5CS ^ iol^ 
 
//t-rwu^ r. / pOAjt^^^-x-^ 
 
C{^c^ 
 
 
 i/^f- e/6^^Z^ //4i^. 
 
- POEMS, 
 
 0N 
 
 SEVERAL OCCASIONS, 
 
 Wi 
 
 MICHAEL BPvUCE. 
 
 A NEV/ EDITION. 
 
 'Sln€ me-i lihcr, ibis in urbem. OtiDc 
 
 EDINBURGH; 
 
 TRFNTED Br JOHN FATERS0I7> 
 A7y-D SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS, 
 
 JVIDCCXCVI. 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive 
 
 in 2012 witii funding from 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/poemsonseveralocOObruc 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 IWriCHAEL BRUCE, the Author of the 
 following Poems, lives now no more 
 but in the remembrance of his friends. He 
 was born in a remote village in Kinrofsiliire, 
 and defcended from parents remarkable for no- 
 thing but the innocence a:.d fimplicitj of their 
 lives. The}', however^ had the penetration to 
 difcover in their young fon a genius fuperior 
 to the common, and had the merit to give him 
 a polite and liberal education. From his ear- 
 liefi years, he manifelted the mofl fanguine 
 love of letters, and afterwards made eminent 
 a 2 progrefs 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 progrefs in many branches of literature. But 
 Poetry was his darling fludj : the poets were 
 his perpetual companions. He read their works 
 with avidity, and with a congenial enthufiafm ; 
 he caught their fpirit as well as their man- 
 ner ; and though he fometimes imitated their 
 flyle, he was a poet from infpiration. No lefs 
 amiable as a man, than valuable as a writer ; en- 
 dued with good nature and good fenfe; humane, 
 friendly, benevolent ; he loved his friends, and 
 was beloved by them Vvith a degree of ardour 
 that id oiJy experienced in the aera of youth 
 jir.d innocence. 
 
 It was during the lumrr.er vacations of t^e 
 College that he compofed the following Poems. 
 If in.aees of nature that are beautiful and 
 new ; if feniiuients, warm, from the heart, in- 
 teieliing, and pathetic ; if a Hyl^^, chafle with 
 crr*?.ii'-er.t, and ekg? nt v-ith fimplicity j if thefe, 
 
 and 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 and many other beauties of nature and of art, 
 are allowed to conftitute true poetic merit, the 
 following Poems will Hand high in the judge- 
 ment of men of tafte. 
 
 After the Author had finiflied his courfe of 
 philofophy at Edhiburgh, he was felzed with a 
 confumption, of which he died, about the 21 ft 
 year of his age. 
 
 During that difeafe, and in the immediate 
 view of death, he wrote the Elegy to Spring ; 
 the latter part of which is wrought up into the 
 moft paflionate Itrains of the true pathetic, and 
 is not perhaps Inferior to any poetry in any 
 language. 
 
 To make up a mifcellany, fome poems, wrote 
 by diiferent authors, are inferted ; all of them 
 original, and none of them deftitute of merit. 
 The reader of tafle will ealily diftinguilh them 
 
 from 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 from thofe of Mr. Bruce, without their being 
 particularized by any mark. 
 
 Several of thefe poems have been approved 
 bj perfons of the flrft tafle in the kingdom ; 
 and the Editor publilhes them to that fmall 
 circle for whom thej are intended, not with 
 folicitude and anxiety, but with the pleafura- 
 blc reflexion that he is furnilhing out a claf- 
 {ical entertainment to every reader of refined 
 tafle. 
 
 THE 
 
Edinburgh y Feh, ift, 1796. 
 ^ j ^HE foregoing Preface was prefixed to the 
 original edition of Mr. Bruce's Poems, 
 publiflied bj Mr. Logan. It is reprinted here, 
 becaufe this volume includes all the pieces v/rit- 
 tcn both bj Bruce and others, which were in- 
 ferted in that edition. To thefe, however, the 
 Publifhers of this work have annexed feveral ad- 
 ditional Poems, taken from the manufcripts of 
 the Author, furnilhed to them bj his mother, 
 i The manufcripts appear to contain the firft 
 j Iketch onlj v/hich he had written of thefe ; and 
 hence fome paiTages are found in them which 
 are deficient in that fmoothnefs, accuracy, and 
 vigour, v/hich, on revifion, he could have given 
 to them. But as the Poems have already ap- 
 peared in a late colie6lion in their original fhape, 
 the prefent Publilhers did not feel therafelves at 
 
 liber t J" 
 
vili PREFACE. 
 
 liberty to make anj retrenchments. They truft, 
 indeed, that, even with thefe deficiencies, the 
 verfes will be received as an acceptable prefent 
 by the admirers of Bruce, and be confidered as 
 far from reflecting difcredit on his genius. 
 
 The Publilhcrs have only to add farther^ 
 that they reckon it t]ieir duty, and are fure it 
 will be a gratification to the Public, to fubjoin, 
 on this occafion, the following paper, written 
 by Lord Craig, now one of the Senators of 
 the College of Juftice, which appeared, in 1779, 
 in the 36th number of the Mirror. That paper 
 hath contributed greatly to make the Poems 
 of Bruce better knovi^n in this country, than 
 they were, with all their merit, before that 
 time. To its influence, the Publifhers are a- 
 ware that they owe much of that extenfive pa- 
 tronage with which this edition (brought for- 
 ward 
 
PREFACE. ix 
 
 "ward hj fuhfcription') has been honoured. Hav- 
 ing ftated this, they will not indulge themfelves 
 in anj panegyric on the elegant and affe£ling 
 fimplicity of that delightful little piece of com- 
 pofition. They are certain that they will ex- 
 cite a more pleafing emotion in the heart of 
 the author, when they tell him, that, though 
 he could not ^* have the luxury of viliting the 
 poor youth, and bidding him be happy," he 
 may folace himfelf with the coiilideration of 
 having contributed to alleviate the evils of want 
 and age to the widowed mother. Poor and un- 
 .educated as flie is, the Publifhers know — for thev 
 have feen her in her cottage — Anne Bruce will 
 read that paper with tendernefs ; and, with the 
 tear of feeling in her eye, will pray, " God 
 
 blefs him." That man is to be pitied who 
 
 does not feel, that He who has fo deferved this 
 prayer, is enviable. 
 
 b JMlRROi^ 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 [Mirror, N° 36.] 
 
 Some mute inglorious Milton here may rejl. 
 
 Gray. 
 Nothing has a greater tendency to elevate 
 and affe£l the heart, than the refleftion upon 
 thofe perfonages wHo have performed a diflin- 
 guifhed part on the theatre of life, wrhofe ac- 
 tions were attended with important confequen- 
 ces to the world around them, or whofe wri- 
 tings have animated or inftrufled mankind. 
 The thought that they are now no more, that 
 their afhes are mingled with thofe of the meaneft 
 and moft worthlefs, affords a fubje6t of con- 
 templation, which, however melancholy, the 
 mind, in a moment of penfivenefs, may feel a 
 fecret fort of delight to indulge in. " Tell her," 
 fays Hamlet, " that fhe may paint an inch 
 " thick ; yet to this fhe muft come at lad.'* 
 
 Whsa 
 
# 
 
 PREFACE. xi 
 
 When Xerxes, at the head of his numerous 
 army, faw all his troops arranged in order be- 
 fore him, he burft into tears at the thought, 
 that in a fhort time thej would be fweeped from 
 the face of the earth, and be removed to give 
 place to thofe Vv'ho would fill other armies, and 
 ■Jraiik urder other generals. 
 
 Something of what Xerxes felt, from the 
 confideration that thofe who then were Ibould 
 ceafe to be, it is equally natural to feel from 
 the refle^lion, that all who have formerly lived 
 have ceafed to live, and that nothing mere re- 
 mains but the memory of a very few, who have 
 leftfome mem.orial which keeps alive theirnam.es, 
 and the fame with which thofe names are ac- 
 companied. 
 
 But, ferious as this reiledion may be, it is 
 
 not fo deep as the thought, that, even of thofe 
 
 perfcns who vrere pofTefTed of talents for diilin- 
 
 b a guifning 
 
xii PREFACE. 
 
 I^uifhing themfelves in the world, for hay'mg 
 their memory handed down from age to age,, 
 much the greater part it is likely, from hard 
 receffity, or by fome of the various fatal ac- 
 cidents of life, have been excluded from the 
 polfibility of exerting themfelves, or of being 
 ufeful either to thofe who lived in the fame age, 
 or to pofterity. Poverty in many, and unto- 
 ward calamity in others, have " chilled the ge- 
 nial current of the foul ;" and numbers have 
 been cut off by premature death in the midft of 
 proje6l and ambition. How many may there 
 have been in the ages that are paft, how many 
 may exift at this very moment, who, with all 
 the talents fitted to fliine in the world, to guide 
 or to inilrufi; it, may, by fome fecret misfor- 
 tune, have had their mirds depreffed, or the 
 fire of their genius extinguiihed ! 
 
 1 have been led iKto tliefe reflexions from 'm 
 
 the i 
 
I 
 
 PREFACE. xm 
 
 the perufal of a fmall volume of poems, which 
 happens now to lie before me, which, though 
 poiTeffed of very coniiderable merit, and compofed 
 in this country, are, I believe, very little known. 
 In a well written preface, the reader is told. 
 That moft of them are the produ£lion oi Michael 
 Bruce ; that this Michael Bruce was born in a 
 remote village in Kinrofslhire, and defcended 
 from parents remarkable for nothing but the 
 innocence and fimplicity of their lives ; that in 
 the 2ill year of his age he was feized with a 
 confumption, which put an end to his life. 
 
 Nothing, methinks, has more the power of 
 awakening benevolence, than the eonfideration 
 of genius thus deprelTed by fituation, fufFered 
 to pine in obfcurity, and fometimes, as in the 
 cafe of this unfortunate young man, to perilh, 
 it may be, for want of thofe comforts and con- 
 veniences which might have foitered a delicacy 
 
 of 
 
xW PREFACE. 
 
 of frame or of ipind ill calculated to bear the 
 hardfhips which poverty lays on both. For 
 my own part, I never pafs the place (a little 
 hamlet, Ikirted with a circle of old afti trees, 
 about two miles on this fide of Kinrofs) where 
 Michael Bruce refided : — 1 never look on his 
 dwelling, (a fir.all thatched houfe, diilinguifhed 
 from the cottages of the other inhabitants only 
 by 2.Jh/hed window at the end, inftead of a lat- 
 tice^ fringed with a honeyfuchle plant, which the 
 poor youth had trained around it) ; — I never 
 find myfelf in that fpot, but I flop my horfe in- 
 voluntarily, and, looking on the windov\', which 
 the honcyfuckle has now almoft covered, in the 
 dream of the moment, I picture out a figure for 
 the gentle tenant of the manfion. I wifh, and 
 my heart fwells while I do fo, that he were 
 alive, and that I were a great man, to have the 
 luxury of vifiting him there, and of bidding him 
 
 be 
 
PREFACE. xr 
 
 be happy. .1 cannot carry my readers thi- 
 ther; but, that thej may ihare fome of my feel- 
 ings, I will prefent them with an extrafl from 
 the lall * poem in the little volume before me, 
 which, from the fubje6l, and the manner ia 
 which it is wri:ten, cannot fail of touching the 
 heart of every man who reads it. 
 
 A young man of genius, in a deep confump- 
 tion, at the age of twenty-one, feeling himfelf 
 every moment going fafler to decline, is an ob- 
 ject fulEciently interefting ; but how much mufl 
 every feeling on the occafion be heightened when 
 we know, that this perfon polTeiTed fo much dig- 
 nity and compofare of mind, as not only to 
 contemplate his approaching fate, but even to 
 v/rite a poem on the fubjecl ! 
 
 One 
 
 * The Ele^j to Spring was the laR in the former 
 : JicioR;. 
 
xvi PREFACE. 
 
 One of the moH beautiful poems in any Ian* 
 guage, is that of the Abbe de Chaulieu, writ- 
 ten, in expectation of his own death, to the 
 IMarquis de la Ferre, lamenting his approach- 
 ing feparation from his friend. Michael Bruce, 
 who, it is probable, never heard of the Abbe 
 de Chaulieu, has alfo written a poem on his 
 death ; with the latter part of which I fliall 
 conclude this paper. 
 
 Now Spring returns ; but not to me returns 
 The vernal joy my better years have known ; 
 
 Dim in my breall Life's dying taper burns, 
 And all the joys of life with health are flown. 
 
 "Starting and fhiv*ring in th' inconftant wind. 
 Meagre and pale, the ghoft of what I was. 
 
 Beneath fome blafted tree I lie reclin'd, 
 And count the filent moments as they pafs : 
 
 The 
 
PREFACE. ivU 
 
 The winged moments, wliofe unfteying fpeed 
 No art can ftop., or in their courfe arrell ; 
 
 Whofe flight fhall fhortly count me with the dead. 
 And lay me -down in peace with them that reft. 
 
 Oft morning-dreams prefage approaching f«te ; 
 
 And morning-dreams, as poets tell, are true. 
 Led by pale ghofts, I enter Death's dark gate. 
 
 And bid the realms of light and life adieu. 
 
 I hear the helplefs wail, the fhriek of woe ; 
 
 I fee the muddy wave, the dreary (hore, 
 The fluggifh ftreams that flowly creep below, 
 
 Which mortals vifit, and return no more. 
 
 Farewell, ye blooming fields ! ye cheerful plains I 
 Enough for me the church-yard's lonely mound. 
 
 Where Melancholy with ftill Silence reigns, 
 
 And the rank grafs waves o'er the cheerlefs^ ground. 
 
 There let me wander at the clofe of eve, 
 When fkep fits de\vy on the lab'rer's eyes, 
 
 c Tl^ 
 
xviii PREFACE, 
 
 The world and al! its bufy follies leave, 
 
 And talk with Wifdom where my Daphnis lies* 
 
 There let me fleep forgotten in the clay, 
 
 When Death (hall fhut thefe weary aching eyes. 
 
 Reft in the hope of an eternal day, 
 
 Till the long night's gone, and the lall mom arife. 
 
 VERSES 
 
VERSES 
 
 ADDRESSED TO THE MOTHER OE>IICHAEL BRtCE, 
 By a LadyK 
 
 *T N Life's fair-dawning, but deceitful morn. 
 
 By awful Heaven's infcrutable decree, 
 The tender fcion from its parent torn, 
 Left to the llorm the bending branchlefs tree. 
 
 Where then that heart which with devotion glowM ? 
 ^hat fancy bright, by early genius fir'd ? 
 Thofe candid virtues Heav'n's own hand beftowM \ 
 Ah ! where the towering hopes by thefe infpir'd \ 
 
 ■Blailed they lay for many a difmal year ; 
 Nought footh'd thy grief^ fave memory of the pafl ; 
 6 3 Nowj 
 
xx" VERSE S, ^a 
 
 Now, virtue to reward, and age to cheer, 
 Thy bounteous Maker fends relief at laft. * 
 
 Though fourfcore winters on thy blamelefs head. 
 With want, neglctl, and hardfhip, in their train, 
 Relentlefs, have their baneful influence fiiei ; 
 Yet confolation viHts thee again. » 
 
 1^0 ! fv.-eet Benevolence a joy fincere 
 Shall with thy Son's reviving fame impart ; 
 Again his praife (hall charm, thy languid ear, 
 And warm with honell pride thy v»-ithering heart. 
 
 Ev'n when in fhades conceal'd, obfcure of birth. 
 Fame fpoke his merits with no partial breath ; 
 And' aided now by generons kindred worth. 
 His genius triumpiis over Time and Death. 
 
 CONTENTS, 
 
 * N. B. The profits which may arife from tlvs edition are 
 t.-> he- applied folely to the fupport of the Poet's Mother^ 
 nov' atlvanccfl to ber 8:th year, and living in indigence. 
 
 I 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 1 HE Eagle, Cro<Wi and Shepherd : A Pahk, t 
 
 Alexis: A PafloraJ, - - - 3 
 
 Damon., Menalcas, and Melihoeus .' An Eclogue. 8 
 Pajoral Song : To the tune, of The Tellonv-hair* d 
 
 Laddie* - - - *. i5 
 
 Eclogue : In the manner of OJJtan, - - 19 
 
 Daphn'is : A Monody* - - - 26 
 
 Sir James the Rofs : An, hijlorical Ballade 33 
 
 Venial Ode, - - - - 46 
 
 Ode : To a Fountain* * a - 48 
 
 Banijh Ode, - - - - 51 
 
 Danijh Ode, - - - - 54. 
 
 Anacreontit i To a Wafp. - * * 57 
 
 r/j 
 
 0^ 
 
xxli CONTENTS. 
 
 The Miifiad: A minor Epic Poem, A Fragment » 
 
 In the manner of Homer. - - 6t 
 
 Jjochleven : A Poem. - - • 68 
 
 €de: To Paoli. - - - lo6 
 
 Ode : To the Cuckoo* - - - I f 3 
 
 Elegy : To Spring. - - - - 1 1 6 
 
 The Lajl Day : A Poem. - - 124 
 
 Philocles : An Elegy ^ on the death of Mr. IViUiam 
 
 Dryburgh. - - - - 161 
 
 The Vanity of our Defire of Immortality here : 
 
 A Story f in the Eajlcrn manner. - 166 
 
 J-Wfes on hearing an JEolian Harp at Midnight. 
 
 By Mr. C , a young Gentleman <, ivho died 
 
 rf a confumption afcnv days after tvriting them. 173 
 
 Page 161. line I. /or Waiting, read Waili'^g. 
 P.^ge 162. laft line, /or A, read Or« 
 

 
 
 ^e^^2c^, /c^^^ 
 
 jtZ^^ 
 
 
 ^i^<: ' 
 

 
 f<^'-^x^^.^-^^^ ^/:2^ y^^z^ ^^^/C^>-tfc>^^^o 
 
 
P O E M S 
 
 O N 
 
 SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 
 
 THE EAGLE, CROW, AND SHEPHERD .° 
 
 A FABLE. 
 
 "iQ ENEATH the horror of a rock, 
 
 A fhephcrd carelefs fed his fiock^ 
 Soufe from its top an eagle came. 
 And fciz'd upon a fporting lamb ; 
 Its tender fides his talons tear, 
 And bear it bleating through the air, 
 
 A This 
 
a POEMS ON 
 
 This was difccver'd by a crow, 
 Who hopp'd upon the plain below. 
 « Yon ram," fays he, " becomes my prey ;" 
 And, mounting, haftens to the fray ; 
 Lights on his back — when ]o, ill-luck ! 
 He in the fleece entangled uuck : 
 He fpreads his wings, but can't get frecy. 
 Struggling in vain for liberty. 
 
 The flicpherd foon the c.iptive fpics, 
 And foon he fcizes on the prize. 
 His children curious croud around, 
 And aik Avhat llrange fowl he has found ? 
 " My fens," faid he, " warn'd by this wretch, 
 *' Attempt no deed above your reach : 
 " An eagle not an hour ago, 
 ** Ile'snow content to be a crow." 
 
 ALEXIS 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS, j 
 
 -A L E X I S: 
 
 A PAST ORAL. 
 
 T TPCN a bank -v^-ith cowfiips cover'd e'er. 
 
 Where LEVEx'sv/aters break againil the fiicre ; 
 What time the village lires in circles talk, 
 And youths and ir.aidens take their evening walk ; 
 Among the yellow broom Alexis lay. 
 And vicw'd the beauties of the fetting day. 
 
 Full well you might obfer/e fome invrard fir.arty 
 Some fecret grief hung heavy at his heart. 
 While round the field his fportive lambkins play'd, 
 He rais'd his plaintive voice, and thus he faid : 
 
 Begin, my pipe ! a foftly mournful ilrain.- 
 The parting fdti fi.ines yellow on the plain j 
 
 A 2 ' " The 
 
4 POEMS ON 
 
 The balmy wefl-wind breathes along the ground ; 
 Their evening fvveets the flowVs difpenfe around ; 
 The floclcs frray bleating o'er the mountain's brow. 
 And from the plain the anfw'ring cattle low ; 
 Sweet chant the feather'd tribes on every tree. 
 And all things feel the joys of love — but me. 
 
 Begin, my pipe ! begin the mournful ftrain. 
 EuMELiA meets my kindnefs with clifdain. 
 Oft have I try'd her ftubborn heart to move, 
 And in her icy bofom kindle love : 
 But all in vain. Ere I my love declared, 
 With other youths her company I fhar'd ; 
 But now fhe Ihuns me, hopelefs and forlorn, 
 And pays my conftant paflion with her fcorn. 
 
