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 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: The rough abode of want and liberty, (As lawless force from confidence will grow), Fragment on the Alliance of Education 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, Nor yet, for this, even as a spy, Hadst thou, unheard, been doom'd to die, Save to fulfil an augury.” 66 Well, let it pass; nor will I now Fresh cause of enmity avow, To chafe thy mood and cloud thy brow. To match me with this man of pride: This rebel Chieftain and his band!"1 1 MS.: "This dark Sir Roderick This savage Chieftain } and his band." IX. 66 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 Are bristling into axe and brand, 1 MS.: "From copse to copse the signal flew. 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. Then fix'd his eye and sable brow Full on Fitz-James 66 How say'st thou now? These are Clan-Alpine's warriors true; X. Fitz-James was brave: - though to his heart 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, |