Mute stood the trembling fair,
Speechless with wild despair;
Then, striking her bosom bare,
Sigh’d
out, “Poor Flora!
Ah, Donald! ah, well-a-day!”
Was all the fond heart could
say:
At length the sound died away
Feebly
in Mora.
[16] This fine ballad was written by Macneill, to commemorate the death of his friend, Captain Stewart, a brave officer, betrothed to a young lady in Athole, who, in 1777, fell at the battle of Saratoga, in America. The words, which are adapted to an old Gaelic air, appear with music in Smith’s “Scottish Minstrel,” vol. iii. p. 28. The ballad, in the form given above, has been improved in several of the stanzas by the author, on his original version, published in Johnson’s “Museum.” See the “Museum,” vol. iv. p. 238.
[17] Mora is the name of a small valley in Athole, so designated by the two lovers.
MY LUVE’S IN GERMANY.[18]
TUNE—"Ye Jacobites by name."
My luve ’s in Germanie,
send him hame, send him hame;
My luve ’s in Germanie,
send him hame;
My
luve ’s in Germanie,
Fighting
brave for royalty:
He
may ne’er his Jeanie see—
Send
him hame.
He ’s as brave as brave
can be—send him hame, send him hame;
He ’s as brave as brave
can be—send him hame;
He
’s as brave as brave can be,
He
wad rather fa’ than flee;
His
life is dear to me—
Send
him hame.
Your luve ne’er learnt
to flee, bonnie dame, bonnie dame,
Your luve ne’er learnt
to flee, bonnie dame;
Your
luve ne’er learnt to flee,
But
he fell in Germanie,
In
the cause of royalty,
Bonnie
dame.
He ’ll ne’er come
ower the sea—Willie ’s slain, Willie
’s slain;
He ’ll ne’er come
ower the sea—Willie ’s gane!
He
’ll ne’er come ower the sea,
To
his love and ain countrie:
This
warld ’s nae mair for me—
Willie
’s gane!
[18] This song was originally printed on a single sheet, by N. Stewart and Co., Edinburgh, in 1794, as the lament of a lady on the death of an officer. It does not appear in Macneill’s “Poetical Works,” but he asserted to Mr Stenhouse his claims to the authorship.—Johnson’s “Museum,” vol. iv. p. 323.
DINNA THINK, BONNIE LASSIE.[19]
TUNE—"Clunie’s Reel."
“Oh, dinna think, bonnie
lassie, I ’m gaun to leave thee!
Dinna think, bonnie lassie,
I ’m gaun to leave thee;
Dinna think, bonnie lassie,
I ’m gaun to leave thee;
I ’ll tak a stick into
my hand, and come again and see thee.”