and Id. iii. 10. 53:
“like
as a Beare,
That creeping close among
the hives to reare
An hony-combe,” etc.
Wb. does not give this sense, which we believe is found only in Spenser.
165. Shall with strong hand, etc. Scott has the following note here: “The ancient Highlanders verified in their practice the lines of Gray (Fragment on the Alliance of Education and Government):
’An iron race the mountain
cliffs maintain,
Foes to the gentler
genius of the plain;
For where unwearied
sinews must be found,
With side-long plough
to quell the flinty ground,
To turn the torrent’s
swift descending flood,
To tame the savage rushing
from the wood,
What wonder if, to patient
valor train’d,
They guard with spirit
what by strength they gain’d;
And while their rocky
ramparts round they see
The rough abode of want
and liberty
(As lawless force from
confidence will grow),
Insult the plenty of
the vales below?’
“So far, indeed, was a Creagh, or foray, from being held disgraceful, that a young chief was always expected to show his talents for command so soon as he assumed it, by leading his clan on a successful enterprise of this nature, either against a neighboring sept, for which constant feuds usually furnished an apology, or against the Sassencach, Saxons, or Lowlanders, for which no apology was necessary. The Gael, great traditional historians, never forgot that the Lowlands had, at some remote period, been the property of their Celtic forefathers, which furnished an ample vindication of all the ravages that they could make on the unfortunate districts which lay within their reach. Sir James Grant of Grant is in possession of a letter of apology from Cameron of Lochiel, whose men had committed some depredation upon a farm called Moines, occupied by one of the Grants. Lochiel assures Grant that, however the mistake had happened, his instructions were precise, that the party should foray the province of Moray (a Lowland district), where, as he coolly observes, ‘all men take their prey.’”
177. Good faith. In good faith, bona fide; as often in old writers.
192. Bower. See on i. 217 above.
195. This rebel Chieftain, etc. The Ms. reads:
“This dark Sir Roderick | and his band;” This savage Chieftain |
and below:
“From copse to copse
the signal flew.
Instant, through copse
and crags, arose;”
and in 205 “shoots” for sends.
208. And every tuft, etc. The Ms. reads:
“And each lone tuft
of broom gives life
To plaided warrior armed
for strife.
That whistle manned
the lonely glen
With full five hundred
armed men;”
and below (214):