The eye with wonder and amazement fills;
The Tay meand'ring sweet in infant pride,
The palace rising on his verdant side;
The lawns wood-fringed in Nature's native taste;
The hillocks dropt in Nature's careless haste;
The arches striding o'er the new-born stream;
The village glittering in the noon-tide beam—

Poetic ardors in my bosom swell,

*

Lone, wandering by the hermit's mossy cell:
The sweeping theatre of hanging woods;
Th' incessant roar of headlong tumbling floods-

*

*

*

*

*

Here Poesy might wake her heaven-taught lyre,
And look through Nature with creative fire;
Here, to the wrongs of Fate half reconciled,
Misfortune's lighten'd steps might wander wild;
And Disappointment, in these lonely bounds,
Find balm to sooth her bitter, rankling wounds.
Here heart-struck Grief might heavenward stretch
her scan,

And injured Worth forget and pardon man.1

*

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*

INSCRIPTION FOR AN ALTAR TO INDEPENDENCE,

At Kerroughtry, the seat of Mr. Heron, author of a Life of the poet, History of Scotland, &c., &c.; written in the summer, 1795.

THOU of an independent mind,

With soul resolved, with soul resign'd;
Prepared power's proudest frown to brave,
Who wilt not be, nor have a slave;
Virtue alone who dost revere,

Thy own reproach alone dost fear,

Approach this shrine, and worship here.

1 These two Fragments were composed in the autumn of 1787, when the poet was on a tour to the Highlands with Mr. W. Nicol, of the High School, Edinburgh.

ON PASTORAL POETRY.

HAIL, Poesie! thou nymph reserved!
In chase o' thee what crowds hae swerved
Frae common sense, or sunk enerved
'Mang heaps o' clavers;1

And och! o'er aft" thy joes3 hae starved,
'Mid a' thy favors!

Say, lassie, why thy train amang,
While loud the trump's heroic clang,
And sock or buskin, skelp* alang

To death or marriage,
Scarce ane has tried the shepherd-sang,
But wi' miscarriage?

In Homer's craft Jock Milton thrives;
Eschylus' pen Will Shakspeare drives;
Wee Pope, the knurlin," till' him 'rives
Horatian fame;

In thy sweet sang, Barbauld, survives
Even Sappho's flame.

But thee, Theocritus! wha matches?
They're no herd's ballats, Maro's catches:
Squire Pope but busks his skinklin1 patches
O' heathen tatters:

I

pass by hunders," nameless wretches,

That ape their betters.

In this braw age o' wit and lear,12

Will nane the shepherd's whistle mair

Blaw sweetly in its native air

And rural grace;

And wi' the far-famed Grecian, share
A rival place?

Yes, there is ane-a Scottish callan!13
There's ane-come forrit," honest Allan !15

1 1 Idle stories.-2 Over often.-3 Thy lovers.-4 Trip.-5 Little.—6 Dwarf. -7 To.—8 'Rives Horatian fame; i. e. divides, or shares fame with Horace.-• Dresses. 10 A small portion.-11 Hundreds. 12 Learning.-13 Boy.14 Forward.-15 Allan Ramsay.

Thou need na jouk1 beyond the hallan,"
A chiel sae clever;

The teeth o' time may gnaw Tamtallan,3
But thou's forever!

Thou paints auld Nature to the nines,
In thy sweet Caledonian lines:

Nae gowden stream thro' myrtles twines,
Where Philomel,

While nightly breezes sweep the vines,
Her griefs will tell!

In gowany glens thy burnie' strays,
Where bonnie lasses bleach their claes;8
Or trots by hazelly shaws and braes,
Wi' hawthorns gray,

Where blackbirds join the shepherd's lays
At close o' day.

Thy rural loves are Nature's sel';o
Nae bombast spates10 o' nonsense swell;
Nae snap11 conceits, but that sweet spell
O' witchin' love,

That charm, that can the strongest quell,
The sternest move.

ON THE LATE CAPTAIN GROSE'S PEREGRINATIONS THROUGH SCOTLAND,

COLLECTING THE ANTIQUITIES OF THAT KINGDOM.

