'
The Chieftain, in two words of French, explained to Waverley that the
Baron had shot this old man's son in a fray near Tully-Veolan, about
seven years before; and then hastened to remove Ballenkeiroch's
prejudice, by informing him that Waverley was an Englishman, unconnected
by birth or alliance with the family of Bradwardine; upon which the old
gentleman raised the hitherto-untasted cup and courteously drank to his
health. This ceremony being requited in kind, the Chieftain made a signal
for the pipes to cease, and said aloud, 'Where is the song hidden, my
friends, that Mac-Murrough cannot find it?'
Mac-Murrough, the family bhairdh, an aged man, immediately took the hint,
and began to chant, with low and rapid utterance, a profusion of Celtic
verses, which were received by the audience with all the applause of
enthusiasm. As he advanced in his declamation, his ardour seemed to
increase. He had at first spoken with his eyes fixed on the ground; he
now cast them around as if beseeching, and anon as if commanding,
attention, and his tones rose into wild and impassioned notes,
accompanied with appropriate gestures. He seemed to Edward, who attended
to him with much interest, to recite many proper names, to lament the
dead, to apostrophise the absent, to exhort, and entreat, and animate
those who were present.
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