Such gifts had those seafaring men

But when he was first seen, oh, me,
Spread round that haven in the glen; What shrieking and what misery !
Each hut, perchance, might have its own, For many saw ; among the rest
And to the boy they all were known; His mother, she who loved him best,
He knew and prized them all.

She saw her poor blind boy.
The rarest was a turtle shell

But for the child, the sightless boy,
Which he, poor child, had studied well ; It is the triumph of his joy !
A shell of a nple size, and light

The bravest traveller in balloon,
As the pearly car of Amphitrite,

Mounting as if to reach the moon,
That sportive colphins drew.

Was never balf so blessed.
And, as a coracle that braves

And let him, let him go his way, On Vaga's breast the fretful waves, Alone, and innocent, and gay! This shell upon the deep would swim, For, if good angels love to wait Ånd gaily liit its fearless brim

On the forlorn unfortunate,
Above the tossing surge.

This child will take no harm.
And this the little blind boy knew : But now the passionate lament,
And he a story strange, yet true,

Which from the crowd on shore was sent, Had heard, how in a shell like this

The cries which broke from old and young An English boy, oh, thought of bliss ! In Gaelic, or the English tongue, Had stoutly launched from shore ;

Are stified-all is stili. Launched from the margin of a bay And quickly with a silent crew Among the Indian isles, where lay

A boat is ready to pursue ;
His father's ship, and had sailed far, And from the shore their course they take,
To join that gallant ship of war,

And swiftly down the running lake
In his delightful shell.

They follow the blind boy.
Our Highland boy oft visited

But soon they move with softer pace ;
The house which held this prize ; and, led So have ye seen the fowler chase
By choice or chance, did thither come On Grasmere's clear unruffled breast
One day when no one was at home, A youngling of the wild-duck's nest
And found the door unbarred.

With deftly-lifted oar.
While there he sate, alone and blind, Or as the wily sailors crept
That story flashed upon his mind ;- To seize (while on the deep it slept)
A bold thought roused him, and he took The hapless creature which did dwell
The shell from out its secret nook, Erewhile within the dancing shell,
And bore it on his head.

They steal upon their prey.
He launched his vessel- and in pride With sound the least that') be made
Oí spirit, from Loch Leven's side,

They follow, more and more afraid, Stepped into it-his thoughts all free More cautious as they draw more near As the light breezes that with glee

But in his darkness he can hear,
Sang through the adventurer's hair.

And guesses their intent.
A while he stood upon his feet ;

* Lei-gha-Lei-gha"—then did he cry, He felt the motion-took his seat ;

* Lei-gha-Lei-gha "-most eagerly ; Still better pleased as more and more Thus did he cry, and thus did pray, l'he tide retreated from the shore,

And what he meant was, · Keep away, And sucked and sucked him in.

And leave me to myself !" And there he is in face of heaven!

Alas ! and when he felt their handsHow rapidly the child is driven !

You've often heard of magic wands, The fourth part of a mile I ween

That with a motion overthrow He thus had gone, ere he was seen A palace of the proudest show, By any human eye.

Or melt it into air.

Where tapers burned, and mass was sung, THE BROWNIE'S CELL.

For them whose timid spirits clung (Suggested by a beautiful ruin upon one of the

To mortal succour, though the tomb islands of Loch Lomond, a place chosen for Had fixed, for ever fixed, their doom ! the retreat of a solitary individual from whom this habitation acquired its name.]

Upon those servants of another world To barren heath and quaking sen,

When maddening power her bolts had

hurled,
Or depth of labyrinthine glen ;

Their habitation shook ;-it fell,
Or into trackless forest set
With trees, whose lofty umbrage met ;

And perished-save one narrow cell ;
World-wearied men withdrew of yore,

Whither, at length, a wretch retired : (Penance their trust, and prayer their store;) He, struggling in the net of pride,

Who neither grovelled nor aspired :
And in the wilderness were bound
To such apartments as they found ;

The future scorned, the past defied ;
Or with a new ambition raised ;
That God might suitably be praised.

* It is recorded in Dampier's Voyages, that a High lodged the warrior, like a bird of seated himself in a turtle shell, and floated in it

boy, the son of a captain of a man-of-war, prey ;

from the shore to his father's ship, which lay at Or where broad waters round him lay ;

anchor at the distance of half a mile. In dcfeBut this wild ruin is no ghost

rence to the opinion of a friend, I have substiOf his devices--buried, lost !

tuted such a shell for the less elegant vessel in Within this little lonely isle

which my blind voyager did actually intrust There stood a consecrated pile ;

himself to the dangerous current of Loch Leven, as was related to me by an eye-witness

Still tempering from the unguilty forge Spring finds not here a melancholy breast, Of vain conceit, an iron scourge !

When she applies her annual test

To dead and living i when her breath Proud remnant was he of a fearless race,

Quickens, as now, the withered heath ;Who stood and flourished face to face

Nor flaunting summer- when he throws With their perennial hills ;-but crime

His soul into the briar-rose ; Hastening the stern decrees of time,

Or calls the lily from her sleep ; Brcught low a power, whuch from its home Prolonged beneath the bordering deep : Burst when repose grew wearisome ; Nor autumn, when the viewless wren And taking impulse from the sword,

Is warbling near the Brownie's den. And mocking its own plighted word, Had found, in ravage widely dealt Wild relique ! beauteous as the chosen spot Its warfare's bourne, its travel's belt ! In Nysa's isle, the embellished grot;

Whither by care of Libyan Jove All, all were dispossessed, save him whose ! (High servant of paternal love). smile

Young Bacchus was conveyed--to lie Shot lightning through this lonely isle ! Safe from his step-dame Rhea's eye; No right had he but what he made

Where bud, and bloom, and fruitage, To this small spot, his leafy shade ;

glowed, But the ground lay within that ring

Close crowding round the infant god,
To which he only dared to cling :

All colours, and the liveliest streak
Renouncing here, as worse than dead, A foil to his celestial cheek!
The craven few who bowed the head
Beneath the change, who heard a claim
How loud ! yet lived in peace with shame.

