POETRY. 993 



The dreadful crash is o'er, and peace ensues, — 



The peace cl" desolation, gloomy, still : 



Each day is hushed as Sabbath ; but, alas ! 



No Sabbath-scnriccglads the seventh day ! 



No more the happy villagers arc seen, 



Winding adown the rock-hewn paths, that wont 



To lead their footsteps to the house of prayer ; 



But, far apart, assembled in the depth 



Of solitudes, perhaps a little groupe 



Of aged men, and orphan boys, and maids 



Bereft, list to the breathings of the holy man. 



Who spurns an oath of fealty to the power 



Of rulers chosen by a tyrant's nod. 



No more, as dies the rustling of the breeze. 



Is heard the distant vesper-hymu ; no more 



At gloaiiiin hour, the plaintive strain, that links 



His country to tiie Switzcr's heart, delights 



The loosening team ; or if some shepherd boy 



Attempt the strain, iiis voice soon faultering slops ; 



He feels his country nov/ a foreign laud. 



O, Scotland ! canst thon for a moment brook 

 The more imagination, that a fate 

 Like this should e'er be thine ! that o'er those hills, 

 And dear-bought vales, whence Wallace, Douglas, Bruce, 

 Repelled proud Edward's multitudinous hordes, 

 A gallic foe, that abject race, should rule ! 

 No, no! let never hostile standard touch 

 Thy shore : rush, rush into the dashing brine, 

 And crest each wave with steel ; and should the stamp 

 Of slavery's fqotstep violate the strand. 

 Let not the tardy tide efface the mark ; 

 bweep off the stigma with a sea of blood. 



Thrice happy he who, far in Scottish glen 

 Retired (yet ready at his country's call,) 

 Has left the restless e:nmet-hill of man ! 

 ]Ie never longs to read the saddening tale 

 Of endless wars ; and seldom does he hear 

 The tale of woe ; and ere it reaches him, 

 Rumour, so loud when new, has died away 

 Into a whisper, on the memory borne 

 Of casual traveller ;— As on the deep. 

 Far from the sight of land, when all around 

 Is wavtless calm, the sudden tremulous swell, 

 That gently heaves the ship, tells, as it rolls, 

 Of earthquakes dread, and cities overthrown. 



Vol. LXVIL 3 S O Scotland 



