od's babbling trill, etc. "The whole of this
stanza is very impressive; the mingling of the children's curses is the
climax of horror. Note the meaning of the triple curse. The cross is of
ancestral yew--the defaulter is cut off from communion with his clan; it
is sealed in the fire--the fire shall destroy his dwelling; it is dipped
in blood--his heart's blood is to be shed" (Taylor).

253. Coir-Uriskin. See on 622 below.

255. Beala-nam-bo. "The pass of the cattle," on the other side of
Benvenue from the Goblin's Cave; "a magnificent glade, overhung with
birch-trees, by which the cattle, taken in forays, were conveyed within
the protection of the Trosachs" (Black).

279. This sign. That is, the cross. To all, which we should not expect
with bought, was apparently suggested by the antithetical to him in the
preceding line; but if all the editions did not read bought, we might
suspect that Scott wrote brought.

281. The murmur, etc. The MS. has "The slowly muttered deep Amen."

286. The muster-place, etc. The MS. reads "Murlagan is the spot
decreed."

Lanrick Mead is a meadow at the northwestern end of Loch Vennachar.

300. The dun deer's hide, etc. Scott says: "The present brogue of the
Highlanders is made of half-dried leather, with holes to admit and let
out the water; for walking the moors dry-shod is a matter altogether
out of the question. The ancient buskin was still ruder, being made of
undressed deer's hide, with the hair outwards,--a circumstance which
procured the Highlanders the well-known epithet of Red-shanks.
The process is very accurately described by one Elder (himself a
Highlander), in the project for a union between England and Scotland,
addressed to Henry VIII.: 'We go a-hunting, and after that we have slain
red-deer, we flay off the skin by and by, and setting of our barefoot
on the inside thereof, for want of cunning shoemakers, by your grace's
pardon, we play the cobblers, compassing and measuring so much thereof
as shall reach up to our ankles, pricking the upper part thereof with
holes, that the water may repass where it enters, and stretching it up
with a strong thong of the same above our said ankles. So, and please
your noble grace, we make our shoes. Therefore, we using such manner
of shoes, the rough hairy side outwards, in your grace's dominions of
England, we be called Rough-footed Scots' (Pinkerton's History, vol. ii.
p. 397)."

Cf. Marmion, v. 5:

"The hunted r