CLXIV ON THE DEATH OF MR. ROBERT Levet, A PRACTISER IN PHYSIC. Condemned to Hope's delusive mine, Well tried through many a varying year, Of every friendless name the friend. Yet still he fills affection's eye, When fainting nature called for aid, 5 ΙΟ And hovering death prepared the blow, 15 The power of art without the show. In Misery's darkest cavern known, His useful care was ever nigh, Where hopeless Anguish poured his groan, 20 No summons mocked by chill delay, No petty gain disdained by pride, His virtues walked their narrow round, 25 The busy day-the peaceful night, Unfelt, uncounted, glided by; His frame was firm, his powers were bright, Then with no fiery throbbing pain, Death broke at once the vital chain, 30 35 Samuel Johnson. CLXV HIGHLAND MARY. Ye banks and braes and streams around The castle o' Montgomery, Green be your woods, and fair your flowers, Your waters never drumlie! There simmer first unfauld her robes, And there the langest tarry ; For there I took the last fareweel O' my sweet Highland Mary. How sweetly bloomed the gay green birk, As underneath their fragrant shade I clasped her to my bosom ! The golden hours on angel wings Flew o'er me and my dearie; For dear to me as light and life Was my sweet Highland Mary. Wi' mony a vow and locked embrace And pledging aft to meet again, We tore oursels asunder; 5 ΙΟ 15 20 But, oh! fell Death's untimely frost, That nipt my flower sae early! Now green's the sod, and cauld's the clay, That wraps my Highland Mary! O pale, pale now, those rosy lips, I aft hae kissed sae fondly! And closed for aye the sparkling glance And mouldering now in silent dust That heart that lo'ed me dearly! But still within my bosom's core Robert Burns 25 30 CLXVI THE CAST-AWAY. Obscurest night involved the sky; Washed headlong from on board, Of friends, of hope, of all bereft, 5 No braver chief could Albion boast, Nor ever ship left Albion's coast With warmer wishes sent. He loved them both, but both in vain, Not long beneath the whelming brine, ΙΟ Or courage die away; But waged with death a lasting strife, P He shouted; nor his friends had failed But so the furious blast prevailed, That, pitiless perforce, They left their outcast mate behind, 20 Some succour yet they could afford; Delayed not to bestow. But he, they knew, nor ship nor shore, Nor, cruel as it seemed, could he Yet bitter felt it still to die In ocean, self-upheld : 30 He long survives, who lives an hour And so long he, with unspent power, 40 And ever as the minutes flew, Entreated help, or cried-Adieu!' At length, his transient respite past, Had heard his voice in every blast, 45 The stifling wave, and then he sank. No poet wept him; but the page Of narrative sincere, 50 That tells his name, his worth, his age, Is wet with Anson's tear. And tears by bards or heroes shed Alike immortalize the dead. I therefore purpose not, or dream, 55 To give the melancholy theme A more enduring date; But misery still delights to trace Its semblance in another's case. 60 No voice divine the storm allayed, When snatched from all effectual aid We perished, each alone: But I beneath a rougher sea, 65 William Cowper. And whelmed in deeper gulfs than he. CLXVII THE LAND O' THE LEAL. I'm wearing awa', John, Like snaw when its thaw, John, I'm wearing awa' To the land o' the leal. There's nae sorrow there, John, There's neither cauld nor care, John, In the land o' the leal. Ye were aye leal and true, John, And I'll welcome you To the land o' the leal. 5 ΙΟ |