The HIGHLANDS of SCOTLAND. 73 



X. 



BUT O ! o'er all, forget not KILDA'S race*, 



On whofe bleak rocks, which brave the wafting tides, 

 Fair Nature's daughter, Virtue, yet abides. 



Go, juft, as they , their blamelefs manners trace ! 

 Then to my ear tranfmit fome gentle fong 



Of thofe whofe lives are yet fincere and plain, 

 Their bounded walks the rugged cliffs along, 



And all their profpect but the wintry main. 

 With fparing temp'rance, at the needful time, 



They drain the fainted fpring, or, hunger-preft> 

 Along th' Atlantic rock undreading climb, 



And of its eggs defpoil the Solan's neft. 

 Thus bleft in primal innocence they live, 



Suffic'd and happy with that frugal fare 

 Which tafteful toil and hourly danger give. 



Hard is their mallow foil, and bleak and bare j 

 Nor ever vernal bee was heard to murmur there ! 



XI. 

 NOR need'ft thou blufli, that fuch falfe themes engage- 



Thy gentle mind, of fairer flores poffeft ', 

 For not alone they touch the village breaft, 



But fill'd in elder time th' hiftoric page. 

 There SHAKESPEARE'S felf, with ev'ry garland crown'df, 



In mufing hour, his wayward fillers found, 

 And with their terrors dreft the magic fcene. 

 From them he fung, when mid his bold defign, 



Before the Scot afflicted and aghaft,. 



h The 



* The character of the inhabitants of St Kilda, as here defcribed, agrees perfectly with 

 the accounts given by MARTIN and by MACAULAY, of the people of that ifland- It is the 

 moil wefterly of all the Hebrides, and is above 130 miles diftant from the main land of 

 Scotland. 



f THIS ftanza is more incorrect in its ftrufture than any of the foregoing. There is 

 apparently a line wanting between this and the fubfequent one, In mujtng hour^tt-c. The 

 deficient line ought to have rhymed with fcene. 





