Scotish Descriptive Poems/Clyde: Part 2
CLYDE;
A POEM.
PART II.
ANALYSIS OF PART II.
Comparison of the windings of Clyde to the Links of Forth—Allusion to Hamilton the poet—Rutherglen—Horse-racing—Villas in the vicinity of Glasgow—Bathing—Military exercises—Bleaching—Glasgow—Variety of studies in the University—Assemblies—A wedding—A funeral—St. Mungo—Comparison of Glasgow to London as a commercial mart—Kelvin, and its founderies—Canal between Forth and Clyde compared to the ancient Roman wall—Allusion to the battles of Falkirk and Bannockburn—The Grahams—Scotstown and Renfield compared to two rival beauties viewing themselves in the same glass—Ancient families of Renfrewshire—Paisley—Crookstone—Allusion to Mary Queen of Scots—Battle of Langside—Finlayston—Origin of the Cuninghams—Dumbarton, or Alclutha—Buchanan—Allusion to Ossian's fall of Balclutha—Leven—Floating isle in Lochlomond—Origin of the Campbells—Lowdon—Ardencaple—Roseneath—Greenock—Bute—Allusion to the battle of Largs—Arran—Cunningham—Kyle—Kintyre—Ailsa—Allusion to the sea-fight between Elliot and Thurot—Address of Clyde to his tributary streams—Sun-set.
CLYDE;
A POEM.
Boast not, great Forth, thy broad majestic tide,
Beyond the graceful modesty of Clyde;
Though famed Mæander, in the poet's dream,
Ne'er led through fairer fields, his wandering stream.
Bright wind thy mazy Links on Stirling's plain,
Which oft departing, still return again;
And wheeling round and round, in sportive mood,
The nether stream turns back to meet the upper flood.
Now sunk in shades, now bright in open day,
Bright Clyde, in simple beauty, winds his way. 10
In wanderings serpentine, his wanton train
Wreaths round the bank, or through the flowery plain;
While fair peninsules, by the flood embraced,
Exult in beauties lavished out to waste:
Where late gay Hamilton's facetious lay,
In rustic numbers hailed returning May;
And bade the brakes of Ardrie long resound
The plaintive dirge, that graced his favourite hound.
Old Rutherglen his designation brings
From Reuther, famed among our earliest kings: 20
Where numerous miners dwell, who fly the day,
Through central darkness urge their downward way;
Where, slumbering in their secret beds, retire
The sable stores which nurse the rage of fire.
To try the vigour of the generous horse,
The level lawn expands the racer's course;
Where, on the days to sestal games assigned,
The sprightly horsemen crowd from every wind;
While gazing crowds admire the courser's speed,
The graceful rider, and the governed steed. 30
More skilful horsemen Græcia ne'er could grace
With wreathing laurel, in Olympia's race;
Nor fleeter coursers swept the Pythian plain,
Renowned in daring Pindar's deathless strain.
See, how they shift, and paw, with trembling heart,
And lose a thousand steps before they start.
When, robed in emerald vest, awakening spring
Invites the flowers to spread, and birds to sing,
Fair Glasgow pours her wealthy merchants round,
Whose numerous villas crowd the fertile ground. 40
So once imperial Rome indignant saw
Her chiefs, who held the subject-world in awe,
Retiring to Campania's fair retreats,
To Baian plains, or old Tarentum's seats.
Yet softer Clyde's, where subterranean ire
Ne'er darts the bursts of dark sulphureous fire;
Which deep entomb the swarthy peasant's toil,
And parch to ashes all the burning soil.
Yet summer's heat drives frequent to the pool
The active youth, their glowing limbs to cool. 50
They dive, and distant far emerge again,
Or easy float along the liquid plain;
While curling waves around their bodies twine,
Through which their limbs like polished marble shine.
Now with strong arms they strive against the tide;
Now, oaring swiftly, with the current glide.
So the bold Roman, ere he slept, would cross
The Tiber thrice, nor feared his rapid force;
Then, vigorous from the flood, would, striving, strain
His well-braced nerves on Mavors' sacred plain; 60
Or choose the chief which should the world command,
Or for red conquest train the youthful band.
So, where Clyde's silver currents smoothly glide,
And ample lawns extend on every side,
The Clydesdale heroes, bright in arms, are seen
To rival Rome's, in force and awful mien.
While, robed in red, fierce flame the lengthened lines,
From their bright arms a dreadful splendor shines;
While tubes that, distant, drive the death unseen,
Or gleaming swords flash terror o'er the Green; 70
As if their leader sent through all his soul,
Just to his motion moves the obedient whole;
Thousands at once, a thousand different ways,
Yet none confused, or, straggling, vaguely strays:
Forth, at one glance, the levelled tubes are thurst;
At once, from all, the volleyed thunders burst:
At once the riders from their steeds descend;
The obedient steeds their motions still attend.
Here barefoot beauties lightly trip along;
Their snowy labours all the verdure throng: 80
The linen some with rosy fingers rub,
And the white foam o'erflows the smoking tub:
Her snowy feet another nimbly plies,
Whence other charms in fair proportion rise.
Hence, ye profane! and tremble to descry
The graceful nymphs with loose unhallowed eye:
Their bright approach impurity refines;
At every touch the linen brighter shines,
Whether they bathe it in the crystal wave,
Or from the stream the whitening surges lave, 90
Or from the painted cann the fountain pour,
Softly descending in a shining shower;
Till, as it lies, its fair transparent hue
Shows like a lily dipt in morning dew.
As shines the moon among the lesser fires,
Unrivalled Glasgow lifts her stately spires:
For Commerce, glorious with her golden crown,
Has marked fair Glasgow for her favourite town:
She makes her stately edifices thrive,
And merchants rich, in princely splendor live; 100
Extends her spacious streets on every side,
And bids her poor in palaces reside.
Where royal Nassau rides aloft, and round
His daring brows a wreath of laurels bound,
As in a common centre, meet combined
Four spacious streets, which stretch to every wind:
The distant buildings vanish from the view,
Nor can the weary eye their length pursue.
Lofty and large the stately temples rise,
Fit for His worship who spread out the skies. 110
This charms with beauty regular and chaste,
And elegance correct of Grecian taste.
The comely parts exact proportion show,
And to one whole by fit connections grow.
Corinthian columns the fair walls adorn;
Light seems the lofty frame, and easy borne.
That labours with the vast and cumbrous load
Of various ornaments, profuse bestowed:
Huge pillars heave to a stupendous height,
Their Gothic grandeur's vast unwieldy weight: 120
The pile the rich unpolished genius shows
Of that wild daring age in which it rose.
Round these fair courts, where stately structures rise,
And that ascending spire salutes the skies;
Fair truth displays, in all her native light,
Resistless charms, celestially bright!
And gently leads the willing mind along,
As charmed with sweetness of angelic song:
The atheist learns his Maker to adore;
Ashamed, the wicked wish to sin no more. 130
Here dwell the muses: In their sacred halls,
Soft as descending dew their doctrine falls.
Rome's ancient heroes, marshalled for the fight,
Tremendous rise in pure historic light;
Or shine in daring Lucan's manly strain,
Who sung of freedom in a tyrant's reign.
Still in Greek annals live their mighty dead:
The whole we see—and feel whate'er we read.
But if great Homer's martial trumpet sound,
Then troops expire, and heroes bite the ground; 140
Steeds neigh, swords gleam, darts hiss, and helmets nod,
And hills of carnage dam the streams of blood.
