Walter Scott - Lady of the Lake

156. noontide hag.A gigantic emaciated female figure which, contrary to the general rule of ghostly creatures, appeared in the full blaze of noon.

168. Ben-Shie's boding scream.The ben-shie or banshee was a tutelar spirit, supposed to forebode by midnight howlings the death of a member of a family to which it was attached. The superstition is still prevalent in Ireland.

191. Inch-Cailliach.An island in Loch Lomond, used as a place of burial for several neighboring clans, of whom the descendants of King Alpine were the chief. The name means "Isle of Nuns," or "Isle of Old Women."

Stanza IX. Notice the change in the rime system which marks the break from flowing narrative to solemn dramatic speech, and is continued through the stanza to increase the effect of solemnity.

253. Coir-Uriskin, thy goblin cave.This cave and the pass of Beala-nam-bo were on the slopes of Ben Venue, a mountain near Loch Katrine. See notes to 622 and 664.

286. Lanrick mead.This meadow is still pointed out to the traveler on the road from Loch Vennachar to the Trossachs.

300. dun deer's hide.It was their shoes made of untanned deer's hide, with the hair outwards, which gave the Highlander's their nickname, "Red-shanks."

349. Duncraggan.A village between Loch Achray and Loch Vennachar.

369. coronach.Death-song.

386. correi.Scott explains this as "the hollow side of the hill, where game usually lies."

387. cumber.Trouble, perplexity.

394. Stumah.The name of a dog, signifying "faithful."

461. chapel of St. Bride.This chapel stood on the knoll of Strath-Ire, mentioned at the beginning of the stanza, halfway up the pass of Leny. Scott is singularly careful not to take liberties with the geography of the localities where his story is laid.

468. pole-ax.An old weapon consisting of a broad ax-head fastened to a long pole, with a prick at the back.

480. Tombea's Mary.Tombea and Armandave are names of places in the vicinity of Strath-Ire.

546. bracken.Fern.

570. Balquidder.The braes of Balquidder extended west from Loch Voil, to the northward of the scene of the poem. midnight blaze.The heather on the moorlands is often set on fire by the shepherds in order that new herbage may spring up.

578. Loch Voil, etc. This and the following names are of poetic value in suggesting tangibly the rapid passage of the runner from place to place.

622. Coir-nan-Uriskin.Scott says that this name, signifying "Den of the Shaggy Men," was derived from the mythical inhabitants of the place, creatures half man and half goat, resembling the satyrs of classical mythology.

641. still, stillness. Can you instance other cases of the use of adjective for noun?

656. satyrs.See note to 622.

664. Beal-nam-bo.The name signifies "Pass of cattle." It is described as a "most magnificent glade, overhung with aged birch-trees, a little higher up the mountains than the Coir-nan-Uriskin."

672. A single page, to bear his sword.The sword bearer, like the henchman and the bard, was a regular officer attached to the person of a Highland Chief. He was called in Gaelic "Gilliemore," or sword-man.

CANTO FOURTH

19. Braes of Doune.Doune is a village on the Teith, a few miles northwest of Stirling. The word "brae" means slope or declivity; the braes of Doune stretch away east and north from the village.

36. boune.An obsolete word meaning "prepared."

63. Taghairm.The word means "Augury of the Hide."

68. When swept our merrymen Gallangad.The reference is to one of the forays or "cattledrives" which the Highland chiefs were fond of making at the expense of their neighbors. The situation of Gallangad is now unknown, but it was presumably a portion of the Lennox district.

73. kerns.The kern or cateran of the Highlands was a light-armed infantryman, as opposed to the heavy-armed "gallowglass."

78. scatheless.Without fear of injury, because of the weariness of the animal after the march.

82. boss.The word means knob or protuberance, especially that in the center of a shield. What the boss of a cliff can be it is a little difficult to understand.

98. watching while the deer is broke.The cutting up of the deer and allotting of the various portions was technically known as the "breaking" of the deer. A certain gristly portion was given, by long custom, to the birds, and came to be known as "the raven's bone."

140. A spy has sought my land.Roderick refers, as appears later, to the "Knight of Snowdoun" of Canto I.

150. glaive, sword.

153. sable pale.An heraldic term, applied to a black perpendicular stripe in a coat of arms.

174. stance, station, foundation.

231. Cambus-kenneth's fane.The ruins of Cambus-kenneth Abbey are still to be seen on the banks of the Forth near Stirling.

262. mavis and merle, thrush and blackbird.

283. darkling was the battle tried.Scott first wrote "blindfold" in place of "darkling."

285. pall.A rich cloth, from which mantles of noblemen were made. Vair.A fur much used for the garments of nobility in medieval times.

298. wonn'd, an obsolete equivalent of "dwelt."

306. fairies' fatal green.The elves or gnomes wore green, and were angered when any mortal ventured to wear that color. For this or some other reason green was held an unlucky color in many parts of Scotland.

308. thou wert christened man.Urgan, as appears later, was a mortal, who had fallen under the spell of the elves and lived their life, but who still retained some of the privileges and immunities which belonged, according to medieval belief, to all persons who had been baptized into the Christian church.

371. Dunfermline.An Abbey sixteen miles northwest of Edinburgh.

385. my former guide.This is Red Murdoch, of whom Roderick Dhu speaks, see 144 ff.

531. The Allanand the Devanare two streams which descend from the hills of Perthshire into the lowland plain.

555. from Maudlin's charge.Maudlin, as a proper name, is a corruption of Magdalen. The curious development of meaning which has taken place in the word should be looked out in the dictionary.

559. peasant pitched a bar."Pitching the bar" was a feat of strength like the modern "putting the shot." It was usually indulged in by the peasantry at fairs and on the village greens.

564. that savage groom.The mad woman refers to Red Murdoch, the guide.

594. a stag of ten.With ten branches on his antlers.

CANTO FIFTH

46. shingles, declivities or "slides" of small broken stone.

124. While Albany with feeble hand.After the death of James IV at Flodden Field the regency was held first by the mother of the young king, and then by the Duke of Albany. The latter was forced by the Estates to leave Scotland in 1624, and soon after the regency fell practically, though, not constitutionally, into the hands of the king's step-father, Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus. See introduction on the historical setting of the poem.