But a mere rootstool to yon sovereign lord, Heaven gave Rob Roy a dauntiess heart
Hugh Cruachan, (a thing that meaner hills And wondrous length and strength of arm:
Might crush, nor know that it had suffered Nor craved he more to quell his foes,
harm :)

Or keep his friends from harm.
Yet he, not loth, in favour of thy claims
To reverence suspends his own; submitting Yet was Rob Roy as wise as brave;
All that the God of nature hath conferred, Forgive me if the phrase be strong:-
All that he has in common with the stars, A poet worthy of Rob Roy
To the memorial majesty of time

Must scorn a timid song.
Impersonated in thy calm decay !

Say, then, that he was wise as brave;
Take, then, thy seat, vicegerent unreproved! | As wise in thought as bold in deed :
Now, while a farewell gleam of evening light For in the principles of things
Is fondly lingering on thy shattered front, He sought his moral creed.
Do thou, in turn, be paramount ; and rule
Over the pomp and beauty of a scene Said generous Rob." What reed of books?
Whose mountains, torrents, lake, and Burn all the statutes and their shelves :
woods, unite

[joined, They stir us up against our kind; To pay thee homage ; and with these are

And worse, against ourselves.
In willing admiration and respect,
Two hearts, which in thy presence might “We have a passion, make a law,
be called

(power, Too false to guide us or control ! Youthful as spring. Shade of departed And for the law itself we fight Skeleton of unfleshed humanity,

[call

In bitterness of soul.
The chronicle were welcome that should
Into the compass of distinct regard

And, puzzled, blinded thus, we lose
The toils and struggles of thy infancy ! Distinctions that are plain and few :
Yon foaming food seems motionless as ice; These find I graven on my heart :
Its dizzy turbulence eludes the eye,

That tells me what to do.
Frozen by distance: so, majestic pile,
To the perception of this age, appear

The creatures see of flood and field,
Thy fierce beginnings, softened and subdued And those that travel on the wind !
And quieted in character ; the strife, With them no strife can last : they live
The pride, the fury uncontrollable,

In peace, and peace of mind.
Lost on the aérial heights of the Crusades !*

For why?-because the good old rule
Sufficeth them, the simple plan,

That they should take who have the power,
ROB ROY'S GRAVE.

And they should keep who can. The history of Rob Roy is sufficiently known ;

"A lesson that is quickly learned, his

grave is near the head of Loch Katrine, in A signal this which all can see ! one of those small pinfold-like burial-grounds Thus nothing here provokes the strong of neglected and desolate appearance, which To wanton cruelty. the traveller meets with in the Highlands of Scotland.

All freakishness of mind is checked ; A FAMOUS man is Robin Hood,

He tamed, who foolishly aspires : The English ballad-singer's joy!

While to the measure of his might And Scotland has a thief as good,

Each fashions his desires. An outlaw of as daring mood;

· All kinds, and creatures, stand and fall She has her brave Rub Roy ! Then clear the weeds from off his grave,

By strength of prowess or of wit :

'Tis God's appointment who must sway And let us chant a passing stave

And who is to submit. In honour of that hero brave !

"Since, then, the rule of righi is plain, • The tradition is that the castle was built by

And longest life is but a day ; a lady during the absence of her lord in Pales. To have my ends, maintain my rights, tinc.

I'll take the shortest way.

And thus among these rocks he lived, And, had it been thy lot to live
Through summer heat and winter snow : With us who now behold the light,
The eagle, he was lord above,

Thou wouldst have nobly stirred thyself, And Rob was lord below.

And battled for the right. So was it-would, at least, have been

For thou wert still the poor man's stay, But through untowardness of fate :

The poor man's heart, the poor man's For polity was then too strong ;

hand; He came an age too late.

And all the oppressed, who wanted strength,

Had thine at their command.
Or shall we say an age too soon?
For, were the bold man living now, Bear witness many a pensive sigh
How might he flourish in his pride,
With buds on every bough!

Of thoughtful herdsman when he strays

Alone upon Loch Veol's heights,
Then rents and factors, rights of chase,

And by Loch Lomond's braes !
Sheriffs, and lairds and their domains,
Would all have seemed but paltry things.

And, far and near, through vale and hill,

Are faces that attest the same; Not worth a moment's pains.

The proud heart flashing through the eyes, Rob Roy had never lingered here,

At sound of Rob Roy's name.
To these few meagre vales confined ;
But thought how wide the world, the times
How fairly to his mind !

COMPOSED AT CASTLE. And to his sword he would have said, DEGENERATE Douglas ! oh, the unworthy “Do thou my sovereign will enact

lord !

(please, From land to land through half the earth! Whom mere despite of heart could so far Judge thou of law and fact !

And love of havoc (for with such disease

Fame taxes him) that he could send forth "Tis fit that we should do our part ;

word, Becoming, that mankind should learn To level with the dust a noble horde, That we are not to be surpassed

A brotherhood of venerable trees, In fatherly concern.

