570. =Balquidder.= The braes of Balquidder extended west from Loch Voil, to the northward of the scene of the poem. =midnight blaze.= The heather on the moorlands is often set on fire by the shepherds in order that new herbage may spring up. 578. =Loch Voil=, etc. This and the following names are of poetic value in suggesting tangibly the rapid passage of the runner from place to place. 622. =Coir-nan-Uriskin.= Scott says that this name, signifying "Den of the Shaggy Men," was derived from the mythical inhabitants of the place, creatures half man and half goat, resembling the satyrs of classical mythology. 641. =still=, stillness. Can you instance other cases of the use of adjective for noun? 656. =satyrs.= See note to 622. 664. =Beal-nam-bo.= The name signifies "Pass of cattle." It is described as a "most magnificent glade, overhung with aged birch-trees, a little higher up the mountains than the Coir-nan-Uriskin." 672. =A single page, to bear his sword.= The sword bearer, like the henchman and the bard, was a regular officer attached to the person of a Highland Chief. He was called in Gaelic "Gilliemore," or sword-man. CANTO FOURTH 19. =Braes of Doune.= Doune is a village on the Teith, a few miles northwest of Stirling. The word "brae" means slope or declivity; the braes of Doune stretch away east and north from the village. 36. =boune.= An obsolete word meaning "prepared." 63. =Taghairm.= The word means "Augury of the Hide." 68. =When swept our merrymen Gallangad.= The reference is to one of the forays or "cattledrives" which the Highland chiefs were fond of making at the expense of their neighbors. The situation of Gallangad is now unknown, but it was presumably a portion of the Lennox district. 73. =kerns.= The kern or cateran of the Highlands was a light-armed infantryman, as opposed to the heavy-armed "gallowglass." 78. =scatheless.= Without fear of injury, because of the weariness of the animal after the march. 82. =boss.= The word means knob or protuberance, especially that in the center of a shield. What the boss of a cliff can be it is a little difficult to understand. 98. =watching while the deer is broke.= The cutting up of the deer and allotting of the various portions was technically known as the "breaking" of the deer. A certain gristly portion was given, by long custom, to the birds, and came to be known as "the raven's bone." 140. =A spy has sought my land.= Roderick refers, as appears later, to the "Knight of Snowdoun" of Canto I. 150. =glaive=, sword. 153. =sable pale.= An heraldic term, applied to a black perpendicular stripe in a coat of arms. 174. =stance=, station, foundation. 231. =Cambus-kenneth's fane.= The ruins of Cambus-kenneth Abbey are still to be seen on the banks of the Forth near Stirling. 262. =mavis and merle=, thrush and blackbird. 283. =darkling was the battle tried.= Scott first wrote "blindfold" in place of "darkling."