ue, we gave laws to hares
and deer, because they are beasts of chase; but it was never accounted
either cruelty or foul play to knock foxes or wolves on the head as they
can be found, because they are beasts of prey. In a word, the law and
humanity were alike: the one being more fallacious, and the other
more barbarous, than in any age had been vented in such an authority'
(Clarendon's History of the Rebellion)."

762. The hardened flesh of mountain deer. "The Scottish Highlanders, in
former times, had a concise mode of cooking their venison, or rather of
dispensing with cooking it, which appears greatly to have surprised the
French, whom chance made acquainted with it. The Vidame of Chartres,
when a hostage in England, during the reign of Edward VI., was permitted
to travel into Scotland, and penetrated as far as to the remote
Highlands (au fin fond des Sauvages). After a great hunting-party, at
which a most wonderful quantity of game was destroyed, he saw these
Scottish savages devour a part of their venison raw, without any farther
preparation than compressing it between two batons of wood, so as to
force out the blood, and render it extremely hard. This they reckoned a
great delicacy; and when the Vidame partook of it, his compliance
with their taste rendered him extremely popular. This curious trait of
manners was communicated by Mons. de Montmorency, a great friend of
the Vidame, to Brantome, by whom it is recorded in Vies des Hommes
Illustres, lxxxix. 14.... After all, it may be doubted whether la chaire
nostree, for so the French called the venison thus summarily prepared,
was anything more than a mere rude kind of deer ham" (Scott).

772. A mighty augury. That of the Taghairm.

777. Not for clan. The 1st ed. has "nor for clan."

785. Stock and stone. Cf. i. 130 above.

787. Coilantogle's ford. On the Teith just below its exit from Loch
Vennachar.

791. The bittern's cry. See on i. 642 above.

797. And slept, etc. The MS. has "streak" and "lake" for beam and
stream.

Canto Fifth.

1. Fair as the earliest beam, etc. "This introductory stanza is well
worked in with the story. The morning beam 'lights the fearful path on
mountain side' which the two heroes of the poem are to traverse, and the
comparison which it suggest enlists our sympathy for Roderick, who is to
be the victim of defeat" (Taylor).

5. And lights, etc. The MS. has "And lights the fearful way along its
side."