Thy shrine in some religious wood, O soul-enforcing goddess, stood! There oft the painted native's feet Were wont thy form celestial meet : Though now with hopeless toil we trace Time's backward rolls, to find its place; Whether the fiery-tressed Dane, Or Roman's self o'erturn'd the fane, Or in what heaven-left age it fell, 'T were hard for modern song to tell. Yet still, if truth those beams infuse, Which guide at once, and charm the Muse, Beyond yon braided clouds that lie, Paving the light embroider'd sky: Amidst the bright pavilion'd plains, The beauteous model still remains, There happier than in islands blest, - Or bowers by Spring or Hebe drest, The chiefs who fill our Albion's story, In warlike weeds, retir'd in glory, Hear their consorted Druids sing Their triumphs to th' immortal string. How may the poet now unfold, What never tongue or numbers told? How learn delighted, and amaz'd, What hands unknown that fabric rais'd? E'en now, before his favour'd eyes, In Gothic pride it seems to rise! Yet Grecia's graceful orders join, Majestic, through the mix'd design; The secret builder knew to chuse, Each sphere-found gem of richest hues: Whate'er Heaven's purer mould contains, When nearer suns emblaze its veins ; There on the walls the patriot's sight May ever hang with fresh delight, And, 'grav'd with some prophetic rage, Read Albion's fame through every age. Ye forms divine, ye laureate band, That near her inmost altar stand! Now soothe her, to her blissful train Blithe Concord's social form to gain: Concord, whose myrtle wand can steep E'en Anger's blood-shot eyes in sleep : Before whose breathing bosom's balm, Rage drops his steel, and storms grow calm; Her let our sires and matrons hoar Welcome to Britain's ravag'd shore, Our youths, enamour'd of the fair, Play with the tangles of her hair, Till, in one loud applauding sound, The nations shout to her around, "O, how supremely art thou blest, Thou, lady, thou shalt rule the West!" THE PASSIONS. AN ODE FOR MUSIC. WHEN Music, heavenly maid, was young, From the supporting myrtles round First Fear his hand, its skill to try, E'en at the sound himself had made. Next Anger rush'd, his eyes on fire, With woeful measures wan Despair — Low sullen sounds his grief beguil❜d, A solemn, strange, and mingled air, 'T was sad by fits, by starts 't was wild But thou, O Hope, with eyes so fair, What was thy delighted measure? Still it whisper'd promis'd pleasure, And bade the lovely scenes at distance hail! Still would her touch the strain prolong, - And from the rocks, the woods, the vale, She call'd on Echo still through all the song; And where her sweetest theme she chose, A soft responsive voice was heard at every close, And Hope enchanted smil'd, and wav'd her golden hair. And longer had she sung-but, with a frown, He threw his blood-stain'd sword in thunder down, The war-denouncing trumpet took, Were ne'er prophetic sound so full of woe. And ever and anon he beat, The doubling drum with furious heat; [tween, And though sometimes, each dreary pause beDejected Pity at his side Her soul-subduing voice applied, Yet still he kept his wild unalter'd mien, While each strain'd ball of sight seem'd bursting from his head. Thy numbers, Jealousy, to nought were fix'd, Of differing themes the veering song was mix'd, With eyes up-rais'd, as one inspir'd, And from her wild sequester'd seat, Pour'd through the mellow horn her pensive soul: [stole, Through glades and glooms the mingled measure Or o'er some haunted streams with fond delay, Round an holy calm diffusing, Love of peace, and lonely musing, In hollow murmurs died away. But, O, how alter'd was its sprightlier tone! Her buskins gemm'd with morning dew, The hunter's call to Faun and Dryad known; The oak-crown'd sisters, and their chaste-ey'd queen, Satyrs and sylvan boys were seen, Peeping from forth their alleys green; Brown Exercise rejoic'd to hear, And Sport leapt up, and seiz'd his beechen spear. Last came Joy's ecstatic trial, He, with viny crown advancing, First to the lively pipe his hand addrest, But soon he saw the brisk-awakening viol, Whose sweet entrancing voice he lov'd the best. They would have thought, who heard the strain, They saw in Tempé's vale her native maids, Amidst the festal sounding shades, To some unwearied minstrel dancing, While, as his flying fingers kiss'd the strings, As if he would the charming air repay, O Music, sphere-descended maid, Friend of pleasure, wisdom's aid, Why, goddess, why to us denied, Lay'st thou thy ancient lyre aside? As in that lov'd Athenian bower, You learn'd an all-commanding power, Thy mimic soul, O nymph endear'd, Can