delirium, which is so beautifully described in the following lines by Grace Campbell, entitled —
"Jessie's Dream"
(A STORY OF THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW.[1])
Far awa' to bonnie Scotland
Has my spirit ta'en its flight,
An' I saw my Mither spinnin',
In our Highland hame at night;
I saw the kye a browsing,
My Father at the plough,
And the grand auld hills aboon them a’,
Wad I could see them now !
Oh ! leddy, while upon your knees
Ye held my sleepin' head,
I saw the little Kirk at hame,
Where Tam an' I were wed;
I heard the tune the pipers play'd,
I kenn'd its rise and fa',
'Twas the wild Macgregor's slogan—
'Tis the grandest o' them a' !
Hark ! surely I'm no wildly dreamin',
For I hear it plainly now—
Ye cannot, ye never heard it
On the far off mountain's brow;
For in your southern childhood,
Ye were nourish'd saft and warm,
Nor watch'd upon the cauld hill side
The risin' o' the storm—
Aye ! now the souldiers hear it,
An "answer with a cheer,
As "the Campbells are a cumin'"
Falls on each anxious ear—
The cannons roar their thunder,
An' the sappers work in vain,
For high aboon the din o' war—
Resounds the welcome strain.
An' nearer still, an' nearer still,
An' now again 'tis "Auld lang syne,"
Its kindly notes like life bluid rin,
Rin through this puir sad heart o’ mine;
- ↑ "A story is told that the first to know of the approach of Havellock's relieving force towards Lucknow was Jessie Brown, the wife of a corporal in the 32nd Regiment. She was lying on the floor sick with fever, her ear to the ground, when she suddenly leapt to her feet and declared that she heard the pipes of Havelock's Highland Brigade. "That the 78th Highlanders had their pipes with them as they advanced on the memorable 25th of September, through the city of Lucknow, there can be no possible doubt. Every officer of the old garrison can testify to the fact, as the pipes were constantly played after General Havelock's entry, and listened to with pleasure by even the usually unappreciative Southron: but that the pipes were played in the advance on that day in such a manner as to be heard by Jessie Brown or any other person in the Residency is an obvious absurdity."
