To whom, though more than kindred knew, Though all unask'd his birth and name.2 Which his brave sires, from age to age, And he, God wot, was forced to stand 1 [MS.-" 2 The Highlanders, who carried hospitality to a punctilious excess, are said to have considered it as churlish, to ask a stranger his name or lineage, before he had taken refreshment. Feuds were so frequent among them, that a contrary rule would in many cases have produced the discovery of some circumstance, which might have excluded the guest from the benefit of the assistance he stood in need of. XXX. Fain would the Knight in turn require 1 That courts and cities she had seen; Turn'd all inquiry light away:— [MS." Well show'd the mother's easy mien."] 2 [MS.-"Ellen, though more her looks betray'd The simple heart of mountain maid, In speech and gesture, form and grace, She sung, and still a harp unseen 1" They" (meaning the Highlanders) "delight much in music, but chiefly in harps and clairschoes of their own fashion. The strings of the clairschoes are made of brass wire, and the strings of the harps of sinews; which strings they strike either with their nayles, growing long, or else with an instrument appointed for that use. They take great pleasure to decke their harps and clairschoes with silver and precious stones; the poor ones that cannot attayne hereunto, decke them with christall. They sing verses prettily compound, contayning (for the most part) prayses of valiant men. There is not almost any other argument, whereof their rhymes intreat. They speak the ancient French language altered a little."1" The harp and clairschoes are now only heard of in the Highlands in ancient song. At what period these instruments ceased to be used, is not on record; and tradition is silent on this head. But, as Irish harpers occasionally visited the Highlands and Western Isles till lately, the harp might have been.extant so late as the middle of the present century. Thus far we know, that from remote times down to the present, harpers were received as welcome guests, particularly in the Highlands of Scotland; and so late as the latter end of the sixteenth century, as appears by the above quotation, the harp was in common use among the natives of the Western Isles. How it happened that the noisy and unharmonious bagpipe banished the soft and expressive harp, we cannot say; but certain it is, that the bagpipe is now the only instrument that obtains universally in the Highland districts."-CAMPBELL's Journey through North Britain. Lond. 1808, 4to, I. 175. Mr. Gunn, of Edinburgh, has lately published a curious Essay upon the Harp and Harp Music of the Highlands of 1 Vide "Certayne Matters concerning the Realms of Scotland, &c. as they were Anno Domini 1597. Lond., 1608." XXXI. SONG. "Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er, Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking: Dream of battled fields no more, Days of danger, nights of waking. In our isle's enchanted hall, Hands unseen thy couch are strewing, Fairy strains of music fall, Every sense in slumber dewing. Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er, Dream of fighting fields no more: Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking, "No rude sound shall reach thine ear,1 Armour's clang, or war-steed champing, Trump nor pibroch summon here Mustering clan, or squadron tramping. Yet the lark's shrill fife may come At the daybreak from the fallow, Scotland. That the instrument was once in common use there, is most certain. Cleland numbers an acquaintance with it among the few accomplishments which his satire allows to the Highlanders: "In nothing they're accounted sharp, 1 [MS." Noon of hunger, night of waking. And the bittern sound his drum, Booming from the sedgy shallow. Ruder sounds shall none be near, Guards nor warders challenge here, Here's no war-steed's neigh and champing, Shouting clans, or squadrons stamping." XXXII. She paused-then, blushing, led the lay1 SONG CONTINUED. Huntsman, rest! thy chase is done, While our slumbrous spells assail ye,2 Dream not, with the rising sun, Bugles here shall sound reveillé. Sleep! the deer is in his den; Sleep! thy hounds are by thee lying; 1 [MS.-"S "She paused-but waked again the lay."] [MS. Let our slumbrous spells beguile ye."] |