.= The cutting up of the deer and
allotting of the various portions was technically known as the
"breaking" of the deer. A certain gristly portion was given, by long
custom, to the birds, and came to be known as "the raven's bone."

140. =A spy has sought my land.= Roderick refers, as appears later, to
the "Knight of Snowdoun" of Canto I.

150. =glaive=, sword.

153. =sable pale.= An heraldic term, applied to a black perpendicular
stripe in a coat of arms.

174. =stance=, station, foundation.

231. =Cambus-kenneth's fane.= The ruins of Cambus-kenneth Abbey are
still to be seen on the banks of the Forth near Stirling.

262. =mavis and merle=, thrush and blackbird.

283. =darkling was the battle tried.= Scott first wrote "blindfold" in
place of "darkling."

285. =pall.= A rich cloth, from which mantles of noblemen were made.
=Vair.= A fur much used for the garments of nobility in medieval times.

298. =wonn'd=, an obsolete equivalent of "dwelt."

306. =fairies' fatal green.= The elves or gnomes wore green, and were
angered when any mortal ventured to wear that color. For this or some
other reason green was held an unlucky color in many parts of Scotland.

308. =thou wert christened man.= Urgan, as appears later, was a mortal,
who had fallen under the spell of the elves and lived their life, but
who still retained some of the privileges and immunities which belonged,
according to medieval belief, to all persons who had been baptized into
the Christian church.

371. =Dunfermline.= An Abbey sixteen miles northwest of Edinburgh.

385. =my former guide.= This is Red Murdoch, of whom Roderick Dhu
speaks, see 144 ff.

531. The =Allan= and the =Devan= are two streams which descend from the
hills of Perthshire into the lowland plain.

555. =from Maudlin's charge.= Maudlin, as a proper name, is a corruption
of Magdalen. The curious development of meaning which has taken place in
the word should be looked out in the dictionary.

559. =peasant pitched a bar.= "Pitching the bar" was a feat of strength
like the modern "putting the shot." It was usually indulged in by the
peasantry at fairs and on the village greens.

564. =that savage groom.= The mad woman refers to Red Murdoch, the
guide.

594. =a stag of ten.= With ten branches on his antlers.

CANTO FIFTH

46. =shingles=, declivities or "slides" of small broken stone.

124. =While Albany with feeble hand.= After the death of James IV at
Flodden Field the