The Gael beheld him grim the while,
And answered with disdainful smile: -
"Saxon, from yonder mountain high,
I marked thee send delighted eye
Far to the south and east, where lay,
Extended in succession gay,

Deep waving fields and pastures green,
With gentle slopes and groves between.-
These fertile plains, that softened vale,
Were once the birthright of the Gael:
The stranger came with iron hand,
And from our fathers reft the land.
Where dwell we now? See rudely swell
Crag over crag, and fell o'er fell.
Ask we this savage hill we tread
For fattened steer or household bread,—
Ask we for flocks these shingles dry,—
And well the mountain might reply:-
'To you, as to your sires of yore,
Belong the target and claymore!
I give you shelter in my breast,

Your own good blades must win the rest.'
Pent in this fortress of the North,
Think'st thou we will not sally forth,

To spoil the spoiler as we may,

And from the robber rend the prey?

Ay, by my soul!- While on yon plain
The Saxon rears one shock of grain;
While, of ten thousand herds, there strays
But one along yon river's maze,-
The Gael, of plain and river heir,

Shall with strong hand redeem his share.
Where live the mountain chiefs who hold
That plundering Lowland field and fold
Is aught but retribution true?

Seek other cause 'gainst Roderick Dhu."

Answered Fitz-James:-"And if I sought,
Think'st thou no other could be brought?
What deem ye of my path waylaid?
My life given o'er to ambuscade ?"—

"As of a meed to rashness due:

Hadst thou sent warning fair and true,—

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Hadst thou, unheard, been doomed to die,
Save to fulfill an augury."—

"Well, let it pass; nor will I now

Fresh cause of enmity avow,

To chafe thy mood and cloud thy brow.
Enough, I am by promise tied

To match me with this man of pride:
Twice have I sought Clan-Alpine's glen
In peace; but when I come agen,
I come with banner, brand, and bow,
As leader seeks his mortal foe.
For love-lorn swain, in lady's bower,
Ne'er panted for the appointed hour
As I until before me stand

This rebel chieftain and his band!”

"Have, then, thy wish!"-He whistled shrill,
And he was answered from the hill;
Wild as the scream of the curlew,

From crag to crag the signal flew.

Instant, through copse and heath, arose
Bonnets, and spears, and bended bows;

On right, on left, above, below,

Sprung up at once the lurking foe;
From shingles gray their lances start,
The bracken bush sends forth the dart,
The rushes and the willow-wand

Are bristling into axe and brand,
And every tuft of broom gives life
To plaided warrior armed for strife.
That whistle garrisoned the glen
At once with full five hundred men,
As if the yawning hill to heaven
A subterranean host had given.
Watching their leader's beck and will,
All silent there they stood, and still.
Like the loose crags, whose threatening mass
Lay tottering o'er the hollow pass,

XXII-818

As if an infant's touch could urge
Their headlong passage down the verge,
With step and weapon forward flung,
Upon the mountain-side they hung.
The mountaineer cast glance of pride
Along Benledi's living side,

Then fixed his eye and sable brow

Full on Fitz-James: "How sayest thou now?
These are Clan-Alpine's warriors true;
And, Saxon,-I am Roderick Dhu!"

Fitz-James was brave. - Though to his heart
The life-blood thrilled with sudden start,
He manned himself with dauntless air,
Returned the chief his haughty stare,
His back against a rock he bore,
And firmly placed his foot before:—
"Come one, come all! this rock shall fly
From its firm base as soon as I."

Sir Roderick marked; and in his eyes
Respect was mingled with surprise,
And the stern joy which warriors feel

In foemen worthy of their steel.

Short space he stood; - then waved his hand:
Down sunk the disappearing band;

Each warrior vanished where he stood,

In broom or bracken, heath or wood;
Sunk brand, and spear, and bended bow,
In osiers pale and copses low:

It seemed as if their mother Earth
Had swallowed up her warlike birth.
The wind's last breath had tossed in air,
Pennon, and plaid, and plumage fair,-
The next but swept a lone hillside,

Where heath and fern were waving wide.

The sun's last glance was glinted back

From spear and glaive, from targe and jack,-
The next, all unreflected, shone

On bracken green and cold gray stone.

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The kirk was decked at morning-tide,

The tapers glimmered fair;

The priest and bridegroom wait the bride, And dame and knight are there.

They sought her baith by bower and ha'

The ladie was not seen!

She's o'er the Border, and awa'

Wi' Jock o' Hazeldean.

HIGHLAND SONG: PIBROCH OF DONUIL DHU

P

IBROCH of Donuil Dhu,

Pibroch of Donuil,

Wake thy wild voice anew,
Summon Clan-Conuil.

Come away, come away,

Hark to the summons!

Come in your war array,
Gentles and commons.

Come from deep glen and

From mountain so rocky,

The war-pipe and pennon
Are at Inverlochy.

Come every hill plaid and

True heart that wears one,
Come every steel blade and
Strong hand that bears one.

Leave untended the herd,

The flock without shelter;
Leave the corpse uninterred,
The bride at the altar;
Leave the deer, leave the steer,
Leave nets and barges:
Come with your fighting-gear,
Broadswords and targes.

Come as the winds come when
Forests are rended,

Come as the waves come when

Navies are stranded:

Faster come, faster come,

Faster and faster,

Chief, vassal, page, and groom,

Tenant and master.

Fast they come, fast they come;
See how they gather!

Wide waves the eagle plume,

Blended with heather.

Cast your plaids, draw your blades,

Forward each man set!

Pibroch of Donuil Dhu,

Knell for the onset!