HOMEWARD WE TURN.

ISLE OF COLUMBA'S CELL. 371

XXXIV.

THE BLACK STONES OF IONA.

[See Martin's Voyage among the Western Isles.*] HERE on their knees men swore; the stones were black,t Black in the people's minds and words,1 yet they Were at that time, as now, in colour grey.

But what is colour, if upon the rack

Of conscience souls are placed by deeds that lack
Concord with oaths? What differ night and day
Then, when before the Perjured on his way
Hell opens, and the heavens in vengeance crack
Above his head uplifted in vain prayer

To Saint, or Fiend, 2 or to the Godhead whom
He had insulted-Peasant, King, or Thane ?
Fly where the culprit may, guilt meets a doom;
And, from invisible worlds at need laid bare,
Come links for social order's awful chain.

*

HOMEWARD we turn.

XXXV.

Isle of Columba's Cell,

Where Christian piety's soul-cheering spark
(Kindled from Heaven between the light and dark
Of time) shone like the morning-star, farewell!—

Here on their knees, they swore, the stones were black,
Black in men's minds and words,

To saints, to fiends,

MS.

Description of the Western Islands of Scotland; including an account of the Manners, Customs, Religion, Language, Dress, &c., of the Inhabitants, by M. Martin, 1703.-Ed.

The spot where those Black Stones-on which it was the custom to swear contracts and alliances-were concealed, is pointed out near the site of the Bishop's house, to the north of the Cathedral.--ED.

And fare thee well, to Fancy visible,
Remote St Kilda, lone and loved sea-mark *
For many a voyage made in her swift bark,1
When with more hues than in the rainbow dwell
Thou a mysterious intercourse dost hold,
Extracting from clear skies and air serene,

And out of sun-bright waves, a lucid veil,

That thickens, spreads, and, mingling fold with fold,
Makes known, when thou no longer canst be seen,
Thy whereabout, to warn the approaching sail.

XXXVI.

GREENOCK.

Per me si va nella Città dolente.t

We have not passed into a doleful City,
We who were led to-day down a grim dell,
By some too boldly named the Jaws of Hell: '‡
Where be the wretched ones, the sights for pity?
These crowded streets resound no plaintive ditty:-
As from the hive where bees in summer dwell,
Sorrow seems here excluded; and that knell,
It neither damps the gay, nor checks the witty.

1

1837.

farewell!

Remote St Kilda, art thou visible?

No-but farewell to thee, beloved sea-mark
From many a voyage made in Fancy's bark,

1835.

* St Kilda is sixty miles to the west of Harris, in the outer Hebrides.—

ED.

+ Dante, Inferno, III. 1.-Ed.

They came down from Inverary to Loch Goil by Hell's Glen.-Ed.

THERE!" SAID A STRIPLING.

Alas! too busy Rival of old Tyre,1

373

Whose merchants Princes were, whose decks were thrones;

Soon may the punctual sea in vain respire

To serve thy need, in union with that Clyde

Whose nursling current brawls o'er mossy stones,*
The poor, the lonely, herdsman's joy and pride.

XXXVII.

66

[Mosgiel was thus pointed out to me by a young man on the top of the coach on my way from Glasgow to Kilmarnock. It is remarkable that, though Burns lived some time here, and during much the most productive period of his poetical life, he nowhere adverts to the splendid prospects stretching towards the sea and bounded by the peaks of Arran on one part, which in clear weather he must have had daily before his eyes. In one of his poetical effusions he speaks of describing fair Nature's face" as a privilege on which he sets a high value; nevertheless, natural appearances rarely take a lead in his poetry. It is as a human being, eminently sensitive and intelligent, and not as a poet, clad in his priestly robes and carrying the ensigns of sacerdotal office, that he interests and affects us. Whether he speaks of rivers, hills and woods, it is not so much on account of the properties with which they are absolutely endowed, as relatively to local patriotic remembrances and associations, or as they ministered to personal feelings, especially those of love, whether happy or otherwise ;-yet it is not always so. Soon after we had passed Mosgiel Farm we crossed the Ayr, murmuring and winding through a narrow woody hollow. His line-"Auld hermit Ayr strays through his woods"-came at once to my mind with Irwin, Lugar, Ayr, and Doon,-Ayrshire streams over which he breathes a sigh as being unnamed in song; and surely his own attempts to make them known were as successful as his heart could desire.]

