line 203. 'Hardriding Dick is not an epithet referring to horsemanship, but means Richard Ridley of Hardriding.'--SCOTT. The families named all belonged to the north and north-east of Northumberland. Scott adds (from Surtees), 'A feud did certainly exist between the Ridleys and Featherstons, productive of such consequences as the ballad narrates.' In regard to the 'Northern harper,' see Prof. Minto's 'Lay of the Last Minstrel,' p. 121. Stanza XV. line 231. wassail-bowl. 'Wassell' or 'wassail' (A. S. waes hael) was first the wish of health, then it came to denote festivity (especially at Christmas). As an adj. it is compounded not only with bowl, but with cup, candle, &c. Cp. Comus, line 179:-- 'I should be loth To meet the rudeness and swill'd insolence Of such late WASSAILERS.' Cp. also note on 'gossip's bowl' of Midsummer Night's Dream, ii. I. 47, in Clarendon Press edition, and Prof. Minto's 'Lay of the Last Minstrel,' p. 174. line 232. Cp. Iliad i. 470, and ix. 175, and Chapman's translation, 'The youths CROWNED cups of wine.' line 238. Raby Castle, in the county of Durham, the property of the Duke of Cleveland. line 254. As a page in a lady's chamber. 'Bower' is often contrasted with 'hall,' as in 'Jock o' Hazeldean':-- 'They socht her baith by bower an' ha'.' Cp. below, 281. Stanza XVI. line 264. For Lindisfarn, or Holy Island, see note to Canto II. St. i. Stanza XVII. line 284. leash, the cord by which the greyhound is restrained till the moment when he is slipt in pursuit of the game. Cp. Coriolanus, i. 6. 38:-- 'Even like a fawning greyhound in the leash.' Stanza XVIII. line 289. bide, abide. Cp. above, 215. line 294. pray you = I pray you. Cp. 'Prithee,' so common in Elizabethan drama. line 298. Scott annotates as follows:- 'The story of Perkin Warbeck, or Richard, Duke of York, is well known. In 1496, he was received honourably in Scotland; and James IV, after conferring upon him in marriage his own relation, the Lady Catharine Gordon, made war on England in behalf of his pretensions. To retaliate an invasion of England, Surrey advanced into Berwickshire at the head of considerable forces, but retreated, after taking the inconsiderable fortress of Ayton. Ford, in his Dramatic Chronicle of Perkin Warbeck, makes the most of this inroad:-- "SURREY.