316
Alake for the lassie, 317

METRICAL TRANSLATIONS FROM THE MODERN GAELIC MINSTRELSY.

ALEXANDER MACDONALD, 321
The lion of Macdonald, 323
The brown dairy-maiden, 327
The praise of Morag, 329
News of Prince Charles, 335

JOHN ROY STUART, 340
Lament for Lady Macintosh, 341
The day of Culloden, 343

JOHN MORRISON, 346
My beauty dark, 347

ROBERT MACKAY, 349
The Highlander's home sickness, 349

* * * * *

GLOSSARY, 350

THE

MODERN SCOTTISH MINSTREL.

JAMES HOGG.

The last echoes of the older Border Minstrelsy were dying from the
memory of the aged, and the spirit which had awakened the strains seemed
to have sighed an eternal farewell to its loved haunts in the past,
when, suddenly arousing from a long slumber, it threw the mantle of
inspiration, at the close of last century, over several sons of song,
worthy to bear the lyre of their minstrel sires. Of these,
unquestionably the most remarkable was James Hogg, commonly designated
"The Ettrick Shepherd." This distinguished individual was born in the
bosom of the romantic vale of Ettrick, in Selkirkshire,--one of the most
mountainous and picturesque districts of Scotland. The family of Hogg
claimed descent from Hougo, a Norwegian baron; and the poet's paternal
ancestors at one period possessed the lands of Fauldshope in Ettrick
Forest, and were followers, under the feudal system, of the Knights of
Harden. For several generations they had adopted the simple occupation
of shepherds. On the mother's side, the poet was descended from the
respectable family of Laidlaw,--one of the oldest in Tweeddale, and of
which all the representatives bore the reputation of excelling either in
intellectual vigour or physical energy; they generally devoted