Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Jacobite minstrelsy

252 JACOBITE
LACHIN Y GAIR.*
Awake, ye gay landscapes; ye gardens of roses!
In you' let the minions of luxury rove ;
Restore me the rocks where the snow flake re-
poses,
For still they are sacred to freedom and love.
Yet, Caledonia ! belov'd are thy mountains,
Round their white summits, though elements
war, [fountains,
Though cataracts foam, 'stead of smooth flowing
I sigh for the valley of dark Loch na Garr.
Ah ! there my young footsteps in infancy wan-
der'd, [plaid.
My cap was the bonnet, my cloak was the
On chieftains long perish'd my memory pon-
der'd, [glade.
As daily I strode through the pine-cover'd
I sought not my home till the day's dying glory
Gave place to the rays of the bright polar star;
For fancy was cheer'd by traditional story,
Disclos'd by the natives of dark Loch na Garr.
" Shades of the dead ! have I not heard your
voices
Rise on the night-rolling breath of the gale;
* This beautiful lyric, inserted here in consequence of its allusion
to the misfortunes of the Jacobites of 1745, is from the pen of Lord
Byron. Lachin y Gab; or, as it is pronounced in the Erse, Loch na
Garr, towers proudly pre-eminent in the Northern Highlands, near
Invercauld. One of our modern Tourists mentions it as the highest
mountain perhaps in Great Britain. Be this as it may, it is certainly
one of the most sublime and picturesque amongst our Caledonian
Alps. Its appearance is of a dark hue , but the summit is the seat
of eternal snow. « Near Lachin y Gair,» says his Lordship, " I spent
some of the early part of my life ; the recollection has given birth to
the following stanzas."