53 
he prizes it as the ornament of the bleak mountains 
which encompass his home, and 
“ Smiles to see it spread immense 
O’er his uncultured hills.” 
Indeed, to the poorer classes it is essential in the 
construction of their dwellings; for with layers of 
Heath and a sort of mortar they frame the walls of 
their rude cots. Of this, too, 
“ Old Scotia’s hardy mountaineers 
Their rustic couches form, and there enjoy 
Sleep, which beneath his velvet canopy 
Luxurious idleness implores in vain.” 
But the considération of its usefulness is soon merged 
in reflections which the Heath suggests of the days of 
Scotland’s glory, to which fancy wings a backward 
flight. From the repose of six hundred years she 
wakes the statesman, the warrior, and the patriot. She 
enters the council-chamber, where the éloquence of the 
statesman pleads the course that policy suggests; and 
either dismisses the herald to sound the trumpet of 
war, or the more welcome ambassador on a mission of 
peace. She girds on the panoply of the warrior , and 
F 3 
