HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND, which was read by the Reverend Dr. CARLYLE on the 19th of April, 1784, at the Royal Society of Edinburgh. It was inscribed to Mr. JOHN HOME, and fell into the hands of Dr. CARLYLE, among the papers of a deceased friend, where it lay unregarded till a hint, given by Dr. JOHNSON, in his life of COLLINS, of the existence of such a Poem, revived the remembrance of it, and after diligent search it was found in the hand-writing of the Author. It seems to have been the first rough draught of the Poem; it was written in the year 1749, and probably the Author, who died in 1756, never enjoyed spirits sufficient to finish it. Several hemistichs and words left blank have been supplied by Dr. CARLYLE; and the fifth, and half of the sixth stanza, by Dr. MACKENZIE, with such art, that if it were not for the inverted commas, by which his lines are distinguished, the garment would appear without a seam. The cordial youth mentioned in the second stanza was a Mr. BARROW,

who had been taken prisoner with Mr. HOME, (both of them volunteers at the battle of Falkirk), and then resided at Winchester, where Mr, COLLINS and Mr. HOME then were.

The purport of this Ode is to recommend to the Poet of Scotland the popular superstitions of his country, as peculiarly proper for works of imagination. These are enumerated with equal taste and knowledge of the subject. The imagination of COLLINS was apt to kindle at whatever bore the impress of the strange, the wild, and especially the supernatural: no wonder, therefore, he was struck with the tales of the second sight, the elf-shot arrows, the island of pigmies, &c. in which the northern part of our island abounds. The information is chiefly taken from MARTIN's account of St. Kilda. It does not appear that COLLINS was ever in Scotland. The horror which those possessed of the second sight are said to feel often at the visions they see, is advantageously touched upon:

"How they whose sight such dreary dreams en

66 gross,

"With their own visions oft astonish'd droop ;. When o'er the wat'ry strath or quaggy moss

"They see the gliding ghosts unbodied troop.

They know what spirit brews the stormful day,

"And heartless oft, like moody madness stare,

"To see the phantom train their secret work "prepare."

The seventh and eighth stanzas which describe a peasant drowned by the wrath of the Kelpie, are particularly beautiful. The apparition of the paleand bloated corpse "with drooping willows drest," standing before his wife, reminds us of a similar pathetic passage in Ceyx and Alcyone*,

"Then he perhaps, with moist and watʼry hand, "Shall fondly seem to press her shudd'ring cheek,

* Luridus, exangui similis, sine vestibus ullis, Conjugis ante torum miseræ stetit: uda videtur Barba viri, madidisque gravis fluere unda capillis.

Metam. xi,

"And with his blue swoln face before her stand,

"And shudd'ring cold these piteous accents

"speak."*

The island of St. Kilda is marked by a negative circumstance highly descriptive,

"Nor ever vernal bee was heard to murmur there.” But notwithstanding these and other striking passages, this Ode is far from possessing the spirit and pathos of the Ode to Fear. Many of these prodigies, woven into a story, would contribute strongly to the effect, but here the Author speaks, and the Author has told us at the setting out that he does not believe them. It is, however, a Poem well worth recovering, and does credit to COLLINS, though it is not one of the few on which his reputation will more particularly rest.

The reader, after thus going through the productions of COLLINS, must have formed his opinion

* The blue swoln face is much superior to the luridus of the Latin Poet.

of the powers of the writer.

He will be acknow

ledged to possess imagination, sweetness, bold and figurative language. His numbers dwell upon the ear, and easily fix themselves in the memory. His vein of sentiment is by turns tender and lofty, always tinged with a degree of melancholy, but not possessing any claim to originality. His originality consists in his manner; in the highly figurative garb in which he clothes abstract ideas; in the felicity of his expressions; and his skill in embodying ideal creations. He had much of the mysticism of Poetry, and sometimes became obscure, by aiming at impressions stronger than he had clear and welldefined ideas to support. Had his life been prolonged, and with life had he enjoyed that ease and health which is necessary for the undisturbed exercise of the faculties, he would probably have risen far above most of his contemporaries. was, he did not enjoy much of the public favor;

As it