"Not Roderick thus, though stronger far,
More tall, and more inured to war."
401, 402. And backward, etc. This couplet is not in the MS.; and the
same is true of 405, 406.
406. Let recreant yield, etc. The MS. has "Yield they alone who fear to
die." Scott says: "I have not ventured to render this duel so savagely
desperate as that of the celebrated Sir Ewan of Lochiel, chief of the
clan Cameron, called, from his sable complexion, Ewan Dhu. He was the
last man in Scotland who maintained the royal cause during the great
Civil War, and his constant incursions rendered him a very unpleasant
neighbor to the republican garrison at Inverlochy, now Fort William. The
governor of the fort detached a party of three hundred men to lay
waste Lochiel's possessions and cut down his trees; by in a sudden and
desperate attack made upon them by the chieftain with very inferior
numbers, they were almost all cut to pieces. The skirmish is detailed
in a curious memoir of Sir Ewan's life, printed in the Appendix of
Pennant's Scottish Tour (vol. i. p. 375):
'In this engagement Lochiel himself had several wonderful escapes. In
the retreat of the English, one of the strongest and bravest of the
officers retired behind a bush, when he observed Lochiel pursuing, and
seeing him unaccompanied with any, he leapt out and thought him his
prey. They met one another with equal fury. The combat was long and
doubtful: the English gentleman had by far the advantage in strength and
size; but Lochiel, exceeding him in nimbleness and agility, in the end
tript the sword out of his hand; they closed and wrestled, till both
fell to the ground in each other's arms. The English officer got
above Lochiel, and pressed him hard, but stretching forth his neck, by
attempting to disengage himself, Lochiel, who by this time had his hands
at liberty, with his left hand seized him by the collar, and jumping at
his extended throat, he bit it with his teeth quite through, and kept
such a hold of his grasp, that he brought away his mouthful; this, he
said, was the sweetest bit he ever had in his lifetime.'"