Part 19

7. The horn of Roland, nephew of Charlemagne, the sound of which carried a fabulous distance.

The third was written for _Albyn’s Anthology_ (1816). ‘Donuil Dhu’ means ‘Donald the Black.’

CXXXVIII-CXL

The first is from _The Monastery_ (1820).

l. 8. _the Queen._ Mary, Queen of Scots.

9. _hirsels._ Flocks.

The second, written in 1825, first appeared in _The Doom of Devergoil_ (1830), Act ii. scene 2.

‘The air of Bonnie Dundee running in my head to-day,’ Scott writes (22nd December), ‘I wrote a few verses to it before dinner, taking the keynote from the story of Clavers leaving the Scottish Convention of Estates in 1688-9. _I wonder if they are good!_’ (_Journal_, i. 60).

_barkened._ Tanned. _carline._ Old woman. _couthie._ Kind. _douce._ Quiet. _duniewassals._ Yeomen. _flyting._ Scolding. _gang._ Go. _ilk._ Every. _pow._ Pate. _target._ A round shield.

The full title of the third number is ‘War Song of the Royal Edinburgh Light Dragoons.’ It was written under the apprehension of a French invasion. The corps of volunteers to which the song is addressed was raised in 1797, and consisted of Edinburgh gentlemen mounted and armed at their own expense.

CXLI

From Scott’s _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_, 3 vols. (1802-1803). The first four lines of the fourth stanza appear on the title-page of _Marmion_.

CXLII

First published in Cromek’s _Remains of Nithisdale and Galloway Song_ (1810), when the author was a working mason.

CXLIII

Johnson’s _Musical Museum_, vol. iii. (1790). A similar song, _The Clans are Coming_, is included in Ritson’s _Scottish Songs_ (1794).

CXLIV

_Collected Works_, edited by William Anderson (1851). I have found many versions of this old song, but none to equal Gilfillan’s.

CXLV-CXLVI

Both from _Songs of Travel_ (Chatto & Windus, 1896). By permission of Charles Baxter, Esq., executor of the author.

The second was written at Vailima, Samoa, and is addressed ‘To S. R. Crockett, Esq.’ The author writes from Vailima to Mr. Crockett (May 17, 1893):--‘I shall never set my foot again upon the heather. Here I am until I die, and here will I be buried. The word is out, and the doom written.’--_Letters_, vol. ii. p. 287 (Methuen & Co., 1899).

l. 3. _Whaups._ Curlews.

11. _Peewees._ Lapwings.

CXLVII

_Blackwood’s Magazine_ (January 1900). By permission of the author and the editor of _Blackwood’s Magazine_.

JACOBITE SONGS

CXLVIII-CLI

The first number is given in Hogg’s _Jacobite Relics_, Second Series (Wm. Blackwood, 1821).

As to the second,--there are many versions of this old song. Hogg has two versions, both different to that given here.

The third number is attributed to Hogg by Chambers and other critics.

The fourth is said to have been written by Lady Keith (_née_ Lady Maria Drummond), daughter of the Earl of Perth, and mother of James Francis Edward, commonly called Marshal Keith (1698-1758), who fought under Frederick the Great in the Seven Years’ War.

_birken._ Birch. _laverock._ Lark. _Moidart._ In Inverness. _croo house._ Hovel. _bike._ Family. _lyart._ Hoary. _eild._ Old age. _clishmaclaver._ Idle discourse.

CLII-CLV

The first is number 127 of vol. ii. of Johnson’s _Musical Museum_ (1788). Unsigned.

The second is number 302 of vol. iv. of Johnson’s _Musical Museum_ (1792). Unsigned.

l. 2. _felly._ Relentless.

5. _maun._ Must.

9. _mirk._ Gloomy.

The third is number 359 of vol. iv. of Johnson’s _Musical Museum_ (1792). Unsigned. This song has not been found in any earlier collection.

The fourth is number 497 of vol. v. of Johnson’s _Musical Museum_ (1796). Unsigned. Based on an old ballad, ‘Unkind Parents’ (_Roxburghe Ballads_, vol. vii.).

l. 15. _gae._ Gave.

28. _lee-lang._ Live-long.

CLVI-CLVII

_Lays from Stratheam_ (1746). These new versions of old songs were first published anonymously.

As to the second, _gar mony ferlie_ (l. 2)=‘cause great excitement.’

CLVIII

Given in Hogg (Second Series), and reprinted in _Poetical Remains of William Glen, with Memoir_ (1874). Written to the old tune, ‘Johnnie Faa.’

l. 12. _lilt o’ dool._ Song of grief.

22. _maist._ Almost.

