As a follow-on to Teribus' post, I've never held to the theory that "the King's son" was the Duke of Cumberland. I've rather had the feeling that it was more likely an allegorical reference to "the old pretender" - the father of "Bonnie" Charles Edward (who was the grandson of James VI/II). There being levies raised among Scottish (and Irish) Jacobites for service in France against the English "usurper."

Granted, the verse in the Gaelic referring to the French as being seen by us since tends to fly against that. I wonder though if there were not multiple versions at one time and this, the politically safe one, would be the one to have survived. I wonder if another version of the verse with the English army (technically it should be British, true) fleeing was existant at one time but has not survived.

If that is the case, then the "goods burning" in the English version would make sense as a reprisal taken for men fighting against the government in France.

I'm not convinced at all that the same verse is a hard reference to the Clearances of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. I suspect that Malcolm has the right of it in that regard, that they are a later understanding of an older song.

Now, as Greg Stephens suggests it MAY be an entirely allegorical song and stands as originally intended. If one allows for the "folk process", as I suspect, then we are debating a song that has evolved heavily from its original, and we're ALL wrong! ;-)

Pete