 Begin, my pipe ! the fadly-foothing drain. 
 And bring the days of innocence agaia. 
 
 Wen 
 
SEVERAL OGCx\SIONS. 
 
 Well I rememter, in the funny fcene 
 Vv'e ran, we playM together on the green. 
 Fair in cur ycuth, and wanton in our play, 
 We toy'd, we fported the long fummer's day^ 
 For her I fpoil'd the gardens of the Spring, 
 And taught the goldfinch on her hand to ling. 
 We fat and fung beneath the lovers tree ; 
 One was her lock, and it was fix'd on me. 
 
 Begin, my pipe ! a melancholy ftrafn. 
 A holiday was kept on yonder plain ; 
 The feafc was fpread upon the flow'ry mead. 
 And ikilful Thyrsis tun'd his vocal reed; 
 
 ! Each for the dance felecis the nymph he loves, 
 And every nymph i^nth fmiles her fwain approves 4 
 The fetting fun beheld their mirthful glcCy 
 
 I And left all happy in their Icve— -but me. 
 
 Begin? 
 
<i POEMS ON 
 
 B£Gi\, my pipe ! a foftly-mournful ftrain. 
 O cruel nyr/.ph ! O moll unhappy fwain ! 
 To climb tht fccepy reek's tremendous height, 
 And crop its herbage, is the goat's delight ; 
 The flow'ry thyme delights the humming bees, 
 And bioorming wiMs the bleiting lambkins plcafc ; 
 Daphnis courts Chloe under every tree : 
 EuKELiA ! you alone have joys for me! 
 
 Now ccafe, my pipe ! ncvr ceife the mournful flrain. 
 Lo, yonder comiCS Eumelia o'er the plain ! 
 Till Hie approach, I'll lurk behind the fiiade, 
 Then try with all my art the llubborn maid : 
 Though to her lover cruel and unkind, 
 Yet time may change the purpcfe of her mind. — 
 Eut vain thcfe pleafing hopes ! already, fee, 
 She hath obferv'd, and now {he flies from me ! 
 
 Then- 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 
 
 Then ceafe, my pipe ! the unavailing itrain. 
 Apollo aids, the Nine infpire in vain : 
 You, cruel maid ! refufe to lend an ear ; 
 No more I ling, lince you difdain to hear. 
 This pipe Amyntas gave, on which he pby'd ; 
 " Be thcu its fecond lord," the dying ihepherd faid. 
 No more I play — now lilent let it be ; 
 Nor pipe, nor fong, can e'er give joy to me. 
 
 
 DAMON, 
 
POEMS ON 
 DAMON, MENALCAS, AND MELIBOEUS 
 
 AN ECLOGUE. 
 
 TV /TILI^ from the fhow'r, the morning's rofy light 
 
 Unfolds the beauteous feafon to the fight : 
 The landfcape rifes verdant on the view ; 
 The little hills uplift their heads in dev^' ; 
 The funny ftream rejoices in the vale ; 
 The woods with fongs approaching Summer hail : 
 The boy comes forth among the flow'rs to play ; 
 His fair hair glitters in the yellow ray. — 
 Shepherds, begin the fong ! while, o'er the mead, 
 Your flocks at Avill on dewy paftures feed. 
 Behold fair nature, and begin the fong ! 
 The fongs of nature to the fwain belong. 1 
 
 1 Wh3 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 
 
 Who equals Cona's bard in filvan ftrains. 
 To him his harp an equal prize remains : 
 His harp, which founds on all its facred ftrings 
 The loves of hunters, and the wars of kings. 
 
 MENALCAS. 
 
 Now Eeecy clouds in clearer ikies are feen ; 
 The air is genial, and the earth is green ; 
 O'er hill and dale the flow'rs fpontaneous fprinc 
 And blackbirds figning now invite to fmg. 
 
 MELIBOEUS. 
 
 ^^ 
 
 Now milky fhow'rs rejoice the fpringing grain j 
 New-opening pea-bloom.s purple all the plain ; 
 The hedges blofTom white on every hand ; 
 Already harveft feems to cloths the land. 
 
 B flENALCASr 
 
 jrfW- 
 
lo POEMS ON 
 
 MENALCAS, 
 
 WHiTE.o'er the hill my fnowy flieep appear, 
 Each with her lamb ; their fhepherds name they bear. 
 1 love to lead them where the dailies fpring, 
 And on the funny hill to (it and fing. 
 
 MELIBOEUS. 
 
 My fields are gi*een with clover and with com ; 
 My flocks the hills, and herds the vales adorn. 
 T teach the ftream, I teach the vocal fliore. 
 And woods, to echo that " I want no more.'* 
 
 MENALCAS. 
 
 To me the bees their annual nedtar yield ; 
 Peace cheers my hut, and plenty clothes my fielde 
 I fear no lofs : I give to Ocean's wind 
 All care away ;— a monarch in my mind. 
 
 MELIBOEUS* 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 
 
 MELIBOEUSc 
 
 My mind is cheerful as the linnet's lays ; 
 Heav'n daily hears a fhepherd's fimple praife. 
 What time I ihear my flock, I fend a fleece 
 To aged Mops a, and her orphan niece. 
 
 -MENALCAS. 
 
 Lavintia, come ! here primrofes upfpring ; 
 Here choirs of linnets, here yourfelf may ling 9 
 Here meadows worthy of thy foot appear : 
 O ccme, Lavinia ! let us wander here ! 
 
 MELIBOEUS. 
 
 Res ELLA, come ! here fiow'rs the heath adorn j 
 Here ruddy rofes open on the thorn ; 
 Here willows by the brook a fhadow give ; 
 •^O h€4-e, RosELLA ! let us love to live ! 
 
aa POEMS ON 
 
 MENALCAS. 
 
 Lavinia's fairer than the flow'rs of May, 
 Or Autumn apples ruddy in the ray : 
 Tor her my flow'rs are in a garland wove ; 
 And all my apples ripen for my love. 
 
 MELIBOEUS. 
 
 Prince of the wood, the oak majeflic tow'rs ; 
 The lily of the vale is queen of flow'rs : 
 Above the maids Rosella's charms prevail. 
 As oaks in woods, and lilies in the vale ! 
 
 TVIENALCAS. 
 
 He SOUND, ye rocks ! ye little hills, rejoice ! 
 AfTenting woods, to Heav'n uplift your voice I 
 Let Spring and Summer enter hand in hand ! 
 Lavini A comes ! the glory of our land ! 
 
 MELIBOEUS- 
 
SEYER/iL OCCASIONS. ij 
 
 MELIBOEUS. 
 
 Whene'er my love appears upon the plain. 
 To her the wond'ring fhepherds tune the ftrain : 
 " Who comes in beauty like the vernal morn, 
 ''* When yellow robes of light all heav'n and earth adoi*n.'^ 
 
 M EN ALC AS.. 
 
 HosELLA'smine, by all the pov/'rs above! 
 3Each ftar in heav'n is witnefs to cur love. 
 I Among the lilies fhe abides all day ; 
 Herfelf as lovely, and as fvreet as they. 
 
 MELIBOEUS. 
 
 By Tweed Lavinia feeds her fleecy care, 
 -And in the fun-fliine combs her yellow hair. 
 Be thme the peace of Heav'n, unknovrn to kings I 
 Jlnd o'er thee angels fpread their guardian wings! 
 
 iMENALCAS^ 
 
34 POEMS ON 
 
 MENALCAS. 
 
 I follov/'d Nciture, and was fond of praife j 
 Thrice noble Varo has approv'd my lays : 
 If he approves, fuperior to my peers, 
 I join th' immortal choir, and fing to other years. 
 
 MELIBOEUS. 
 
 My miftrefs is my mufe : the banks of Tyne 
 Refound with Nature's mufic, and with mine. 
 Helen the fair, the beauty of our green, 
 To me adjudg'd the prize, when chofen queen. 
 
 DAMON. 
 
 Now ceafe your fongs : the flocks to fhelter fly, 
 And the high fun has gain'd the middle iky. 
 To both alike the poet's bays belong ; 
 •Chiefs of the choir, and maftcrs ef the fong. 
 
 TbH8 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. j; 
 
 Thus let your pipes contend, with rival Itnfej 
 To fing the praifes of the paft'ral life : 
 Sing Nature's fcenes, with Nature's beauties fir'd | 
 Where poets dream'd, where prophets lay infpir'd. 
 Even CxiLEDONiAN queens have trod the meads, 
 And fcepter'd kings afTum'd the fhepherds v/eeds : 
 Th' angelic choirs, that guard the throne of God, 
 Hate fat with fhepherds on the humble fod. 
 With us renew'd the golden times remain, 
 And long-loft innocence is found again. 
 
 
 PASTORAL 
 
16 POEMS ON 
 
 PASTORAL SONG. 
 
 To thi tune of Tic Tel'oiv- Huir'' d Laddie. 
 I. 
 
 "TIC May when the gowans appear on the green, 
 
 And flow'rs in tlie field and the foreft are Cren ; 
 Where lilies bloom'd bonny, and hawthorns upfprung,. 
 The yellovv-hair'd laddie oft whiftled and fung. 
 
 II. 
 
 But neither the fhades, nor the f-A-eets of the flv^w'rs. 
 Nor the blackbirds that warbled onblofToming bow'rs. 
 Could pleafure his eye, or his ear entertain ; 
 For love was his pleafure, and love was his pain. 
 
 III. 
 
 The fhepherd thus fang ; while his flocks all around 
 
 Drew nearer and nearer, and figh'd to the found : 
 
 1 Arcunc 
 
 < 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. i;. 
 
 Around, as in chains, lay the beafts of the wood, 
 With pity difarmed, with miific fubdu'd, 
 
 IV. 
 
 Young Jessy is fair as the Spring's early flow'rj 
 And Mary fings fweet as the bird in the bow'r : 
 But Peggy is fairer and fweeter than they ; 
 With looks like the morning, with fmiles like the day,- 
 
 V. 
 
 In the fiowV of her youth, in the bloom of eighteen ; 
 Of virtue the goddefs, of beauty the queen : 
 One hour in her prefence an aera excels 
 Amid courts, where ambition with mifery dwells. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Fair to the fliepherd the new-fpringing flow'rs. 
 When May and when morning lead on the gay hours ; 
 But Peggy is brighter and fairer than they ; 
 She's fair as the morning, and lovely as May. 
 
 C Sweet 
 
18- POEMS ON 
 
 VII. 
 
 Sweet to the Ibepherd the wild woodland found. 
 When larks ling above him, and lambs bleat around : 
 But Peggy far fwceter can fpeak and can fing, 
 Than the notes-of the warblers that welcome the Spring, 
 
 VIII. 
 
 When in beauty fhe moves by the brook of the plain. 
 You would call her a Ven u s new fprung from the main : 
 When fhe fings, and the woods with their echoes reply, 
 You would think that an angel was warbling on high. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Ye pow'rs that prefide over mortal eftate ! 
 V\''hofe nod ruleth nature, whofe pleafare is fate ! 
 O grant me, O grant me the heav'n of her charms I 
 May I live in her prefencc, and die in her arms ! 
 
 ECLOGUE. 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. is 
 
 >E C L O G U E. 
 
 In the manner o/'OssiAN. 
 
 COME, my love! from thy echoing hill.; thy 
 locks on the mountain wind ! 
 
 The hill -top flames with fetting light ; the vale is 
 bright with the beam of eve. Blithe on the village 
 green the maiden milks her cows. The boy fliouts in 
 •the wood, and wonders who talks from the trees. But 
 Echo talks from the trees, repeating his notes of joy. 
 Where art thou, O Morn a! thou faireil among wo- 
 men ? I hear not the bleating of thy flock, nor thy 
 'voice in the wind of the hill. Here is the field of our 
 loves : now is the hour of thy promife. See, frequent 
 C Q, from 
 
240 POEMS ON 
 
 from the harveft-field the reapers eye the fctting fun : 
 but thou appeareft not on the plain. — 
 
 Daughters of the bow! faw ye my love, with 
 her little fiock tripping before her ? Saw ye her, fair 
 moving over the heath, and waving her loeks behind 
 vlike the yellow fun-beams of evening ? 
 
 Come from the hill of clouds, fair dweller of woody 
 
 'LUMON ! 
 
 I WAS a boy when I went to Lumon's lovely vale. 
 .Sporting among the willows of tlie brook, I faw the 
 daughters of the plain. Fair were their faces of youth ; 
 -but mine eye was fxed on Morna. Red was her 
 cheek; and fair her hair. Her hand was white as the 
 -'ily. Mild was the beam of her blue eye, and lovely 
 as the .laft finiie of the fun. Her eye met mine m 
 
 fdencec 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. si 
 
 iilencc. Sweet were our words together in fecret. 
 -I little knew what meant the heavings of my bofom, 
 and the wild wifh of my heart. I often looked back 
 .upon Lumon's vale, and bleft the fair dwelling of 
 ,^IoRNA. Her name dwelt ever on my lip. She came 
 lo my dream by night. Thou didfl; come in thy beau- 
 .ty, Omaid! lovely as the ghoil of Malvina, when^ 
 xlad with the robes of heaven, fhe came to the vale 
 of the Moon, to viht the aged eyes of Ossian king 
 of harps. 
 
 Come from the cloud of night, thou firft of our 
 jfnaidens! come- — 
 
 The wind is down; the iky is clear: red is the 
 :cloud of evening. In circles the bat wheels over head.; 
 the boy purfues his fiight. The farmer hails the figns 
 of heaven, the promife of halcyon days : Joy brightens 
 
 in 
 
2 2 POEMS ON 
 
 in his eyes. O Morna, firft of maidens! thcu art tl)f 
 joy of Salgar ! thou art his one defire ! I wait thy 
 coming on the field. Mine eye is over all the plain. 
 One echo fprcads on every fide. It is the fliout of the 
 ihepherds folding their flocks. They call to their com- 
 panions, each on his echoing hill. From the red cloud 
 rifes the evening ftar. — But who comes yonder in light, 
 like the Moon the queen of heaven ? It is fhe ! the 
 ftar of ftars ! the lovely light of Lumon ! Welcome, 
 fair beam of beautv, for ever to fiiine in our vallies ! 
 
 I COME from the hill of clouds. Among the green 
 ruflies of Balva's bank, I follow the fteps of my be- 
 loved. The foal in the meadow frolics round the 
 mare : his bright mane dances on the mountain wind. 
 The leverets play among the green ferns, fearlefs of 
 «the hunter's horn, and of the boimding greyhound. 
 
 The: 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 25 
 
 The laft ftrain is up in the wood. — Did I hear the 
 voice of my love ? It was the gale that fports with 
 the whirling leaf, and fighs in the reeds of the lake. 
 BleJ3ed be the voice of winds that brings my Salgar 
 to mind. O Salgar ! youth of the rolling eye ! thou 
 art the love of maidens ! Thy face is a fim to thy 
 friends : thy words are fweet as a fong : thy Iteps are 
 ftately on thy hill : thou art comely in the brightnefs 
 of youth ; like the Moon, when flie puts off her dun 
 robe in the fky, and brightens the face of night. The 
 clouds rejoice on either fide : the traveller in the nar- 
 rov,' path beholds her, round, in her beauty moving 
 through the midft of heaven. Thou art fair, O youth 
 of the rolling eye 1 thou waft the love of my youth. 
 
 Fair wanderer of evening! pleafant be thy reft on 
 )ur plains. I was gathering nuts in the wood for my 
 I love;, 
 
24 POEMS ON 
 
 loVe, and the days of our youth returned to mind; 
 when we played together on the green, and flew over 
 the field with feet of wind. I tamed the blackbird for 
 my love, and taught it to fing in her hand. I climbed 
 the alh in the cliff of the rock, and brought you the 
 doves of the wood. 
 
 MORNA.- 
 
 It is the voice of my beloved ! Let me behold hirr> 
 from the wood-covered vale, as he fings of the times 
 of old, and complains to the voice of the rock. Pkr,- 
 fant were the days of our youth, like the fongs of other 
 years. Often have we fat on the old grey ftone, and 
 filent marked the liars, as one by one they flole into 
 the Iky. One was our wifli by day, and one our 
 dream by night, 
 
 SALCAR*- 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 
 
 SALGAR. 
 
 I r FOUND an applo-tree in the wood. I planted it in 
 my garden. Thine eye beheld it all in flower. For 
 every bloom we marked, I count an apple of gold. 
 To-morrow I will pull the fruit for you. O come, 
 my belt beloved ! 
 
 MORNA. 
 
 "When the goifamour melts in the air, and the furze 
 crackles in the beam of noon, O come to Cona's fun- 
 ny fide, and let thy flocks wander in our vallies. The 
 j heath is in flower. One tree lifes in the midft. Sweet 
 flows the river by its fide of age. The wild bee hides 
 his honey at its root. Our words will be fweet on the 
 funny hill. Till grey evening fliadow the plain, I will 
 Jing to my well-beloved. 
 
 D DAPHNIS.- 
 
%6 POEMS ON 
 
 D A P H N I S: 
 
 A MONODY. 
 
 To the /memory of a young Boy of greai parti. 
 
 L 
 
 "T^TO more of youthful joys or love's fond dreams^ 
 
 No more of morning fair, or ev'ning mild, 
 While Daphnis lies among the filent dead 
 Unfung ; tho' long ago he trode the path, 
 
 The dreary road of death 
 
 Which foon or late each human foot muft tread. 
 
 He trode the dark uncomfortable wild 
 
 By Faith's pure light, by Hope's heav'n-op'ning beami;. 
 
 By Love, whofe image gladdens mortal eyes. 
 
 And keeps the golden key th t opens all the feies. 
 
 Assist^ 
 
_ SEVERAL OCCASIONS. a^ 
 
 n. 
 
 Assist, ye MuTes ! — and ye will aiTift ; 
 Tor Daphnis, whom I fing, to you was dear:; 
 Ye lov'd the boy, and on his youthful head 
 Your kindeft influence fhed. — 
 So may I match his lays, who to the lyre 
 Wail'd his loft Lycidas by wood and rill : 
 So m^ay the Mufe my grov'ling mind infpire 
 To iing a farewell to thy afhes bleft ; 
 To bid fair peace be to thy gentle fhade ; 
 Tofcatter flow'rets, cropt by Fancy's hand, 
 In fad aflemblage round thy tomb, 
 if water'd by the Mufe, to lateil time to bloom, 
 
 III. 
 
 Oft by the fide of Leven's cryftal lake, 
 Trembling beneath the clofmg lids of light, 
 
 D % With 
 
«8 POEMS ON 
 
 With flow fiiort-meariir'd fteps wc took our walk : 
 
 Then he would talk 
 
 Of argument far, far above his years ; 
 
 Then he would reafon high, 
 
 Till from the eaft: the filver queen of night 
 
 Her journey up h.cav'n's fteep began to make, 
 
 And Silence rcign'd attentive in the Iky. 
 
 IV. 
 
 O HAPPY days ! — for ever, ever gone ! 
 When o'er the fiow'ry green we ran, we play'd 
 With blooms bedropt by youthful Summer's hand; 
 Or, in the wiliow-fhade. 
 We mimic caflles built among the fand. 
 Scon by the founding furge to be beat down, 
 Or fweeping winds ; Vv-hen, by the fedgy marftj, 
 Wc heard the heron and the wild duck hard}, 
 
-*« SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 29 
 
 And fweeter lark tune his melodious lay, 
 
 At higheft noon of day. 
 
 Among the antic mofs-grown ftones we'd roam, 
 
 V\''ith antient hieroglyphic figures grac'd ; 
 
 Wing'd hour-g^afles, bones, and Ikulls, and fpades, 
 
 And obfoiete infcriptions by the hands 
 
 Of other ages. Ah! I little thought 
 
 That we then play'd o'er his untimely tomb ! 
 
 Where were ye, Mufes ! when the leaden hand 
 •X)f Death, remorfelefs, clos'd your Dap hnis' eyes? 
 T"cr fure ye heard the weeping mother's cries ; — 
 But the dread pow'r of Fate what can withftand ? 
 Young Daphnis Unil'd at death ; Ihe tyrant's darts 
 As Hubble counted. What was his fupport ? 
 His confcience, and firm trufl in Him whofe ways 
 ^JTC trrlh ; in "Bim who %nvs 
 
'^© POEMS ON 
 
 His potent fceptre o'er the dark domains 
 
 Of death and hell ; who holds in ftrait'ned reins 
 
 Their banded legions : ** Thro' the darklbme vale 
 
 " He'll guide my trembling fteps with heav'nly ray ; 
 
 '* I fee the dawning of immortal day," 
 
 He fmiling faid, and died ! 
 
