How disappeared He?-ask the newt and toad, Inheritors of his abode;
The otter crouching undisturbed,
In her dank cleft;-but be thou curbed,
O froward Fancy! 'mid a scene
Of aspect winning and serene;
For those offensive creatures shun
The inquisition of the sun!
And in this region flowers delight, And all is lovely to the sight.
Spring finds not here a melancholy breast, When she applies her annual test To dead and living; when her breath Quickens, as now, the withered heath ;- Nor flaunting Summer-when he throws His soul into the briar-rose; Or calls the lily from her sleep Prolonged beneath the bordering deep; Nor Autumn, when the viewless wren Is warbling near the BROWNIE's Den.
Wild Relique! beauteous as the chosen spot In Nysa's isle, the embellished grot; Whither, by care of Libyan Jove, (High Servant of paternal Love) Young Bacchus was conveyed-to lie Safe from his step-dame Rhea's eye;
Where bud, and bloom, and fruitage, glowed, Close-crowding round the infant-god; All colours, and the liveliest streak A foil to his celestial cheek!
IN SIGHT OF WALLACE'S TOWER.
-How Wallace fought for Scotland, left the name Of Wallace to be found, like a wild flower, All over his dear Country; left the deeds Of Wallace, like a family of ghosts, To people the steep rocks and river banks, Her natural sanctuaries, with a local soul Of independence and stern liberty.'
LORD of the vale! astounding Flood; The dullest leaf in this thick wood Quakes conscious of thy power ; The caves reply with hollow moan; And vibrates, to its central stone, Yon time-cemented Tower!
IN THE PLEASURE-GROUND ON THE BANKS OF THE BRAN, NEAR DUNKELD.
'The waterfall, by a loud roaring, warned us when we must expect it. We were first, however, conducted into a small apartment, where the Gardener desired us to look at a picture of Ossian, which, while he was telling the history of the young Artist who executed the work, disappeared, parting in the middle-flying asunder as by the touch of magic-and lo! we are at the entrance of a splendid apartment, which was almost dizzy and alive with waterfalls, that tumbled in all directions; the great cascade, opposite the window, which faced us, being reflected in innumerable mirrors upon the ceiling and against the walls.'—Extract from the Journal of my FellowTraveller.
WHAT He-who, mid the kindred throng Of Heroes that inspired his song,
Doth yet frequent the hill of storms,
The stars dim-twinkling through their forms! What! Ossian here-a painted Thrall, Mute fixture on a stuccoed wall; To serve an unsuspected screen For show that must not yet be seen; And, when the moment comes, to part And vanish by mysterious art; Head, harp, and body, split asunder, For ingress to a world of wonder; A gay saloon, with waters dancing Upon the sight wherever glancing ; One loud cascade in front, and lo! A thousand like it, white as snowStreams on the walls, and torrent-foam As active round the hollow dome, Illusive cataracts! of their terrors Not stripped, nor voiceless in the mirrors, That catch the pageant from the flood Thundering adown a rocky wood. What pains to dazzle and confound! What strife of colour, shape and sound In this quaint medley, that might seem Devised out of a sick man's dream! Strange scene, fantastic and uneasy As ever made a maniac dizzy, When disenchanted from the mood That loves on sullen thoughts to brood!
O Nature in thy changeful visions, Through all thy most abrupt transitions Smooth, graceful, tender, or sublimeEver averse to pantomime,
Thee neither do they know nor us
Thy servants, who can trifle thus ; Else verily the sober powers
Of rock that frowns, and stream that roars, Exalted by congenial sway
Of Spirits, and the undying Lay, And Names that moulder not away, Had wakened some redeeming thought More worthy of this favoured Spot; Recalled some feeling-to set free The Bard from such indignity!
*The Effigies of a valiant Wight I once beheld, a Templar Knight; Not prostrate, not like those that rest On tombs, with palms together prest, But sculptured out of living stone, And standing upright and alone, Both hands with rival energy Employed in setting his sword free From its dull sheath-stern sentinel Intent to guard St. Robert's cell; As if with memory of the affray Far distant, when, as legends say,
The Monks of Fountain's thronged to force From its dear home the Hermit's corse,
That in their keeping it might lie, To crown their abbey's sanctity. So had they rushed into the grot Of sense despised, a world forgot, And torn him from his loved retreat, Where altar-stone and rock-hewn seat Still hint that quiet best is found, Even by the Living, under ground; But a bold Knight, the selfish aim Defeating, put the Monks to shame, There where you see his Image stand Bare to the sky, with threatening brand Which lingering NID is proud to show Reflected in the pool below.
Thus, like the men of earliest days, Our sires set forth their grateful praise: Uncouth the workmanship, and rude! But, nursed in mountain solitude, Might some aspiring artist dare To seize whate'er, through misty air, A ghost, by glimpses, may present Of imitable lineament,
And give the phantom an array
That less should scorn the abandoned clay; Then let him hew with patient stroke An Ossian out of mural rock,
* On the banks of the River Nid, near Knaresborough,
POEMS DEDICATED TO NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE AND
COMPOSED BY THE SEA-SIDE, NEAR CALAIS, AUGUST, 1802.
FAIR Star of evening, Splendour of the west, Star of my Country!—on the horizon's brink Thou hangest, stooping, as might seem, to sink On England's bosom; yet well pleased to rest, Meanwhile, and be to her a glorious crest Conspicuous to the Nations. Thou, I think, Should'st be my Country's emblem; and should'st wink,
Bright Star! with laughter on her banners, drest In thy fresh beauty. There! that dusky spot Beneath thee, that is England; there she lies. Blessings be on you both! one hope, one lot, One life, one glory!-I, with many a fear For my dear Country, many heartfelt sighs, Among men who do not love her, linger here.
Composed near Calais, on the road leading to Ardres, August 7, 1802. JONES! as from Calais southward you and I Went pacing side by side, this public Way Streamed with the pomp of a too-credulous day, When faith was pledged to new-born Liberty: A homeless sound of joy was in the sky: From hour to hour the antiquated Earth, Beat like the heart of Man: songs, garlands, mirth, Banners, and happy faces, far and nigh! And now, sole register that these things were, Two solitary greetings have I heard,
Good morrow, Citizen!' a hollow word, As if a dead man spake it! Yet despair Touches me not, though pensive as a bird Whose vernal coverts winter hath laid bare †.
CALAIS, AUGUST, 1802.
Is it a reed that's shaken by the wind, Or what is it that ye go forth to see?
Lords, lawyers, statesmen, squires of low degree, Men known, and men unknown, sick, lame, and blind,
Post forward all, like creatures of one kind, With first-fruit offerings crowd to bend the knee In France, before the new-born Majesty. "Tis ever thus. Ye men of prostrate mind, A seemly reverence may be paid to power; But that's a loyal virtue, never sown In haste, nor springing with a transient shower: When truth, when sense, when liberty were flown, What hardship had it been to wait an hour? Shame on you, feeble Heads, to slavery prone!
I GRIEVED for Buonaparté, with a vain And an unthinking grief! The tenderest mood Of that Man's mind-what can it be? what food Fed his first hopes? what knowledge could he gain? "Tis not in battles that from youth we train The Governor who must be wise and good, And temper with the sternness of the brain Thoughts motherly, and meek as womanhood. Wisdom doth live with children round her knees: Books, leisure, perfect freedom, and the talk Man holds with week-day man in the hourly walk Of the mind's business: these are the degrees By which true Sway doth mount; this is the stalk True Power doth grow on; and her rights are these.
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