A muse more sacred, next the roll expands,
Which shook tall Sinai, and his heaving sands:
From tented hosts on Edom's sultry plain,
O'er Egypt's warriors wakes the exulting strain:
Impetuous chieftains Judah's God defy,
As fierce Rabsaces lifts his voice on high:
"March on, ye hosts, by great Sennacherib led,
And tread each river from its marshy bed. 150
Hark how the cedars of the mountain fall;
The lofty mound o'ertops proud Salem's wall;
While, as the clouds of arrows blot the day,
Like mildewed grass, the Hebrew tribes decay."
And here the sage, by reason's power refined,
Anatomizes all the tribes of mind;
Her various powers and faculties explores;
How she collects, how treasures wisdom's stores.—
Or shows how, launched, the wandering comet runs,
Through different systems, circling different suns; 160
How countless suns are sown through boundless space,
And worlds around them roll with rapid race.
Blest they who nature's secret wonders scan,
Which unprofaned she hides from vulgar man;
Whose raptured minds, with piercing skill, can trace
The circling fluids through their mazy race;
See through what channels, nature upward heaves
The nourishment of flowers, of fruits, and leaves;
What strainers separate each; what wondrous art
May due consistencies, and forms impart; 170
The curious texture of the tubes survey,
And from the pores see subtle odours play:
How the firm bones their strength and grandeur lend,
And vitals soft from injury defend;
How principles, by nature prone to strife,
Kindly conspire to the support of life:
Impelled through all the complicated frame,
How rapid fluids feed the vital flame:
Whence on the face the glowing beauties rise,
And all the soul beams genuine from the eyes. 180
That curious chemist mark! whose keen desire
Examines nature by tormenting fire;
And not content her form divine to view,
Dares search her inmost soul by torture too.
In vain the artful goddess would escape,
By changing colour, and by shifting shape,
Discovered still, through all her mazes chafed,
Her deepest secrets are disclosed at last.
Ye sacred Muses! who my soul inspire
With true devotion, and with fame's desire; 190
From earliest youth, though stern and adverse fate
Has chained me distant from your sacred seat;
Yet on that seat may every power divine
Propitious smile, and bid your glory shine
O'er all the earth, and, as from Athens, rise
Till your immortal splendors fill the skies.
But while sage learning claims the student's care,
More gay assemblies call the gay and fair.
At once the shining street moves all alive;
Chair urges chair, and chaises chaises drive; 200
Where aukward fops the glittering beaux envy;
Olivia sickens at Belinda's eye;
Artful coquets alluring glances wield,
And rakes expect the coyest prudes to yield.
If churches are not sanctuaries found,
But beaux will sigh, and beauty's glances wound;
What thrilling tremors must the soul invade,
When dancing fires, and melting airs persuade;
When every potent charm of shape and face,
From dress and motion draws resistless grace! 210
But happier they who temperate mirth approve,
Who joy with reason, and with virtue love;
Who unelated taste of bliss below,
And firmly bear inevitable woe:
For still when pleasure gilds the smiling scene,
The sabler hues of woe will intervene.
Mark where the wedding-guests in order move,
Arrayed in white, and breathing joy and love:
The bride her timid wishes seems to speak,
By the faint blush that trembles on her cheek: 220
The music leads, the maidens haste away,
With dance and banquet to conclude the day.
The mournful funeral, slow, proceeds behind,
Arrayed in black, the heavy head declined:
Wide yawns the grave; dull tolls the solemn bell;
Dark lie the dead; and long the last farewell:
There music sounds, and dancers shake the hall;
But here the silent tears incessant fall.
Ere mirth can well her comedy begin,
The tragic demon oft comes thundering in, 230
Confounds the actors, damps the merry show,
And turns the loudest laugh to deepest woe.
But hush, my muse! thy moral sisters frown,
Wear thy wild flowers, nor hope a nobler crown:
Enough for thee thy rural haunts to prize,
Where scenes so mournful seldom wound our eyes;
Where soft and calm the happy moments flow,
And distant far are heard the sounds of woe.
But ah! the wounds so seldom felt sink deep,
And ears unharassed long the sound will keep. 240
Who heeds distress, or hears the mourner's sigh,
Where bustling crowds bid sage reflection fly?
Justled and pressing through the crowded street,
Where cart stops cart, and burdens burdens meet,
Where hammered anvil, carriage, frame, and loom,
Far-sounding bell, loud mill, and thundering drum,
Rudely at once the tortured ear invade,
In deafening sounds, tumultuously conveyed:
Where shining shops display their tempting doors;
Where trade presents to sight her precious stores; 250
Where on the 'Change the gay-drest merchant shines,
The wretch unheeded in the dungeon pines.
Lo! as each ancient edifice retires,
Taller and taller shoot the stately spires:
So far the domes which modern riches raise
Transcend the cells of good St. Mungo's days!
Prophetic seer, whose visionary eye
Saw Glasgow's glory in the future lie;
The venerable sage, whom long of yore
To Scotia's heir a Pictish princess bore, 260
But, nursed in secret in a hermit's cell,
To heaven resigned, he bade the world farewell,
Save when he called the scaly brood, to bring,
From the dark stream, his mother's plighted ring.
Let Glasgow flourish! still in grandeur rise;
Still rear her stately fabrics to the skies;
In trade and riches rise, by swift degrees,
To rival London, empress of the seas:
Still may her ships to distant regions run,
Beyond the rising or the setting sun, 270
Till Clyde's broad bosom can no longer greet
The rolling tide that wafts the passing fleet.
Kelvin, a stream that slept inglorious long,
Shall rise to fame, and shine in future song;
Where sable artists match the ancient fame
Of Lemnos, or of Ætna's mightier name;
Who bend the stubborn steel in smouldering fire,
Rend it to rods, or wring to ductile wire:
Enormous tubes, like roaring tempests, sound;
Loud ring the anvils as the blows go round: 280
Scarce Ætna saw a more tremendous sight,
Her red cells glowing with infernal light;
Where, drenched with sweat, with smoking sulphur dun,
Toiled her vast brood, who never saw the sun:
Nor e'er were forged in Ætna's dreary caves,
Where the red lava rolls his burning waves,
More awful weapons of destructive might,
Than those dire tubes that thin the ranks of fight.
Through Carron's channel, now with Kelvin joined,
The wondering barks a ready passage find: 290
The ships, on swelling billows wont to rise,
On solid mountains climb to scale the skies;
Old ocean sees the fleets forsake his floods,
Sail the firm land, the mountains and the woods;
And safely thus conveyed, they dread no more
Rough northern seas which round the Orkneys roar.
Not thus the wave of Forth was joined to Clyde,
When Rome's broad rampart stretched from tide to tide,
With bulwarks strong, with towers sublimely crowned,
While winding tubes conveyed each martial sound. 300
To guard the legions from their painted foes,
By vast unwearied toil the rampire rose;
When, fierce in arms, the Scot, by Carron's shore,
Resigned, for war, the chace and mountain boar;
As the chaffed lion, on his homeward way,
Returns for vengeance, and forgets the prey.
By Camelon's towers, with Pictish splendor crowned,
And ancient grandeur, stretched the mighty mound;
Swept with broad trench o'er Falkirk's fatal plain,
Still red with gore of Scotian heroes slain; 310
Where dauntless Bute, with his brave Brandons, stood,
Till the wide plain was slippery with their blood;
Where gallant Graham, devoted, scorned to fly;
And Wallace saw his fairest laurels die.
But Carron's bank a fairer fame may crave,
Than from a chieftain's death, or hero's grave.
