"All freakishness of mind is checked; "All kinds, and creatures, stand and fall By strength of prowess or of wit: "T is God's appointment who must sway, And who is to submit. "Since, then, the rule of right is plain, And longest life is but a day; To have my ends, maintain my rights, I'll take the shortest way." And thus among these rocks he lived, Through summer heat and winter snow The Eagle, he was lord above, And Rob was lord below. So was it, would, at least, have been -- Or shall we say an age too soon? Then rents and factors, rights of chase, Sheriffs, and lairds and their domains, Would all have seemed but paltry things, Not worth a moment's pains. Rob Roy had never lingered here, And to his Sword he would have said, ""Tis fit that we should do our part, That we are not to be surpassed "Of old things all are over old, "I, too, will have my kings, that take And if the word had been fulfilled, As might have been, then, thought of joy! France would have had her present Boast, And we our own Rob Roy! O, say not so compare them not; I would not wrong thee, Champion brave} thee nowhere; least of all Would wrong Here standing by thy grave. For thou, although with some wild thoughts, Wild Chieftain of a savage Clan! Hadst this to boast of: thou didst love The liberty of man. And had it been thy lot to live With us who now behold the light, Thou wouldst have nobly stirred thyself, For thou wert still the poor man's stay, Bear witness many a pensive sigh And by Loch Lomond's braes. And, far and near, through vale and hill, The proud heart flashing through the eyes, DEGENERATE Douglas! O the unworthy Lord! XIII. YARROW UNVISITED. See the various Poems the scene of which is laid upon the banks of the Yarrow; in particular, the exquisite Ballad of Hamilton beginning, "Busk ye, busk ye, my bonny, bonny Bride, Busk ye, busk ye, my winsome Marrow!" FROM Stirling Castle we had seen "Let Yarrow folk, frae Selkirk town, But we will downward with the Tweed, "There's Galla Water, Leader Haughs, Both lying right before us; |