Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Poems and songs, chiefly in the Scottish dialect

106
For independence fires their noble minds.
Scorning deceit, as gods do scorn the fiends,
But what avail the -virtues of the North,
No patriot Bard to celebrate their worth,
No heav'n-taught Minstrel, with the voice of song^
To hymn their deeds, and make their names live long?
And, ah ! should Luxury, with soft winning wiles,
Spread her contagion o'er my subject isles,
My hardy sons, no longer Valour's boast,
Would sink despis'd, their wonted greatness lost
Forgive my wish, O king ! I speak with awe,
Thy will is fate, thy word is sovereign law !
O ! would'st thou deign thy suppliant to regard^
And grant my country one true patriot Bard,
My sons would glory in the blessing given,
And virtuous deeds spring from the gift of Heaven W
To which the god— " My son, cease to deplore s
Thy name in song shall sound the world all o'er ;
Thy Bard shall rise, full fraught with all the fire
That Heav'n and free-born nature can inspire ;