 VL 
 
 Hail, and farewell, bleit youth ! Soon haft thou left 
 This evil world. Fair was thy thread of life ; 
 But quickly by the envious Sifters fhorn. 
 Thus have I feen a rofe with rifing morn 
 Unfold its glowing bloom, fweet to the fmell, 
 And lovely to the eye ; when a keen wind 
 Hath tore its blufliing leaves, and laid it low, 
 Stripp'd of its fvveets. — Ah ! fo, 
 So Dap HN IS fell ! long ere his prime he fell ! 
 Nor left he on thefe plains his peer behind ; 
 
 T^cfe 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 31 
 
 Thefe plains, that mourn their lofs, of him bereft, 
 No more look gay, but defart and forlorn, 
 
 VII. 
 
 Now ceafe your lamentations, fheph^rds ! ceafe i 
 Tho* Daphnis died below, he lives above ; 
 A better life, and in a fairer clime, 
 He lives. No forrow enters that blcft place ; 
 But ceafelefs fongs of love and joy refound . 
 And fragrance floats around. 
 By fanning zephyrs from the fpicy groves, 
 And flow'rs immortal wafted ; afphodel 
 And amaranth, unfading, deck the ground. 
 With fairer colours than, ere Adam fell. 
 In Eden bloom'd. There hap'Iy he may hear 
 This artlefs fong. Ye pK)w'rs of verfe ! improve;, 
 And make it worthy of your darling's ear. 
 And make it equal to the Ihepherd's love, 
 
 I Thus? 
 
34 POEMS QN 
 
 vni. 
 
 Thus, in the fliadow of a frowning rock, 
 Beneath a mountain's fide, fliaggy and hoar, 
 A homely fwain, tending his little flock, 
 Rude, yet a lover of the Mufe's lore. 
 Chanted his Doric ftrain till clofe of day ; 
 Then rofe, and homeward flowlv bent his wav. 
 
 ^2lfs 
 
 ^■JJS^^- 
 
 Ji 
 
 SIR> 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 53 
 
 SIR J A ]M E S THE R O S S ; 
 
 AN HISTORICAL BALLAD o - 
 
 ^^^F all the Scottifli northern chiefs 
 
 Of high and mighty name. 
 The braveft was Sir James the Ross, 
 A knight of meikle fame. 
 
 His growth was like a 3^outhful oak. 
 
 That crowns the mountain's brow ; 
 And, waving o'er his {houldei s broad, 
 
 His locks of yellow flew. 
 
 Wide were his fields ; his herds were large j 
 
 And large his flocks of llieep ; 
 And num'rous were his goats and deer 
 
 Upon the mountains fteep. 
 
 E Th- 
 
34 POEMS ON 
 
 The chieftain of the good Clan Ross, 
 
 A firai and warlike band : 
 |Five hundred warriors drew the fword 
 
 Beneath his high command. 
 
 lii bloody fight thrice had he flood 
 
 Againfl the Engiifli keen, 
 Ere two and twenty op'ning fpring? 
 
 The blooming youth had fcen. 
 
 The fair Matilda dear he lov'd, 
 
 A iTiaid of beauty rare ; 
 Even Marg'ret on the Sccltiih throne 
 
 Was never half fo fair. 
 
 Lcr.g had he woo'd ; long nie refus'd 
 With feeming fcorn and pride ; 
 
 Yet oft her eyes ccnfefs'd the love 
 Xier fearful -vvords denv'd. 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONSo 35. 
 
 At length fee blefs'd his well-try'd lovcj 
 
 Allow'd his tender claim : 
 She voAv'd to him- her virgin heart;^ 
 
 And own'd an equal flame. 
 
 Her father, Bu chants cruel lord, 
 
 Their paffion difapprov'd : 
 He bade her wed Sir John the Graeme, 
 
 And leave the youth fhe lov'd. 
 
 One night they met, as they were wontj 
 
 Deep in a faady wood 5 
 Where on the bank, befide the burnj 
 
 A blooming faugh-tree flood, 
 
 Conce?.l'd among the underwood 
 
 The crafty Donald lay. 
 The brother of Sir John the Graeme, 
 
 To watch what they might fay. 
 
 E % When 
 
36 POEMS ON 
 
 When thus the maid began : " My fire 
 
 " Our paflion difapproves ; 
 " He bids me wed Sir John the Graeme. 
 
 " So here muft end our loves. 
 
 " My father's will muft be obeyed, 
 " Nought boots me to withftand ; 
 
 •' Some fairer maid in beauty's bloom 
 *' Shall blefs thee with her hand. 
 
 ** Soon will Matilda be forgot, 
 <* And from thy mind eifac'd ; 
 
 " But may that happinefs be thine, 
 '* Which I can never tafte !" — 
 
 " What do I hear ? Is this thy vow ?" 
 
 Sir James the Ross reply'd : 
 " And will Matilda wed the GraemEj 
 
 " The' fworn to be my bride ? 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 37 
 
 " His fword fhall fooner pierce my heart, 
 
 " Than reave me of thy charms" — 
 And clafp'd her to his throbbing breaft, 
 
 Faft lock'd within her arms. 
 
 " I fpoke to try thy love," Ihe faid ; 
 
 " I'll ne'er wed man but thee : 
 '^ The grave fhall be my bridal bed, 
 
 " If Graeme my hufband be. 
 
 " Take then, dear youth ! this faithful kifs, 
 
 " In witnefs of my troth ; 
 " And every plague become my lot 
 
 " That day I break my oath." 
 
 They parted thus — ^the fun was fet : 
 
 Up hafty Donald flies; 
 And, " Turn thee, turn thee, beardlefs youth !" 
 
 He loud infuiting cries. 
 
 Soon 
 
38 POEMS ON 
 
 Soon turn'd about the fearlefs chief, 
 And foon his fword he drew ; 
 
 For Donald's blade before his breaft 
 Had piefc'd his tartans thro'. 
 
 " This for my brother's (lighted love j 
 " His wrongs fit on my arm." — 
 
 Three paces back the youth rctir'd, 
 And fav'd himfelf from harmi 
 
 Rtturning fwift, his fword he rear'd 
 Fierce Donald's head above ; 
 
 And Ihro' the brain and crafhing bone 
 The furicus v/capon drove. 
 
 Life iflu'd at the wound ; he fell,-. 
 
 A lump of lifeltfs clay : 
 *« So fall my foes/' quoth valiant Ros?. 
 
 And ilat£iy llrod- av/ay. 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 59 
 
 Thro' the green v/ocd in haile he pafs'd 
 
 Unto Lord Buchan's hall ; 
 Beneath Matilda's windov/s ftood, 
 
 ArKi thus on her did call : 
 
 " Art thou afleep, Matilda fair! 
 
 " Awake, my love ! awake : 
 ^* Behold thy lover waits without^ 
 Ik " A long farewell to take. 
 
 " For I have flain fierce Donald Graeme. 
 
 " Eis blood is on my fword-: 
 " And far, far diftant are my men^ 
 
 " Nor can defend their lord. 
 
 « To Skye I will direct my flight, "• 
 
 *' Where my brave brothers bide ; 
 ** And raife the mighty of the Ifles 
 
 " To com.bat on my fide."— 
 
40 
 
 POEMS ON 
 
 « O do not fo," the maid reply'd, 
 " With me till morning ftay ; 
 
 " For dark and dreary is the night, 
 " And dang'rous is the way. 
 
 <« All night I'll watch thee in the park ; 
 
 « My faithful page I'll fend 
 « In hafte to raife the brave Clan Ross, 
 
 *' Their mafter to defend." 
 
 He laid him down beneath a bu(h, 
 And wrap'd him in his plaid ; 
 
 While, trembling for her lover's fate, 
 At diftance ftood the maid. 
 
 Swift ran the page o'er hill and dale ; 
 
 Till, in a lowly glen. 
 He met the furious Sir John Graeme, 
 
 With twenty of his men. 
 3 
 
 Whci 
 
SEVEPvAL OCCASIONS. 4? 
 
 *' Where goeft thou, little page ?" he faidj 
 
 " So late who did thee fend ?"~ 
 '** I go to raife the brave Clan P.oss, 
 
 " Their mailer to deferd. 
 
 ^' For he has flain fierce Donald G?vAEM2^ 
 
 ** His blood is on his fword ; 
 " And far, far difcant are his men, 
 
 *•' Nor can afliit their lord." — 
 
 " And has he (lain my brother dear :" 
 
 The furious chief replies : 
 ■<■' Dilhonour blaft my name, but he 
 
 *' By me ere morning dies. 
 
 ^' Say, pagt' ! ..where-is Sir James the Hoss : 
 
 " I will thee well reward."— 
 '^' He fieepj into Lord Buchan's park ; 
 
 " -Matilda is his guard."—— 
 
 F Tiirv 
 
4i POEMS ON 
 
 They fpurrVl their flecds, and furious ficw, 
 
 Like light'ning, o'er the lea : 
 They rcacli'd Lord Bu Chan's lofty tov.-'rs 
 
 By dawning cf the day. 
 
 Matilda fbood without the gate 
 
 Upon a rifing ground, 
 And watcii'd each objed in the dawn, ' 
 
 All ear to every found. 
 
 •' Where fleeps the Ross ?" began the Graeml, 
 
 " Or has the felon ficd ? 
 " This hand ihall lay the wretch on earth 
 
 *' By whom iny brother bled.'' 
 
 And now tiie valiant knight awoke, 
 
 The virgin flirielcing heard : 
 Straight up he rofe, and drew liis fv\'ord. 
 
 When the fierce band appear'd. 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 45 
 
 ** Your fvvord lalt night my brother flew, 
 
 " His blood yet dims its iliine ; 
 " And, ere the fun- fnall gild the mom, 
 
 " Your blood fhall reek on mine." 
 
 *' Your words are brave," the chief returned ; 
 
 *' But deeds approve the man : 
 "Set by your m.en, and hand to hand 
 
 « We'll try v.'hat valour can." 
 
 "Vyith daunllefs ftep he forward firodc, 
 
 And dar'd him to the fight : 
 The Graeme gave back, and fear'd his arm. 
 
 For well he knev/ his might. 
 
 Four of his men, the braveft four, 
 
 Sunk down beneath his fword ; 
 But ftill he fcorn'd the poor revenge. 
 
 Arid fought their haughty lord. 
 
 Fa Behind! 
 
44 POEMS ON 
 
 Behind him baf-ly came the GraemEj 
 
 And pierc'd him in the P.de : 
 Cut fpouting came the purple fcre.im, 
 
 And all his tartans dy'd. 
 
 But ytt his hnnd net drcpp'd the fvvonl. 
 
 Nor funk he to the ground, 
 Till thro' his cu'my's hcail his Reel 
 
 Had forc'd a mortal wound. 
 
 Graeme, like a tree by winds o'crthron-a. 
 
 Fell breathleis rm the clay ; 
 And down btfide him funk the Ross, 
 
 And faint and dying lay. 
 
 Matilda faw, a-id fifb P.ie rau: 
 " O pare his Tuc," flie cry\i ; 
 
 " Lcrd Buchan's daughter beg: l;is life* 
 *' Let her net be deny'd." 
 
 Kcr 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 45 
 
 Her vvell-knovvn voice the hero heard ; 
 
 He rais'd his death-clcs'd eyes ;. 
 He fix'd them en the weeping maid, 
 
 And weakly thus replies : 
 
 " In vain I^Iatilda begs a lifd 
 
 " By death's arreft deny'd ; 
 " My race is run — adieu, my lovs !" 
 
 Then clos'd his eyes,, and dy'd. 
 
 The fvvord, yet warm, from his left ude, 
 
 With frantic hand fne drev%' : 
 " I come, Sir James the Ross,'' Ihe cry'dy 
 
 " I ccmie to follow you." 
 
 The hilt fhe lean'd agzinft the ground, 
 
 And bar'd her fiov.-y brcail ; 
 Then fell upon her lover's face, 
 
 And funk to endlefs ref^.,. 
 
 VERNAL 
 
46 POEMS ON 
 
 VERNAL ODE.. 
 
 O EE ! fee ! the genial Spring again 
 
 Unbind the glebe and paint the plain. . 
 The garden blooms : the tulips gay 
 For thee put on their befl array ; 
 And ev'ry fiower fo richly dight 
 In fpangled robe3 of varying light. 
 
 From noify towns and noxious flcy, 
 Hither, Amelia ! hafte and fly. 
 View thefe gay fcenes ; their fvveets inhale: 
 Health hreathes in ev'ry brilmy g'ae: 
 Nor fear left the returning itorm 
 The vernal feafon nic-^y deform. 
 For hark ! I hear the fA'allov.'s nng, 
 Who ne'er uncertairi tidings bring : 
 
If SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 47 
 
 They with glad voice proclaim on high, 
 
 " The Spring is come, the Summer's nigh !"« 
 
 Sweet bird ! what facred lore is thine? 
 
 The change of feafons to divine ? 
 
 Thou counteft no revolving day 
 
 By folar or fidereal ray : 
 
 No cloclt baft thou, Vvith bufy chime 
 
 To tell the filent lapfe of time — 
 
 To call thee from thy drowfv cell. 
 ''Tis Heav'n that rings thy matin bell. 
 
 Strait ail the chatt'ring tribe obey ; 
 ''Start from their trance, and wing away : 
 
 To their lov'd fummer feats repair ; 
 
 And ev'ry pinion floats on air. 
 
o 
 
 POEMS ON 
 ODE: 
 
 TO A FOUNTAIN. 
 
 FOUNTAIN cf the weed I whofc ^lafT^/ wave, 
 Slov.Mvdlinr from llie rock of ytars, 
 Holds to hcav'r. a rr.in-oi- blue, 
 And bright as Anna's eye, 
 
 With whom I've fporteJ on the mari:;in green : 
 My hand with li.ives, with hiiics white, 
 Gaily deck'd her golden hair, 
 Young Naiad of the vaie. 
 
 rount of my nativ;; v/ood ! thy miumiirs greet 
 My ear, like pcct'.^ heav'rjy ftrain : 
 Fancy pi-fr'.ires in a dream 
 The ^sU-:^ dciyz cf youth. 
 
 ?. C 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 49 
 
 O ftate of innocence ! O paradife ! 
 In Hope's gay garden. Fancy ^dews 
 Golden bloffoms, golden fruits, 
 And Eden ever green. 
 
 Where qow, ye dear companions of my yoEth! 
 Ye brothers of my bofom ! where 
 Do ye tread the walks of life, 
 Wide fcatter'd o'er the world ? 
 
 Thus winged lark« forfake their native neft. 
 The merry minftrels of the mom : 
 New to heav'n they mount away, 
 And meet again no more. 
 
 All things decay ;— the foreft like the leaf? 
 Great kingdoms fall ; the peopled globe^ 
 Planet-ftruck, Ihall pafs away ; 
 Heav'ns with their hofts expire i 
 
 G But 
 
5 a POEMS ON 
 
 But Hope's fair vilions, and the beams of Joy, 
 Shall cheer my bofom : I ivill fing 
 Nature's beauty, Nature's birth, 
 And heroes, on the lyre. 
 
 Ye Naiads ! blue-ey'd fifrers of the wood ! 
 Who by old oak, or ftory'd ftream, 
 Nightly tread your myftic maze, 
 And charm the wand'ring Moon, 
 
 Beheld by poet's eye : infpire my dreams 
 With vifions, like the landfcapes fair 
 Cf heav'n's blifs, to dying faints 
 By guardian angels drawn. 
 
 Fount of the fore ft ! in thy poet's lays 
 Thy waves fhall flow : this wreath of fiow'rs, 
 Gather'd by Anna's hand, 
 I alk to bind my brow^ 
 
 DANISH 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 
 
 DANISH ODE. 
 
 ^nr^HE great, the glorious d^ed is done I 
 The foe is fled ! the field is won ! 
 Prepare the feaft ; the heroes call : 
 Let joy, let triumph fill the hall I 
 
 The raven claps his fable wings ; 
 The bard his chofen timbrel brings; 
 Six virgins round, a feled choir, 
 Smg to the mufic of his lyre. 
 
 With mighty ale the goblet crown ; 
 With mighty ale your forrows drown : 
 To-day, to mirth and joy we yield ; 
 To-moiTow, face the bloody field. 
 
 G a. From 
 
SZ POEMS ON 
 
 From danger's front, at battle's eve. 
 Sweet comes the banquet to the brave t 
 Joy fhines with genial beam on all. 
 The joy that dwells in Odin's hall. 
 
 The fong burfts living from the lyre. 
 Like dreams that guardian ghofts infpire ; 
 When mimic Ihrieks the heroes hear. 
 And whirl the vifionary fpear. 
 
 Mufic's the med'cine of the mind ; 
 The cloud of Care give to the wind : 
 Be ev'ry brow vdth garlands bound ; 
 And let the cup of Joy go round. 
 
 The cloud comes o'er the beam of light * 
 We're guefts that tarry but a night : 
 In the dark houfe, together prefs'd, 
 The princes and the people reft. 
 
 Send 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 53 
 
 Send round the Ihell, the feaft prolong. 
 And fend away the night in fong : 
 Be bleft below, as thofe above 
 With Odin's and the friends they love. 
 
 .^# 
 
 DANISH 
 
54 POEMS GN 
 
 DANISH ODE, 
 
 "T N deeds of arms, our fathers rife 
 "*■ niuftrious in their offspring's eyes : 
 They fearlefs rufh'd thro' Ocean's ftorms, 
 And dar'd grim Death in all its foi;ms ; 
 Each youth aflum'd the fword and fhield, 
 And grew a hero in the field. 
 
 Shall we, degeneiate from our race, 
 Ingloridus, in the mountain chace ? 
 Arm, arm in fallen Hubba's right; 
 Place yoiu- forefathers in your fight ; 
 To fam.e, to glory fight your way, 
 And teach the nation? to obey. 
 
 AfTumc 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. -jj 
 
 AxTume the oars, unbind the fails : 
 Send, Odin ! fend propitious galeSe 
 At Loda's ftone, we will adore 
 Thy name with fongs, upon the fliore , 
 And, full of thee, undaunted dare 
 The foe, and dart the bolts of war. 
 
 No feaft of fhells, no dance by night. 
 Are glorious Odin's dear delight : 
 He, king of men, his armies led 
 Where- heroes ftrove, where battles bled; 
 Now reigns above the morning ftar, 
 The god of thunder and of war. 
 
 Blefs'd who in battle bravely fall ! 
 They mount on wing^ to Odin^s hallj 
 To Mafic's found, in cups of gold. 
 They drink new wine with chiefs of old ; 
 
 3 The 
 
5 6 POEMS ON 
 
 The fong of bards records their name, 
 And future times (hall fpeak their fame. 
 
 Hark! Odin thunders! hafte on board; 
 Illuftrious Canute ! give the word. 
 On wings of wind we pafs the feas, 
 To conquer realms, if Odin pleafe ; 
 With Odin's fpirit in our foul, 
 We'll gain the globe from pole to pole. 
 
 
 ANACREONTIC 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONSo 57 
 
 ANACREONTIC" 
 
 TO A WASP. 
 
 The follo'vo'ing h a ludicrous hnitat'ion of the ufujl Anacreontics ; 
 ' the fpirit of compofng ivhich ivas raging^ a feiu years age,,, 
 among all the fivett fingers of Great Britain. 
 
 ■^T TINGED wand'rer of the iky I 
 Inhabitant of heaven high I 
 Dreadful with thy dragon-tail, 
 Hydra-head, and coat of mail 1 
 Why doft thou my peace moleft ? 
 Why doft thou difturb my reft ?— « 
 When in May the meads are feen, 
 Sweet enamel ! white and green ; 
 
 H And 
 
5S POEMS ON 
 
 And the gardens, and the bow'rs. 
 And the forefts, and the flow'rs, 
 Don their robes cf curious dye ; 
 Fine confalion to the eye ! 
 
 Did I chafe thee in tliy flight ? 
 
 Did I put thtc in a fright ? 
 
 Did I fpoil thy trcafure hid ? 
 
 Never — never — never — did. 
 
 Envious nothing ! pray beware ; 
 
 Tempt mine anger if you dare. 
 
 Truft not in thy ftrength cf wing ; 
 
 Truft not in thy length of fling. 
 
 Ilcav'n nor earth fliall thee defend ; 
 
 I thy buzzing foon will end. 
 
 Take my counfel while you may ; 
 
 Devil take you if you fray. 
 
 Wilt — thou — dare — my — face — to — wound ?■— 
 
 Thusj I fell thee to the ground. 
 
