sly countenance made others fly," etc. See
also iv. 322, etc. below.

723. Played, etc. The MS. reads:

"Played on/ the bosoms of the lake,
/ Lock Katrine's still expanse;
The birch, the wild rose, and the broom
Wasted around their rich perfume...
The birch-trees wept in balmy dew;
The aspen slept on Benvenue;
Wild were the heart whose passions' power
Defied the influence of the hour."

724. Passion's. The reading of the 1st ed. and that of 1821; some recent
eds. have "passions'."

738. Orisons. The 1st ed. has "orison" both here and in 740 (the ed. of
1821 only in the latter); but the word is almost invariably plural, both
in poetry and prose--always in Shakespeare and Milton.

Canto Second.

7. A minstrel gray. "That Highland chieftains, to a late period,
retained in their service the bard, as a family officer, admits of very
easy proof. The author of the Letters from the North of Scotland, an
officer of engineers, quartered at Inverness about 1720, who certainly
cannot be deemed a favorable witness, gives the following account of
the office, and of a bard, whom he heard exercise his talent of
recitation:--'The bard is killed in the genealogy of all the Highland
families, sometimes preceptor to the young laird, celebrates in Irish
verse the original of the tribe, the famous warlike actions of the
successive heads, and sings his own lyricks as an opiate to the chief,
when indisposed for sleep; but poets are not equally esteemed and
honored in all countries. I happened to be a witness of the dishonour
done to the muse, at the house of one of the chiefs, where two of these
bards were set at a good distance, at the lower end of a long table,
with a parcel of Highlanders of no extraordinary appearance, over a cup
of ale. Poor inspiration! They were not asked to drink a glass of wine
at our table, though the whole company consisted only of the great man,
one of his near relations, and myself. After some little time, the chief
ordered one of them to sing me a Highland song. The bard readily obeyed,
and with a hoarse voice, and in a tune of few various notes, began, as
I was told, one of his own lyricks; and when he had proceeded to the
fourth of fifth stanza, I perceived, by the names of several persons,
glens, and mountains, which I had known or heard of before, that it
was an account of some clan battle. But in his going on, the chief (who
piques himself