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NOTES: CANTO IV.
259

tutor to the young Prince, it had been a recognised part of his duty to amuse him by various disguises; and he was likewise the first Scottish poet with an adequate dramatic sense.

l. 336. See St. John xix. 25-27.

Stanza XVII. l. 350. The special reference here is to the influence of Lady Heron. See above, I. xvi. 265, and below, V. x. 261.

Stanza XIX. The skilful descriptive touches of this stanza are noteworthy. Cp. opening passages of Coleridge's 'Christabel,' especially the seven lines beginning, 'Is the night chilly and dark?'

Stanza XXI. l. 440. Grimly is not unknown as a poetical adj. 'Margaret's grimly ghost,' in Beaumont and Fletcher's 'Knight of the Burning Pestle,' II. i, is a familiar example. See above, p. 194, l. 25, 'grimly voice.' For 'ghast' as an adj., cp. Keats's 'Otho the Great,' V. v. 11, 'How ghast a train!'

l. 449. See below, V. xxiv, ''Twere long and needless here to tell,' and cp. Æneid I. 341:—

'Longa est iniuria, longaeAmbages; sed summa sequar fastigia rerum.'

Stanza XXII. l. 461. See above, III. xxv. 503, and note.

ll. 467-470. Rothiemurchus, near Alvie, co. of Inverness, on Highland Railway; Tomantoul in co. of Banff, N.E. of Rothiemurchus; Auchnaslaid in co. of Inverness, near S.W. border of Aberdeen; Forest of Dromouchty on Inverness border eastward of Loch Ericht; Glenmore, co-extensive with Caledonian Canal.

ll. 477-480. Cp. the teaching of Coleridge's 'Ancient Mariner' and 'Christabel.' In the former these stanzas are specially notable:—

'O happy living things! no tongueTheir beauty might declare:A spring of love gushed from my heart,And I blessed them unaware:Sure my kind saint took pity on me,And I blessed them unaware.
The selfsame moment I could pray;And from my neck so freeThe Albatross fell off, and sankLike lead into the sea.'

l. 487. bowne = prepare. See below, V. xx, 'to bowne him for the war'; and 'Lay of the Last Minstrel,' V. xx, 'bowning back to Cumberland.' Cp. 'Piers the Plowman,' III. 173 (C Text):—

'And bed hem alle ben boun . beggeres and othere,To wenden with hem to Westemynstre.'
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