THEIR groves o' sweet myrtle let foreign lands reckon,
Where bright beaming summers exalt the perfume,
Far dearer to me yon lone glen o' green breckan,
Wi' the burn stealing under the lang yellow broom.
Far dearer to me are yon humble broom bowers,
Where the blue-bell and gowan lurk lowly unseen:
For there lightly fripping amang the wild flowers,
A listening the linnet, aft wanders my Jean.
Tho' rich is the breeze in their gay sunny valleys,
And cauld Caledonia's blast on the wave:
Their sweet-scented woodlands that skirt the proud
palace,
What are they? The haunt of the tyrant and slave:
The slave's spicy forests, and gold-bubbling fountains,
The brave Caledonian views with disdain:
e wanders as free as the winds of his mountains, Save love's willing fetters, the chains o' his Jean.
THE DUKE OF ARGYLE AND THE EARL
"O CAM ye here the fight to shun,
Or herd the sheep wi' me, man?
Or were ye at the Sherra-muir,
And did the battle see, man?"
I saw the battle sair and tough,
And reeking-red ran monie a sheugh,
My heart, for fear, gae sough for sough,
To hear the thuds, and see the cluds,
O' clans frae woods, in tartan duds,
Wha glaum'd at kingdoms three, man,
The red-coat lads, wi' black cockades
To meet them were na slaw, man;
They rush'd and push'd, and blude outgush'd,
And monie a bonk did fa', man:
The great Argyle led on his files,
I wat they glanced twenty miles:
They hack'd and hash'd, while broad-swords clash'd,
And thro' they dash'd, and hew'd and smas
Till fey-men died awa, man.
But had you seen the Philibegs,
And skyrin tartan trews, man,
When in the teeth they dar'd our whigs,
And covenant true blues, man;
In lines extended lang and large,
When bayonets oppos'd the targe,
And thousands hasten'd to the charge,
Wi' Highland wrath they frae the sheath
Drew blades o' death, till out o' breath,
They flea like frighted doos, man.
"O how deil, Tam, can that be true?
The chase gaed frae the north, man:
I saw myself, they did pursue
The horsemen back to Forth, man; And at Dumblane, in my ain sight, They took the brig wi' a' their might, And straught to Sterling wing'd their flight; But, cursed lot! the gates were shut, And monie a huntit poor red-coat,
For fear amaist did swaft, man."
My sister Kate cam up the gate,
Wi' crowdie unto me, man;
She swore she saw some rebels run
Frae Perth unto Dundee, man:
Their left-hand general had nae skill,
The Angus lads had nae good will
That day their neebors' bluid to spill;
For fear by foes, that they should lose
Their cogs o' brose: all crying woes,
And so it goes, you see, man.
They've lost some gallant gentlemen,
Amang the Highland clans, man;
I fear my lord Panmure is slain,
Or fallen in whiggish hands, man:
Now wad ye sing this double fight,
Some fell for wrang and some for right;
But monie bade the world guid-night;
Then ye may tell, how pell and mell,
By red elaymores, and muskets' knell,
Wi' dying yell, the tories fell,
And whigs to hell did flee, man.
Tune-Push about the Jorum."
DOES haughty Gaul invasion threat?
Then let the loons beware, Sir,
There's wooden walls upon our seas,
And volunteers on shore, Sir.
The Nith shall run to Corsincon,*
And Criffelt sink in Solway,
Ere we permit a foreign foe
On British ground to rally!
Fall de rall, &c.
O let us not like snarling tykes
In wrangling be divided;
Till slap come in an unco loun
And wi' a rung decide it.
A high hill at the source of the Nith.
A well-known mountain at the mouth of t Solway.
Be Britain still to Britain true,
Amang oursels united;
For never but by British hands
Maun British wrangs be righted.
Fall de rall, &c.
The kettle o' the kirk and state,
Perhaps a claut may fail in't;'
But deil a foreign tinkler loun
Shall ever ca' a nail in't.
Our father's bluid the kettle bought,
And wha wad dare to spoil it;
By Heaven the sacrilegious dog
Shall fuel be to boil it.
The wretch that wad a tyrant own,
And the wretch his true-born brother,
Who would set the mob aboon the throne,
May they be d-n'd together!
Who will not sing, "God save the King,"
Shall hang as high's the steeple ;
But while we sing, "God save the King," We'll ne'er forget the People.
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