38. _fairly._ Completely.

CLIX

_Songs of the North_, vol. i. (Cramer & Co., 1885). By permission of the author, who wrote the words to fit an old and stirring air with which he became acquainted when on a visit to the Hebrides.

CLX

By permission of the author and the editor of _The Celtic Monthly_, in which publication (May, 1894) these verses first appeared.

IV.--IRELAND

CLXI

Lines 83-97 of _The Deserted Village_ (1769).

CLXII

This, the best and most widely known of the Irish street ballads, dates from the year 1798. _Caubeen_ (l. 15)=hat.

CLXIII-CLXIX

All from the famous series of _Irish Melodies_, the publication of which began in 1807, and continued at irregular intervals till 1834.

As to the second,--

l. 3. _Mononia._ Munster.

4. _Kincora._ Brien’s Palace.

22. _Ossory’s plain._ The ancient kingdom of Ossory comprised parts of Queen’s County and Kilkenny.

As to the third,--

l. 1. _Tara’s halls._ The hill of Tara, in Meath, was the meeting-place for the election of the kings of Ireland; but most writers on Irish antiquities are of opinion that there was no royal dwelling there. It would seem, therefore, that ‘Tara’s halls’ never existed but in the imagination of poets.

As to the fifth, Robert Emmet (1778-1803), United Irishman, the leader of ‘Emmet’s Rising’ (1803), was arrested by Major Sirr (the capturer of Lord Edward Fitzgerald), tried September 19, and hanged next day (1803). He was engaged to be married to Sarah Curran, daughter of the great lawyer, and it was to this lady Moore addressed his famous poem. The lady subsequently (November 24, 1805) married Major Sturgeon of the Royal Staff Corps.

CLXX

_Minor Poems of Charlotte Elizabeth_ (1848). Published in the author’s lifetime over the signature ‘Charlotte Elizabeth.’

CLXXI-CLXXII

Mangan’s poems appeared in Dublin magazines and journals--_The Dublin University Magazine_, _The Nation_, and _The Dublin Penny Journal_. There is no complete edition of his works.

As to the second, ‘Dark Rosaleen,’ is, of course, a mystical name for Ireland.

CLXXIII-CLXXIV

_Songs, Poems, and Verses_ (John Murray, 1884). By permission of the Marquess of Dufferin and Ava. The second is dated 1845.

CLXXV-CLXXVI

_Dublin University Magazine_ (1834). As to the first, Fiagh MacHugh O’Byrne, one of the most powerful Irish chieftains in the sixteenth century, was killed in a skirmish with the forces of the Lord Deputy (1597). _Gall_ (l. 17)=‘foreigners.’

The second is the first two stanzas of a very close translation, in the original metre, of an Irish song of unknown authorship, dating from the seventeenth century. The refrain has never been satisfactorily translated.

CLXXVII-CLXXVIII

_The Poems of Thomas Davis, now first collected_ (Dublin: James Duffy, 1846). These poems made their first appearance in _The Nation_.

The second is a ‘Lament for the Death of Eoghan Ruadh O’Neill,’ commonly called Owen Roe O’Neill (1590?-1649), patriot and general, who led the Irish against the Scotch and Parliamentary forces in Ireland (1642-1649).

The Author’s Note is as follows:--‘_Time._--November 10, 1649. _Scene._--Ormond’s camp, county Waterford. _Speakers._--A veteran of Eoghan O’Neill’s clan, and one of the horsemen, just arrived with an account of his death.’

l. 2. _Poison._ There is no truth in the assertion that O’Neill was poisoned. He died a natural death.

7. SACSANACH. Saxon, English.

8. _Cloc Uachtar._ Clough Oughter, in county Cavan, where the O’Reillys had a stronghold.

19. _Beinn Burb._ Benburb, on the Blackwater, where O’Neill defeated the Scotch army under Monro (June 5, 1646).

CLXXIX

_Innisfail and Other Poems_ (Macmillan & Co., 1877), and _Poetical Works_, six vols. (Macmillan & Co., 1884). By permission of author and publishers.

‘The Little Black Rose’ (l. 1) and ‘The Silk of the Kine’ (l. 5) were mystical names applied to Ireland by the bards. Athenry (l. 12), in county Galway, was the scene of a battle in which the Irish under Felim O’Conor were defeated by the English forces under Sir William de Burgh (1316).

CLXXX-CLXXXI

The first appeared in _The Nation_, 1st April 1843, and both are included in _Sonnets and Other Poems_ (A. & C. Black, 1900). By permission of author and publishers.

