This old beggar did not yet lose his power of hearing, and feeling insulted by the manner in which his name was introduced into the moralising verses he snatched up a club towards the close of the song, and creeping behind the bard aimed a blow at him with all the strength of his withered arm. Rob barely escaped, and tried to soothe the enraged old man. Mackay shows great detestation of greed in his poems. One is a dialogue between the world and the greedy man. The wants of the bard in his humble station were few and easily supplied, so he could contemplate with sorrow the growing spirit of selfishness that began to creep in along with advancing civilisation and change of habit. This spirit he rebukes in the following verse from an address to Lord Reay:— Hadst thou by nature been a man of greed, How soon had grown the tempting glittering hoard; If thou to pity’s tears hadst deigned no heed, And hard-wrung rents with human curses stored! But no, for when the yearly rents were paid, It was more joy to thee a thousand-fold To see a glad face in God’s image made, Than the king’s image on the yellow gold! Like many of the bards, Rob appears to have suffered from a sore affair of the heart. A yellow-haired Annie deceived him, and ran away with a fair carpenter from the south, and he sang _Is trom leam an àiridh_. It seems the courting was carried on at a shieling, a favourite place of resort for fond swains and tender maidens: Oh, sad is the shieling, And gone are its joys! All harsh and unfeeling To me now its noise, Since Anna—who warbled As sweet as the merle— Forsook me—my honey-mouthed, Merry-lipped girl! * * * * * Ach, ach, now I’m trying My loss to forget— With sorrow and sighing, With anger and fret. But still that sweet image Steals over my heart; And still I deem fondly Hope need not depart. So fancy beguiles me, And fills me with glee, But the carpenter wiles thee, False speaker! from me. Yet from Love’s first affection I never get free; But the dear known direction My thoughts ever flee. The above verses are Pattison’s translation. It is said that the deceitful “Anna” led an unhappy life afterwards, and never recovered her old spirits after the memorable parting at the “shieling,” of which the bard sings so pathetically. While Rob Donn is not equal to Macdonald or Macintyre in the highest qualifications of the poet, he is their superior in power of satire. His two rival bards have confounded vituperative language with satire, but Mackay never. He is a great favourite with his countrymen, who are very proud of him, and have laudably done all they could to make known his poetry and perpetuate his fame.