For Eastern wealth shall here with Western meet,
And both the Indies load the bending fleet;
The English tar shall, frowning, turn his eye,
From fields of battle where his fathers lie; 320
Dread Bannockburn, to Scots the dearest boast,
Of fields most fatal to an English host;
Where Bruce claimed freedom, or a glorious grave;
Nor victory could desert a band so brave;
And Norman Edward saw his standards fall,
Like Rome's proud trophies, on the Roman wall;
When elder Graham led on his mountain band,
And razed the rampart broad from strand to strand.
From Graham a fruitful race of heroes springs,
Dreadful in war! and true to Scotia's kings; 330
But great Montrose stands foremost of the line,
A chief with ancient heroes doomed to shine;
Fate in his arm, his very name an host,
His conquering standards flew from coast to coast.
Where Scotstown shines afar with snowy light,
And beauteous Renfield captivates the sight,
His ample mirror Clyde to both displays,
Where each her image with delight surveys:
So at one glass two rival beauties stand,
Their charms admiring, one on either hand: 340
Now self-approved, each looks with lofty scorn;
Now sinks each bosom, with black envy torn:
Now triumph flashes from each lovely eye;
Now pride, desponding, heaves the unwilling sigh.
Where the proud bridge on stately arches rides,
And from his height surveys the slumbering tides,
No motion dares his amorous sloth molest,
Or ruffle Renfield's image on the breast
Of tranquil Cart, who holds his silent way
Where Cathcart's race maintain their ancient sway. 350
Of all the clans that grace fair Renfrew's soil,
The first in power appears the potent Lyle,
Whose blood with graceful Eglinton's still blends,
In Pollock's veins and Houston's still descends.
The Dennistons, of ancient wealth and fame;
The Crawfords brave, an old illustrious name!
Lindsay's high blood with ancient Barclay's joins,
And first of Scotish Earls in glory shines.
Here Wallace shone, a race of matchless might,
Gentle in peace, but terrible in sight! 360
The fame of Wallace never can expire,
While Scotish breasts heroic deeds admire.
And friendship hither Ross from England drew,
The royal Bruce's fortunes to pursue:
And hence the faithful race of Erskine springs,
Marr's lords, the guardians of our youthful kings;
To whom an ancient nation dared intrust
Their future hopes, and ever found them just.
But high o'er all, the chiefs of Banquo's race,
Illustrious Stewarts dignified the place. 370
Here, raised upon a verdant mount sublime,
To heaven complaining of the wrongs of time,
And ruthless force of sacrilegious hands,
Crookstone, their ancient seat, in ruins stands;
Nor Clyde's whole course an ampler prospect yields,
Of spacious plains, and well improven fields;
Which, here, the gently rising hills surround,
And, there, the cloud-supporting mountains bound;
Now fields with stately dwellings thronger charged,
And populous cities, by their trade enlarged. 380
Here youthful Shaws, by vigorous industry,
Aspires in fame with ancient towns to vie;
Fair Paisley imitates, who justly boasts
Her manufactures, famed on foreign coasts:
For fine invention o'er the work presides,
And neat dexterity the shuttle guides.
By Crookstone Castle waves the still-green yew,
The first that met the royal Mary's view,
When, bright in charms, the youthful princess led
The graceful Darnley to her throne and bed: 390
Embossed in silver, now, its branches green
Transcend the myrtle of the Paphian queen.
But dark Langside, from Crookstone viewed afar,
Still seems to range in pomp the rebel war.
Here, when the moon rides dimly through the sky,
The peasant sees broad dancing standards fly,
And one bright female form, with sword and crown,
Still grieves to view her banners beaten down.
But Finlayston demands the choicest lays;
A generous muse's theme in former days, 400
When soft Montgomery poured the rural lay;
Whether he sung the vermeil dawn of day,
Or, in the mystic wreath, to soothe his woe,
Twined the red Cherry with the sable sloe;
Each charming sound resistless love inspired;
Soft love, resistless, every bosom fired;
Of love the waters murmured in their fall;
And echo sounds of love returned to all:
Trembling with love, the beauteous scene imprest
Its amorous image on the Firth's fair breast; 410
The scene, ennobled by the lofty dome,
Where great Glencairn has fixed his splendid home;
Whose breast the firm integrity inspires,
And scorn of slavery, that adorned his fires.
When daring Becket, with rebellious pride,
The English Henry's majesty defied,
The power of Rome against his sovereign led,
Aiming her thunders at his sacred head;
Then, near the throne, to guard the monarch, stood
A youth of Scotish Morville's lofty blood: 420
From his bold hand the felon found his doom;
And when the monarch meanly bent to Rome,
His brave avenger sought his native plain,
Where dauntless freedom holds eternal reign:
From him the faithful Cunninghams descend;
Still first their country's freedom to defend.
See, old Alclutha to the sight displays
Her rock, impregnable in ancient days;
Frowns like old Ilium, mid her waters placed,
Its base by Clyde and Leven's tide embraced: 430
From the broad stream its whitening summits rise,
Like famed Parnassus, towering to the skies.
And here, remote, the Latian muses came,
When Italy had lost her former fame.
As on this new Parnassus they repose,
Their sacred spring between its summits rose;
They bade the rock that far-famed thistle yield,
Which glorious shines in Scotia's warlike shield;
And on the margin of Levina's flood,
Their temple, famed for ancient learning, stood. 440
Buchanan sweeps the sweet Horatian lyre,
With Latian softness, and with Grecian fire;
Or, while historic themes his soul engage,
Shines forth the Livy of each modern age.
In later days, here dauntless Smollett rose,
Who sung with filial ardour Scotia's woes:
Who, like Buchanan in the historic page,
Fearless pourtrayed the crimes of every age.
Here Cambria's monarchs held their mighty reign,
Till Rome's proud eagles seized their fair domain. 450
When Fingal, first of men, his warriors led
From Morven's hills to Carron's sedgy bed,
With him was Oscar swift, Diarmed strong,
And Ossian, master of the tuneful song:
With dark disdain, the mountain heroes eyed
The troops of Cambria on the tyrant's side:
They bade the blast howl round the ruined walls,
And beasts obscene frequent the lonely halls:
From shattered spires the screaming owls were heard;
Howling through windows waste the wolf appeared; 460
Till Leven's stream, that scorns by slow degrees
To rise, but from its source a river sees,
Rushed on resistless, with ungoverned force,
And swept the ancient bulwarks in its course;
From their firm seats their deep foundations tore,
And sunk the ruins, to be seen no more.
How wide the lake in limpid beauty smiles,
Round the green yews that shade the Lomond isles;
While proud Benlomond rises huge and vast,
To bar eternally the northern blast. 470
That charming isle! the distant sight deceives,
Which floats, like Delos, on the ambient waves:
There Delos' god, deceived, first pours his beams,
The dome so like his ancient temple seems.
Clyde, now a sea, affects a wide command,
And far his mighty arms invade the land;
Far pour his lakes, and pierce the solid ground!
Scarce their wide sway the heathy mountains bound;
Where Campbells, sprung of old O'Dubin's race,
Old as their hills, still rule their native place. 480
No ancient chief could, like O'Dubin, wield
The weighty war, or range the embattled field;
Unmoving bear the shock of charging foes,
Pierce thronged battalions, or their ranks inclose.
Hence the admiring Gaul, preserved in sight
From furious Normans by the hero's might,
Him Campbell called; and no heroic name
Is farther heard, or better known to fame.
Descended from the same illustrious line,
See noble Loudon, first of heroes, shine: 490
Far distant realms his matchless prowess own,
Who propped the tottering Lusitanian throne.
