ise,
Blown with the windy tempest of my heart;"

T. and C. iv. 4. 55: "Where are my tears? rain, to lay this wind, or my
heart will be blown up by the root;" and Macbeth, i. 7. 25: "That tears
shall down the wind."

808. The rough soldier. Sir John of Hyndford (768 above).

811. He led. The 1st ed. has "they led," and "their" for his in 813.

812. Verge. Note the rhyme with charge, and see on iv. 83 above.

819. This common fool. Cf. Shakespeare's "fool multitude" (M. of V. ii.
9. 26). Just below Lockhart quotes Coriolanus, i. 1. 180:

"Who deserves greatness
Deserves your hate; and your affections are
A sick man's appetite, who desires most that
Which would increase his evil. He that depends
Upon your favors swims with fins of lead
And hews down oaks with rushes. Hang ye! Trust ye?
With every minute you do change a mind,
And call him noble that was now your hate,
Him vile that was your garland."

821. Douglas. The reading of the 1st ed., as in 825 below; not
"Douglas'," as in some recent eds.

830. Vain as the leaf, etc. The MS. has "Vain as the sick man's idle
dream."

838. Cognizance. "The sable pale of Mar." See on iv. 153 above.

853. With scanty train, etc. The MS. has "On distant chase you will not
ride."

856. Lost it. Forgot it.

858. For spoiling of. For fear of ruining. Cf. Shakespeare, Sonn. 52. 4:

"The which he will not every hour survey,
For blunting the fine point of seldom pleasure;

T. G. of V. i. 2. 136: "Yet here they shall not lie for catching cold;"
Beaumont and Fletcher, Captain, iii. 5: "We'll have a bib for spoiling
of thy doublet," etc.

887. Earl William. The Douglas who was stabbed by James II. See on 551
above.

Canto Sixth.

"Lord Jeffrey has objected to the guard-room scene and its accompanying
song as the greatest blemish in the whole poem. The scene contrasts
forcibly with the grace which characterizes the rest; but in a
poem which rests its interest upon incident, such a criticism seems
overstrained. It gives us a vigorous picture of a class of men who
played a very important part in the history of the time, especially
across the Border; men who, many of them outlaws, and fighting, not for
country or for king, but for him who paid them best, were humored
with every license when they were not on strict military duty. The
requirements of the narrative might have been satisfied wit