Stanza XIX. line 545. Many of the houses in Old Edinburgh are built to a great height, so that the common stairs leading up among a group of them have sometimes been called 'perpendicular streets.' Pitch, meaning 'height,' is taken from hawking, the height to which a bird rose depending largely on the pitch given it. Stanza XX. line 558. St. Giles's massive steeple is one of the features of Edinburgh. The ancient church, recently renovated by the munificence of the late William Chambers, is now one of the most imposing Presbyterian places of worship in Scotland. line 569. For bowne see above, IV. 487. line 571. A certain impressiveness is given by the sudden introduction of this pentameter. Stanza XXI. Jeffrey, in reviewing' Marmion, 'fixed on this narrative of the Abbess as a passage marked by 'flatness and tediousness,' and could see in it 'no sort of beauty nor elegance of diction.' The answer to such criticism is that the narrative is direct and practical, and admirably suited to its purpose. line 585. Despiteously, despitefully. 'Despiteous' is used in 'Lay of the Last Minstrel,' V. xix. Cp. Chaucer's 'Man of Lawe,' 605 (Clarendon Press ed.):-- 'And sey his wyf despitously yslayn.' line 587. 'A German general, who commanded the auxiliaries sent by the Duchess of Burgundy with Lambert Simnel. He was defeated and killed at Stokefield. The name of this German general is preserved by that of the field of battle, which is called, after him, Swart- moor.--There were songs about him long current in England. See Dissertation prefixed to RITSON'S Ancient Songs, 1792, p. lxi.'-- SCOTT. line 588. Lambert Simnel, the Pretender, made a scullion after his overthrow by Henry VII. line 590. Stokefield (Stoke, near Newark, county Nottingham) was fought 16 June, 1487.