Chapter 16

This poet was born in Langholm, Dumfriesshire, in 1734. His father was minister of the parish, but removed to Edinburgh, where William, after attending the High School, became clerk to a brewery, and ultimately a partner in the concern. In this he failed, however; and in 1764 he repaired to London to prosecute literature. Lord Lyttelton became his patron, although he did him so little service in a secular point of view, that Mickle was fain to accept the situation of corrector to the Clarendon Press at Oxford. Here he published his 'Pollio,' his 'Concubine,' --a poem in the manner of Spenser, very sweetly and musically written, which became popular,--and in 1771 the first canto of a translation of the 'Lusiad' of Camoens. This translation, which he completed in 1775, was published by subscription, and at once increased his fortune and established his fame. He had resigned his office of corrector of the press, and was residing with Mr Tomkins, a farmer at Foresthill, near Oxford. In 1779, he went out to Portugal as secretary to Commodore Johnstone, and, as the translator of Camoens, was received with much distinction. On his return with a little money, he married Mr Tomkins' daughter, who had a little more, and took up his permanent residence at Foresthill, where he died of a short illness in 1788.

His translation of the 'Lusiad' is understood to be too free and flowery, and the translator stands in the relation to Camoens which Pope does to Homer. 'Cumnor Hall' has suggested to Scott his brilliant romance of 'Kenilworth,' and is a garland worthy of being bound up in the beautiful locks of Amy Robsart for evermore. 'Are ye sure the news is true?' is a song true to the very soul of Scottish and of general nature, and worthy, as Burns says, of 'the first poet.'

CUMNOR HALL.

1 The dews of summer night did fall, The moon, sweet regent of the sky, Silvered the walls of Cumnor Hall, And many an oak that grew thereby.

2 Now nought was heard beneath the skies, The sounds of busy life were still, Save an unhappy lady's sighs, That issued from that lonely pile.

3 'Leicester,' she cried, 'is this thy love That thou so oft hast sworn to me, To leave me in this lonely grove, Immured in shameful privity?

4 'No more thou com'st, with lover's speed, Thy once beloved bride to see; But be she alive, or be she dead, I fear, stern Earl,'s the same to thee.

5 'Not so the usage I received When happy in my father's hall; No faithless husband then me grieved, No chilling fears did me appal.

6 'I rose up with the cheerful morn, No lark so blithe, no flower more gay; And, like the bird that haunts the thorn, So merrily sung the livelong day.

7 'If that my beauty is but small, Among court ladies all despised, Why didst thou rend it from that hall, Where, scornful Earl, it well was prized?

8 'And when you first to me made suit, How fair I was, you oft would say! And, proud of conquest, plucked the fruit, Then left the blossom to decay.

9 'Yes! now neglected and despised, The rose is pale, the lily's dead; But he that once their charms so prized, Is sure the cause those charms are fled.

10 'For know, when sickening grief doth prey, And tender love's repaid with scorn, The sweetest beauty will decay: What floweret can endure the storm?

11 'At court, I'm told, is beauty's throne, Where every lady's passing rare, That eastern flowers, that shame the sun, Are not so glowing, not so fair.

12 'Then, Earl, why didst thou leave the beds Where roses and where lilies vie, To seek a primrose, whose pale shades Must sicken when those gauds are by?

13 ''Mong rural beauties I was one; Among the fields wild-flowers are fair; Some country swain might me have won, And thought my passing beauty rare.

14 'But, Leicester, or I much am wrong, It is not beauty lures thy vows; Rather ambition's gilded crown Makes thee forget thy humble spouse.

15 'Then, Leicester, why, again I plead, The injured surely may repine, Why didst thou wed a country maid, When some fair princess might be thine?

16 'Why didst thou praise my humble charms, And, oh! then leave them to decay? Why didst thou win me to thy arms, Then leave me to mourn the livelong day?

17 'The village maidens of the plain Salute me lowly as they go: Envious they mark my silken train, Nor think a countess can have woe.

18 'The simple nymphs! they little know How far more happy's their estate; To smile for joy, than sigh for woe; To be content, than to be great.

