Till Airth ferry, or that the day was brycht.—V. 411.
In MS. it is Qwenys ferry; but the word first written has been scraped out, and Qwenys substituted on the head margent above it. The term deleted seems to have been erd; most probably written by mistake for Airth, in a copy which may have been taken from recitation. The term Qwenys indeed is apparently in the same hand with the rest of the MS.; but the transcriber, thinking only of erd as signifying the earth, had indulged the idea that it must be an error. As the companions of Wallace were on their way to Dunipace in quest of him, to have gone from Gask to Queensferry would have been to take a very circuitous course without any apparent necessity. Airth is the reading of editions 1594, 1620, 1648, and 1673. In Edit. 1714 it is Queens-ferry, as would seem on the authority of the MS.
In Dundaff mur that sammyn nycht he raid.
Schir Jhone the Grayme, quhilk lord wes of that land,
Ane agyt knycht had maid nane othir band;
Bot purchest pess in rest he mycht bide still, &c.—V. 436.
The castle of Dundaff, of which there are still some remains, was situated in Stirlingshire, near the source of Carron. This old knight, by some called David, by others John, was proprietor not only of Dundaff, but of the lands of Strathblane and Strathcarron. V. Nimmo’s Stirlingshire, p. 358. A fabulous antiquity has been ascribed to this family; it having been asserted that the wall of Antonine vulgarly received the name of Graham’s Dike, because in a very early period of our history it was penetrated by a valorous chief, from whom those of this celebrated name had their origin. We have no written evidence of the existence of this family before the reign of David I., when William de Grahame appears as witness to the charter of the foundation of Holyrood-house. Sir J. Dalrymple’s Coll. p. 397. From it originated many distinguished families, as that of Montrose, Menteith, Fintry, Balgowan, &c. It was the son of this “agyt knycht” who was the faithful friend of Wallace, and who fell at the battle of Falkirk.
“Quhat worth of him? I pray you graithlye tell.”—V. 498.
By misapprehension, in all the printed copies, word; as if the question were, “What intelligence is there concerning him?” But the meaning is, “What became of him?”