CLXXXII-CLXXXIII

_Bards of the Gael and Gall_ (T. Fisher Unwin, 1897). By permission of author and publisher. Both are translations from Irish poems of the seventeenth century.

As to the first,--O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and O’Donnell, Earl of Tyrconnell, hearing that the Government had determined to seize them on a charge of conspiracy, apparently groundless, suddenly left Ireland, sailing from Rathmullan, on Lough Foyle, to France (1607). Their estates were confiscated, and ‘The Plantation of Ulster’ began.

CLXXXIV

From _Dublin Verses_ (Elkin Mathews, 1895)--a collection of poems by members of Trinity College, Dublin. By permission of author and publisher.

CLXXXV

_Macmillan’s Magazine_ (September, 1900). By permission of the author and the editor of _Macmillan’s Magazine_.

CLXXXVI

_The Rising of the Moon and Other Poems_ (1869). By permission of Messrs. Cameron & Ferguson, the present publishers.

l. 2. _ma bouchal._ My boy.

11. _banshee._ The fairy spirit of doom (Irish, _ban-sidhe_).

CLXXXVII

_Poems and Ballads of Young Ireland_ (Dublin: Gill & Son, 1888). By permission of the author. Clonmacnois, founded by St. Kieran in the sixth century, was for many generations one of the greatest ecclesiastical establishments and centres of learning in Ireland. It was the chosen burial-place of many royal and noble families.

CLXXXVIII

_The Wind in the Trees_ (Grant Richards, 1898). By permission of the author.

CLXXXIX

_Poems_ (Elkin Mathews, 1895). By permission of author and publisher.

l. 2. _Inisfail_ (_i.e._ ‘The Isle of Destiny’), an ancient name of Ireland.

V.--CANADA

CXC

_Poems_ (Toronto: Dudley & Burns, 1888). By permission of the author. The Nile Expeditionary Force for the relief of General Gordon was conveyed up the river in flat-bottomed boats navigated by Canadian Indians (_voyageurs_).

CXCI

_Lays of Canada_ (Montreal: John Lovell & Son, 1890). By permission of the author.

CXCII

_Laura Second and Other Poems_ (Toronto, 1887). By permission of the author’s representatives.

CXCII

_A Treasury of Canadian Verse_ (J. M. Dent & Co., 1900). By permission of the author’s representatives.

CXCIV

_Toronto Daily Mail_ (July 23, 1885). By permission of the author. The call for volunteers was occasioned by the ‘Half-Breed Rebellion’ in North-West Canada (1884-5).

CXCV

Published separately (McCorquodale & Co., 1900), and sold for the benefit of the Canadian Patriotic Fund. By permission of the author.

CXCVI

_In Divers Tones_ (Boston: Small, Maynard & Co., 1887). By permission of the author.

CXCVII-CXCVIII

_Beyond the Hills of Dream_ (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1899). By permission of author and publishers. The first had previously appeared in _The Westminster Gazette_ (August, 1897), and the second in _The Toronto Globe_ (Christmas Number, 1899).

CXCIX-CC

The first is from _Poems Old and New_ (Toronto: William Briggs, 1900), and the second from _The Soul’s Quest and Other Poems_ (London: Kegan Paul & Co., 1888). By permission of the author.

CCI

_Canadian Monthly_ (August, 1897). By permission of the author.

CCII

_Watchers of Twilight_ (Montreal: T. H. Warren, 1894). By permission of the author. Line 2 is a quotation from William Watson’s _Last Words to the Colonies_.

CCIII

_In Various Moods_ (Toronto: William Briggs, 1894). By permission of the author.

VI.--INDIA

CCIV

_Miscellaneous Verses_ (Calcutta: Sanders, Cones & Co., 1848).

_Gunga_ (l. 49)=the Ganges.

CCV

_Cornhill Magazine_ (September, 1868), and _Verses Written in India_ (Kegan Paul & Co., 1889). By permission of author and publishers.

The massacre which suggested this poem took place near Mohundi, in Oudh (June, 1857). The lives of all the English prisoners would have been spared had they consented to profess Mahometanism by repeating the usual short formula.

CCVI-CCVIII

_Indian Lyrics_ (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co., 1884). By permission of the author.

The Author’s Note on the second is as follows:--‘Over the well rises a pedestal supporting a statue in white marble--the Angel of Pity. Below is the inscription: _Sacred to the perpetual memory of a great company of Christian people, chiefly women and children, who near this spot were cruelly massacred by the followers of the rebel Nana Dhoondoo Punth of Bithoor; and cast, the dying with the dead, into the well below, on the 15th day of July 1857._’

As to the third,--

l. 7. _peepuls._ The peepul (or pepul) tree.

