"Above the foaming tide, I ween,
Scarce half the charger's neck was seen;
For he was barded from counter to tail,
And the rider was armed complete in mail."
405. Battalia. Battalion, army. The word is not a plural of battalion, as some have seemed to think. See Wb.
414. Vaward. In the vanward, or vanguard; misprinted "vanward" in some editions. Shakespeare has the noun several times; as in Hen. V. iv. 3. 130: "The leading of the vaward;" Cor. i. 6. 53: "Their bands i' the vaward;" and figuratively in M. N. D. iv. 1. 110: "the vaward of the day," etc.
419. Pride. Some eds. misprint "power."
429. As. As if. See on ii. 56 above.
434. Their flight they ply. The reading of the 1st ed. and that of 1821. Most of the eds. have "plight" for flight, and Taylor has the following note on Their plight they ply: "The meaning of this is not very clear. Possibly 'they keep up a constant fire,' but they seem in too complete a rout for that." Cf. iii. 318 above.
438. The rear. The 1st ed. has "their rear."
443. Twilight wood. Cf. 403 above. "The appearance of the spears and pikes was such that in the twilight they might have been mistaken at a distance for a wood" (Taylor).
449-450. And closely shouldering, etc. This couplet is not in the MS.
452. Tinchel. "A circle of sportsmen, who, by surrounding a great space, and gradually narrowing, brought immense quantities of deer together, which usually made desperate efforts to breach through the Tinchel" (Scott).