No thought of guilt my bosom sours; That lust and pride, The arch-fiend's dearest, darkest powers, I saw mankind with vice encrusted; And hither came, with men disgusted, In this lone cave, in garments lowly, And brow-bent gloomy melancholy, I wear away My life, and in my office holy Consume the day. This rock my shield; when storms are blowing, The limpid streamlet yonder flowing Supplying drink, the earth bestowing My simple food; But few enjoy the calm I know in This desert wood. Content and comfort bless me more in Stranger, if full of youth and riot, But if thou hast good cause to sigh at If thou hast known false love's vexation, And makes thee pine, Oh! how must thou lament thy station, And envy mine! ON SCARING SOME WATER-FOWL IN LOCH-TURIT. [When Burns wrote those touching lines, he was staying with Sir William Murray, of Ochtertyre, during one of his Highland tours. Loch-Turit is a wild lake among the recesses of the hills, and was welcome from its loneliness to the heart of the poet.] WHY, ye tenants of the lake, For me your wat'ry haunt forsake? At my presence thus you fly? Conscious, blushing for our race, Tyrant stern to all beside. The eagle, from the cliffy brow, Marking you his prey below, In his breast no pity dwells, But man, to whom alone is giv'n In these savage, liquid plains, And life's poor season peaceful spend Or, if man's superior might, Dare invade your native right, Man with all his pow'rs you scorn; Swiftly seek, on clanging wings, VERSES WRITTEN WITH A PENCIL, OVER THE CHIMNEY-PIECE, IN THE PARLOUR OF THE INN AT KENMORE, TAYMOUTH. [The castle of Taymouth is the residence of the Earl of Breadalbane: it is a magnificent structure, contains many fine paintings: has some splendid old trees and romantic cenery.] ADMIRING Nature in her wildest grace, These northern scenes with weary feet I trace; The woods, wild scattered, clothe their ample sides; Th' outstretching lake, embosom'd 'mong the hills, The Tay, meand'ring sweet in infant pride, The lawns, wood-fring'd in Nature's native taste; Lone wand'ring by the hermit's mossy cell: Th' incessant roar of headlong tumbling floods Here Poesy might wake her heav'n-taught lyre, And Disappointment, in these lonely bounds, Find balm to soothe her bitter-rankling wounds: Here heart-struck Grief might heav'nward stretch her scan, WRITTEN WITH A PENCIL, STANDING BY THE FALL OF FYERS, NEAR LOCH-NESS. [This is one of the many fine scenes, in the Celtic Parnassus of Ossian: but when Burns saw it, the Highland passion of the stream was abated, for there had been no rain for some time to swell and send it pouring down its precipices in a way worthy of the scene. The descent of the water is about two hundred feet. There is another fall further up the stream, very wild and savage, on which the Fyers makes three prodigious leaps into a deer gulf where nothing can be seen for the whirling foam and agitated mist.] AMONG the heathy hills and ragged woods Till full he dashes on the rocky mounds, Where, thro' a shapeless breach, his stream resounds, As deep-recoiling surges foam below, Prone down the rock the whitening sheet descends, Dim seen, through rising mists and ceaseless show'rs, And still below, the horrid cauldron boils * * * POETICAL ADDRESS TO MR. W. TYTLER, WITH THE PRESENT OF THE BARD'S PICTURE. [When these verses were written there was much stately Jacobitism about Edinburgh and it is likely that Tytler, who laboured to dispel the cloud of calumny which hung over the memory of Queen Mary, had a bearing that way. Taste and talent have now descended in the Tytlers through three generations: an uncommon event in families. The present edition of the Poem has been completed from the original in the poet's handwriting.] REVERED defender of beauteous Stuart, Of Stuart, a name once respected, A name, which to love was once mark of a true heart, Tho' something like moisture conglobes in my eye, A poor friendless wand'rer may well claim a sigh, My fathers that name have rever'd on a throne, Those fathers would spurn their degenerate son, Still in prayers for King George I most heartily join, Be they wise, be they foolish, is nothing of mine; But why of that epocha make such a fuss, If bringing them over was lucky for us, I'm sure 'twas as lucky for them. |