 Down 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. J9 
 
 Down amongll the dead men, now. 
 Thou flialt forget thou ere waft thou.— • 
 Anacreontic bards beneath, 
 Thus fnall waii thee after death. 
 
 CHORUS OF ELYSIAN BARDS»- 
 
 »* A Wasp, for a wonder, 
 
 " To paradife under 
 
 «< Defcends ! Sec, he wanders 
 
 " By Styx's meanders ! 
 
 " Behold, how he glows 
 
 " Amidil Rhodope's fnows I 
 
 " He fweats, in a trice, 
 
 " In the regions of ice ! 
 
 " Lo ! he cools, by God's ire, 
 
 *< Amidft brimflcne and fire ! 
 
 Ha « He 
 
«e POEMS ON 
 
 " He goes to our king, 
 
 " And he Ihows him his fting. 
 
 " (God Pluto loves fatire, 
 
 " As women love attire ;) 
 
 " Our king fets him free, 
 
 " Likefam'dEuRiDiCE. , 
 
 *' Thus a vv-afp could prevail 
 
 " O'er the Devil and hell, 
 ** A conqueft both hard and laborious !. 
 
 « Tho' hell had faft bound him, 
 
 " And the Devil did confound him, 
 " Yet his fting and his wing were vidorious !" 
 
 ^■■m 
 
 Tin 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 6i 
 
 THE MUSIADi 
 A MINOR EPIC POEM, 
 
 A Fragment, 
 
 In the manner of Homer. 
 
 T N ancient times, ere traps were fram'd, 
 
 Or cats in Bp.itain's Me were known ;• 
 A moufe, for pow'r and valour fam'd, 
 Poflefs'd in peace the regal throne. 
 
 A farmer's houfe he nightly ftorm'd ; 
 
 (In vain were bolts, in vain were keys :) 
 The milk's fair furface he deform'd, 
 
 And digs'd entrenchments in the cheefs. 
 
 In 
 
6a POEI\IS ON 
 
 In vain the farmer watch'd by night, 
 In vain he fpread the poifon'd bacon j. 
 
 The moufe v/as wife, as well as wight, 
 Nor could by force or fraud be taken. 
 
 His fiibjeds follow'd where he led. 
 And dealt dedrudlion aii around ; 
 
 His people, fhephcrd-like, he fed : 
 Such mice are rarely to be found ! — 
 
 But evil fortune had decreed 
 
 (The foe of mice as well as men) 
 The royal moufe at laft fhould bleed ; 
 
 Upon a night, as authors fay, 
 A lucklefs fcent our hero dre;v, 
 
 Upon forbidden ground to ftr.iy, 
 And pafo a naricw cranny thro'. 
 
 That 
 
SEVEPw.lL OCCASIONS, 
 
 That night a feaH the famier made. 
 And joy unbounded fJl'd the houfe j 
 
 The fragments in the pantry fpread 
 Afforded bus'neio to the mcufe. 
 
 He ate his fill, and back again 
 Return'd : but accefs was deny'd. 
 
 •He fearch'd each comer ; but in vain : 
 Ke found it clcfe on ev'ry fide. 
 
 Let none cur heroes fears deride ; 
 
 He roar'd, (ten mice of modern days, 
 As mice are dwindled and decay 'd. 
 
 So great a voice could fcarcely raife.) 
 
 I 
 
 |3lousM at the voice, the farmer ran, 
 
 And feiz'd upon his haplefs prey. 
 
 ["With entreaties the moufe began, 
 
 ; And pray'rs, hisanger to ailay. 
 
 a O 
 
64 POEMS ON 
 
 «« O fpare my life !" he trembling cries: 
 " My fubjeds will a ranfom give, 
 
 » Large as thy wilhes can devife ; 
 " Soon as it fhall be heard I live." 
 
 " No, wretch !" the farmer fays in wrath ; 
 
 *' Thou dy'ft : no ranfom I'll receive." — 
 <« My fubjeds will revenge my death," 
 
 He faid : '* This dying charge I leave." 
 
 The farmer lifts his armed hand, 
 
 And on the moufe inflicts an wound. 
 
 What moufe could fuch a blow withftand^? 
 He fell, and dying bit the ground. 
 
 Thus Lambris fell, who flourifli'd long; 
 
 (I half forgot to tell his name ;) 
 But his renown lives in the fong. 
 
 And future times fliall fpeak his fame.—* 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS: ^5 
 
 A moufe, who walk'd about at large 
 
 In fafety, heard his mournful cries^; 
 He heard him give his dying charge, 
 
 And to the reft he frantic flies. 
 
 Thrice he-TCiTay'd to fpeak, and thnce 
 Tears, fach as mice may fhed, fell dovv-n : 
 
 *' Revenge your monarch's death," he cries; 
 His voice half-ftifl'd with a groan. 
 
 T3ut having reafTumM his fenfes. 
 
 And reafon, fuch as mice may have ', 
 He told out all the circumftances. 
 
 With many a ftrain and broken heave. 
 
 •Chlird with fad grief th' afiembly heard ; 
 
 Each dropped a tear, and bow'd the head : 
 
 But fyicptoms foon of rage appear'd, 
 p 
 And vengeance, for the royal dead, 
 
 • I Loa- 
 
66 POEMS ON 
 
 Long fat they inute : at laft up rofc 
 
 The great Hytenor, blamelefs fage ! 
 A hero born to many woes ; 
 
 His head was filvei'd o'er with age 
 
 His bulk fo large, his joints fo flror.r, 
 
 Though worn with grief, and pail his prime, 
 
 Few rats could equal him, 'tis fung, 
 As rats are in thefe dregs of time. 
 
 Two fons, in battle brave, he had, 
 
 Sprung from fair Lalage's embrace : 
 Short time they grac'd-his nuptial bed, 
 
 By dogs deftroy'd in cruel chacc. 
 
 Their timelefs fate the mother wail'd, 
 
 And pin'd with heart-con-oding grief: 
 «0'er ev'ry comfort it prevail'd. 
 
 Till death advancing brought relief. 
 
 -*' Now 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. h?. 
 
 Now he's the lafi of all his race, 
 
 A prey to wo ; he inly pin'd : 
 Grief pidur'd fat upon his face j 
 
 Upon his breaft his head reclin'd. 
 
 And, " O my fellow-mice !" he faid, 
 
 " Thefe eyes ne'er faw a day fo dire, 
 *•' Save when my gallant children bled : 
 
 " O .wretched fons ! O wretched fire i 
 
 " Sut now a gen'ral caufe demands 
 
 " Our grief, and claims our tears alone y 
 
 ** Our monarch; flain by wicked hands : 
 " Nc iiTiie left to fill tlie throne. 
 
 *' Yet, the" by hofiile man much wrong'd^. 
 
 " My counfti is, from arms forbear, 
 *< That fo your days may be prolong' d ', 
 
 " For man is Keav'n's peculiar care " 
 
 I 7r LOCHLEVENr 
 
a POEMS ON 
 
 L O C 1 1 L E V E N 
 
 A POEM, 
 
 Kr A I L, native land ! vvhere, on the flow'ry bauksi' 
 Of Levek, Beauty ever-blooming dwells. 
 A wreath of rofes, dropping with the dews 
 Of morning, circles her ambrolial locks 
 J^oofe -waving o'er her ihoulders : where flie treads. 
 Attendant on her fteps, the blufliing Spring 
 And Summer wait, to raife the various fiov/'rs 
 Beneath her footfteps ; while the cheerful birds 
 Carol their joy, and hail her as fhe comes, 
 Infpiring vernal love and vernal joy. 
 
 Attend, 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 69 
 
 Attend, Agricola ! who to the none 
 Of public life preferr'ft the calmer fcenes 
 Of folitude, and fweet domefcic biifs, 
 Joys all thine own f attend thy poet^s flrain, 
 Who triumphs in thy friendfhip, vvhile he paints 
 The paft'ral mountains, the poetic ftreams, 
 Where raptur'd Contemplation leads thy walk, 
 ■^Vhile fiknt Evening on the plain defcends. 
 
 Between two mountains, whofe o'envhelming topsj 
 In their fwift ccurfe, arreft the bellying clouds, 
 A pleafant valley lies. Upon the fouth 
 A narrovv' opening parts the craggy hills ; 
 Through which the lake, that beautifies the vale. 
 Pours cut its ample v/aters. Spreading on, 
 And wid'ning by degrees, it ftretches north 
 To the high Ockel, from whofe fnowy top 
 The f;rcarns that feed the lake fiow thund'ring down. 
 
 The 
 
^o POEMS ON 
 
 TrtE twilight trembles o'er the mifty hills, 
 Trinkling with dews : and whilft the bird of day 
 Tunes his etherial note, and wak^s the wood — 
 Bright from the cnmibn curtains of the morn, 
 The Sun, appearing in liis glory, throws 
 Kew robes of beauty over lieav'n and earth. 
 
 O NOW, while Nature fmilcs in all h^-r work?,. 
 Oft let me trace thy cowfiip-covcr'd banks, 
 O Llven ! and the landfcape meafure round. 
 From gay Kinross, whofe (lately tufted groves 
 Nod o'er the lake, tranfported let mine eye 
 Wander o'er all the various checquer'd fcene. 
 Of wilds, and fertile fields, and glitt'ring ftreams. 
 To ruin'd Arnot ; or afcend the height 
 Of rocky Lomond, where a riv'let pure 
 Burfts from the ground, and tliro' the crumbled crags 
 Tijikles amufive. From the mountain's top, 
 
 Around 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. Jt 
 
 Aroiind me fpread, I fee the goodly fcene. 
 iRclofures green, that promife to the fwain 
 The future harveft ; many-colour'd meads ; 
 ■Irriguous vales, where cattle low.; and fheep. 
 That Avhiten half the hills ; fweet rural farms 
 Oft interfpers'd, the feats of paft'ral love 
 Aud innocence : with many a fpiiy dome 
 Sacred to heav'n, aroimd whofe hallovvr'd walls 
 Our fathers flumber in the narrow hoiife. 
 Gay, beauteous villas, bofom'd in the woods, 
 Like .conftellations in the ftarry fiiv, 
 Complete the fcene. The vales, the vocal hills. 
 The woods, the waters, and the heart of mau^ 
 Send out a gen'ral fong : 'tis beauty all 
 To poet's eye, and mufic to his ear. 
 
 Nor is the fhepherd fiknt on his hill, 
 His fiocks around : nor fcbool boy", as they creep, 
 
 Slow-pac'dj 
 
7J POEMS ON 
 
 Slow-pac'd, tow'rds fchool ; intent, with oaten pipr 
 They wake by turns wild mufic on the way. 
 
 Behold the man of forrows hail the light ! 
 New rifen from the bed of pain ; where late, 
 Tofs'd to and fro upon a couch of thorns. 
 He wak'd the long dark night, and wifnM for morn. 
 Soon as he feels the quick'ning beam of heav'n, 
 And balmy breath of May, among the fields 
 And flow'rs he takes his morning walk : his heart 
 Beats with new life ; his eye is bright and blithe ; 
 Health ftrews her rofes o'er his cheek, renew'd 
 In youth and beauty ; his unbidden tongue 
 Pours native harmony, and fmgs to Heav'n. 
 
 In ancient times, as ancient bards have fang, 
 This was a foreft. Here the mountain-oak 
 Hung o'er the craggy cliff, while from its top 
 
 I The 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 73 
 
 The eagle mark'd his prey ; the ftately afh 
 Rear'd high his nervous ftature, while belo^v 
 The twining alders darken'd all the fcene. 
 Safe in the ihade, the tenants of the wood 
 AfTembled, bird and beaft. The turtle-dove 
 Coo'd, am'rous, all the live-long fummer's day. 
 Lover of men, the piteous redbreafi: plain'd. 
 Sole-fitting on the bough. Blithe en the hufh, 
 The blackbird, fweeteft of the ^voodland choir;^. 
 Warbl'd his liquid lay ; to fhepherd-fv^ain 
 Mellifluous mufic, as his mailer's flock, 
 With his fair miftrefs and his faithful dog, 
 He tended in the vale ; While leverets round. 
 In fpoitive races, thro' the foreft flew 
 With feet of wind ; and, vent'ring from the rock^ 
 The fnow-white coney fought his ev'ning meaL-*- 
 Here, too, the poet, as infpir'd at eve 
 He roam'd the dufky wood, or fabl'd brook 
 
 K. TfeS5^: 
 
^4 POEMS ON 
 
 That piece-meal printed ruins in the rock, 
 
 Beheld the blue-ey'd lifters of the ftream, 
 
 And heard the wild note of the fairy throng 
 
 That charm'd the queen of heav'n ; as round the tree,. 
 
 Time-hallow'd, hand in hand they led the dance, 
 
 With fky-blue mantles glitt'ring in her beam. 
 
 Low by the lake, as yet without a name, 
 Fair bofom'd in the bottom of the vale, 
 Arofe a cottage, green with ancient turf. 
 Half hid in hoary trees, and from the north 
 f enc*d by a wood, but open to the fun. 
 Kcre dwelt a peafant, rev'rend with the locks 
 Of age ; yet youth was ruddy on his cheek : 
 His farm his only care : his fole delight. 
 To tend his daughter, beautiful and young ; 
 To watch her paths; to fill her lap with flov/'rsj 
 To fee her ifcread into the bloom of years, 
 
 The 
 
SEVERAL OCCABIONS. 75 
 
 The perfetfr picfturs of her mother's youth. 
 His age's hope, the apple of his eye, 
 Belov'd of Heav'n, his fair Levina grew 
 In youth and grace, the Naiad of the vakc 
 Frefli as the flow'r amid the funny fliow'rs 
 Of May, and blither than the bird of dawn, 
 Both rofes' bloom gave beauty to her cheek, 
 Soft temper'd with a" fmile. The light of heav'n. 
 And innocence, illum'd her virgin-eye, 
 . Lucid and* lovely as the morning ftar. 
 Her breaft was fairer than the vernal bfeona 
 Of valley-lily, op'ning in a fliow'r ;-~ 
 Fair as the morn, and beautiful as May, 
 The glory of the year, when firft fhe comes 
 Array'd, all beauteous, with the robes of heav'n ; 
 And, breathing fummer breezes, from her locks 
 Shakes genial dews, and from her lap the flow'rs.— 
 Thus beautiful Pue look'd; yet fgmething more, 
 
 K' z And 
 
76 POEMS ON 
 
 And better far than beauty, in her looks 
 Appear'd ; the maiden bliifh of modefty ; 
 The fmile of cheerfiilnefs, and fwctt content ; 
 Health's frefheft rofe, the fun-fliine of the foul: 
 Each heightening each, cfTus'd o'er all her form 
 A namcleft grace, the Beauty of tlie Mind. 
 
 Thus finifli'd fair above her peers, Cnc drew 
 The eyes of all the village, and inflam'd 
 The rival iliephcrds .of the neighb'ring dale, 
 Who laid the fpoils of Summer at her feet. 
 And made the woods enamour'd of her name. 
 But pure as buds before they blow, and ftill 
 A virgin in her heart, ihe knew not love : 
 But all alone, amid her garden fair, 
 From morn to noon, from noon to dewy eve, 
 She fpent her days ; her plcafmg taf.i to tend 
 The fiow'rs ; to lave them from the water-fpring ; 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. ^f 
 
 To ope the buds with her enamour'd breath ; 
 
 Rank the gay tribes, and rear them in the fun.— = 
 
 In youth, the index of mature r years, 
 
 Left by her fchooi-companions at their play, 
 
 She'd often wander in the- wood, or roam 
 
 The wildernefs, in quell: of curious flow'r, 
 
 Or Jieil of bird unknown, till eve approach'd. 
 
 And hemm'd her in the fhade. To obvious fwain. 
 
 Or woodman chanting in the greenwood glin, 
 
 She'd bring the beauteous fpolls,. and alk their names^, 
 
 Thus ply'd alTiduous her delightful taik, 
 
 Day after day, till ev'ry herb fne nam'd 
 
 That paints the robe of Spring, and knew the voice 
 
 Of ev'ry warbler in the vernal wood. 
 
 Her garden frretch'd along the river iide. 
 High up a funny bank : on either fxde, 
 A hedge foxbade the vagr-ant foot ; above? 
 
7? POEMS ON 
 
 An ancient forcft fcrcen'd the green rectfs. 
 
 Tranfplanted here, by her creative hand, ' 
 
 Each herb of Nature, full of fragrant fweets, 
 
 That fcents the breath of Summer; ev'ry flow'r, 
 
 Pride of the plain, that blooms on feftal days 
 
 In fliepherd's garland, and adorns the year, 
 
 In beauteous cluRers flourifh'd : Nature's work, 
 
 And order, finifli'd by the hand of Art. 
 
 Here gowans, natives of the village green, 
 
 To daifies grew. The lilies of the field 
 
 Put on the robe they neither fcw'd nor fpun. 
 
 Sweet-fmelling fhrubs and cheerful fpreading treeS: 
 
 Unfrequent fcatter'd, as by Nature's hand, 
 
 Shaded the flow'rs; and to her Eden drew 
 
 The earlieft concerts of the Spiing, and all 
 
 The various mulic of the vocal year. 
 
 Retreat romantic ! Thus from early youth 
 
 Her life llie led : one fummer's day, ferene 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 79 
 
 And fair, without a cloud ! like poet's dreams 
 Of vernal landfcapes, of Ely si an vales, , 
 And iflands of the blefb ; where, hand in hand, 
 Eternal Spring and Autumn rule the year, - 
 And Love and Joy lead on immortal youth i 
 
 'TwAs on a fummer's day, when early Ihaw'rs 
 Had wak'd the various vegetable race 
 To life and beauty, fair LEViNA.ftray'd. 
 Far in the blooming vvildernefs fhe ftray'd 
 To gather herbs, and the fair race of fiow'rs, 
 That Nature's hand creative pours at will. 
 Beauty unbounded, over Earth's green lap, 
 Gay without number, in the day of rain. 
 O'er vallies gay, o'er hillocks green fne waik'd> 
 Sweet as the feafon ; and at times awak'd 
 The echoes of the vale, v^ith native notes 
 Of heart-felt joy, in numbers heav'nly fweet— 
 
 Sweet 
 
go POEMS ON 
 
 Sweet as th' hofannahs of a Foim of ligfit, 
 A fwect-tongu'd Seraph in the bowVs of blifs. 
 
 Her, as flie halted on a green hill-top, 
 A quiver'd hunter fpy'd. Her flowing locks, 
 In golden ringlets glitt'ring to the fun, 
 Upon her bofom play'd : her mantle green, 
 Like thine, -O Nature ! to her rofy cheek 
 Lent beauty new ; as from the verdant leaf 
 The rofe-bud bluDies with a deeper bloom. 
 Amid the walks of May. The ftranger's eye 
 Was caught as with ethcrial prefcnce. Oft 
 He look'd to heav'n, and oft he met her eye 
 In all the filent eloquence of love ; 
 Then, wak'd from wonder, with a fmife began : 
 ** Fair wand'rer of the wood ! what heav'nly pow'r- 
 *' Or providence, condutfts thy wand'ring fteps 
 ** To this wild foreft, from thy native feat 
 
 I «^And 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 8i 
 
 " And parents, happy in a child fo fair ? 
 *' A fhepherdefs, or virgin of the vale, 
 " Thy drefs befpeaks ; but thy majeftic mien, 
 " And eye, bright as the morning ftar, confefs 
 " Superior birth and beauty, born to rule :. 
 *' As from the ftormy cloud of night, that veils 
 ** Ker virgin orb, appears the queen of heav'n, 
 " And with full beauty gilds the face of night. 
 *' Whom iliall I call the faireft of her fex^ 
 ** And charmer of my foul ? In yonder vale, 
 *' Come, let us crop the rofes of the brook, 
 " And v^'ildings of the vi^ood ; foft under fhade 
 " Let us recline by mofly fountain-fide, 
 " While the wood fuffers in the beam of noon. 
 ** I'll bring my love the choice of all the (hades ; 
 " Firft fruits ; the apple ruddy from the rock ; 
 " And cluft'ring nuts, that bumifh in the beam. 
 " O wilt thou blefs my dwelling, vUnd become 
 
 L '* The 
 
83 rOEMS ON 
 
 <* The owner of thefe fields J I'll give thee all 
 ** That I poflefs ; and all thou feeft is mine.** 
 
 Thus fpoke the youth, with rapture in his eye ; 
 And thus the maiden, with a blulh, began : 
 ** Beyond the fliadow of thefe mountains green, 
 " Deep-bofonri'd in the vale, a cottage ftands, j 
 
 " The dwelling of my fire, a peaceful fwain ; 
 ** Yet at his frugal board Health fits a gueft, 
 " And fair Contentment crowns his hoary hairs, 
 *' The patriarch cf the plains : ne'er by his door 
 " The needy pafs'd, or the way-faring man. 
 " His only daughter, and his only joy, 
 *» I feed my father's nock ; and, while they reft, 
 ^* At times retiring, lofc me in the wood, 
 " SkiU'd in the virtues of each fccret herb 
 *' That opes its virgin bcfom to tlie moon, — 
 •* No RowV amid the gaideu fairer grows | 
 
 « Than 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 5|. 
 
