re than kindred knew. The MS. reads:

"To whom, though more remote her claim,
Young Ellen gave a mother's name."

She was the maternal aunt of Ellen, but was loved as a mother by her, or
more than (such) kindred (usually) knew (in way of affection).

585. Though all unasked, etc. "The Highlanders, who carried hospitality
to a punctilious excess, are said to have considered it as churlish
to ask a stranger his name or lineage before he had taken refreshment.
Feuds were so frequent among them, that a contrary rule would in many
cases have produced the discovery of some circumstance which might have
excluded the guest from the benefit of the assistance he stood in need
of" (Scott).

591. Snowdoun. An old name of Stirling Castle. See vi. 789 below.

592. Lord of a barren heritage. "By the misfortunes of the earlier
Jameses, and the internal feuds of the Scottish chiefs, the kingly power
had become little more than a name. Each chief was a petty king in his
own district, and gave just so much obedience to the king's authority as
suited his convenience" (Taylor).

596. Wot. Knows; the present of the obsolete wit (the infinitive to
wit is still use in legal forms), not of weet, as generally stated. See
Matzner, Eng. Gram. i. 382. Cf. Shakespeare, Rich. III. ii. 3. 18: "No,
no, good friends, God wot." He also uses wots (as in Hen. V. iv. 1. 299)
and a participle wotting (in W. T. iii. 2. 77).

602. Require. Request, ask; as in Elizanethan English. Cf. Shakespeare,
Hen. VIII. ii. 4. 144: "In humblest manner I require your highness,"
etc.

603. The elder lady's mien. The MS. has "the mother's easy mien."

606. Ellen, though more, etc. The MS. reads:

"Ellen, though more her looks betrayed
The simple heart of mountain maid,
In speech and gesture, form and grace,
Showed she was come of gentle race;
'T was strange, in birth so rude, to find
Such face, such manners, and such mind.
Each anxious hint the stranger gave,
The mother heard with silence grave."

616. Weird women we, etc. See on 35 above. Weird here = skilled in
witchcraft; like the "weird sisters" of Macbeth. Down = hill (the Gaelic
dun).

622. A harp unseen. Scott has the following note here: "'"They
[the Highlanders] delight much in musicke, but chiefly in harps and
clairschoes of their own fashion. The strings of the clairschoes are
made of brasse wire, and the strings of the harps of si