A tight, outlandish Hizzie, braw, Ye need nae doubt, I held my whisht; When sweet, like modest Worth, she blusht, Green, slender, leaf-clad holly-boughs By that same token; An' come to stop those reckless vows, A “hair-brain'd, sentimental trace," Shone full upon her; Her eye, ev'n turn'd on empty space, Down flow'd her robe, a Tartan sheen, And such a leg! my bonie Jean Sae straught, sae taper, tight and clean, Her mantle large, of greenish hue, My gazing wonder chiefly drew; Deep lights and shades, bold-mingling, threw A lustre grand; And seem'd, to my astonish'd view, Here, rivers in the sea were lost; There, distant shone Art's lofty boast, Here, Doon pour'd down his far-fetch'd floods; And many a lesser torrent scuds, Low, in a sandy valley spread, She boasts a race To ev'ry nobler virtue bred, And polish'd grace. By stately tow'r or palace fair, Or ruins pendant in the air, Bold stems of heroes, here and there, Some seem'd to muse, some seem'd to dare, My heart did glowing transport feel, To see a race* heroic wheel, The Wallaces. And brandish round the deep-dy'd steel, While back-recoiling seem'd to reel His Country's Savior,* mark him well; And HE whom ruthless Fates expel There, where a sceptr'd Pictish shade § Bold, soldier-featur'd, undismay'd, They strode along. Thro' many a wild, romantic grove,|| An aged Judge, I saw him rove, Dispensing good. * William Wallace. † Adam Wallace, of Richardton, cousin to the immortal preserver of Scottish independence. Wallace, laird of Cragie, who was second in command, under Doug. las, earl of Ormond, at the famous battle on the banks of Sark, fought A.D. 1448. That glorious victory was principally owing to the judicious conduct and intrepid valor of the gallant laird of Cragie, who died of his wounds after the action. Coilus, king of the Picts, from whom the district of Kyle is said to take its name, lies buried, as tradition says, near the family-seat of the Montgomeries of Coil's-field, where his burial-place is still shown. I Barskimming, the seat of the late Lord Justice Clerk. With deep-struck, reverential awe,* This, all its source and end to draw, Brydone's brave wardt I well could spy, Where many a patriot-name on high, DUAN SECOND. With musing-deep, astonish'd stare, When, with an elder sister's air, All hail! my own inspir'd Bard! I come to give thee such reward "Know, the great Genius of this land * Catrine, the seat of the late doctor, and present professor, Stewart. ✦ Colonel Fullarton. Who, all beneath his high command, As arts or arms they understand, "They Scotia's race among them share; Some teach the Bard, a darling care, ""Mong swelling floods of reeking gore, They ardent, kindling spirits pour; Or, 'mid the venal senate roar, They, sightless, stand, To mend the honest patriot-lore, And grace the land. "And when the Bard, or hoary Sage, Charm or instruct the future age, They bind the wild poetic rage "Hence Fullarton, the brave and young; Or tore, with noble ardor stung, "To lower orders are assign'd The humbler ranks of human-kind. |