"With crafty lore he led our Chief "A hopeless cause to join; "To seat on Britain's throne a Prince "Of STUART'S hapless line. "Do you not see yon blasted oak 66 By Heaven's dread thunder tore? "Can April show'rs, or summer suns "Its solemn shade restore? "Or have you seen the lofty flow'r "And did it spread its yellow leaves "They strove to plant the wither'd oak, "And water'd it with gore: "They spread the tender leaves of hope "When fortune smil'd no more. "How short, how gay, how bright the smile, "That cheer'd their morning ray! "How dark, how cold, how loud the storm, "That raging clos'd their day. "On Gladsmuir's heath a comet's blaze "Deceiv'd their dazzled sight; "On bleak Culloden's bloody moor, "It sunk in endless night. Why should I tell what noble blood "The sable scaffold stain'd? "Why should I tell what generous hearts "I see thy dim and dewy eyes, "When to the forest's deep retreats 66 My outlaw'd master fled; "While vengeance took a deadly aim "At his devoted head : "The ruthless Duke's fell mandate came, "And ruin spread around: "Our Chieftain's halls were wrapt in flames, "With flames the turrets crown'd. ! "High on yon rock, that to the North "Erects its aged head, "Hard by the screaming goshawk's nest "He made his pendent bed. ""Twas from yon trembling aspin's boughs "That wave so high in air, "He saw the wasting flames ascend, "In silent stern despair. "But fury shook his manly frame, "On yon bleak hill that fronts the North, My lady sat forlorn ; "In fear she left her home, to shun "The lawless soldier's scorn. "With meek and silent awe she sat, "And piously resign'd; "Fierce blaz'd her castle thro' the gloom, "Loud blew the eastern wind. "Oh lady, shun the chilling blasts "Oh shun this dreary sight of woe, "The lady wip'd her streaming eyes, "And rais'd her drooping head;" "Ah! where can I a shelter find?" "In broken words she said:" "The owl that 'plains from yonder wood 66 May slumber in her nest; "The fox that howls from yonder hill, "Within his cave may rest: "But I, alas! without a home, "Must brave the chilling air: My friends are fall'n beneath the sword "That never knew to spare. "The fire devour'd my father's halls, "Stern vengeance drank his blood "And loudly on my consort calls "To swell the purple flood. * The lady sat most part of the night on an opposite hill viewing the conflagration. "And can I seek a sheltering roof, "Or social comfort taste, "While he a lonely alien shrinks, "Hid in the dreary waste?" "Blow higher winds, blaze fiercer flames, "Rise o'er thy limits Spey; "No stronger pang my heart can feel "At Nature's last decay.” "Successive summer suns beheld My lady's withering prime; "But on her lord no sun e'er shone "In his cold native clime. "In gloomy caves he past the day, "Then, when the world in slumber lay, "Through midnight darkness stole, "And in my lady's faithful breast "Repos'd his sorrowing soul: |