Think of Clan-Alpine with fear and with woe;

Lennox and Leven-glen

Shake when they hear agen,

"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!

O that some seedling gem,

Worthy such noble stem,

Honour'd and bless'd in their shadow might grow!

Loud should Clan-Alpine then

Ring from her deepmost glen,

Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho! ieroe !"

XXI.

With all her joyful female band,

Had Lady Margaret sought the strand.
Loose on the breeze their tresses flew,

And high their snowy arms they threw,

As echoing back with shrill acclaim,

And chorus wild, the chieftain's name;

While, prompt to please, with mother's art,

The darling passion of his heart,

The Dame call'd Ellen to the strand,

To greet her kinsman ere he land :

"Come, loiterer, come! a Douglas thou,

And shun to wreathe a victor's brow ?"

Reluctantly and slow, the maid

The unwelcome summoning obey'd,

And, when a distant bugle rung,

In the mid-path aside she sprung:

"List, Allan-bane! From main-land cast, I hear my father's signal blast.

Be our's," she cried, "the skiff to guide,

And waft him from the mountain's side."Then, like a sun-beam, swift and bright,

She darted to her shallop light,

And, eagerly while Roderick scann'd,

For her dear form, his mother's band,

The islet far behind her lay,

And she had landed in the bay.

XXII.

Some feelings are to mortals given,

With less of earth in them than heaven

And if there be a human tear

From passion's dross refined and clear, A tear so limpid and so meek,

It would not stain an angel's cheek, "Tis that which pious fathers shed

Upon a duteous daughter's head !

And as the Douglas to his breast

His darling Ellen closely press'd,

Such holy drops her tresses steep'd, Though 'twas an hero's eye that weep'd. Nor while on Ellen's faultering tongue

Her filial welcomes crowded hung,

Mark'd she, that fear, (affection's proof,)

Still held a graceful youth aloof;

No! not till Douglas named his name,

Although the youth was Malcolm Græme.

XXIII.

Allan, with wistful look the while,

Mark'd Roderick landing on the isle;
His master piteously he eyed,

Then gazed upon the chieftain's pride,

Then dash'd, with hasty hand, away

From his dimm'd eye the gathering spray;

And Douglas, as his hand he laid

On Malcolm's shoulder, kindly said,

"Canst thou, young friend, no meaning spy

In my poor follower's glistening eye?

I'll tell thee :-he recalls the day,

When in my praise he led the lay
O'er the arch'd gate of Bothwell proud,
While many a minstrel answer'd loud,
When Percy's Norman pennon, won
In bloody field, before me shone,

And twice ten knights, the least a name
As mighty as yon chief may claim,
Gracing my pomp, behind me came.

Yet trust me, Malcolm, not so proud
Was I of all that marshall'd crowd,
Though the waned crescent own'd my might,
And in my train troop'd lord and knight,
Though Blantyre hymn'd her holiest lays,
And Bothwell's bards flung back my praise,
As when this old man's silent tear,

And this maid's affection dear,

poor

A welcome give more kind and true,
Than aught my better fortunes knew.
Forgive, my friend, a father's boast;
O! it out-beggars all I lost !"-

XXIV.

Delightful praise !-like summer rose,
That brighter in the dew-drop glows,
The bashful maiden's cheek appear'd,
For Douglas spoke, and Malcolm heard.