19 'How far less blessed am I than them, Daily to pine and waste with care! Like the poor plant, that, from its stem Divided, feels the chilling air.

20 'Nor, cruel Earl! can I enjoy The humble charms of solitude; Your minions proud my peace destroy, By sullen frowns, or pratings rude.

21 'Last night, as sad I chanced to stray, The village death-bell smote my ear; They winked aside, and seemed to say, "Countess, prepare--thy end is near."

22 'And now, while happy peasants sleep, Here I sit lonely and forlorn; No one to soothe me as I weep, Save Philomel on yonder thorn.

23 'My spirits flag, my hopes decay; Still that dread death-bell smites my ear; And many a body seems to say, "Countess, prepare--thy end is near."'

24 Thus sore and sad that lady grieved In Cumnor Hall, so lone and drear; And many a heartfelt sigh she heaved, And let fall many a bitter tear.

25 And ere the dawn of day appeared, In Cumnor Hall, so lone and drear, Full many a piercing scream was heard, And many a cry of mortal fear.

26 The death-bell thrice was heard to ring, An aerial voice was heard to call, And thrice the raven flapped his wing Around the towers of Cumnor Hall.

27 The mastiff howled at village door, The oaks were shattered on the green; Woe was the hour, for never more That hapless Countess e'er was seen.

28 And in that manor, now no more Is cheerful feast or sprightly ball; For ever since that dreary hour Have spirits haunted Cumnor Hall.

29 The village maids, with fearful glance, Avoid the ancient moss-grown wall; Nor never lead the merry dance Among the groves of Cumnor Hall.

30 Full many a traveller has sighed, And pensive wept the Countess' fall, As wandering onwards they've espied The haunted towers of Cumnor Hall.

THE MARINER'S WIFE.

1 But are ye sure the news is true? And are ye sure he's weel? Is this a time to think o' wark? Ye jauds, fling by your wheel. For there's nae luck about the house, There's nae luck at a', There's nae luck about the house, When our gudeman's awa.

2 Is this a time to think o' wark, When Colin's at the door? Rax down my cloak--I'll to the quay, And see him come ashore.

3 Rise up and mak a clean fireside, Put on the mickle pat; Gie little Kate her cotton goun, And Jock his Sunday's coat.

4 And mak their shoon as black as slaes, Their stocking white as snaw; It's a' to pleasure our gudeman-- He likes to see them braw.

5 There are twa hens into the crib, Hae fed this month and mair; Mak haste and thraw their necks about, That Colin weel may fare.

6 My Turkey slippers I'll put on, My stocking pearl blue-- It's a' to pleasure our gudeman, For he's baith leal and true.

7 Sae sweet his voice, sae smooth his tongue; His breath's like caller air; His very fit has music in't, As he comes up the stair.

8 And will I see his face again? And will I hear him speak? I'm downright dizzy wi' the thought: In troth I'm like to greet.

LORD NUGENT.

Robert Craggs, afterwards created Lord Nugent, was an Irishman, a younger son of Michael Nugent, by the daughter of Robert, Lord Trimlestown, and born in 1709. He was in 1741 elected M.P. for St Mawes, in Cornwall, and became in 1747 comptroller to the Prince of Wales' household. He after- wards made peace with the Court, and received various promotions and marks of favour besides the peerage. In 1739, he published anonymously a volume of poems possessing considerable merit. He was converted from Popery, and wrote some vigorous verses on the occasion. Unfortunately, however, he relapsed, and again celebrated the event in a very weak poem, entitled 'Faith.' He died in 1788. Although a man of decided talent, as his 'Ode to Mankind' proves, Nugent does not stand very high either in the catalogue of Irish patriots or of 'royal and noble authors.'

ODE TO MANKIND.

1 Is there, or do the schoolmen dream? Is there on earth a power supreme, The delegate of Heaven, To whom an uncontrolled command, In every realm o'er sea and land, By special grace is given?

2 Then say, what signs this god proclaim? Dwells he amidst the diamond's flame, A throne his hallowed shrine? The borrowed pomp, the armed array, Want, fear, and impotence, betray Strange proofs of power divine!

