Yet, Caledonia, beloved are thy mountains, Round their white summits though elements war; Though cataracts foam 'stead of smooth-flowing fountains, I sigh for the valley of dark Loch na Garr.
[1] Then in the second stanza Byron refers to how his "young footsteps in infancy, wander'd" around the area, and how he would hear the "traditional story,/Disclos'd by the natives of dark Loch na Garr."
In the third and fourth stanzas, Byron mentions his Jacobite ancestors who haunt the area and who were "Ill starr'd, though brave, did no visions foreboding/Tell you that fate had forsaken your cause?/Ah!
thy beauties are tame and domestic [...][1] The work has been set to a tune attributed to Sir Henry Bishop,[2] and remains a popular standard in Scottish folk music.
[6] Byron also referred to Lochnagar in The Island: The infant rapture still survived the boy, And Loch-na-gar with Ida looked o'er Troy.