First in the charge and foremost in pursuit,
Long-breathed, deep-chested, and in speed of foot
A match for stags—still fleeter when the prey
Was man, in persecution’s evil day;
Cheered to that chase by brutal bold Dundee,
No Highland hound had lapped more blood than he.
Oft had he changed the covenanter’s breath
From howls of psalmody to howls of death:
And though long bound to peace, it irked him still
His dirk had ne’er one hated foe to kill.