Page:Marmion - Walter Scott (ed. Bayne, 1889).pdf/274
'A pentacle is a piece of fine linen, folded with five corners, according to the five senses, and suitably inscribed with characters. This the magician extends towards the spirits which he invokes, when they are stubborn and rebellious, and refuse to be conformable unto the ceremonies and rights of magic.'
l. 373. The term 'Combust' is applied to the moon or the planets, when, through being not more than eight and a half degrees from the sun, they are invisible in his light. Chaucer, in the 'Astrolabe,' has 'that he be not retrograd ne combust.' 'Retrograde' is the term descriptive of the motion of the planets from east to west. This is the case when the planets are visible on the side opposite to the sun. See Airy's 'Popular Astronomy,' p. 124. 'Trine' refers to the appearance of planets distant from each other 120°, or the third part of the zodiac.' Trine was considered a favourable corjunction. Cp. note on Par. Lost, X. 659, in Clarendon Press Milton—
'In sextile, square, and trine, and opposite.'
Stanza XXII, l. 407. 'It is a popular article of faith that those who are born on Christmas or Good Friday have the power of seeing spirits and even of commanding them. The Spaniards imputed the haggard and downcast looks of their Philip II to the disagreeable visions to which this privilege subjected him.'—Scott.
l. 408. See St. Matthew xxvii. 50-53.
l. 415. Richard I of England (1189-99) could not himself have presented the sword, but the line is a spirited example of poetic licence.
l. 416. Tide what tide is happen what may. Cp. Thomas the Rhymer's remarkable forecast regarding the family of Haig in Scott's country:—
l. 420. Alexander III was the last of his line, which included three famous Malcolms, viz. Malcolm II, grandfather of the 'gracious Duncan,' who died in 1033; Malcolm Canmore, who fell at Alnwick in 1093; and Malcolm IV, 'The Maiden,' who was only 24 at his death in 1165. The reference here is probably to Canmore.
Stanza XXIII. l. 438. See Chambers's 'Encyclopædia,' articles on 'Earth-houses' and 'Picts' Houses.'
l. 445. Legends tell of belated travellers being spell-bound in much spots.