Strains of my native land,
        That thrill the soul,
      Pouring the magic of
        Your soft control! 
    Often has your minstrelsy
    Soothed the pang of misery,
    Winging rapid thoughts away
        To realms on high.

      Weary pilgrims there have rest,
        Their wand’rings o’er;
      There the slave, no more oppress’d,
        Hails Freedom’s shore. 
    Sin shall then no more deface,
    Sickness, pain, and sorrow cease,
    Ending in eternal peace,
        And songs of joy!

      There, when the seraphs sing,
        In cloudless day;
      There, where the higher praise
        The ransom’d pay. 
    Soft strains of the happy land,
    Chanted by the heavenly band,
    Who can fully understand
        How sweet ye be!

CASTELL GLOOM.[58]

    Oh, Castell Gloom! thy strength is gone,
      The green grass o’er thee growin’;
    On hill of Care thou art alone,
      The Sorrow round thee flowin’. 
    Oh, Castell Gloom! on thy fair wa’s
      Nae banners now are streamin’,
    The houlet flits amang thy ha’s,
      And wild birds there are screamin’. 
    Oh! mourn the woe, oh! mourn the crime,
      Frae civil war that flows;
    Oh! mourn, Argyll, thy fallen line,
      And mourn the great Montrose.

    Here ladies bright were aften seen,
      Here valiant warriors trod;
    And here great Knox has aften been,
      Wha fear’d nought but his God! 
    But a’ are gane! the guid, the great,
      And naething now remains,
    But ruin sittin’ on thy wa’s,
      And crumblin’ down the stanes. 
        Oh! mourn the woe, &c.

    Thy lofty Ochils bright did glow,
      Though sleepin’ was the sun;
    But mornin’s light did sadly show,
      What ragin’ flames had done. 
    Oh, mirk, mirk was the misty cloud,
      That hung o’er thy wild wood! 
    Thou wert like beauty in a shroud,
      And all was solitude. 
        Oh! mourn the woe, &c.

[58] Castle Gloom, better known as Castle Campbell, was a residence of the noble family of Argyll, from the middle of the fifteenth till the middle of the seventeenth century, when it was burnt by the Marquis of Montrose—­an enterprise to which he was excited by the Ogilvies, who thus sought revenge for the destruction, by the Marquis of Argyll, of the “bonnie house of Airlie.”  The castle is situated on a promontory of the Ochil hills, near the village of Dollar, in Clackmannanshire, and has long been in the ruinous condition described in the song.  Two hill rivulets, designated Sorrow and Care, proceed on either side of the castle promontory.  John Knox, the Reformer, for some time resided in Castle Gloom, with Archibald, fourth Earl of Argyll, and here preached the Reformed doctrines.