632 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1815. | 
VERSES TO THE BROOK OF BORROWDALE, 
IN CUMBERLAND. 
By D s * $a 
AviEu! ye rocks, and thou sweet vale, 
Where winds the brook of Borrowdale : 
With ling’ring steps and sorrowing heart, 
From your sequester’d scenes I part. 
Adieu! sweet Brook ; with crystal tide, 
Still o’er thy pebbled channel glide, 
And slowly pour thy stream serene, 
Through woody dells, and valleys green. 
Let other waters rudely sweep 
The cliffs abrupt of yonder steep : 
From useless noise acquire a name, 
And rise by violence to fame. 
These to survey, with ideot stare, 
Let Fashion’s wond’ring sons repair ; 
Admire the torrents of Lodore, 
So steep the fall,—so loud the roar ; 
And ring the nauseating chime, 
Of cliffs and cataracts sublime. 
Be thine, sweet Brook, an humbler fate ; 
Court not the honours that await 
The rude, the violent, the proud, 
And scorn the wonder of the crowd. 
Ye Naiads! who delight to lave 
Your lovely forms in this pure wave, 
Long o’er its peaceful banks preside, 
And guard its inoffensive tide ; 
Lest yon tall cliff, whose summit gray 
E’en now o’erlooks its darken’d way, 
Should headlong rush, with gath’ring force, 
And violate its tranquil course ; 
Or, if so undeserved a fate 
Should e’er my lovely Brook await, 
With gentle hands its current lead, 
Along the flow’ry fav’ring mead, 
* Characterised by Dr. Drennan, who has inserted this and the next piece in his 
poems, as one “ who would have taken his place among the very first poets of the age, 
had he not rather chosen to become its first philosopher.” 
