"Lord Jeffrey has objected to the guard-room scene and its accompanying song as the greatest blemish in the whole poem. The scene contrasts forcibly with the grace which characterizes the rest; but in a poem which rests its interest upon incident, such a criticism seems overstrained. It gives us a vigorous picture of a class of men who played a very important part in the history of the time, especially across the Border; men who, many of them outlaws, and fighting, not for country or for king, but for him who paid them best, were humored with every license when they were not on strict military duty. The requirements of the narrative might have been satisfied without these details, it is true; but the use which Sir Walter has made of them--to show the power of beauty and innocence, and the chords of tenderness and goodness which lie ready to vibrate in the wildest natures--may surely reconcile us to such a piece of realism. "The scene of Roderick's death harmonizes well with his character. The minstrel's account of the battle the poet himself felt to be somewhat long, and yet it is difficult to see how it could be curtailed without spoiling it. It is full of life and vigor, and our only cause of surprise is that the lay should only come to a sudden stand when it is really completed" (Taylor). 6. Scaring, etc. The 1st ed. reads: "And scaring prowling robbers to their den." 7. Battled. Battlemented; as in ii. 702 above. 9. The kind nurse of men. Cf. 2 Hen. IV. iii. 1. 5: "O sleep, O gentle sleep, Nature's soft nurse," etc. 23. Through narrow loop, etc. The MS. has "Through blackened arch," etc.; and below: "The lights in strange alliance shone Beneath the arch of blackened stone." 25. Struggling with. Some recent eds. misprint "struggling through."