第226章 XXIX.(32)

"Devilish Macbeth By many of these trains hath sought to win me Into his power."Cf. the use of the verb (= allure, entice); as in C. of E. iii.

2. 45: "O, train me not, sweet mermaid, with thy note;" Scott's Lay, iii. 146: "He thought to train him to the wood," etc. James was much given to gallantry, and many of his travels in disguise were on adventures of this kind. See on i. 409 above and vi. 740below.

446. As death, etc. As if death, etc. See on ii. 56 above, and cf. 459 below.

464. This ring. The MS. has "This ring of gold the monarch gave."471. Lordship. Landed estates.

473. Reck of. Care for; poetical.

474. Ellen, thy hand. The MS. has "Permit this hand;" and below:

"'Seek thou the King, and on thy knee Put forth thy suit, whate'er it be, As ransom of his pledge to me;My name and this shall make thy way.'

He put the little signet on," etc.

492. He stammered, etc. The MS. reads:

"He stammered forth confused reply:

'Saxon, | I shouted but to scare 'Sir Knight, |Yon raven from his dainty fare.'"

500. Fared. Went; the original sense of the word. Cf. farewell (which was at first a friendly wish for "the parting guest"), wayfarer, thoroughfare, etc.

506. In tattered weeds, etc. The MS. has "Wrapped in a tattered mantle gray." Weeds is used in the old sense of garments. Cf.

Shakespeare, M. N. D. ii. 1. 256: "Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in;" Id. ii. 2. 71: "Weeds of Athens he doth wear;" Milton L'Allegro, 120: "In weeds of peace," etc. See also v. 465 below.

523. In better time. That is, in better times or days; not in the musical sense.

524. Chime. Accord, sing; a poetical use of the word. Cf. vi.

592 below.

531. Allan. "The Allan and Devan are two beautiful streams--the latter celebrated in the poetry of Burns--which descend from the hills of Perthshire into the great carse, or plain, of Stirling"(Lockhart).

548. 'T is Blanche, etc. The MS. has:

"'A Saxon born, a crazy maid--

T is Blanche of Devan,' Murdoch said."

552. Bridegroom. Here accented on the second syllable. In 682below it has the ordinary accent.

555. 'Scapes. The word may be so printed here, but not in Elizabethan poetry. We find it in prose of that day; as in Bacon, Adv. of L. ii. 14. 9: "such as had scaped shipwreck." See Wb., and cf. state and estate, etc.

559. Pitched a bar. That is, in athletic contests. Cf. v. 648below.

562. See the gay pennons, etc. The MS. reads:

"With thee these pennons will I share, Then seek my true love through the air;But I'll not lend that savage groom, To break his fall, one downy plume!

Deep, deep, mid yon disjointed stones, The wolf shall batten his bones."567. Batten. Fatten; as in Hamlet, iii. 4. 67: "Batten on this moor." Milton uses it transitively in Lycidas, 29: "Battening our flocks with the fresh dews of night."575. The Lincoln green. "The Lowland garb" (520). Cf. also 376above.

578. For O my sweet William, etc. The MS. reads:

"Sweet William was a woodsman true, He stole poor Blanche's heart away;His coat was of the forest hue, And sweet he sung the Lowland Lay."590. The toils are pitched. The nets are set. Cf. Shakespeare, L. L. L., iv. 3. 2: "they have pitched a toil," etc. "The meaning is obvious. The hunters are Clan-Alpine's men; the stag of ten is Fitz-James; the wounded doe is herself" (Taylor).

594. A stag of ten. "Having ten branches on his antlers"(Scott). Nares says that antlers is an error here, the word meaning "the short brow horns, not the branched horns;" but see Wb. Cf. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, i. 2:

"Aud a hart of ten, Madam, I trow to be;" and Massinger, Emperor of the East, iv. 2:

"He'll make you royal sport; he is a deer Of ten, at least."595. Sturdily. As Taylor notes, the "triple rhymes" in this song are "of a very loose kind."609. Blanche's song. Jeffrey says: "No machinery can be conceived more clumsy for effecting the deliverance of a distressed hero than the introduction of a mad woman, who, without knowing or caring about the wanderer, warns him by a song to take care of the ambush that was set for him. The maniacs or poetry have indeed had a prescriptive right to be musical, since the days of Ophelia downwards; but it is rather a rash extension of this privilege to make them sing good sense, and to make sensible people be guided by them."To this Taylor well replied: "This criticism seems unjust. The cruelty of Roderick's raids in the Lowlands has already been hinted at, and the sight of the Lowland dress might well stir associations in the poor girl's mind which would lead her to look to the knight for help and protection and also to warn him of his danger. It is plain, from Murdoch's surprise, that her being out of her captors' sight is looked on as dangerous, from which we may infer that she is not entirely crazed. Her song is not the only hint that Fitz-James follows. His suspicions had already twice been excited, so that the episode seems natural enough. As giving a distinct personal ground for the combat in canto v., it serves the poet's purpose still further. Without it, we should sympathize too much with the robber chief, who thinks that 'plundering Lowland field and fold is naught but retribution true;' but the sight of this sad fruit of his raids wins us back to the cause of law and order."614. Forth at full speed, etc. The MS. reads:

"Forth at full speed the Clansman went, But in his race his bow he bent, Halted--and back an arrow sent."617. Thrilled. Quivered.

627. Thine ambushed kin, etc. The MS. transposes this line and the next, and goes on thus:

"Resistless as the lightning's flame, The thrust betwixt his shoulder came."Just below it reads:

"The o'er him hung, with falcon eye, And grimly smiled to see him die."642. Daggled. Wet, soaked. Cf. the Lay, i. 316: "Was daggled by the dashing spray."649. Helpless. The MS. has "guiltless."

657. Shred. Cut off; a sense now obsolete. Cf. Withal's Dictionary (ed. 1608): "The superfluous and wast sprigs of vines, being cut and shreaded off are called sarmenta."659. My brain, etc. The MS. has "But now, my champion, it shall wave."672. Wreak. Avenge. Cf. Shakespeare, R. and J. iii. 5. 102: