Editorial note — CANTO FOURTH THE PROPHECY

19. Braes of Doune. Doune is a village on the Teith, a few miles northwest of Stirling. The word "brae" means slope or declivity; the braes of Doune stretch away east and north from the village.

36. boune. An obsolete word meaning "prepared."

63. Taghairm. The word means "Augury of the Hide."

68. When swept our merrymen Gallangad. The reference is to one of the forays or "cattledrives" which the Highland chiefs were fond of making at the expense of their neighbors. The situation of Gallangad is now unknown, but it was presumably a portion of the Lennox district.

73. kerns. The kern or cateran of the Highlands was a light-armed infantryman, as opposed to the heavy-armed "gallowglass."

78. scatheless. Without fear of injury, because of the weariness of the animal after the march.

82. boss. The word means knob or protuberance, especially that in the center of a shield. What the boss of a cliff can be it is a little difficult to understand.

98. watching while the deer is broke. The cutting up of the deer and allotting of the various portions was technically known as the "breaking" of the deer. A certain gristly portion was given, by long custom, to the birds, and came to be known as "the raven's bone."

140. A spy has sought my land. Roderick refers, as appears later, to the "Knight of Snowdoun" of Canto I.

150. glaive, sword.

153. sable pale. An heraldic term, applied to a black perpendicular stripe in a coat of arms.

174. stance, station, foundation.

231. Cambus-kenneth's fane. The ruins of Cambus-kenneth Abbey are still to be seen on the banks of the Forth near Stirling.

262. mavis and merle, thrush and blackbird.

283. darkling was the battle tried. Scott first wrote "blindfold" in place of "darkling."

285. pall. A rich cloth, from which mantles of noblemen were made. Vair. A fur much used for the garments of nobility in medieval times.

298. wonn'd, an obsolete equivalent of "dwelt."

306. fairies' fatal green. The elves or gnomes wore green, and were angered when any mortal ventured to wear that color. For this or some other reason green was held an unlucky color in many parts of Scotland.

308. thou wert christened man. Urgan, as appears later, was a mortal, who had fallen under the spell of the elves and lived their life, but who still retained some of the privileges and immunities which belonged, according to medieval belief, to all persons who had been baptized into the Christian church.

371. Dunfermline. An Abbey sixteen miles northwest of Edinburgh.

385. my former guide. This is Red Murdoch, of whom Roderick Dhu speaks, see 144 ff.

531. The Allan and the Devan are two streams which descend from the hills of Perthshire into the lowland plain.

555. from Maudlin's charge. Maudlin, as a proper name, is a corruption of Magdalen. The curious development of meaning which has taken place in the word should be looked out in the dictionary.

559. peasant pitched a bar. "Pitching the bar" was a feat of strength like the modern "putting the shot." It was usually indulged in by the peasantry at fairs and on the village greens.

564. that savage groom. The mad woman refers to Red Murdoch, the guide.

594. a stag of ten. With ten branches on his antlers.