Stanza iv. line 43. Malvoisie = Malmsey, from Malvasia, now Napoli di Malvasia, in the Morea.
line 55. portcullis, a strong timber framework within the gateway of a castle, let down in grooves and having iron spikes at the bottom.
Stanzas V and vi. Marmion, strenuous in arms and prudent in counsel, has a kinship in spirit and achievement with the Homeric heroes. Compare him also with the typical knight in Chaucer’s Prologue and the Red Cross Knight at the opening of the ‘Faerie Queene.’ Scott annotates ‘Milan steel’ and the legend thus:—
’The artists of Milan were famous in the middle ages for their skill in armoury, as appears from the following passage, in which Froissart gives an account of the preparations made by Henry, Earl of Hereford, afterwards Henry iv, and Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, Earl Marischal, for their proposed combat in the lists at Coventry:— “These two lords made ample provisions of all things necessary for the combat; and the Earl of Derby sent off messengers to Lombardy, to have armour from Sir Galeas, Duke of Milan. The Duke complied with joy, and gave the knight, called Sir Francis, who had brought the message, the choice of all his armour for the Earl of Derby. When he had selected what he wished for in plated and mail armour, the Lord of Milan, out of his abundant love for the Earl, ordered four of the best armourers in Milan to accompany the knight to England, that the Earl of Derby might be more completely armed.”— JOHNES’ Froissart, vol. iv. p.597.
’The crest and motto of Marmion are borrowed from the following story:—
Sir David de Lindsay, first Earl of Cranford, was, among other gentlemen of quality, attended, during a visit to London in 1390, by Sir William Dalzell, who was, according to my authority, Bower, not only excelling in wisdom, but also of a lively wit. Chancing to be at the Court, he there saw Sir Piers Conrtenay, an English knight, famous for skill in tilting, and for the beauty of his person, parading the palace, arrayed in a new mantle, bearing for device an embroidered falcon, with this rhyme,—
“I bear a falcon, fairest
of night,
Whoso pinches at her, his death is dight1
In graith2.”
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1prepared. 2armour.
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’The Scottish knight, being a wag, appeared next
day in a dress exactly similar to that of Courtenay,
but bearing a magpie instead of the falcon, with a
motto ingeniously contrived to rhyme to the vaunting
inscription of Sir Piers:—
“I bear a pie picking at
a piece,
Whoso picks at her, I shall pick at his nese3,
In faith.”
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3nose
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’This affront could only be expiated by a just
with sharp lances. In the course, Dalzell left
his helmet unlaced, so that it gave way at the touch