 " Than the fweet iily of the lowly vale, 
 
 ** The queen of flow'rs — But fooner might the weed 
 
 " That blooms and dies, the being of a day, 
 
 " Prefume to match with yonder mountain-oak, 
 
 <• That ftands the tempeft and the bolt of heav'n^ 
 
 *•= From age to age the monarch of the wood — ~ 
 
 *< O 1 had you been a (hepherd of the dale, 
 
 *•■ To feed .your fiock befide me, and to reil 
 
 <« With me at noon in thefc delightful fhades, 
 
 " I mJght hsxt lifx'ned to the voice of love, 
 
 *' Nothing reludant j might with you have walk'd 
 
 " Whole fummer funs away. At even-tide, 
 
 *< When heav'n and earth in all their glory Ihint' 
 
 *« With the lafl fmiles of the departing fun ; 
 
 «* When the fweet breath of Summer feafis the feftfe,, 
 
 ** And fecret pleafure thrills the heart of man ; 
 
 «v- Y^Q might have waik'd alone, in converfe fvreet, 
 
 ••^ Along the quiet vale, and woo'd the moon 
 
 L % " Te 
 
84 POEMS ON 
 
 *' To hear the mufic of true lovers vows. 
 
 " But Fate forbids j and Fortune's potent frown, 
 
 *^ And honour, inmate of the noble bread. 
 
 " Ne'er can this hand In vv^edlock join with thine. 
 
 " Ceafe, beauteous ftranger ! ceafe, beloved youth ! 
 
 *' To vex a heart that never can be yours." 
 
 Thus fpoke the maid, deceitful : but her eyes, 
 Beyond the partial purpofe of her tongue, 
 Perfuafion gain'd. The deep-enamour'd youth 
 Stood gazing on her charms, and all his foul 
 Was loft in love. He grafp'd her trembling hand. 
 And breath'd the fofteft, the fincereft vows 
 Of love : " O virgin ! faireft of the fair I 
 ** My one beloved ! were the Scottish throne 
 « To me tranfmitted thro' a fcepter'd line 
 ^* Of anceftors, thou, thou fliould'll be my queen, 
 
 " And 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 2$ 
 
 <* And Caledonia's diadems adorn 
 
 " A fairer head than ever wore a crown 1" 
 
 She redden'd like the morning, under veil 
 Of her own golden hair. The woods among 
 They wander'd up and down v>^ith fond delay, 
 Nor marked the fall of ev'ning : parted, then, 
 The happieft pair on whom the fun declinM, 
 
 Next day he found her on a flow'ry bank^ 
 Half under fhade of willows, by a fpring, 
 The mirror of the fwains, that o'er the meads, 
 Slow-winding, fcatter'd flow'rets in its way. 
 Thro' many a winding walk and alley green. 
 She led him to her garden. Wonder-ftruck, 
 He gaz'd, all eye, o'er th' enchanting fcene : 
 And much he prais'dthe walks, the groves, the flowVs, 
 Her beautiful creation ; much he prais'd 
 
 The 
 
86 POEMS ON 
 
 The beautiful creatrefs ; and ciwak'd 
 The echo in her praife. Like the firft pair, 
 Adam and Eve, in Eden's blifsful bowVs,' 
 When newly come from their Creator's hand, 
 Our lovers liv'd in joy. Here, day by day, 
 In fond endearments, in embraces fweet, 
 That lovers only know, they liv'd, they lov'd. 
 And found the paradtfe that Adam loft. — 
 Nor did the virgin, with faTTe modeft pride, 
 Retard the nuptial morn : flie fix'd the day 
 That blefs'd the youth, and open'd to his eyes 
 An age of gold, the heav'n of happinefs 
 That lovers in their lucid moments dream. 
 
 And now the mcrning, like a rofy bride 
 Adorned on her day, put on her robes, 
 Her beauteous robes of light : the Naiad ftreams, 
 Sweet as the cadence of a poet's fong, 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 8? 
 
 riow'd down the dale ; the voices of the grove? 
 
 And ev'ry winged warbler of the air, 
 
 Sung over head ; and there was joy in heav'n. 
 
 Ris'n with the dawn, the bride and bridal-maids 
 
 > tray'd thro' the weeds, and o'er the vales, in qucfc 
 
 Of fiov/'rs and garlands, and fweet-fmelling herbs. 
 
 To flrew tiie brirkgrocm's way, and deck his bed. 
 
 r.iiR in the tcfcm cf the level lake 
 ivuie a green iP.and, cover 'd with a fpring 
 ^ Cf fiow'rs rerpetual, goodly to ths eye, 
 
 And blooming from afar. High in the rnidil, 
 ii Between two fountains, an encha.nled tree 
 i Grev/ ever green, and every month renew^M 
 ^ blooms and apples of Kefperian gold. 
 Here ev'iy bride (as ancient poets ling) 
 Two golden apples gathered from the boiigli. 
 To give the bridegroom in the bed of love, 
 
 3 The 
 
88 POEMS ON 
 
 The pledge of nuptial concord and delight 
 For many a coming year. Levina now- 
 Had reached the ifle, with an attendant maid, 
 And pull'd the myftic apple?, pull'd the fruit ; 
 But wiih'd and long'd for the enchanted tree. 
 Not fonder fought the firft created fair 
 The fruit forbidden of the mortal tree. 
 The fource of human woe. Two plants arofe 
 Fair by the mother's fide, with fruits and flowers 
 In miniature. One, with audacious hand, 
 In evil hour fhe rooted from the ground. 
 At once the ifland fhook, and fhrieks of wo 
 At times were heard, amid the troubled air. 
 Her whole frame fhook, the blood forfook her face, 
 Her knees knock'd, and her heart within her dy'd. 
 Trembling and pale, and boding woes to come, 
 They feiz'd the boat, and hurry 'd from the ifle.. 
 
 And 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. t 
 
 And now they gain'd the middle of the lalcej 
 And faw th' approaching land i now, wild with joy, 
 They row'd, they flew. When lo ! at once emisM, 
 5ent by the angry demon of the ifle, 
 A whirlwind rofe : it laih'd the furious lake 
 To tempeft, overtiirn'd the boat, and funk 
 The fair Levina to a wat'ry tomb. 
 Her fad companions, bending from a rocic, 
 Thrice faw her head, -and fupplicating hands 
 Keld up to heav'n, and heard the fhiiek of death ; 
 Then overhead the parting billow clos'd, 
 And op'd no more. Her fate in mournful lays 
 The Mufe relates ; and fure each tender maid 
 For her uiall heave the fympathetic ligh. 
 And haply my Eu^tELIA, ,(for her foul 
 Is pity's felf,) as, void of houfehold cares, 
 Her ev'ning walk Ihe bends belide the lake. 
 Which yet retains her name, fnall fadly drop 
 
9© POEMS ON 
 
 A tear, in mcm'ry of the haplefs maid ; 
 
 And mourn with me the forrows of the youth, 
 
 Whom from his miftrefs death did not divide. 
 
 Robb'd of the cairn pofTeflion of liis mind, 
 
 All night he wander'd by the founding fhore, 
 
 Long looking o'er the lake ; and faw at times 
 
 The dear, the dreaiy ghoft of her hedov'd : 
 
 Till love and grief fubduM his manly prime, 
 
 And brought his youth with forrow to the grave.— 
 
 I KNEW an aged fwain, w^hofe hoary head 
 Was bent with years, the village-chronicle. 
 Who much had feen, and from the former times 
 Much had receiv'd. He, hanging o'er the hearth 
 In winter ev'nings, to the gaping fwains, 
 And children circling round the fire, would tell 
 Stories of old, and tales of other times. 
 Of LoMOKD and Levina he wouM talk; 
 
 And 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIOlsrS. 91 
 
 And how of old, in Britain's evil days, 
 When brothers againft brothers drew the fword 
 Of civil rage, the hoflile hand of war 
 Ravag'd the land, gave cities to the fword, 
 And all the country to devouring fire. 
 Then thefe f^iir forefts and Elyfian fcenes, 
 In one great conflagration, flam'd to heav'n. 
 Barren and black, by fwift degrees arofe 
 A muiriih fen ; and hence the lab'ring hind, - 
 Digging for fae!, meets the mould'ring trunks 
 Of oaks, and branchy antlers of the deer. 
 
 Now fober Induilry, illufirious pov%''r ! 
 Ilath rais'd the peaceful cottage, calm abode 
 Of innocence and joy ; now, fweating, guides 
 The lliining plougbfhare ; tames the ftubborn foil; 
 JLeads the long drain aloug th' unfertile marlh ; 
 Bids the bleak hill with vernal verdure bloom, 
 
 M z. . The 
 
fi POEMS ON 
 
 The haunt of flocks ; and clothes the barren heath 
 With v/aving harvefls, and the golden grain. 
 
 Fair from his hand behold the village r:fe> 
 In rural pride, 'mon? intermingled trees ! 
 Above whofe aged tops the joyful fwains, 
 At even-tide, defcending from the hill, 
 With eye enamoured, mark the many wreaths 
 Of pillar'd fmoke, high-curling to the clouds. 
 The ftreets refound with Labour's various voice, 
 Who whiftles at his work. Gay on the green, 
 Ycui?;^- blooming boys, and girls with golden haiiv 
 Tiip nimble-footed, wanton in their play, 
 The village hope. All in a rev'rend row. 
 Their grey-hair'd grandlires, fitting in the fun, 
 Before the gate, and leaning on the Itaff, 
 The well-remcmber'd ftories of their youth 
 Recount, and lliake their aged locks with joy. 
 
 Ho- 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. ^s 
 
 How fair a profped rifes to the eye, 
 Where Beauty vies in all her vernal forms, 
 For ever pleafant, and for ever new ! 
 Swells th' exulting thought, expands the foul. 
 Drowning each ruder care : a blooming train 
 Of bright ideas nifhes on the mind. 
 Imagination roufes at the fcene ; 
 And backward, thro' the gloom of ages pait,. 
 Beholds Arcadia, like a rural queen, 
 Encircled with her fwains and rofy nymphs. 
 The mazy dance conducting on the green. 
 Nor yield to old Arcadia's blifsful vales 
 Thine, gentle LevsxV ! Green on either hand 
 Thy meadows fpread, unbroken of the plough, 
 With beauty all their own. Thy fields rejoice 
 With all the riches of the golden year. 
 Fat on the plain, and mountain's funny {ice, 
 Large droves of oxen, and the fleecy flocks, 
 
 Feed 
 
94 POEMS ON 
 
 Feed undiftuib'd ; and fill the echoing air 
 With mufic, grateful to the mafter's ear. 
 The trav'ller (tops, and gazes round and round^ 
 O'er all the fcenes, that animate his heart 
 With mirth and mufic. Ev'n the mendicant, 
 Bowbent with age, tliat on the eld grey ftone, 
 £ole fit'.ing, funs him in the public wvty. 
 Feds his heait leap, and to himftlf he fings. 
 
 How beautiful around the lake outfpreads 
 Its wealth of waters, the furrounding vales 
 Renews, an^l holds a mirror to the Iky, 
 Perpetual fed by many fifter-Hreams, 
 Haunts of the angler! Firfl:, th^ gulphy Po,. 
 That thro' the quaking marili and waving reeds 
 Creeps flow and filent on. The rapid Queech, 
 Whofe foaming torrents o'er the broken fteep 
 Burfl down impetuous, with the placid wave 
 
I 
 
 SEVERAL OCCASIONS» 95 
 
 OF flow '17 Lev EN, for the canine pike 
 
 And {liver eel renown'd. But chief thy ilream, 
 
 O Gairny ! fweetly winding, claims the fong. 
 
 Firft on thy banks the Doric reed I tun'd, 
 
 Stretch 'd on the verdant grafs : while twilight meek, 
 
 Enrob'd in mifi, flow^ -failing thro' the air, 
 
 Silent and itlll, on ev'ry clofed flow'r 
 
 Shed drops necftareous ; and around the fields 
 
 No noife was heard, fave where the whifp'ring reeds 
 
 Wav'd to the breeze, or in the dulky air 
 
 The flow-W'ing'd crane mov'd heav'ly o'er the lee, 
 
 jAnd fhrilly clamour'd as he fought his neil, 
 
 .There would I fit, and tune fome youthful lay ; 
 
 Or watch the motion of the li\-ing fires, 
 
 That day and night their ne ver-ceafing courfe 
 
 Wheel round th' eternal poles ; and bend the knee 
 
 To Him the Maker of yon ftarry iky. 
 
 Omnipotent! who, thron'd^bove all heav'xis. 
 
 Yet 
 
^6 POEMS ON 
 
 Yet ever prefcnt Ihro' the pe-opl'd fpace 
 
 Of vaft Creation's infinite extent, 
 
 Pours life, and blifs, and beauty, pours himfclf, 
 
 Hia own eflential goodncfs, o'er the minds 
 
 Of happy beings, thro' ten thoufand worlds. 
 
 Nor fliall the Mufe forget thy friendly heart, 
 O Lelius ! partner of my youthful hours. 
 How often, rifing from the bed of peace, 
 We would walk forth to meet the fummer morn, 
 Inhaling health and harmony of mind ; 
 Philofophers and fiiends ; while fcience beam'd? 
 With ray divine, as lovely on our minds 
 As yonder orient fun, whofe welcome light 
 Reveal'd the vernal landfcape to the view. 
 Yet oft, unbending from more ferious thought. 
 Much of the loofer folli»;s of mankind, 
 Kuni'rourf and gay, we'd talk, and much Vv'ould laugh; 
 3 While, 
 
I 
 
 SEVERAL OtCASIONSo gj 
 
 While, ever and anon, their foibles vain 
 Imagination ofierM to our view. • 
 
 Fronting where Gairny pours his filent um 
 Into the lake, an ifland lifts its head, 
 Grafly and wild, with ancient ruin heap'd 
 Of cells J where from the noify world retir'd 
 Of old, as fame reports, Keligion dwelt 
 Safe from the infalts of the darkened crowd 
 That bow'd the knee to Odin ; and in times 
 Of ignorance, when Caledonia's ions 
 (Before the triple-crowned giant fell) 
 Exchang'd their limple faith for Rome's deceits. 
 Here Superftition for her clciiter'd fjns 
 A dwelling rear'd, with many an arched vault ; 
 Where her pale vot'ries at the midnight hourj 
 In many a mournful ilrain of melancholy. 
 Chanted their orifons to the cold moon..- 
 
 N- It 
 
98 POEMS ON 
 
 It now refounds with the wild-fh ricking gull,. 
 The crefled lapwing, and the clam'rous mew, 
 The patient heron, and the bittern dull, 
 Deep-founding in the bafe, with all the tribe 
 That by the water feek th' appointed meal. 
 
 From hence the ihepherd in the f^rnced fold, 
 'Tis faid, has heard ftrange founds, and mufiic wild ; 
 Such as in Selma, by the burning oak. 
 Of hero fallen, or of battle loft, 
 Warii'd Fingal's mighty fon, from trembling chords 
 Of untouched harp, felf-founding in the night. 
 Perhaps th' afBicfted genius of the lake, 
 That leaves the wat'ry grot each night, to mourn 
 The waile of time, his defolated ifles. 
 And temples in the duft : his plaintive voice 
 Is heard refounding thro'/ the dreary courts 
 Of high LoCHLEvEN CaftlCv famous once, 
 
 Th' 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 99 
 
 Th' abode of heroes of the Bruce's line, 
 
 Gothic the pile, and high the folid walls. 
 
 With warlike ramparts, and the ftrong defenc; 
 
 Of jutting battlements : an age's toil ! 
 
 No more its arches echo to the ncife 
 
 Of joy and feftive mirth. No more the glance 
 
 Of blazing taper thro' its windows beams, 
 
 Andxjuivers on the undulating wave ; 
 
 But naked Hand the melancholy walls, 
 
 Xafii'd by the wintry tempefts, cold and bkak. 
 
 That whiitle mournful thro' the empty halls, 
 
 And piece-meal crumble down the tow'rs to du*. 
 
 Perhaps in feme lone, dreaiy, defert tov/'r, 
 
 That time has foar'd, forth from the window looks^ 
 
 Half hid in grafs, the folitary fox ; 
 
 While from above, the owl, mulician dire 1 
 
 "Screams hideous, harfh,* and grating to the ear. 
 
 N s Eou-ii*. 
 
.100 POEMS ON 
 
 Equal in age, and fliarers of its fate, 
 A row of niofs-grown trees around it fland. 
 Scarce here and there, upon their blafted tops, 
 A fliriveil'd leaf diilinguifl;es the year ; 
 Emblem of hoary age, the eve of life, 
 When man draws nigh his everlafting home, 
 Within a ftep of the devouring grave ; 
 When all his views and tow'rin^ hopes are gone. 
 And ev'ry appetite before him dead. 
 
 Eright fnines the mom, while in theraddy eifi 
 The fun hangs hov'ring o'er th' Atlantic wave. 
 Apart on yonder green hill's funny fide, 
 Seren'd with all the miufic of the morn. 
 Attentive let m.e f:t : while iVom the reck, 
 The fwains, laboricu<!, roll the limeftcr.e huge, 
 JScunding elafuc from th* ir der.ttd gr^fj ; 
 
 Ati 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. i 
 
 At ev'iy fali it fprings, and thund'ring Ihoots 
 O'er rocks and precipices to the plain.—— 
 And let the fnepherd careful tend his flock 
 Far from the dang'rous fteep ', nor, O ye fwains 1 
 Stray heedlefs of its rage. Behold the tears 
 Yon wretched widow o*er the mangled corpife 
 Of her dead hufband pours : who, haplefs man ! 
 Cheerful and flrong, went forth at rinng morn 
 To ufual toil ; but, ere the ev'ning hour, 
 His fad companions bare him lifelefs home* 
 Urg'd from the hill's high top, with progrefs fwift, 
 A weighty Hone, refiitlefs, rapid came ; 
 Seen by the fated wretch, who flood unmov'dj, 
 Nor turn'd to fly, till flight had been in vain j 
 When now arriv'd the inflrument of death, 
 And fell'd him to the ground. The thirfty land 
 Drank up his biood : fuch was the will of Heav'oe 
 
 How 
 
10% POEMS ON 
 
 How wide the landfcape opens to the view! 
 Still as I mount the lefs'ning hills decline, 
 Till high above them northern Grampius lifts 
 His hoary head, bending beneath a load 
 Of everlafting fnow. O'er fouthern fields 
 I fee the Cheviot hills, the ancient bounds 
 Of two contending kingdoms. There in fight 
 Brave Piercy and the gallant Douglas bled ; 
 The houfe of heroes, and the death of hofts ! 
 Watering the fertile fields, majeftic Forth, 
 Full, deep, and wide, rolls placid to the fea, 
 With many a vefTel trim and oared bark 
 In rich profufion coverM, wafting o'er 
 The wealth and produce of far diftant lands. 
 
 But chief mine eye on the fubjedled vale 
 Of Lev EN pleas'd looks down ; while o'er the trees, 
 That fhield the hamlet with the flisde of years, 
 
 Th« 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. lo^ 
 
 The tow'fing fmoke of early fire afcends, 
 
 And the fhrill cock proclaims th' advanced morn. 
 
 Hov/ bleft the man ! who, in thefe peaceful plainsj 
 Ploughs h' jatemal field ; far from the noife. 
 The care, and buftle of a bufy world ! 
 All in the facred, fweet, fequefler'd vale 
 Of Solitude, the fecret primrofe-path 
 Of rural life, he dwells ; and with him dwells 
 Peace and Content, twins of the Sylvan fhade^ 
 
 And all the Graces of the golden age. 
 
 Such is Agricola, the wife, the good; 
 
 By nature formed for the calm retreat, 
 
 The filent.path of life. Learn'd, but not fraught 
 
 With felf-importance, as the ftarched fool. 
 
 Who challenges refpe6t by folemn face. 
 
 By fludied accent, and high-founding phrafe. 
 
 EnamourM of the lliade, but not m.orofe. 
 
