V.
“Thy secret keep, I urge thee not;—
Yet, ere again ye sought this spot,
Say, heard ye naught of Lowland war,
Against Clan-Alpine, raised by Mar?”
—“No, by my word;—of bands prepared
To guard King James’s sports I heard;
Nor doubt I aught, but, when they hear
This muster of the mountaineer,
Their pennons will abroad be flung,
Which else in Doune had peaceful hung.”—
“Free be they flung!—for we were loth
Their silken folds should feast the moth.
Free be they flung!—as free shall wave
Clan-Alpine’s pine in banner brave.
But, Stranger, peaceful since you came,
Bewilder’d in the mountain game,
Whence the bold boast by which you show[279]
Vich-Alpine’s vow’d and mortal foe?”—
“Warrior, but yester-morn, I knew
Naught of thy Chieftain, Roderick Dhu,
Save as an outlaw’d desperate man,
The chief of a rebellious clan,
Who, in the Regent’s[280] court and sight,
With ruffian dagger stabb’d a knight:
Yet this alone might from his part
Sever each true and loyal heart.”
[VI.]
Wrothful at such arraignment foul,
Dark lower’d the clansman’s sable scowl.
A space he paused, then sternly said,
“And heardst thou why he drew his blade?
Heardst thou, that shameful word and blow
Brought Roderick’s vengeance on his foe?
What reck’d the Chieftain if he stood
On Highland heath, or Holy-Rood?
He rights such wrong where it is given,
If it were in the court of heaven.”—
“Still was it outrage;—yet, ’tis true,
Not then claim’d sovereignty his due;
While Albany, with feeble hand,
Held borrow’d truncheon of command,
The young King, mew’d[281] in Stirling tower,
Was stranger to respect and power.[282]
But then, thy Chieftain’s robber life!—
Winning mean prey by causeless strife,
Wrenching from ruin’d Lowland swain
His herds and harvest rear’d in vain.—
Methinks a soul, like thine, should scorn
The spoils from such foul foray borne.”