And thy glory itself was scarce comfort to me. But now shalt thou tell, while I eagerly listen, For sweet after danger's the tale of the war. that her lover should be recalled. On the day | In secret I wept for the dangers of battle, THE MAID OF NEIDPATH. O LOVERS' eyes are sharp to see, Can lend an hour of cheering. All sunk and dim her eyes so bright, Till through her wasted hand, at night, Across her cheek was flying: He came he pass'd-a heedless gaze, WANDERING WILLIE. (1806.) ALL joy was bereft me the day that you left me, And bann'd it for parting my Willie and me. Far o'er the wave hast thou follow'd thy fortune, When the sky it was mirk, and the winds they were I sat on the beach wi' the tear in my ee, And thought o' the bark where my Willie was sailing, And wish'd that the tempest could a' blaw on me. Now that thy gallant ship rides at her mooring, When the lights they did blaze, and the guns they did rattle, And blithe was each heart for the great victory, And oh, how we doubt when there's distance 'tween lovers, When there's naething to speak to the heart thro' How often the kindest and warmest prove rovers, Till, at times-could I help it?-I pined and I ponder'd, If love could change notes like the bird on the tree Now I'll ne'er ask if thine eyes may hae wander'd, Hardships and danger despising for fame, Enough now thy story in annals of glory Has humbled the pride of France, Holland, and No more shalt thou grieve me, no more shalt thou I never will part with my Willie again. HUNTING SONG.* WAKEN, lords and ladies gay, With hawk, and horse, and hunting-spear! Hawks are whistling, horns are knelling, Waken, lords and ladies gay, Louder, louder chant the lay, Time, stern huntsman! who can baulk, May boast itself the fairest flower More sweet through wat'ry lustre shining. TO A LADY. WITH FLOWERS FROM A ROMAN WALL. TAKE these flowers, which, purple waving, THE RESOLVE.* IN IMITATION OF AN OLD ENGLISH POEM.-1809. My wayward fate I needs must plain, I loved, and was beloved again, Yet all was but a dream: For, as her love was quickly got, So it was quickly gone; No more I'll bask in flame so hot, But coldly dwell alone. Not maid more bright than maid was e'er By flattering word, or feigned tear, No more I'll call the shaft fair shot, Nor scorch me at a flame so hot;- Each ambush'd Cupid I'll defy, In cheek, or chin, or brow, And deem the glance of woman's eye The flaunting torch soon blazes out, No waking dream shall tinge my thought No more I'll pay so dear for wit, Nor shall wild passion trouble it,- And thus I'll hush my heart to rest,- Thou shalt no more be wildly blest, The widow'd turtles mateless die, The phoenix is but one; They seek no loves-no more will I- [Published in the Edinburgh Annual Register of 1809.] *(Edinburgh Annual Register, 1809.] EPITAPH,t DESIGNED FOR A MONUMENT IN LITCHFIELD CATHEDRAL, AT THE BURIAL-PLACE OF AMID these aisles, where once his precepts show'd Still wouldst thou know why o'er the marble spread, THE RETURN TO ULSTER. ONCE again, but how changed since my wand'rings began I have heard the deep voice of the Lagan and Bann, That flow'd when these echoes first mix'd with my strain? It was then that around me, though poor and unknown, High spells of mysterious enchantment were thrown; The streams were of silver, of diamond the dew, The land was an Eden, for fancy was new. I had heard of our bards, and my soul was on fire At the rush of their verse, and the sweep of their lyre: To me 'twas not legend, nor tale to the ear, Ultonia's old heroes awoke at the call, And renew'd the wild pomp of the chase and the hall; And the standard of Fion flash'd fierce from on high; Like a burst of the sun when the tempest is nigh.§ It seem'd that the harp of green Erin once more Could renew all the glories she boasted of yore.Yet why at remembrance, fond heart, shouldst thou burn? They were days of delusion, and cannot return. ON THE MASSACRE OF GLENCOE.* "O TELL me, Harper, wherefore flow Where none may list their melody? Screams chorus to thy minstrelsy ?"