And see, the fairy valleys fade;

Dun night has veil'd the solemn view! Yet once again, dear parted shade,

Meek Nature's Child, again adieu !

с

The genial meads, assign'd to bless

Thy life, shall mourn thy early doom; Their hinds and shepherd-girls shall dress,、、 With simple hands, thy rural tomb.

Long, long, thy stone and pointed clay``
Shall melt the musing Briton's eyes :
O! vales and wild woods, shall he say,
In yonder grave your Druid lies!

c Mr. Thomson resided in the neighbourhood of Richmond some time before his death.

F

ODE ON THE POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS OF

THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND;

CONSIDERED AS THE SUBJECT OF POETRY; INSCRIBED

TO MR. JOHN HOME.

(I.

HOME, thou return'st from Thames, whose Naiads long a

Have seen thee lingering with a fond delay,↳ 'Mid those soft friends, whose hearts, some fu

ture day,

Shall melt, perhaps, to hear thy tragic song,da Go, not unmindful of that cordial youth

5

Whom, long endear'd, thou leavest by Levant's

side;

Together let us wish him lasting truth,

And joy untainted with his destined bride.c Go! nor regardless, while these numbers boast < My short-lived bliss, forget my social name ;$10 But think, far off, how, on the southern coast, I met thy friendship with an equal flame!

d How truly did Collins predict Home's tragic powers! e A gentleman of the name of Barrow, who introduced Home to Collins.

Fresh to that soil thou turnʼst, where every vale Shall prompt the poet, and his song demand: To thee thy copious subjects ne'er shall fail; 15 Thou need'st but take thy pencil to thy hand,h And paint what all believe, who own thy genial land.

II.

There, must thou wake perforce thy Doric quill;
"Tis Fancy's land to which thou sett'st thy feet;
Where still, 'tis said, the fairy people meet, 20
Beneath each birken shade, on mead or hill.
There, each trim lass, that skims the milky store, c
To the swart tribes their creamy bowls allots;
By night they sip it round the cottage door,

While airy minstrels warble jocund notes. 25
There, every herd, by sad experience, knows e
How, wing'd with fate, their elf-shot arrows fly, f
When the sick ewe her summer food foregoes,"
Or, stretch'd on earth, the heart-smit heifers f
lie.f

Such airy beings awe the untutor'd swain:

30

Nor thou, though learn'd, his homelier thoughts

neglect ;

Let thy sweet muse the rural faith sustain;

h

These are the themes of simple, sure effect, That add new conquests to her boundless reign, And fill, with double force, her heart-command

ing strain.

35

3

III.

E'en yet preserved, how often mayst thou hear, a 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,

40

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 bidst 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! i

Or whether, sitting in the shepherd's shiel,

45

Thou hear'st some sounding tale of war's alarms; When at the bugle's call, with fire and steel, 50 The sturdy clans pour'd forth their brawny

swarms,

And hostile brothers met, to prove each other's

arms.

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 44. Whether thou bidst the well taught hind relate 51. The sturdy clans pour'd forth their bony swarms,

f A summer hut, built in the high part of the mountains, to tend their flocks in the warm season, when the pasture is fine.

IV.

"Tis thine to sing, how, framing hideous spells,
In Sky's lone isle, the gifted wizard seer,
Lodged in the wintry cave with Fate's fell spear,
Or in the depth of Uist's dark forest dwells:
How they, whose sight such dreary dreams en-

gross,

56

60

With their own visions oft astonish'd droop,
When, o'er the watery strath, or quaggy moss,
They see the gliding ghosts unbodied troop.
Or, if in sports, or on the festive green,
Their destined glance some fated youth descry,
Who now, perhaps, in lusty vigour seen,
And rosy health, shall soon lamented die.

65

For them the viewless forms of air obey; Their bidding heed, and at their beck repair: They know what spirit brews the stormful day, And heartless, oft like moody madness, stare To see the phantom train their secret work

V.

prepare.

To monarchs dear, some hundred miles astray, 70
Oft have they seen Fate give the fatal blow!
The seer, in Sky, shriek'd as the blood did flow,
(When headless Charles warm on the scaffold lay!)

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 56. Or in the gloom of Uist's dark forest dwells :
58. With their own visions oft afflicted droop,
66. Their bidding mark, and at their beck repair: