line 31. 'ALIAS "Will o' the Wisp." This personage is a strolling
demon or esprit follet, who, once upon a time, got admittance into a
monastery as a scullion, and played the monks many pranks. He was
also a sort of Robin Goodfellow, and Jack o' Lanthern. It is in
allusion to this mischievous demon that Milton's clown speaks,--
"She was pinched, and pulled, she said,
And he by FRIAR'S LANTHERN led."
'"The History of Friar Rush" is of extreme rarity, and, for some
time, even the existence of such a book was doubted, although it is
expressly alluded to by Reginald Scot, in his "Discovery of
Witchcraft." I have perused a copy in the valuable library of my
friend Mr. Heber; and I observe, from Mr. Beloe's "Anecdotes of
Literature," that there is one in the excellent collection of the
Marquis of Stafford.'--SCOTT.
It may be added, on the authority of Keightley, that Friar Rush
'haunted houses, not fields, and was never the same with Jack-o'-
the-Lanthorn.' See note on Milton's 'L'Allegro,' 104, in Clarendon
Press edition, also Preface to Midsummer Night's Dream in same
series.
Stanza IV. line 69. Humbie and Saltoun are adjoining parishes in S.
W. of Haddingtonshire. To this day there is a charm in the remote
rural character of the district. There are, about Humble in
particular, wooded glades that might well represent the remains of
the scene witnessed by Marmion and his troopers. East and West
Saltoun are two decayed villages, about five miles S. W. of the
county town. Between them is Saltoun Hall, the seat of the
Fletchers.
line 91. 'William Caxton, the earliest English printer, was born in
Kent, A. D. 1412, and died 1401. Wynken de Worde was his next
successor in the production of those
"Rare volumes, dark with tarnished gold,"
which are now the delight of bibliomaniacs.'--LOCKHART.
Stanza VI. line 119. The four heraldic terms used are for the
colours--red, silver, gold, and blue.
line 120, The King-at-arms was superintendent of the heralds.
Stanza VII. line 133. Sir David Lyndsay's exposure of ecclesiastical
abuses in his various satires, especially in his 'Complaynts' and
his Dialog, 'powerfully forwarded the movement that culminated in
the Reformation. It would, however, be a mistake to consider him an
avowed Protestant reformer. He was concerned about the existing
wrongs both of Church and State, and thought of rectifying these
without revolutionary measures.
line 135. The cap of the Lion King' was of scarlet velvet turned up
with ermine.'
lines 141-4. The double tressure was an ornamental tracing round the
shield, at a fixed distance from the border. As to the fleur-de-lis
(flower of the lily, emblem of France) Scott quotes Boethius and
Buchanan as saying that it was 'first assumed by Achaius, king of
Scotland, contemporary of Charlemagne, and founder of, the
celebrated League with France.' Historical evidence, however, would
seem to show that 'the lion is first seen on the seal of Alexander
II, and the tressure on that of Alexander III.' This is the heraldic
description of the arms of Scotland: 'Or, a lion rampant gules,
armed and langued azure, within a double tressure flory counterflory
of fleur-de-lis of the second.' The supporters are 'two unicorns
argent maned and unguled, or gorged with open crowns.' The crest is
'a lion sejant affronte gules crowned or,' &c. The adoption of the
thistle as the national Scottish emblem is wrapt in obscurity,
although an early poet attributes it to a suggestion of Venus.
