Benevolence, with mild, benignant air, A female form, came from the tow'rs of Stair; The broken iron instruments of Death; wrath. LINES Written with a pencil, standing by the Fall of Fyers, AMONG the heathy hills and ragged woods Prone down the rock the whit'ning sheet descends, LINES Written with a pencil, over the chimney-piece, in the parlour of an inn at Kenmore, Taymouth. ADMIRING Nature in her wildest grace, s Mrs. Stewart. See note c, P. 59. Th' outstretching lake, embosom'd 'mong the hills, The Tay meand'ring sweet in infant pride, Poetic ardours in my bosom swell, Here Poesy might wake her heav'n-taught lyre, And injur'd Worth forget and pardon man." INSCRIPTION FOR AN ALTAR TO INDEPENDENCE, At Kerroughtry, the Seat of Mr. Heron, Author of a Life of the With soul resolv'd, with soul resign'd; Virtue alone who dost revere, Thy own reproach alone dost fear, Approach this shrine, and worship here. 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 reserv'd! 'Mang heaps o' clavers;" And och! o'er aft* thy joes hae starv'd, Say, lassie, why thy train amang To death or marriage; Scarce ane has tried the shepherd-sang, In Homer's craft Jock Milton thrives; In thy sweet sang, Barbauld, survives But thee, Theocritus! wha matches? O' heathen tatters: I pass by hunders, nameless wretches, In this braw age o' wit and lear,h And rural grace; And wi' the far-fam'd Grecian, share Yes, there is ane-a Scottish callan!1 The teeth o' time may gnaw Tamtallan, Thou paints auld Nature to the nines,P Nae gowden stream thro' myrtles twines, While nightly breezes sweep the vines, In gowany glens thy burnies strays, Where blackbirds join the shepherd's lays Thy rural loves are Nature's sel' ;" That charm, that can the strongest quell, ON THE LATE CAPTAIN GROSE'S PEREGRINATIONS Through Scotland, collecting the Antiquities of that Kingdoin. HEAR, Land o' Cakes, and brither Scots, Frae Maidenkirk to Johnie Groat's; If there's a hole in a' your coats, i Boy. I rede you tent it : k Forward. 7 Allan Ramsay. m To hang the head. n A party-wall in a cottage. Exactly, to a nicety. . Rivulet. q Golden. r Daisied dales. Clothes. น Self. w Torrents. * Short. y I advise you to be cautious. A chield's amang you takin' notes, And, faith, he prent it. If in your bounds ye chance to light That's he, mark weel And wow! he has an unco slightb By some auid houlet-haunted biggin',• It's ten to ane ye 'll find him snug in Wi' deils they say, L-d safe's! colleaguin' Ilk ghaists that haunts auld ha' or cham'er,h Ye'll quake at his conjuring hammer, It's tauld he was a sodger bred, And ane wad rather fa'n than fled; But now he 's quat the spurtle blade," And dog-skin wallet, And taen the Antiquarian trade, I think they call it. He has a fouth° o' auld nick-nackets : z Pursy, bloated. a An exclamation of pleasure, or wondet. d An owl. h Old hall, or chamber. Fortune-telling, pretending to a knowledge of future events by magic, &c. m Did quit. k Wizards. Soldier. n A sort of nickname for a sword. Coats of mail, &c. See his Treatise on Ancient Armour. |