Then rents and factors, rights of chase, Sheriffs, and lairds and their domains, Would all have seemed but paltry things, Not worth a moment's pains. Rob Roy had never lingered here, And to his Sword he would have said, 'Tis fit that we should do our part, Of old things all are over old, Of good things none are good enough :— I, too, will have my kings that take Obedient to my And, if the word had been fulfilled, As might have been, then, thought of joy! France would have had her present Boast, And we our own Rob Roy ! Oh! say not so; compare them not; For Thou, although with some wild thoughts, Hadst this to boast of; thou didst love The liberty of man. And, had it been thy lot to live For thou wert still the poor man's stay, Bear witness many a pensive sigh And by Loch Lomond's braes! And, far and near, through vale and hill, The proud heart flashing through the eyes, [THE Castle here mentioned was Nidpath near Peebles. The person alluded to was the then Duke of Queensbury. The fact was told me by Walter Scott.] DEGENERATE Douglas! oh, the unworthy Lord! Fame taxes him,) that he could send forth word 1803. XIII. YARROW UNVISITED. (See the various Poems the scene of which is laid upon the banks of the Yarrow; in particular, the exquisite Ballad of Hamilton beginning 'Busk ye, busk ye, my bonny, bonny Bride, FROM Stirling castle we had seen Had trod the banks of Clyde, and Tay, "Let Yarrow folk, frae Selkirk town, But we will downward with the Tweed, There's Galla Water, Leader Haughs, Both lying right before us; And Dryborough, where with chiming Tweed There's pleasant Tiviot-dale, a land What's Yarrow but a river bare, There are a thousand such elsewhere As worthy of your wonder." -Strange words they seemed of slight and scorn; My True-love sighed for sorrow; And looked me in the face, to think I thus could speak of Yarrow! "Oh! green," said I, "are Yarrow's holms, And sweet is Yarrow flowing! Fair hangs the apple frae the rock*, But we will leave it growing. O'er hilly path, and open Strath, We'll wander Scotland thorough; But, though so near, we will not turn Let beeves and home-bred kine partake *See Hamilton's Ballad as above. |