8. _poinsianas._ The _poinciana regia_, a flowering shrub introduced from Madagascar.

CCIX-CCXI

All three appeared first in _The Times of India_, and are included in _Soldierin’_ (Bombay: Indian Textile Journal Co., 1899). By permission of author and publishers.

As to the second,--l. 28. _sangared._ Sangars are temporary stone shelters for riflemen.

As to the third,--During the operations in Tirah (1897) the pass of Saransar (or Saran Sur) was the retreat of the hillmen known as the Lakka Khels. On November 9, a reconnaissance in force was made up the pass. The firing from the heights was deadly and continuous, and, in the evening, when our troops were retreating down the pass, a small party of the 48th (Northamptonshire Regiment) under Second Lieutenant Macintyre and Colour-Sergeant Luck, were cut off and surrounded by the enemy. It was found impossible to save them, and the following morning their dead bodies were found together.

l. 9. _Talavera._ The 48th are known as ‘The Talavera Boys,’ having distinguished themselves at the battle of Talavera, in the Peninsular War (July 27 and 28, 1809).

CCXII

_Departmental Ditties_ (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co., 1886. London: George Newnes, Ltd., 1899). By permission of the author and Messrs. George Newnes, Limited. ‘The Galley-Slave’ is understood to be a mystical name for the Indian Civil Servant.

VII.--SOUTH AFRICA

CCXIII

_Ephemerides_ (London: 1828).

CCXIV

By permission of the author and the editor of _Literature_, in which publication (December 9, 1899) the poem first appeared.

CCXV

Published in G. W. Steevens’ posthumous volume, _Things Seen: with Memoir by W. E. Henley_ (Blackwood, 1900). By permission of the author. The quatrain is inscribed ‘G. W. S., December 10, 1869--January 15, 1900.’ The lines were written of G. W. Steevens, journalist and war correspondent, who died at Ladysmith during the siege.

CCXVI

_England Revisited_ (Cape Town: J. C. Juta & Co., 1900). By permission of the author.

CCXVII

_Cape Argus_ (May 6, 1901). By permission of the author and the editor of the _Cape Argus_.

CCXVIII

_Natal: The Land and its Story_ (Pietermaritzburg: Davis & Sons, Fifth Edition, 1897). By permission of the author.

l. 1. _Congella._ Hostilities having begun in Natal (1842), Captain Smith led the English forces out of Durban for a night attack on Pretorius’ position at Congella. It was a moonlight night, and the advance was observed. Our men were shot down as they marched along the shore without cover. The survivors retreated to Durban, and the Boers immediately invested the town. A despatch-rider having made his way through the Boer lines, reinforcements were sent by sea, and the siege was raised (June 25, 1842). Natal was annexed the following year, and the Boer was thus headed off from the sea.

VIII.--AUSTRALIA

CCXIX

From _Dampier’s Dream: an Australian Foreshadowing_ (Melbourne: George Robertson & Co., 1892). By permission of the author’s representatives.

William Dampier (1652-1715), pirate, circumnavigator, and captain in the navy, made several voyages to the South Seas.

CCXX

_Poems_ (Melbourne: A. H. Massina & Co., 1884). By permission of the publishers.

CCXXI

From _Australia Federata_ (_The Times_, January 1, 1901). This poem appeared the same day in the leading journals of all the States of the Commonwealth of Australia. By permission of Sir Horace Tozer, K.C.M.G., Agent-General for Queensland.

CCXXII

First published in a Tasmanian newspaper. By permission of the author.

CCXXIII

_In the Days when the World was Wide_ (Sydney: Angus & Robertson. London: The Australian Book Co., 1895). By permission of Messrs. Angus & Robertson.

_Jackeroo_ (l. 24).

CCXXIV

_Literature_ (November 11, 1899). By permission of the author and the editor of _Literature_.

CCXXV

_Maoriland and other Verses_ (Sydney: The Bulletin Newspaper Co., 1899). By permission of the publishers.

l. 2. _tussock._ ‘Tussock’ is a coarse grass.

CCXXVI

_Fair Girls and Grey Horses_ (Sydney: The Bulletin Newspaper Co., 1899). By permission of the publishers. This poem first appeared in the Sydney _Bulletin_.

l. 9. _Macquarie._ The river Macquarie rises in the Blue Mountains, eighty miles west of Sydney. After following a north-westerly course of 280 miles its waters are lost in the Macquarie marshes.

CCXXVII

First appeared in _The Brisbane Courier_ (August 8, 1899).

