Louder, louder chant the lay, Tell them youth, and mirth, and glee, The Resolve.1 IN IMITATION OF AN OLD ENGLISH POEM. 1808. My wayward fate I needs must plain, I loved, and was beloved again, For, as her love was quickly got, So it was quickly gone; No more I'll bask in flame so hot, Not maid more bright than maid was e'er No more I'll call the shaft fair shot, Nor scorch me at a flame so hot;- Each ambush'd Cupid I'll defy, In cheek, or chin, or brow, And deem the glance of woman's eye As weak as woman's vow: I'll lightly hold the lady's heart, That is but lightly won; I'll steel my breast to beauty's art, And learn to live alone. The flaunting torch soon blazes out, 1 Published anonymously in the Edinburgh Annual Register of 1808. Writing to his brother Thomas, the author says, "The Resolve is mine; and it is not-or, to be less enigmatical, it is an old fragment, which I coopered up into its present state with the purpose of quizzing certain judges of poetry, who have been extremely delighted, and declare that no living No waking dream shall tinge my thought With dyes so bright and vain, No silken net, so slightly wrought, Shall tangle me again: No more I'll pay so dear for wit, Nor shall wild passion trouble it,— And thus I'll hush my heart to rest,- Thou shalt no more be wildly blest, The widow'd turtles mateless die, They seek no loves-no more will I— Epitaph,2 DESIGNED FOR A MONUMENT IN LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL, AT THE BURIAL-PLACE OF THE FAMILY OF MISS SEWARD. [spread, AMID these aisles, where once his precepts show'd Prologue TO MISS BAILLIE'S PLAY OF THE FAMILY LEGEND.3 1809. 'Tis sweet to hear expiring Summer's sigh, Through forests tinged with russet, wail and die; poet could write in the same exquisite taste."-Life of Scott, vol. iii. p. 330. 2 Edinburgh Annual Register, 1809. 3 Miss Baillie's Family Legend was produced with considerable success on the Edinburgh stage in the winter of 1809-10. This prologue was spoken on that occasion by the Author's friend, Mr. Daniel Terry. "Tis sweet and sad the latest notes to hear Chief, thy wild tales, romantic Caledon, Wake keen remembrance in each hardy son. Whether on India's burning coasts he toil, Or till Acadia's' winter-fetter'd soil, Now bilks excisemen, and now bullies kings. He hears with throbbing heart and moisten'd eyes, To give the denizens of wood and wild, It opens on his soul his native dell, The woods wild waving, and the water's swell; The infant group, that hush'd their sports the And the dear maid who listen'd with a smile. Are such keen feelings to the crowd confined, The Poacher. WRITTEN IN IMITATION OF CRABBE, AND PUBLISHED 1 Acadia, or Nova Scotia. Nature's free race, to each her free-born child. race, Mock'd with the boon of one poor Easter chase, Come, view with me a hero of thine own! Seek we yon glades, where the proud oak o'er- Wide-waving seas of birch and hazel copse, And his son's stirrup shines the badge of law), 2 See Life of Scott vol. iii. P. 329. T The builder claims the unenviable boon, To tenant dwelling, framed as slight and soon As wigwam wild, that shrouds the native frore On the bleak coast of frost-barr'd Labrador.' Approach, and through the unlatticed window peep Nay, shrink not back, the inmate is asleep; Rifle and fowling-piece beside him stand; And late-snatched spoils lie stow'd in hutch apart, Look on his pallet foul, and mark his rest: Though, stupefied by toil, and drugg'd with gin, "Was that wild start of terror and despair, Those bursting eyeballs, and that wilder'd air, Signs of compunction for a murder'd hare? Do the locks bristle and the eyebrows arch, For grouse or partridge massacred in March ?"— No, scoffer, no! Attend, and mark with awe, There is no wicket in the gate of law! 1 Such is the law in the New Forest, Hampshire, tending greatly to increase the various settlements of thieves, smugglers, and deer-stealers, who infest it. In the forest courts the presiding judge wears as a badge of office an antique stir He, that would e'er so lightly set ajar That ruffian, whom true men avoid and dread, Whom bruisers, poachers, smugglers, call Black Ned, Was Edward Mansell once;-the lightest heart, But he whose humors spurn law's awful yoke, Must herd with those by whom law's bonds are broke, The common dread of justice soon allies Their hope impunity, their fear the law; Their foes, their friends, their rendezvous the same, Wild howl'd the wind the forest glades along, And oft the owl renew'd her dismal song; Around the spot where erst he felt the wound, Red William's spectre walk'd his midnight round. When o'er the swamp he cast his blighting look, From the green marshes of the stagnant brook The bittern's sullen shout the sedges shook! The waning moon, with storm presaging gleam, Now gave and now withheld her doubtful beam; The old Oak stoop'd his arms, then flung them high, Bellowing and groaning to the troubled sky— "Twas then, that, couch'd amid the brushwood sere, In Malwood-walk young Mansell watch'd the deer: The fattest buck received his deadly shotThe watchful keeper heard, and sought the spot. rup, said to have been that of William Rufus. See Mr. William Rose's spirited poem, entitled "The Red King." "To the bleak coast of savage Labrador."