476. Sooth. True. We find soothest in Milton, Comus, 823. The noun sooth
(truth) is more common, and still survives in soothsayer (teller of
hidden truth). Cf. v. 64 below.
478. Emprise. Enterprise. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 7. 39: "But give me
leave to follow my emprise," etc.
485. His noble hand. The MS. has "This gentle hand;" and in the next
line, "the oars he drew."
490. Frequent. Often; one of the many instances of the adjective used
adverbially in the poem.
492. The rocky isle. It is still known as Ellen's Isle. "It is rather
high, and irregularly pyramidal. It is mostly composed of dark-gray
rocks, mottled with pale and gray lichens, peeping out here and
there amid trees that mantle them,--chiefly light, graceful birches,
intermingled with red-berried mountain ashes and a few dark-green, spiry
pines. The landing is beneath an aged oak; and, as did the Lady and the
Knight, the traveller now ascends 'a clambering unsuspected road,' by
rude steps, to the small irregular summit of the island. A more
poetic, romantic retreat could hardly be imagined: it is unique. It is
completely hidden, not only by the trees, but also by an undergrowth of
beautiful and abundant ferns and the loveliest of heather" (Hunnewell's
Lands of Scott).
500. Winded. Wound; used for the sake of the measure, as in v. 22 below.
We find the participle winded in Much Ado, i. 1. 243; but it is = blown.
The verb in that sense is derived from the noun wind (air in motion),
and has no connection with wind, to turn. Cf. Wb.
504. Here for retreat, etc. Scott has the following note here: "The
Celtic chieftains, whose lives were continually exposed to peril,
had usually, in the most retired spot of their domains, some place of
retreat for the hour of necessity, which, as circumstances would
admit, was a tower, a cavern, or a rustic hut, in a strong and secluded
situation. One of these last gave refuge to the unfortunate Charles
Edward, in his perilous wanderings after the battle of Culloden.
"It was situated in the face of a very rough, high, and rocky mountain,
called Letternilichk, still a part of Benalder, full of great stones and
crevices, and some scattered wood interspersed. The habitation called
the Cage, in the face of that mountain, was within a small thick bush of
wood. There were first some rows of trees laid down, in order to level
the floor for a habitation; and as the place was steep, this raised the
lower side to an equal height with the other: and these trees, in the
way of joists or planks, were levelled with earth and gravel. There were
betwixt the trees, growing naturally on their own roots, some stakes
fixed in the earth, which, with the trees, were interwoven with ropes,
made of heath and birch twigs, up to the top of the Cage, it being of a
round or rather oval shape; and the whole thatched and covered over with
fog. The whole fabric hung, as it were, by a large tree, which reclined
from the one end, all along the roof, to the other, and which gave it
the name of the Cage; and by chance there happened to be two stones at
a small distance from one another, in the side next the precipice,
resembling the pillars of a chimney, where the fire was placed. The
smoke had its vent out here, all along the fall of the rock, which was
so much of the same color, that one could discover no difference in
the clearest day' (Home's History of the Rebellion, Lond. 1802, 4to, p.
381)."
525. Idoean vine. Some have taken this to refer to the "red
whortleberry," the botanical name of which is Vaccinium vitis Idoea; but
as that is not a climber, it is more probably that the common vine is
here meant. Idoean is from Ida, a mountain near ancient Troy (there was
another in Crete), famous for its vines.
526. Clematis. The Climatis vitalba, one of the popular English names of
which is virgin-bower.
528. And every favored plant could bear. That is, which could endure.
This ellipsis of the relative was very common in Elizabethan English.
Cf. Shakespeare, M. for M. ii. 2. 23: "I have a brother is condemned to
die;" Rich. II. ii. 2. 128: "The hate of those love not the king," etc.
See also John, iii. 11, etc.
532. On heaven and on thy lady call. This is said gayly, or sportively,
as keeping up the idea of a knight-errant. Cf. 475 above.