3 If service due from human kind, To men in slothful ease reclined, Can form a sovereign's claim: Hail, monarchs! ye, whom Heaven ordains, Our toils unshared, to share our gains, Ye idiots, blind and lame!

4 Superior virtue, wisdom, might, Create and mark the ruler's right, So reason must conclude: Then thine it is, to whom belong The wise, the virtuous, and the strong, Thrice sacred multitude!

5 In thee, vast All! are these contained, For thee are those, thy parts ordained, So nature's systems roll: The sceptre's thine, if such there be; If none there is, then thou art free, Great monarch! mighty whole!

6 Let the proud tyrant rest his cause On faith, prescription, force, or laws, An host's or senate's voice! His voice affirms thy stronger due, Who for the many made the few, And gave the species choice.

7 Unsanctified by thy command, Unowned by thee, the sceptred hand The trembling slave may bind; But loose from nature's moral ties, The oath by force imposed belies The unassenting mind.

8 Thy will's thy rule, thy good its end; You punish only to defend What parent nature gave: And he who dares her gifts invade, By nature's oldest law is made Thy victim or thy slave.

9 Thus reason founds the just degree On universal liberty, Not private rights resigned: Through various nature's wide extent, No private beings e'er were meant To hurt the general kind.

10 Thee justice guides, thee right maintains, The oppressor's wrongs, the pilferer's gains, Thy injured weal impair. Thy warmest passions soon subside, Nor partial envy, hate, nor pride, Thy tempered counsels share.

11 Each instance of thy vengeful rage, Collected from each clime and age, Though malice swell the sum, Would seem a spotless scanty scroll, Compared with Marius' bloody roll, Or Sylla's hippodrome.

12 But thine has been imputed blame, The unworthy few assume thy name, The rabble weak and loud; Or those who on thy ruins feast, The lord, the lawyer, and the priest; A more ignoble crowd.

13 Avails it thee, if one devours, Or lesser spoilers share his powers, While both thy claim oppose? Monsters who wore thy sullied crown, Tyrants who pulled those monsters down, Alike to thee were foes.

14 Far other shone fair Freedom's band, Far other was the immortal stand, When Hampden fought for thee: They snatched from rapine's gripe thy spoils, The fruits and prize of glorious toils, Of arts and industry.

15 On thee yet foams the preacher's rage, On thee fierce frowns the historian's page, A false apostate train: Tears stream adown the martyr's tomb; Unpitied in their harder doom, Thy thousands strow the plain.

16 These had no charms to please the sense, No graceful port, no eloquence, To win the Muse's throng: Unknown, unsung, unmarked they lie; But Caesar's fate o'ercasts the sky, And Nature mourns his wrong.

17 Thy foes, a frontless band, invade; Thy friends afford a timid aid, And yield up half the right. Even Locke beams forth a mingled ray, Afraid to pour the flood of day On man's too feeble sight.

18 Hence are the motley systems framed, Of right transferred, of power reclaimed; Distinctions weak and vain. Wise nature mocks the wrangling herd; For unreclaimed, and untransferred, Her powers and rights remain.

19 While law the royal agent moves, The instrument thy choice approves, We bow through him to you. But change, or cease the inspiring choice, The sovereign sinks a private voice, Alike in one, or few!

20 Shall then the wretch, whose dastard heart Shrinks at a tyrant's nobler part, And only dares betray; With reptile wiles, alas! prevail, Where force, and rage, and priestcraft fail, To pilfer power away?

21 Oh! shall the bought, and buying tribe, The slaves who take, and deal the bribe, A people's claims enjoy! So Indian murderers hope to gain The powers and virtues of the slain, Of wretches they destroy.

22 'Avert it, Heaven! you love the brave, You hate the treacherous, willing slave, The self-devoted head; Nor shall an hireling's voice convey That sacred prize to lawless sway, For which a nation bled.'

23 Vain prayer, the coward's weak resource! Directing reason, active force, Propitious Heaven bestows. But ne'er shall flame the thundering sky, To aid the trembling herd that fly Before their weaker foes.

24 In names there dwell no magic charms, The British virtues, British arms Unloosed our fathers' band: Say, Greece and Rome! if these should fail, What names, what ancestors avail, To save a sinking land?