— Abode of lone security. But those for whom I pour the lay, Could screen from treach'rous cruelty. In guise of hospitality. His blithest notes the piper plied, To tend her kindly housewifery. "The hand that mingled in the meal, At midnight drew the felon steel, And gave the host's kind breast to feel Meed for his hospitality! The friendly hearth which warm'd that nand, Their red and fearful blazonry. "Then woman's shriek was heard in vain, Far more than Southron clemency. Their gray-hair'd master's misery. Were each gray hair a minstrel string, Each chord should imprecations fling, Till startled Scotland loud should ring, 'Revenge for blood and treachery!" [The following succinct account of this too celebrated event may be sufficient for this place: "In the beginning of the year 1692, an action of unexampled barbarity disgraced the government of King William III. in Scotland. In the August preceding, a proclamation had been issued, offering an indemnity to such insurgents as should take the oaths to the King and Queen, on or before the last day of December; and the chiefs of such tribes as had been in arms for James, soon after took advantage of the proclamation. But Macdonald of Glencoe was prevented by accident, rather than design from tendering his submission within the limited time. In the end of December he went to Colonel Hill, who commanded the garrison in Fort William, to take the oaths of allegiance to the government; and the latter having furnished him with a letter to Sir Colin Campbell, Sheriff of the county of Argyll, directed him to repair immediately to Inverary, to make his submission in a legal manner before that magistrate. Ba the way to Inverary lay through almost impassable mountains, the season was extremely rigorous, and the whole country was covered with a deep snow. So eager, however, was Macdonald to take the oaths before the limited time should expire, that, though the road lay within half a mile of his own house, he stopped not to visit his family, and, after various obstructions, arrived at Inverary. The time had elapsed, and the sheriff hesitated to receive his submission; but Macdonald prevailed by his importunities, and even tears, in inducing that functionary to administer to him the oath of allegiance, and to certify the cause of his delay. At this time Sir John Dalrym ple afterwards Earl of Stair, being in attendance upon William as Secretary of State for Scotland, took advantage of Macdonald's neglecting to take the oath within the time prescribed. and procured from the King a warrant of military execution against that chief and his whole clan. This was done at the instigation of the Earl of Breadalbane, whose lands the Glencoe men had plundered, and whose treachery to government in negotiating with the Highland clans, Macdonald himself had exposed. The King was accordingly persuaded that Glencoe was the main obstacle to the pacification of the Highlands; and the fact of the unfortunate chief's submission having been concealed, the sanguinary orders for proceeding to military execution against his clan were in consequence obtained. The warrant was both • [First published in Thomson's Select Melodies, 1814.] PROLOGUE TO MISS BAILLIE'S PLAY OF THE FAMILY LEGEND.† 'Tis sweet to hear expiring Summer's sigh, Through forests tinged with russet, wail and die 'Tis sweet and sad the latest notes to hear Of distant music, dying on the ear; But far more sadly sweet, on foreign strand, We list the legends of our native land, Link'd as they come with every tender tie, Memorials dear of youth and infancy. Chief, thy wild tales, romantic Caledon, He hears with throbbing heart and moisten'd eyes, The woods wild waving, and the water's swell: Are such keen feelings to the crowd confined, FAREWELL TO MACKENZIE, HIGH CHIEF OF KINTAIL.-FROM THE GAELIC (1915.) The original verses are arranged to a beautiful Gaelic air, of which the chorus is adapted to the signed and countersigned by the King's own hand, and the Secretary urged the officers who commanded in the Highlands to execute their orders with the utmost rigour. Campbell of Glenlyon, a captain in Arzyll's regiment, and two subalterns, were ordered to repair to Glencoe on the first of February with a hun dred and twenty men. Campbell being uncle to young Macdo nald's wife, was received by the father with all manner of friendship and hospitality. The men were lodged at free quarters in the houses of his tenants, and received the kindest entertainment. Till the 13th of the month the troops lived in the utmost barmony and familiarity with the people; and on