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

207
269-284] SCOTI GRAMEIDOS LIB. V.
Transit et Oweni campum, vallemque Liveti,
Castraque Cromdalias nocturna locavit ad aedes;
Languida ubi placidae concessit membra quieti.
Ecce vigil tremulae deceptus imagine lunae
Excubitor, madidas cernens armenta per umbras,
Clamitat instantem repetitis1 vocibus hostem.
Gram pica fulmineus jubet ocyus agmina Gramus
Signa sequi, adversos et pergere mandat in hostes.
Continue strepuere tubae, atque efFusa virum vis
Tota ruit densis ad compita nota catervis.
Ille autem vigiles, et ludicra praelia ridens,
‘ Sistite,’ ait, ‘ gressum, coeptumque inhibete furorem ;
O nunc Caesareis gens Grampica fortis in armis,
Hactenus ingentes animos, et martia corda
Expertus, didici quantum in certamine virtus
Vestra valet; Batavus si in praelia ductor adesset
He crosses the plain of Owen,2 and the valley of the Livet,3 and
fixes his camp for the night, by the houses of Cromdale. There
he yielded his weary limbs to peaceful rest. Lo! the alert
sentinel, deceived by the shadows of the trembling moon, per¬
ceiving a flock of sheep through the mist, shouts with repeated
warning that the enemy is upon them. The lightning-like
Graham bids the Highland host at once gather round their
standards, and prepare to meet the foe. The trumpets sound
and the whole force of men rush in compact bodies to their
rendezvous. But he, laughing at the sentinels and the absurd
battle array, says, ‘ Stay your pace; stop this rising rage. O
now, ye Highlanders, brave in the royal cause, having so far tried
your great minds and martial hearts, I have learned how much
your valour will avail in the battle. Were the Dutch general
1 ‘ repetitis, ’ Or some such word, is inserted on margin—the word in the line
has a in it, but it is nearly all obliterated.
2 The plain or field of Owen, or Glen of Owen, I do not recognise, unless it
be Glen Avon, which is pronounced Glen Aan in the district, and sometimes the
sound is not unlike Glenoen. An old spelling was Awine. Dundee would have
to cross the Avon before reaching Cromdale. His route was doubtless on the
track now represented by the road from Dufftown to Tomintoul, as far as the
Livet, down which he would go towards the point of its junction with the
Avon, crossing which again, a few miles’ march would bring him to Cromdale.
3 Glen Livet, the scene of the battle between Huntly and Errol on one
side, and Argyll on the other, when Argyll was defeated. There are few
Scottish Glens whose names have attained such wide recognition as Glen
Livet, and there are few glens that are so little known.