line 153. Scott mentions Chalmers's edition of Lyndsay's works,
published in 1806. More recent and very satisfactory editions are
those of Dr. David Laing, (1) a library edition in three volumes,
and (2) a popular edition in two. Lyndsay was born about 1490 and
died about 1555. The Mount was his estate, near Cupar-Fife. 'I am
uncertain,' says Scott, 'if I abuse poetic license, by introducing
Sir David Lindesay in the character of Lion-Herald, sixteen years
before he obtained that office. At any rate, I am not the first who
has been guilty of that anachronism; for the author of "Flodden
Field" despatches Dallamount, which can mean nobody but Sir David de
la Mont, to France on the message of defiance from James IV to Henry
VIII. It was often an office imposed on the Lion King-at-arms, to
receive foreign ambassadors; and Lindesay himself did this honour to
Sir Ralph Sadler, in 1539-40. Indeed, the oath of the Lion, in its
first article, bears reference to his frequent employment upon royal
messages and embassies. The office of heralds, in feudal times,
being held of the utmost importance, the inauguration of the Kings-
at-arms, who presided over their colleges, was proportionally
solemn. In fact, it was the mimicry of a royal coronation, except
that the unction was made with wine instead of oil. In Scotland, a
namesake and kinsman of Sir David Lindesay, inaugurated in 1502,
"was crowned by King James with the ancient crown of Scotland, which
was used before the Scottish Kings assumed a close Crown;" and, on
occasion of the same solemnity, dined at the King's table, wearing
the crown. It is probable that the coronation of his predecessor was
not less solemn. So sacred was the herald's office, that, in 1515,
Lord Drummond was by Parliament declared guilty of treason, and his
lands forfeited, because he had struck, with his fist, the Lion
King-at-arms, when he reproved him for his follies. Nor was he
restored, but at the Lion's earnest solicitation.'
Stanza X. line 194. 'A large ruinous castle on the banks of the
Tyne, about ten miles from Edinburgh. As indicated in the text, it
was built at different times, and with a very differing regard to
splendour and accommodation. The oldest part of the building is a
narrow keep, or tower, such as formed the mansion of a lesser
Scottish baron; but so many additions have been made to it, that
there is now a large courtyard, surrounded by buildings of different
ages. The eastern front of the court is raised above a portico, and
decorated with entablatures, bearing anchors. All the stones of this
front are cut into diamond facets, the angular projections of which
have an uncommonly rich appearance. The inside of this part of the
building appears to have contained a gallery of great length, and
uncommon elegance. Access was given to it by a magnificent stair-
case, now quite destroyed. The soffits are ornamented with twining
cordage and rosettes: and the whole seems to have been far more
splendid than was usual in Scottish castles. The castle belonged
originally to the Chancellor, Sir William Crichton, and probably
owed to him its first enlargement, as well as its being taken by the
Earl of Douglas, who imputed to Crichton's counsels the death of his
predecessor, Earl William, beheaded in Edinburgh Castle, with his
brother, in 1440. It is said to have been totally demolished on that
occasion; but the present state of the ruin shows the contrary. In
1483 it was garrisoned by Lord Crichton, then its proprietor,
against King James III, whose displeasure he had incurred by
seducing his sister Margaret, in revenge, it is said, for the
Monarch having dishonoured his bed. From the Crichton family the
castle passed to that of the Hepburns, Earls Bothwell; and when the
forfeitures of Stewart, the last Earl Bothwell, were divided, the
barony and cattle of Crichton fell to the share of the Earl of
Buccleuch. They were afterwards the property of the Pringles of
Clifton, and are now that of Sir John Callander, Baronet. It were to
be wished the proprietor would take a little pains to preserve those
splendid remains of antiquity, which are at present used as a fold
for sheep, and wintering cattle; although, perhaps, there are very
few ruins in Scotland which display so well the style and beauty of
castle-architecture.'--SCOTT.
The ruin is now carefully protected, visitors being admitted on
application at Crichtoun Manse adjoining.
Stanza XI. line 232. 'The castle of Crichton has a dungeon vault,
called the Massy More. The epithet, which is not uncommonly applied
to the prisons of other old castles in Scotland, is of Saracenic
origin. It occurs twice in the "Epistolae Itineriae" of Tollius.
"Carcer subterraneus, sive, ut Mauri appellant, MAZMORRA," p. 147;
and again, "Coguntur omnes Captivi sub noctem in ergastula
subterranea, quae Turcae Algezerani vocant MAZMORRAS," p. 243. The
same word applies to the dungeons of the ancient Moorish castles in
Spain, and serves to show from what nation the Gothic style of
castle building was originally derived.'--SCOTT.
