kine, my darling,
Nor any lilting sweeter
Thine ear can know, than is their low,
And the music of the bleater.
"I have no ship on ocean
With merchant treasure sailing;
But my tight boat, and trusty net,
Whole loads of fish are trailing.
"And, for dress, is none, my beauty,
Than the tartan plaiding warmer,
For its colours bright, oh, what delight
To see them deck my charmer!
"And ne'er was Highland welcome
More hearty than thy greeting,
Each day, the rein, and courteous swain,
Thy pleasure will be meeting.
"And thou shalt wear the healthy hue
That give the Highland breezes,
And not a bird but will be heard
To sing the song that pleases.
"No summer morn is blyther,
With all its burst of glory,
Than the heaving breast, that, uncaress'd,
Pined--shall, caress'd, adore thee."
"Stay, Highlander! my heart, my hand,
My vow and all I render,
A Highland lay has won the day,
And I will hie me yonder."
JOHN MACDONALD, JUN.
John Macdonald, author of the following song, is described in
"Mackenzie's Collection" as having rented the farm of Scoraig,
Lochbroom, and subsequently fixed his residence in the island of Lewis.
The present translation is from the pen of Mr D. Macpherson of London.
MARY, THE FAIR OF GLENSMOLE.
Sweet the rising mountains, red with heather bells,
Sweet the bubbling fountains and the dewy dells,
Sweet the snowy blossom of the thorny tree,
Sweeter is young Mary of Glensmole to me.
Sweet, oh, sweet! with Mary o'er the wilds to stray,
When Glensmole is dress'd in all the pride of May;
And, when weary roving through the greenwood glade,
Softly to recline beneath the birken shade.
Sweet the rising mountains, &c.
There to fix my gaze in raptures of delight,
On her eyes of truth, of love, of life, of light;
On her bosom, purer than the silver tide,
Fairer than the _cana_ on the mountain side.
Sweet the rising mountains, &c.
What were all the sounds contrived by tuneful men,
To the warbling wild notes of the sylvan glen?
Here the merry lark ascends on dewy wing,
There the mellow mavis and the blackbird sing.
Sweet the rising mountains, &c.
What were all the splendour of the proud and great,
To the simple pleasures of our green retre
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