The Lady of the Lake [60]
iv. 1. 84: "the golden dew of sleep;" and J. C. ii. 1. 230: "the honey-heavy dew of slumber."
635. Morn of toil, etc. The MS. has "noon of hunger, night of waking;" and in the next line, "rouse" for reach.
638. Pibroch. "A Highland air, suited to the particular passion which the musician would either excite or assuage; generally applied to those airs that are played on the bagpipe before the Highlanders when they go out to battle" (Jamieson). Here it is put for the bagpipe itself. See also on ii. 363 below.
642. And the bittern sound his drum. Goldsmith (D. V. 44) calls the bird "the hollow-sounding bittern;" and in his Animated Nature, he says that of all the notes of waterfowl "there is none so dismally hollow as the booming of the bittern."
648. She paused, etc. The MS. has "She paused--but waked again the lay."
655. The MS. reads: "Slumber sweet our spells shall deal ye;" and in 657:
"Let our slumbrous spells| avail ye | beguile ye."
657. Reveille. The call to rouse troops or huntsmen in the morning.
669. Forest sports. The MS. has "mountain chase."
672. Not Ellens' spell. That is, not even Ellen's spell. On the passage, cf. Rokeby, i. 2:
"Sleep came at length, but with a train Of feelings true and fancies vain, Mingling, in wild disorder cast, The expected future with the past."
693. Or is it all a vision now? Lockhart quotes here Thomson's Castle of Indolence:
"Ye guardian spirits, to whom man is dear, From these foul demons shield the midnight gloom: Angels of fancy and love, be near. And o'er the blank of sleep diffuse a bloom: Evoke the sacred shades of Greece and Rome, And let them virtue with a look impart; But chief, awhile, O! lend us from the tomb Those long-lost friends for whom in love we smart, and fill with pious awe and joy-mixt woe the heart.
"Or are you sportive?--bid the morn of youth Rise to new light, and beam afresh the days Of innocence, simplicity, and truth; To cares estranged, and manhood's thorny ways. What transport, to retrace our boyish plays, Our easy bliss, when each thing joy supplied; The woods, the mountains, and the warbling maze Of the wild books!"
The Critical Review says of the following stanza (xxxiv): "Such a strange and romantic dream as may be naturally expected to flow from the extraordinary events of the day. It might, perhaps, be quoted as one of Mr. Scott's most successful efforts in descriptive poetry. Some few lines of it are indeed unrivalled for delicacy and melancholy tenderness."
704. Grisly. Grim, horrible; an obsolete word, much used in old poetry. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 30: "her darke griesly looke;" Shakespeare, 1 Hen. VI. i. 4. 47: "My grisly countenance made others fly," etc. See also iv. 322, etc. below.
723. Played, etc. The MS. reads:
"Played on/ the bosoms of the lake, / Lock Katrine's still expanse; The birch, the wild rose, and the broom Wasted around their rich perfume ... The birch-trees wept in balmy dew; The aspen slept on Benvenue; Wild were the heart whose passions' power Defied the influence of the hour."
724. Passion's. The reading of the 1st ed. and that of 1821; some recent eds. have "passions'."
738. Orisons. The 1st ed. has "orison" both here and in 740 (the ed. of 1821 only in the latter); but the word is almost invariably plural, both in poetry and prose--always in Shakespeare and Milton.
Canto Second.
7. A minstrel gray. "That Highland chieftains, to a late period, retained in their service the bard, as a family officer, admits of very easy proof. The author of the Letters from the North of Scotland, an officer of engineers, quartered at Inverness about 1720, who certainly cannot be deemed a favorable witness, gives the following account of the office, and of a bard, whom he heard exercise his talent of recitation:--'The
635. Morn of toil, etc. The MS. has "noon of hunger, night of waking;" and in the next line, "rouse" for reach.
638. Pibroch. "A Highland air, suited to the particular passion which the musician would either excite or assuage; generally applied to those airs that are played on the bagpipe before the Highlanders when they go out to battle" (Jamieson). Here it is put for the bagpipe itself. See also on ii. 363 below.
642. And the bittern sound his drum. Goldsmith (D. V. 44) calls the bird "the hollow-sounding bittern;" and in his Animated Nature, he says that of all the notes of waterfowl "there is none so dismally hollow as the booming of the bittern."
648. She paused, etc. The MS. has "She paused--but waked again the lay."
655. The MS. reads: "Slumber sweet our spells shall deal ye;" and in 657:
"Let our slumbrous spells| avail ye | beguile ye."
657. Reveille. The call to rouse troops or huntsmen in the morning.
669. Forest sports. The MS. has "mountain chase."
672. Not Ellens' spell. That is, not even Ellen's spell. On the passage, cf. Rokeby, i. 2:
"Sleep came at length, but with a train Of feelings true and fancies vain, Mingling, in wild disorder cast, The expected future with the past."
693. Or is it all a vision now? Lockhart quotes here Thomson's Castle of Indolence:
"Ye guardian spirits, to whom man is dear, From these foul demons shield the midnight gloom: Angels of fancy and love, be near. And o'er the blank of sleep diffuse a bloom: Evoke the sacred shades of Greece and Rome, And let them virtue with a look impart; But chief, awhile, O! lend us from the tomb Those long-lost friends for whom in love we smart, and fill with pious awe and joy-mixt woe the heart.
"Or are you sportive?--bid the morn of youth Rise to new light, and beam afresh the days Of innocence, simplicity, and truth; To cares estranged, and manhood's thorny ways. What transport, to retrace our boyish plays, Our easy bliss, when each thing joy supplied; The woods, the mountains, and the warbling maze Of the wild books!"
The Critical Review says of the following stanza (xxxiv): "Such a strange and romantic dream as may be naturally expected to flow from the extraordinary events of the day. It might, perhaps, be quoted as one of Mr. Scott's most successful efforts in descriptive poetry. Some few lines of it are indeed unrivalled for delicacy and melancholy tenderness."
704. Grisly. Grim, horrible; an obsolete word, much used in old poetry. Cf. Spenser, F. Q. i. 5. 30: "her darke griesly looke;" Shakespeare, 1 Hen. VI. i. 4. 47: "My grisly countenance made others fly," etc. See also iv. 322, etc. below.
723. Played, etc. The MS. reads:
"Played on/ the bosoms of the lake, / Lock Katrine's still expanse; The birch, the wild rose, and the broom Wasted around their rich perfume ... The birch-trees wept in balmy dew; The aspen slept on Benvenue; Wild were the heart whose passions' power Defied the influence of the hour."
724. Passion's. The reading of the 1st ed. and that of 1821; some recent eds. have "passions'."
738. Orisons. The 1st ed. has "orison" both here and in 740 (the ed. of 1821 only in the latter); but the word is almost invariably plural, both in poetry and prose--always in Shakespeare and Milton.
Canto Second.
7. A minstrel gray. "That Highland chieftains, to a late period, retained in their service the bard, as a family officer, admits of very easy proof. The author of the Letters from the North of Scotland, an officer of engineers, quartered at Inverness about 1720, who certainly cannot be deemed a favorable witness, gives the following account of the office, and of a bard, whom he heard exercise his talent of recitation:--'The