 PoKtenefs, 
 
104 POEMS ON 
 
 Politenefs, raisM in courts by frigid rules, 
 With him fpontaneous grows. Not books alone, 
 But man his ftudy, and the better part ; 
 To tread the ways of virtue, and to a<ft 
 The various fcencs of life with God's applanfe. 
 Deep in the bottom of the flow'ry vale, 
 With blooming fallows and the leafy twine 
 Of verdant alders fenc'd, his dwelling ftands 
 Complete in rural elegance. The door, 
 By which the poor or pilgrim never paf:j'd. 
 Still open, fpeaks the mailer's bounteous heait. 
 There, O how fweet ! amid the iiagrant fhrubs, 
 At ev'ning cool to (it ; while, on their boughs, 
 The ncfted fongfters twitter o'er tbtir young ; 
 And the hoarf_' low of folded cattle breaks 
 The Blence, v/iifted o'er the flteping lake, 
 Whofe waters gIo^y beneath the purple tinge 
 Of weftern cloud ; while converfe fweet deceives 
 
 3 ■ ' The 
 
^ SEVEUAL OCCASIONS, xcs 
 
 The ilealing foot of time ! Or where the ground, 
 Mounded irregular, points out the graves 
 Of our forefathers, and the hallow'd fane. 
 Where fwains affembling worfhip, let us walk, 
 In foftly-foothing rndancholy thought, 
 As Night's feraphic bard, immortal Young, 
 Or fweet-complaining Grey ; there fee the goal 
 Of human life, where drooping, faint, and tir'd,. 
 Oft mifs'd the prize, the weary racer relts. 
 
 Thus fang the youthj amid unfertile wilds 
 And namelefs defarts, unpoetic ground ! 
 Far from his friends he ftray'd, recording thus 
 The dear remembrance of his native fields, 
 To cheer the tedious night ; while flow difeafe 
 Prey'd on his pining vitals, and the blafts 
 Of dark December fhook his humble cot. 
 
 O ODE; 
 
io6 POEMS ON 
 
 ODE: 
 
 TO P A O L I. 
 
 I. 
 
 T X THAT mah, what hero (hall the Mufes fmg, 
 On claffic lyre, or Caledonian firing, 
 Whofe name fhall fill th' immortal page ; 
 Who, fir'd from Heav'n with energy divine, 
 In fun-bright glory bids his adions fhine 
 Firft in the annals of the age ? 
 Ceas'd are the golden times of yore ; 
 The age of heroes is no more : 
 Rare, in thefe latter times, arife to fame 
 The poet's ftrain infpir'd, or hero's heav'nly flame. 
 
 Wha. 
 
SEVERAL CCCASIGNS. 107 
 
 IL 
 What ilar arifing in the fouthem (kvy 
 New to the heav'ns, attracting Europe's eye. 
 
 With beams unbcrrow'd fhines afar ? 
 Who comes, with thoufands marching in his rear? 
 Shining in arms, fhaking his bioody'fpear, 
 Like the red comet, fign of war. ^ 
 Paoli ! fent of Heav'n, to faVe 
 A rifing nation of the brave ; 
 Whofe firm right hand his angels arm, to bear 
 A ftiield before his hoft, and dart the bolts of Vv-ar. 
 
 IIL 
 He comes ! he comes ! the faviolir of the land I 
 His dravv^n fword Pxames in his upli^ed hand, 
 
 Enthufiaft in his country's caufe j 
 Whofe firm refolve obeys a nation's call. 
 To rife deliv'rer, or a martyr fall 
 To Liberty, to dying laws, 
 
 O ^ Ye 
 
loS POEMS ON 
 
 Ye fons of Freedom, ling his praife ! 
 Ye poets, bind his brows with bays ! 
 Ye fcepter'd fhadows caft your honours down, 
 And bow before the head that never wore a crown ! 
 
 IV. 
 Who to the hero can the pahn refufc- ? 
 Great Alexander ftill the world fubdues, 
 
 The heir of everlafting praife. 
 But when the hero's Rame, the patriot's light; 
 When virtues human and divine unite ; 
 When olives twine anaong the bays; 
 And, mutual, both Minervas fhine: 
 A conftellation fo divine, 
 A wond'ring world behold, admire, and love, 
 And his bell image here th' Almighty marks above, 
 
 V. 
 As the lone fliepberd hides him in the rocks, 
 When high heav'ii thunders j as the tim'rous flecks 
 
 FrorR 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 109 
 
 From the defcending torrent flee 2 
 So flies a world of Haves at War's alarms, 
 When Zeal on flame, and Liberty in arms, 
 Leads on the fearlefs and the free, 
 Refiitlefs ; as the toiTent flood, 
 Horn'd like the moon, uproots the wood, 
 Sweeps flocks, and herds, and harvefts from their bafe* 
 And moves th' eternal hills from their appointed place» 
 
 VL 
 Long haft thou laboured in the glorious ftrife, 
 O land of Liberty ! profufe of life. 
 
 And prodigal of pricelefe blood. 
 Where heroes bought with blood the martyr's crowHif 
 A race arofe, heirs of their high renown, 
 
 Who dai 'd their fate thro' fire and flood i 
 And Gaffori the great arofe, 
 Whofe words of povv'r difarmM hi,s foes ; 
 And where the filial image fmil'd afar, 
 The lire turn'd not afide the thunders of the war, 
 
 O 
 
no POEMS ON 
 
 VII. 
 
 OLiberty! to man a guardian giv'n^ 
 Thou belt and brighteft attribute of Heav'n ! 
 
 From whom defcending, thee we fingf. 
 By nature wild, or by the arts refin'd, 
 We feel thy pow'r eflential to our mind ; 
 Each fon of Freedom Is a king. 
 Thy praifc the happy world proclaim. 
 And Britain worfliips at thy name, 
 Thou guardian angel of Britannia's ifle ! 
 And God and man rejoice in thy immortal fmiie ? 
 
 VIII. 
 Island of beauty, lift thy head on high ! 
 Sing a new fong of triumph to the Iky ! 
 
 The day of thy deliv'rance fprings — 
 The day of vengeance to thy ancient foe ! 
 Thy fons (hall lay the proud opprcflTor low, 
 And break the head of tyrant kings, 
 
 Paom 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS, iii 
 
 Paoli ! mighty man of war ! 
 All bright in arms, thy conqu'rlng car 
 Afcend ; thy people from the foe redeem. 
 Thou delegate of Heav'n, and fon of the Supreme ! 
 
 IX. 
 Rul'd by th' eternal laws, fupreme o'er all. 
 Kingdoms, like kings, fucceffive rife and fall. 
 When Caesar conquer'd half the earth, 
 And fpread his eagles in Britannia's fun ; 
 Did Caesar dream the favage huts he won 
 Should give a far-fam'd kingdom birth ? 
 That here fliould Roman freedom 'light ; 
 The weftern Mufes wing their flight ; 
 The Arts, the Graces find their fav'rite home ; 
 Our armies awe the globe, and Britain rival PvOME ? 
 
 X. 
 Thus, if th' Almighty fay, " Let Freedom be," 
 Thou, Corsica! thy golden age {halt fee. 
 
 3 Rejoice 
 
jij, POEMS ON 
 
 Rejoice with fongs, rejoice with fmiks I 
 Worlds yet unfound, and ages yet unborn, 
 Shall hail a new Britannia in her morn, 
 The queen of arts, the queen of ifles : 
 The Arts, the beauteous train of Peace, 
 Shall rife and rival Rome and Greece j 
 A Newton Nature's book unfold fublime ; 
 AMjlton fingto Hcav'n, and charm the ear of Time ! 
 
 ^^Ca^ 
 
 ODE 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS, iij 
 
 O D E; 
 
 TO THE CUCKOW 
 
 AIL, beauteous ftranger of the wood ■ 
 Attendant on the Spring ! 
 ITow Heav'n repairs tky rural feat. 
 And woods thy welcome fing, 
 
 li. 
 
 Soon as the daifie decks the green> 
 
 Thy certain voice we hear : 
 Haft thou a ftar to guide thy path, 
 
 Or mark the rolling year ? 
 
 F Delightfiil 
 
114 POEMS ON 
 
 III. 
 
 Ddightful vifitant ! with thee 
 
 I hail the time of flcv/'rs, 
 When heav'n is fill'd with mufic fvveet 
 
 Of birds among the bow'rs. 
 
 IV. 
 
 The fchool-boy, wand-'ring in the wood 
 
 To pull the fiow'rs fo gay, 
 Starts, tliy curious voice to hear, 
 
 And imitates thy lay. 
 
 Soon as the pea puts en the bioomj 
 Thou fly'it thy vocal vale. 
 
 An annual gue/l, in other lands, 
 Another Spring to hail. 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS 
 
 VI. 
 
 Sweet bird 1 thy bow'r is ever green. 
 
 Thy fky is ever clear ; 
 Thou hall no forrow in thy fong, 
 
 No winter in thy year ! 
 
 VII 
 
 O could I ily, I'd fly wth thee 1 
 We'd make, with focial wing. 
 
 Our annual vint o'er the globe, 
 CciTipanicns of the Spring. 
 
 ^^kiJlif^^ 
 
 P 2 
 
 E L E G Y' 
 
JtS POEMS OK 
 
 ELEGY 
 
 TO SPRING, 
 
 ; ^TT^IS paft : the iron North has fpent his rage j 
 
 Stem Winter now refignsthe length'ning day 
 The ftormy howlings of the win^s afluage. 
 And warm o'er ether weftem breezes play.. 
 
 II. 
 
 Of genial heat and chccrflil light the fource,. 
 
 From fouthern climes, beneath another fky, 
 The Sun, returning, wheels his golden courfc j 
 
 Before his beams all noxious vapours fly. 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. yi? 
 
 m. 
 
 Far to the north grim Winter draws his train 
 To his ov/n clime, to Zembla's frozen Ihore | 
 
 Where, thron'd on ice, he holds eternal reign •; 
 
 Where whirlwinds madden, and where tempers ro3r»- 
 
 IV. 
 
 Loos'd from the bands of n-olt, the verdant grcund' 
 Again puts en her robe of cheerful green, 
 
 Again puts forth her flow'rs j and all around, 
 Smiling, tlie cheerful face of Spring is feeno 
 
 V. 
 
 Eehold ! the trees nevv^-deck their v/ither'd boughs j 
 Their ample leaves, the hofpitable plane, 
 
 The taper elm, and lofty ail), difclofe ; 
 
 The. blooming hawthorn variegates the fcene^ 
 
 The 
 
POEMS ON 
 
 VI. 
 
 The lily of the vale, of fiow'rs the queen, 
 Puts on the robe fhe neither few'd nor fyun : 
 
 The birds on ground, or on the branches green, 
 Hop to and fro, and glitter in the fun. 
 
 VIL 
 
 Soon as o'er eaftern hills the morning peers, 
 From her low neft the tutted lark upfprings ; 
 
 And, chearful finging, up tiie air flie fteers ; 
 Still high fhe mounts, ftill loud and fweet Ihe fin^'C. 
 
 VIIJ. 
 
 Cn the green furze, c./taM o'er with golden blooms 
 That fill tr.L air with fr.i^iv.nce all arcur.d, 
 
 The linnet i^ts, r.nd tricks hlr, glofiy pluxc;:. 
 While o'er the wild his brol^^cn notes rcf()uncl. 
 
 Whi: 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 119 
 
 IX. 
 
 While the Sun journeys down the weilern fky, 
 
 Along the green fwaid, mark'd with Roman moundy 
 
 Beneath the blithfome Ihepherd's watchful eye. 
 The cheerful lambkins dance and friik around. 
 
 Now is the time for thofe who wlfdom lovcj 
 Who love to walk in Virtue's fiow'ry read, 
 
 Along the lovely paths of Spring to rove, 
 And follow Nature up to Nature's God. 
 
 XL 
 
 Thus Zoroaster iludied Nature's laws; 
 
 Thus Socrates, the v/ifel^ of mankind; 
 Thus heav'n-taught Plato trac'd th' Almighty caufcj 
 
 And left the wond'rir.g multitude behind. 
 
 Thus 
 
140 POEMS ON 
 
 xn. 
 
 Thus Ashley gather'd academic bays ; 
 
 Thus gentle Thomson, as the Seafons roll. 
 Taught them to fing the great Creator's praife. 
 
 And bear their poet's name from pole to pole. 
 
 XIIL 
 
 Thus have I walk'd along the dewy lawn ; 
 
 My frequent foot the blooming wild hath worn ; 
 Before the lark I've fung the beauteous dawn, 
 
 And gather'd health from all the gales of morn, 
 
 XIV. 
 
 And, ev*n when Winter chill'd the aged year, 
 I wander'd lonely o'er the hoaiy plain : 
 
 Tho' frofty Boreas wam'd me to forbear, 
 Boreas, with all his tempefts, warn'd in vain. 
 
 3 Thca, 
 
SEVERiAL OCCASIONS. izx 
 
 XY. 
 
 Then, fleep my nights, and quiet blefs'd my days | 
 I fear'd no lofs, my Mind was all my ft ore ; 
 
 Ko anxious willies e'er difturb'd m.y eafe ; 
 
 Heav'n gave content and health— I alk'd no more. 
 
 xvi: 
 
 Now, Spring returns : but not to me returns 
 The vernal joy my better years have known ; 
 
 Dim in my breaft life's dying taper burns. 
 
 And all the jcys cf life with health are flown. • 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Starting and fhlv'ring in th' inconfcant wind, 
 Meagre and pa!e, the dio/t of what I was. 
 
 Beneath fome blafted tree I lie reclin'd, 
 
 And count the filent moments as they pafa : 
 
3jaty. POEMS on: 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Tlie winged moments, whofe unftaying fpeed 
 No ait can flop, or in their courfe arreft ; 
 
 "VVhofe flight fliall fliortly count me with the dead,. 
 And lay mc down in peace with them that reft. . '^ 
 
 Oft morning-dreams prefage approaching fate ; . 
 
 And morning-dreams, as poets tell, are true. 
 Led by pale ghofls, I enter Death's dark gate, 
 
 And bid the realms of light and life adieu. 
 
 XX. 
 
 1 hear the he;plefs waii, the fiiriek of wo ; 
 
 I fee the muddy wave, the dreary Ihore, 
 The Huggifii frreams that fiowly creep below, 
 
 Which mortals viilt, and return no more. 
 
 Xon.Ctm.'^:^^'^^^-^-'^- 
 
 farewell?. 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. ?^^ 
 
 XXI. 
 
 'Farewell, ye blooming fields ! ye cheerful plains ! 
 
 Enough for me the church-yard^s lonely mound, 
 Where melancholy v/ ith ilill lilence reigns, 
 
 And the rank grafs waves o'er the cheerlefs ground, 
 
 XXII. 
 
 There let me wander at the fnut o"f eve. 
 When fleep fits dewy on the laborers eyes^ 
 
 The world and all its bufy follies leave. 
 
 And talk with Wifdom wha^e my Da? mm is lies? , 
 
 xxin. ,. '. 
 
 There let me fleep forgotten in the clay, 
 
 Wiien death fhall fliut thefe v\'eany aching eyes ; 
 
 lieft in the hopes of an eternal day, 
 
 Till the long night's gone, and the laft morn srife. 
 
524 POEMS ON 
 
 THE LAST DAY: 
 
 A POEM. 
 
 TJI'IS fecond coming, v/ho at firfl appear'd 
 
 To fave the world, but now to judge mankind 
 According to their works ; — the trumpet's found, — 
 The dead arifing, — the wide world in flames, — 
 The manfions of the bleft, — and the dire pit 
 Of Satan and of woe, O Mufe ! unfold. 
 
 O Thou ! whofe eye the future and the pall 
 In one broad view beholdefl — from the firft 
 Of days,, when o'er this rude unformed mafs 
 Light, firft-born of exiftence, fmiling rofe, 
 Dewn to that lateft moment, when thy voice 
 
 V Shan 
 
SEVERliL OCCASIONS. i4| 
 
 .'"Shall bid the fun be darknefs, when thy hand 
 •"Shall blot creation out, — affift my fong. 
 Thou only know'ft, who gav'ft thefe orbs to roll 
 Their deflin'd circles, when their courfe fball fetj 
 When ruin and deftrudion fierce ihall ride 
 In triumph o'er crerlion. This is hid, 
 In kindnefs unto man. Thou giv'ft to know 
 The event certain : Angels know not when. 
 
 'Tv/As on an Autumn's eve, ferene and calm^ 
 I v/alk'd, attendant on the funeral 
 Of an old fwain : Around, the village crowd 
 Loquacious chatted, till we reach'd the place 
 Where, Shrouded up, the fons of other years 
 Lie filent in the gra-ve. The feXton there 
 Had digg'd the bed of death, the narrow houfe. 
 For all that live appointed. To the duft 
 "We gave the dead. Then moralising, home 
 
tiS POEMS ON 
 
 The fwains return'd, to drown in copious bowls 
 The labours cf the day, and thoughts of death. 
 
 The fun now trembled at the weflern gate; 
 "His yellow rays ftream'd in the fleecy clouds. 
 J fat me down upon a broad flat flone ; 
 And much I mufed on the changeful ftate 
 Of fublunary things. The joys of life, 
 How frail, how fliort, hov/ paHing I As the fea. 
 Now flowing, thunders on the rocky fhore ; 
 Now lowly ebbing, leaves a trail cf fand, 
 Wafte, wide, and dreary : So, ,jn this vain vrorld. 
 Through every varying ftate of life, we tofo 
 In endlefs fiuduation ; till, tir'd out 
 With fad variety of bad and ivorfe, 
 *vVe reach life's period, reach the blifsful port, 
 Where change affedis not, and the weary reft. 
 
 T^-?t 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 1^7 
 
 Then fure the fun which lights us to our Ihroud^ 
 Than that which gave us firffc to fee the light. 
 Is happier far. As he who, hopelefs, long 
 Hath rode the Atlantic billow, from the malt. 
 Skirting the blue horizon, fees the land. 
 His native land approach ; joy fills his heart, 
 And fwells each throbbing vein : So, here confin'd. 
 We weary tread life's long, long toilfome maze ; 
 Still hoping, vainly hoping, for relief, 
 And reft from labour. Ah ! miftaken thought. 
 To feek in life what only death can give. 
 But v/hat is death ? Is it an endlefs fleep, 
 Unconfcious of the prefent and the paft, . 
 And never to be waken'd ? Sleeps the foul ; 
 Nor wakes ev'n in a dream ? If it is fo, 
 sHappy the fons of pleafure ; they have liv'd 
 lAnd made the moft of life : And foohfh he. 
 The fage, who, dreaming of hereafter, grudg'd 
 
 Himfelf 
 
X48 POEMS ON 
 
 Himfelf the tailing of the fweets of life, 
 And call'd it temperance ; and hop'd for joys 
 More durable and fweet, beyond the grave. 
 Vain is the poet's fong, the foldicr's toil I 
 Vain is the fculptur'd marble and the bull ! 
 How vain to hope for never-dying fame, 
 If fouls can die ! But that they never die. 
 This thirft of gloiy whifpers. Wherefore gave 
 The great Creator fuch a ftrong defire 
 He never meant to fitisfy ? Thefe flone?. 
 Memorials of the dead, with ruibic art 
 And rude infcription cut, declare the foul- 
 Immortal. Man, form'd for eternity, 
 Abhors annihilation, and the thought 
 Of dark oblivion. Hence, with ardent willi 
 And vigorous effort, each would fondly raife 
 Some lafting monument, to fave his name 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 129 
 
 Safe from the wafte of years. Hence Csefar fought ; 
 Hence Raphael painted ; and hence Miltorvfung;. 
 
 Thus mufing, fleep opprefs'd my drov/fy fenfe,' 
 And wrapt me into reft. Before mine eyes, 
 Fair as the morn, when up the flaming eaft 
 The fun afcends, a radiant feraph ftood. 
 Crown 'd with a wreath of palm : His golden hair 
 Wav'd on his fhoulders, girt with fhining plumes ; 
 From which, down to the ground, loofe-floating trafFd, 
 In gracefuLnegiigence, his heavenly robe : 
 Upon his face, flufh'd with immortal youth, 
 Unfading beauty bloom'd ; and thus he fpake : — 
 
 *• Well haftthou judg'd; tl'i^ foul mufibe immortal ! 
 " And that it is, this awful day declares ; 
 ** This day, the hft that ere the fun fhaH gild : 
 **"'Arrefted by Omnipotence, no more 
 
 R- « shai 
 
130 POEMS ON 
 
 " Shall he dcfcribe the year: the moon no more 
 
 •' Shp.ll filed her borrow'd light. This is the day 
 
 *' Seal'd in the rolls of Fate, when o'er the dead 
 
 *♦ Almighty pow'r fhall wake, and raife to life 
 
 *• The fleeping myriads. Now fliall be approv'd 
 
 " The ways of Gcd to man, and all the clouds 
 
 " Of Providence be clear'd : Now fhall be difclos'd 
 
 " Why Vice in purple oft upon a throne 
 
 ** Exalted fat, and fhock her iron fcourge 
 
 ** O'er Virtue, lowly fcated on the ground. 
 
 ** Now deeds committed in the fLible fhade 
 
 «' Of eyelefs darknefs, ihall be brought to light > 
 
 " And every aft fnall meet its juft reward." 
 
