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, 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", attend!- 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, To meet her love beneath the twilight shade, When, mid dire heaths, where flits the taper blue, 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! Trail'st the long mop, or whirl'st the mimic flail. Or lull the dame while mirth his vigils keeps? 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 dis- In the day-time, he lurked in remote recesses of the old houses It seems no improbable conjecture, that the Brownie is a legitimate -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, She sees at dawn a gaping idiot stare! O snatch the innocent from demons wild, And save the parents fond from fell despair! In a deep cave the trusty menials wait, When from their hilly dens, at midnight's hour, Forth rush the airy elves in mimic state, 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. |