above.

865, 866. Darkening... gave. In the 1st ed. these lines are joined to
what precedes, as they evidently should be; in all the more recent eds.
they are joined to what follows.

Canto Third.

3. Store. See on i. 548 above.

5. That be. in old English, besides the present tense am, etc., there
was also this form be, from the Anglo-Saxon beon. The 2d person singular
was beest. The 1st and 3d person plural be is often found in Shakespeare
and the Bible.

10. Yet live there still, etc. See on ii. 692 above.

15. What time. Cf. ii. 307 above.

17. The gathering sound. The sound, or signal, for the gathering. The
phrase illustrates the difference between the participle and the verbal
noun (or whatever it may be called) in -ing. Cf. "a laboring man" and "a
laboring day" (Julius Caesar, i. 1. 4); and see our ed. of J. C. p. 126.

18. The Fiery Cross. Scott says here: "When a chieftain designed to
summon his clan, upon any sudden or important emergency, he slew a goat,
and making a cross of any light wood, seared its extremities in the
fire, and extinguished them in the blood of the animal. This was called
the Fiery Cross, also Crean Tarigh, or the Cross of Shame, because
disobedience to what the symbol implied, inferred infamy. It was
delivered to a swift and trusty messenger, who ran full speed with it to
the next hamlet, where he presented it to the principal person, with
a single word, implying the place of rendezvous. He who received the
symbol was bound to send it forward, with equal despatch, to the next
village; and thus it passed with incredible celerity through all the
district which owed allegiance to the chief, and also among his allies
and neighbours, if the danger was common to them. At sight of the Fiery
Cross, every man, from sixteen years old to sixty, capable of
bearing arms, was obliged instantly to repair, in his best arms and
accoutrements, to the place of rendezvous. He who failed to appear
suffered the extremities of fire and sword, which were emblematically
denounced to the disobedient by the bloody and burnt marks upon this
warlike signal. During the civil war of 1745-6, the Fiery Cross often
made its circuit; and upon one occasion it passed through the whole
district of Breadalbane, a tract of thirty-two miles, in three hours.
The late Alexander Stewart, Esq., of Invernahyle, described to me his
having sent round the Fiery Cross through the district of Appine, during