A tight, outlandish Hizzie, braw,
Come full in sight.

Ye need nae doubt, I held my whisht;
The infant aith, half-form'd, was crusht;
I glow'rd as eerie's I'd been dusht,
In some wild glen;

When sweet, like modest Worth, she blusht,
And stepped ben.

Green, slender, leaf-clad holly-boughs
Were twisted, gracefu', round her brows;
I took her for some Scottish muse,

By that same token;

An' come to stop those reckless vows,
Wou'd soon been broken.

A “hair-brain'd, sentimental trace,"
Was strongly marked in her face;
A wildly-witty, rustic grace

Shone full upon her;

Her eye, ev'n turn'd on empty space,
Beam'd keen with honor.

Down flow'd her robe, a Tartan sheen,
Till half a leg was scrimply seen;

And such a leg! my bonie Jean
Could only peer it;

Sae straught, sae taper, tight and clean,
Nane else came near it.

Her mantle large, of greenish hue,

My gazing wonder chiefly drew;

Deep lights and shades, bold-mingling, threw A lustre grand;

And seem'd, to my astonish'd view,
A well-known land!

Here, rivers in the sea were lost;
There, mountains to the skies were tost;
Here, tumbling billows mark'd the coast
With surging foam;

There, distant shone Art's lofty boast,
The lordly dome.

Here, Doon pour'd down his far-fetch'd floods;
There, well-fed Irvine stately thuds;
Auld hermit Ayr staw thro' his woods,
On to the shore;

And many a lesser torrent scuds,
With seeming roar.

Low, in a sandy valley spread,
An ancient Borough rear'd her head;
Still, as in Scottish story read,

She boasts a race

To ev'ry nobler virtue bred,

And polish'd grace.

By stately tow'r or palace fair,

Or ruins pendant in the air,

Bold stems of heroes, here and there,
I could discern;

Some seem'd to muse, some seem'd to dare,
With features stern.

My heart did glowing transport feel,

To see a race* heroic wheel,

The Wallaces.

And brandish round the deep-dy'd steel,
In sturdy blows;

While back-recoiling seem'd to reel
Their Southron foes.

His Country's Savior,* mark him well;
Bold Richardton's † heroic swell;
The chief on Sark‡ who glorious fell,
In high command;

And HE whom ruthless Fates expel
His native land.

There, where a sceptr'd Pictish shade §
Stalk'd round its ashes lowly laid,
I mark'd a martial race, portray'd
In colors strong;

Bold, soldier-featur'd, undismay'd,

They strode along.

Thro' many a wild, romantic grove,||
Near many a hermit-fancied cove,
(Fit haunts for Friendship or for Love,)
In musing mood,

An aged Judge, I saw him rove,

Dispensing good.

* William Wallace. † Adam Wallace, of Richardton, cousin to the immortal preserver of Scottish independence.

Wallace, laird of Cragie, who was second in command, under Doug. las, earl of Ormond, at the famous battle on the banks of Sark, fought A.D. 1448. That glorious victory was principally owing to the judicious conduct and intrepid valor of the gallant laird of Cragie, who died of his wounds after the action.

Coilus, king of the Picts, from whom the district of Kyle is said to take its name, lies buried, as tradition says, near the family-seat of the Montgomeries of Coil's-field, where his burial-place is still shown. I Barskimming, the seat of the late Lord Justice Clerk.

With deep-struck, reverential awe,*
The learned Sire and Son I saw;
To Nature's God and Nature's law
They gave their lore;

This, all its source and end to draw,
That, to adore.

Brydone's brave wardt I well could spy,
Beneath old Scotia's smiling eye,
Who call'd on Fame, low standing by,
To hand him on,

Where many a patriot-name on high,
And hero shone.

DUAN SECOND.

With musing-deep, astonish'd stare,
I view'd the heav'nly-seeming Fair;
A whisp'ring throb did witness bear,
Of kindred sweet,

When, with an elder sister's air,
She did me greet.

All hail! my own inspir'd Bard!
In me thy native muse regard!
Nor longer mourn thy fate is hard!
Thus poorly low!

I come to give thee such reward
As we bestow.

"Know, the great Genius of this land
Has many a light, aerial band,

* Catrine, the seat of the late doctor, and present professor, Stewart.

✦ Colonel Fullarton.

Who, all beneath his high command,
Harmoniously,

As arts or arms they understand,
Their labors ply.

"They Scotia's race among them share;
Some fire the Soldier on to dare;
Some rouse the Patriot up to bare
Corruption's heart;

Some teach the Bard, a darling care,
The tuneful art.

""Mong swelling floods of reeking gore, They ardent, kindling spirits pour; Or, 'mid the venal senate roar,

They, sightless, stand,

To mend the honest patriot-lore,

And grace the land.

"And when the Bard, or hoary Sage, Charm or instruct the future age, They bind the wild poetic rage

"Hence Fullarton, the brave and young;
Hence Dempster's zeal-inspir'd tongue;
Hence sweet, harmonious Beattie sung
His minstrel lays ;'

Or tore, with noble ardor stung,
The skeptic's bays.

"To lower orders are assign'd

The humbler ranks of human-kind.