"THERE!" said a Stripling, pointing with meet pride

Towards a low roof with green trees half concealed, "Is Mosgiel Farm; and that's the very field

Where Burns ploughed up the Daisy."† Far and wide

Too busy Mart! thus fared it with old Tyre, 1835. * Above Elvanfoot.-ED.

+ See Burns' poem To a Mountain Daisy, or as it was originally called, The Gowan.-ED.

A plain below stretched seaward, while, descried
Above sea-clouds, the Peaks of Arran rose;
And, by that simple notice, the repose

Of earth, sky, sea, and air, was vivified.

Beneath the random bield of clod or stone'
Myriads of daisies have shone forth in flower
Near the lark's nest, and in their natural hour
Have passed away; less happy than the One
That, by the unwilling ploughshare, died to prove
The tender charm of poetry and love.

XXXVIII.

THE RIVER EDEN, CUMBERLAND.

["Nature gives thee flowers

That have no rivals among British bowers."

This can scarcely be true to the letter; but, without stretching the point at all, I can say that the soil and air appear more congenial with many upon the banks of this river than I have observed in any other parts of Great Britain.]

EDEN! till now thy beauty had I viewed1
By glimpses only, and confess with shame
That verse of mine, whate'er its varying mood,
Repeats but once the sound of thy sweet name :
Yet fetched from Paradise that honour came,

1

1835.

Full long thy beauty, Eden, had I viewed,

By glimpses only

MS.

Eden! the Muse has wronged thee, be the shame
Frankly acknowledged, in no careless mood

Of memory, my verse have I reviewed

And met but once the sound of thy sweet name

MS.

*It is to be feared that there is more of the poet than the sound etymologist in this derivation of the name Eden. On the western coast of Cumberland is a rivulet which enters the sea at Moresby, known also in the neighbourhood by the name of Eden. May not the latter syllable come

MONUMENT OF MRS HOWARD.

1

375

Rightfully borne; for Nature gives thee flowers
That have no rivals among British bowers;
And thy bold rocks are worthy of their fame.*
Measuring thy course, fair Stream! at length I pay 1
To my life's neighbour dues of neighbourhood;
But I have traced thee on thy winding way 2
With pleasure sometimes by this thought restrained,—
For things far off we toil, while many a good 3
Not sought, because too near, is never gained.*

Bright are the hours that prompt me now to pay

Thee have I traced along thy winding way.

MS.

MS.

by the thought restrained That things far off are toiled for, while a good

1835.

That for things far off we toil, while many a good

1843.

4 1835.

Not sought, because too near, is seldom gained,

MS.

XXXIX.

MONUMENT OF MRS HOWARD,

(by Nollekens,)

IN WETHERAL CHURCH, NEAR CORBY, ON THE BANKS OF THE EDEN.

[Before this monument was put up in the Church at Wetheral, I saw it in the sculptor's studio. Nollekens, who, by-the-bye, was a strange and grotesque figure that interfered much with one's admiration of his works, showed me at the same time the various models in clay which he from the word Dean, a valley? Langdale, near Ambleside, is by the inhabitants called Langden. The former syllable occurs in the name Emont, a principal feeder of the Eden; and the stream which flows, when the tide is out, over Cartmel Sands, is called the Ea-French, eau-Latin, aqua.-W. W., 1835.

Especially on the upper reaches of the river, as seen from the Midland Railway line beyond Appleby.-ED.