And here and there a venerable tree And only these, the simple scene was formed. III. In soft poetic vision, brightly dim, Brought to my heart a realm of deep delight, And every sound to a luxurious calm Smoothed down the ever-swelling waves of thought ;— And oft, while o'er the Bard's harmonious page, Nature's reflected picture, I have hung Enchanted, wandering thoughts have crossed my mind Or by the rippling brook, or on the hill, With which his opening spirit must have drank If only for one short and passing hour, He must have trod-scenes by his pencil sketched, Of him who sang the Seasons as they roll, IV. Now Ednam lay before me-there it lay— A leaf from Pleasure's volume was torn out- A tract of mental Eden was laid waste, Alone I stood, By that sweet hamlet lonely and serene, More tranquil for its evening; nor could love, Yet though the tones and smiles of Nature bade NOTES TO POEMS SUGGESTED BY CELEBRATED SCOTTISH LOCALITIES. 1. All about thee wears a gloom Of something sterner than the tomb.-P. 162. THE ruins of the Tower of Ercildoune, once the abode and property of the famous True Thomas, the poet and soothsayer, are still to be seen at a little distance from the village of the same name in Lauderdale, pleasantly situated on the eastern bank of the Leader, which, in pronunciation, has been corrupted into Earlstoun. About the ruins themselves there is nothing peculiar or remarkable, save their authenticated antiquity, and the renown shed upon them as the relics of "Learmonth's high and ancient hall." Part of the walls, and nearly the whole of the subterranean vaults, yet remain. A stone in the wall of the church of Earlstoun still bears the inscription "Auld Rhymer's race Lies in this place." He must have died previous to 1299; for in that year his son resigned the property of his deceased father to the Trinity House of Soltra, as a document testifying this circumstance is preserved in the Advocates' Library. On a beautiful morning in September, "long, long ago," when I was yet ignorant that any part of the ruins were in existence, they were pointed out to me, and, I need not add, awakened a thousand stirring associations connected with the legends, the superstitions, and the history of the medieval ages-when nature brought forth "Gorgons, and hydras, and chimeras dire," and social life seemed entirely devoted to "Ladye love, and war, renown, and knightly worth." 2. Thee, 'tis said, dire forms molest, That cannot die, or will not rest.-P. 163. The ruins of the magician's tower are still regarded with a superstitious dread by the neighbouring peasantry; and to hint a doubt to such of their being haunted by "forms that come not from earth or Heaven," would imply the hardihood and daring scepticism of the Sadducee. No doubt, this awe has greatly added to the desolation and solitude of the place; for the imputed prophecy of Thomas regarding the destruction of his house and home has been literally verified "The hare sall kittle on my hearth-stane, And there will never be a Laird Learmonth again." In reference to this topic, Sir Walter Scott, in his notes to the Border Minstrelsy, tells a good story. "The veneration," he says, "paid to his dwelling-place, even attached itself in some degree to a person who, within the memory of man, chose to set up his residence in the ruins of Learmonth's Tower. The name of this man was Murray, a kind of herbalist, who, by dint of some knowledge of simples, the possession of a musical clock, an electrical machine, and a stuffed alligator, added to a supposed communication with Thomas the Rhymer, lived for many years in very good credit as a wizard." 3. Of Tristrem brave, and fair Isolde.-P. 163. Although the matter has been made one of dispute, there seems little reason to doubt that Thomas the Rhymer was really and truly the author of Sir Tristrem-a romance which obtained almost universal popularity in its own day, and which was paraphrased, or rather imitated, by the minstrels of Normandy and Bretagne. The principal opponent of this conclusion is the able antiquary, Mr Price, who, in his edition of Warton's History of English Poetry, has appended some elaborate remarks to the first volume, with the purpose of proving |