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

64
PANURGI PHILOCABALLI [445-461
Quae cadat, aut nostris nunc ardua surgat ab armis
Excitet ipsa viros ; nec nos pia signa secutos
Caesareis olim castris meruisse pigebit.’
Sic fatur: subitoque a tergo moenia Coupri,
Et Miglae linquit turres, fanumque Colassi
Praeterit, et laetos quos alluit Illia campos.
Inde viam secat ad fumantia culmina Glammi,
Ardua porticibus, pinnis exstructa superbis
Atria magnifici genium testata Magistri.
Hie vero in viridi dum membra terosa reponit
Gramine, quaesitum Regis sub nomine nummos
Emittit celeres turmas, missique repente
Jam redeunt, et equos, atque aera, atque arma reportant.
Ergo dato graditur signo, durisque lupatis
Cornipedem premit, et patulo quatit agmina campo.
Haud procul infensus Batavi jam nominis hostis
Obvius it, procerum decus Haliburtonius,1 ingens
rising aloft, itself should give spirit to men. It will not shame us
to have served in the camp of the Caesar, following pious standards.’
Thus he spoke; and quickly he leaves behind him the walls of
Cupar, the towers of Meigle, and the Kirk of Collessie,2 and the
gladsome fields which Isla waters. Onward he pursues his way
towards the smoking chimneys of Glamis, with its lofty porticoes and
halls reared aloft in superb turrets, all testifying to the genius of its
magnificent master.3 While here, on the green grass, he rests his
wearied limbs, he sends out, in the King’s name, light troopers to
collect the revenues, who quickly return, bringing back horses,
money, and arms. The signal being then given, he presses on his
horse and speeds over the plain. At no great distance Hallyburton4
meets him, the foe of the Dutchman, the flower of nobles, lead-
1 The Poet has taken a liberty with the length of the u in this proper name.
It is given as ‘ Hallburtonius ’ in one ms.
2 This must be the Kirk of Eassie, which lay in the direct route to Glamis.
Collace lay quite out of the route, and several miles behind them.
3 The first Earl of Kinghorn, the builder of the magnificent castle, I suppose,
is alluded to. He did not live to see it finished. The smoking chimneys indi¬
cate the presence of the family. I am informed that there is no documentary
evidence at Glamis of this visit, but the legend of the place is that the Lord
Strathmore of the day rode over the hills with Claverhouse from Glamis. Lord
Livingstone, who left Edinburgh with Dundee, went to Glamis on a visit to his
half-brother, Lord Strathmore, and there affected illness. He had returned to the
Convention by this time.
4 David Hallyburton, of Pitcur, a prominent man in this rising. It would