For Noreen's information :
While "Mo Ghile Mear" IS in fact Bonnie Prince Charlie, the song is definitely not Scottish but is Irish in origin!! The Irish of that time were fervently hoping that he would succeed in claiming the English throne, as they anticipated that they would fare better as Catholics if there was a Catholic king on the the English throne. Of course it would have been political suicide to say as much out loud, so the song was disguised as a love song in order to avoid any unpleasant repercussions.
It was written by Seán Chlárach Mac Domhnaill/MacDonnell(1691-1754 AD)
MacDonnell was a great Tipperary bard, of whom there are many interesting tales. He was a laborer by trade, but educated in the "hedge-schools." He was literate in Gaelic, Greek, Latin, and English, and this song (Gile Mear) reflects that literacy, with its Classical references to Caesar, Phoebus (Apollo), Mars and Cupid, as well as the references to Celtic gods and heroes such as Lugh, Fergus, etc.
This song was composed c. 1746 AD. It is a rosg-cathadh (in Scottish Gaelic, brosnachadh), a battle hymn or incitement. (These correspond to the "paen" sung by ancient Greek warriors going into battle, which may indicate an even more ancient Indo-European tradition.)
It was intended to invite Prince Charles Edward Stuart, who had but recently fled Scotland after the failure of the 1745 Jacobite Rising, to return, and to incite the Irish to join in another Rising.
(The 1745 Rising had taken place in Scotland and England, when Prince Charles Edward Stuart landed and attempted to regain the throne of his grandfather, James VII and II of Scotland and England and Ireland respectively, for his father, who was James VIII and III in the Jacobite reckoning.
James VII / II had been unseated by the Dutch ruler, William of Orange in the coup known by the Whigs and their successors as the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688-89, which was followed by the first Jacobite War {1689-91}. William, who was married to James' daughter Mary, was invited to assume the throne by a cabal of English and some Scots magnates, due to the open Catholicism of James and his unpopularity, esp. with the more radical Protestant elements in Britain. There were other abortive risings, in 1715 and 1719.)
Ireland had played little part directly, although most of the "French" troops who landed in support of the Rising were made up of Irish mercenaries in the French service.)
From internal evidence, "Mo Ghile Mear" was probably written shortly after the Rising failed, as some of the metaphors seem to reflect Charles Edward's escape after Culloden. Charles may have been in France, or still "on the run" in Scotland. The general tone being one of his having "left," as opposed to his coming or presence. Also, the verses reflect a desire that the "dashing darling" come again, as opposed to a first coming.
Although many of the Gaels in Ireland and Scotland viewed them as the true heirs, the Stuarts had never been particularly kind or useful to the Gaels in either country, especially the Catholic Irish.
Jamie Baggie-breeks (the Sixth of Scotland, First of England and Ireland) had been particularly UN-kind, "planting" Ulster with Scots Protestant settlers who became the "Ulster Scots", aka the "Scotch-Irish", sowing the seeds of troubles that continue to this day.
Despite this and other deeds, the Irish rose in the Stuart cause in the English Civil War, and again in the first Jacobite War, as well as serving as mercenaries in the French levies sent to Scotland in the latter wars.
Of course, it must be remembered that one of the reasons James VII / II was deposed in the first place was because he had openly converted to Catholicism and had an heir who was likely to be raised Catholic. This gave the Catholic Gaels both in Ireland and Scotland (and there still were a fair number of Catholic Gaels in Scotland at that time) the hope of more just treatment under a Catholic monarch as opposed to a Protestant monarch.