Arthurian romances; Lady of the Lake (Legendary character) -- Romances
68. Gallangad. We do not find this name elsewhere, but it probably
belongs to some part of the district referred to in Scott's note
inserted here: "I know not if it be worth observing that this passage
is taken almost literally from the mouth of an old Highland kern, or
Ketteran, as they were called. He used to narrate the merry doings
of the good old time when he was follower of Rob Roy MacGregor. This
leader, on one occasion, thought proper to make a descent upon the lower
part of the Loch Lomond district, and summoned all the heritors and
farmers to meet at the Kirk of Drymen, to pay him black-mail; i.e.,
tribute for forbearance and protection. As this invitation was supported
by a band of thirty or forty stout fellows, only one gentleman, an
ancestor, if I mistake not, of the present Mr. Grahame of Gartmore,
ventured to decline compliance. Rob Roy instantly swept his land of all
he could drive away, and among the spoil was a bull of the old Scottish
wild breed, whose ferocity occasioned great plague to the Ketterans.
'But ere we had reached the Row of Dennan,' said the old man, 'a child
might have scratched his ears.' The circumstance is a minute one, but it
paints the time when the poor beeve was compelled
'To hoof it o'er as many weary miles,
With goading pikemen hollowing at his heels,
As e'er the bravest antler of the woods' (Ethwald)."
73. Kerns. The Gaelic and Irish light-armed soldiers, the heavy-armed
being known as gallowglasses. The names are often associated; as in
Macbeth, i. 2. 13: "kerns and gallowglasses;" 2 Hen. VI. iv. 9. 26:
"gallowglasses and stout kerns;" Drayton, Heroical Epist.: "the Kerne
and Irish Galliglasse," etc.
74. Beal'maha. "The pass of the plain," on the east of Loch Lomond,
opposite Inch-Cailliach. In the olden time it was one of the established
roads for making raids into the Lowlands.
77. Dennan's Row. The modern Rowardennan, on Loch Lomond at the foot
of Ben Lomond, and a favorite starting=point for the ascent of that
mountain.
82. Boss. Knob; in keeping with Targe.
83. Verge. Pronounced varge, as the rhyme shows. In v. 219 below it has
its ordinary sound; but cf. v. 812.
84. The Hero's Targe. "There is a rock so named in the Forest of
Glenfinlas, by which a tumultuary cataract takes its course. This wild
place is said in former times to have afforded refuge to an outlaw, who
was supplied with provisions by a woman, who lowered them down from
the brink of the precipice above. His water he procured for himself, by
letting down a flagon tied to a string into the black pool beneath the
fall" (Scott).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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