Does then the Bard sleep here indeed? Or is it but a groundless creed? What matters it ?-I blame them not Was moved; and in such way expressed A convent, even a Hermit's cell, Would break the silence of this Dell: But something deeper far than these: Is of the grave; and of austere WRITTEN ON A BLANK LEAF OF MACPHERSON'S OSSIAN. OFT have I caught, upon a fitful breeze, With ear not coveting the whole, A part so charmed the pensive soul. What need, then, of these finished Strains? An abbey in its lone recess, A temple of the wilderness, Wrecks though they be, announce with feeling The majesty of honest dealing. Spirit of Ossian ! if imbound In language thou may'st yet be found, If aught (intrusted to the pen Or floating on the tongues of men, Subsist thy dignity to guard, In concert with memorial claim Of old gray stone, and high-born name, Where moans the blast, or beats the wave, Interpret that original, And for presumptuous wrongs atone; Time is not blind;-yet He, who spares Hath preyed with ruthless appetite On all that marked the primal flight Of the poetic ecstasy Into the land of mystery. No tongue is able to rehearse One measure, Orpheus! of thy verse; When thousands, by severer doom, Full early to the silent tomb Have sunk, at Nature's call; or strayed From hope and promise, self-betrayed; The garland withering on their brows; Stung with remorse for broken vows; Frantic-else how might they rejoice! And friendless, by their own sad choice. Hail, Bards of mightier grasp! on you Dropped from the lenient cloud of years. Brothers in Soul! though distant times Such to the tender-hearted Maid By Fortune crushed, or tamed by grief; Appears, on Morven's lonely shore, THE WISHING-GATE. In the vale of Grasmere, by the side of the highway leading to Ambleside, is a gate, which, time out of mind, has been called the Wishing-gate, from a belief that wishes formed or indulged there have a favourable issue. HOPE rules a land for ever green : All powers that serve the bright-eyed Queen Clouds at her bidding disappear; Points she to aught ?-the bliss draws near, And Fancy smooths the way. Not such the land of wishes-there Dwell fruitless day-dreams, lawless prayer, And thoughts with things at strife; When magic lore abjured its might, Ye did not forfeit one dear right, Witness this symbol of your sway, Inquire not if the faery race If here a warrior left a spell, Enough that all around is fair, And in her fondest love; Peace to embosom and content, To overawe the turbulent, The selfish to reprove. Yea! even the Stranger from afar, The infection of the ground partakes, Then why should conscious Spirits fear The mystic stirrings that are here, The ancient faith disclaim? The local Genius ne'er befriends |