Arthurian romances; Lady of the Lake (Legendary character) -- Romances
Scott has the following note here: "The jongleurs, or jugglers, as we
learn from the elaborate work of the late Mr. Strutt, on the sports and
pastimes of the people of England, used to call in the aid of various
assistants, to render these performances as captivating as possible.
The glee-maiden was a necessary attendant. Her duty was tumbling and
dancing; and therefore the Anglo-Saxon version of Saint Mark's Gospel
states Herodias to have vaulted or tumbled before King Herod. In
Scotland these poor creatures seem, even at a late period, to have
been bondswomen to their masters, as appears from a case reported by
Fountainhall: 'Reid the mountebank pursues Scot of Harden and his lady
for stealing away from him a little girl, called the tumbling-lassie,
that dance upon his stage; and he claimed damages, and produced a
contract, whereby he bought her from her mother for £30 Scots. But we
have no slaves in Scotland, and mothers cannot sell their bairns; and
physicians attested the employment of tumbling would kill her; and her
joints were now grown stiff, and she declined to return; though she was
at least a 'prentice, and so could not run away from her master; yet
some cited Moses's law, that if a servant shelter himself with thee
against his master's cruelty, thou shalt surely not deliver him up. The
Lords, renitente cancellario, assoilzied Harden on the 27th of January
(1687)' (Fountainhall's Decisions, vol. i. p. 439)."
136. Purvey. Provide. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. v. 12. 10: "He all things did
purvay which for them needfull weare."
147. Bertram, etc. The MS. has "Bertram | his |
| such | violence withstood."
152. The tartan screen. That is, the tartan which she had drawn over her
head as a veil.
155. The savage soldiery, etc. The MS. has "While the rude soldiery,
amazed;" and in 164 below, "Should Ellen Douglas suffer wrong."
167. I shame me. I shame myself, I am ashamed. The very was formerly
used intransitively in this sense. Cf. Shakespeare, R. of L. 1143: "As
shaming any eye should thee behold;" A. Y. L. iv. 3. 136: "I do not
shame to tell you what I was," etc.
170. Needwood. A royal forest in Staffordshire.
171. Poor Rose, etc. The MS. reads:
"'My Rose,'--he wiped his iron eye and brow,--
'Poor Rose,--if Rose be living now.'"
178. Part. Act; used for the rhyme. The expression is not unlike "do the
part of an honest man" (Much Ado, ii. 1. 172), or "act the part," as we
should now put it.
183. Tullibardine. The name of an old seat of the Murray family, about
twenty miles from Stirling.
199. Errant damosel. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 19: "Th' adventure of the
Errant damozell."
209. Given by the Monarch, etc. The MS. has "The Monarch gave to James
Fitz-James."
218. Bower. Chamber. See on i. 217 above.
222. Permit I marshal you the way. Permit that I conduct you thither.
233. The vacant purse, etc. The MS. reads:
"The silken purse shall serve for me,
And in my barret-cap shall flee""--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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