MACKRIMMON'S LAMENT.1 AIR-" Cha till mi tuille." 2 Mackrimmon, hereditary piper to the Laird of Macleod, is said to have composed this Lament when the Clan was about to depart upon a distant and dangerous expedition. The Minstrel was impressed with a belief, which the event verified, that he was to be slain in the approaching feud; and hence the Gaelic words, "Cha till mi tuille; ged thillis Macleod, cha till Mackrimmon," "I shall never return; although Macleod returns, yet Mackrimmon shall never return!" piece is but too well known, from its being the strain with which the emigrants from the West Highlands and Isles usually take leave of their native shore. The MACLEOD'S Wizard flag from the grey castle sallies, The rowers are seated, unmoor'd are the galleys; Gleam war-axe and broadsword, clang target and quiver, As Mackrimmon sings, "Farewell to Dunvegan forever! 1 [Written for Albyn's Anthology, vol. ii. 1818.] 2" We return no more." Farewell to each cliff, on which breakers are foaming; Farewell, each dark glen, in which red-deer are roaming; Farewell, lonely Skye, to lake, mountain, and river; Macleod may return, but Mackrimmon shall never "Farewell the bright clouds that on Quillan are sleeping; Farewell the bright eyes in the Dun that are weeping; To each minstrel delusion, farewell!-and for ever Mackrimmon departs, to return to you never! The Banshee's wild voice sings the death-dirge be The pall of the dead for a mantle hangs o'er me; But my heart shall not flag, and my nerves shall not shiver, Though devoted I go-to return again never! "Too oft shall the notes of Mackrimmon's bewail ing Be heard when the Gael on their exile are sailing; Dear land! to the shores, whence unwilling we sever, 1 [See a note on Banshee, Lady of the Lake, ante, vol. iii. p. 120.] Return-return-return shall we never! Gea thillis Macleod, cha till Mackrimmon!” ON ETTRICK FOREST'S MOUNTAINS DUN.1 ON Ettrick Forest's mountains dun, Along the silver streams of Tweed, The boiling eddy see him try, Then dashing from the current high, 1 Written after a week's shooting and fishing, in which the Poet had been engaged with some friends. [The reader may see these verses set to music in Mr Thomson's Scottish Melodies for 1822.] ON ETTRICK FOREST'S MOUNTAINS DUN. 289 'Tis blithe along the midnight tide, 'Tis blithe at eve to tell the tale, 3 Days free from thought, and nights from care, My blessing on the Forest fair! 1 [See the famous salmon-spearing scene in Guy Mannering. Waverley Novels, vol. iii. pp. 259–63.] 2 Alwyn, the seat of the Lord Somerville; now, alas! untenanted, by the lamented death of that kind and hospitable nobleman, the author's nearest neighbour and intimate friend. [Lord S. died in February, 1819.] 3 Ashestiel, the Poet's residence at that time. |