Walter Scott - Lady of the Lake

10. Caledon.Caledonia, poetic name for Scotland.

29. Monan's rill.Scott takes the liberty of assigning a "rill" to this Scottish martyr of the fourth century on his own authority, unless his editors have been at fault in failing to discover the stream indicated.

31. Glenartney's.Glen Artney or Valley of the Artney. The Artney is a small river northeast of the main scene of the poem.

33. Benvoirlich."Ben" is Scottish for mountain. Benvoirlich is near the western end of Glenartney.

53. Uam-Var.A mountain between Glenartney and the Braes of Doune. The name signifies "great den," and is derived from a rocky enclosure on the mountain-side, believed to have been used in primitive times as a toil or trap for deer. As told in Stanza IV a giant was fabled to have inhabited this den.

71. linn.This word means either "waterfall" or "steep ravine." The latter is probably the meaning here.

89. Menteith.A village and district southeast of the line of lakes—Loch Katrine, Loch Achray, and Loch Vennachar—about which the main action of the poem moves.

93. Lochard.Loch Ard, a small lake south of Loch Katrine. Aberfoyle.A village east of Loch Ard.

95. Loch-Achray.See note on 89.

97. Benvenue.A mountain on the south bank of Loch Katrine.

103. Cambusmore.An estate owned by Scott's friends, the Buchanans, on the border of the Braes of Doune.

105. Benledi.A majestic mountain shutting in the horizon to the north of Loch Vennachar.

106. Bochastle's heath.The plain between Loch Vennachar and the river Teith.

112. Brigg of Turk.A romantic bridge, still in existence, between Loch Vennachar and Loch Achray.

120. dogs of black Saint Hubert's breed.A breed of dogs, usually black in color, very keen of scent and powerful in build, were kept by the abbots of St. Hubert in commemoration of their patron saint, who was a hunter.

138. whinyard.Obsolete term for sword .

145. Trossachs.A wild and beautiful defile between Loch Katrine and Loch Achray. The word signifies "rough or bristled country."

166. Woe worth the chase."Woe worth" is an exclamation, equivalent to "alack!"

178. Round and around the sounds were cast.Notice the mimicry of the echo in the vowel sounds of the line.

196. tower ... on Shinar's plain.The Tower of Babel.

208. dewdrops sheen.What part of speech is sheen ? Is this use of the word obsolete in prose?

227. frequent flung."Frequent" is used in the original Latin sense (Lat. frequens ) of "crowded together," "numerous."

256. Unless he climb, with footing nice.Scott says: "Until the present road was made through the romantic pass I have presumptuously attempted to describe, there was no mode of issuing out of the defile called the Trossachs, excepting by a sort of ladder, composed of the branches and roots of trees." What is the meaning of "nice" here? What other meanings has the word had?

313. Highland plunderers.The clans inhabiting the region about Loch Katrine were in the habit of making incursions into the neighboring Lowlands to plunder and lay waste the country. Their warlike habits were fostered by the rugged and almost inaccessible character of the country, which prevented the Lowlanders from retaliating upon them, and enabled them also to resist the royal authority.

363. snood.A ribbon worn by Scotch lassies and upon marriage replaced by the matron's "curch" or cap. plaid.A rectangular shawl-like garment made of the checkered cloth called tartan.

438. couch was pulled.Freshly pulled heather was the most luxurious bedding known to the Highlander.

440. ptarmigan and heath-cock.These birds are a species of grouse, the one red, the other black.

460. on the visioned future bent.The gift of second-sight was universally believed in at this period in the Highlands.

504. retreat in dangerous hour."The Celtic chieftains, whose lives were continually exposed to peril, had usually, in the most retired spot of their domain, some place of retreat for the hour of necessity ... a tower, a cavern, or a rustic hut." (Scott's note in edition of 1830.)

546. target.What is the connection of this word with that used in archery and gun-practice?

566. brook to wield."Brook" commonly means "endure." What is its exact meaning here?

573. Ferragus, or Ascabart.Two giants whose names appear frequently in medieval romances of chivalry. The first is better known as Ferran, under which name he figures in the Orlando Furioso of Ariosto. Ascabart plays a part in the old English metrical romance of Sir Bevis of Hampton.

580. To whom, though more than kindred knew.This is a very obscure expression for Scott, who is usually so careful to make himself clear. The meaning seems to be: Ellen regarded her as a mother, though that was more than the actual kinship of the two justified (literally "knew how to recognize").

591. Knight of Snowdoun, James Fitz-James.As appears later in the poem, these were not his true name and title, though he was entitled to bear them.

622. a harp unseen.In modern Scotland the bagpipe has altogether taken the place of the harp. A writer of the sixteenth century says: "They (the Highlanders) take great delight to deck their harps with silver and precious stones; the poor ones that cannot attain thereunto deck them with crystal. They sing verses prettily compounded (i.e., composed) containing for the most part praises of valiant men."

638. pibroch.(Pronounced pee-brock.) A wild tumultuous tune played on the bagpipes in the onset of battle.

642. bittern.A wading bird, allied to the heron.

657. reveillé.As the rhyme shows, this word is pronounced reh-vail'yah here. The common pronunciation in the United States is rev-a-lee' . It is the drum-beat or bugle-call at dawn to arouse soldiers.

CANTO SECOND

1. blackcock.See note to I, 440.

7. minstrel grey.Until well on in the eighteenth century it was customary for Highland chieftains to keep in their service a bard, whose chief duty it was to sing the exploits of the ancestors of the line.

69. Lead forth his fleet.What kind of figure is contained in the word fleet as applied to the flock of ducks?

131. harp, which erst Saint Modan swayed.St. Modan was not a harper, as Scott elsewhere ingenuously confesses, adding, however, that "Saint Dunstan certainly did play upon that instrument."

141. Wailed loud through Bothwell's bannered hall.The minstrel tries to account for the strange way in which his harp gives back mournful sounds instead of the joyous ones he is trying to evoke, by calling to Ellen's mind two other occasions when it behaved similarly. One of these was when it foreboded the death of Ellen's mother; the other when it foreboded the exile of the Douglasses during the minority of James V. For particulars, see the introduction on the historical setting of the poem. Bothwell Castle is on the Clyde, a few miles from Glasgow.

159. From Tweed to Spey.The Tweed is in the extreme southern part, the Spey in the northern part, of Scotland.