Mounts not the wing a fouler thing,
Than thy vaunted crest, the eagle,[147] O!
Inglorious chief! to boast the thief,
That forays with the beagle, O!
For shame! preferr'd that ravening bird![148]
My song shall raise the mountain-deer;
The prey he scorns, the carcase spurns,
He loves the cress, the fountain cheer.
His lodge is in the forest;—
While carion-flesh enticing
Thy greedy maw, thou buriest
Thou kite of prey! thy claws in
The putrid corse of famish'd horse,
The greedy hound a-striving
To rival thee in gluttony,
Both at the bowels riving.
Thou called the true bird![149]—Never,
Thou foster child of evil,[150] ha!
How ill match with thy feather[151]
The talons[152] of thy devilry!
But when thy foray preys on
Our harmless flocks, so dastardly,
How often has the shepherd
With trusty baton master'd thee;
Well in thy fright hast timed thy flight,
Else, not alone, belabouring,
He 'd gored thee with the Staghead,
Up-raising his cabar on.[153]
Woe worth the world, deceiver—
So false, so fair of seeming!
We 've seen the noble Siphort[154]
With all his war-notes[155] screaming;
When not a chief in Albain,
Mac-Ailein's[156] self though backing him,
Could face his frown—as Staghead
Arose with his cabar on.
To join thy might, when call'd the right,
A gallant army springing on,
Would rise, from Assint to the crags
Of Scalpa, rescue bringing on.
Each man upon, true-flinted gun,
Steel glaive, and trusty dagaichean;
With the Island Lord of Sleitè,[157]
When up rose thy cabar on!
Came too the men of Muideart,[158]
While stream'd their flag its bravery;
Their gleaming weapons, blue-dyed,[159]
That havock'd on the cavalry.
Macalister,[160] Mackinnon,
With many a flashing trigger there,
The foemen rushing in on,
Resistless shew'd their vigour there.
May fortune free thee—may we see thee
Again in Bràun,[161] the turreted,
Girt with thy clan! And not a man
But will get the scorn he merited.
Then wine will play, and usquebae
From flaggons, and from badalan,[162]
And pipers scream—when Staghead
High raises his cabar on.
END OF VOL. I.
GLOSSARY.
A-low, on fire.
Ava, at all.