4 5 Why flames the far summit? Why shoot to the blast For the blackness of ashes shall mark where it stood, my clan ; Their swords are a thousand, their bosoms are one! SEER. Lochiel, Lochiel, beware of the day! Now, in darkness and billows, he sweeps from my sight: *Alluding to the perilous adventures and final escape of Charles, after the battle of Culloden. 6 'T is finished. Their thunders are hushed on the moors, But where is the iron-bound prisoner? Where? The war-drum is muffled, and black is the bier; Yon sight, that it freezes my spirit to tell! LOCHIEL. Down, soothless insulter! I trust not the Though my perishing ranks should be strewed in their gore, Like ocean-weeds heaped on the surf-beaten shore, Lochiel, untainted by flight or by chains, While the kindling of life in his bosom remains, With his back to the field, and his feet to the foe! Look proudly to heaven from the death-bed of fame. XCII. THE EXECUTION OF MONTROSE. AYTOUN. [WILLIAM EDMONDSTOUNE AYTOUN was born in the county of Fife, in Scotland, in 1813, and died August 4, 1865. He was called to the Scotch bar in 1840, and in 1845 was elected to the professorship of rhetoric and belles-lettres in the University of Edinburgh, which he held till his death. He was a prominent contributor to "Blackwood's Magazine." The following extract is from the "Lays of the Scotch Cavaliers," a collection of stirring ballads illustrating the history of Scotland. James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, was executed in Edinburgh, May 21, 1650, for an attempt to overthrow the power of the commonwealth, and restore Charles II. The ballad is a narrative of the event, supposed to be related by an aged Highlander, who had followed Montrose throughout his campaigns, to his grandson, Evan Cameron. Lochaber is a district of Scotland in the southwestern part of the county of Inverness. Dundee is a seaport town in the county of Forfar. Inverlochy was a castle in Inverness-shire. Montrose was betrayed by a man named MacLeod of Assynt. Dunedin is the Gaelic name for Edinburgh. Warristoun was Archibald Johnston of Warristoun, an inveterate enemy of Montrose.] COME hither, Evan Cameron! Come, stand beside my knee: I hear the river roaring down towards the wintry sea; There's shouting on the mountain-side, there's war within the blast, Old faces look upon me, old forms go trooping past; I hear the pibroch wailing amidst the din of fight, And my dim spirit wakes again upon the verge of night. "T was I that led the Highland host through wild Lochaber's snows, - O deed of deathless shame! A traitor sold him to his foes; Stand he in martial gear alone, or backed by arméd men— Face him, as thou wouldst face the man who wronged thy sire's re nown; Remember of what blood thou art, and strike the caitiff down. They brought him to the Watergate, hard bound with hempen span, throng, And blew the note with yell and shout, and bade him pass along. But when he came, though pale and wan, he looked so great and high, And then a mournful shudder through all the people crept, Had I been there with sword in hand, and fifty Camerons by, It might not be. They placed him next within the solemn hall, Now by my faith as belted knight, and by the name I bear, The morning dawned full darkly, the rain came flashing dowr, And the jagged streak of the levin-bolt lit up the gloomy town: The thunder crashed across the heaven, the fatal hour was come, Yet aye broke in, with muffled beat, the 'larum of the drum. There was madness on the earth below, and anger in the sky, And young and old, and rich and poor, came forth to see him die, Ah God! that ghastly gibbet! how dismal 't is to see He is coming! he is coming! Like a bridegroom from his om There was color in his visage, though the cheeks of all were wan, And they marvelled as they saw him pass, that great and goodly man! A beam of light fell o'er him, like a glory round the shriven, XCIII.-EXECUTION OF MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS. LINGARD. [JOFN LINGARD was born in Winchester, England, February 5, 1771, and died July 13. 1851. He was a clergyman of the Roman Catholic faith. The chief literary labor of his life was his "History of England," from the earliest period down to the revolution of 1688; the latest edition of which is in ten volumes, octavo. This work has taken a high and permanent rank in the historical literature of his country. The style is simple, correct, and manly, without being remarkable for beauty or eloquence. The chief value of the work consists in its thorough and patient research into the original sources of Engtish history. How far it is impartial, when treating upon controverted points, is a question which neither Catholics nor Protestants are exactly in a position to answer. Dr. Lingard was a sincere and conscientious Catholic; his temperament was calm and judicial; and if he betrays any bias in favor of his own faith, it is, perhaps, no more than that unconscious bias which always attends genuine conviction. His "History," at all events, should be carefully read by every one who is not content with the cheap task of deciding before he hears both sides. Dr. Lingard also wrote "The History and Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church," and some manuals of religious teaching. Mary of Scotland, after the total defeat of her party at the battle of Langside, in 1568, fled to England, and threw herself upon the protection of Elizabeth, queen of England, by whom, however, she was kept a prisoner for nineteen years. She was then tried by a commission, for engaging in a conspiracy against the life of Elizabeth, and condemned to death. She was beheaded, February 8, 1587, at Fotheringay Castle, in Northamptonshire; and the following is a description of her execution.] In the midst of the great hall of the castle had been raised a scaffold, covered with black serge and surrounded with a low railing. About seven, the doors were thrown open; the gentlemen of the county entered with their at |