WILLIE ROBERTSON'S LAMENT. 165 



the nicht : and do you no ken that yon point from which 

 the storm came, is Cairn-na-gour, and that it was frae 

 that vera tapmost hill that Willie Robertson, the auld 

 forester, him that used to kill the outlying deer by Gaig, 

 sung the lament. It was foreby that Beg he stood, and 

 showed John Crerar the tops ava the high hills, from 

 Aberdeenshire to Inverness-shire, and ca'd them by name, 

 beginning at Tarff Forest in Atholl, and passing on to 

 the taps of the Argyleshire hills, and to those of Lochaber, 

 Inverness, and Aberdeenshire, where he said he had spent 

 mony a pleasant day. He turned round the tap of the 

 hill, and disappeared. Crerar turned round a wee whilie 

 after, and spied him nearly a mile aff on his way hame ; 

 he followed and o'ertook him, and found him sorrowful, 

 and the tears falling from his e'en. He said, 'I shall 

 never see again what I hae seen the day ; ' and troth, he 

 never did. He died at the great age of ninety-two." 



(f Ah, poor fellow, and loth, very loth was he to leave 

 his dear hills; for when Stewart, the ground officer, 

 asked him if he thought himself in danger, he said that 

 he knew he was dying, and that he had little chance of 

 ever seeing the Duke again in this world ; but he hoped 

 that when his Grace was taken away also, he would meet 

 him at heaven's gate, and welcome him in. He then be- 

 gan praying ; and, in the middle of his prayer, asked 

 Stewart, ' If it was true that his Grace was going to make 

 a road up Glen Mark and Glen Dirrie.' Stewart told him 

 'that was only a joke.' William answered, 'that making 

 the road would be no joke.' 



" But he enjoyed a long and happy life, and I hope 

 you will not sing your coronach at an earlier age. It is 



M 3 



