VIII. Answer'd Fitz-James,-" And, if I sought, Hadst thou sent warning fair and true,- And while their rocky ramparts round they see Fragment on the Alliance of Education So far, indeed, was a Creagh, or foray, from being held disgraceful, that a young chief was always expected to show his talents for command so soon as he assumed it, by leading his clan on a successful enterprise of this nature, either against a neighbouring sept, for which constant feuds usually furnished an apology, or against the Sassenach, Saxons, or Lowlanders, for which no apology was necessary. The Gael, great traditional historians, never forgot that the Lowlands had, at some remote period, been the property of their Celtic forefathers, which furnished an ample vindication of all the ravages that they could make on the unfortunate districts ་ which lay within their reach. Sir James Grant of Grant is in possession of a letter of apology from Cameron of Lochiel, whose men had committed some depredation upon a farm called Moines, occupied by one of the Grants. Lochiel assures Grant, that, however the mistake had happened, his instructions were precise, that the party should foray the province of Moray, (a Lowland district,) where, as he coolly observes, "all men take their prey." Free hadst thou been to come and go; But secret path marks secret foe. Nor yet, for this, even as a spy, Hadst thou, unheard, been doom❜d to die, Save to fulfil an augury." "Well, let it pass; nor will I now To chafe thy mood and cloud thy brow. To match me with this man of pride: In This rebel Chieftain and his band!" 1 66 IX. Have, then, thy wish!"-he whistled shrill, And he was answer'd from the hill; Wild as the scream of the curlew, From crag to crag the signal flew.2 1 [MS.—" This savage Chieftain } and his band." 2 [MS.-"From copse to copse the signal flew, Instant, through copse and crags arose."] On right, on left, above, below, Sprung up at once the lurking foe; Are bristling into axe and brand, [MS." The bracken bush shoots forth the dart."] That whistle manned the lonely glen With full five hundred armed men."] 8 [The Monthly reviewer says "We now come to the chef-d'œuvre of Walter Scott,-a scene of more vigour, nature, and animation, than any other in all his poetry." Another anonymous critic of the poem is not afraid to quote, with reference to the effect of this passage, the sublime language of the Prophet Ezekiel: "Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wird Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army."-Chap. xxxvii. v. 9, 10. 4 [MS." All silent, too, they stood, and still, Watching their leader's beck and will, Like the loose crags whose threatening mass Lay tottering o'er the hollow pass, As if an infant's touch could urge Their headlong passage down the verge, Then fix'd his eye and sable brow Full on Fitz-James- "How say'st thou now? X. Fitz-James was brave:-Though to his heart They long to rush upon the foe, Like the loose crag, whose tottering mass Down sunk the disappearing band; It seem'd as if their mother Earth On bracken green, and cold gray stone. XI. Fitz-James look'd round-yet scarce believed "Fear nought-nay, that I need not say- Nor would I call a clansman's brand For aid against one valiant hand,1 1 [MS." For aid against one brave man's hand."] |