Leaving an ancient dome, and towers like

these, "Of old things all are over old,

Beggared and outraged !-Many hearts Of good things none are good enough :- deplored We'll show that we can help to frame The fate of those old trees; and oft with A world of other stuff.

pain

(gaze

The traveller, at this day, will stop and "I, too, will have my kings that take

On wrongs, which nature scarcely seems to From me the sign of life and death :

heed : Kingdoms shall shift about, like clouds, For sheltered places, bosoms, nooks, and Obedient to my breath."

bays,

(Tweed,

And the pure mountains, and the gentle And, if the word had been fulfilled,

And the green silent pastures, yet remain. As might have been, then, thought of joy! France would have had her present boast; And we our own Rob Roy !

YARROW UNVISITED. Oh! say not so ; compare them not ; I would not wrong thee, champion brave ! (See the various poems the scene of which is

laid upon the banks of the Yarrow; in par. Would wrong thee nowhere ; least of all

ticular, the exquisite ballad of Hamilton, beHere standing by thy grave.

ginning For thou, although with some wild thoughts,

"Busk ye, busk ye, my bonny bonny bride,

Busk Wild chieftain of a savage clan !

busk ye,

ye, my winsume marrow !") Hadst this to boast of; thou didst love FROM Stirling Castle we had seen The liberty of man.

The mazy Forth unravelled ;

AN

Had trod the banks of Clyde, and Tay, The treasured dreams of times Icng past,
And with the Tweed had travelled ; We'll keep them, winsome marrow !
And when we came to Clovenford, For when we're there, although tis 'sair,
Then said my “winsome marrow,

'Twill be another Yarrow !
Whate'er betide, we'll turn aside,
And see the Braes of Yarrow."

“If care, with freezing years should come,

And wandering seem but folly. —
“Let Yarrow folk, frae Selkirk town, Should we be loth to stir from home,
Who have been buying, selling,

And yet be melancholy;
Go back to Yarrow, 'tis their own ;

Should life be dull, and spirits low,
Each maiden to her dwelling !

'Twill soothe us in our sorrow,
On Yarrow's banks let herons feed, That earth has something yet to show,
Hares couch, and rabbits burrcw!

The bonny holms of Yarrow !"
But we will downwards with the Tweed,
Nor turn aside to Yarrow.

There's Gala Water, Leader Haughs, IN THE PASS OF KILLICRANKIE,
Both lying right before us ;

INVASION BEING EXPECTED,
And Dryburgh, where with chiming Tweed

OCTOBER 1803.
The lintwhites sing in chorus ;
There's pleasant Teviotdale, a land Sıx thousand veterans practised in war's
Made blithe with plough, and harrow :

game,
Why throw away a needsul day

Tried men at Killicrankie were arrayed To go in search of Yarrow?

Against an equal host that wore the plaid,

Shepherds and herdsmen.-Like a whirl“What's Yarrow but a river bare,

wind came

{flame; That glides the dark hills under ?

The Highlanders, the slaughter spread like There are a thousand such elsewhere

And Garry, thundering down his mountain
As worthy of your wonder."

road,
Strange words they seemed of slight and was stopped, and could not breathe
My true love sighed for sorrow : (scorn : beneath the load
And looked me in the face, to think Of the dead bodies.—'Twas a day of shame
I thus could speak of Yarrow !

For them whom precept and the pedantry

Of cold mechanic battle do enslave.
"Oh! green,” said I, "are Yarrow's Oh, for a single hour of that Dundee,
And sweet is Yarrow flowing ! [holms, Who on that day the word of onset gave !
Fair hangs the apple frae the rock, * Like conquest would the men of England
But we will leave it growing.

see ;
O'er hilly path, and open strath,

And her foes find a like inglorious grave.
We'll wander Scotland thorough ;
But, though so near, we will not turn
Into the dale of Yarrow.

THE MATRON OF JEDBURGH AND
Let beeves and home-bred kine partake

HER HUSBAND.
The sweets of Burn-mill meadow ;
The swan on still St. Mary's Lake

(At Jedburgh, my companion and I went into Float double, swan and shadow !

private lodgings for a few days : and the fol.

lowing verses called forth by the We will not see them ; will not go,

character and domestic situation of our hosTo-day, nor yet to-morrow ;

tess.) Enough if in our hearts we know

Age! twine thy brows with fresh spring There's such a place as Yarrow.

flowers,
" Be Yarrow stream unseen, unknown !

And call a train of laughing hours ;
It must, or we shall rue it:

And bid them dance and bid them sing :
We have a vision of our own;

And thou, too, mingle in the ring !
Ah! why should we undo it?

Take to thy heart a new delight;
If not, make merry in despite

That there is one who scorns thy power :* See Hamilton's ballad, as above. But dance ! for under Jedburgh tower,

were