When the Southern invader spread waste and disorder,

At the glance of her crescents he paused and withdrew,

For around them were marshalled the pride of the Border,

The Flowers of the Forest, the Bands of
BUCCLEUCH.

A stripling's weak hand to our revel has borne her,

No mail-glove has grasped her, no spear men surround;

But ere a bold foeman should scathe or should scorn her

A thousand true hearts would be cold on the ground.

We forget each contention of civil dissension,

And hail, like our brethren, HOME,
DOUGLAS, and CAR:

And ELLIOT and PRINGLE in pastime shall mingle,

As welcome in peace as their fathers in

war.

Then strip, lads, and to it, though sharp be the weather,

And if by mischance you should happen to fall,

There are worse things in life than a tumble on heather,

And life is itself but a game at foot-ball.

And when it is over we'll drink a blithe measure

To each laird and each lady that witnessed our fun,

And to every blithe heart that took part in our pleasure,

To the lads that have lost and the lads that have won.

May the Forest still flourish, both Borough and Landward,

From the hall of the peer to the herd's ingle-nook;

And huzza! my brave hearts, for BucCLEUCH and his standard,

For the King and the Country, the Clan and the Duke!

Then up with the Banner, let forest winds fan her,

She has blazed over Ettrick eight ages and more ;

In sport we 'll attend her, in battle defend her,

With heart and with hand, like our fathers before.

If they rob us of name and pursue us with beagles,

Give their roofs to the flame and their flesh to the eagles!

Then vengeance, vengeance, vengeance,
Grigalach!

Vengeance, vengeance, vengeance, etc. While there 's leaves in the forest and foam on the river,

MacGregor, despite them, shall flourish forever!

Come then, Grigalach, come then,
Grigalach!

Come then, come then, come then, etc.

Through the depths of Loch Katrine the steed shall career,

O'er the peak of Ben-Lomond the galley shall steer,

And the rocks of Craig-Royston like icicles melt,

Ere our wrongs be forgot or our vengeance unfelt.

Then gather, gather, gather, Grigalach!
Gather, gather, gather, etc.

66

Verses

COMPOSED FOR THE OCCASION, ADAPTED TO HAYDN'S
AIR, GOD SAVE THE EMPEROR FRANCIS,' AND SUNG
BY A SELECT BAND AFTER THE DINNER GIVEN BY
THE LORD PROVOST OF EDINBURGH TO THE GRAND-
DUKE NICHOLAS OF RUSSIA, AND HIS SUITE, 19TH
DECEMBER, 1816.

GOD protect brave ALEXANDER,
Heaven defend the noble Czar,
Mighty Russia's high Commander,
First in Europe's banded war;
For the realms he did deliver
From the tyrant overthrown,
Thou, of every good the Giver,
Grant him long to bless his own!
Bless him, mid his land's disaster
For her rights who battled brave;
Of the land of foemen master,
Bless him who their wrongs forgave.

O'er his just resentment victor,
Victor over Europe's foes,

Late and long supreme director,
Grant in peace his reign may close.
Hail! then, hail! illustrious stranger!
Welcome to our mountain strand;
Mutual interests, hopes, and danger,
Link us with thy native land.
Freemen's force or false beguiling
Shall that union ne'er divide,
Hand in hand while peace is smiling,
And in battle side by side.

In the far eastern clime, no great while since,

Lived Sultaun Solimaun, a mighty prince, Whose eyes, as oft as they performed their round,

Beheld all others fixed upon the ground; Whose ears received the same unvaried phrase,

'Sultaun! thy vassal hears and he obeys !' All have their tastes-this may the fancy strike

Of such grave folks as pomp and grandeur like;

For me, I love the honest heart and warm
Of monarch who can amble round his farm,
Or, when the toil of state no more annoys,
In chimney corner seek domestic joys —
I love a prince will bid the bottle pass,
Exchanging with his subjects glance and
glass;

In fitting time can, gayest of the gay,
Keep up the jest and mingle in the lay-
Such monarchs best our free-born humors
suit,

But despots must be stately, stern, and mute.

Physicians soon arrived, sage, ware, and tried,

As e'er scrawled jargon in a darkened room;

With heedful glance the Sultaun's tongue they eyed,

Peeped in his bath and God knows where beside,

And then in solemn accent spoke their doom,

'His majesty is very far from well.' Then each to work with his specific fell:

The Hakim Ibrahim instanter brought His unguent Mahazzim al Zerdukkaut, While Roompot, a practitioner more wily, Relied on his Munaskif al fillfily.

More and yet more in deep array appear, And some the front assail and some the rear;

Their remedies to reinforce and vary
Came surgeon eke, and eke apothecary;
Till the tired monarch, though of words
grown chary,

Yet dropt, to recompense their fruitless labor,

Some hint about a bowstring or a sabre. There lacked, I promise you, no longer speeches

To rid the palace of those learned leeches.