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If, then, some natural shadows spread
Our inward prospect over,

The soul's deep valley was not slow
Its brightness to recover.

Eternal blessings on the Muse,

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And her divine employment!

The blameless Muse, who trains her Sons
For hope and calm enjoyment;

Albeit sickness, lingering yet,
Has o'er their pillow brooded;

And Care waylays their steps-a Sprite
Not easily eluded.

For thee, O SCOTT! compelled to change
Green Eildon-hill and Cheviot

For warm Vesuvio's vine-clad slopes;
And leave thy Tweed and Tiviot
For mild Sorento's breezy waves;
May classic Fancy, linking
With native Fancy her fresh aid,
Preserve thy heart from sinking!

O! while they minister to thee,
Each vying with the other,
May Health return to mellow Age,

With Strength, her venturous brother;

And Tiber, and each brook and rill
Renowned in song and story,

With unimagined beauty shine,
Nor lose one ray of glory!

For Thou, upon a hundred streams,
By tales of love and sorrow,
Of faithful love, undaunted truth,
Hast shed the power of Yarrow;

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And streams unknown, hills yet unseen,
Wherever they invite Thee,
At parent Nature's grateful call,
With gladness must requite Thee.

A gracious welcome shall be thine,
Such looks of love and honour
As thy own Yarrow gave to me
When first I gazed upon her;
Beheld what I had feared to see,
Unwilling to surrender

Dreams treasured up from early days,
The holy and the tender.

And what, for this frail world, were all
That mortals do or suffer,

Did no responsive harp, no pen,
Memorial tribute offer?

Yea, what were mighty Nature's self?
Her features, could they win us,

Unhelped by the poetic voice

That hourly speaks within us?

Nor deem that localised Romance
Plays false with our affections;
Unsanctifies our tears-made sport
For fanciful dejections:

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Ah, no! the visions of the past
Sustain the heart in feeling

Life as she is our changeful Life,
With friends and kindred dealing.

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Bear witness, Ye, whose thoughts that day
In Yarrow's groves were centred;
Who through the silent portal arch
Of mouldering Newark entered;

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And clomb the winding stair that once
Too timidly was mounted

By the "last Minstrel," (not the last!)
Ere he his Tale recounted.

Flow on for ever, Yarrow Stream!
Fulfil thy pensive duty,

Well pleased that future Bards should chant
For simple hearts thy beauty;

To dream-light dear while yet unseen,
Dear to the common sunshine,
And dearer still, as now I feel,

To memory's shadowy moonshine!

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II.

ON THE DEPARTURE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT FROM ABBOTSFORD, FOR NAPLES.

A TROUBLE, not of clouds, or weeping rain, Nor of the setting sun's pathetic light Engendered, hangs o'er Eildon's triple height: Spirits of Power, assembled there, complain 4 For kindred Power departing from their sight; While Tweed, best pleased in chanting a blithe strain,

Saddens his voice again, and yet again. Lift up your hearts, ye Mourners! for the might

Of the whole world's good wishes with him goes;

Blessings and prayers in nobler retinue

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Than sceptered king or laurelled conqueror knows,

Follow this wondrous Potentate. Be true,
Ye winds of ocean, and the midland sea,
Wafting your Charge to soft Parthenope!

III.

A PLACE OF BURIAL IN THE SOUTH OF SCOTLAND.

PART fenced by man, part by a rugged steep That curbs a foaming brook, a Grave-yard lies; The hare's best couching - place for fearless sleep;

Which moonlit elves, far seen by credulous eyes,

Enter in dance. Of church, or sabbath ties, 5 No vestige now remains; yet thither creep Bereft Ones, and in lowly anguish weep

Their prayers out to the wind and naked skies. Proud tomb is none; but rudely-sculptured knights,

By humble choice of plain old times, are seen 10 Level with earth, among the hillocks green: Union not sad, when sunny daybreak smites The spangled turf, and neighbouring thickets ring

With jubilate from the choirs of spring!

IV.

ON THE SIGHT OF A MANSE IN THE SOUTH
OF SCOTLAND.

SAY, ye far-travelled clouds, far-seeing hills-
Among the happiest-looking homes of men
Scattered all Britain over, through deep glen,
On airy upland, and by forest rills,

And o'er wide plains cheered by the lark that

trills

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His sky-born warblings-does aught meet your

ken

More fit to animate the Poet's pen,

Aught that more surely by its aspect fills

Pure minds with sinless envy, than the Abode Of the good Priest: who, faithful through all

hours

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To his high charge, and truly serving God, Has yet a heart and hand for trees and flowers, Enjoys the walks his predecessors trod,

Nor covets lineal rights in lands and towers.

V.

COMPOSED IN ROSLIN CHAPEL, DURING A STORM.

THE wind is now thy organist ;

-a clank

(We know not whence) ministers for a bell To mark some change of service. As the swell Of music reached its height, and even when sank

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The notes, in prelude, ROSLIN! to a blank
Of silence, how it thrilled thy sumptuous roof,
Pillars, and arches,-not in vain time-proof,
Though Christian rites be wanting! From
what bank

Came those live herbs? by what hand were they sown

Where dew falls not, where rain-drops seem unknown?

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Yet in the Temple they a friendly niche
Share with their sculptured fellows, that, green

grown,

Copy their beauty more and more, and preach, Though mute, of all things blending into one.

VI.

THE TROSACHS.

THERE'S not a nook within this solemn Pass
But were an apt confessional for One

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