Of springing Hope revived them. In those hours Mark'd I the starting tear, by manly pride Dispersed or ere it fell; the quivering lip And the clear conscience which rebuked thy nerves, Well knows thy generous young lord, that he, Whom his loved father, wise and good, had train'd, Trusted, and never found that trust betray'd, Could not at once apostatize, and rush On vices unhabitual, that must wrong His noble patron, while they madly risk'd Destruction to his own well-founded hopes. And that young lord, heir of his father's spirit, He is the day-spring which succeeds the storm That shook his forest-tree; his are the dews In whose kind balm its lately drooping leaves Smile on the sun!—And he is haply serv'd By one of proved fidelity, whose heart That strain was gratulant; yet, ah! the thought In youth's high noon, and in the rising hours On a crush'd rose, and its soon-perish'd bud! Lamented fate! that he should inly pine In double deprivation; often steal Beneath the shadowy languish of the moon, 1. 1. One of proved fidelity-The head e ward at B Yet, surely happiness is still in store For B's virtue, thus severely tried, When time has balm'd his wounds! in store for him Who loses not in grief's funereal gloom, The care of others' welfare!-O! for him Servant obliged, deserve his guardian love, Who, with a youthful Daniel's judgement weighs A charge improbable; who clears thy fame, Who gives thee back to fair prosperity And gratitude's superior bliss!-Be thine To serve him long and truly! To that end Oft pour thy secret soul to Heaven in prayer, Whose aiding grace, never implored in vain, When ask'd sincerely, shall direct thy ways; Shine on the zenith of thy life; illume Waning existence, and shall pour its light Into the dreary chambers of the grave; Confine of boundless bliss, or utter woe, As faith and virtue, or as scorn and sin Refine, or stain our being. Faithful thou First to thy God, from him receive the power Well to discharge thy debt to human worth. ΤΟ ROBERT HARPER, ESQ. SENT TO HIM THE NIGHT BEFORE HE TOOK HIS BRIDE TO THEIR HOUSE IN LONDON. THIS evening's shade no mirth, no joy beguiles, Beneath that roof, fair Catherine's home so long; Grief, ill conceal'd, in forced and transient smiles, Sits on each heart, and falters on each tongue. Yes, Harper, e'en on thine ;-since, if thy brow Long on your mutual fate, that every star Propitious to the weal of life may shine, Still shall my soul implore, when distant far From her, whose hand, and vows, and heart are thine, Oft as her form shall to my memory rise, And wake, with kindest wishes, selfish sighs. BALLAD IN THE ANCIENT SCOTCH DIALECT, AULD WILLIE'S FAREWELL, A Free-Booter, taken in a Border Battle, and condemned to be Executed. * FAREWEEL my ingle, bleezing bright When the snell storm's begun ; In those days of continual civil war amongst the separate clans, each party hanged their prisoners. This Ballad was sent to Mr Scott, editor of The BORDER MINSTRELSY, who inserted it in the third volume of that popular work. In his letter to the author, he observed, that the stoutest antiquarian in Scotland could not, after perusing AULD WILLIE'S FAREWELL, suspect that the writer had the misfortune to have been born south of the Tweed. 1. 1. Ingle-Hearth. 1.2. Snell-Bitter. 1.3. Bouris-Chamber. |