Verses Written With A Pencil

Over the Chimney—­piece in the Parlour of the Inn at Kenmore, Taymouth.

     Admiring Nature in her wildest grace,
     These northern scenes with weary feet I trace;
     O’er many a winding dale and painful steep,
     Th’ abodes of covey’d grouse and timid sheep,

     [Footnote 1:  These are rhymes of dubious authenticity.—­Lang.]

     My savage journey, curious, I pursue,
     Till fam’d Breadalbane opens to my view.—­
     The meeting cliffs each deep-sunk glen divides,
     The woods wild scatter’d, clothe their ample sides;
     Th’ outstretching lake, imbosomed ’mong the hills,
     The eye with wonder and amazement fills;
     The Tay meand’ring sweet in infant pride,
     The palace rising on his verdant side,
     The lawns wood-fring’d in Nature’s native taste,
     The hillocks dropt in Nature’s careless haste,
     The arches striding o’er the new-born stream,
     The village glittering in the noontide beam—­

     Poetic ardours in my bosom swell,
     Lone wand’ring by the hermit’s mossy cell;
     The sweeping theatre of hanging woods,
     Th’ incessant roar of headlong tumbling floods—­

     Here Poesy might wake her heav’n-taught lyre,
     And look through Nature with creative fire;
     Here, to the wrongs of Fate half reconcil’d,
     Misfortunes lighten’d steps might wander wild;
     And Disappointment, in these lonely bounds,
     Find balm to soothe her bitter, rankling wounds: 
     Here heart-struck Grief might heav’nward stretch her scan,
     And injur’d Worth forget and pardon man.

Song—­The Birks Of Aberfeldy

     Tune—­“The Birks of Abergeldie.”

     Chorus.—­Bonie lassie, will ye go,
     Will ye go, will ye go,
     Bonie lassie, will ye go
     To the birks of Aberfeldy!

     Now Simmer blinks on flowery braes,
     And o’er the crystal streamlets plays;
     Come let us spend the lightsome days,
     In the birks of Aberfeldy. 
     Bonie lassie, &c.

     While o’er their heads the hazels hing,
     The little birdies blythely sing,
     Or lightly flit on wanton wing,
     In the birks of Aberfeldy. 
     Bonie lassie, &c.

     The braes ascend like lofty wa’s,
     The foaming stream deep-roaring fa’s,
     O’erhung wi’ fragrant spreading shaws—­
     The birks of Aberfeldy. 
     Bonie lassie, &c.

     The hoary cliffs are crown’d wi’ flowers,
     White o’er the linns the burnie pours,
     And rising, weets wi’ misty showers
     The birks of Aberfeldy. 
     Bonie lassie, &c.

     Let Fortune’s gifts at randoe flee,
     They ne’er shall draw a wish frae me;
     Supremely blest wi’ love and thee,
     In the birks of Aberfeldy. 
     Bonie lassie, &c.