747. Nighted. Benighted. It is to be regarded as a contraction of that word; like lated for belated in Macbeth, iii. 3. 6, etc. Nighted (= dark, black) in Hamlet, i. 2. 68 ("thy nighted colour") is an adjective formed from the noun night. 757. Checkered shroud. Tartain plaid. The original meaning of shroud (see Wb.) was garment. 763. Parting. Departing. See on 94 above. 768. So deep, etc. According to Lockhart, the MS. reads: "The deep-toned anguish of despair Flushed, in fierce jealousy, to air;" but we suspect that "Flushed" should be "Flashed." 774. So lately. At the "Beltane game" (319 above). 781. Thus as they strove, etc. The MS. reads: "Thus, as they strove, each better hand Grasped for the dagger or the brand." 786. I hold, etc. Scott has the following note on the last page of the 1st ed.: "The author has to apologize for the inadvertent appropriation of a whole line from the tragedy of Douglas: 'I hold the first who strikes my foe.'" 789. His daughter's hand, etc. For the ellipsis of that, see on 703 above. Deemed is often misprinted "doomed." 791. Sullen and slowly, etc. The MS. reads: "Sullen and slow the rivals bold Loosed at his hest their desperate hold, But either still on other glared," etc. 795. Brands. A pet word with Scott. Note how often it has been used already in the poem. 798. As faltered. See on 601 above. 801. Pity 't were, etc. Scott says here: "Hardihood was in every respect so essential to the character of a Highlander, that the reproach of effeminacy was the most bitter which could be thrown upon him. Yet it was sometimes hazarded on what we might presume to think slight grounds. It is reported of old Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel, when upwards of seventy, that he was surprised by night on a hunting or military expedition. He wrapped him in his plaid, and lay contentedly down upon the snow, with which the ground happened to be covered. Among his attendants, who were preparing to take their rest in the same manner, he observed that one of his grandsons, for his better accommodation, had rolled a large snow-ball, and placed it below his head. The wrath of the ancient chief was awakened by a symptom of what he conceived to be degenerate luxury. 'Out upon thee,' said he, kicking the frozen bolster from the head which it supported, 'art thou so effeminate as to need a pillow?' The officer of engineers, whose curious Letters from the Highlands have been more than once quoted, tells a similar story of Macdonald of Keppoch, and subjoins the following remarks: 'This and many other stories are romantick; but there is one thing, that at first thought might seem very romantick, of which I have been credibly assured, that when the Highlanders are constrained to lie among the hills, in cold dry weather, they sometimes soak the plaid in some river or burn (i.e. brook), and then holding up a corner of it a little