Mark Ardencaple, noble Frederick's seat;
A chief politely wise, humanely great:
But fairer Roseneath's towers, where, spreading wide,
Rolls on the mighty majesty of Clyde,
From Lennox hills, which, towering, prop the sky,
To where his fleets in spacious harbours lie;
Where, crowned with wood, fair hills embrace the bay,
Where Newport smiles in youthful lustre gay; 500
Where the broad marsh, a shuddering surface, lies,
Fair Greenock's spires in new-born beauty rise;
And many an infant city rises round,
Emerging swiftly from the teeming ground;
So poets tell, that by prolific Nile,
Whole nations issued from the marshy soil;
And if the muse can future fates divine,
They all at last in one vast port shall join;
While groves of masts aloft in ether rise,
And cordage warping wide obscures the skies. 510
As in the film-winged bee's industrious hive,
Some stretch their wings for flight, and some arrive,
Some treasure in their cells the golden store,
And some, adventurous, fail in quest of more;
So fleets arriving here with every gale,
Within the port shall drop the flying sail;
While some departing shall their wings display,
To greet the rising, or the falling day;
While foreign wealth by busy hands is stored,
Or British manufactures borne aboard: 520
Arabia far shall send her rich perfumes;
Persia the shining product of her looms;
With spices kindled in hot Ceylon's air,
And China's painted vases for the fair.
But let the sailors shun the faithless shore
Behind the Cumbrays, where white surges roar;
Bend to the east, where Clyde runs dark and deep,
His borders edged with precipices steep;
Where in a sweet recess, by hills embraced,
Ardgowan's chieftain has his mansion placed; 530
Its view extending o'er the western main,
Where isles unnumbered deck the liquid plain.
Where Bute's green bosom spreads to meet the day,
Round Rothsay's towers the morning sun-beams play,
That, like her chief, superior and serene,
Smiles o'er the murmurs of the curling main:
Mid groves with undiminished verdure gay,
She mocks the waves, and laughs the storms away;
And bids her Brandons, mid the ranks of fame,
Aspiring rise, and claim a nation's name; 540
A Cambrian race, whose arms durst long deride
The Scotish laurels, and the Norman pride.
Opposed to Bute, upon the eastern shore,
Broad Largs expands, red with Norwegian gore;
Where, stern in arms, his forehead trenched with scars,
Stout Acho led the last of Lochlin's wars:
His peopled keels, the serpents of the main,
To stormy Norway never steered again:
In vain on Scotia's coast his legions poured,
Whelmed by the wave, or slanghtered by the sword; 550
Where with his peers, to guard his ancient throne,
Clad in bright steel, great Alexander shone.
Now Arran's hills their rocky summits show,
Crowned with dense mists, that shine like winter's snow.
Deep in the base a spacious cave is found,
By Fingal's proud immortal name renowned;
Where gallant Bruce and Douglas lurked concealed,
Till called by victory to the crimson field.
Far look thy mountains, Arran, o'er the main,
And far o'er Cunningham's extensive plain; 560
From Loudon hill, and Irvine's silver source,
Through all her links, they trace the river's course;
View many a town, in history's page enrolled;
Decayed Kilwinning, and Ardrossan old;
Kilmarnock low, that mid her plains retires,
And youthful Irvine that to fame aspires.
In neighbouring Kyle, our earliest annals boast,
Great Coilus fell, with all his British host:
His antique form, with silver shining bright,
In pleasant Caprington delights the sight. 570
From Carrick's coast, and Gallovidia's shores,
Clyde's ample sea in waves tremendous roars,
To where Kintyre, beneath the evening skies
Stretching a mighty length, among the billows lies.
See towering Ailsa o'er the waters rise;
Beneath the seas his deep foundation lies:
Hoarse round his rugged roots the ocean roars,
And high above the clouds his summit soars:
White wreaths of mist o'er his huge shoulders hang;
Round his strong sides unnumbered sea-fowls clang; 580
The royal falcon, and the bird of Jove,
Dare only scale the steep, and spread their wings above.
There late, sublime, the powers of ocean sate,
Spectators of the gallant Thurot's fate;
Whose generous soul beheld, with brave disdain,
His country's laurels blasted on the main.
Hark! as the sea-shrieks in confusion rise,
Through all his shores majestic Clyde replies;
Till, sinking slow, the mimic thunders fall,
And Elliot's genius triumphs o'er the Gaul. 590
Dear parent stream! may still thy happy plains
Rejoice in peace, and plenty bless thy swains;
May still thy daughters charm with every grace
Of mind, of manners, figure, air and face;
Still may thy fleets, by hardy seamen manned,
Extend fair Albion's sway from land to land;
As lately Phœbus, in his spacious round,
Saw, in each clime, our hosts with conquest crowned.
In vain proud Gallia poured her legions forth,
To match the iron warriors of the North: 600
The German plains were fattened with her blood,
Her commerce ruined, and her fleets subdued.
Her heroes slain, she trembles as she boasts,
While British thunders roar around her coasts.
And veteran Spain, who still the pride displays,
Without the vigour, of her happier days,
Beheld, with terror and amazement filled,
Manilla stormed, and strong Havannah yield:
Shrunk in dismay, where'er her flag unfurled,
Till Britain rose the umpire of the world. 610
At that bright era, as the festive sound
Of peace, loud echoed earth and ocean round,
Rose from his stream the majesty of Clyde,
His beauteous consort, Dara, by his side;
And round them every tributary flood;
Each leaning on his urn, attentive stood:
Glengonnar's dangerous stream was stained with lead;
Fillets of wool bound dark Dunneeten's head:
With corn-cars crowned, the sister Maidens role,
And Mouse, whose mining stream in coverts flows; 620
Black Douglas, drunk by heroes far renowned,
And turbid Nethan's front, with alders bound;
Calder, with oak around his temples twined,
And Kelvin, Glasgow's boundary flood designed;
Cart's sombre stream, which deep and silent moves,
Where kings and queens of old indulged their loves;
Leven, which growth and infancy disdains,
Rushing in strength mature upon the plains.
To whom the parent flood: "My children dear,
The festive sounds of peace salute mine ear. 630
Henceforth our peaceful ports, from insult free,
Anchored secure, their loaded fleets shall see;
And, to my honour, happy worlds shall know,
They to a son of mine their safety owe;
Great Bute, who, warm with patriot zeal, arose,
To still wild war, and give the world repose:
And having done the good his heart desired,
Scorning reward, to shades obscure retired:
For all he valued was already given,
Approven of his soul, his prince, and heaven; 640
He calmly smiled. Eclipsed ambition raved
To see a world by worth superior saved.
Advance, ye Fates! bid future times display
Fair eras bright with many a glorious day;
When time shall ripen what the past began,
And freedom execute her mighty plan.
The savage tribes, with long benighted eyes,
Shall gaze on opening heaven with glad surprise:
Virtue and truth shall flourish unconfined,
And knowledge, nursed by freedom of the mind; 650
Till every race, in mutual love, conspire
To live as children of one common fire
And grateful earth shall own these blessings given
By the kind care of Britain, and of Heaven;
The general anthem shall to Heaven ascend;
The world her stores to Britain's ports shall send;
From every sea, arriving fleets shall ride,
Proud of their wealth, and my broad bosom hide."
The river said; and from the top ascends,
Sublime in air, and all his court attends, 660
To meet the sun's descent in western skies,
And mark the airy landscapes as they rise:
White mountain clouds, whose tops as bright appear
As Zembla's glittering frost-rocks hung in air:
Low sink well imitated vales between,
And shaggy cliffs o'er black abysses lean;
Woods shake on high the swift dissolving shade,
While towns, with spires and turrets fair, pourtrayed,
And magic castles lofty heaven invade.
Now, lively painted with the setting ray, 670
The shining clouds adorn departing day.
