2792. on Drummond of Hawthoraden. 43... 
though he corresponded frequently with Drayton 
and Ben Johnson ; the latter of whom had so greata 
respect for his abilities, and so ardent a desire to see. 
him, that at the age of forty-five he walked to Haw- 
thornden to visit him. ; 
The favourite seat of Ben Johnson, in the seques- 
tered wood of Hawthornden, is yet. known, and point- 
ed out to visitors, where a bust of Johnson ought to 
be placed, to gratify the sentimental devotion of the 
admirers of exalted merit. 
This would add something spiritual to the straw- 
berry feasts of Roslin, and be worthy of a precious 
few in that wonderful little country that produced a 
Qrummond and 2 Thomson. 
Ben Johnson’s father too was a Scot; and it is fit 
that 4e fhould be honoured in the land of his fathers. 
Hawthornden is a Jovely spot. The house hangs 
like an eagle’s nest on the romantic banks of Ek. 
The ground is claisic. The genius of his plaintive 
sonnets meets the fancy of the congenial soul. Here 
he addrefsed his Alexis, (lord Stirling :) 
Tho’ F have twice been at the doors of death, 
And iwice found fhut those gates which ever mourn5 
This but a light’ning is,—a truce to breathe ; 
For late-born sorrows augur fleet return. 
Amid thy sacred cares, and courtly toils, 
Alexis! when chou fhalt hear wand’rirg fame 
Tell, death hath triumph’d o’er my mortal spoils, 
And that on earth I am but a sad name 3 
‘If thou e’ef held me dear, by all our love, 
By all that blifs, those joys heav’n here u gave, 
‘I conjure you, and by the mizids of Jove, 
To ‘grave this fhort remembrance on my grave: 
Here Damon lies, whose songs did sometimes grace 
The murmuring Efk.—May ros-s fhade the place! 
toun, who presented the whole remaining manuscripts of the poet to the 
ear) of Buchan, who deposited them in the musseum of the Antiquatiam 
Society at Edinbu gh. 
