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Is aught but retribution true?

Seek other cause 'gainst Roderick Dhu."

1

1 The ancient Highlanders verified in their practice the

lines of Gray:

"An iron race the mountain cliffs maintain,

Foes to the gentler genius of the plain;

For where unwearied sinews must be found,

With side-long plough to quell the flinty ground;
To turn the torrent's swift descending flood;

To tame the savage rushing from the wood;

What wonder if, to patient valor train'd

They guard with spirit what by strength they gain'd:
And while their rocky ramparts round they see

The rough abode of want and liberty,

(As lawless force from confidence will grow),
Insult the plenty of the vales below?"

Fragment on the Alliance of Education
and Government.

So far, indeed, was a Creagh, or foray, from being held disgraceful, that a young chief was always expected to show his talents for command so soon as he assumed it, by leading his clan on a successful enterprise of this nature, either against a neighboring sept, for which constant feuds usually furnished an apology, or against the Sassenach, Saxons, or Lowlanders, for which no apology was necessary. The Gael, great traditional historians, never forgot that the Lowlands had, at some remote period, been the property of their Celtic forefathers, which furnished an ample vindication of all the ravages that they could make on the unfortunate districts which lay within their reach. Sir James Grant of Grant is in possession of a letter of apology from Cameron of Lochiel, whose men had committed some depredation upon a farm called Moines, occupied by one of the Grants. Lochiel assures Grant, that, however the mistake had happened, his instructions were precise, that the party should foray the province of Moray (a Lowland district), where, as he coolly observes, "all men take their prey."

VIII.

Answer'd Fitz-James, — "And, if I sought,
Think'st thou no other could be brought?
What deem ye of my path waylaid?
My life given o'er to ambuscade?"
"As of a meed to rashness due:
Hadst thou sent warning fair and true,
I seek my hound, or falcon stray'd,
I seek, good faith, a Highland maid,
Free hadst thou been to come and go,
But secret path marks secret foe.

Nor yet, for this, even as a spy,

Hadst thou, unheard, been doom'd to die, Save to fulfil an augury.”

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Well, let it pass; nor will I now

Fresh cause of enmity avow,

To chafe thy mood and cloud thy brow.
Enough, I am by promise tied

To match me with this man of pride:
Twice have I sought Clan-Alpine's glen
In peace; but when I come again,
I come with banner, brand, and bow,
As leader seeks his mortal foe.
For love-lorn swain, in lady's bower,
Ne'er panted for the appointed hour,
As I, until before me stand

This rebel Chieftain and his band!"1

1 MS.: "This dark Sir Roderick

This savage Chieftain

}

and his band."

IX.

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Have, then, thy wish!". he whistled shrill, And he was answer'd from the hill;

Wild as the scream of the curlew,

From crag to crag the signal flew.1
Instant, through copse and heath, arose
Bonnets and spears and bended bows:
On right, on left, above, below,
Sprung up at once the lurking foe;
From shingles gray their lances start,
The bracken brush sends forth the dart,2
The rushes and the willow-wand

Are bristling into axe and brand,
And every tuft of broom gives life 3
To plaided warrior arm'd for strife.
That whistle garrison'd the glen
At once with full five hundred men,
As if the yawning hill to heaven
A subterranean host had given.1

1 MS.: "From copse to copse the signal flew.
Instant, through copse and crags arose."
2 MS.: "The bracken bush shoots forth the dart."
3 MS.: "And each lone tuft of broom gives life
To plaided warrior arm'd for strife.

That whistle manned the lonely glen

With full five hundred armed men."

4 The Monthly Review says: "We now come to the chefd'œuvre of Walter Scott, -a scene of more vigour, nature, and animation, than any other in all his poetry." Another anonymous critic of the poem is not afraid to quote, with reference to the effect of this passage, the sublime language of the Prophet Ezekiel: -“Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind,

Watching their leader's beck and will,1

All silent there they stood, and still.
Like the loose crags whose threatening mass
Lay tottering o'er the hollow pass,
As if an infant's touch could urge
Their headlong passage down the verge,
With step and weapon forward flung,
Upon the mountain-side they hung.
The Mountaineer cast glance of pride
Along Benledi's living side,

Then fix'd his eye and sable brow

Full on Fitz-James

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How say'st thou now?

These are Clan-Alpine's warriors true;
And, Saxon, I am Roderick Dhu!"

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X.

Fitz-James was brave: - though to his heart
The life-blood thrill'd with sudden start,
He mann'd himself with dauntless air,
Return'd the Chief his haughty stare,
His back against a rock he bore,
And firmly placed his foot before:

Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army." - Chap. xxxvii. v. 9, 10.

1 MS.: "All silent, too, they stood, and still,

Watching their leader's beck and will,
While forward step and weapon show
They long to rush upon the foe,
Like the loose crag, whose tottering mass
Hung threatening o'er the hollow pass."

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Come one, come all! this rock shall fly

From its firm base as soon as I."

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