"But softer floating, o'er the deep,
The Mermaid's sweet sea-soothing lay,
That charmed the dancing waves to sleep
Before the bark of Colonsay."
The ballad thus describes the wooing of the gallant chieftain:—
"Proud swells her heart! she deems at last
To lure him with her silver tongue,
And, as the shelving rocks she passed,
She raised her voice, and sweetly sung.
"In softer, sweeter strains she sung.