As Phœbus sinks serene in splendor bright,
Behind him flows a sea of golden light,
To tinge the skirts of clouds with purple glow,
And all the hues which gild the watery bow;
The various shades of light it ceaseless tries,
And, sunk at last in deepest fable, dies;
When, mild and soft, the evening dew descends,
As lovers' sighs, or words of parting friends.
But as he from the amber plains retires, 680
Brighter and stronger flame the heavenly fires;
And Phebe from the east, advancing bright,
Majestic moves along, the queen of night:
Benighted travellers bless her friendly rays;
From trembling streams a silver radiance plays:
To needful rest retire the nymphs and swains,
And solemn silence reigns o'er all the plains. 687
Beyond the graceful modesty of Clyde;
Though famed Mæander, in the poet's dream,
Ne'er led through fairer fields, his wandering stream.
Bright wind thy mazy Links on Stirling's plain,
Which oft departing, still return again;
And wheeling round and round, in sportive mood,
The nether stream turns back to meet the upper flood.
Now sunk in shades, now bright in open day,
Bright Clyde, in simple beauty, winds his way. 10
In wanderings serpentine, his wanton train
Wreaths round the bank, or through the flowery plain;
While fair peninsules, by the flood embraced,
Exult in beauties lavished out to waste:
Where late gay Hamilton's facetious lay,
In rustic numbers hailed returning May;
And bade the brakes of Ardrie long resound
The plaintive dirge, that graced his favourite hound.
Old Rutherglen his designation brings
From Reuther, famed among our earliest kings: 20
Where numerous miners dwell, who fly the day,
Through central darkness urge their downward way;
Where, slumbering in their secret beds, retire
The sable stores which nurse the rage of fire.
To try the vigour of the generous horse,
The level lawn expands the racer's course;
Where, on the days to sestal games assigned,
The sprightly horsemen crowd from every wind;
While gazing crowds admire the courser's speed,
The graceful rider, and the governed steed. 30
More skilful horsemen Græcia ne'er could grace
With wreathing laurel, in Olympia's race;
Nor fleeter coursers swept the Pythian plain,
Renowned in daring Pindar's deathless strain.
See, how they shift, and paw, with trembling heart,
And lose a thousand steps before they start.
When, robed in emerald vest, awakening spring
Invites the flowers to spread, and birds to sing,
Fair Glasgow pours her wealthy merchants round,
Whose numerous villas crowd the fertile ground. 40
So once imperial Rome indignant saw
Her chiefs, who held the subject-world in awe,
Retiring to Campania's fair retreats,
To Baian plains, or old Tarentum's seats.
Yet softer Clyde's, where subterranean ire
Ne'er darts the bursts of dark sulphureous fire;
Which deep entomb the swarthy peasant's toil,
And parch to ashes all the burning soil.
Yet summer's heat drives frequent to the pool
The active youth, their glowing limbs to cool. 50
They dive, and distant far emerge again,
Or easy float along the liquid plain;
While curling waves around their bodies twine,
Through which their limbs like polished marble shine.
Now with strong arms they strive against the tide;
Now, oaring swiftly, with the current glide.
So the bold Roman, ere he slept, would cross
The Tiber thrice, nor feared his rapid force;
Then, vigorous from the flood, would, striving, strain
His well-braced nerves on Mavors' sacred plain; 60
Or choose the chief which should the world command,
Or for red conquest train the youthful band.
So, where Clyde's silver currents smoothly glide,
And ample lawns extend on every side,
The Clydesdale heroes, bright in arms, are seen
To rival Rome's, in force and awful mien.
While, robed in red, fierce flame the lengthened lines,
From their bright arms a dreadful splendor shines;
While tubes that, distant, drive the death unseen,
Or gleaming swords flash terror o'er the Green; 70
As if their leader sent through all his soul,
Just to his motion moves the obedient whole;
Thousands at once, a thousand different ways,
Yet none confused, or, straggling, vaguely strays:
Forth, at one glance, the levelled tubes are thurst;
At once, from all, the volleyed thunders burst:
At once the riders from their steeds descend;
The obedient steeds their motions still attend.
Here barefoot beauties lightly trip along;
Their snowy labours all the verdure throng: 80
The linen some with rosy fingers rub,
And the white foam o'erflows the smoking tub:
Her snowy feet another nimbly plies,
Whence other charms in fair proportion rise.
Hence, ye profane! and tremble to descry
The graceful nymphs with loose unhallowed eye:
Their bright approach impurity refines;
At every touch the linen brighter shines,
Whether they bathe it in the crystal wave,
Or from the stream the whitening surges lave, 90
Or from the painted cann the fountain pour,
Softly descending in a shining shower;
Till, as it lies, its fair transparent hue
Shows like a lily dipt in morning dew.
As shines the moon among the lesser fires,
Unrivalled Glasgow lifts her stately spires:
For Commerce, glorious with her golden crown,
Has marked fair Glasgow for her favourite town:
She makes her stately edifices thrive,
And merchants rich, in princely splendor live; 100
Extends her spacious streets on every side,
And bids her poor in palaces reside.
Where royal Nassau rides aloft, and round
His daring brows a wreath of laurels bound,
As in a common centre, meet combined
Four spacious streets, which stretch to every wind:
The distant buildings vanish from the view,
Nor can the weary eye their length pursue.
Lofty and large the stately temples rise,
Fit for His worship who spread out the skies. 110
This charms with beauty regular and chaste,
And elegance correct of Grecian taste.
The comely parts exact proportion show,
And to one whole by fit connections grow.
Corinthian columns the fair walls adorn;
Light seems the lofty frame, and easy borne.
That labours with the vast and cumbrous load
Of various ornaments, profuse bestowed:
Huge pillars heave to a stupendous height,
Their Gothic grandeur's vast unwieldy weight: 120
The pile the rich unpolished genius shows
Of that wild daring age in which it rose.
Round these fair courts, where stately structures rise,
And that ascending spire salutes the skies;
Fair truth displays, in all her native light,
Resistless charms, celestially bright!
And gently leads the willing mind along,
As charmed with sweetness of angelic song:
The atheist learns his Maker to adore;
Ashamed, the wicked wish to sin no more. 130
Here dwell the muses: In their sacred halls,
Soft as descending dew their doctrine falls.
Rome's ancient heroes, marshalled for the fight,
Tremendous rise in pure historic light;
Or shine in daring Lucan's manly strain,
Who sung of freedom in a tyrant's reign.
Still in Greek annals live their mighty dead:
The whole we see—and feel whate'er we read.
But if great Homer's martial trumpet sound,
Then troops expire, and heroes bite the ground; 140
Steeds neigh, swords gleam, darts hiss, and helmets nod,
And hills of carnage dam the streams of blood.
A muse more sacred, next the roll expands,
Which shook tall Sinai, and his heaving sands:
From tented hosts on Edom's sultry plain,
O'er Egypt's warriors wakes the exulting strain:
Impetuous chieftains Judah's God defy,
As fierce Rabsaces lifts his voice on high:
"March on, ye hosts, by great Sennacherib led,
And tread each river from its marshy bed. 150
Hark how the cedars of the mountain fall;
The lofty mound o'ertops proud Salem's wall;
While, as the clouds of arrows blot the day,
Like mildewed grass, the Hebrew tribes decay."
And here the sage, by reason's power refined,
Anatomizes all the tribes of mind;
Her various powers and faculties explores;
How she collects, how treasures wisdom's stores.—
Or shows how, launched, the wandering comet runs,
Through different systems, circling different suns; 160
How countless suns are sown through boundless space,
And worlds around them roll with rapid race.
