"Who else dared own the kindred claim
That bound him to thy mother's name?"
229. The Douglas, etc. Scott says here: "The exiled state of this
powerful race is not exaggerated in this and subsequent passages. The
hatred of James against the race of Douglas was so inveterate, that
numerous as their allies were, and disregarded as the regal authority
had usually been in similar cases, their nearest friends, even in the
most remote part of Scotland, durst not entertain them, unless under the
strictest and closest disguise. James Douglas, son of the banished Earl
of Angus, afterwards well known by the title of Earl of Morton, lurked,
during the exile of his family, in the north of Scotland, under the
assumed name of James Innes, otherwise James the Grieve (i.e. reve or
bailiff). 'And as he bore the name,' says Godscroft, 'so did he also
execute the office of a grieve or overseer of the lands and rents, the
corn and cattle of him with whom he lived.' From the habits of frugality
and observation which he acquired in his humble situation, the historian
traces that intimate acquaintance with popular character which enabled
him to rise so high in the state, and that honorable economy by which
he repaired and established the shattered estates of Angus and Morton
(History of the House of Douglas, Edinburgh, 1743, vol. ii. p. 160)."
235. Guerdon. Reward; now rarely used except in poetry. Cf. Spenser, F.
Q. i. 10. 59: "That glory does to them for guerdon graunt," etc.
236. Dispensation. As Roderick and Ellen were cousins, they could not
marry without a dispensation from the Pope.