SIR NICHOLAS AT MARSTON MOOR

The knight is left alone, his steel-cap cleft in twain, His good buff jerkin crimson'd o'er with many a gory

stain;

Yet still he waves his banner, and cries amid the rout, "For Church and King, fair gentlemen! spur on, and fight it out!"

And now he wards a Roundhead's pike, and now he hums a stave,

And now he quotes a stage-play, and now he fells a knave.

God aid thee now, Sir Nicholas ! thou hast no thought

of fear;

God aid thee now, Sir Nicholas ! for fearful odds are

here!

The rebels hem thee in, and at every cut and thrust, "Down, down," they cry, "with Belial! down with him to the dust!"

"I would," quoth grim old Oliver, "that Belial's trusty sword

This day were doing battle for the Saints and for the Lord!"

The Lady Alice sits with her maidens in her bower, The grey-haired warder watches from the castle's top

most tower;

"What news? what news, old Herbert ? "

battle's lost and won:

"The

The royal troops are melting like mists before the sun!

And a wounded man approaches-I'm blind and can

not see,

Yet sure I am that sturdy step my master's step must be !"

"I've brought thee back thy banner, wench, from as rude and red a fray

As e'er was proof of soldiers thew, or theme for minstrel's lay!

Here, Hubert, bring the silver bowl, and liquor quantum suff.;

I'll make a shift to drain it yet, ere I part with boots and buff

Though Guy through many a gaping wound is breathing forth his life,

And I come to thee a landless man, my fond and faithful wife.

"Sweet! we will fill our money-bags, and freight a ship for France,

And mourn in merry Paris for this poor land's mischance :

For if the worst befall me, why better axe and rope, Than life with Lenthall for a king, and Peters for a

pope!

Alas! alas! my gallant Guy!-curse on the cropeared boor

Who sent me, with my standard, on foot from Mars

ton Moor!"

Winthrop Mackworth Praed.

THE HAUGHS OF CROMDALE

May 9, 1645 A.D.

As I cam' in by Auchindoun,
A little wee bit frae the toune,
When to the Hielands I was boune,
To view the haughs o' Cromdale,

I met a man in tartan trews,

I speer'd at him what was the news;
Quo' he, "The Hieland army rues

That e'er we came to Cromdale.

"We were in bed, Sir, every man, When the English host upon us cam'; A bluidy battle there began

Upon the haughs o' Cromdale.

"The English horse they were sae rude, They bath'd their hoofs in Hieland blude, But our brave clans they boldly stood Upon the haughs o' Cromdale.

"But alas, we could na longer stay, For ower the hills we cam' away; And sair do we lament the day

That e'er we cam' to Cromdale."

Thus the great Montrose did say; "Can you direct the nearest way? For I will ower the hills this day,

And view the haughs o' Cromdale."

"Alas, my lord, you're not so strang,
You scarcely have twa thousand men,
And there's twenty thousand on the plain,
Stand rank and file on Cromdale.”

Thus the great Montrose did say; "I say, direct the nearest way, For I will ower the hills this day,

And see the haughs o' Cromdale.”

They were at dinner, every man,
When great Montrose upon them cam';
A second battle then began

Upon the haughs o' Cromdale.

The Grants, MacKenzies, and MacKays,
Soon as Montrose they did espy,
O then they fought most vehemently
Upon the haughs o' Cromdale.

THE HAUGHS OF CROMDALE

The MacDonalds they return'd again,
The Camerons did their standard join,
MacIntosh played a bonnie game

Upon the haughs o' Cromdale.

The McGregors fought like lions bold,
MacPherson, none could them control,
MacLachlans fought like loyal souls,
Upon the haughs o' Cromdale.

MacLeans, MacDougals, and MacNeills,
Sae boldly as they took the field,
And made their enemies to yield

Upon the haughs o' Cromdale.

The Gordons boldly did advance,
The Frasers fought wi' sword and lance,
The Grahams they made the heads to dance
Upon the haughs o' Cromdale.

The loyal Stewarts, wi' Montrose,
Sae boldly set upon their foes,

And brought them down wi' Hieland blows
Upon the haughs o' Cromdale.

Of twenty thousand Cromwell's men,
Five hundred fled to Aberdeen,
The rest o' them lies on the plain,

Upon the haughs o' Cromdale.

Anonymous.