25 Far, far from us such ills shall be, Mankind shall boast one nation free, One monarch truly great: Whose title speaks a people's choice, Whose sovereign will a people's voice, Whose strength a prosperous state.

JOHN LOGAN.

John Logan was born in the year 1748. He was the son of a farmer at Soutra, in the parish of Fala, Mid-Lothian. He was educated for the church at Edinburgh, where he became intimate with Robertson, afterwards the historian. So, at least, Campbell asserts; but he strangely calls him a student of the same standing, whereas, in fact, Robertson saw light in 1721, and had been a settled minister five years before Logan was born. After finishing his studies, he became tutor in the family of Mr Sinclair of Ulbster, and the late well-known Sir John Sinclair was one of his pupils. When licensed to preach, Logan became popular, and was in his twenty-fifth year appointed one of the ministers of South Leith. In 1781, he read in Edinburgh a course of lectures on the Philosophy of History, and in 1782, he printed one of them, on the Government of Asia. In the same year he published a volume of poems, which were well received. In 1783, he wrote a tragedy called 'Runnymede,' which was, owing to some imagined incendiary matter, prohibited from being acted on the London boards, but which was produced on the Edinburgh stage, and afterwards published. This, along with some alleged irregularities of conduct on the part of Logan, tended to alienate his flock, and he was induced to retire on a small annuity. He betook himself to London, where, in conjunction with the Rev. Mr Thomson,--who had left the parish of Monzievaird, in Perthshire, owing to a scandal,--he wrote for the _English Review_, and was employed to defend Warren Hastings. This he did in an able manner, although a well-known story describes him as listening to Sheridan, on the Oude case, with intense interest, and exclaiming, after the first hour, 'This is mere declamation without proof'--after the next two, 'This is a man of extraordinary powers'--and ere the close of the matchless oration, 'Of all the monsters in history, Warren Hastings is the vilest.' Logan died in the year 1788, in his lodgings, Marlborough Street. His sermons were published shortly after his death, and if parts of them are, as is alleged, pilfered from a Swiss divine, (George Joachim Zollikofer,) they have not remained exclusively with the thief, since no sermons have been so often reproduced in Scottish pulpits as the elegant orations issued under the name of Logan.

We have already declined to enter on the controversy about 'The Cuckoo,' intimating, however, our belief, founded partly upon Logan's unscrupulous character and partly on internal evidence, that it was originally written by Bruce, but probably polished to its present perfection by Logan, whose other writings give us rather the impression of a man of varied accomplishments and excellent taste, than of deep feeling or original genius. If Logan were not the author of 'The Cuckoo,' there was a special baseness connected with the fact, that when Burke sought him out in Edinburgh, solely from his admiration of that poem, he owned the soft and false impeachment, and rolled as a sweet morsel praise from the greatest man of the age, which he knew was the rightful due of another.

THE LOVERS.

1 _Har_. 'Tis midnight dark: 'tis silence deep, My father's house is hushed in sleep; In dreams the lover meets his bride, She sees her lover at her side; The mourner's voice is now suppressed, A while the weary are at rest: 'Tis midnight dark; 'tis silence deep; I only wake, and wake to weep.

2 The window's drawn, the ladder waits, I spy no watchman at the gates; No tread re-echoes through the hall, No shadow moves along the wall. I am alone. 'Tis dreary night, Oh, come, thou partner of my flight! Shield me from darkness, from alarms; Oh, take me trembling to thine arms!

3 The dog howls dismal in the heath, The raven croaks the dirge of death; Ah me! disaster's in the sound! The terrors of the night are round; A sad mischance my fears forebode, The demon of the dark's abroad, And lures, with apparition dire, The night-struck man through flood and fire.

4 The owlet screams ill-boding sounds, The spirit walks unholy rounds; The wizard's hour eclipsing rolls; The shades of hell usurp the poles; The moon retires; the heaven departs. From opening earth a spectre starts: My spirit dies--Away, my fears! My love, my life, my lord, appears!

5 _Hen_. I come, I come, my love! my life! And, nature's dearest name, my wife! Long have I loved thee; long have sought: And dangers braved, and battles fought; In this embrace our evils end; From this our better days ascend; The year of suffering now is o'er, At last we meet to part no more!

