Part 30 (1/2)

Hamlet himself, ib. line 83, says:--

'Thus conscience does make cowards of us all.'

line 234. For vail = lower, see close of Editor's Preface.

Stanza XV. line 243. For practised on = plotted against, cp. King Lear, iii. 2. 57, 'Hast practised on man's life.'

lines 248-51. See above, II. xxix.

Stanza XVII. line 286. Cp. Burns's 'Bonnie Doon':--

'And my fause lover staw my rose, But ah! he left the thorn wi' me.'

Stanza XVIII. line 307. Loch Vennachar, in the south of Perths.h.i.+re, is the most easterly of the three lakes celebrated in the 'Lady of the Lake.'

line 321. Cp. 'wonder-wounded hearers,' Hamlet, v. I. 265.

Stanza XIX. line 324. Clerk is a scholar, as in Chaucer's 'Clerk of Oxenford,' &c., and the 'learned clerks' of 2 Henry VI, iv. 7. 76.

See below, VI. xv. 459, 'clerkly skill.'

line 325. Alexander III (1240-1286) came to the throne at the age of nine, and proved himself a vigorous and large-hearted king. He was killed by a fall from his horse, near Kinghorn, Fife, where there is a suitable monument to his memory. The contemporary lament for his death bewails him as one that 'Scotland led in love and lee.' Sir Walter Scott (Introductory Remarks to 'Border Minstrelsy') calls him 'the last Scottish king of the pure Celtic race.'

line 333. 'A vaulted hall under the ancient castle of Gifford, or Yester (for it bears either name indifferently), the construction of which has, from a very remote period, been ascribed to magic. The Statistical Account of the Parish of Garvald and Baro, gives the following account of the present state of this castle and apartment:--”Upon a peninsula, formed by the water of Hopes on the east, and a large rivulet on the west, stands the ancient castle of Yester. Sir David Dalrymple, in his annals, relates that 'Hugh Gifford de Yester died in 1267; that in his castle there was a capacious cavern, formed by magical art, and called in the country Bo-Hall, i.e. Hobgoblin Hall.' A stair of twenty-four steps led down to this apartment, which is a large and s.p.a.cious hall, with an arched roof; and though it hath stood for so many centuries, and been exposed to the external air for a period of fifty or sixty years, it is still as firm and entire as if it had only stood a few years. From the floor of this hall, another stair of thirty-six steps leads down to a pit which hath a communication with Hopes- water. A great part of the walls of this large and ancient castle are still standing. There is a tradition that the castle of Yester was the last fortification, in this country, that surrendered to General Gray, sent into Scotland by Protector Somerset.”-- Statistical Account, vol. xiii. I have only to add, that, in 1737, the Goblin Hall was tenanted by the Marquis of Tweedale's falconer, as I learn from a poem by Boyse, ent.i.tled ”Retirement,” written upon visiting Yester. It is now rendered inaccessible by the fall of the stair.

'Sir David Dalrymple's authority for the anecdote is in Fordun, whose words are:--”A. D. MCCLXVII. Hugo Giffard de Yester moritur; cujus castrum, vel saltem caveam, et donglonem, arte daemonica antique relationes ferunt fabrifactas: nam ibidem habetur mirabilis specus subterraneus, opere mirifico constructus, magno terrarum spatio protelatus, qui communiter BO-HALL appellatus est.” Lib. x.

cap. 21.--Sir David conjectures, that Hugh de Gifford must either have been a very wise man, or a great oppressor.'--SCOTT.

Stanza XX. line 354. 'In 1263, Haco, King of Norway, came into the Frith of Clyde with a powerful armament, and made a descent at Largs, in Ayrs.h.i.+re. Here he was encountered and defeated, on the 2nd October, by Alexander III. Haco retreated to Orkney, where he died soon after this disgrace to his arms. There are still existing, near the place of battle, many barrows, some of which, having been opened, were found, as usual, to contain bones and urns.'--SCOTT.

line 358. Ayrs.h.i.+re in early times comprised three divisions, Cunninghame in the north, Kyle between the Irvine and the Doon, and Carrick to the south of that stream. Burns, by his song 'There was a Lad was born in Kyle,' has immortalised the middle division, which an old proverb had distinguished as productive of men, in contradistinction to the dairy produce and the stock of the other two.

line 362. '”Magicians, as is well known, were very curious in the choice and form of their vestments. Their caps are oval, or like pyramids, with lappets on each side, and fur within. Their gowns are long, and furred with fox-skins, under which they have a linen garment reaching to the knee. Their girdles are three inches broad, and have many cabalistical names, with crosses, trines, and circles inscribed on them. Their shoes should be of new russet leather, with a cross cut upon them. Their knives are dagger-fas.h.i.+on; and their swords have neither guard nor scabbard.”--See these, and many other particulars, in the Discourse concerning Devils and Spirits, annexed to REGINALD SCOTT'S Discovery of Witchcraft, edition 1665.'--SCOTT.

line 369. Scott quotes thus from Reginald Scott's 'Discovery of Witchcraft' (1665):--

'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.'

line 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 degrees, or the third part of the zodiac. 'Trine was considered a favourable conjunction. Cp. note on Par. Lost, X. 659, in Clarendon Press Milton--

'In s.e.xtile, square, and TRINE, and opposite.'

Stanza XXII. line 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.

line 408. See St. Matthew xxvii. 50-53.

line 415. Richard I of England (1189-99) could not himself have presented the sword, but the line is a spirited example of poetic licence.

line 416. Tide what tide is happen what may. Cp. Thomas the Rhymer's remarkable forecast regarding the family of Haig in Scott's country;--

'Betide, betide, whate'er betide, Haig shall be Haig of Bemerside.'