, beyond the borders of Dumfries.

The Grahams were Lords of Netherby Hall, near Carlisle in Cumberland. Helen Graham was the young lady who was to be married to one of the Musgraves, by the wish of her father and mother; but Lochinvar was the lady's true-love, who carried her off from her father's mansion. Lochinvar crossed the Esk and rode over Cannobie Lee, a plain in Dumfriesshire, divided from Cumberland by the River Liddel.

8. Eske,] or Esk. A river which flows into the Solway. It is chiefly in Dumfriesshire. The Liddel is its tributary. (Cf. iv. 29.)

xiii. 1. Siren.] Gr. Zeɩpýv. In ancient mythology a mermaid or goddess who enticed men into her power by the charms of music, and then destroyed them. The legend is first found in Homer's Odyssey, xii. 39. Hence used for an enticing woman, one with dangerous allurements.

20. The real causes of the war between England and Scotland in which Flodden was the chief battle, seem, according to Lingard (vol. iv. p. 178), to have been three: 1. The detention by Henry VIII. of some jewels which Henry VII. had bequeathed to his daughter the Scotch Queen.-2. The murder of Sir Robert Ker, the Warden of the Scottish Marches, by the bastard Heron of Ford (vide note on x. 5).-3. The death of Andrew Barton.

23. Stout Barton.] John Barton had been captured in 1476 by the Portuguese. King James gave to him and his brothers, of whom Andrew is the best known, letters of reprisal, or permission to attack any Portuguese ships. They, however, found this business so pleasant and lucrative, that they stopped and plundered English ships also. Henry VIII. pronounced the Bartons pirates, and in an action with an English ship-ofwar, Andrew Barton was killed. There is a ballad upon Sir Andrew in Percy's "Reliques."

xiv. 1. Douglas.] Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, surnamed Bellthe-Cat, which surname he thus acquired. James III., being fond of