Yet, not by cold neglect depress'd,.
With sinewy arm he turn'd the soil,
Sunk with the evening sun to rest,

And met at morn his earliest smile.
Wak'd by his rustic pipe, meanwhile
The powers of Fancy came along,
And sooth'd his lengthen'd hours of toil
With native wit and sprightly song.

Ah! days of bliss, too swiftly fled,

When vigorous Health from labour springs, And bland Contentment smooths the bed, And Sleep his ready opiate brings: And hovering round on airy wings Float the light forms of young Desire, That of unutterable things

The soft and shadowy hope inspire.

Now spells of mightier power prepare
Bid brighter phantoms round him dance;
Let Flattery spread her viewless snare,
And Fame attract his vagrant glance;
Let sprightly Pleasure too advance,

Unveil'd her eyes, unclasp'd her zone,
Till lost in Love's delirious trance,

He scorn the joys his youth has known.

Let Friendship pour her brightest blaze,
Expanding all the bloom of soul;

And Mirth concentre all her rays,

And point them from the sparkling bowl;

And let the careless moments roll
In social pleasures unconfined,
And Confidence that spurns control
Unlock the inmost springs of mind.

And lead his steps those bowers among,
Where elegance with splendour vies,
Or Science bids her favour'd throng,
To more refin'd sensations rise:
Beyond the peasant's humbler joys,
And freed from each laborious strife,
There let him learn the bliss to prize!
That waits the sons of polish'd life.

Then, whilst his throbbing veins beat high With every impulse of delight,

Dash from his lips the cup of joy,

And shroud the scene in shades of night; And let Despair, with wizard light, Disclose the yawning gulf below,

And pour incessant on his sight

Her specter'd ills and shapes of woe:

And shew beneath a cheerless shed,

With sorrowing heart and streaming eyes

In silent grief where droops her head,
The partner of his early joys;

And let his infant's tender cries

His fond parental succour claim, And bid him hear in agonies.

A husband's and a father's name,

Tis done, the powerful charm succeeds:
His high reluctant spirit bends ;-
In bitterness of soul he bleeds,

Nor longer with his fate contends.
An idiot laugh the welkin rends

As genius thus degraded lies;

Till pitying Heaven the veil extends
That shrouds the Poet's ardent eyes.

-Rear high thy bleak majestic hills,

Thy shelter'd valleys proudly spread; And, SCOTIA, pour thy thousand rills, And wave thy heaths with blossoms red. But never more shall poet tread

Thy airy height, thy woodland reign, Since he, the sweetest bard, is dead

That ever breath'd the soothing strain.

APPENDIX.

No. I.-Note A. See p. 4.

THE importance of the national establishment of parish-schools in Scotland will justify a short account of the legislative provisions respecting it, especially as the subject has escaped the notice of all the historians.

By an act of the king (James VIth) and privy council, of the 10th of December, 1616, it was recommended to the bishops to deale and travel with the heritors (land proprietors), and the inhabitants of the respective parishes in their respective dioceses, towards the fixing upon "some certain, solid, and sure course" for settling and entertaining a school in each parish. This was ratified by a statute of Char. I. (the act, 1633, chap. 5.) which empowered the bishop, with the consent of the heritors of a parish, or of a majority of the inhabitants, if the. heritors refused to attend the meeting, to assess every plough of land (that is, every farm, in proportion to the number of ploughs upon it) with a certain sum for establishing a school. This was an ineffectual provision, as depending on the consent and pleasure of the heritors and inhabitants. Therefore a new order of things was introduced by Stat. 1646, chap. 17, which obliges the heritors and minisNG

ter of each parish to meet and assess the several heritors with the requisite sum for building a schoolhouse, and to elect a school-master, and modify a salary for him in all time to come. The salary is ordered not to be under one hundred, nor above two hundred merks, that is, in our present sterling money, not under £5 11s. 1d. nor above £11 2s. 8d. and the assessment is to be laid on the land in the same proportion as it is rated for the support of the clergy, and as it regulates the payment of the land-tax. But in case the heritors of any parish, or the majority of them, should fail to discharge this duty, then the persons forming what is called the Committee of Supply of the county (consisting of the principal landholders), or any five of them, are authorized by the statute to impose the assessment instead of them, on the representation of the presbytery in which the parish is situated.. To secure the choice of a proper teacher, the right of election by the heritors, by a statute passed in 1693, chap. 22, is made subject to the review and control of the presbytery of the district, who have the examination of the person proposed committed to them, both as to his qualifications as a teacher, and as to his proper deportment in the office when settled in it. The election of the heritors is therefore only a presentment of a person for the approbation of the presbytery; who, if they find him unfit, may declare his incapacity, and thus oblige them to elect anew. So far is stated on unquestionable authority.*

* The authority of A. Frazer Tytler, and David Hume, Esgrs.