Blest they who nature's secret wonders scan,
Which unprofaned she hides from vulgar man;
Whose raptured minds, with piercing skill, can trace
The circling fluids through their mazy race;
See through what channels, nature upward heaves
The nourishment of flowers, of fruits, and leaves;
What strainers separate each; what wondrous art
May due consistencies, and forms impart; 170
The curious texture of the tubes survey,
And from the pores see subtle odours play:
How the firm bones their strength and grandeur lend,
And vitals soft from injury defend;
How principles, by nature prone to strife,
Kindly conspire to the support of life:
Impelled through all the complicated frame,
How rapid fluids feed the vital flame:
Whence on the face the glowing beauties rise,
And all the soul beams genuine from the eyes. 180
That curious chemist mark! whose keen desire
Examines nature by tormenting fire;
And not content her form divine to view,
Dares search her inmost soul by torture too.
In vain the artful goddess would escape,
By changing colour, and by shifting shape,
Discovered still, through all her mazes chafed,
Her deepest secrets are disclosed at last.
Ye sacred Muses! who my soul inspire
With true devotion, and with fame's desire; 190
From earliest youth, though stern and adverse fate
Has chained me distant from your sacred seat;
Yet on that seat may every power divine
Propitious smile, and bid your glory shine
O'er all the earth, and, as from Athens, rise
Till your immortal splendors fill the skies.
But while sage learning claims the student's care,
More gay assemblies call the gay and fair.
At once the shining street moves all alive;
Chair urges chair, and chaises chaises drive; 200
Where aukward fops the glittering beaux envy;
Olivia sickens at Belinda's eye;
Artful coquets alluring glances wield,
And rakes expect the coyest prudes to yield.
If churches are not sanctuaries found,
But beaux will sigh, and beauty's glances wound;
What thrilling tremors must the soul invade,
When dancing fires, and melting airs persuade;
When every potent charm of shape and face,
From dress and motion draws resistless grace! 210
But happier they who temperate mirth approve,
Who joy with reason, and with virtue love;
Who unelated taste of bliss below,
And firmly bear inevitable woe:
For still when pleasure gilds the smiling scene,
The sabler hues of woe will intervene.
Mark where the wedding-guests in order move,
Arrayed in white, and breathing joy and love:
The bride her timid wishes seems to speak,
By the faint blush that trembles on her cheek: 220
The music leads, the maidens haste away,
With dance and banquet to conclude the day.
The mournful funeral, slow, proceeds behind,
Arrayed in black, the heavy head declined:
Wide yawns the grave; dull tolls the solemn bell;
Dark lie the dead; and long the last farewell:
There music sounds, and dancers shake the hall;
But here the silent tears incessant fall.
Ere mirth can well her comedy begin,
The tragic demon oft comes thundering in, 230
Confounds the actors, damps the merry show,
And turns the loudest laugh to deepest woe.
But hush, my muse! thy moral sisters frown,
Wear thy wild flowers, nor hope a nobler crown:
Enough for thee thy rural haunts to prize,
Where scenes so mournful seldom wound our eyes;
Where soft and calm the happy moments flow,
And distant far are heard the sounds of woe.
But ah! the wounds so seldom felt sink deep,
And ears unharassed long the sound will keep. 240
Who heeds distress, or hears the mourner's sigh,
Where bustling crowds bid sage reflection fly?
Justled and pressing through the crowded street,
Where cart stops cart, and burdens burdens meet,
Where hammered anvil, carriage, frame, and loom,
Far-sounding bell, loud mill, and thundering drum,
Rudely at once the tortured ear invade,
In deafening sounds, tumultuously conveyed:
Where shining shops display their tempting doors;
Where trade presents to sight her precious stores; 250
Where on the 'Change the gay-drest merchant shines,
The wretch unheeded in the dungeon pines.
Lo! as each ancient edifice retires,
Taller and taller shoot the stately spires:
So far the domes which modern riches raise
Transcend the cells of good St. Mungo's days!
Prophetic seer, whose visionary eye
Saw Glasgow's glory in the future lie;
The venerable sage, whom long of yore
To Scotia's heir a Pictish princess bore, 260
But, nursed in secret in a hermit's cell,
To heaven resigned, he bade the world farewell,
Save when he called the scaly brood, to bring,
From the dark stream, his mother's plighted ring.
Let Glasgow flourish! still in grandeur rise;
Still rear her stately fabrics to the skies;
In trade and riches rise, by swift degrees,
To rival London, empress of the seas:
Still may her ships to distant regions run,
Beyond the rising or the setting sun, 270
Till Clyde's broad bosom can no longer greet
The rolling tide that wafts the passing fleet.
Kelvin, a stream that slept inglorious long,
Shall rise to fame, and shine in future song;
Where sable artists match the ancient fame
Of Lemnos, or of Ætna's mightier name;
Who bend the stubborn steel in smouldering fire,
Rend it to rods, or wring to ductile wire:
Enormous tubes, like roaring tempests, sound;
Loud ring the anvils as the blows go round: 280
Scarce Ætna saw a more tremendous sight,
Her red cells glowing with infernal light;
Where, drenched with sweat, with smoking sulphur dun,
Toiled her vast brood, who never saw the sun:
Nor e'er were forged in Ætna's dreary caves,
Where the red lava rolls his burning waves,
More awful weapons of destructive might,
Than those dire tubes that thin the ranks of fight.
Through Carron's channel, now with Kelvin joined,
The wondering barks a ready passage find: 290
The ships, on swelling billows wont to rise,
On solid mountains climb to scale the skies;
Old ocean sees the fleets forsake his floods,
Sail the firm land, the mountains and the woods;
And safely thus conveyed, they dread no more
Rough northern seas which round the Orkneys roar.
Not thus the wave of Forth was joined to Clyde,
When Rome's broad rampart stretched from tide to tide,
With bulwarks strong, with towers sublimely crowned,
While winding tubes conveyed each martial sound. 300
To guard the legions from their painted foes,
By vast unwearied toil the rampire rose;
When, fierce in arms, the Scot, by Carron's shore,
Resigned, for war, the chace and mountain boar;
As the chaffed lion, on his homeward way,
Returns for vengeance, and forgets the prey.
By Camelon's towers, with Pictish splendor crowned,
And ancient grandeur, stretched the mighty mound;
Swept with broad trench o'er Falkirk's fatal plain,
Still red with gore of Scotian heroes slain; 310
Where dauntless Bute, with his brave Brandons, stood,
Till the wide plain was slippery with their blood;
Where gallant Graham, devoted, scorned to fly;
And Wallace saw his fairest laurels die.
But Carron's bank a fairer fame may crave,
Than from a chieftain's death, or hero's grave.
For Eastern wealth shall here with Western meet,
And both the Indies load the bending fleet;
The English tar shall, frowning, turn his eye,
From fields of battle where his fathers lie; 320
Dread Bannockburn, to Scots the dearest boast,
Of fields most fatal to an English host;
Where Bruce claimed freedom, or a glorious grave;
Nor victory could desert a band so brave;
And Norman Edward saw his standards fall,
Like Rome's proud trophies, on the Roman wall;
When elder Graham led on his mountain band,
And razed the rampart broad from strand to strand.
From Graham a fruitful race of heroes springs,
Dreadful in war! and true to Scotia's kings; 330
But great Montrose stands foremost of the line,
A chief with ancient heroes doomed to shine;
Fate in his arm, his very name an host,
His conquering standards flew from coast to coast.