 As thus he fp;.k€, the morn arcfe; and fure 
 Mcthought ne'er rofe a fairer. Not a cloud 
 Spotted the blue cxpanfe ; and not a gak 
 Ertath'd e'er tie furface c£ the dsv/y £.-\rth. 
 
 Twinkling 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 131 
 
 Twinkling with yellow lu ft re, the gay birds 
 On ev'ry blooming fpray fang their fweet lays, 
 And prais'd their great Creator. Through the fields 
 The lowing cattle graz'd ; and all around 
 'Was beauty, happinefs, and mirth, and love. — 
 ** All thefe thou fetft," (refum'd th' angelic power,) 
 <^ No more mall give thee pleafure. Thou muft leave 
 '• This world ; of which now come and fee the end." 
 
 Thi-s faid, he touch'd me. and fuch ftrength infus*dp 
 That as he foared up the pathlefs air, 
 I lightly follow'd. On the awful peak 
 Of an eternal rock, agaiufc whofe bafe- 
 The founding billows beat, he fet me downc 
 I heard a noife, loud as a rufhing ftream, 
 When o'er the rugged precipice it roars, 
 -And, foaming, thunders en the rocks below. 
 ■^.^r-:onilhed, I gaz'd around; when lo ! 
 
 ■K. ^ -I f.V^^/" 
 
13^ POEMS ON 
 
 I faw an angel down from Hcav'n defcend. 
 His face was as the fun ; his dreadful height 
 Such as the ftatue, by the Grecian plan'd. 
 Of Philip's fcm, Athos, with all his rocks. 
 Moulded into ^ man. One foot on earth, 
 And one upon the rolling fea, he fix'd. 
 As when, at fetting fun, the rainbow Ihines 
 Refulgent, meting out the half of Heav'n — 
 So flood he ; and, in acfl to fpcak, he rais'd 
 His fhining hand. His voice was as the found 
 Of many waters, or the deep-mouth'd roar 
 Of thunder, when it burfts the riven cloud, 
 And bellows through the ether. Nature ftocd 
 Silent, in all her works ; while thus he fpake :— 
 ** Hear, thou that roli'ft above, thou radiant fun i 
 *' Ye Heav'ns and earth, attend ! while 1 decide 
 " The will of the Eternal. By his name 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 133 
 
 <« Who lives, and fhall for ever live, I fwear 
 ■" That'time fhali be no longer." 
 
 He difsppear'd. Fix'd in deep thought I flood 
 At what would follow. Straight another found ; 
 To which the Nile, o'er Ethiopia's rocks 
 Ruihing in one broad catarad, were nought. 
 ]t feem'd as if the pillars that upheld 
 The univerfe, had TaiFn ; and all its worlds, 
 Unhing'd, had ftrove together for the way. 
 In cumbrous crafliing ruin. Such the roar ! 
 A found that might be felt ! It pierc'd beyond 
 The limits of creation. Chaos roar'd ; 
 ^n^ Heav'n and earth return'd the mighty noife.— > 
 ^* Thou hear'ft," faid then m-y heav'nly guide, ** the 
 
 ** found 
 ■•* Of the laft trumpet. See \vher-, from the clouds, 
 ** Th' archaiigel Michael, one of the fevcn 
 
 « That 
 
734 POEMS ON 
 
 " That minlfter before the throne of God, 
 *' Leans forward ; and the fon'rous tube infpircB 
 *' With breath immortal. By his fide the fword 
 ** Which, likt a meteor, o'er the vanqiiifn'd head 
 ** Of Satan hung, when he rebellious rais'd 
 " War, and cmbroil'd the happy fields above." 
 
 A PAUSE enfuM. The fainting fun grew pale, 
 And feem'd to ftruggle through a ficy of blood ; 
 While dim eclipfeimpair'd his beam : The earth 
 Shook to her deepeft centre : Ocean ragM, 
 And dafh'd his billows on the frighted fhore. 
 All \vas confufion. Heartlefs, helplefs, wild, 
 As flocks of timid faeep, or driven deer, 
 Wand'ring, th' inhabitants of earth appearM : 
 Terror in every look, and pale affright 
 Sat in each eye ; amazed at the paft, 
 And for the future trembling. All call'd great, 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 135 
 
 Or deem'd illuftrious, by erring man, 
 
 Was now no more. The hero and the prince 
 
 Their grandeur loft, now mingled with the crowds 
 
 And all diftintftions, thofe except from faith 
 
 And virtue flowing : Thefe upheld the foul. 
 
 As ribb'd with triple fteel. All elfe were loft ! 
 
 Now, vain is greatnefs f as the mornuig clouds^ 
 That, rifing, promife rain : Condens'd they ftandy. 
 Til], touch'd by winds, they vanilh into air. 
 The farmer mourns : So mourns the helpiefs wretch^ 
 Who, caft by fortune from fome envy'd height. 
 Finds nought within him to fupport his fall. 
 High as his h,opes had rais'd hi;n, low he links 
 
 Below his fate, in comfortlefs-defpair 
 
 Who would not laugh at an attempt to build 
 A lafting ftrudure on the rapid ftream 
 Of foaming Tygris, the fgund^tions laid 
 
 Upon 
 
t36 POEMS ON' 
 
 Upon the glafly furface I Such the hopes 
 Of him whofc views are boundtd to this world . 
 Immerfs'd in his own hbeur'd work, he dreams 
 Himftlf fccuie ; when, on a fudden, down, 
 Torn from its fandy ground, the fabric falls !■ 
 He ftarts,. and, waking, finds himL^lf undone. 
 
 Not fo the man who on relfgion's bafe 
 His hope and virtue founds. Firm on the rocii 
 Of ages his foundation laid, remains, 
 Above the frowns of fortune or her fmiies. 
 In every varying ftate of life, the fame. 
 Nought fears he from the world, and nothing hcpts. 
 With unafTuming courage, inward ftrength 
 Endu'd, refign'd to Pleav'n, he leads a life 
 Superior to the common herd of men, 
 Whofe joys, conneded with the changeful flood 
 Of fickle fortune, ebb and flow with it. 
 
 NOF 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 137 
 
 KoR is religion a chimera : Sure 
 'Tis fomcthing real. Virtue cannot live, 
 Divided from it. As a fever'd branch, 
 It withers, pines, and dies. Who loves not God, 
 That made him, and preftrvM, nay more — redeem'd, 
 Is dangerous. Can ever gratitude 
 Bind him who fpurns at thefe moft facred ties ? 
 Say, Can he, in the filent fcenes of life. 
 Be fociable ? Can he be a friend ? 
 At belt, he muft but feign. The worft of brutes 
 An atheift is ; for beafts acknowledge God. 
 The lion, with the terrors of his mouth, 
 Pays homage to his Maker-; the grim wolf. 
 At midnight, howling, feeks his meat from God. 
 
 Again th* archangel rais'd his dreadfiil voice. 
 Earth trembled at the found. " Awake,, ye dead 1 
 " And come to judgement." At the mighty call^ 
 
 S . As 
 
138 POEMS ON 
 
 As armies iffue at the trumpet's found, 
 So rofe the dead. A fhaking firft I heard, 
 And bone together came unto his bone, 
 Though fever'd by wide feas and diftant lands. 
 A fpirit liv'd within them. He who made. 
 Wound up, and fet in motion, the machine, 
 To run unhurt the length of fourfcore years, 
 Who knows the liru(5lure of each fecret fpring ; 
 Can He not join again the fever'd parts. 
 And join them with advantage ? This to man 
 Hard and impofiible may feem ; to God 
 Is eafy. Now, through all the darkened air, 
 The living atoms flew, each to his place, 
 And nought was miffing in the great account, 
 Down from the duft of him whom Cain fic;w, 
 To him who yefterday was laid in earth. 
 And fcarce had feen corruption ; whether in 
 The bladcd grifs they cloth'd the verdant plain, 
 
 Or 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 139 
 
 Or fmil'd in op'ning flowers ; or, in the fea, 
 Became the food of monflers of the deep, 
 Or pafb'd in tranfmigrations infinite 
 Through ev'ry kind of being. None miftakcs 
 His kindred matter ; but, by fympatby 
 Combining, rather by Almighty Pow'r 
 Led on, they clofely mingle and unite. 
 But chang'd : for, fubjed to decay no more, 
 Or difTolution, deathlefs as the foul, 
 The body is ; and fitted to enjoy 
 Eternal blifs, or bear eternal pain 
 
 As when in Spring the fun's prolific beams 
 Have wak'd to life the infect tribes, that fport 
 And wanton in his rays at ev'ning mild. 
 Proud of their new exiftence, up the air. 
 In devious circles wheeling, they afcend. 
 Innumerable ; the whole air 13 dark :-— 
 
 S % So^ 
 
V 
 
 Uo POEMS ON ^ 
 
 So, by the truiTipet rousM, the fone of men, ^ 
 
 In ccuntlcfs numbers, cover'd all the ground, >2 
 Frcm frozen Greenland to the fouthern pole ; »<^^ 
 
 Ail who ere V^d on earth. See Lsplsnd's foiis, ^ 
 
 A'" Whofe z enith is the Pole ; a barb'rous race ! «^ 
 
 Rough as their florms, and favage as their clin^e, fv ' 
 
 Ur.polifii'd as their bears, and but in fhape "^ 
 
 Difcirguifii'd frcm them : Reafon's dying lamp 
 Scarce brighter bums than ir.ftii ft in their brfafl. 
 
 
 With wand'ring Ruffians, and all thofe who dwelt ^ ^ 
 
 In Scandinavia, by the Baltic fea ; 
 
 The rugged Pole, with Pruflia's wailike race: 
 
 Germania pours her numbers, whrie the Rhine 
 
 Av.d mighty Dai.iibe pour their flowing urns. 
 
 Behold thy children, Britain! l.ail the light: 
 A manly race, whofe bufincfs was arms, 
 Ard lorg ur.civil'.z'd ; yet, train'd to deeds 
 
 
 Of 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 141 
 
 Of virtue, they withftood the Roman pow^r, 
 
 And made their eagles droop. On Morven's coaft, 
 
 A race of heroes and of bards arife : 
 
 The mighty Fingal, and his mighty fon, 
 
 Who launch'd the fpear, and touch'd the tuneful harp; 
 
 With Scotia's chiefs, the fons of later years, 
 
 Her Kenneths and her Malcolms, warriors fam'd ; 
 
 Her generous Wallace, and her gallant Bruce. 
 
 See, in her pathlefs wilds, where the grey ftones 
 
 Are rais'd in memory of the mighty dead. 
 
 Armies arife of Englifti, Scots, and Pidts ; 
 
 And giant Danes, who, from bleak Norway's coaft, 
 
 Ambitious, came to conquer her fair fields. 
 
 And chain her fons : But Scotia gave them graves !— 
 
 Behold the kings that fill'd the Englifli throne ! 
 
 Edwards and Henrys, names of de^thlefs fame, 
 
 Start from the tomb. Immortal William I fee, 
 
 Surrounding angels point him from the reft, 
 
 Wiio 
 
 V 
 
U% POEMS ON 
 
 Who fav'd the ftate from tyranny and Rome. 
 Behold her poets ! Shakefpear, fancy's child ; 
 Spenfer, who, through his fmooth and moral tale, 
 Ypoints fair virtue out ; with him who fung 
 Of man's firft difobedience : Young lifts up 
 His awful head, and joys to fee the day, 
 The great, th' important diy, of which he fung. 
 
 See where imperial Rome exalts her height \ 
 Her fenators and gowned fathers rife : 
 Her confuls, who, as ants without a king, 
 Went forth to conquer kings ; and at their wheels 
 In triumph led the chiefs of diftant lands. 
 Behold, in Cannae's field, what hoftile fwarms 
 Burft from th' enfanguin'd ground, where Hannibal 
 Shook Rome through all her legions : Italy 
 Trembled unto the Capitol. If fate 
 Had not v/ithftood th' attempt, fhe now had bow'd 
 
 Her 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 143 
 
 Her head to Carthage. See, Pharfalia pours 
 Her murder'd thoufands ! who, in the laft ftrife 
 Of Rome for dying liberty, were flain 
 To make a man the mailer of the world. 
 
 All Europe's fons throng forward ; numbers vail ! 
 Imagination f^ils beneath the weight. 
 What numbers yet remain ! Th' enervate race 
 Of Alia, fi-om where Tanais rolls 
 O'er rocks and dreary waftes his f jaming ftream, 
 To where the EafVern Ocean thunders round 
 The fpiey Java ; with the tawny race 
 That dwelt in Afrlc, from the Red-Sea, north, 
 To the Cape, foath, where the rude Hottentot 
 Sinks into brute ; with thofe, who long unknow.i 
 Till by Columbus found, a naked race ! 
 And only Ikill'd to urge the fylvan war, 
 That peopled the wide continent that fpreads 
 
 From 
 
144 POEMS ON 
 
 From rocky Zambia, whiten'd with the fnow 
 Of twice three thoufand years, fouth to the Strait* 
 Nam'd from Magellan, where the ocean roars 
 Round earth's remotef!: bounds. Now, had not He, 
 The great Creator of the univcrfe, 
 Enlarged the wide foundations of the world, 
 Room had been wanting to the mighty crowds--!' /" 
 That pour'd from ev'ry quarter. At his word,' 
 Obedient angels ftrctch'd an ample plain, 
 Where dwelt his people in the Holy Land, 
 
 Fit to contain the whole of human race. 
 
 As when the Autumn, yellow on the fields, 
 Invites the fickle, forth the farmer fends 
 His fcrvants to cut down and gather in 
 The bearded grain : So, by Jehovah fcnt. 
 His angels, from all corners of the world, 
 Led on the living and awaken'd dead 
 To judgement ; as, in the Apocalypfe, 
 
 John, 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 145 
 
 John, gather'd, £;\v the people of the earth, 
 
 I And kings, to Armageddon. ^ISTow look rooindj 
 
 Thou whofe ambltioaa heart for glory beats ! 
 See all the wretched things on earth cail'd great^ 
 And lifted up to gods ! How little now 
 Seems all their grandeur ! See the conqueror, 
 i Mad Alexander, who his vidor arms 
 
 Bore o'er the then known globe, then fat him dow:i 
 
 And wept, becaufe he had no other world 
 
 To give to defoiation ; how he droops I 
 
 He knev/ not, hsplcfs wretch ! he never learn'd. 
 
 The harder conqueft — to fubdue himfelf.— — 
 
 Now is the Chriilian's triumph, now "he hfts 
 
 His ];ead on high ; while down the dying hearts 
 
 Of finners helplefs fmk : Black guilt diftra^s^ 
 
 And wrings their tortur'd fouls; while ev'ry thou^h'^ 
 
 Is big with keen remorfej or dark defpain 
 
 But 
 
x-44 POEMS ON 
 
 But now a nobler fubjed chims the fong,- 
 jVIy mind recoils at the amazing theme : 
 For how lliall finite fpeak of infinite ? 
 How Ihall a ftripling, by the Mufe untaught, 
 Sing Heav'n's Ahnighty, proilrate at whofe feet 
 Archangels fall. Uijequal to the tafic, 
 I dare the bold attempt : Affift me Heav'n I , • 
 
 From thee begun, with thee fhall end my fong !— 
 
 ISTow, down fiom the cp'ning firmament, 
 Seated upon a f; pphire throne, high rais'd 
 Upon an azure ground, upheld by wheels 
 Of emblematic ftrudturc, as a wheel 
 Had been within a wheel, ftuddcd with eyes 
 Cf flaming fire, and by four cherubs led ; 
 I faw the Judge dcfcend. Around H:m came,. 
 By thcufiinds and by millions, Heav'n's bright hofl. 
 Aleut Him blaz'd infuffcrablc light, 
 
 Invlfllk 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS, 14 r 
 
 'Invlfible as dafknefs to the eye. 
 His car above the Mount of Olives ftay'd, 
 "Wherelaft He with his difciples convers'd. 
 And left them gazing as He foat'd aloft. 
 He darknefs as a curtain drew around ; 
 'On Vv'hich the colour of the rainbow ilione, 
 Various and bright ; and from within was heard 
 A voice, as deep-mouth'd thunder, fpeakingthus.; 
 ^' Go, Raphael, and fi-om thefe reprobate 
 " Divide my chofen faints ; go fe pa rate 
 " My people from among them, as the vrheat 
 *' Is in the HarvL-ft fever'd from the tares : 
 " Set them upon the right, and on the left 
 ■*' Leave thefe ungodly. Thou,. Michael, choofe-, 
 •' From forth th' angelic hoft, a chofen band, 
 " And Satan with his legions hither bring 
 " To judgement, from Hell's caverns ; whither fled, 
 '^ They think to hide from my awaken'd wrath, 
 
 T -% «« Whlcls 
 
14?? POEMS ON 
 
 ** Which chac'd them out of Hcav'n, and which thcy 
 « dread 
 
 ** Mere than the horrors of the pit, which now 
 ** Shall be redoubled fcv'nfold on their heads." 
 
 S^^iFT as co-nccption, at his bidding, flew 
 His minifters, obedient to his word. 
 And, as a fiiepherd, who all day hath fed 
 His fheep and goats promifcuous, but at eve, 
 Dividing, fhuts them up in difTerent folds: 
 So now the good v/ere parted from the bad.j 
 For ever parted ; never more to join 
 And mingle as en earth, where often paft 
 For other each ; even clofe hypocrify 
 Efcapes not, but, unmaf^'d, alike tiie fcorn 
 Of vice and virtue flands. Now feparate, 
 Upon the right appear'd a dauntlefs, firm, 
 Compofcd number : Joyful at the thought 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 14$ 
 
 Of immortality, they forward look'd 
 
 With hope unto the future ; confcience, pleas'd. 
 
 Smiling, refieds upon a well-fpent life ; 
 
 Heav'n dawns within their breafcs. The other crew, 
 
 .Pale and dejecled, fcarcely lift their heads 
 
 To view the hated light : His trembling hand 
 
 E.ich lays upon his guilty face ; and now, 
 
 In gnawings of the never-dying worm. 
 
 Begins a hell that never fiiali be quench'do 
 
 But now the enemy of God and man, 
 Curfing his fate, comes forward, led in chainSj 
 Infrangible, of burning adamant, 
 lievvn from the rocks of Hell^ now too the bands 
 Of relbcl angels, who long time had walk'd 
 The world, and by their oracles deceiv'd 
 The blinded nations, or by fecret guile 
 "'Wroiight men to vice, camejen, raging in vain, 
 
 And 
 
T50 rOEMS ON 
 
 And ftruggling with their fetters, which, as fdte, 
 ComixcH'd them fift. They v/ait their dreadfal doom. 
 
 !Now from his lofty throne, with eyes that bla-z'd 
 Intcllerablc day, th' Almighty Judge 
 Look'd down a-v/hile upon the fubjed: crowd. 
 As when a caravan of merchant?, led 
 By thiift of gain to travel the parch'd fands 
 Of wafte Arabia, hears a lion roar. 
 The wicked trembled at his view : Upon 
 The ground they roU'd, in pangs of wild defpaii;^ 
 To hide their faces, which not blufhes mark'd. 
 But livid horror. Confcience, who afleep 
 Long time had Iain, now lifts her fnaky head, 
 And frights them, into madnefs ; while the lift 
 Of all their fins flie offers to their view : 
 Tor fne had power to hurt them, and her fting 
 Was as a fcorpion's. He who never knew 
 
 ItB 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. ij.i 
 
 Its wound is happy, though a fctter'd fiave, 
 Ghain'd to the oar, or to the dark damp, mine- 
 Confin'd ; .while he who fits upon a throne, 
 Under her frown, is wretched. But the damn'd' 
 Alone can tell what 'tis to feel her fcourge 
 In all its horrors, with her poifon'd fting 
 Fix'd in their hearts. This is the Second Deatbo 
 
 Upon the Book of Life He laid his hand, 
 Clos'd with the feal of Heav'n ; which op'd, he read" 
 The names of the Ele6t. God knov/s his own. 
 " Come, (looking on the right,- he mildly- faid,)- 
 " Ye of my Father blefied, ere the world 
 " Was moulded out of chaos — ere the fons 
 " Of God, exulting, fang at Nature's birth.. 
 " For you I left my throne, my glory left, 
 *' And, fhrouded up in clay, I weary walked 
 *< Your world, and m^ny mlferies endur'd ; 
 
 « Deat?5 
 
tS% POExMS ON 
 
 ^ Death was the hft. For you I die J, that you' 
 
 •* Might live with me for ever, and in Ileav'n fit 
 
 ** On thrones, and, as the fun in brightneL, fhine 
 
 *' For ever in my kingdom. Faithfully 
 
 *' Have ye approv'd yourfclves. I hungry was, 
 
 *' And thirfty, and ye gave me mt^at and drink : 
 
 •' Ye cloth'd me, naked ; v.'hen I fainting lay 
 
 •' In all the fid variety of pain, 
 
 *' Ye chear'd me with the tendtrnefs of friends;; 
 
 *' la ficknefs and in prifon, me reliev'd. 
 
