localities where his story is laid.

468. =pole-ax.= An old weapon consisting of a broad ax-head fastened to
a long pole, with a prick at the back.

480. =Tombea's Mary.= Tombea and Armandave are names of places in the
vicinity of Strath-Ire.

546. =bracken.= Fern.

570. =Balquidder.= The braes of Balquidder extended west from Loch Voil,
to the northward of the scene of the poem. =midnight blaze.= The heather
on the moorlands is often set on fire by the shepherds in order that new
herbage may spring up.

578. =Loch Voil=, etc. This and the following names are of poetic value
in suggesting tangibly the rapid passage of the runner from place to
place.

622. =Coir-nan-Uriskin.= Scott says that this name, signifying "Den of
the Shaggy Men," was derived from the mythical inhabitants of the place,
creatures half man and half goat, resembling the satyrs of classical
mythology.

641. =still=, stillness. Can you instance other cases of the use of
adjective for noun?

656. =satyrs.= See note to 622.

664. =Beal-nam-bo.= The name signifies "Pass of cattle." It is described
as a "most magnificent glade, overhung with aged birch-trees, a little
higher up the mountains than the Coir-nan-Uriskin."

672. =A single page, to bear his sword.= The sword bearer, like the
henchman and the bard, was a regular officer attached to the person of a
Highland Chief. He was called in Gaelic "Gilliemore," or sword-man.

CANTO FOURTH

19. =Braes of Doune.= Doune is a village on the Teith, a few miles
northwest of Stirling. The word "brae" means slope or declivity; the
braes of Doune stretch away east and north from the village.

36. =boune.= An obsolete word meaning "prepared."

63. =Taghairm.= The word means "Augury of the Hide."

68. =When swept our merrymen Gallangad.= The reference is to one of the
forays or "cattledrives" which the Highland chiefs were fond of making
at the expense of their neighbors. The situation of Gallangad is now
unknown, but it was presumably a portion of the Lennox district.

73. =kerns.= The kern or cateran of the Highlands was a light-armed
infantryman, as opposed to the heavy-armed "gallowglass."

78. =scatheless.= Without fear of injury, because of the weariness of
the animal after the march.

82. =boss.= The word means knob or protuberance, especially that in the
center of a shield. What the boss of a cliff can be it is a little
difficult to understand.

98. =watching while the deer is broke