Th’ erect tall red-coat, walking pastures round,
Or delving with his spade the garden ground,
Of cheerful temper, habits strict and sage,
He reached, enjoyed a patriarchal age—
Loved to the last by the Macdonalds. Near
Their house, his stone was placed with many a tear;
And Ronald’s self, in stoic virtue brave,
Scorned not to weep at Allan Campbell’s grave.
[99] I received the substance of the tradition on which this poem is founded, in the first instance, from a friend in London, who wrote to Matthew N. Macdonald, Esq., of Edinburgh. He had the kindness to send me a circumstantial account of the tradition; and that gentleman’s knowledge of the Highlands, as well as his particular acquaintance with the district of Glencoe, leave me no doubt of the incident having really happened. I have not departed from the main facts of the tradition as reported to me by Mr. Macdonald; only I have endeavoured to colour the personages of the story, and to make them as distinctive as possible.
[100] God and the Devil—a favourite ejaculation of Highland saints.