EDITOR'S NOTES. THE poems of Scott are so amply illustrated by his own and Lockhart's Notes that there is little to add, and that little may best be put in a running commentary. INTRODUCTION. Newark. The castle was part of the jointure lands of Margaret Tudor, sister of Henry VIII., and wife of James IV. After the king's death at Flodden she married the Earl of Angus, and tradition alleges that he occupied Newark, with a lady of the Traquair family, to the indignation of the queen mother, his wife. But authentic documents throw no light on this cause of quarrel. The castle is still a strong ruin, a large peal tower, four-square, on a wooded mound above the deep black pools called "The Dowie Dens of Yarrow." "Monmouth's bloody tomb." Monmouth was really devoted to Lady Henrietta Wentworth, also loved by Lord Ailesbury. According to Ailesbury, Monmouth spoke of Lady Henrietta as "his wife in the sight of God." For this romantic affair see Ailesbury's Memoirs, printed by the Roxburghe Club. CANTO I. The house of Branksome or Branxholme is beside the road up Teviot. It is not older than the seventeenth century, but an ancient culverin, a breech-loading weapon of the fifteenth century, lies outside, as has been said, and speaks of times earlier than the date of the poem. (See Canto iv., stanza 20.) There is no room in the existing house for a crowd of retainers. Two old towers in Branxholme are called, mysterilously, "Nebsy" and "Tantafool." The Lady. She is said to have been a mistress of Bothwell's, and to have aided him, by art magic, in acquiring the love of Mary Stuart. But such gossip, Buchanan's in part, is less historical than even the ballads. Moat Hill. It is now acknowledged that these "moats," or mounds, are ancient sites of palisaded fortifications, in use before the building of stone castles after the Norman Conquest. They are especially frequent in Galloway. If Hawick moat was such a site the fort must have been of very limited extent. In later ages, moats, or motes, were used, occasionally, as places of meeting. Melrose Abbey. This, with many other religious houses, was ruined by the raids of the English, under Henry VIII., 1543-46. Michael Scott. This scholar and friend of Frederick II., the Emperor, cannot with much certainty be assigned to the Border family of Scott. Douglas Burn. The so-called "Douglas Tragedy" is only casually localised on the Douglas Burn. The story itself recurs in Danish ballad-lore. CANTO V. Swinton. There were several claimants of the honour of slaying Clarence, such as John Kirkmichael, Bishop of Orleans, and Alexander Macausland, a Highlander from the Lennox. (See the Book of Pluscarden, by a contemporary.) "Foot-ball play." The old rural sport is now played under Rugby or Association rules. Sir Walter wrote a poem for a famous match held under his own auspices, which nearly ended in a Border brawl of the approved kind. CANTO VI. "Falchions wrenched from corpses' hold." See the story of the short sword won from a tomb dweller in Morris's translation of the Saga of Grettir the Strong. "Tomb fires." These are still common on the holy isle of burial opposite Ballahulish, and, whatever their cause, are well attested by non-Celtic observers. The natives do not love to look on them. NOTES ON APPENDICES. Note A. "The site of a chapel." Hogg has a story of Scott's visit to the chapel, where a hollow metal object was found. It proved to be no votive helmet of old time, but a pot of tar for sheep-smearing. Recently a gold signet ring was found near the spot. Note C. Later than the raid of 1533, the English drove, in 1544, all the laird's sheep on the upper Ettrick. Tradition adds that they burned Catslack Tower on Yarrow, with a lady of the House of Buccleuch. Note D. Sir Walter bought the site of this clan-battle, with the stone called Turn-Again, and a "pendicle or tofe," called lock a Pistol. They are part of the Abbotsford estate. NOTE G (3). "The pardon for a condemned person." A curious case is that of Sandy Pringle. This man was a regular spy for England, yet, when one of his name was taken in a raid, he made the most self-denying offers, on the part of himself and the clan, for the release of the captive. (Aug. 2, 1543. Hamilton Papers, i. 625-616.) Naworth. An oak is shown near this beautiful old castle of Lord Carlisle (Howard), from the branches of which Scots were wont to be hanged. The analogous Hanging Tree at Branxholme, an ash, was recently blown down in a storm. NOTE T. "The kirk of St. Mary of the Lowes." At the head of Yarrow are two lochs. The lower and larger is St. Mary's Loch; the upper is the Loch of the Lowes, "lowes" being pike. The remains of the chapel, scarcely distinguishable, are on a hill on the left bank of the lower loch. NOTE Z. "Secret winding passages." These passages (a staircase under the floor of an upper chamber) are introduced by Scott in The Legend of Montrose, into Argyll's castle of Inverary. It is the scene where Dalgetty seizes the disguised marquis. NOTE C 2. In this charter the date is wrong, 1532; the real date would be 1542. The Editor understands that the extant charter is a copy, not the original. ANDREW LANG. |