BOOK VII.

2 _will of wayn._ “Wild of weening” or thought--_i.e._, quite at a loss. See on II. 471.

10 _yhe._ _Ye_ from an inferior to a superior; _you_ on the part of the latter, as in line 15.

17 _I haf herd_, etc. In a note to the _Wallace_, _Bk._ v. 25, Jamieson cites from “Bellenden, after Boece,” a long passage on bloodhounds, in which this occurs: “And thocht the thevis oftymes cors the wattir, quhair thai pas, to caus the hound to tyne the sent of thaym and the guddis, yit he serchis heir and thair with sic deligence, that be his fut he fyndis baith the trace of the theiff and the guddis” (_Description of Albion_, chap. xi.). See on VI. 484.

48 “And he is a good distance off by this time.”

90 _price and loving._ “Honour and praise.” _Cf._ 99, 294.

103 _war bodyn all evynly._ “Were armed equally well,” equipped for fighting.

132 _bryng hym than of daw._ “Bring him then out of day”--_i.e._, kill him. _Cf._ on _Bk._ VI. 650.

163 _housis._ MSS. give “hous” with flourished “s,” here expanded to “is.” See _Preface_ 3.

177 _slep._ “To sleep,” infinitive, not a substantive.

188 _as foul on twist._ “Like a bird on a bough.”

*302 _to-waverand._ “To-wavering”--_i.e._, distracted, uncertain. _Waverand_ occurs in line 112 above, and in the _Wallace_ in “waverand wynd” (_Bk._ iv. 340). “To” is intensive = German _zer_. In _Morte Arthure_ we have “to-stonayede” = astounded (1436) and “to-briste” = burst asunder (3982). Skeat gives for the text, “wandering uncertainly in different directions,” but “her and thar” follows.

330 _nakyt._ “Without armour,” as always in the poem.

423 _for Jhon Cumyng’s sak._ That this feeling did operate in certain quarters we gather, further, from a story told in the _Scalacronica_, citing “the chronicles of his (Bruce’s) actions,” in which two men ferry Bruce, whom they did not know, over a passage between two islands. They ask about Bruce, and express a wish that they had him in their hands, that they might kill him. Bruce inquired why, and the answer is, “Because he murdered John Comyn, our lord.” This incident is placed after Loudon Hill, and the precise locality is not mentioned. Bruce discloses his identity in parting from them (_Scala._, pp. 132-3).

455 _top our teill._ “Top over tail,” head over heels. The phrase occurs in the _Alexander_ (72, 8).

468 _till him dreuch._ “Drew the man towards him.”

494 _Glentruell._ Glen Trool and Loch Trool are in the west of Kirkcudbright. See below on 622.

497 _the deir war in sesoun._ June or July, and so after Loudon Hill in _Bk._ VIII.

561 _the Clyffurd._ Sir Robert Clifford. See note on 622 and on _Bk._ I. 282.

588 _his baneour._ “His banner-bearer,” as in _Morte Arthure_, “He byddys his _baneoure_, Buske yow,” etc. (3732).

622 _Vaus._ “Vaux” = _de vallibus_, like Clifford, a Cumberland family. Sir John de Vaus is on service under Valence against Bruce in June, 1307 (_Bain_, ii., No. 1938). We have a set of memoranda relative to expeditions against Bruce in Galloway, dated February 12 to May 3, 1307, for wages to horse, foot, and archers under different commanders, “in the valley of Nith,” “beyond the water of Cree,” “Glentruil, riding in search of Robert de Brus,” “on the raid to Glentruyl, against said Sir Robert,” “in Carrick and Glentruyl”; and among the leaders is Sir Robert de Clifford (_Bain_, ii., No. 1923).

623 _raucht him a colè._ “Reached him a blow.” Skeat explains _colè_ as from O.F. _colee_, from _col_ (_cou_), the neck. _Cf._ _accolade_, a blow with the flat of a sword in dubbing a knight.

624 “Both drew up their men in sides,” for a fight.

632 _than he com of toune._ “Than when he set out,” a general phrase.