95. Loch Achray. A lake between Loch Katrine and Loch Vennachar, lying just beyond the pass of the Trosachs.
97. Benvenue. A mountain, 2386 feet in height, on the southern side of Loch Katrine.
98. With the hope. The Ms. has “with the thought,” and “flying hoof” in the next line.
102. ’Twere. It would be. Cf. Shakespeare, Macb. ii. 2. 73: “To know my deed, ’t were best not know myself.”
103. Cambusmore. The estate of a family named Buchanan, whom Scott frequently visited in his younger days. It is about two miles from Callander, on the wooded banks of the Keltie, a tributary of the Teith.
105. Benledi. A mountain, 2882 feet high, northwest from Callander. The name is said to mean “Mountain of God.”
106. Bochastle’s heath. A moor between the east end of Loch Vennachar and Callander. See also on v. 298 below.
107. The flooded Teith. The Teith is formed by streams from Loch Voil and from Loch Katrine (by way of Loch Achray and Loch Vennachar), which unite at Callander. It joins the Forth near Stirling.
111. Vennachar. As the map shows, this “Lake of the Fair Valley” is the most eastern of the three lakes around which the scenery of the poem lies. It is about five miles long and a mile and a half wide.
112. The Brigg of Turk. This brig, or bridge (cf. Burns’s poem of The Brigs of Ayr), is over a stream that comes down from Glenfinlas and flows into the one connecting Lochs Achray and Vennachar. According to Graham, it is “the scene of the death of a wild boar famous in Celtic tradition.”
114. Unbated. Cf. Shakespeare, M. of V. ii. 6. 11:
“Where is the horse that doth
untread again
His tedious measures
with the unbated fire
That he did pace them
first?”
115. Scourge and steel. Whip and spur. Steel is often used for the sword (as in v. 239 below: “foeman worthy of their steel"), the figure being of the same sort as here—“the material put for the thing made of it.” Cf. v. 479 below.
117. Embossed. An old hunting term. George Turbervile, in his Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting (A.D. 1576), says: “When the hart is foamy at the mouth, we say, that he is emboss’d.” Cf. Shakespeare, T. of S. ind. 1. 17: “Brach Merriman, the poor cur, is emboss’d;” and A. and C. iv. 13. 3:
“the boar
of Thessaly
Was never so emboss’d.”
120. Saint Hubert’s breed. Scott quotes Turbervile here: “The hounds which we call Saint Hubert’s hounds are commonly all blacke, yet neuertheless, the race is so mingled at these days, that we find them of all colours. These are the hounds which the abbots of St. Hubert haue always kept some of their race or kind, in honour or remembrance of the saint, which was a hunter with S. Eustace. Whereupon we may conceiue that (by the grace of God) all good huntsmen shall follow them into paradise.”