Young Jamie has rais'd the aumry cook, And Jockie has sworn by lippie and law; He maun hame but stocking or shoe, The cat has clomb to the eagle's nest, And suckit the eggs, and scar'd the dame; The lordly lair is daubed wi' hair; But the thief maun strap, an' the hawk come hame. Then up wi' Geordie, kirn-milk Geordie, Up wi' Geordie high in a tow: At the last kick of a foreign foot, The life and humour of this song will excuse some little coarseness, and the strange mixture of allegory with figures of flesh and blood. The animation commences with the commencing line and continues to the last. James Hogg describes it as old: of its antiquity I have many doubts. The poverty of the house of Hanover seems to have given our Jacobite poets great satisfaction; for it forms the theme of many a ditty; and perhaps they persevered till the visible and surpassing misery of the house of Stuart caused their satire to cut with two edges. The obscurities which deform the Jacobite songs arose in a great measure from the figu rative way in which they expressed the hopes and fears of the party. To sing plainly was to sing seditiously; and the poet was fain to escape from the penalties of law into the region of dark metaphor, from which the most scrupulous Whig should not extract a meaning that could be followed up by fining or imprisonment. DONALD MACGILLAVRY. Donald's gane up the hill hard and hungery, Donald's run o'er the hill but his tether, man, Come like a weaver, Donald Macgillavry, Donald has foughten wi' rief and roguery, Donald's the callan that brooks nae tangleness, Come like a cobler, Donald Macgillavry; Beat them, and bore them, and lingel them cleverlyUp wi' King James and Donald Macgillavry. Donald was mumpit wi' mirds and mockery, Arles run high, but makings were naething, man— Come like the devil, Donald Macgillavry; Skelp them and scaud them that prov'd sae un britherly Up wi' King James and Donald Macgillavry. This is the cleverest of all our party songs; sharp, lively, and original. I know not to whose hand we owe it it cannot well be so old as the period of the last rebellion; for every line has the echo of yesterday, compared to the lyrics of the forty-five. "The clan Macgillavry," says James Hogg," is a subordinate one; so that the name seems to represent the whole of the northern clans. In the Chevalier's muster-roll Macgillavry of Drumglass is named as one of the expected chieftains; and in 1745, the brave and powerful clan of Macintosh was led by Colonel Macgillavry." To the north of Scotland the house of Stuart seems long to have looked for salvation: the chieftains of the clans were deluded by promised power and imaginary rank to arm in its cause; and that native pride which nought can surpass, and that courage which nought can subdue, were alike bribed to the adventure. How far it succeeded history will ever relate with astonishment. small bridge a short way in advance from Derby was the limit of their daring march; and their retreat was still more extraordinary. The people of Derby long after remembered the friendly visit of the highland army. A TRANENT MUIR. The Chevalier, being void of fear, But e'er next morn proclaim'd the cock, The brave Lochiel, as I heard tell, The morning fair, and clear the air, The bluff dragoons swore, blood and ʼoons, And winna fire a gun, man: They turn'd their back, the foot they brake, Such terror seiz'd them a', man ; Some wet their cheeks, some fyl'd their breeks, And some for fear did fa', man. |