285. =pall.= A rich cloth, from which mantles of noblemen were made.
=Vair.= A fur much used for the garments of nobility in medieval times.
298. =wonn'd=, an obsolete equivalent of "dwelt."
306. =fairies' fatal green.= The elves or gnomes wore green, and were
angered when any mortal ventured to wear that color. For this or some
other reason green was held an unlucky color in many parts of Scotland.
308. =thou wert christened man.= Urgan, as appears later, was a mortal,
who had fallen under the spell of the elves and lived their life, but
who still retained some of the privileges and immunities which belonged,
according to medieval belief, to all persons who had been baptized into
the Christian church.
371. =Dunfermline.= An Abbey sixteen miles northwest of Edinburgh.
385. =my former guide.= This is Red Murdoch, of whom Roderick Dhu
speaks, see 144 ff.
531. The =Allan= and the =Devan= are two streams which descend from the
hills of Perthshire into the lowland plain.
555. =from Maudlin's charge.= Maudlin, as a proper name, is a corruption
of Magdalen. The curious development of meaning which has taken place in
the word should be looked out in the dictionary.
559. =peasant pitched a bar.= "Pitching the bar" was a feat of strength
like the modern "putting the shot." It was usually indulged in by the
peasantry at fairs and on the village greens.
564. =that savage groom.= The mad woman refers to Red Murdoch, the
guide.
594. =a stag of ten.= With ten branches on his antlers.
CANTO FIFTH
46. =shingles=, declivities or "slides" of small broken stone.
124. =While Albany with feeble hand.= After the death of James IV at
Flodden Field the regency was held first by the mother of the young
king, and then by the Duke of Albany. The latter was forced by the
Estates to leave Scotland in 1624, and soon after the regency fell
practically, though, not constitutionally, into the hands of the king's
step-father, Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus. See introduction on the
historical setting of the poem.
198. =curlew.= A shore-bird, with a long curved bill.
253. =jack.= A coat of mail made of leather or heavy padded cloth.
301. =On Bochastle the moldering lines, etc.= East of Lake Vennachar, in
the moor of Bochastle, are some traces of the Roman occupation, in the
form of mounds and intrenchments.
409. =mountain-cat.= "Catamount" is the common name in America.
461. =palfrey.= A saddle-horse as distinguished from a war-horse.
465. =weed=, garment. The word is now restricted to the phrase "widow's
weeds."
490-497. =Torry=, =Lendrick=, =Deanstown=, =Doune=, =Blair-Drummond=,
=Ochtertyre=, and =Kier=, are all on the Teith, between Bochastle and
Sterling.
525. =by Saint Serle.= The necessities of rime compel the poet to choose
a very obscure saint from the calendar.
532. =postern gate=, the small rear gate of a castle, generally used by
the servants only.
584. =jennet.= A small Spanish horse, originally a cross between native
and Arabian stock.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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