Series 1 > Grameid: an heroic poem descriptive of the campaign of Viscount Dundee in 1689, and other pieces

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PANURGI PHILOCABALLI [153-172
Et Capitolinae defensor Manlius arcis.
Cui ferus ipse etiam eversor Carthaginis altae
Cedat, et Iliaeos qui cinxerat agmine muros.
Ille (licet fractis infausto marte maniplis,
Et quanquam studiis procerum suppressus iniquis,
Et frustratus ope, et jam spe laetatus inani),
Nescius adversis tamen unquam cedere rebus,
Dundius arctoae Ductor Mavortius orae,
Alipedum jam Marte ferox rapit agmen equorum,
Et petit aerios, Grampi trans culmina, montes
Ad boream, aeternis horrentiaque arva pruinis,
Martia Grampiacos ut mittat in arma colonos,
Legitimi quibus est nomen venerabile Regis.
At Regum fasces quicunque inhiasset iniquos
Sive dolo, sive insidiis, sive arte vel armis,
Monstrum istud merito mittunt ad Tartara letho.
Jamque adeo totis late gradientia campis
Agmina ad arma vocat, celeresque ad praelia turmas
Acer agit, juvenumque globo comitante superbo,
Signa Caledoniis pro Rege attollit in oris.
too, the defender of the Capitol, and Scipio, the destroyer of
Carthage, and the hero who invested the Trojan walls. Dundee,
the heroic leader of the North, knew not how to yield, however
adverse might be his fate—his troops disbanding, the nobles
opposing, cheated of his hopes of aid, cajoled by expectations
never realised. Now roused to war, he carries his troop of wing-
footed horse over the Grampians, through regions of perpetual
frost. He seeks those lands that he may send forth the sons of
the hills to martial enterprise. In them there was a reverence for
the name of the lawful King, and they regarded him, who by guile
or force, laid hands upon the insignia of royalty, as worthy of
despatch to Pluto’s realm. And now Dundee calls forth his
troopers, scouring over the plain, and takes the field. In a proud
circle of youths, he raises aloft the Royal standard on Scottish soil.1
1 The messengers of Hamilton and the Convention appeared at Dudhope on
the 26th March, summoning him to lay down his arms and return to the Con¬
vention. He replied by letter, dated ‘Dudhope, March 27th, 1689.’ On the
30th he was proclaimed traitor at the market-cross of Edinburgh. On the nth
April William and Mary were proclaimed King and Queen of Scotland. It
would seem that Leven was ordered to secure Claverhouse and Balcarres about
the same date. Dundee must have raised the standard between the 12th and
15th April.