See further, Sir W. Scott's 'Provincial Antiquities,' vol. i.
Stanza XII. line 249. 'He was the second Earl of Bothwell, and fell
in the field of Flodden, where, according to an ancient English
poet, he distinguished himself by a furious attempt to retrieve the
day:--
"Then on the Scottish part, right proud,
The Earl of Bothwell then out brast,
And stepping forth, with stomach good,
Into the enemies' throng he thrast;
And BOTHWELL! BOTHWELL! cried bold,
To cause his souldiers to ensue,
But there he caught a wellcome cold,
The Englishmen straight down him threw.
Thus Haburn through his hardy heart
His fatal fine in conflict found,"&c.
FLODDEN FIELD, a Poem; edited by H. Weber. Edin.
1808.'--SCOTT.
line 254. 'Adam was grandfather to James, Earl of Bothwell, too well
known in the history of Queen Mary.'--SCOTT.
Stanza XIII. line 260. The Borough-moor extended from Edinburgh
south to the Braid Hills.
Stanza XIV. line 280. Scott quotes from Lindsay of Pitscottie the
story of the apparition seen at Linlithgow by James IV, when
undergoing his annual penance for having taken the field against his
father. Some of the younger men about the Court had devised what
they felt might be an impressive warning to the King against going
to war, and their show of supernatural interference was well
managed. Lindsay's narrative proceeds thus:--
'The King came to Lithgow, where he happened to be for the time at
the Council, very sad and dolorous, making his devotion to God, to
send him good chance and fortune in his voyage. In this meantime,
there came a man, clad in a blue gown, in at the kirk door, and
belted about him in a roll of linen-cloth; a pair of brotikings1 on
his feet, to the great of his legs; with all other hose and clothes
conform thereto; but he had nothing on his head, but syde2 red
yellow hair behind, and on his haffets3, which wan down to his
shoulders; but his forehead was bald and bare. He seemed to be a man
of two-and-fifty years, with a great pike-staff in his hand, and
came first forward among the lords, crying and speiring4 for the
King, saying, he desired to speak with him. While, at the last, he
came where the King was sitting in the desk, at his prayers, but
when he saw the King, he made him little reverence or salutation,
but leaned down groffling on the desk before him, and said to him in
this manner, as after follows: "Sir King, my mother hath sent me to
you, desiring you not to pass, at this time, where thou art
purposed; for if thou does, thou wilt not fare well in thy journey,
nor none that passeth with thee. Further, she bade thee mell5 with
no woman, nor use their counsel, nor let them touch thy body, nor
thou theirs; for, if thou do it, thou wilt be confounded and brought
to shame."
--------------------------------------------------------
buskins1 long2 cheeks3 asking4 meddle5
--------------------------------------------------------
'By this man had spoken thir words unto the King's grace, the
evening-song was near done, and the King paused on thir words,
studying to give him an answer; but, in the meantime, before the
King's eyes, and in the presence of all the lords that were about
him for the time, this man vanished away, and could no ways be seen
nor comprehended, but vanished away as he had been a blink of the
sun, or a whip of the whirlwind, and could no more be seen. I heard
say. Sir David Lindesay, Lyon-herauld, and John Inglis the marshal,
who were, at that time, young men, and special servants to the
King's grace, were standing presently beside the King, who thought
to have laid hands on this man, that they might have speired further
tidings at him: But all for nought; they could not touch him; for
he vanished away betwixt them, and was no more seen.'
