163. The banks of Seine. James visited France in 1536, and sued for the hand of Magdalen, daughter of Francis I. He married her the following spring, but she died a few months later. He then married Mary of Guise, whom he had doubtless seen while in France. 166. Woe worth the chase. That is, woe be to it. This worth is from the A. S. weorthan, to become. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 6. 32: "Wo worth the man, That first did teach the cursed steele to bight In his owne flesh, and make way to the living spright!" See also Ezek. xxx. 2. 180. And on the hunter, etc. The MS. reads: "And on the hunter hied his pace, To meet some comrades of the chase;" and the 1st ed. retains "pace" and "chase." 184. The western waves, etc. This description of the Trosachs was written amid the scenery it delineates, in the summer of 1809. The Quarterly Review (May, 1810) says of the poet: "He sees everything with a painter's eye. Whatever he represents has a character of individuality, and is drawn with an accuracy and minuteness of discrimination which we are not accustomed to expect from mere verbal description. It is because Mr. Scott usually delineates those objects with which he is perfectly familiar that his touch is so easy, correct, and animated. The rocks, the ravines, and the torrents which he exhibits are not the imperfect sketches of a hurried traveller, but the finished studies of a resident artist." See also on 278 below. Ruskin (Modern Painters, iii. 278) refers to "the love of color" as a leading element in Scott's love of beauty. He might have quoted the present passage among the illustrations he adds. 195. The native bulwarks, etc. The MS. has "The mimic castles of the pass." 196. The tower, etc. Cf. Gen. xi. 1-9. 198. The rocky. The 1st ed. has "Their rocky," etc. 204. Nor were, etc. The MS. reads: "Nor were these mighty bulwarks bare." 208. Dewdrop sheen. Not "dewdrops sheen," or "dewdrops' sheen," as sometimes printed. Sheen = shining, bright; as in v. 10 below. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. ii. 1. 10: "So faire and sheene;" Id. iii. 4. 51: "in top of heaven sheene," etc. See Wb. The MS. has here: "Bright glistening with the dewdrop sheen." 212. Boon. Bountiful. Cf. Milton, P. L. iv. 242: "Flowers worthy of Paradise, which not nice art In beds and curious knots, but nature boon Pour'd forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain." See also P. L. ix. 793: "jocund and boon." 217. Bower. In the old sense of chamber, lodging-place; as in iv. 413 and vi. 218 below. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 1. 58: "Eftesoones long waxen torches weren light Unto their bowres to guyden every guest." For clift (= cleft), the reading of the 1st ed. and unquestionably what Scott wrote, every other edition that we have seen reads "cliff." 219. Emblems of punishment and pride. See on iii. 19 below.