Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Jacobite minstrelsy

MINSTRELSY. 253
Surely the soul of the hero rejoices,
And rides on the wind, o'er his own High
land vale. [gathers,
Round Loch na Garr while the stormy mist
Winter presides in his cold icy car ;
Clouds there encircle the forms of my fathers :
They dwell in the tempests of dark Loch na
Garr.
" El-star'd, though brave, did no vision fore-
boding, f
Tell you that fate had forsaken your cause ;
Ah ! were you destin'd to die at Culloden ?
Victory crown'd not your fall with applause.
Still were you happy in death's early slumber,
You rest with your clan in the caves of Brae-
mar, [ber,
The pibroch resounds to the piper's bold num-
Your deeds on the echoes of dark Loch n
Garr.
Years have roll'd on, Loch na Garr, since I lefi
you;
Years must elapse e'er I tread you again ;
Nature of verdure and flow'rs has bereft you ;
Yet still you are dearer than Albion's plain.
England ! thy beauties are tame and domestic
To one who has roam'd on the mountains afar;
Oh, for the crags that are wild and majestic,
The steep frowning glories of dark Loch na
Garr.
f Lord Byron alludes here to his maternal ancestors, the " Gor-
dons," many of whom fought for Prince Charles. This branch was
nearly allied by blood.'as well as attachment, to the Stewarts. George,
second Earl of Huntly, married the Princess Annabella Stewart,
daughter of James I. of Scotland. By her he left four sons ; the third,
Sir William Gordon, Lord Byron said, was one of his progenitors.