Arthurian romances; Lady of the Lake (Legendary character) -- Romances
56. As from. As if from. Cf. 64 and 83 below. This ellipsis was common
in Elizabethan English. Cf. Shakespeare, Macb. ii. 2. 28:
"One cried 'God bless us!' and 'Amen' the other,
As they had seen me with these hangman's hands."
65. In the last sound. For the measure, see on i. 73 above.
69. His fleet. That is, of ducks. Cf. i. 239 above.
80. Would scorn. Who would scorn. See on i. 528 above.
84. Turned him. See on i. 142 above, and cf. 106 below.
86. After. Afterwards; as in Shakespeare, Temp. ii. 2. 10: "And after
bite me," etc. The word is not now used adverbially of time, though we
may say "he followed after," etc. The 1st ed. reads "that knight."
94. Parts. Departs; as often in poetry and earlier English. Cf.
Goldsmith, D. V. 171: "Beside the bed where parting life was laid;"
Gray, Elegy, 1: "the knell of parting day," etc. On the other hand,
depart was used in the sense of part. In the Marriage Service "till
death us do part" is a corruption of "till death us depart." Wiclif's
Bible, in Matt. xix. 6, has "therfor a man departe not that thing that
God hath ioyned."
103. Another step, etc. The MS. has "The loveliest Lowland fair to spy;"
and the 1st ed. reads "The step of parting fair to spy."
109. The Graeme. Scott has the following note here: "The ancient and
powerful family of Graham (which, for metrical reasons, is here smelled
after the Scottish pronunciation) held extensive possessions in the
counties of Dumbarton and Stirling. Few families can boast of more
historical renown, having claim to three of the most remarkable
characters in the Scottish annals. Sir John the Graeme, the faithful and
undaunted partaker of the labors and patriotic warfare of Wallace, fell
in the unfortunate field of Falkirk, in 1298. The celebrated Marquis of
Montrose, in whom De Retz saw realized his abstract idea of the heroes
of antiquity, was the second of these worthies. And, not withstanding
the severity of his temper, and the rigor with which he executed the
oppressive mandates of the princes whom he served, I do not hesitate
to name as the third, John Graeme, of Claverhouse, Viscount of Dundee,
whose heroic death, in the arms of victory, may be allowed to cancel
the memory of his cruelty to the non-conformists, during the reigns of
Charles II. and James II."
112. Bower. The word meant a chamber (see on i. 217 above), and was
often used of the ladies' apartments in a house. In hall and bower =
among men and women. The words are often thus associated. Cf. Spenser,
Astrophel, 28: "Merily masking both in bowre and hall," etc.
115. Arose. The 1st ed. misprints "Across;" not noted in the Errata.
126. And the proud march. See on i. 73 above.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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