they greatly preferred to any other, and found better adapted to the purposes of hunting, climbing the mountains, fishing, and above all, sleeping out in the heaths, which they often did, wrapped in the plaid, the colours of which were so well suited to the woods and dusky verdure of their high grounds, that they could come very near their game unperceived. They shewed great fancy and taste, both in disposing the colours, and adjusting the form of this variegated drapery; it was the manufacture of their women, and the distinction of their clans, each having had a sett, (as they styled it,) of tartan peculiarly their own.

No. 40.

Where beasts were free, and free-born men restrain'd.-P. 103.

The horror and dismay, the dejection and languor, which the disarming act spread through the Highlands, are inconceivable. All the lower class had arms which they used occasionally; but costly, well finished, and high polished arms, formed part of a gentleman's dress, without which he never stirred from home. They were at once his ornament and defence; and when they did not adorn his person, they decorated his house, where his own arms, those of his ancestors, the musical instruments they had played on, and the strange birds or animals they had killed and stuffed, constituted the chief ornamental furniture. With these arms too they always visited their friends; and as their way lay across moors and mountains, they seldom came to a house without bringing game of their own killing. Af ter the disarming act, this resource, a very fruitful one in

these countries, was cut off. The deer then grew so numerous and familiar, that they eat up the poor people's crops in the night; and the foxes multiplied so as to threaten the total destruction of their flocks, Arms indeed are necessary in these wastes, not only to protect the natives from wild beasts, but to assist them in supporting themselves.

ΤΟ

SIR J***S G***T, BARONET.

* The man of bounties, loving and belov'd."

000

WHILE on the meadowy banks of Spey,

Slow steals along the rural muse,
And sees the bordering flowers display
Their native sweets and vernal hues :

And while she casts her pensive view
Where bold Craigillachy aspires,

Now deck'd with heath-bells fresh with dew,
Where blaz'd of old the warning fires*:

With glowing heart and trembling hand
She strives to wake the plausive lay;

And wide o'er all her native land

The voice of grateful truth convey.

* See note No. 1.

And while she consecrates the strain,
To worth beyond her humble praise,
The genius of thy native plain

Will smile indulgent on her lays.

Oh, form'd to prove each feeling dear
That heightens joy and sweetens care,-
The tender Parent, Friend sincere,
The Consort blest beyond compare :

The Patriot Chief, who dwells belov'd
Among the race his fathers sway'd;
Who, long his country's friend approv❜d,
Retires in peace to bless the shade.

Who when the dreadful blast of war
With horror fill'd the regions round,

His willing people call'd from far,

With wakening pipe of martial sound:

The valiant clan, on every side,

With sudden, warlike ardour burns ; And views those long-lov'd homes with pride, Whose loss no exil'd native mourns.

From every mountain, strath, and glen,
The rustic warriors crowded round;
The Chief who rules the hearts of men
In safety dwells, with honour crown'd.

"For thee (they cried) dear native earth,
"We gladly dare the battle's roar ;
"Our kindred ties, our sacred hearth,

66

Returning peace will soon restore.

"No ruthless, mercenary swains

"Shall ever quench our social fires; "Our labour on our narrow plains

"Shall feed our babes and hoary sires *.

"And when each tender pledge we leave,

"Our parent Chief, with guardian care, "Shall soothe their woes, their wants relieve, "And save the mourners from despair +."

Beneath his mild paternal sway,

The pow'r of cultivation smiles, And swelling, proud, impetuous Spey Rejoices, while the peasant toils :

*See note No. 2. † See note No.