Be mair on their mettle when I cam' again.
They jeered me, they cheered me, and cried ane and a', "He's no an ill fellow that, now he 's awa.”
When puir beggar bodies cam' making their mane,
I spak' them aye cheery, for siller I'd nane;
They shook up their duddies, and muttered, "Wae's me
Sae lightsome a laddie no worth a bawbee!'
I played wi' the bairnies at bowls and at ba',
And left them a' greetin when I cam' awa;
Ay! mithers, and bairnies, and lasses and a',
Were a' sobbin loudly when I cam' awa.
I feigned a gay laugh, just to keep in the greet,
For ae bonnie lassie, sae douce and sae sweet,
How matchless the blink of her deep loving ee,
How soft fell its shade as it glanced upon me.
I flung her a wild rose sae fresh and sae fair,
And bade it bloom on in the bright summer there;
While breathing its fragrance, she aiblins may gi'e
A thought to the Birkie of bonnie Dundee.
Clementina Stirling Graham.
Duniquoich.
THE WATCH-TOWER OF DUNIQUOICH.
hill that sittest crowned serene Above thy thick set beechen bower, What sights from out that crest of green,
That rugged steep, that ruined tower, In the old time hast thou not seen?
The long blue loch in summer pride
Now breaks its wave against the quay,
And whitens round the peaceful side
Of yawl and yacht, and bears to sea
The steam-ships against wind and tide.
But thou hast seen the foray planned,
And moonlight upon dirk and shield
In curvéd galleys grimly manned,
And heard the shrill-voiced mountains yield The war-note from the farther strand.
Around thy base the fertile leas
On Airey's banks are thick with kine,
Secure beneath the stately trees
In avenue and arch and line
Whose voice is but the voice of bees.
And there the clans for battle dight
Held wassail deep, and raised the cry
When those upon thy sentried height
Proclaimed the plaided foemen nigh,
And flashed thy beacon through the night.
Adown Ben Büi's clefts they come,
Friends to the Stuart and red Montrose, Their slogan mute, their pibroch dumb; Glen Shirer gives its thickets close,
And all the snow-crowned heights are numb
That, peak by peak, would each be lord
Around the Dhuloch's icy marge:
In vain; for thanks to thee the ford
Is banked by many a gleaming targe;
The Campbells waiting with the sword!
CAPTIVE maid pined in the tower of Dunmore. Full high was its gate, closely barred was the door. Her sighs unregarded, her prison unknown, Far from kinsmen and lover she languished alone. But a little bird sang at this fair captive's grate, And seemed, as it chirruped, to soften her fate. Ah! Flora, fair Flora, ah! Flora Macdonald!
Ah! Flora, the maid of Dunmore,
The maid of Dunmore, the maid of Dunmore,
Ah! weep for the maid, the maid of Dunmore!
The maid tied a note to this little bird's neck,
And pointed to home, like a far distant speck.
O'er land and o'er water away the bird flew,
Sought kinsman and lover; - the courier they knew;
But soon a brave knight burst the prison-house door,
And rescued his bride from the tower of Dunmore.
Ah! Flora, fair Flora, ah! Flora Macdonald!
Ah! Flora, the maid of Dunmore,
The maid of Dunmore, the maid of Dunmore,
Ah! joy to the maid, the maid of Dunmore!
LIE, in vision, on thy top, Dunmore,
Dearest to me of all old Scotland's hills, -
And see not the well-known delicious view,
The little village with its peaceful spire,
The rivers three, piercing the plain and woods,
To meet and marry at yon simple bridge;
Abruchill Castle, like a silver spot
Spilt by the sun among the night-like hills,
And, shining there in light unquenchable,
The gorge of terror where a fiend inclosed
In "hell of waters" howls forevermore,
Amid thick woods and torture-riven chasins;
Glenlednick's deep and solitary glen
Returning ever a wild torrent's voice,
Protesting 'gainst the Caldron's agony,
To which resistlessly 't is hurried on;
The long-loved vale through which Kilmeny went
Alone, through flowery heath and feathered birch,
To meet the visions of celestial day.
Loch Earn seen scarcely at the utmost edge,
Like a blue breach amidst the clouds of eve,
And over it, at twilight, huge Benmore,
A purple pillar propping the red sky.
ISHONORED rock and ruin! that, by law
D'ayramie, keep the bird cu Joven barred
Like a lone criminal whose life is spared.
Vexed is he, and screams loud. The last I saw
Was on the wing; stooping, he struck with awe
Man, bird, and beast; then, with a consort paired,
From a bold headland, their loved eyrie's guard,
Flew high above Atlantic waves, to draw
Light from the fountain of the setting sun.
Such was this prisoner once; and when his plumes
The sea-blast ruffles as the storm comes on,
Then, for a moment, he in spirit resumes
His rank 'mong freeborn creatures that live free,
His power, his beauty, and his majesty.
ON REVISITING DUNOLLY CASTLE.
HE captive bird was gone; -to cliff or moor Perchance had flown, delivered by the storm; Or he had pined, and sunk to feed the worm: Him found we not; but, climbing a tall tower, There saw, impaved with rude fidelity
Of art mosaic, in a roofless floor,
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