BOOK IX.
34 Enverrowry. Inverury, on the Don, fifteen miles north-west of Aberdeen.
64 a-pane. A curious use of the French adverbial phrase a peine, in, or with, difficulty; here = “hardly,” “scarcely.” The sense seems to be that even in a case in which a company is successful without a captain, which they can be only with difficulty, still they will not accomplish as much as if they had one.
107 the Slevach. Sliach in Drumblade parish, about sixteen miles north-west of Inverurie. Certain archæological features in the district are connected with Bruce’s visit, the “Meet-hillock,” “Robin’s Height,” etc. (Old. Stat. Acct., iv., p. 55; Macpherson’s Geograph. Coll., i., pp. 8, 19).
117 And als frendis. According to Fordun, whose account is independent of that of Barbour, Buchan had many nobles, both English and Scots, when he went to attack Bruce at Sliach (Gesta Annalia, cxxii.).
118 Schir Johne the Mowbray. See note on Bk. VIII. 21.
127 Martymes. Martinmas, November 11, 1307.
153 thai send. This second “thai” refers to the Scots of Bruce’s party.
183 begouth to fale. “They retired, overcome with shame and in confusion” (Gesta Annalia, cxxii.). But in Fordun the reference is to Christmas Day. See below, 204.