Along the' Atlantic rock, undreading climb, And of its eggs despoil the solan's " nest. Thus, bless'd in primal innocence they live, Sufficed, and happy with that frugal fare Which tasteful toil and hourly danger give: Hard is their shallow soil, and bleak and bare ; Nor ever vernal bee was heard to murmur there! Nor need'st thou blush that such false themes en- Flew to those fairy climes his fancy sheen, In musing hour; his wayward sisters found, And with their terrors dress'd the magic scene. From them he sung, when mid his bold design, Before the Scot, afflicted, and aghast! The shadowy kings of Banquo's fated line Through the dark cave in gleamy pageant pass'd. Proceed! nor quit the tales which, simply told, Could once so well my answering bosom pierce; Proceed, in forceful sounds, and colour bold, The native legends of thy land rehearse; To such adapt thy lyre, and suit thy powerful verse. In scenes like these, which, daring to depart From sober truth, are still to Nature true, And call forth fresh delight to Fancy's view, The' heroic Muse employ'd her Tasso's art; An aquatic bird like a goose, on the eggs of which the inhabitants of St. Kilda, another of the Hebrides, chiefly subsist. How have I trembled, when, at Tancred's stroke, Its gushing blood the gaping cypress pour'd! When each live plant with mortal accents spoke, And the wild blast upheaved the vanish'd sword! How have I sat, when piped the pensive wind, To hear his harp by British Fairfax strung! Prevailing poet! whose undoubting mind Believed the magic wonders which he sung; Hence, at each sound, imagination glows! Hence at each picture, vivid life starts here! Hence his warm lay with softest sweetness flows! Melting it flows, pure, murmuring, strong, and clear, And fills the' impassion❜d heart, and wins the' harmonious ear! All hail, ye scenes that o'er my soul prevail; Or o'er your stretching heaths, by Fancy led: Or, o'er your mountains creep, in awful gloom! Then will I dress once more the faded bower, Where Jonson 14 satin Drummond's classic shade; crop, from Tiviotdale, each lyric flower, And mourn, on Yarrow's banks, where Willy's laid! Or 12 Three rivers in Scotland. 13 Valleys. 14 Ben Jonson paid a visit on foot, in 1619, to the Scottish poet Drummond, at his seat of Hawthornden, within four miles of Edinburgh. See an account of a conversation which passed between them, in Drummond's Works, 1711. Meantime, ye powers that on the plains which bore The cordial youth, on Lothian's plains 15, at tend!- 15 Where'er Home dwells, on hill, or lowly moor, To him I love your kind protection lend, And, touch'd with love like mine, preserve my absent friend 16! 15 Barrow, it seems, was at the Edinburgh University, which is in the county of Lothian. 16 The following supplemental stanzas to the foregoing Ode, will be found to commemorate some striking Scottish superstitions omitted by Collins. They are the production of William Erskine, Esq. Advocate, and form a Continuation of the Address, by Collins, to the Author of Douglas, exhorting him to celebrate the traditions of Scotland. They originally appeared in the Edinburgh Magazine for April, 1788. Thy Muse may tell, how, when at evening's close, Chanting some carol till her swain appears, That, just when twilight dimm'd the green hill's side, Far in his lonely sheil her hapless shepherd died. 'Let these sad strains to lighter sounds give place! Bid thy brisk viol warble measures gay! For see! recall'd by thy resistless lay, Once more the Brownie shows his honest face. *The wraith, or spectral appearance of a person shortly to die, is a firm article in the creed of Scottish superstition. Hail, from thy wanderings long, my much-loved sprite! Or lull the dame while mirth his vigils keeps ? "Twas thus in Caledonia's domes, 'tis said, Thou ply'dst the kindly task in years of yore: Spread in thy nightly cell of viands store : Then wake (for well thou canst) that wondrous lay, And bear the smiling infant far away : * 'The Brownie formed a class of beings, distinct in habit and disposition from the freakish and mischievous elves. He was meagre, shaggy, and wild in his appearance. Thus, Cleland, in his satire against the Highlanders, compares them to 'Faunes, or brownies, if ye will, Or satyres come from Atlas hill." In the day-time, he lurked in remote recesses of the old houses which he delighted to haunt; and, in the night sedulously employed himself in discharging any laborious task which he thought might be acceptable to the family, to whose service he had devoted himself. But, although, like Milton's lubber fiend, he loves to stretch himself by the fire, he does not drudge from the hope of recompense. On the contrary, so delicate is his attachment, that the offer of reward, but particularly of food, infallibly occasions his disappearance for ever. 'When the menials in a Scottish family protracted their vigils around the kitchen fire, Brownie, weary of being excluded from the midnight hearth, sometimes appeared at the door, seemed to watch their departure, and thus admonished them-Gang a' to your beds, sirs, and dinna put out the wee grieshoch (embers)." It seems no improbable conjecture, that the Brownie is a legitimate descendant of the Lar Familiaris of the ancients. -how the drudging goblin sweat, And, stretch'd out all the chimney's length, L'Allegro. 252 MR. ERSKINE'S SUPPLEMENT. How starts the nurse, when, for her lovely child, When from their hilly dens, at midnight's hour, And o'er the moonlight heath with swiftness scour ; In glittering arms the little horsemen shine; Last, on a milk-white steed with targe of gold, A fay of might appears, whose arms entwine The lost, lamented child; the shepherds bold * The' unconscious infant tear from his unhallow'd hold! For an account of the Fairy superstition, see the Introduction to the Tale of Tamlane,' in that elegant work called Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, vol. ii. p. 174, second edition. END OF VOL. XXXIX. C. Whittingham, College House, Chiswick. |