HEAR, Land o' Cakes, and brither Scots,
Frae Maidenkirk to Johnie Groat's;

If there's a hole in a' your coats,

I rede you tent it:12

A chield 's amang you takin' notes,

And, faith, he'll prent it.

If in your bounds ye chance to light
Upon a fine, fat, fodgel13 wight,

1 To hang the head.-2 A party-wall in a cottage.-3 The name of a mountain. - 4 Exactly, to a nicety.-5 Golden. - 6 Daisïed dales.-7 Rivulet.

8 Clothes. Self.-10 Torrents.-11 Short.-12 I advise you to be cautious,

-18 Pursy, bloated.

O' stature short, but genius bright,
That's he, mark weel-

And wow!1 he has an unco slight2
O' cauk and keel.3

By some auld houlet1-haunted biggin',"
Or kirk deserted by its riggen,
It's ten to ane ye 'll find him snug in
Some eldritch part,

Wi' deils they say, L-d safe's! colleaguin'
At some black art.-

Ilk ghaist' that haunts auld ha' or cham'er,"
Ye gipsey gang that deal in glamor,"

And you deep-read in hell's black grammar,
Warlocks1o an' witches;
Ye'll quake at his conjuring hammer,
Ye midnight b—es!

It's tauld he was a sodger11 bred,
And ane wad rather fa'n than fled;
But now he's quat1 the spurtle blade,13
And dog-skin wallet,

And taen the-Antiquarian trade,
I think they call it.

15

He has a fouth14 o' auld nick-nackets:
Rusty airn caps15 and jingling jackets,"
Wad haud the Lothians three in tackets,"
A towmont guid;18

An' parritch-pats, 19 and auld saut-backets,
Before the flood.

Of Eve's first fire he has a cinder;
And Tubal-Cain's fire-shool and fender;
That which distinguished the gender

O' Balaam's ass;

1 An exclamation of pleasure, or wonder.-2 Great sleight, or dexterity.— • Chalk and red clay.-4 An owl.-5 Building. See his Antiquities of Scotland.-6 Frightful, ghastly.-7 Each ghost.-8 Old hall, or chamber.-9 Fortune-telling, pretending to a knowledge of future events by magic, &c.— 10 Wizards.-11 Soldier.-12 Did quit.-13 A sort of nickname for a sword. -14 A plenty.-15 Iron helmets.-16 Coats of mail, &c. See his Treatise on Ancient Armor.-17 Small nails.-18 Would furnish tacks enough to supply the three counties of Lothian for a twelvemonth.-19 Porridge-pots.

A broom-stick o' the Witch of Endor,
Weel shod wi' brass.

Forbye,' he 'll shape you aff, fu' gleg,'
The cut of Adam's philibeg;*

The knife that nicket Abel's craig,

4

He'll prove you fully

It was a faulding jocteleg,"

Or long-kail gullie.®

But wad ye see him in his glee,
(For meikle glee and fun has he,)
Then set him down, and twa or three
Guid fellows wi' him;

And port, O port! shine thou a wee,
And then ye 'll see him!

Now, by the powers o' verse and prose!
Thou art a dainty chield," O Grose!
Whae'er o' thee shall ill suppose,

They sair misca' thee;

I'd take the rascal by the nose,

Wad say, Shame fa' thee!

VERSES WRITTEN AT SELKIRK.8

AULD chuckie Reekie''s sair distrest,
Down droops her ance weel burnisht crest,
Nae joy her bonnie buskit" nest

Can yield ava,

11

Her darling bird that she lo'es best,
Willie's awa!

O Willie was a witty wight,"
And had o' things an unco13 slight;
Auld Reekie ay he keepit tight,

And trig an' braw:14

1 Besides.-2 Quite readily.—3 The short petticoat, part of the Highland dress.- Throat-5 A folding or clasp knife.- A large knife used for cutting kail.-7 Fellow.

8 To William Creech, Esq., Edinburgh, author of "Fugitivo Pieces," &c., and the Poet's worthy publisher.

• Edinburgh.-10 Dressed.-11 At all.-12 A superior genius.-13 Very great.-14 Spruce and fine.