Eneas, upon Thracia's shore,

The ghost of murder'd Polydore ;
For omens, we in Livy cross,
At every turn, locutus Bos.

As grave and duly speaks that ox,
As if he told the price of stocks;
Or held, in Rome republican,
The place of Common-councilman.

All nations have their omens drear,
Their legends wild of woe and fear.
To Cambria look-the peasant see,
Bethink him of Glendowerdy,

And shun" the spirit's Blasted Tree."
The Highlander, whose red claymore
The battle turn'd on Maida's shore,
Will, on a Friday morn, look pale,
If ask'd to tell a fairy tale :

He fears the vengeful Elfin King,
Who leaves that day his grassy ring:

1

Invisible to human ken,

He walks among the sons of men.

Didst e'er, dear Heber, pass along Beneath the towers of Franchémont, Which, like an eagle's nest in air,

Hang o'er the stream and hamlet fair ?—

Deep in their vaults, the peasants say,

A mighty treasure buried lay,

Amass'd through rapine and through wrong

By the last Lord of Franchémont.

The iron chest is bolted hard,

A Huntsman sits, its constant guard;

Around his neck his horn is hung,

His hanger in his belt is slung;
Before his feet his bloodhounds lie:
An 'twere not for his gloomy eye,
Whose withering glance no heart can brook,

As true a huntsman doth he look,

As bugle e'er in brake did sound,

Or ever hollow'd to a hound.

To chase the fiend, and win the prize,

In that same dungeon ever tries

An aged Necromantic Priest;

It is an hundred years at least,

Since 'twixt them first the strife begun,

And neither

yet

has lost or won.

And oft the Conjuror's words will make

The stubborn Demon groan and quake;

And oft the bands of iron break,

Or bursts one lock, that still amain,

Fast as 'tis open'd, shuts again.
That magic strife within the tomb
May last until the day of doom,
Unless the Adept shall learn to tell

The very word that clench'd the spell,
When Franch'mont lock'd the treasure cell.

An hundred years are past and gone,
And scarce three letters has he won.

Such general superstition may

Excuse for old Pitscottie say;

Whose gossip history has given

My song the messenger from Heaven,

That warn'd, in Lithgow, Scotland's King,

Nor less the infernal summoning;

May pass the Monk of Durham's tale,

Whose Demon fought in Gothic mail;

May pardon plead for Fordun grave,
Who told of Gifford's Goblin-Cave.

But why such instances to you,
Who, in an instant, can review

Your treasured hoards of various lore,

And furnish twenty thousand more?

Hoards, not like their's whose volumes rest
Like treasures in the Franch'mont chest,
While gripple owners still refuse
To others what they cannot use ;
Give them the priest's whole century,
They shall not spell you letters three ;
Their pleasure in the books the same
The magpie takes in pilfer'd gem.

Thy volumes, open as thy heart,

Delight, amusement, science, art,
To every ear and eye impart;

Yet who, of all who thus employ them,
Can, like the owner's self, enjoy them ?-
But, hark! I hear the distant drum!
The day of Flodden field is come.—
Adieu, dear Heber! life and health,
And store of literary wealth.