"This mossy rock, my friend, to me
Is worth gay chair and canopy."
205. Footstep. The reading of the 1st and other early eds.; "footsteps"
in recent ones.
206. Strathspey. A Highland dance, which takes its name from the strath,
or broad valley, of the Spey (159 above).
213. Clan-Alpine's pride. "The Siol Alpine, or race of Alpine, includes
several clans who claimed descent from Kenneth McAlpine, an ancient
king. These are the Macgregors, the Grants, the Mackies, the Mackinnans,
the MacNabs, the MacQuarries, and the Macaulays. Their common emblem was
the pine, which is now confined to the Macgregors" (Taylor).
214. Loch Lomond. This beautiful lake, "the pride of Scottish lakes,"
is about 23 miles in length and 5 miles in its greatest breadth. At the
southern end are many islands, one of which, Inch-Cailliach (the Island
of Women, so called from a nunnery that was once upon it), was the
burial-place of Clan-Alpine. See iii. 191 below.
216. A Lennox foray. That is, a raid in the lands of the Lennox
family, bordering on the southern end of Loch Lomond. On the island of
Inch-Murrin, the ruins of Lennox Castle, formerly a residence of the
Earls of Lennox, are still to be seen. There was another of their
strongholds on the shore of the lake near Balloch, where the modern
Balloch Castle now stands.
217. Her glee. The 1st ed. misprints "his glee;" not noted in the
Errata.