“The Braes of the Mist” is one of the sweetest and most affecting songs in any language. The singer—a woman—concealed her husband and two sons of the fiercely persecuted Macgregors in a bed as the enemies were approaching the house. She sat at the fire and began singing her song. She sang of herself as waiting in solitude for her persecuted friends. The people outside listened as the woman sang, and accepting as true what she said, they passed on without troubling her. Her heart’s dearest wishes depended on the effect produced by her extempore verses. It has been well said that “seldom, indeed, has song or ballad been composed or chanted in circumstances of such intense excitement.” The first verse runs as follows:— I sit here alone, by the plain of the highway, For my poor hunted kin, watching mist, watching by way; I’ve yet got no sign that they’re near to my dwelling; At Loch Fyne they were last seen—if true be that telling, &c. _Mo Valie Veg Og_ is a very popular song, somewhat like “Helen or Kirkconnel Lea,” and Tennyson’s “Oriana.” The occasion of the composition was as follows:—One of the chiefs of the Clan Chisholm having carried off a daughter of Lord Lovat, placed her on an islet in Loch Bruiach, where she was soon discovered by the Frasers, who had mustered for the rescue. (Other accounts of the origin of the song have been given). A severe conflict ensued, during which the young lady was accidentally slain by a chance blow from her own lover, in defending her from her furious brothers. The lover was condemned to be executed next day. The night preceding his execution he composed Mo Valie Veg Og, _Young little May_. The following is a rendering of the spirit of the song:— I groan for thee in prison, Mo Valie Veg Og O, dost thy spirit listen, Mo Valie Veg Og; From where the dew-drops glisten, From thy deep sleep uprisen, While these lone arms I miss in, Mo Valie Veg Og? We met when summer flowered, Mo Valie Veg Og; Where am’rous birds embowered Mo Valie Veg Og; The trees that near us towered, Sweet dew-drops on us showered; But something near us lowered, Mo Valie Veg Og. Wrapt in each other dreaming, Mo Valie Veg Og; We saw the distance gleaming, Mo Valie Veg Og; Thy kinsmen vengeful seeming, With fell intention teeming We strove, and blood was streaming, Mo Valie Veg Og! Encountering their lance, Mo Valie Veg Og; I struck by sore mischance Mo Valie Veg Og; Cursed aye be their advance! I bent in trembling trance To drink thy dying glance, Mo Valie Veg Og.