COMPOSED AT CORRA LINN. From year to year this shaggy mortal went

IN SIGHT OF WALLACE'S TOWER. (So seemed it) down a strange descent ; Till they, who saw his outward frame, “How Wallace fought for Scotland, left the Fixed on him an unhallowed name;

name Him-free from all malicious taint,

Or Wallace to be found, like a wild flower, And guiding, like the Patmos saint,

All over his dear country : left the deeds A pen unwearied-to indite,

Or Wallace, like a family of ghosts, In his lone isle, the dreams of night ;

To people the steep rocks and river banks,

Her natural sanctuaries, with a local soul Impassioned dreams, that strove to span Of independence and stern liberty "--MS. The faded glories of his clan ! Suns that through blood their western har- The dullest leaf in this thick wood

Lord of the vale ! astounding flood ! bour sought,

Quakes-conscious of ihy power ; And stars that in their courses fought,

The caves reply with hollow moan; Towers rent, winds combating with woods

And vibrates to its central stone,
Lands deluged by unbridled floods,--

Yon time-cemented tower !
And beast and bird that from the spell
Of sleep took import terrible,

And yet how fair the rural scene !
These types mysterious (if the show For thou, O Clyde, hast ever been
Of battle and the routed foe

Beneficent as strong ;
Had failed) would furnish an array Pleased in refreshing dews to steep
Of matter for the dawning day!

The little trembling flowers that peep

Thy shelving rocks among.
How disappeared he ?-ask the newt and
Inheritors of his abode ;

(toad, Hence all who love their country, love The otter crouching undisturbed,

To look on thee-delight to rove
In her dank cleft ;-but be thou curbed, Where they thy voice can hear;
O froward fancy! 'mid a scene

And, to the patriot warrior's shade,
Of aspect winning and serene ;

Lord of the vale ! to heroes laid
For those offensive creatures shun

In dust, that voice is dear!
The inquisition of the sun !
And in this region flowers delight, Along thy banks, at dead of nigh:
And all is lovely to the sight.

Sweeps visibly the Wallace wight;

Or stands in warlike vest,

What! Ossian here—a painted thrall,
Aloft, beneath the moon's pale beam, Mute fixture on a stuccoed wall ;
A champion worthy of the stream,

To serve, an unsuspected screen
Yon gray tower's living crest !

For show that must not yet be seen :

And, when the moment comes, to part But clouds and envious darkness hide And vanish by mysterious art ; A form not doubtfully descried :

Head, harp, and body, split asunder, Their transient mission o'er,

For ingress to a world of wonder ; Oh, say to what blind region fee

A gay saloon, with waters dancing These shapes of awful phantasy?

Upon the sight wherever glancing: To what untrodden shore?

One loud cascade in front, and lo!

A thousand like it, white as snowLess than divine command they spurn;

Streams on the walls, and torrents foam But this we from the mountains learn, As active round the hollow dome, And this the valleys show,

Illusive cataracts! of their terrors That never will they deign to hold

Not stript, nor voiceless in the mirrors, Communion where the heart is cold That catch the pageant from the flood To human weal and woe.

Thundering adown a rocky wood !

Strange scene, fantastic and uneasy The man of abject soul in vain

As ever made a maniac dizzy, Shall walk the Marathonian plain;

When disenchanted from the mood Or thrid the shadowy gloom,

That loves on sullen thoughts to brood ! That still invests the guardian pass Where stood, sublime, Leonidas,

O nature, in thy changeful visions, Devoted to the tomb.

Through all thy most abrupt transitions,

Smooth, graceful, tender, or sublime, Nor deem that it can aught avail

Ever averse to pantomime, For such to glide with oar or sail

Thee neither do they know nor us Beneath the piny wood,

Thy servants, who can trifle thus ; Where Tell once drew, by Uri's lake, Else surely had the sober powers His vengeful shafts-prepared to slake

Of rock that frowns, and stream that roars, Their thirst in tyrant's blood.

Exalted by congenial sway
Of spirits, and the undying lay,

And names that moulder not away,
EFFUSION,

Awakened some redeeming thought

More worthy of this favoured spot ; IN THE PLEASURE-GROUND ON THE

Recalled some feeling-to set free BANKS OF THE BRAN, NEAR DUNKELD. The bard from such indignity! “The waterfall, by a loud roaring, warned us

when we must expect it. We were first, how. The effigies of a valiant wight* ever, conducted into a small apartment, where I once beheld, a Templar knight ; the gardener desired us to look at the picture Not prostrate, not like those that rest of Ossian, which, while he was telling, the On tombs, with palms together pressed, history of the young artist who executed the But sculptured out of living stone, work, disappeared, parting in the middleflying asunder as by the touch of magic-and And standing upright and alone, lo! we are at the entrance of a splendid apart. Both hands with rival energy ment, which was almost dizzy and alive with Employed in setting his sword free waterfalls, that tumbled in all directions ; the From its dull sheath-stern sentinel faced us, being reflected in innumerable mirrors As if with memory of the affray great cascade, opposite the window, which Intent to guard St. Robert's cell ; upon the ceiling and against the walls.' Extract from ihe Journal of my Fellow. Far distant, when, as legends say, Traveller.

The monks of Fountains thronged :9 WHAT he-who 'mid the kindred throng

force Of heroes that inspired his song,

From its dear home the hermit's corse, Doth yet frequent the hill of storms, The stars dim-twinkling through their * On the banks of the river Nid, near Knaresform!

borough