Volume Iv Part 35 (1/2)

When first my morn of life was born, the Pean's[37] silver stream Glanced in my eye, and then there lent my view their kinder gleam, The flowers that fringed its side, where, by the fragrant breezes lull'd, As in a cradle-bed I lay, and all my woes were still'd.

But changes will come over us, and now a stranger I Among the glades of Cluaran[38] must imp my wings and fly; Yet grat.i.tude forbid complaint, although in foreign grove, Since welcome to my haunt I come, and there in freedom rove.

By every song-bird charm'd, my ear is fed the livelong day, Now from the hollow's deepest dell, now from the top-most spray, The comrades of my lay, they tune their wild notes for my pleasure, And I, can I refrain to swell their diapason's measure?

With its own cl.u.s.ters loaded, with its rich foliage dress'd, Each bough is hanging down, and each shapely stem depress'd, While nestle there inhabitants, a feather'd tuneful choir, That in the strife of song breathe forth a flame of minstrel fire.

O happy tribe of choristers! no interruption mars The concert of your harmony, nor ever harshly jars A string of all your harping, nor of your voices trill Notes that are weak for tameness, that are for sharpness shrill.

The sun is on his flus.h.i.+ng march, his golden hair abroad, It seems as on the mountain's side of beams a furnace glow'd, Now melts the honey from all flowers, and now a dew o'erspreads (A dew of fragrant blessedness) all the gra.s.ses of the meads.

Nor least in my remembrance is my country's flowering heather, Whose russet crest, nor cold, nor sun, nor sweep of gale may wither; Dear to my eye the symbol wild, that loves like me the side Of my own Highland mountains that I climb in love and pride.

Dear tribes of nature! co-mates ye of nature's wandering son-- I hail the lambs that on the floor of milky pastures run, I hail the mother flocks, that, wrapp'd in their mantle of the fleece, Defy the landward tempest's roar, and defy the seaward breeze.

The streams they drink are waters of the ever-gus.h.i.+ng well, Those streams, oh, how they wind around the swellings of the dell!

The flowers they browze are mantles spread o'er pastures wide and far, As mantle o'er the firmament the stars, each flower a star!

I will not name each sister beam, but cl.u.s.tering there I see The beauty of the purple-bell, the daisy of the lea.

Of every hue I mark them, the many-spotted kine, The dun, the brindled, and the dark, and blends the bright its s.h.i.+ne; And, 'mid the Highlands rude, I see the frequent furrows swell, With the barley and the corn that Scotland loves so well.

And now I close my clannish lay with blessings on the shade That bids the mavis sing her song, well nurtured, undismay'd; The shade where bloom and cresses, and the ear-honey'd heather, Are smiling fair, and dwelling in their brotherhood together; For the sun is setting largely, and blinks my eye its ken; 'T is time to loose the strings, I ween, and close my wild-wood strain.

FOOTNOTES:

[37] The stream that flows through Glen Pean.

[38] The Gaelic name of Clunes, where the bard was entertained for many years of his tutor life.

THE THREE BARDS OF COWAL.[39]

JOHN BROWN.

One of the bards of Cowal is believed to have been born in the parish of Inverchaolain about 1750; his family name was Brun or Broun, as distinguished from the Lowland Brown, which he a.s.sumed. He first appeared as a poet by the publication, at Perth, in 1786, of a small volume of Gaelic poetry, dedicated to the Duke of Montrose. The subsequent portion of his career seems to have been chiefly occupied in genealogical researches. In 1792 he completed, in two large sheets, his ”Historical and Genealogical Tree of the Royal Family of Scotland;” of which the second edition bears the date 1811. This was followed by similar genealogical trees of the ill.u.s.trious family of Graham, of the n.o.ble house of Elphinstone, and other families. In these productions he uniformly styles himself, ”Genealogist to his R. H. the Prince of Wales, for Scotland.” Brown died at Edinburgh in the beginning of the year 1821. He had formed a respectable connexion by marriage, under circ.u.mstances which he has commemorated in the annexed specimen of his poetry, but his latter years were somewhat clouded by misfortune. He is remembered as a solicitor for subscriptions to his genealogical publications.

FOOTNOTES:

[39] Cowal is that portion of Argylls.h.i.+re bordering the Frith of Clyde, and extending inland to the margin of Lochfine.

THE SISTERS OF DUNOLLY.

The poet had paid his addresses to one of the sisters, but without the consent of her relatives, who ultimately induced her to wed another. After a lapse of time the bard transferred his affection to another daughter of the same distinguished family, and being successful, was compensated for his former trials.