Buchanan, in more elegant, though not more impressive language,
tells the same story, and quotes the personal information of our Sir
David Lindesay: 'In iis, (i.e. qui propius astiterant) fuit David
Lindesius, Montanus, homo spectatae fidei et probitatis, nec a
literarum studiis alienus, et cujus totius vitae tenor longissime a
mentiendo aberat; a quo nisi ego haec uti tradidi, pro certis
accepissem, ut vulgatam vanis rumoribus fabulam omissurus eram."--
Lib. xiii. The King's throne, in St. Catherine's aisle, which he had
constructed for himself, with twelve stalls for the Knights
Companions of the Order of the Thistle, is still shown as the place
where the apparition was seen. I know not by what means St. Andrew
got the credit of having been the celebrated monitor of James IV;
for the expression in Lindesay's narrative, "My mother has sent me,"
could only be used by St. John, the adopted son of the Virgin Mary.
The whole story is so well attested, that we have only the choice
between a miracle or an imposture. Mr. Pinkerton plausibly argues,
from the caution against incontinence, that the Queen was privy to
the scheme of those who had recourse to this expedient, to deter
King James from his impolitic war.'
Stanza XV. line 287. 'In Scotland there are about twenty palaces,
castles, and remains, or sites of such,
"Where SCOTIA'S kings of other years"
had their royal home.
'Linlithgow, distinguished by the combined strength and beauty of
its situation, must have been early selected as a royal residence.
David, who bought the title of saint by his liberality to the
Church, refers several of his charters to his town of Linlithgow;
and in that of Holyrood expressly bestows on the new monastery all
the skins of the rams, ewes, and lambs, belonging to his castle of
Linlitcu, which shall die during the year....The convenience
afforded for the sport of falconry, which was so great a favourite
during the feudal ages, was probably one cause of the attachment of
the ancient Scottish monarchs to Linlithgow and its fine lake. The
sport of hunting was also followed with success in the
neighbourhood, from which circumstance it probably arises that the
ancient arms of the city represent a black greyhound bitch tied to a
tree....The situation of Linlithgow Palace is eminently beautiful.
It stands on a promontory of some elevation, which advances almost
into the midst of the lake. The form is that of a square court,
composed of buildings of four storeys high, with towers at the
angles. The fronts with the square, and the windows, are highly
ornamented, and the size of the rooms, as well as the width and
character of the staircases, are upon a magnificent scale. One
banquet-room is ninety-four feet long, thirty feet wide, and thirty-
three feet high, with a gallery for music. The King's wardrobe, or
dressing-room, looking to the west, projects over the walls, so as
to have a delicious prospect on three aides, and is one of the most
enviable boudoirs we have ever seen.'--SIR WALTER SCOTT'S Provincial
Antiquities.--Prose Works, vol. vii. p. 382.
line 288. With 'jovial June' cp. Gavin Douglas's 'joyous moneth tyme
of June,' in prologue to the 13th AEneid, 'ekit to Virgill be
Maphaeus Vegius,' and the description of the month in Lyndsay's
'Dreme,' as:--
'Weill bordourit with dasyis of delyte.'
line 291. 'I am glad of an opportunity to describe the cry of the
deer by another word than BRAYING, although the latter has been
sanctified by the use of the Scottish metrical translation of the
Psalms. BELL seems to be an abbreviation of bellow. This silvan
sound conveyed great delight to our ancestors, chiefly, I suppose,
from association. A gentle knight in the reign of Henry VIII, Sir
Thomas Wortley, built Wantley Lodge, in Wancliffe Forest, for the
pleasure (as an ancient inscription testifies) of "listening to the
hart's BELL"'--SCOTT.
line 298. Sauchie-burn, where James III fell, was fought 18 June,
1488., 'James IV,' says Scott, 'after the battle passed to Stirling,
and hearing the monks of the chapel-royal deploring the death of his
father, he was seized with deep remorse, which manifested itself
in severe penances.' See below, note on V. ix.
line 300. 'When the King saw his own banner displayed against him,
and his son in the faction of his enemies, he lost the little
courage he ever possessed, fled out of the field, fell from his
horse as it started at a woman and water-pitcher, and was slain, it
was not well understood by whom.'--SCOTT.
