Arthurian romances; Lady of the Lake (Legendary character) -- Romances
347. Dark lightning, etc. The MS. has "In lightning flashed the Chief's
dark eye," which might serve as a comment on Dark lightning.
349. Kern. See on iv. 73 above.
351. He yields not, etc. The MS. has "He stoops not, he, to James nor
Fate."
356. Carpet knight. Cf. Shakespeare, T. N. iii. 4. 257: "He is knight,
dubbed with unhatched rapier and on carpet consideration."
364. Ruth. Pity; obsolete, though we still have ruthless. Cf. Spenser,
F. Q. i. 1. 50:
"to stirre up gentle ruth
Both for her noble blood, and for her tender youth;"
Milton, Lycidas, 163: "Look homeward, Angel, now, and melt with ruth,"
etc.
380. His targe. Scott says: "A round target of light wood, covered with
strong leather and studded with brass or iron, was a necessary part of
a Highlander's equipment. In charging regular troops they received the
thrust of the bayonet in this buckler, twisted it aside, and used the
broadsword against the encumbered soldier. In the civil war of 1745
most of the front rank of the clans were thus armed; and Captain Grose
(Military Antiquities, vol. i. p. 164) informs us that in 1747 the
privates of the 42d regiment, then in Flanders, were for the most part
permitted to carry targets. A person thus armed had a considerable
advantage in private fray. Among verses between Swift and Sheridan,
lately published by Dr. Barrett, there is an account of such an
encounter, in which the circumstances, and consequently the relative
superiority of the combatants, are precisely the reverse of those in the
text:
'A Highlander once fought a Frenchman at Margate,
The weapons, a rapier, a backsword, and target;
Brisk Monsieur advanced as fast as he could,
But all his fine pushes were caught in the wood,
And Sawny, with backsword, did slash him and nick him,
While t'other, enraged that he could not once prick him,
Cried, "Sirrah, you rascal, you son of a whore,
Me will fight you, be gar! if you'll come from your door."'"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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