Ossian Collection > Gaelic bards

ALEXANDER MACDOXALD.
FROM THE SOKG OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS.
O ! LOVED and loyal Kindred,
Choice homage now give ye ;
Let no mote cloud your eyesight —
Your heart from care keep free.
The health of James Stuart
With welcome send it round ;
AYithout reserve receive it —
This holy pledge ^ve sound.
Now fill a draught for Charlie —
Kogue ! let this cup o 'erflow^ ;
Ha ! 'tis a balm to heal our hearts —
Revive us wdien we 're low.
Yea ! should death's hand be laying us
Weak, wan beside the grave,
Oh, Universal King ! return —
Return him o'er the wave.
Hard is the case of all his friends,
Because of his delay ;
They are like a callow orphan'd brood —
Like garden bees, a prey
To the destructive fox, when faint
They drop along the brae ;
Come quickly with thy fleet, and drive
Thy people's plague away.
MacDonald is said to have gone over the Highlands
singing the Song from which these verses are taken, and
rousing his countrymen with its energetic appeals to rise
and join Prince Charles. The rest of the Song consists
of an address to all the Clans successively, so very similar