Stanza XVI. line 312. In the church of St. Michael, adjoining the
palace.
line 316. The earliest known mention of the thistle as the national
badge is in the inventory of the effects of James III, Thistles were
inscribed on the coins of the next four reigns, and they were
accompanied in the reign of James VI for the first time by the motto
Nemo me impune lacessit. James II of Great Britain formally
inaugurated the Order of the Thistle on 29 May, 1687, but it was not
till the reign of Anne, 31 Dec. 1703, that it became a fully defined
legal institution. The Order is also known as the Order of St.
Andrew.--See CHAMBERS'S Encyclopedia.
line 318. It was natural and fit that Lyndsay should be present. It
is more than likely that he had a leading hand in the enterprise. As
tutor to the young Prince, it had been a recognised part of his duty
to amuse him by various disguises; and he was likewise the first
Scottish poet with an adequate dramatic sense.
line 336. See St. John xix. 25-27.
Stanza XVII. line 350. The special reference here is to the
influence of Lady Heron. See above, I. xvi. 265, and below, V. x.
261.
Stanza XIX. The skilful descriptive touches of this stanza are
noteworthy. Cp. opening passages of Coleridge's 'Christabel,'
especially the seven lines beginning, 'Is the night chilly and
dark?'
Stanza XXI. line 440. Grimly is not unknown as a poetical adj.
'Margaret's GRIMLY ghost,' in Beaumont and FIetcher's 'Knight of the
Burning Pestle,' II. i, is a familiar example. See above, p. 194,
line 25, 'GRIMLY voice.' For 'ghast' as an adj., cp. Keats's 'Otho
the Great,' V. v. 11, 'How ghast a train!'
line. 449. See below, V. xxiv, ''Twere long and needless here to
tell,' and cp. AEneid I. 341:--
'Longa est iniuria, longae
Ambages; sed summa sequar fastigia rerum.'
Stanza XXII. line 461. See above, III. xxv. 503, and note.
lines 467-470. Rothiemurchus, near Alvie, co. of Inverness, on
Highland Railway; Tomantoul in co. of Banff, N. E. of Rothiemurchus;
Auchnaslaid in co. of Inverness, near S. W. border of Aberdeen;
Forest of Dromouchty on Inverness border eastward of Loch Ericht;
Glenmore, co-extensive with Caledonian Canal.
lines 477-480. Cp. the teaching of Coleridge's 'Ancient Mariner' and
'Christabel.' In the former these stanzas are specially notable:--
'O happy living things! no tongue
Their beauty might declare:
A spring of love gushed from my heart,
And I blessed them unaware:
Sure my kind saint took pity on me,
And I blessed them unaware.
The selfsame moment I could pray;
And from my neck so free
The Albatross fell off, and sank
Like lead into the sea.'
line 487. bowne = prepare. See below, V. xx, 'to bowne him for the
war'; and 'Lay of the Last Minstrel,' V. xx, 'bowning back to
Cumberland.' Cp. 'Piers the Plowman,' III. 173 (C Text):--
'And bed hem alle ben BOUN . beggeres and othere,
To wenden with hem to Westemynstre.'
Stanza XXIII. line 490. Dun-Edin = Edwin's hill-fort, poetic for
Edinburgh.
line 497. The Braid Hills, S. E. of Edinburgh, recently added to the
recreation grounds of the citizens.
Stanza XXIV. Blackford Hill has now been acquired by the City of
Edinburgh as a public resort. The view from it, not only of the city
but of the landscape generally, is striking and memorable.
lines 511-15. Cp. Wordsworth's 'The Fountain--a Conversation':--
'No check, no stay, this Streamlet fears:
How merrily it goes!
'Twill murmur on a thousand years,
And flow as now it flows.
And here on this delightful day,
I cannot choose but think
How oft, a vigorous man, I lay
Beside this fountain's brink.
My eyes are dim with childish tears,
My heart is idly stirred,
For the same sound is in my ears
Which in those days I heard.'
Stanza XXV. line 521. '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, in 1513, 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 Bruntsfield Links. The Hare Stane
probably derives its name from the British word Har, signifying an
army.'--SCOTT.
