Within the towers of ancient Glammis
Some merry men did dine,
And their host took care they should richly fare
In friendship, wit, and wine.
But they sat too late, and mistook the gate,
(For wine mounts to the brain);
O, 'twas merry in the hall, when the beards wagg'd all;
O, we hope they 'll be back again;
We hope they 'll be back again!
Sir Walter tapp'd at the parson's door,
To find the proper way,
But he dropt his switch, though there was no ditch,
And on the steps it lay.
So his wife took care of this nice affair,
And she wiped it free from stain;
For the knight was gone, nor the owner known,
So he ne'er got the switch again;
So he ne'er got the switch again.
This wondrous little whip[66] remains
Within the lady's sight,
(She crambo makes, with some mistakes,
But hopes for further light).
So she ne'er will part with this switch so smart,
These thirty years her ain;
Till the knight appear, it must just lie here,
He will ne'er get his switch again;
He will ne'er get his switch again!
[65] This lively lyrical rhapsody, written in April 1821, celebrates an
amusing incident connected with the visit of Sir Walter Scott to the
Castle of Glammis, in 1793. Sir Walter was hospitably entertained in the
Castle, by Mr Peter Proctor, the factor, in the absence of the noble
owner, the Earl of Strathmore, who did not reside in the family mansion;
and the conjecture may be hazarded, that he dropt his whip at the manse
door on the same evening that he drank an English pint of wine from the
_lion beaker_ of Glammis, the prototype of the _silver bear_ of
Tully-Veolan, "the _poculum potatorium_ of the valiant baron."--(See
_Note_ to Waverley, and Lockhart's Life of Sir Walter Scott).
[66] The whip is now in the custody of Mr George Lyon, of Stirling, the
author's son.