Yes, times are changed; for, in your fathers' age, The lawyers were the patrons of the stage; However high advanced by future fate, was about to depart upon a distant and dangerous expedition. The Minstrel was impressed with a belief, which the event verified, that he was to be slain in the approaching feud; and hence the Gaelic words, " Cha till mi tuille; ged thillis Macleod, cha till Mackrimmon," „” “I shall never return; although Macleod returns, yet Mackrimmon shall never return!" The piece is but too well known, from its being the strain with which the emigrants from the West Highlands and Isles usually take leave of their native shore. MACLEOD'S wizard flag from the grey castle sallies, The rowers are seated, unmoor'd are the galleys; Gleam war-axe and broadsword, clang target and quiver, There stands the bench (points to the Pit) that first As Mackrimmon sings, "Farewell to Dunvegan for received their weight. The future legal sage, 'twas ours to see, Doom though unwigg'd, and plead without a fee. But now, astounding each poor mimic elf, But, soft! who lives at Rome the Pope must flatter, Mackrimmon's Lament.* 1818. AIR-" Cha till mi tuille." 5 Mackrimmon, hereditary piper to the Laird of Macleod, is said to have composed this Lament when the Clan ever! Farewell to each cliff, on which breakers are foaming; Farewell, each dark glen, in which red-deer are roam ing; Farewell, lonely Skye, to lake, mountain, and river; Macleod may return, but Mackrimmon shall never! "Farewell the bright clouds that on Quillan are sleeping; Farewell the bright eyes in the Dun that are weeping; To each minstrel delusion, farewell!-and for ever- The pall of the dead for a mantle hangs o'er me; But my heart shall not flag, and my nerves shall not shiver, Though devoted I go-to return again never! "Too oft shall the notes of Mackrimmon's bewail ing Be heard when the Gael on their exile are sailing; Dear land! to the shores, whence unwilling we sever, Return-return-return shall we never! Cha till, cha till, cha till sin tuille! 1 "The Appeal," a Tragedy, by John Galt, the celebrated author of the "Annals of the Parish," and other Novels, was played for four nights at this time in Edinburgh. 2 It is necessary to mention, that the allusions in this piece are all local, and addressed only to the Edinburgh audience. The new prisons of the city, on the Calton Hill, are not far from the theatre. a At this time the public of Edinburgh was much agitated by a lawsuit betwixt the Magistrates and many of the Inhabitants of the City, concerning a range of new buildings on the western side of the North Bridge; which the latter insisted should be removed as a deformity. 4 Written for Albyn's Anthology. 5 "We return no more." 6 See a note on Banshee, Lady of the Lake, ante, p. 242. 1 Written for Albyn's Anthology, vol. ii., 1818, and set to highly amused with a sly allusion to his two-fold character of music in Mr. Thomson's Collection, in 1822 2 Caird signifies Tinker. 3 Mr. D. Thomson, of Galashiels, produced a parody on this song at an annual dinner of the manufacturers there, which Sir Walter Scott usually attended; and the Poet was Sheriff of Selkirkshire, and author-suspect of "Rob Roy," in the chorus, "Think ye, does the Shirra ken Rob M'Gregor's come again?" I glance like the wildfire through country and town; Here little, and hereafter bass, Is best from age to age. "As Jeanie entered, she heard first the air, and then a part of the chorus and words of what had been, What did ye wi' the bridal ring-bridal ring-bridal' perhaps, the song of a jolly harvest-home.” ring? What did ye wi' your wedding ring, ye little cutty Our work is over-over now, The goodman wipes his weary brow, The night comes on when sets the sun, "The attendant on the hospital arranged her in her bed as she desired, with her face to the wall, and her back to the light. So soon as she was quiet in this new position, she began again to sing in the same low and modulated strains, as if she was recovering the state of abstraction which the interruption of her visitants had disturbed. The strain, however, was dif ferent, and rather resembled the music of the methodist hymns, though the measure of the song was similar to that of the former:" When the fight of grace is fought, When the marriage vest is wrought, When Faith has chased cold Doubt away, And Hope but sickens at delay,— "Her next seemed to be the fragment of some old ballad:" Cauld is my bed, Lord Archibald, And weep ye not, my maidens free, Shall die for me to-morrow "Again she changed the tune to one wilder, less monotonous, and less regular. But of the words only a fragment or two could be collected by those who listened to this singular scene:" Proud Maisie is in the wood, Sweet Robin sits on the bush, Singing so rarely. "Tell me, thou bonny bird, When shall I marry me?"— "When six braw gentlemen Kirkward shall carry ye." "Who makes the bridal bed, Birdie, say truly?"— "The grey-headed sexton That delves the grave duly. "The glow-worm o'er grave and stone Shall light thee steady. The owl from the steeple sing, Welcome, proud lady."" "Her voice died away with the last notes, and she fell into a slumber, from which the experienced attendant assured them, that she would never awake at all, or only in the death-agony. "Her first prophecy was true. The poor maniac parted with existence, without again uttering a sound of any kind." Chaps. xv.-xxxviii. passim. (2.)-MOTTOES. (1.)-CHAP. XIX. To man, in this his trial state, The privilege is given, When lost by tides of human fate, To anchor fast in Heaven. Watts' Hymns. (2.)-CHAP. XXIII. Law, take thy victim!- May she find the mercy In yon mild heaven which this hard world denies her! (3.)-CHAP. XXVII. And Need and Misery, Vice and Danger, bind In sad alliance, each degraded mind. (4.)-CHAP. XXXV. I beseech you— "WITH a quivering voice, and a cheek pale with These tears beseech you, and these chaste hands apprehension, Caleb faltered out the following lines:" Nor merry bowl nor welcome bed; Old Ballad, thirty inches in height, she accompanied it with her "Here 's sorry cheer," quoth the Heir of Linne. voice. The air was an ancient Gaelic melody, and the words, which were supposed to be very old, were in the same language; but we subjoin a translation of them, by Secundus M'Pherson, Esq. of Glenforgen; which, although submitted to the fetters of English rhythm, we trust will be found nearly as genuine as the version of Ossian by his celebrated namesake.” (2.)—CHAP. XIV. As, to the Autumn breeze's bugle-sound, 1. BIRDS of omen dark and foul, 2. Hie to moorish gills and rocks, 3. The moon's wan crescent scarcely gleams, 4. Wild thoughts, that, sinful, dark, and deep, From The Legend of Montrose. (1.)-ANCIENT GAELIC MELODY. "So saying, Annot Lyle sate down at a little distance upon the bench on which Allan M'Aulay was placed, and tuning her clairshach, a small harp, about (2.) THE ORPHAN MAID. "TUNING her instrument, and receiving an assenting look from Lord Monteith and Allan, Annot Lyle executed the following ballad, which our friend, Mr. Secundus M'Pherson, whose goodness we had before |
