And answering Lomond's breezes deep, IX. "Woe to the clansman, who shall view This symbol of sepulchral yew, Forgetful that its branches grew Where weep the heavens their holiest dew He ne'er shall mingle with their dust, 1 Shall doom him wrath and woe." And first in murmur low, Then, like the billow in his course, 2 [See a detailed description of the funeral ceremonies of a Highland chieftain in the Fair Maid of Perth, Waverley Nov els, vol. 43, chaps. x. and xi. New Edit.] [MS." Our warriors, on his worthless bust, Shall speak disgrace and woe."] 2 [MS." Their clattering targets hardly strook: And first they mutter'd low"] That far to seaward finds his source, And flings to shore his muster'd force, Burst, with loud roar, their answer hoarse, "Woe to the traitor, woe!" Ben-an's gray scalp the accents knew, X. The shout was hush'd on lake and fell, The while he scathed the Cross with flame; A kindred fate shall know; Far o'er its roof the volumed flame [MS." Although the holy name was there."] Then rose the cry of females, shrill Mingled with childhood's babbling trill And the gray pass where birches wave, XI. Then deeper paused the priest anew, The crosslet's points of sparkling wood, Hollow and hoarse his voice was heard: "When flits this Cross from man to man, Vich-Alpine's summons to his clan, So may Burst be the car that fails to heed! XII. Then Roderick, with impatient look, The bubbles, where they launch'd the boat, Dancing in foam and ripple still, 1 [MS." The slowly mutter'd deep Amen."] When it had near'd the mainland hill; XIII. Speed, Malise, speed! the dun deer's hide Speed, Malise, speed! such cause of haste Bend 'gainst the steepy hill thy breast, 1 The present brogue of the Highlanders is made of halfdried leather, with holes to admit and let out the water; for walking the moors dry shod is a matter altogether out of question. The ancient buskin was still ruder, being made of undressed deer's hide, with the hair outwards; a circumstance which procured the Highlanders the well-known epithet of Red-shanks. The process is very accurately described by one Elder (himself a Highlander) in the project for a union between England and Scotland, addressed to Henry VIII. "We go a-hunting, and after that we have slain red-deer, we flay off the skin by-and-by, and setting of our barefoot on the inside thereof, for want of cunning shoemakers, by your grace's pardon, we play the cobblers, compassing and measuring so much thereof as shall reach up to our ankles, pricking the upper part thereof with holes, that the water may repass where it enters, and stretching it up with a strong thong of the same above our said ankles. So and please your noble grace, we make our shoes. Therefore, we using such manner of shoes, the rough hairy side outwards, in your grace's dominions of England, we be called Roughfooted Scots.”—PINKERTON's History, vol. ii. p. 397. |