 «' N.iy,.mai-\'tl not that thus I fpeak : Whene'er, 
 
 <* Led by the didtates of fair charity, 
 
 *' Ye heip'd the man on whom keen poverty 
 
 ** And vvrctclicdntfs had laid their meagre hands, 
 
 •* And for my f..ke, ye did it unto me." 
 
 They heard with joy, and, fiioutingjrais'd their voice 
 In praifc cf their Redeemer. Loos'd from earth. 
 
 They 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. ivt 
 
 They foar'd triumphant, and at the right hand 
 
 Of the great Judge fat down ; who on the left 
 
 Now looking ftern, with fury in his eyes, 
 
 Blafted their fpirits, while his arrows, fix'd 
 
 Deep in their hearts, in agonizing pain 
 
 Scorched their vitals, thus their dreadful doom 
 
 (More dreadful from thofe lips which us'd to blefs' 
 
 He awfully pronounc'd. Earth at his frown 
 
 Convultive trembled ; while the raging deep 
 
 Hufh'd in a horrid calm his waves. " Depart, 
 
 (Thefe, for I heard ti^m, were his awful words !) 
 
 " Depart from me, ye curs'd ! Oft have I ftrove, 
 
 *' In tendernefs and pity, to fubdue 
 
 «' Your rebel hearts ; as a fond parent bird, 
 
 *' When danger threatens, flutters round her young, 
 
 " Nature's ftrong impulfe beating in her breaft. 
 
 " Thus ardent did I ftrive : But all in vain, 
 
 " Now will I laugh at your calamity, 
 
 U ** And 
 
154 POEMS ON 
 
 " And mock your fears : as oft, in ftupid mirth," 
 
 " H^rden'd in wickednefs, ye pointed out 
 
 ** The man who laboured up the fteep afcent 
 
 *' Of virtue, to reproach. Depart to fire, 
 
 " Kindled in Tophet for th' arch enemy, 
 
 ** For Satan and his angels, who by pride 
 
 " Fell into condemnation ; blown up now 
 
 " To fevenfold fury by th' Almighty breath. 
 
 " There, in that dreary manfion, where the light 
 
 " Is folid gloom, darknefs that may be felt, 
 
 " Where hope, the lenient of the ills of life, 
 
 ** For ever dies ; there (hall ye feek for death, 
 
 ** And fhall not find it : for your greateft curfe 
 
 " Is immortality. Omnipotence 
 
 <* Eternally fhall punifli and preferve." 
 
 So faid he ; and, his hand high lifting, hurl'd 
 The flaftiing lightning, and the flafhing bolt, 
 
 ruH 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 155 
 
 Full on the wicked ; kindling in a blaze 
 
 The fcorched earth. Behind, before, around, 
 
 The trembling wretches burft the quiv'ring flames. 
 
 They turn'd to fly ; but wrath divine purfu'd 
 
 To where, beyond creation's iitmoft bound, 
 
 Where never glimpfe of chearful light arriv'd, 
 
 Where fcarce e'en thought can travel, but, abforb'd. 
 
 Falls headlong down th' immeafurable gulf 
 
 Of chaos — wide and wild, their prifon flood 
 
 Of utter darknefs, as the horrid ihade 
 
 That clouds the brow of death. Its op'ned mouth 
 
 Belch'd Iheets of livid flame and pitchy fmoke. 
 
 Infernal thunders, with explofion dire, 
 
 R-oar'd through the fiery concave ; while the wavc§ 
 
 Of liquid falphur beat the burning fhore 
 
 In 'endlcfs ferment. O'er the dizzy fteep 
 
 Sufpended, wrapt in faifocating gloom, 
 
 The funs of black damnation- fltricking hungc 
 
 U 3» Ciirfes 
 
156 POEMS ON 
 
 Curfes unutterable fili'd their mouths, 
 Hideous to hear ; their eyes rain'd bitter tears 
 Of agonizing madnefs : for their day- 
 Was paft, and from their eyes repentance hid 
 For ever ! Round their heads their hiffing brands 
 The furies wav'd, and o'er the whelming briik 
 Impetuous urg'd them. In the boiling furge 
 They headlong fell. The flafhing billows roar'd ; 
 And Hell from all her caves return'd the found. 
 The gates of flint, and tenfold adamant, 
 With bars of Reel, impenetrably firm, 
 Were fliut for ever : The decree cf fate. 
 Immutable, made fall the pond'rous door. 
 
 " Now turn thine eyes," my bright conduftor faid: 
 ** Behold the world in flames! fo fore the bolts 
 ** Of thunder, launch'd by the Almighty arm, 
 " Hath fmote upon it. Up the blacken'd air 
 
 « Afccnd 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 157 
 
 " Afcend the curling fldmes, and billowy fmoke ; 
 
 <* And hideous crackling blot the face of day 
 
 " With foul eruption. From their inmoft beds 
 
 " The hiffing waters rife. Whatever drew 
 
 ** The vital air, or in the fpacious deep 
 
 " Wanton'd at large, expires. Keard'ft thou that crafh ? 
 
 " There fell the tow'ring Alps, and, dafhing down, 
 
 ** Lay bare their centre. See, the flaming mines 
 
 " Expand their treafures ! no rapacious hand 
 
 " To feize the precious bane. Now look around : 
 
 " Say, Canft thou tell where ftood imperial Rome, 
 
 *^ The wonder of the world ; or where, the boaft 
 
 " Of Europe, fair Britannia, ftretch'd her plain, 
 
 " Encircled by the ocean. All is wrapt 
 
 " In darknefs : As (if great may be compar'd 1 
 
 " With fm.all) when, on Gommorah's fated field, 
 
 " The flaming fulphur, by Jehovah rain'd, 
 
 " Sent up a pitchy cloud, killing to life, 
 
 " And 
 
liS POEMS ON 
 
 ** And tainting all the air. Another groan ! 
 
 « 'Twas Nature's laft : And fee! th* extinguifh'4 fun 
 
 ** Falls devious throu^jh the void ; and the fair face 
 
 ** Of Nature is no more ! With fallen joy 
 
 " Old Chaos views the havo^k, and exptds 
 
 <* To ftretch his fable fctptre o'er the blank 
 
 <' Where once Creation fmil'd : O'er which, perhaps, 
 
 " Creative energy again fliall wake, 
 
 *' And into being call a brighter fun, 
 
 ** And fairer worlds ; which, for delightful change, 
 
 " The faints, defcendlng fronn the happy feats 
 
 " Of blifs, fhall vifit. And, behold ! they rife, 
 
 " And feek their native land : Around them move, 
 
 *' In radiant files, Heav'n's hoft. Immortal wreaths 
 
 ** Of amaranth and rofes crown their heads ; 
 
 " And each a branch of ever-bloommg palm 
 
 «' Triumphant holds. In rubes of dazzling white, 
 
 <• Fairer than that by wintry tempeils (bed 
 
 *< Upoi 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 159 
 
 ^* Upon the frozen ground, arrayM, they fliine, 
 <« Fair as the fun, when up the fteep of Heav'« 
 *' He rides in all the raajefly of light. 
 
 " But who can tell, or if an angel could, 
 " Thou couldft not hear, the glories of the place 
 " For their abode prepar'd ? Though oft on earth 
 ** They ftrugglcd hard againft the ftormy tide 
 " Of adverfe fortune, and the bitter fcorn 
 « Of hardenM villany — their life a courfc 
 «< Of warfare upon earth ; thefe toils, when view'd 
 *' With the reward, feem nought. The Lord fhall guide 
 ** Their fteps to living fountains, and fhall wipe 
 *< All tears from ev'ry eye. The wintry clouds 
 ** That frown 'd on life, rack up. A glorious fun, 
 <' That ne'er fhall fet, arifes in a fky 
 " Unclouded and fcrene. Their joy is full : 
 " And ficknefs, pain, and death, fhall be no more. 
 
 «* Dost 
 
i6o POEMS ON 
 
 <« Dost thou dtfire to follow ? does thy heart 
 « Beat ardent for the prize ? Then tread the path 
 ** Religion points to man. What thou haft fecn, 
 <« FixM in thy heart retain : For, be aflur'd, 
 " In that laft moment — in the cloiing ad 
 <' Of Nature's drama, e'er the hand of fate 
 " Drop the black curtain, thou muft bear thy part, 
 ** And ftand in thine own lot." 
 
 This faid, he ftretch'd 
 His wings, and in a moment left my fi^ht. 
 
 ^S^ 
 
 PHILOCLES 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. i6r 
 
 PHILOCLES: 
 
 AN ELEGY, ON THE DEATH OF MR. WILLIAM 
 DP^YBURGH. 
 
 I, 
 
 "T XTAITING, I fit on Leven's fandy ihore, 
 
 And fadly tune the reed to founds of woe ; 
 Once more I call Melpomene ! once more 
 Spontaneous teach the weeping vcrfe to flow ! 
 II. 
 The weeping verfe (hall flow in friendlhip's name, , 
 
 Which friendfhip aiks, and friendfhip fain would pay ; 
 The weeping verfe, v/hich worth and genius claim. 
 Begin then, Mufe ! begin the mournful lay. 
 
 X Aided 
 
jCz 
 
 POEMS ON 
 
 HI. 
 
 Aided by thee, I'll twine a ruftic wreath 
 
 Of faireft flow'rs, to deck the grafs-grown grave 
 Of Philocles, cold in the bed of death, 
 And mourn the gentle youth I could not fave. 
 IV. 
 Where lordly Forth divides the fertile plains. 
 With ample fwctp, a fca from fide to fide j 
 A rocky bound his raging courfe rcftains, 
 For ever lafh'd by the refounding tide. 
 V. 
 There ftands his tomb upon the fca-beat fhorc, ' 
 
 Afar difccrn'd by the rough failor's eye, 
 Who, paffing, weeps, and ftopi, the founding oar. 
 And points where piety and virtue lie. 
 VJ. 
 Like the gay palm on Kabbah's fair domains, 
 A cedar flaadowing Carmd'o flow'ry fide ; 
 
 Or- 
 
 Or, 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. i6j 
 
 Otf like the upright afh on Britain's plains, 
 
 Which waves its (lately arms in youthful pride : 
 VII. 
 So flourifh'd Philocles : and as the hand 
 
 Of ruthlefs woodman lays thtir honours low, 
 He fell in youth's fair bloom by Fate's command. 
 
 'TwasFate that ftruck, 'tis ours to mourn the blow, 
 Vill. 
 Alas ! we fondly thought that Heav'n defign'd • 
 
 His bright example mankind to improve : 
 All they Ihould be, was piiftur'd in his mind ; 
 
 His thoughts were virtue, and his heart was love. 
 IX. 
 Calm as a Summer's fan's unrufBed face. 
 
 He look'd unmov'd on life's precarious game. 
 And fmil'd at mortals toiling in the chafe 
 
 Of empty phantoms — opulence and ftime. 
 
 X z Steady 
 
1 64 POEMS ON 
 
 X. 
 
 Ste^tdy he follow'd Virtue's onward path, 
 
 Inflexible to Error's devious way ; 
 And firm at laft, in hope and fixed faith, 
 Through Death's dark vale he trod without difmay. 
 XI. 
 Thy gloomy vale he trod, relentlcfs Death ! 
 Where wafle and horrid defolation reign. 
 The tyrant, humbled, there refigns his wrath ; 
 The VvTctch, elated, there forgets his pain : 
 XII. 
 There fleeps the infant, and the hoary head ; 
 
 Together lie the opprefibr and the opprtfs'd ; 
 There dwells the captive, free among the dead; 
 There Philocles, and there the weary reft. 
 XIII. 
 The curtains of the grave faft drawn around, 
 Till the loud trumpet wake the fleep of death, 
 
 With 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. i&s 
 
 With dreadful clangour through the world refound, 
 
 Shake the firm globe, and burft the vaults beneath, 
 XIV. 
 Then Philocles fnall rife, to glor)' rife, 
 
 And his Redeemer for himfelf fhall fee ; 
 With him in triumph mount the azure fkies : 
 
 For where He is, his followers fnall be. 
 XV. 
 Whence then thefe nghs ? and whence this falling tearr 
 
 To fad remembrance of his merit juft, 
 Still muil I mourn ; for he to me was dea r. 
 
 And ftill is dear, thoug h buried in the duft. 
 
i66 POEMS ON 
 
 The Vanity of our Desire of Immortality here. 
 
 A STORY, 
 
 J/2 the Eajlern Manner, 
 
 ^^HILD of the years to come, attend to the words 
 of Cakm ; — Calem, who hath feen fourteen 
 kings upon the throne of China, whofe days are a 
 thoufand four hundred thirty and nine years. 
 
 Thou, O young mani who rejoiceft in thy vigour', 
 the days of my ftrength were as thine. My poffef* 
 fions were large, and fair as the gardens of Paradife. 
 My cattle covered the vallies ; and my flocks were as 
 the grafs on mount Tirza. Gold was brought me 
 
 from 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 167 
 
 from the ocean, and jewels from the VAlley of Ser- 
 pents. Yet I was unhappy ; for I feared the fword 
 of the angel of Death. 
 
 One day, as I was walking through the woods 
 which grew around my palace, I heard the fong of 
 the birds: but I heard it without joy. On the con- 
 trary, their chearfulnefs filled me with melancholy^ 
 I threw myfelf on a bank of flowers; and gave vent 
 to my difcontent in thefe words. " The time of the 
 *' finging of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle 
 " is heard. Thefe trees Ipread their verdant branches. 
 <* above me, and beneath the fiov/ers bloom fair. 
 " The whole creation rejoices in its exiftence. I alone 
 '^ am unhappy. Why am I unhappy ? V/hat do J 
 " want? Nothing. But what avail my riches, when 
 " in a little I muft leave them ? What is the life of 
 " man ? His days are but a thoufand years ! As 
 
 " the 
 
168 POEMS ON 
 
 ** the wives of the ocean ; fuch are the generations 
 " of man : The foremoft is dafhcd on the fhore, and 
 " another comes rolling on. As the leaves of a tree j 
 *' fo are the children of men : They are fcattered 
 " abroad by the wind, and other leaves lift their 
 *' green heads. So, the generations before us are 
 •* gone, this fliall pafs away, and another race arife. 
 ** How then can I be glad, when in a few centuries 
 " I fhall be no more ? Thou Eternal, why haft thou 
 *' cut off the life of man ? and why are his days fo 
 
 « few r 
 
 T HELD my peace. Immediately the Iky was black 
 with the clouds of night. A tempeft fhook the trees 
 of the foreft : the thunder roared from the top of 
 Tirza, and the red bolt (hot through the darknefs. 
 Terror and amazement feized me ; and the hand of 
 him before whom the fun is extinguilhed, was upon 
 
 me. 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. i6f 
 
 mCi « Galem," faid he, (while my bones trembled,) 
 ^* I have heard thee acculing me. Thou defireft life ; 
 ** enjoy it. I have commanded Death, that he touch 
 « thee not." 
 
 Again the clouds difperfed; and the fun chafed 
 the fliadows along the hills. The birds renewed their- 
 fong, fweeter than ever before I had heard themo 
 I call mine eyes over my fields, while my heart exult- 
 ed with joy, " Thefc," faid I, ** are mine for ever !" 
 But I knew not that forrow waited for me. 
 
 As I was returning home, I met the beautifiil Se- 
 lima walking acrofs the fields. The rofe bluflied in 
 her cheeks; and her eyes were as the ftars of the 
 morning. Never before had I looked with a partial 
 eye on woman, I gazed ; I fighed ; I trembled. I led 
 lierlo my houfc, and made her miftrefs of my riches. 
 Y As 
 
ijd POEMS ON 
 
 As the young plants grow up around the cedar; 
 fo my children grew up in my hall. 
 
 Now my happinefs was complete. My children 
 married ; and I faw my defcendants in the third ge- 
 neration. I expcded to fee them overfpread the king- 
 dom, and that I fhould obtain the crown of China. 
 
 I HAD now lived a thoufand years; and the hand of 
 time had withered my ftrength. My wife, my fons, 
 and my daughters, died ; and I was a ftranger among 
 my people. I was a burden to them ; they hated me, 
 and drove me from my houfe. Naked and miferable, 
 I wandered : my tottering legs fcarce fupported my 
 body. I went to the dwellings of my friends j but 
 they were gone, and other maflers chid me from their 
 doors. I retired to the woods ; and, in a cave, lived 
 with the beafts of the earth. Berries and roots were 
 
 my 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 171 
 
 my meat ; and I drank of the ftream of the rock, I 
 was fcorched with the Summer's fun ; and fhivered in 
 the cold of Winter. I was weary of life* 
 
 One day I wandered from the woods, to view the 
 palace which was once mine. I faw it; but it was 
 low. Fire had confumed it ; It lay as a rock caft down 
 by an earthquake. Nettles fprung up in the court; 
 and from within the owl fcream'd hideous. The fox 
 looked out at the windows : the rank grafs of the wall 
 waved around his head. I was filled with grief at 
 the remembrance of what it, and what I Lad been. 
 *• Curfed be the day," I faid, *' in which I delired ta 
 <' live for ever. And why, O thou Supreme ! didit 
 " thou grant my requeft ? Had it not been for this, 
 ** I had been at peace ; I had been afleep in the quiet; 
 " grave ; I had not known the defolation of my in- 
 « heritancej I had been free from the wearinefs of 
 Y z <« life,. 
 
n% POEMS ON 
 
 « life. I feek for death, but I find it not : my life is 
 ** a curfc unto me." 
 
 A SHINING cloud defcended on the trees ; and Ga- 
 briel the angel ftood before me. His voice was as the 
 roaring ftream, v>'hile thus he declared his meflage. 
 « Thus faith the Higheft, What fhall I do unto thee, 
 « O Calem? What doft thou now defire ? Thou 
 <* alkedft life, and I gave it thee, even to live for ever. 
 <* Now thou art weary of liring ; and again thou haft 
 <« opened thy mouth againft me." * * * 
 
 VERSES, 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 173 
 
 VERSES, 
 
 ®N HEARING AN ^OLlAN HARP AT MIDNIGHT. 
 
 3y Mr. C ; a young Gentleman^ tvho died of a confhmptlifi 
 a few day after zvriting them, 
 
 I. 
 
 "CT'E heavenly founds I enchanting notes ! 
 
 That fwell the whifp'ring breeze ; 
 Say, whence your foft complaining airs. 
 Your magic power to pleafe. 
 II. 
 Are ye fome fairy, tiny voice, 
 That, by the glow-worm's light. 
 
 At 
 
174 POEMS ON 
 
 At lonely hours, your vigils keep, 
 
 UnmarkM by mortal fight ? 
 III. 
 Are ye feme nymph of antient time. 
 
 Like Echo's haplefs maid, 
 In plaintive fongs that wooM your love; 
 
 Till changM into a fhade ? 
 IV. 
 Or, are ye Offian's paffing ghoft 
 
 That thus the midnight cheers, 
 And to the fair Malvina tunes 
 
 The tale of other years ? 
 V. 
 Sweet founds ! that melt the foul to love, 
 
 M7 fenfes captive take, 
 Soft as the cygnet's dying voice, 
 
 That's v^afted from the lake. 
 
 Ohi 
 
SEVERAL OCCASIONS. 175 
 
 VI. 
 
 Oh i ceafe not to my lift'ning ear ; 
 
 Still tune your heav'nly lay ; 
 And by your ftrains my raptur'd foul 
 
 To Paradife convey. 
 
 TEE E N D^ 
 

 

/X'^yu/ . 
 
 ^ 
 
 /y^-1^ 
 
 ^j^