"And on the hunter hied his pace,
To meet some comrades of the chase;"
and the 1st ed. retains "pace" and "chase."
184. The western waves, etc. This description of the Trosachs was
written amid the scenery it delineates, in the summer of 1809. The
Quarterly Review (May, 1810) says of the poet: "He sees everything
with a painter's eye. Whatever he represents has a character of
individuality, and is drawn with an accuracy and minuteness of
discrimination which we are not accustomed to expect from mere verbal
description. It is because Mr. Scott usually delineates those objects
with which he is perfectly familiar that his touch is so easy, correct,
and animated. The rocks, the ravines, and the torrents which he exhibits
are not the imperfect sketches of a hurried traveller, but the finished
studies of a resident artist." See also on 278 below.
Ruskin (Modern Painters, iii. 278) refers to "the love of color" as
a leading element in Scott's love of beauty. He might have quoted the
present passage among the illustrations he adds.
195. The native bulwarks, etc. The MS. has "The mimic castles of the
pass."