6 My lovely bride! my consort, come! The rapid chariot rolls thee home. _Har_. I fear to go----I dare not stay. Look back.----I dare not look that way. _Hen_. No evil ever shall betide My love, while I am at her side. Lo! thy protector and thy friend, The arms that fold thee will defend.

7 _Har_. Still beats my bosom with alarms: I tremble while I'm in thy arms! What will impassioned lovers do? What have I done--to follow you? I leave a father torn with fears; I leave a mother bathed in tears; A brother, girding on his sword, Against my life, against my lord.

8 Now, without father, mother, friend, On thee my future days depend; Wilt thou, for ever true to love, A father, mother, brother, prove? O Henry!----to thy arms I fall, My friend! my husband! and my all! Alas! what hazards may I run? Shouldst thou forsake me--I'm undone.

9 _Hen_. My Harriet, dissipate thy fears, And let a husband wipe thy tears; For ever joined our fates combine, And I am yours, and you are mine. The fires the firmament that rend, On this devoted head descend, If e'er in thought from thee I rove, Or love thee less than now I love!

10 Although our fathers have been foes, From hatred stronger love arose; From adverse briars that threatening stood, And threw a horror o'er the wood, Two lovely roses met on high, Transplanted to a better sky; And, grafted in one stock, they grow. In union spring, in beauty blow.

11 _Har_. My heart believes my love; but still My boding mind presages ill: For luckless ever was our love, Dark as the sky that hung above. While we embraced, we shook with fears, And with our kisses mingled tears; We met with murmurs and with sighs, And parted still with watery eyes.

12 An unforeseen and fatal hand Crossed all the measures love had planned; Intrusion marred the tender hour, A demon started in the bower; If, like the past, the future run, And my dark day is but begun, What clouds may hang above my head? What tears may I have yet to shed?

13 _Hen_. Oh, do not wound that gentle breast, Nor sink, with fancied ills oppressed; For softness, sweetness, all, thou art, And love is virtue in thy heart. That bosom ne'er shall heave again But to the poet's tender strain; And never more these eyes o'erflow But for a hapless lover's woe.

14 Long on the ocean tempest-tossed, At last we gain the happy coast; And safe recount upon the shore Our sufferings past, and dangers o'er: Past scenes, the woes we wept erewhile, Will make our future minutes smile: When sudden joy from sorrow springs, How the heart thrills through all its strings!

15 _Har_. My father's castle springs to sight; Ye towers that gave me to the light! O hills! O vales! where I have played; Ye woods, that wrap me in your shade! O scenes I've often wandered o'er! O scenes I shall behold no more! I take a long, last, lingering view: Adieu! my native land, adieu!

16 O father, mother, brother dear! O names still uttered with a tear! Upon whose knees I've sat and smiled, Whose griefs my blandishments beguiled; Whom I forsake in sorrows old, Whom I shall never more behold! Farewell, my friends, a long farewell, Till time shall toll the funeral knell.

17 _Hen_. Thy friends, thy father's house resign; My friends, my house, my all is thine: Awake, arise, my wedded wife, To higher thoughts, and happier life! For thee the marriage feast is spread, For thee the virgins deck the bed; The star of Venus shines above, And all thy future life is love.

18 They rise, the dear domestic hours! The May of love unfolds her flowers; Youth, beauty, pleasure spread the feast, And friendship sits a constant guest; In cheerful peace the morn ascends, In wine and love the evening ends; At distance grandeur sheds a ray, To gild the evening of our day.

19 Connubial love has dearer names, And finer ties, and sweeter claims, Than e'er unwedded hearts can feel, Than wedded hearts can e'er reveal; Pure as the charities above, Rise the sweet sympathies of love; And closer cords than those of life Unite the husband to the wife.

20 Like cherubs new come from the skies, Henries and Harriets round us rise; And playing wanton in the hall, With accent sweet their parents call; To your fair images I run, You clasp the husband in the son; Oh, how the mother's heart will bound! Oh, how the father's joy be crowned!

WRITTEN IN A VISIT TO THE COUNTRY IN AUTUMN.