LINES WRITTEN ON VISITING A SCENE IN ARGYLESHIRE. AT the silence of twilight's contemplative hour, I have mus'd in a sorrowful mood, On the wind-shaken weeds that embosom the bower, All ruin'd and wild is their roofless abode, Yet wandering, I found on my ruinous walk, One rose of the wilderness left on its stalk, Sweet bud of the wilderness! emblem of all The fabric of bliss to its centre may fall;. But patience shall never depart! Though the wilds of enchantment, all vernal and bright, In the days of delusion by fancy combin'd, With the vanishing phantoms of love and delight, And leave but a desert behind. Be hush'd, my dark spirit! for wisdom condemns Through the perils of chance, and the scowl of disdair, Yea! even the name I have worshipp'd in vain PATRIOTIC STANZAS Composed and recited at a meeting of North Britons, in London, on Monday, the 8th of August, 1803. OUR bosoms we'll bare to the glorious strife, And our oath is recorded on high, To prevail in the Cause that is dearer than life, Then rise, fellow freemen, and stretch the right hand, 'Tis the home we hold sacred is laid to our trust. In a Briton's sweet home shall a spoiler abide, Shall a Frenchman insult a lov'd fair at our side? To arms-O my Country, to arms !-- Then rise, &c. Shall tyrants enslave us, my countrymen ?-NoTheir heads to the sword shall be given; Let a death-bed repentance await the proud foe, And his blood be an offering to Heaven! Then rise, &c. There, all his wild-wood scents to bring, The sweet South Wind shall wander by; And, with the music of his wing, Delight my rustling canopy. Come to my close and clustering bower, Fresh with the dews of fruit and flower, With all thy rural echoes come, |