[125b] That is, ‘said he, the wild boar.’
[129] Scott has strangely misunderstood this line, which he interprets—
‘Many people did she kill.’
‘Fell’ is to knock down, and the meaning is that she could ‘well’ knock down, or ‘fell’ people.
[130a] Went.
[130b] The meaning appears to be that no ‘wiseman’ or wizard, no matter from whence his magic, was derived, durst face her. Craven has always been famed for its wizards, or wisemen, and several of such impostors may be found there at the present day.
[130c] Scott’s MS. reads Ralph, but Raphe is the ancient form.
[130d] Scott reads ‘brim as beare,’ which he interprets ‘fierce as a bear.’ Whitaker’s rendering is correct. Beare is a small hamlet on the Bay of Morecambe, no great distance, as the crow files, from the locale of the poem. There is also a Bear-park in the county of Durham, of which place Bryan might be an inhabitant. Utrum horum, &c.
[130e] That is, they were good soldiers when the musters were—when the regiments were called up.
[131a] Fierce look.