well recall what then it heard. Where is thy native simple heart, Devote to virtue, fancy, art? Arise, as in that elder time, Warm, energic, chaste, sublime! Thy wonders, in that god-like age, Fill thy recording sister's page"T is said, and I believe the tale, Thy humblest reed could more prevail, Had more of strength, diviner rage, Than all which charms this laggard age, E'en all at once together found Cæcilia's mingled world of sound O, bid our vain endeavours cease, Revive the just designs of Greece, Return in all thy simple state! Confirm the tales her sons relate! DIRGE IN CYMBELINE. UNG BY GUIDERUS AND ARVIRAGUS OVER FIDELE, SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD. To fair Fidele's grassy tomb Soft maids and village hinds shall bring Each opening sweet, of earliest bloom, And rifle all the breathing Spring. No wailing ghost shall dare appear And melting virgins own their love. No wither'd witch shall here be seen, The red-breast oft at evening hours When howling winds, and beating rain, The tender thought on thee shall dwell Each lonely scene shall thee restore, AN ODE ON THE POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS OF THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND; CONSIDERED AS THE SUBJECT OF POETRY. INSCRIBED TO MR. JOHN HOME. HOME, thou return'st from Thames, whose Naiads long Have seen thee lingering with a fond delay, [day Mid those soft friends, whose hearts some future Shall melt, perhaps, to hear thy tragic song. Go, not unmindful of that cordial youth + [side; Whom, long endear'd, thou leav'st by Lavant's Together let us wish him lasting truth And joy untainted with his destin'd bride. Go! nor regardless, while these numbers boast My short-liv'd bliss, forget my social name; But think, far off, how, on the Southern coast, I met thy friendship with an equal flame! Fresh to that soil thou turn'st, where every vale Shall prompt the poet, and his song demand: To thee thy copious subjects ne'er shall fail; Thou need'st but take thy pencil to thy hand, And paint what all believe, who own thy genial land. There must thou wake perforce thy Doric quill; 'Tis Fancy's land to which thou sett'st thy feet; Where still, 't is said, the fairy people meet, Beneath each birken shade, on mead or hill. There each trim lass, that skims the milky store To the swart tribes, their creamy bowls alots; By night they sip it round the cottage-door, While airy minstrels warble jocund notes. There, every herd, by sad experience, knows How, wing'd with fate, their elf-shot arrows fly, When the sick ewe her summer food forgoes, Or, stretch'd on earth, the heart-smit heifers lie. Such airy beings awe th' untutor'd swain: [neglect; Nor thou, tho' learn'd, his homelier thoughts Let thy sweet Muse the rural faith sustain; These are the themes of simple, sure effect, That add new conquests to her boundless reign, And fill with double force her heart-commanding strain. How truly did Collins predict Home's tragic powers! A gentleman of the name of Barrow, who introduced Home to Collins. 508 E'en yet preserv'd, how often mayst thou hear, Where to the Pole the Boreal mountains run, Taught by the father, to his listening son; Strange lays, whose power had charm'd a Spenser's ear. At every pause, before thy mind possest, Old Runic bards shall seem to rise around, With uncouth lyres, in many-colour'd vest, Their matted hair with boughs fantastic crown'd: Whether thou bidd'st the well-taught hind repeat The choral dirge that mourns some chieftain brave, When every shrieking maid her bosom beat, And strew'd with choicest herbs his scented grave; Or, whether sitting in the shepherd's shiel, Thou hear'st some sounding tale of war's alarms; When at the bugle's call, with fire and steel, The sturdy clans pour'd forth their brawny swarms, And hostile brothers met, to prove each other's arms. T is thine to sing, how, framing hideous spells, Their destin'd glance some fated youth descry, And rosy health, shall soon lamented die. For them the viewless forms of air obey; Their bidding heed, and at their beck repair. To monarchs dear, some hundred miles astray, In the first year of the first George's reign, Saw at sad Falkirk all their hopes near crown'd! They rav'd! divining thro' their second sight†, Pale, red Culloden, where these hopes were Illustrious William! Britain's guardian name! But thou, more glorious, Slavery's chain hast To reign a private man, and bow to Freedom's yoke! most • By young Aurora, Collins undoubtedly meant the first appearance of the northern lights, which happened about the year 1715; at least, it highly probable, from this