Where Scotstown shines afar with snowy light,
And beauteous Renfield captivates the sight,
His ample mirror Clyde to both displays,
Where each her image with delight surveys:
So at one glass two rival beauties stand,
Their charms admiring, one on either hand: 340
Now self-approved, each looks with lofty scorn;
Now sinks each bosom, with black envy torn:
Now triumph flashes from each lovely eye;
Now pride, desponding, heaves the unwilling sigh.
Where the proud bridge on stately arches rides,
And from his height surveys the slumbering tides,
No motion dares his amorous sloth molest,
Or ruffle Renfield's image on the breast
Of tranquil Cart, who holds his silent way
Where Cathcart's race maintain their ancient sway. 350
Of all the clans that grace fair Renfrew's soil,
The first in power appears the potent Lyle,
Whose blood with graceful Eglinton's still blends,
In Pollock's veins and Houston's still descends.
The Dennistons, of ancient wealth and fame;
The Crawfords brave, an old illustrious name!
Lindsay's high blood with ancient Barclay's joins,
And first of Scotish Earls in glory shines.
Here Wallace shone, a race of matchless might,
Gentle in peace, but terrible in sight! 360
The fame of Wallace never can expire,
While Scotish breasts heroic deeds admire.
And friendship hither Ross from England drew,
The royal Bruce's fortunes to pursue:
And hence the faithful race of Erskine springs,
Marr's lords, the guardians of our youthful kings;
To whom an ancient nation dared intrust
Their future hopes, and ever found them just.
But high o'er all, the chiefs of Banquo's race,
Illustrious Stewarts dignified the place. 370
Here, raised upon a verdant mount sublime,
To heaven complaining of the wrongs of time,
And ruthless force of sacrilegious hands,
Crookstone, their ancient seat, in ruins stands;
Nor Clyde's whole course an ampler prospect yields,
Of spacious plains, and well improven fields;
Which, here, the gently rising hills surround,
And, there, the cloud-supporting mountains bound;
Now fields with stately dwellings thronger charged,
And populous cities, by their trade enlarged. 380
Here youthful Shaws, by vigorous industry,
Aspires in fame with ancient towns to vie;
Fair Paisley imitates, who justly boasts
Her manufactures, famed on foreign coasts:
For fine invention o'er the work presides,
And neat dexterity the shuttle guides.
By Crookstone Castle waves the still-green yew,
The first that met the royal Mary's view,
When, bright in charms, the youthful princess led
The graceful Darnley to her throne and bed: 390
Embossed in silver, now, its branches green
Transcend the myrtle of the Paphian queen.
But dark Langside, from Crookstone viewed afar,
Still seems to range in pomp the rebel war.
Here, when the moon rides dimly through the sky,
The peasant sees broad dancing standards fly,
And one bright female form, with sword and crown,
Still grieves to view her banners beaten down.
But Finlayston demands the choicest lays;
A generous muse's theme in former days, 400
When soft Montgomery poured the rural lay;
Whether he sung the vermeil dawn of day,
Or, in the mystic wreath, to soothe his woe,
Twined the red Cherry with the sable sloe;
Each charming sound resistless love inspired;
Soft love, resistless, every bosom fired;
Of love the waters murmured in their fall;
And echo sounds of love returned to all:
Trembling with love, the beauteous scene imprest
Its amorous image on the Firth's fair breast; 410
The scene, ennobled by the lofty dome,
Where great Glencairn has fixed his splendid home;
Whose breast the firm integrity inspires,
And scorn of slavery, that adorned his fires.
When daring Becket, with rebellious pride,
The English Henry's majesty defied,
The power of Rome against his sovereign led,
Aiming her thunders at his sacred head;
Then, near the throne, to guard the monarch, stood
A youth of Scotish Morville's lofty blood: 420
From his bold hand the felon found his doom;
And when the monarch meanly bent to Rome,
His brave avenger sought his native plain,
Where dauntless freedom holds eternal reign:
From him the faithful Cunninghams descend;
Still first their country's freedom to defend.
See, old Alclutha to the sight displays
Her rock, impregnable in ancient days;
Frowns like old Ilium, mid her waters placed,
Its base by Clyde and Leven's tide embraced: 430
From the broad stream its whitening summits rise,
Like famed Parnassus, towering to the skies.
And here, remote, the Latian muses came,
When Italy had lost her former fame.
As on this new Parnassus they repose,
Their sacred spring between its summits rose;
They bade the rock that far-famed thistle yield,
Which glorious shines in Scotia's warlike shield;
And on the margin of Levina's flood,
Their temple, famed for ancient learning, stood. 440
Buchanan sweeps the sweet Horatian lyre,
With Latian softness, and with Grecian fire;
Or, while historic themes his soul engage,
Shines forth the Livy of each modern age.
In later days, here dauntless Smollett rose,
Who sung with filial ardour Scotia's woes:
Who, like Buchanan in the historic page,
Fearless pourtrayed the crimes of every age.
Here Cambria's monarchs held their mighty reign,
Till Rome's proud eagles seized their fair domain. 450
When Fingal, first of men, his warriors led
From Morven's hills to Carron's sedgy bed,
With him was Oscar swift, Diarmed strong,
And Ossian, master of the tuneful song:
With dark disdain, the mountain heroes eyed
The troops of Cambria on the tyrant's side:
They bade the blast howl round the ruined walls,
And beasts obscene frequent the lonely halls:
From shattered spires the screaming owls were heard;
Howling through windows waste the wolf appeared; 460
Till Leven's stream, that scorns by slow degrees
To rise, but from its source a river sees,
Rushed on resistless, with ungoverned force,
And swept the ancient bulwarks in its course;
From their firm seats their deep foundations tore,
And sunk the ruins, to be seen no more.
How wide the lake in limpid beauty smiles,
Round the green yews that shade the Lomond isles;
While proud Benlomond rises huge and vast,
To bar eternally the northern blast. 470
That charming isle! the distant sight deceives,
Which floats, like Delos, on the ambient waves:
There Delos' god, deceived, first pours his beams,
The dome so like his ancient temple seems.
Clyde, now a sea, affects a wide command,
And far his mighty arms invade the land;
Far pour his lakes, and pierce the solid ground!
Scarce their wide sway the heathy mountains bound;
Where Campbells, sprung of old O'Dubin's race,
Old as their hills, still rule their native place. 480
No ancient chief could, like O'Dubin, wield
The weighty war, or range the embattled field;
Unmoving bear the shock of charging foes,
Pierce thronged battalions, or their ranks inclose.
Hence the admiring Gaul, preserved in sight
From furious Normans by the hero's might,
Him Campbell called; and no heroic name
Is farther heard, or better known to fame.
Descended from the same illustrious line,
See noble Loudon, first of heroes, shine: 490
Far distant realms his matchless prowess own,
Who propped the tottering Lusitanian throne.
Mark Ardencaple, noble Frederick's seat;
A chief politely wise, humanely great:
But fairer Roseneath's towers, where, spreading wide,
Rolls on the mighty majesty of Clyde,
From Lennox hills, which, towering, prop the sky,
To where his fleets in spacious harbours lie;
Where, crowned with wood, fair hills embrace the bay,
Where Newport smiles in youthful lustre gay; 500
Where the broad marsh, a shuddering surface, lies,
Fair Greenock's spires in new-born beauty rise;
And many an infant city rises round,
Emerging swiftly from the teeming ground;
So poets tell, that by prolific Nile,
Whole nations issued from the marshy soil;
And if the muse can future fates divine,
They all at last in one vast port shall join;
While groves of masts aloft in ether rise,
And cordage warping wide obscures the skies. 510
As in the film-winged bee's industrious hive,
Some stretch their wings for flight, and some arrive,
Some treasure in their cells the golden store,
And some, adventurous, fail in quest of more;
So fleets arriving here with every gale,
Within the port shall drop the flying sail;
While some departing shall their wings display,
To greet the rising, or the falling day;
While foreign wealth by busy hands is stored,
Or British manufactures borne aboard: 520
Arabia far shall send her rich perfumes;
Persia the shining product of her looms;
With spices kindled in hot Ceylon's air,
And China's painted vases for the fair.
