ide,
Like him I stalk'd, and all his passions felt;
When charm'd by Ismen, through the forest wide,
Bark'd in each plant a talking spirit dwelt!
201. Hence, sure to charm, his early numbers flow,
Though strong, yet sweet----
Though faithful, sweet; though strong, of simple kind.
Hence, with each theme, he bids the bosom glow,
While his warm lays an easy passage find,
Pour'd through each inmost nerve, and lull the harmonious ear.
204. Melting it flows, pure, numerous, strong, and clear,
216. Or crop from Tiviot's dale each--
220. Where'er he dwell, on hill, or lowly muir,
FOOTNOTES:
[40] How truly did Collins predict Home's tragic powers!
[41] A gentleman of the name of Barrow, who introduced Home to Collins.
Ed. 1788.
[42] A summer hut, built in the high part of the mountains, to tend
their flocks in the warm season, when the pasture is fine. Ed.
1788.
[43] By young Aurora, Collins undoubtedly meant the first appearance of
the northern lights, which happened about the year 1715; at least
it is most highly probable, from this peculiar circumstance, that
no ancient writer whatever has taken any notice of them, nor even
any modern one, previous to the above period. Ed. 1788.
[44] Second sight is the term that is used for the divination of the
highlanders. Ed. 1788.
[45] The late Duke of Cumberland, who defeated the Pretender at the
battle of Culloden. Ed. 1788.
[46] A fiery meteor, called by various names, such as Will with the
Wisp, Jack with the Lantern, etc. It hovers in the air over
marshy and fenny places. Ed. 1788.
[47] The water fiend.
[48] One of the Hebrides is called the Isle of Pigmies; where it is
reported, that several miniature bones of the human species have
been dug up in the ruins of a chapel there.
[49] Icolmkill, one of the Hebrides, where near sixty of the ancient
Scottish, Irish, and Norwegian kings are interred.
[50] An aquatic bird like a goose, on the eggs of which the inhabitants
of St. Kilda, another of the Hebrides, chiefly subsist. Ed.
1788.
[51] Three rivers in Scotland. Ed. 1788.
[52] Ben Jonson paid a visit on foot, in 1619, to the Scotch poet
Drummond, at his seat of Hawthornden, within four miles of
Edinburgh.
[53] Barrow
|