peculiar circumstance, that no ancient writer whatever has taken any notice of them, nor even any one modern, previous to the above period. + Second sight is the term that is used for the divination of the Highlanders. The late Duke of Cumberland, who defeated the Pretender at the battle of Culloden. These, too, thou 'lt sing! for well thy magic Mase Let not dank Will § mislead you to the heath:\\ Nor trust the guidance of that faithless light; And frequent round him rolls his sullen eyes, If chance his savage wrath may some weak wretch surprise. Ah, luckless swain, o'er all unblest, indeed! Whom late bewilder'd in the dank, dark fen, Shall never look with pity's kind concern, To some dim hill that seems uprising near, force, And down the waves he floats, a pale and breathles corse! For him in vain his anxious wife shall wait, Or wander forth to meet him on his way; Her travell'd limbs in broken slumbers steep, Shall fondly seem to press her shuddering cheek, And with his blue-swoln face before her stand, And, shivering cold, these piteous accents speak: "Pursue, dear wife, thy daily toils, pursue, At dawn or dusk, industrious as before; Nor e'er of me one helpless thought renew, While I lie weltering on the osier'd shore, Drown'd by the Kelpie's || wrath, nor e'er shall sid thee more!" Unbounded is thy range; with varied skill Thy Muse may, like those feathery tribes which spring From their rude rocks, extend her skirting wing Round the moist marge of each cold Hebrid isle, § A fiery meteor, called by various names, such as Will with the Wisp, Jack with the Lantern, &c It hovers in the air over marshy and fenny places. The water-fiend. = SUPERSTITIONS OF THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND. To that hoar pile * which still its ruin shows: In whose small vaults a Pigmy folk is found, Whose bones the delver with his spade upthrows, And culls them, wond'ring, from the hallow'd ground! Or thither, where beneath the show'ry west The mighty kings of three fair realms are laid: Once foes, perhaps together now they rest, No slaves revere them, and no wars invade : - Yet frequent now, at midnight solemn hour, The rifted mounds their yawning cells unfold, And forth the monarchs stalk with sovereign power, In pageant robes, and wreath'd with sheeny gold, And on their twilight tombs aërial council hold. But, oh, o'er all, forget not Kilda's race, [tides, Of those whose lives are yet sincere and plain, And all their prospect but the wintery main. With sparing temperance at the needful time They drain the scented spring; or, hunger-prest, Along th' Atlantic rock, undreading, climb, And of its eggs despoil the solan's nest. Thus blest in primal innocence they live, Suffic'd 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 gage Thy gentle mind, of fairer stores possest; And with their terrours dress'd the magic scene. Through the dark cave in gleamy pageant pass'd. The native legends of thy land rehearse; In scenes like these, which, daring to depart One of the Hebrides is called the Isle of Pigrnies; where it is reported that several miniature bones of the human species have been dug up in the ruins of a chapel there. + Icolmkill, one of the Hebrides, where near sixty of the ancient Scottish, Irish, and Norwegian kings are interred. 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 sat, when pip'd the pensive wind, Believ'd the magic wonders which he sung! 509 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 th' empassion'd heart, and wins th' barmonious ear! All hail, ye scenes that o'er my soul prevail! Ye splendid friths and lakes, which, far away, broom; Or o'er your stretching heaths, by Fancy led Or o'er your mountains creep, in aweful gloom! Where Jonson sat in Drummond's classic shade ‡; ODE ON THE DEATH OF MR. THOMSON. THE SCENE OF THE FOLLOWING STANZAS IS SUPPOSED In yonder grave a Druid lies Where slowly winds the stealing wave: The year's best sweets shall duteous rise, To deck its poet's sylvan grave. In yon deep bed of whispering reeds His airy harp | shall now be laid, May love through life the soothing shade. Then maids and youths shall linger here, And, while its sounds at distance swell, Shall sadly seem in Pity's ear To hear the woodland pilgrim's knell. Remembrance oft shall haunt the shore Three rivers in Scotland. + Valleys. Ben Jonson paid a visit on foot, in 1619, to the Scotch poet, Drummond, at his seat of Hawthornden, within four miles of Edinburgh. $ Barrow, it seems, was at the Edinburgh Uni.. versity, which is in the county of Lothian. The harp of Æolus, of which see a description in the Castle of Indolence. |