the very night of the massacre, the officers passed the evening at eands in Macdonald's house. In the night, Lieutenant Lindsay, with a party of soldiers, called in a friendly manner at his door, and was instantly admitted. Macdonald, while in the act of rising to receive his guest, already dressed: but she was stripped naked by the soldiers, who was shot dead through the back with two bullets. His wife had tore the rings off her fingers with their teeth. The slaughter now became general, and neither age nor infirmity was spared. Some women, m defending their children, were killed; boys imploring mercy, were shot dead by officers on whose knees they hang. In one place nine persons, as they sat enjoying themselves at table, were butchered by the soldiers. In Inverrigeon, Campbell's own quarters, nine men were first bound by the soldiers, and then shot by the troops; and several who fled to the mountains perished by at intervals, one by one. Nearly forty persons were massacred owed their lives to a tempestuous night. famine and the inclemency of the season. Those who escaped Hamilton, who had received the charge of the execution from Lieutenant-Colonel Dalrymple, was on his march with four hundred men, to guard all the passes from the valley of Glencoe; but he was obliged to stop by the severity of the weather, which proved the safety of the unfortunate clan. Next day he entered the valley, laid the houses in ashes, and carried away the cattle and spoil, which were divided among the officers and soldiers."-Article "BRITAIN" Encue. Britannica.-New Edition.] able success on the Edinburgh stage in the winter of 190910 [Miss Baillie's Family Legend was produced with consider The prologue was spoken on that occasion by the Author's friend. Mr. Daniel Terry. 1 I Arcadia, or Nova Scotia. double pull upon the oars of a galley, and which is therefore distinct from the ordinary jorrams, or boatsongs. They were composed by the Family Bard upon the departure of the Earl of Seaforth, who was obliged to take refuge in Spain, after an unsuccessful effort at insurrection in favour of the Stuart family, in the year 1718. FAREWELL to Mackenneth, great Earl of the North, O swift be the galley, and hardy her crew, should boil: On the brave vessel's gunnel I drank his honail. Awake in thy chamber, thou sweet southland gale! Be his pilot experienced, and trusty, and wise, IMITATION OF THE PRECEDING SONG.t So sung the old Bard, in the grief of his heart, When he saw his loved Lord from his people depart. Now mute on thy mountains, O Albyn, are heard Nor the voice of the song, nor the harp of the bard; Or its strings are but waked by the stern winter gale, As they mourn for Mackenzie, last Chief of Kintail. From the far Southland Border a Minstrel came forth, And he waited the hour that some Bard of the north And shalt thou then sleep, did the Minstrel exclaim, The song thou hast loved o'er thy coffin shall flow, Bonail, or Bonallez, the old Scottish phrase for a feast at parting with a friend. These verses were written shortly after the death of Lord Seaforth, the last male representative of his illustrious house. He a nobleman of extraordinary talents, who must have made for lumaelf a lasting reputation, had not his political exertions In vain, the bright course of thy talents to wrong. Thy sons rose around thee in light and in love, And thou, gentle Dame, who must bear to thy grief, WAR-SONG OF LACHLAN, HIGH CHIEF OF MACLEAN. FROM THE GAELIC. This song appears to be imperfect, or at least, like many of the Gaelic poems, makes a rapid transition from one subject to another; from the situation, opens the song by lamenting the absence of her namely, of one of the daughters of the clan, who Chieftain. The translator has endeavoured to imilover, to an eulogium over the military glories of the tate the abrupt style of the original. A WEARY month has wander'd o'er In many a bloody broil: Clan-Gillian drives the spoil. Wo to the hills that shall rebound Shall shake their inmost cell. been checked by the painful natural infirmities alluded to in the fourth stanzas.] [The Honourable Lady Hood, daughter of the last Lord Sea forth, widow of Admiral Sir Samuel Hood, now Mrs. Stewart Mackenzie, of Seaforth and Giasserton, 1833.] § 1. c. The clan of Maclean, literally the race of Gillian. |