Poetical works. With a biogr. and critical memoir by F.T. Palgrave

SONGS FROM THE PLAYS.

From the Doom of Devorgoil. THE SUN UPON THE LAKE. THE sun upon the lake is low,

The wild birds hush their song,
The hills have evening's deepest glow,
Yet Leonard tarries long.

Now all whom varied toil and care
From home and love divide,
In the calm sunset may repair
Each to the loved one's side.
The noble dame, on turret high,
Who waits her gallant knight,
Looks to the western beam to spy
The flash of armour bright.
The village maid, with hand on brow,
The level ray to shade,
Upon the footpath watches now

For Colin's darkening plaid.

Now to their mates the wild swans row,
By day they swam apart,
And to the thicket wanders slow

The hind beside the hart.
The woodlark at his partner's side,
Twitters his closing song-
All meet whom day and care divide,
But Leonard tarries long.

ADMIRE NOT THAT I GAIN'D.
ADMIRE not that I gain'd the prize

From all the village crew;
How could I fail with hand or eyes,
When heart and faith were true?

And when in floods of rosy wine
My comrades drown'd their cares,
I thought but that thy heart was mine,
My own leapt light as theirs.

My brief delay then do not blame,
Nor deem your swain untrue;
My form but linger'd at the game,
My soul was still with you.

WHEN THE TEMPEST.

WHEN the tempest's at the loudest,
On its gale the eagle rides;
When the ocean rolls the proudest,
Through the foam the sea-bird glides-
All the rage of wind and sea
Is subdued by constancy.

Gnawing want and sickness pining,
All the ills that men endure;
Each their various pangs combining,
Constancy can find a cure—
Pain, and Fear, and Poverty,
Are subdued by constancy.

Bar me from each wonted pleasure,
Make me abject, mean, and poor;
Heap on insults without measure,

Chain me to a dungeon floor-
I'll be happy, rich, and free,
If endow'd with constancy.

BONNY DUNDEE.

AIR-" The Bonnets of Bonny Dundee."

To the Lords of Convention 'twas Claver'se who spoke, "Ere the King's crown shall fall there are crowns to be broke; So let each Cavalier who loves honour and me,

Come follow the bonnet of Bonny Dundee.

"Come fill up my cup, come fill up my can,

Come saddle your horses, and call up your men ;
Come open the West Port, and let me gang free,
And it's room for the bonnets of Bonny Dundee !"

Dundee he is mounted, he rides up the street,

The bells are rung backward, the drums they are beat;
But the Provost, douce man, said, "Just e'en let him be,
The Gude Town is weel quit of that Deil of Dundee."
Come fill up my cup, &c.

As he rode down the sanctified bends of the Bow,
Ilk carline was flyting and shaking her pow;

But the young plants of grace they look'd couthie and slee,
Thinking, luck to thy bonnet, thou Bonny Dundee !
Come fill up my cup, &c.

With sour-featured Whigs the Grassmarket was cramm'd
As if half the West had set tryst to be hang'd;

There was spite in each look, there was fear in each e'e,
As they watch'd for the bonnets of Bonny Dundee.
Come fill up my cup, &c.

These cowls of Kilmarnock had spits and had spears,

And lang-hafted gullies to kill Cavaliers;

But they shrunk to close-heads, and the causeway was free, At the toss of the bonnet of Bonny Dundee.

Come fill up my cup, &c.

He spurr'd to the foot of the proud Castle rock,
And with the gay Gordon he gallantly spoke ;

"Let Mons Meg and her marrows speak twa words or three, For the love of the bonnet of Bonny Dundee."

Come fill up my cup, &c.

"There are hills beyond Pentland, and lands beyond Forth, If there's lords in the Lowlands, there's chiefs in the North; There are wild Duniewassals three thousand times three, Will cry hoigh! for the bonnet of Bonny Dundee.

Come fill up my cup, &c.

"There's brass on the target of barken'd bull-hide;
There's steel in the scabbard that dangles beside;
The brass shall be burnish'd, the steel shall flash free,
At a toss of the bonnet of Bonny Dundee.

Come fill up my cup, &c.

"Away to the hills, to the caves, to the rocks—
Ere I own an usurper, I'll couch with the fox;
And tremble, false Whigs, in the midst of your glee,
You have not seen the last of my bonnet and me!"
Come fill up my cup, &c.

He waved his proud hand, and the trumpets were blown,
The kettle-drums clash'd, and the horsemen rode on,
Till on Ravelston's cliffs and on Clermiston's lee,
Died away the wild war-notes of Bonny Dundee.

Come fill up my cup, come fill up my can,
Come saddle the horses and call up the men,
Come open your gates, and let me gae free,
For it's up with the bonnets of Bonny Dundee !

HITHER WE COME.

HITHER we come,

Once slaves to the drum,
But no longer we list to its rattle;
Adieu to the wars,

With their slashes and scars,
The march, and the storm, and the battle.

There are some of us maim'd,
And some that are lamed,
And some of old aches are complaining;
But we'll take up the tools,
Which we flung by like fools,
'Gainst Don Spaniard to go a-campaign-
ing.

Dick Hathorn doth vow

To return to the plough,

Jack Steele to his anvil and hammer;
The weaver shall find room

At the wight-wapping loom,
And your clerk shall teach writing and
grammar.

It appears from the Life of Scott, vol. i. p. 333, that these lines, first published | in the English Minstrelsy, 1810, were written in 1797, on occasion of the Poet's disappointment in love.

THE violet in her greenwood bower,
Where birchen boughs with hazels
mingle,

May boast itself the fairest flower
In glen, or copse, or forest dingle.
Though fair her gems of azure hue,
Beneath the dew-drop's weight re-
clining;

I've seen an eye of lovelier blue,

More sweet through wat'ry lustre
shining.

The summer sun that dew shall dry,
Ere yet the day be past its morrow;
Nor longer in my false love's eye
Remain'd the tear of parting sorrow.

TO A LADY.

WITH FLOWERS FROM A ROMAN WALL.

[1797.]

Written in 1797, on an excursion from Gillsland, in Cumberland. See Life, vol. i. p. 365.

TAKE these flowers which, purple

Warriors from the breach of danger

Pluck no longer laurels there;
They but yield the passing stranger
Wild-flower wreathes for Beauty's
hair.

THE BARD'S INCANTATION.

WRITTEN UNDER THE THREAT OF INVASION IN THE AUTUMN OF 1804.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

« Previous Continue »

Books