"The devil is in this greedy gled—she will never be fou." But when the Queen, without appearing to notice this hint, continued to press her obnoxious request, Angus replied, in the true spirit of a feudal noble, "Yes, Madam, the castle is yours; God forbid else. But by the might of God, Madam!" such was his usual oath, "I must be your Captain and Keeper for you, and I will keep it as well as any you can place there."' — Sir Walter Scott's Provincial Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 167.—Prose Works, vol. vii. p.436.
Stanza XXXIV. 1. 998. Cp. Æneid, IV. 174:—
'Fama, malum qua non aliud velocius ullum.'
1. 1001. Strongholds in Northumberland, near Flodden.
1. 1017. Opposite Flodden, beyond the Till.
1. 1032. 'bated of, diminished. Cp. Timon of Athens, ii. 2. 208:—
'You do yourselves Much wrong; you bate too much of your own merits.'
INTRODUCTION TO CANTO SIXTH.
Richard Heber ( 1773–1833) half -brother of Bishop Heber, was for some time M.P. for Oxford University. His large inherited fortune enabled him freely to indulge his love of books, and his English library of 105,000 volumes cost him £ 180,000. He had thousands besides on the continent. As a cherished friend of Scott's he is frequently mentioned in the 'Life.' He introduced Leyden to Scott (Life, i. 322, 1837 ed.).
'Mertoun House, the seat of Hugh Scott, Esq ., of Harden, is beautifully situated on the Tweed, about two miles below Dryburgh Abbey:'—Lockhart.
1. 7. 'The Iol of the heathen Danes (a word still applied to Christmas in Scotland ) was solemnized with great festivity. The humour of the Danes at table displayed itself in pelting each other with bones, and Torfæus tells a long and curious story, in the History of Hrolfe Kraka, of one Hottus, an inmate of the Court of Denmark, who was so generally assailed with these missiles, that he constructed, out of the bones with which he was overwhelmed, a very respectable intrenchment, against those who continued the raillery. The dances of the northern warriors round the great fires of pine-trees, are
