ΤΟ SIR J***S G***T, BARONET. "The man of bounties, loving and belov'd.” WHILE on the meadowy banks of Spey, And while she casts her pensive view With glowing heart and trembling hand And wide o'er all her native land The voice of grateful truth convey. * See note No. 1. : And while she consecrates the strain, Will smile indulgent on her lays. Oh, form'd to prove each feeling dear The Patriot Chief, who dwells belov'd Who when the dreadful blast of war With wakening pipe of martial sound: The valiant clan, on every side, With sudden, warlike ardour burns; And views those long-lov'd homes with pride, Whose loss no exil'd native mourns. From every mountain, strath, and glen, In safety dwells, with honour crown'd. "For thee (they cried) dear native earth, “We gladly dare the battle's roar ; Our kindred ties, our sacred hearth, "No ruthless, mercenary swains "Shall ever quench our social fires; "Our labour on our narrow plains "Shall feed our babes and hoary sires *. "And when each tender pledge we leave, "Our parent Chief, with guardian care, "Shall soothe their woes, their wants relieve, "And save the mourners from despair ." Beneath his mild paternal sway, * See note No. 2. + Sec note No. 3. To see his banks on every side Well pleas'd he wanders near the dome When frosts untimely check'd the spring, To G✶✶✶✶ she gave her teeming horn†, Well pleas'd he pour'd the bounteous store, And Want no longer wept forlorn, And fruitless Labour mourn'd no more. To Woe, while Pity yields relief, While Truth adorns the plausive lay, Our vows shall bless the Patriarch Chief Who rules the grateful banks of Spey. † Alluding to an ample provision made for the lower class of his country, during the hard winter 1800. NOTES ON THE POEM ADDRESSED TO SIR J**** G****, Baronet. No. 1. Where blaz'd of old the warning fires.-P. 139. Craigillachy is a solitary mountain that overlooks the entrance to Strathspey, and has been considered for ages past as a kind of rallying point to the clan that inhabit it. On any sudden invasion of the Norwegians on the eastern coast, a fire kindled on some mountain near the sea, was instantly seen in Strathspey, and answered by another on Craigillachy, and that by another on Craigow in Badenoch; so that the intelligence was in this manner often transmitted from the east sea to the west in three hours. By means of this simple telegraph, the whole country was up in an instant, to resist invasion. Craigillachy is the war-cry of of the clan Grant, and even within these few years, if one of them was borne down or injured in any popular tumult |