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Heard Ye The Bagpipe?
By Mrs. Margaret M. Inglis,  Nee Murray


Heard ye the bagpipe, or saw ye the banners
That floated sae light o'er the fields o' Kildairlie;
Saw ye the broadswords, the shields, and the tartan hose,
Heard ye the muster-roll sworn to Prince Charlie?
Saw ye brave Appin, wi' bonnet and belted plaid.
Or saw ye the Lords o' Seaforth and Airlie;
Saw ye the Glengarry, M'Leod, and Clandonachil,
Plant the white rose in their bonnets for Charlie?
 
Saw ye the halls o' auld Holyrood lighted up,
Kenn'd ye the nobles that revell'd sae rarely;
Saw ye the chiefs o' Lochiel and Clanronald,
Wha rush'd  frae their mountains to follow Prince Charlie?
But saw ye  the blood-streaming fields of Culloden,
Or kenn'd ye the banners were tatter'd sae sairly;
Heard ye the pibroch sae wild and sae wailing,
That mourn'd for the chieftains that fell for Prince Charlie.
 
Wha, in yon Highland glen, weary and shelterless,
Pillows his head on the heather sae barely;
Wha seeks the darkest night, wha maunna face the light,
Borne down by lawless might--gallant Prince Charlie?
Wha, like the stricken deer,
Chased by the hunter's spear,
Fled frae the hills o' his father sae scaredly;
But wha, by affection's chart, reins in auld Scotland's heart-
Wha but the Royal, the gallant Prince Charlie?

Thanks to Jean Watson for sending this into us

The writer of spirited and elegant poetry, Mrs. Margaret Maxwell Inglis, was the youngest daughter of alexanader Murray, a medical practitioner, who latterly accepted a small Government situation in the town of Sanquhar, Dumfriesshire.  she was born at Sanquhar on the 27th, October 1774, and at an early age became the wife of a Mr. Finaly, who held a subordinate post in the navy.  On the death of her husband, which took place in the West Indies, she resided with the other members of her family in Dumfries, and in 1803, she married Mr. John Inglis, only son of John Inglis, D.d., minister of Kirkmabreck, in Galloway. By the death of Mr. Inglis in 1826, she became dependent, with three children by her second marriage, on a small annuity arising from an appointment which her late husband had held in the Excise.  She relieved the sadness of her widowhood by a course of extensive reading, and of  composition both in prose and verse.  In 1838 she published, at the solicitation of friends, a duodecimo volume, entitled "Miscellaneous Collection of Poems, chiefly Scriptural Pieces."  Of the compositions in this volum, there are several of very superior merit, while the whole are marked by a vein of elegant fancy.

    Mrs. Inglis died in Edinburgh on 21st of December 1843.

Eminently gifted as a musician, she could boast of having been complimented by the poet Burns on the grace with which she had, in his presence, sung his own songs.  Of retiring and unobtrusive habits, she mixed sparingly in general society; but among her intimate friends, she was held in estimation for the extent of her information, and the unclouded cheerfulness of her disposition. She left some MSS. of poems and songs, which are now in the possession of the editor of this work.


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