514 othir ladyis. Fordun says all the ladies went with their husbands and the King, hiding in the woods, etc. (Gesta Annal., cxix.).
529 King Adrastus. One of “the Seven against Thebes,” and the only one who returned home in safety. Barbour follows neither the Greek sources nor the Thebaid of Statius, but one of the many French romances on the subject. See Appendix F.
534 Campaneus. Properly Capaneus, who was struck with lightning by Zeus, whom he had defied, while attempting to scale the walls of Thebes.
542 the tour. See note on Bk. XVII. 224.
BOOK III.
1 The Lord of Lorne. Strictly this should be Alexander Macdougall of Argyll or of Lorn, but probably his son, John of Lorn, is meant, as on September 14 Edward writes to the Prince of Wales how “Sir John of Argyll has well served him and the Prince” (Bain, ii., No. 1830).
3 his emys sak. Alexander of Argyle, according to Wyntoun (Bk. viii., Chap, vi., 1171) had married an aunt of the murdered John Comyn, a daughter of Sir John Comyn “the Red” (!), of Badenoch, his grandfather. He was thus the “eym” or uncle of Comyn, not his nephew (Scots Peerage, i., 507).
15 thar fryst metyng. According to Fordun, this skirmish took place at Dalry (“the King’s field”), near Tyndrum, in the west of Perthshire, on August 11, 1306 (Gesta Ann., cxx.). Bruce was making his way westwards by Glen Dochart. There is the usual “King’s Cave” in Balquhidder (Jamieson).
62 ane sik aw. “In such awe.” For this form, cf. Alexander (78, 5), “he stude of thame lytill aw,” and Wallace (Bk. v. 929), “On thaim he raid, and stud bot litill aw.” This usage is a stage in the grammatical development of the modern phrase from the original type, “Awe of one stood men” (dat.), for which see N.E.D.