And Newton-Gordon, burd-alone,[L53] And Dalgatie, both stout and keen,[L54] And gallant Veitch upon the field,[L55] 55 A braver face was never seen.
Now, fare ye weel, Sweet Ennerdale! Countrie and kin I quit ye free; Cheer up your hearts, brave cavaliers, For the Grahams are gone to High Germany.
Now brave Montrose he went to France, 61 And to Germany, to gather fame; And bold Aboyne is to the sea, Young Huntly is his noble name.[L64]
Montrose again, that chieftain bold, 65 Back unto Scotland fair he came, For to redeem fair Scotland's land, The pleasant, gallant, worthy Graham!
At the water of Carron he did begin, And fought the battle to the end; 70 Where there were kill'd, for our noble king, Two thousand of our Danish men.[L72]
Gilbert Menzies, of high degree,[L73] By whom the king's banner was borne; For a brave cavalier was he, 75 But now to glory he is gone.
Then woe to Strachan, and Hacket baith![L77] And, Leslie, ill death may thou die! For ye have betray'd the gallant Grahams, Who aye were true to majestie. 80
And the Laird of Assaint has seized Montrose, And had him into Edinburgh town; And frae his body taken the head, And quarter'd him upon a trone.
And Huntly's gone the self-same way,[L85] 85 And our noble king is also gone; He suffer'd death for our nation, Our mourning tears can ne'er be done.
But our brave young king is now come home, King Charles the Second in degree; 90 The Lord send peace into his time, And God preserve his majestie!
1. A corruption of Endrickdale. The principal and most ancient possessions of the Montrose family lie along the water of Endrick, in Dumbartonshire. S.
5. About the time when Montrose first occupied Aberdeen (1639) the Covenanters began to wear a blue ribbon, first as a scarf, afterwards in bunches in their caps. Hence the phrase of a true blue Whig. The blue ribbon was one of "Montrose's whimsies," and seems to have been retained by his followers (see v. 50) after he had left the Covenanters for the king.
14. The faithful friend and adherent of the immortal Wallace, slain at the battle of Falkirk. S.
49. Of the family of Gicht in Aberdeenshire. He was taken at Philiphaugh, and executed the 6th of January, 1646.
52. Leith, of Harthill, was a determined loyalist, and hated the Covenanters, by whom he had been severely treated. S.