Stanza XXVI. lines 535-538. The proper names in these lines are
Hebrides; East Lothian; Redswire, part of Carter Fell near Jedburgh;
and co. of Ross.
Stanza XXVII. line 557. 'Seven culverins so called, cast by one
Borthwick.'--SCOTT.
Stanza XXVIII. line 566. 'Each ensign intimated a different rank.'--
SCOTT.
line 567. As illustrating an early mode of English encampment, Scott
quotes from Patten's description of what he saw after Pinkie, 1547:-
-
'As they had no pavilions, or round houses, of any commendable
compass, so wear there few other tentes with posts, as the used
manner of making is; and of these few also, none of above twenty
foot length, but most far under; for the most part all very
sumptuously beset, (after their fashion,) for the love of France,
with fleur-de-lys, some of blue buckeram, some of black, and some of
some other colours. These white ridges, as I call them, that, as we
stood on Fauxsyde Bray, did make so great muster toward us, which I
did take then to be a number of tentes, when we came, we found it a
linen drapery, of the coarser cambryk in dede, for it was all of
canvas sheets, and wear the tenticles, or rather cabyns and couches
of their soldiers; the which (much after the common building of
their country beside) had they framed of four sticks, about an ell
long a piece, whereof two fastened together at one end aloft, and
the two endes beneath stuck in the ground, an ell asunder, standing
in fashion like the bowes of a sowes yoke; over two such bowes (one,
as it were, at their head, the other at their feet), they stretched
a sheet down on both sides, whereby their cabin became roofed like a
ridge, but skant shut at both ends, and not very close beneath on
the sides, unless their sticks were the shorter, or their wives the
more liberal to lend them larger napery; howbeit, when they had
lined them, and stuff'd them so thick with straw, with the weather
as it was not very cold, when they wear ones couched, they were as
warm as they had been wrapt in horses dung.'--PATTEN'S Account of
Somerset's Expedition.
line 578. 'The well-known arms of Scotland. If you will believe
Boethius and Buchanan, the double tressure round the shield
(mentioned above, vii. 141), counter fleur-de-lysed, or lingued and
armed azure, was first assumed by Achaias, King of Scotland,
contemporary of Charlemagne, and founder of the celebrated League
with France but later antiquaries make poor Eochy, or Achy, little
better than a sort of King of Brentford, whom old Grig (who has also
swelled into Gregorius Magnus) associated with himself in the
important duty of governing some part of the north-eastern coast of
Scotland.'--SCOTT.
Stanza XXIX. lines 595-9. Cp. the 'rash, fruitless war,' &c., of
Thomson's 'Edwin and Eleonora,' i. 1, and Cowper's 'Task,' v. 187:--
'War's a game which, were their subjects wise,
Kings would not play at.'
Stanza XXX. This description of Edinburgh is one of the passages
mentioned by Mr. Ruskin in 'Modern Painters' as illustrative of
Scott's quick and certain perception of the relations of form and
colour. 'Observe,' he says, '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; and then, moved doubtless less by the smoky than the
amethystine part of the group,
"Fitz-Eustace' heart felt closely pent," &c.'
line 632. In the demi-volte (one of seven artificial equestrian
movements) the horse rises on his hind feet and makes a half-turn.
Cp. below, v. 33.
Stanza XXXI. line 646. 6 o'clock a.m., the first canonical hour of
prayer.
lines 650-1. St. Catherine of Siena, a famous female Spanish saint,
and St. Roque of France, patron of those sick of the plague, who
died at Montpelier about 1327.
line 655. Falkland, in the west of Fife, at base of Lomond Hills, a
favourite residence of the Stuart kings, and well situated for
hunting purposes. The ancient stately palace is now the property of
the Marquis of Bute.
Stanza XXXII. line 679. stowre, noise and confusion of battle. Cp.
'Faery Queene,' I. ii. 7, 'woeful stowre.'