But let the sailors shun the faithless shore
Behind the Cumbrays, where white surges roar;
Bend to the east, where Clyde runs dark and deep,
His borders edged with precipices steep;
Where in a sweet recess, by hills embraced,
Ardgowan's chieftain has his mansion placed; 530
Its view extending o'er the western main,
Where isles unnumbered deck the liquid plain.
Where Bute's green bosom spreads to meet the day,
Round Rothsay's towers the morning sun-beams play,
That, like her chief, superior and serene,
Smiles o'er the murmurs of the curling main:
Mid groves with undiminished verdure gay,
She mocks the waves, and laughs the storms away;
And bids her Brandons, mid the ranks of fame,
Aspiring rise, and claim a nation's name; 540
A Cambrian race, whose arms durst long deride
The Scotish laurels, and the Norman pride.
Opposed to Bute, upon the eastern shore,
Broad Largs expands, red with Norwegian gore;
Where, stern in arms, his forehead trenched with scars,
Stout Acho led the last of Lochlin's wars:
His peopled keels, the serpents of the main,
To stormy Norway never steered again:
In vain on Scotia's coast his legions poured,
Whelmed by the wave, or slanghtered by the sword; 550
Where with his peers, to guard his ancient throne,
Clad in bright steel, great Alexander shone.
Now Arran's hills their rocky summits show,
Crowned with dense mists, that shine like winter's snow.
Deep in the base a spacious cave is found,
By Fingal's proud immortal name renowned;
Where gallant Bruce and Douglas lurked concealed,
Till called by victory to the crimson field.
Far look thy mountains, Arran, o'er the main,
And far o'er Cunningham's extensive plain; 560
From Loudon hill, and Irvine's silver source,
Through all her links, they trace the river's course;
View many a town, in history's page enrolled;
Decayed Kilwinning, and Ardrossan old;
Kilmarnock low, that mid her plains retires,
And youthful Irvine that to fame aspires.
In neighbouring Kyle, our earliest annals boast,
Great Coilus fell, with all his British host:
His antique form, with silver shining bright,
In pleasant Caprington delights the sight. 570
From Carrick's coast, and Gallovidia's shores,
Clyde's ample sea in waves tremendous roars,
To where Kintyre, beneath the evening skies
Stretching a mighty length, among the billows lies.
See towering Ailsa o'er the waters rise;
Beneath the seas his deep foundation lies:
Hoarse round his rugged roots the ocean roars,
And high above the clouds his summit soars:
White wreaths of mist o'er his huge shoulders hang;
Round his strong sides unnumbered sea-fowls clang; 580
The royal falcon, and the bird of Jove,
Dare only scale the steep, and spread their wings above.
There late, sublime, the powers of ocean sate,
Spectators of the gallant Thurot's fate;
Whose generous soul beheld, with brave disdain,
His country's laurels blasted on the main.
Hark! as the sea-shrieks in confusion rise,
Through all his shores majestic Clyde replies;
Till, sinking slow, the mimic thunders fall,
And Elliot's genius triumphs o'er the Gaul. 590
Dear parent stream! may still thy happy plains
Rejoice in peace, and plenty bless thy swains;
May still thy daughters charm with every grace
Of mind, of manners, figure, air and face;
Still may thy fleets, by hardy seamen manned,
Extend fair Albion's sway from land to land;
As lately Phœbus, in his spacious round,
Saw, in each clime, our hosts with conquest crowned.
In vain proud Gallia poured her legions forth,
To match the iron warriors of the North: 600
The German plains were fattened with her blood,
Her commerce ruined, and her fleets subdued.
Her heroes slain, she trembles as she boasts,
While British thunders roar around her coasts.
And veteran Spain, who still the pride displays,
Without the vigour, of her happier days,
Beheld, with terror and amazement filled,
Manilla stormed, and strong Havannah yield:
Shrunk in dismay, where'er her flag unfurled,
Till Britain rose the umpire of the world. 610
At that bright era, as the festive sound
Of peace, loud echoed earth and ocean round,
Rose from his stream the majesty of Clyde,
His beauteous consort, Dara, by his side;
And round them every tributary flood;
Each leaning on his urn, attentive stood:
Glengonnar's dangerous stream was stained with lead;
Fillets of wool bound dark Dunneeten's head:
With corn-cars crowned, the sister Maidens role,
And Mouse, whose mining stream in coverts flows; 620
Black Douglas, drunk by heroes far renowned,
And turbid Nethan's front, with alders bound;
Calder, with oak around his temples twined,
And Kelvin, Glasgow's boundary flood designed;
Cart's sombre stream, which deep and silent moves,
Where kings and queens of old indulged their loves;
Leven, which growth and infancy disdains,
Rushing in strength mature upon the plains.
To whom the parent flood: "My children dear,
The festive sounds of peace salute mine ear. 630
Henceforth our peaceful ports, from insult free,
Anchored secure, their loaded fleets shall see;
And, to my honour, happy worlds shall know,
They to a son of mine their safety owe;
Great Bute, who, warm with patriot zeal, arose,
To still wild war, and give the world repose:
And having done the good his heart desired,
Scorning reward, to shades obscure retired:
For all he valued was already given,
Approven of his soul, his prince, and heaven; 640
He calmly smiled. Eclipsed ambition raved
To see a world by worth superior saved.
Advance, ye Fates! bid future times display
Fair eras bright with many a glorious day;
When time shall ripen what the past began,
And freedom execute her mighty plan.
The savage tribes, with long benighted eyes,
Shall gaze on opening heaven with glad surprise:
Virtue and truth shall flourish unconfined,
And knowledge, nursed by freedom of the mind; 650
Till every race, in mutual love, conspire
To live as children of one common fire
And grateful earth shall own these blessings given
By the kind care of Britain, and of Heaven;
The general anthem shall to Heaven ascend;
The world her stores to Britain's ports shall send;
From every sea, arriving fleets shall ride,
Proud of their wealth, and my broad bosom hide."
The river said; and from the top ascends,
Sublime in air, and all his court attends, 660
To meet the sun's descent in western skies,
And mark the airy landscapes as they rise:
White mountain clouds, whose tops as bright appear
As Zembla's glittering frost-rocks hung in air:
Low sink well imitated vales between,
And shaggy cliffs o'er black abysses lean;
Woods shake on high the swift dissolving shade,
While towns, with spires and turrets fair, pourtrayed,
And magic castles lofty heaven invade.
Now, lively painted with the setting ray, 670
The shining clouds adorn departing day.
As Phœbus sinks serene in splendor bright,
Behind him flows a sea of golden light,
To tinge the skirts of clouds with purple glow,
And all the hues which gild the watery bow;
The various shades of light it ceaseless tries,
And, sunk at last in deepest fable, dies;
When, mild and soft, the evening dew descends,
As lovers' sighs, or words of parting friends.
But as he from the amber plains retires, 680
Brighter and stronger flame the heavenly fires;
And Phebe from the east, advancing bright,
Majestic moves along, the queen of night:
Benighted travellers bless her friendly rays;
From trembling streams a silver radiance plays:
To needful rest retire the nymphs and swains,
And solemn silence reigns o'er all the plains. 687
FINIS.