"And the auld black cat at her elbow sat,

(The cat you gied her yersel')

And the folk, keeking in thro' the pane, saw a sin,
And thought she was weaving a spell!"

The lights of Leith! the lights of Leith!
They flame on the wintry gale!

With sore drawn breath, and a face like death,
He hearks to the gruesome tale!

"O Robin, Robin, I kenna hoo

The lee was faither'd first,

But (whisper again, lest they ken, lest they ken !)
They thought the puir body accurst!

"They thought the spell had been wrought in Hell,
To kill and curse and blight,

They thought she flew, when naebody knew,
To a Sabbath o' fiends, ilk night!

"Then ane whose corn had wither'd ae morn,
And ane whose kye sicken'd doon,
Crept, scared and pale, wi' the leein' tale,
To the meenisters, up the toon.

"Noo, Robin, jest then, King Jamie the King

Was oot at sea in his bark,

And the bark nigh sank unner, wi' fire-flaught and thunner, And they thought-the Deil was at wark !

The King cam' to land, and loup'd on the strand,
Pale as a ghaist and afraid,

Wi' courtiers and clergy, a wild fearfu' band,
He ran to the kirk, and prayed.

"Then the clergy made oot 'twas witchcraft, nae doot, And searchit up and doon,

And... foond your auld mither (wae's me !) and twa ither, And dragg'd them up to the toon!

"O Robin, dear Robin, hearken nae mair!" "Speak on, I'll heark to the en'!"

"O Robin, Robin, the sea oot there Is kinder than cruel men!

They took her before King Jamie the King, Whaur he sat wi' sceptre and croon, And the cooard courtiers stood in a ring, And the meenisters gather'd roon'.

"They bade her tell she had wrought the spell
That made the tempest blaw;

They strippit her bare as a naked bairn,
They tried her wi' pincers and heated airn,
Till she shriek'd and swoon'd awa'!

"O Robin, Robin, the King sat there,
While the cruel deed was done,

And the clergy o' Christ ne'er bade him spare
For the sake o' God's ain Son! .

The lights of Leith! the lights of Leith!

Like Hell's own lights they glow

While the sailor stands, with his trembling hands
Prest hard on his heart in woe!

"O Robin, Robin . . . they doom'd her to burn. .

Doon yonner upon the quay

This night was the night.

...

see the light! see the light!

How it burns by the side o' the sea!"

... She paused with a moan.... He had left her alone,
And rushing through drift and snow,
Down the side of the wintry hill he had flown,
His eyes on the lights below!

IV.

The lights of Leith! the lights of Leith!

They flame on the eyes of the crowd,
Around, up and down, move the folk of the town,
While the bells of the kirk peal aloud!

High up on the quay, blaze the balefires, and see!
Three stakes are deep set in the ground,

To each stake smear' with pitch clings the corpse of a witch,
With the fire flaming redly around!

What madman is he who leaps in where they gleam,
Close, close, to the centremost form?

"O mither, O mither!" he cries, with a scream,
That rings thro' the heart of the storm!

He can see the white hair snowing down thro' the glare,
The white face upraised to the skies-

Then the cruel red blaze blots the thing from his gaze
And he falls on his face,-and dies.

V.

The lights of Leith! the lights of Leith!

See, see! they are flaming still!

Thro' the clouds of the past their flame is cast,
While the Sabbath bells ring shrill!

The lights of Leith! the lights of Leith!
They'll burn till the Judgment Day!

Till the Church's curse and the monarch's shame,
And the sin that slew in the Blessed Name,
Are burned and purg'd away!

II.

THE WEDDING OF SHON MACLEAN.

A BAGPIPE MELODY.

the wedding of Shon Maclean,
Twenty Pipers together

Came in the wind and the rain

Playing across the heather;
Backward their ribbons flew,
Blast upon blast they blew,
Each clad in tartan new,

Bonnet, and blackcock feather:

And every Piper was fou,

Twenty Pipers together!

He's but a Sassenach blind and vain
Who never heard of Shon Maclean-

The Duke's own Piper, called "Shon the Fair,"
From his freckled skin and his fiery hair.
Father and son, since the world's creation,
The Macleans had followed this occupation,

And played the pibroch to fire the Clan
Since the first Duke came and the earth began.
Like the whistling of birds, like the humming of bees,
Like the sough of the south-wind in the trees,
Like the singing of angels, the playing of shawms,
Like Ocean itself with its storms and its calms,
Were the strains of Shon, when with cheeks aflame
He blew a blast thro' the pipes of fame.

At last, in the prime of his playing life,
The spirit moved him to take a wife—
A lassie with eyes of Highland blue,
Who loved the pipes and the Piper too,
And danced to the sound with a foot and a leg
White as a lily and smooth as an egg.
So, twenty Pipers were coming together
O'er the moor and across the heather,
All in the wind and the rain:
Twenty Pipers so brawly dressed
Were flocking in from the east and west,
To bless the bedding and blow their best
At the wedding of Shon Maclean.

At the wedding of Shon Maclean
'Twas wet and windy weather!
Yet thro' the wind and the rain
Came twenty Pipers together!
Earach and Dougal Dhu,
Sandy of Isla too,

Each with the bonnet o' blue,

Tartan, and blackcock feather:
And every Piper was fou,

Twenty Pipers together!

The knot was tied, the blessing said,
Shon was married, the feast was spread.
At the head of the table sat, huge and hoar,
Strong Sandy of Isla, age fourscore,
Whisker'd, grey as a Haskeir seal,

And clad in crimson from head to heel.
Beneath and round him in their degree
Gathered the men of minstrelsie,

With keepers, gillies, and lads and lasses,
Mingling voices, and jingling glasses.