hut." (Scott's note in edition of 1830.)

546. =target.= What is the connection of this word with that used in
archery and gun-practice?

566. =brook to wield.= "Brook" commonly means "endure." What is its
exact meaning here?

573. =Ferragus, or Ascabart.= Two giants whose names appear frequently
in medieval romances of chivalry. The first is better known as Ferran,
under which name he figures in the _Orlando Furioso_ of Ariosto.
Ascabart plays a part in the old English metrical romance of Sir Bevis
of Hampton.

580. =To whom, though more than kindred knew.= This is a very obscure
expression for Scott, who is usually so careful to make himself clear.
The meaning seems to be: Ellen regarded her as a mother, though that was
more than the actual kinship of the two justified (literally "knew how
to recognize").

591. =Knight of Snowdoun, James Fitz-James.= As appears later in the
poem, these were not his true name and title, though he was entitled to
bear them.

622. =a harp unseen.= In modern Scotland the bagpipe has altogether
taken the place of the harp. A writer of the sixteenth century says:
"They (the Highlanders) take great delight to deck their harps with
silver and precious stones; the poor ones that cannot attain thereunto
deck them with crystal. They sing verses prettily compounded (i.e.,
composed) containing for the most part praises of valiant men."

638. =pibroch.= (Pronounced pee-brock.) A wild tumultuous tune played on
the bagpipes in the onset of battle.

642. =bittern.= A wading bird, allied to the heron.

657. =reveille.= As the rhyme shows, this word is pronounced
_reh-vail'yah_ here. The common pronunciation in the United States is
_rev-a-lee'_. It is the drum-beat or bugle-call at dawn to arouse
soldiers.

CANTO SECOND

1. =blackcock.= See note to I, 440.

7. =minstrel grey.= Until well on in the eighteenth century it was
customary for Highland chieftains to keep in their service a bard, whose
chief duty it was to sing the exploits of the ancestors of the line.

69. =Lead forth his fleet.= What kind of figure is contained in the word
_fleet_ as applied to the flock of ducks?

131. =harp, which erst Saint Modan swayed.= St. Modan was not a harper,
as Scott elsewhere ingenuously confesses, adding, however, that "Saint
Dunstan certainly did play upon that instrument."

141. =Wailed loud through Bothwell's bannered hall.= The minstrel tries
to account for the strange way in which his