672.  Is meet for me.  The Ms. has “was meant for me.”  For the ellipsis, cf. 540 above.

674.  From yon dull steeple’s,” etc.  The Ms. has “From darkened steeple’s” etc.  See on v. 558 above.

677.  The lark, etc.  The Ms. has “The lively lark my matins rung,” and “sung” in the rhyme.  The omission of to with ring and sing is here a poetic license; but in Elizabethan English it is common in many cases where it would not now be admissible.  Cf.  Othello, ii. 3. 190:  “you were wont be civil;” F. Q. i. 1. 50:  “He thought have slaine her,” etc.

680.  A hall, etc.  The Ms. has “a hall should harbor me.”

683.  Fleet deer.  See on 605 above.

707.  At morning prime.  Early in the morning.  Prime is properly the first canonical hour of prayer, or 6 a.m.  For its looser use here, cf.  F. Q. ii. 9. 25:  “at evening and at prime.”

712.  Stayed.  Supported; not to be printed “staid,” as in some editions.

716.  Within, etc.  The Ms. reads: 

    “Within ’t was brilliant all, and bright
     The vision glowed on Ellen’s sight.”

726.  Presence.  Presence-chamber.  Cf.  Rich.  II. i. 3. 289: 

    “Suppose the singing birds musicians,
     The grass whereon thou tread’st the presence strew’d”

(that is, strewn with rushes); Hen.  VIII. iii. 1. 17: 

        “the two great cardinals
    Wait in the presence,” etc.

727.  For him, etc.  The Ms. reads:  “For him who owned this royal state.”

737.  Sheen.  Bright.  See on i. 208 above.

740.  And Snowdoun’s Knight is Scotland’s King.  Scott says:  “This discovery will probably remind the reader of the beautiful Arabian tale of Il Bondocani.  Yet the incident is not borrowed from that elegant story, but from Scottish tradition.  James V., of whom we are treating, was a monarch whose good and benevolent intentions often rendered his romantic freaks venial, if not respectable, since, from his anxious attention to the interests of the lower and most oppressed class of his subjects, he was, as we have seen, popularly termed the King of the Commons.  For the purpose of seeing that justice was regularly administered, and frequently from the less justifiable motive of gallantry, he used to traverse the vicinage of his several palaces in various disguises.  The two excellent comic songs entitled The Gaberlunzie Man and We’ll gae nae mair a roving are said to have been founded upon the success of his amorous adventures when travelling in the disguise of a beggar.  The latter is perhaps the best comic ballad in any language.