CCXXVIII-CCXXIX

The first appeared in _Songs of the South_ (Ward, Lock & Co., 1891), and the second is an extract from _The Commonwealth: an Ode_ (_Melbourne Age_, January 1901). By permission of the author.

As to the first,--Matthew Flinders (1774-1814), discoverer and captain in the navy, was one of the first surveyors of the east coast of Australia. He spent many years in exploring the country adjacent to the coast.

IX.--NEW ZEALAND

CCXXX

_Musings in Maoriland_ (Sydney: Arthur T. Keirle & Co., 1890). By permission of the publishers.

CCXXXI

First published in the Dunedin _Saturday Advertiser_ (June 22, 1878), and included in _Far South Fancies_ (Griffith, Farran & Co., 1889). By permission of the author.

l. 15. _Parakeets’._ The parakeet resembles a parrot in appearance, and is one of the native birds of New Zealand.

16. _Tui’s._ The tui is a mocking-bird, and has two tufts of white feathers on its neck, the rest of its plumage being jet black. It is commonly called the ‘Parson Bird,’ from its supposed resemblance to a clergyman in a white tie.

CCXXXII-CCXXXIII

The first is from _Songs of the Singing Shepherd_ (Wanganui, New Zealand: A. D. Willis, 1885), and the second from _The Pilgrim of Eternity_ (Wanganui: Wanganui Herald Co., 1892). By permission of the author.

As to the second,--_Cooee_ (l. 1). The signal-call of the aborigines of New Zealand (‘cooee’ or ‘cooey’) can be heard at a great distance.

INDEX OF FIRST LINES

PAGE

Across the streaming flood, the deep ravine 286

After dead centuries 168

Agincourt, Agincourt 3

Ah, now we know the long delay 297

Amid the loud ebriety of War 96

An effigy of brass 133

A perfect peaceful stillness reigns 316

A plenteous place is Ireland for hospitable cheer 225

Are you not weary in your distant places 196

Arvon’s heights hide the bright sun from our gazing 171

A terrible and splendid trust 239

Attend, all ye who list to hear our noble England’s praise 74

Attend you, and give ear awhile 21

Away with bayonet and with lance 63

A wee bird cam’ to our ha’ door 205

A wonderful joy our eyes to bless 122

Blows the wind to-day, and the sun and the rain are flying 196

Bonnie Charlie’s noo awa’ 198

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead 183

Britain fought her sons of yore 85

By crag and lonely moor she stands 254

By the Boer lines at Congella 288

By this, though deep the evening fell 183

Cam’ ye by Athol, lad wi’ the philabeg 199

Come, all ye jolly sailors bold 44

Come, cheer up, my lads, ’tis to glory we steer 35

Come, if you dare, our trumpets sound 31

Come, my hearties--work will stand 302

_Cooee!_ I send my voice 318

Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear 17

Cromwell, our chief of men, who through a cloud 24

Daddy Neptune one day to Freedom did say 55

Dear Cymru, ’mid thy mountains soaring high 173

Dear Harp of my country! in darkness I found thee 216

Despond who will--_I_ heard a voice exclaim 51

Did they dare, did they dare to slay Owen Roe O’Neill 227

Does haughty Gaul invasion threat 181

Drake he’s in his hammock an’ a thousand mile away 149

Drake’s luck to all that sail with Drake 150

Effingham, Grenville, Raleigh, Drake 147

England, awake! awake! awake 45

England, England, England 252

England, queen of the waves, whose green inviolate girdle enrings thee round 125

Erin, the tear and the smile in thine eyes 215

Fair stood the wind for France 5

Fareweel to Lochaber, fareweel to my Jean 177

Far up among the forest-belted mountains 285

Fierce on this bastion beats the noon-day sun 258

First pledge our Queen this solemn night 84

Forests that beard the avalanche 121

Frae the friends and land I love 202

Free as the wind that leaps from out the North 139

From domes and palaces I bent my way 272

Glyndwr, see thy comet flaming 167

God be with the Irish host 224

God of Nations! at Thy feet 315

God of our fathers, known of old 154

God save our Lord, the King 34

Green fields of England! wheresoe’er 93

Green Flodden! on thy bloodstained head 190

Growing to full manhood now 258

Half a league, half a league 87

Harp of the mountain-land! sound forth again 166

Have done with care, my hearts! aboard amain 4

Heard ye the thunder of battle 104

He left his island home 308

Her court was pure; her life serene 83

Here, a sheer hulk, lies poor Tom Bowling 39

Here, on our native soil, we breathe once more 46

Here’s a health to the King and a lasting peace 34

Here’s a health unto His Majesty 31

How great the loss is thy loss to me 233

‘How many?’ said our good captain 108