ページの画像
PDF
ePub

Nearer and nearer as they bear,

Spear, pikes, and axes flash in air.
Now might you see the tartans brave,
And plaids and plumage dance and wave:
Now see the bonnets sink and rise,
As his tough oar the rower plies;
See, flashing at each sturdy stroke,
The wave ascending into smoke;
See the proud pipers on the bow,
And mark the gaudy streamers flow
From their loud chanters1 down, and sweep
The furrow'd bosom of the deep,

As, rushing through the lake amain,

They plied the ancient Highland strain.

XVII.

Ever, as on they bore, more loud
And louder rung the pibroch proud.
At first the sound, by distance tame,
Mellow'd along the waters came,

And, lingering long by cape and bay,
Wail'd every harsher note away;

Then bursting bolder on the ear,

The clan's shrill Gathering they could hear;
Those thrilling sounds, that call the might
Of old Clan-Alpine to the fight.2

1 The pipe of the bagpipe.

2 The connoisseurs in pipe music affect to discover in a well-composed pibroch, the imitative sounds of march, conflict, fight, pursuit, and all the "current of a heady fight."

[ocr errors]

Thick beat the rapid notes, as when
The mustering hundreds shake the glen,
And hurrying at the signal dread,

The batter'd earth returns their tread;

Then prelude light, of livelier tone,
Express'd their merry marching on,
Ere peal of closing battle rose,

With mingled outcry, shrieks, and blows ;
And mimic din of stroke and ward,
As broadsword upon target jarr'd;
And groaning pause, ere yet again,
Condensed, the battle yell'd amain;
The rapid charge, the rallying shout,
Retreat borne headlong into rout,
And bursts of triumph, to declare
Clan-Alpine's conquest-all were there.

[ocr errors][ocr errors]

To this opinion Dr. Beattie has given his suffrage, in the following elegant passage: 66 A pibroch is a species of tune, peculiar, I think, to the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland. It is performed on a bagpipe, and differs totally from all other music. Its rhythm is so irregular, and its notes, especially in the quick movement, so mixed and huddled together, that a stranger finds it impossible to reconcile his car to it, so as to perceive its modulation. Some of these pibrochs, being intended to represent a battle, begin with a grave motion resembling a march; then gradually quicken into the onset; run off with noisy confusion, and turbulent rapidity, to imitate the conflict and pursuit; then swell into a few flourishes of triumphant joy, and perhaps close with the wild and slow wailings of a funeral procession."-Essay on Laughter and Ludicrous Composition, chap. iii. Note.

Nor ended thus the strain; but slow

Sunk in a moan prolong'd and low,

And changed the conquering clarion swell,
For wild lament o'er those that fell.

XVIII.

The war-pipes ceased; but lake and hill
Were busy with their echoes still.;
And, when they slept, a vocal strain
Bade their hoarse chorus wake again,
While loud a hundred clansmen raise
Their voices in their Chieftain's praise.
Each boatman, bending to his oar,
With measured sweep the burden bore,
In such wild cadence, as the breeze
Makes through December's leafless trees.
The chorus first could Allan know,
"Roderick Vich Alpine, ho! iro!"
And near, and nearer as they row'd,
Distinct the martial ditty flow'd.

XIX.

BOAT SONG.

Hail to the Chief who in triumph advances!
Honour'd and bless'd be the ever-green Pine!
Long may the tree, in his banner that glances,
Flourish, the shelter and grace of our line!
Heaven send it happy dew,

Earth lend it sap anew,

[ocr errors]

Gayly to bourgeon, and broadly to grow,
While every Highland glen

Send our shout back agen,

"Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho! ieroe! "1

1 Besides his ordinary name and surname, which were chiefly used in the intercourse with the Lowlands, every Highland chief had an epithet expressive of his patriarchal dignity as head of the clan, and which was common to all his predecessors and successors, as Pharaoh to the kings of Egypt, or Arsaces to those of Parthia. This name was usually a patronymic, expressive of his descent from the founder of the family. Thus the Duke of Argyle is called Mac-Callum More, or the son of Colin the Great. Sometimes, however, it is derived from armorial distinctions, or the memory of some great feat; thus Lord Seaforth, as chief of the Mackenzies, or Clan-Kennet, bears the epithet of Caberfae, or Buck's Head, as representative of Colin Fitzgerald, founder of the family, who saved the Scottish king when endangered by a stag. But besides this title, which belonged to his office and dignity, the chieftain had usually another peculiar to himself, which distinguished him from the chieftains of the same race. This was sometimes derived from complexion, as dhu or roy; sometimes from size, as beg or more; at other times, from some peculiar exploit, or from some peculiarity of habit or appearance. The line of the text therefore signifies,

Black Roderick, the descendant of Alpine.

The song itself is intended as an 'imitation of the jorrums, or boat songs of the Highlanders, which were usually composed in honour of a favourite chief. They are so adapted as to keep time with the sweep of the oars, and it is easy to distinguish between those intended to be sung to the oars of a galley, where the stroke is lengthened and doubled, as it were, and those which were timed to the rowers of an ordinary boat

[graphic]
[graphic]

Ours is no sapling, chance-sown by the fountain, Blooming at Beltane, in winter to fade;

When the whirlwind has stripp'd every leaf on the mountain,

The more shall Clan-Alpine exult in her shade. Moor'd in the rifted rock,

Proof to the tempest's shock,

Firmer he roots him the ruder it blow;
Menteith and Breadalbane, then,
Echo his praise again,

"Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho! ieroe!"

ΧΧ.

Proudly our pibroch has thrill'd in Glen Fruin,

And Bannachar's groans to our slogan replied; Glen Luss and Ross-dhu, they are smoking in ruin, And the best of Loch-Lomond lie dead on her

side.1

Widow and Saxon maid

Long shall lament our raid,

Think of Clan-Alpine with fear and with woe; Lennox and Leven-glen

Shake when they hear again,

"Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho! ieroe!"

Row, vassals, row for the pride of the Highlands Stretch to your oars, for the ever-green Pine! O! that the rose-bud that graces yon islands, Were wreathed in a garland around him to twine!

1 [See Appendix, Note E.]

« 前へ次へ »