hout these
details, it is true; but the use which Sir Walter has made of them--to
show the power of beauty and innocence, and the chords of tenderness and
goodness which lie ready to vibrate in the wildest natures--may surely
reconcile us to such a piece of realism.

"The scene of Roderick's death harmonizes well with his character. The
minstrel's account of the battle the poet himself felt to be somewhat
long, and yet it is difficult to see how it could be curtailed without
spoiling it. It is full of life and vigor, and our only cause of
surprise is that the lay should only come to a sudden stand when it is
really completed" (Taylor).

6. Scaring, etc. The 1st ed. reads: "And scaring prowling robbers to
their den."

7. Battled. Battlemented; as in ii. 702 above.

9. The kind nurse of men. Cf. 2 Hen. IV. iii. 1. 5:

"O sleep, O gentle sleep,
Nature's soft nurse," etc.

23. Through narrow loop, etc. The MS. has "Through blackened arch,"
etc.; and below:

"The lights in strange alliance shone
Beneath the arch of blackened stone."

25. Struggling with. Some recent eds. misprint "struggling through."

47. Adventurers they, etc. Scott says: "The Scottish armies consisted
chiefly of the nobility and barons, with their vassals, who held lands
under them for military service by themselves and their tenants. The
patriarchal influence exercised by the heads of clans in the Highlands
and Borders was of a different nature, and sometimes at variance with
feudal principles. It flowed from the Patria Potestas, exercised by the
chieftain as representing the original father of the whole name, and
was often obeyed in contradiction to the feudal superior. James V. seems
first to have introduced, in addition to the militia furnished from
these sources, the service of a small number of mercenaries, who formed
a body-guard, called the Foot-Band. The satirical poet, Sir David
Lindsay (or the person who wrote the prologue to his play of the Three
Estaites), has introduced Finlay of the Foot-Band, who after much
swaggering upon the stage is at length put to flight by the Fool, who
terrifies him by means of a sheep's skull upon a pole. I have rather
chosen to give them the harsh features of the mercenary soldiers of the
period, than of this Scottish Thraso. These partook of the character of
the Adventurous Companions of Froissart, or the Condottieri of Italy."

53. The Fleming, etc. The soil of Fla