TO SLEEP. O GENTLE SLEEP! do they belong to thee- This tiresome night, O Sleep! thou art to me Now on the water vexed with mockery. O gentle creature! do not use me so, YARROW VISITED. AND is this-Yarrow?-This the stream So faithfully, a waking dream? O that some minstrel's harp were near, And chase this silence from the air, Yet why?—a silvery current flows For not a feature of those hills A blue sky bends o'er Yarrow Vale, Mild dawn of promise! that excludes Though not unwilling here to admit Where was it that the famous Flower His bed perchance was yon smooth mound Now peaceful as the morning, Delicious is the lay that sings The path that leads them to the grove, The leafy grove that covers: And pity sanctifies the verse That paints, by strength of sorrow, The unconquerable strength of love; Bear witness, rueful Yarrow! FROM INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY." THERE was a time when meadow, grove, and stream, To me did seem The glory and the freshness of a dream. By night or day, The things which I have seen I now can see no more! The rainbow comes and goes, And lovely is the rose,— The moon doth with delight Look round her when the heavens are bare; Waters on a starry night Are beautiful and fair; The sunshine is a glorious birth; But yet I know, where'er I go, That there hath passed away a glory from the earth. Now, while the birds thus sing a joyous song, And while the young lambs bound As to the tabor's sound, To me alone there came a thought of grief: The cataracts blow their trumpets from the steep,— Give themselves up to jollity, And with the heart of May Shout round me, let me hear thy shouts, thou happy shepherd boy! William B. Spencer. Born 1770. THE Hon. W. R. Spencer, one of the brightest ornaments of the gay circles of the metropolis, was younger son of Lord Charles Spencer. He was author of some ballads and miscellaneous pieces, and published a translation of Bürger's "Leonora." He held the situation of Commis sioner of Stamps, and died at Paris in 1835. BETH GELERT. THE spearmen heard the bugle sound, And still he blew a louder blast, And gave a lustier cheer, Come, Gêlert, come, wert never last "O where does faithful Gêlert roam, So true, so brave-a lamb at home, In sooth, he was a peerless hound, But now no Gêlert could be found, That day Llewelyn little loved And scant and small the booty proved, Unpleased, Llewelyn homeward hied, But, when he gained his castle-door, Llewelyn gazed with fierce surprise; His favourite checked his joyful guise, Onward, in haste, Llewelyn passed, Fresh blood-gouts shocked his view. O'erturned his infant's bed he found, He called his child-no voice replied- "Hell-hound! my child's by thee devoured," Aroused by Gêlert's dying yell, Concealed beneath a tumbled heap Nor scathe had he, nor harm, nor dread, Ah, what was then Llewelyn's pain! His gallant hound the wolf had slain James Hogg. Born 1770. Died 1835. THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD, the poetical name he is generally known by, was descended from a family of shepherds in Selkirkshire. in the Vale of Ettrick toward the close of 1770. He was born Hogg cannot be said to have had any education in his youth, as he seems only to have been half a year at school. He learned to read, however, and picked up a good deal of information in his leisure hours. At eighteen, while tending sheep, he made his first attempts in verse, and ultimately attracted the notice of Sir Walter Scott, whom he assisted in the collection of old ballads for the "Border Minstrelsy." In 1801, under the patronage of Sir Walter, he published a small volume of poems, and in 1807 "The Mountain Bard," both of which, besides fame, brought him some money. It was not till 1813 that he published his "Queen's Wake," the piece on which his fame as a poet rests. It met with great success, and brought him into the highest popularity. From this time until his death he continued a constant contributor to literature, and both in poetry and prose he maintained his position as an author. Hogg was very unsuccessful in his attempts to establish himself as a farmer. Somewhat sanguine in his temperament, he engaged in speculations far beyond his means, and made disastrous failures. In his later years he was indebted to the kindness of the Duchess of Buccleuch for a home at Altrive on the Yarrow, where he died on 21st November 1835. He left a widow and five children. BONNY KILMENY. (From "The Queen's Wake.") BONNY Kilmeny gaed up the glen; |