304 



POETICAL ATTEMPTS. 



PART VII 1. 



behind the manse, stretch the fine woods of Wester 

 Hall, where Telford was often wont to roam. We can 

 scarcely therefore wonder that, amidst such pastoral 

 scenery, the descriptive poetic faculty of the country 

 mason should have become so decidedly and strongly 

 developed. It was while working at Westerkirk manse 

 that Telford sketched the first draft of his descriptive 

 poem, entitled ' Eskdale,' which was published in the 

 'Poetical Museum' l in 1784. 



These early poetical efforts were at least useful as 

 stimulating his self-education. For the practice of poeti- 

 cal composition, while it cultivates the sentiment of 

 beauty in thought and feeling, is probably the best of 

 all exercises in the art of writing correctly, gramma- 

 tically, and expressively. By drawing a man out of 

 his ordinary calling, too, it often furnishes him with a 

 power of happy thinking which may in after life be a 

 fountain of the purest pleasure ; and this, we believe, 

 proved to be the case with Telford, even though he 

 ceased in later years to pursue the special cultivation 

 of the art. 



1 The ' Poetical Museum,' Hawick, 

 p. 267. * Eskdale ' was afterwards 

 reprinted by Telford when living at 

 Shrewsbury, when he added a few 

 lines by way of conclusion. The 

 poem describes very pleasantly the 

 fine pastoral scenery of the district : 



" Deep 'mid the green sequester'd glens be- 

 low, 



Where murmuring streams among the 

 alders flow, 



Where flowery meadows down their mar- 

 gins spread, 



And the brown hamlet lifts its humble 



head- 

 There, round his little fields, the peasant 

 strays, 



And sees his flock along the mountain 

 graze ; 



And, while the gale breathes o'er his 

 ripening grain, 



And soft repeats his upland shepherd's 

 strain, 



And western suns with mellow radiance 



P%, 

 And gild his straw-roofd cottage with 



their ray, 

 Feels Nature's love his throbbing heart 



employ, 

 Nor envies towns their artificial joy." 



The features of the valley are very 

 fairly described. Its early history is 

 then rapidly sketched ; next its period 

 of border strife, at length happily 

 allayed by the union of the kingdoms, 

 under which the Jolmstones, Pasleys, 

 and others, men of Eskdale, achieve 

 honour and fame. Nor did he forget 

 to mention Armstrong, the author of 

 the 'Art of Preserving Health,' who 

 seems to have been educated in the 

 valley ; and Mickle, the translator of 

 the ' Lusiad,' whose father was minis- 

 ter of the parish of Langholm; both 

 of whom Telford took a natural pride 

 in as native poets of Eskdale. 