-FALCONER. 2 A cant term for smuggled spirits. the kindest entertainment. Till the 13th of the month the troops lived in the utmost harmony and familiarity with the people; and on the very night of the massacre the officers passed the evening at cards in Macdonald's house. In the night, Lieutenant Lindsay, with a party of soldiers, called in a friendly manner at his door, and was instantly admitted. Macdonald, while in the act of rising to receive his guest, was shot dead through the back with two bullets. His wife had already dressed; but she was stripped naked by the sol teeth. The slaughter now became general, and neither age nor infirmity was spared. Some women, in defending their children, were killed; boys imploring mercy were shot dead by officers on whose knees they hung. In one place nine persons, as they sat enjoying themselves at table, were butchered by the soldiers. In Inverriggon, Campbell's own quarters, nine men were first bound by the soldiers, and then shot at intervals, one by one. Nearly forty persons were massacred by the troops; and several who fled to the mountains perished by famine and the inclemency of the season. Those who escaped owed their lives to a tempestuous night. Lieutenant-Colonel Hamilton, who had received the charge of the execution from Dalrym of King William III. in Scotland. In the August preceding, a proclamation had been issued, offering an indemnity to such insurgents as should take the oaths to the King and Queen, on or before the last day of December; and the chiefs of such tribes as had been in arms for James, soon after took advantage of the proclamation. But Macdonald of Glencoe was prevented by accident, rather than by design, from tendering his submission within the limited time. In the end of December he went to Colonel Hill, who commanded the garrison in Fort William, to take the oaths of allegiance to the gov-diers, who tore the rings off her fingers with their ernment; and the latter having furnished him with a letter to Sir Colin Campbell, sheriff of the county of Argyll, directed him to repair immediately to Inverary, to make his submission in a legal manner before that magistrate. But the way to Inverary lay through almost impassable mountains, the season was extremely rigorous, and the whole country was covered with a deep snow. So eager, however, was Macdonald to take the oaths before the limited time should expire, that, though the road lay within half a mile of his own house, he stopped not to visit his family, and after various obstructions, arrived at Inverary. The time had elapsed, and the sheriff hesitated to receive his submission; but Macdonald prevailed by his importunities, and even tears, in inducing that func-ple, was on his march with four hundred men, to tionary to administer to him the oath of allegiance, and to certify the cause of his delay. At this time Sir John Dalrymple, afterwards Earl of Stair, being in attendance upon William as Secretary of State for Scotland, took advantage of Macdonald's neglecting to take the oath within the time prescribed, and procured from the king a warrant of military execution against that chief and his whole clan. This was done at the instigation of the Earl of Breadalbane, whose lands the Glencoe men had plundered, and whose treachery to government in negotiating with the Highland clans, Macdonald himself had exposed. The King was accordingly persuaded that Glencoe was the main obstacle to the pacification of the Highlands; and the fact of the unfortunate chief's submission having been concealed, the sanguinary orders for proceeding to military execution against his clan were in consequence obtained. The warrant was both signed and countersigned by the King's own hand, and the Secretary urged the officers who commanded in the Highlands to execute their orders with the utmost rigor. Campbell of Glenlyon, a captain in Argyle's regiment, and two subalterns, were ordered to repair to Glencoe on the first of February with a hundred and twenty men. Campbell, being uncle to young Macdonald's wife, was received by the father with all manner of friendship and hospitality. The men were lodged at free quarters in the houses of his tenants, and received guard all the passes from the valley of Glencoe; but he was obliged to stop by the severity of the weather, which proved the safety of the unfortu nate clan. Next day he entered the valley, laid the houses in ashes, and carried away the cattle and spoil, which were divided among the officers and soldiers."-Article "BRITAIN;" Encyc. Britannica-New Edition. "O TELL me, Harper, wherefore flow Where none may list their melody? Screams chorus to thy minstrelsy?" "No, not to these, for they have rest,— Could screen from treach'rous cruelty. "Their flag was furl'd, and mute their drum, The very household dogs were dumb, |