66 JOHN LEYDEN." destination, and which do not? I have now despatched in addition to those of the line itself. You know, when egad I may boast that I have been refined by the very for Europe exactly fifty-seven letters. I had intended to I left Scotland, I had determined, at all events, to be- same menstruum too, even the universal solvent mercury, make a dead pause after the fiftieth, for at least a couple come a furious orientalist, nemini secundus, but I was which is almost the only cure for the liver, though I of years, and wrote Erskine to that effect; when he in- not aware of the difficulty. I found the expense of na- have been obliged to try another, and make an issue in formed me in return, that he had the utmost reason to tive teachers would prove almost insurmountable to a my right side. Now pray, my dear Ballantyne, if this think nobody had ever heard from me at all, not only mere assistant surgeon, whose pay is seldom equal to his ever comes to hand, instantly sit down, and write me a since I arrived in India, but for some time before leav-absolutely necessary expenses; and, besides, that it was letter a mile long, and tell me of all our common friends; ing London. Utterly amazed, astonished, and confound-necessary to form a library of MSS. at a most terrible and if you see any of them that have the least spark of ed at this, I have resolved to write out the hundred com- expense, in every language to which I should apply, if I friendly recollection, assure them how vexatious their plete; and if none of my centenary brings me an answer, intended to proceed beyond a mere smattering. After silence is, and how very unjust, if they have received my why then farewell, till we meet in either heaven or hell! much consideration, I determined on this plan at all letters; and, lest I should forget, I shall add, that you I write no more, except in crook backed characters, and events, and was fortunate enough, in a few months, to must direct to me, to the care of Messrs. Binnie and this I swear by all petty oaths that are not dangerous. secure an appointment, which furnished me with the Dennison, Madras, who are my agents, and generally Now, my friend, the situation in which I am placed means of doing so, though the tasks and exertions it know in what part of this hemisphere I am to be found. by this most pestiferous silence is extremely odd and imposed on me were a good deal more arduous than the But, particularly, you are to commend me kindly to your perplexing. I am actually afraid to enquire for any common duties of a surgeon even in a Mahratta cam-good motherly mother, and tell her I wish I saw her body, lest it should turn out that they have for a long paign. I was appointed medical assistant to the Mysore oftener, and then to your brother Alexander, and request time been dead, damned, and straughted. It is all in Survey, and at the same time directed to carry on en-him sometimes, on a Saturday night, precisely at eight vain that I search for every obituary, and peruse it with quiries concerning the natural history of the country, o'clock, for my sake to play Gingling Johnnie' on his the utmost care, anxiety, and terror. There are many and the manners and languages, &c. of the natives of flageolet. If I had you both in my tent, you should of you good Scotch folks that love to slip slily out of the Mysore. This, you would imagine, was the very situa- drink yourselves drunk with wine of Shiraz, which is world, like a knot less thread, without ever getting into tion I wished for; and so it would, had I previously had our eastern Falernian, in honour of Hafez, our Persian any obituary at all, and, besides it is always very nearly time to acquire the country languages. But I had them Anacreon. As for me, I often drink your health in a couple of years before any review, magazine, or obi-now to acquire after severe marches and countermarches water, (ohon a ree!) having long abandoned both wine tuary, reaches the remote, and almost inaccessible re-in the heat of the sun, night marches and day marches, and animal food, not from choice, but dire necessity. gions in which my lot has been long cast. To remedy and amid the disgusting details of a field hospital, the Adieu, dear Ballantyne, and believe me, in the Malay a few of these inconveniences, I propose taking a short duties of which were considerably arduous. However, isle, to be ever yours sincerely, trip to Bengal, as soon as I have seen how the climate wrought incessantly and steadily, and without being disof Puloo Penang agrees with my health, and, as in that couraged by any kind of difficulty, till my health abso- Leyden became soon reconciled to Puloo Penang (or region they are generally better informed with regard to lutely gave way, and when I could keep the field no Prince of Wales Island), where he found many valuable all European matters, and better provided with reviews, longer, I wrought on my couch, as I generally do still, friends, and enjoyed the regard of the late Philip Dunmagazines, and newspapers, I shall probably be able to though I am much better than I have been. As I had das, Esq. then governor of the island. He resided in discover that a good many of you have gone to king- the assistance of no intelligent European, I was obliged that island for some time, and visited Achi, with some dom come,' since I bade adieu to Auld Reekie.' But long to grope my way; but I have now acquired a pretty other places on the coasts of Sumatra and the Malayan methinks I see you, with your confounded black beard, correct idea of India in all its departments, which in- peninsula. Here he amassed the curious information bull neck, and upper lip turned up to your nose, while creases in geometrical progression as I advance in the concerning the language, literature, and descent of the one of your eyebrows is cocked up perpendicularly, and languages. The languages that have attracted my atten- Indi-Chinese tribes, which afterwards enabled him to the other forms pretty well the base of a right-angled tion since my arrival have been Arabic, Persic, Hindos- lay before the Asiatic Society at Calcutta a most valu triangle, opening your great glotting eyes, and crying, tani, Mahratta, Tamal, Telinga, Canara, Sanserit, Ma-able dissertation on so obscure a subject. Yet that his But, Leyden!!!! tell me what the devil you have layalam, Malay, and Armenian. You will be ready to heart was sad, and his spirits depressed, is evident from been doing all this time!!-eh!!' Why, Ballantyne, ask, where the devil I picked up these hard names, but the following lines, written for New Year's Day, 1806, d'ye see, mark and observe and take heed-as you are a assure you it is infinitely more difficult to pick up the and which appeared in the Government Gazette of Prince good fellow, and don't spout secrets in public places, I languages themselves; several of which include dialects of Wales Island: trust I can give you satisfaction safely.' as different from each other as French or Italian from "When I arrived in Madras, I first of all reconnoitred Spanish or Portuguese; and in all these, I flatter myself my ground, when I perceived that the public men fell I have made considerable progress. What would you naturally into two divisions. The mercantile party, say were I to add the Maldivian and Mapella languages consisting chiefly of men of old standing, versed in to these? Besides, I have deciphered the inscriptions of trade, and inspired with a spirit in no respect superior Mavalipoorani, which were written in an ancient Canara to that of the most pitiful petifogging pedler, nor in character, which had hitherto defied all attempts at untheir views a whit more enlarged; in short, men whose derstanding it, and also several Lada Lippi inscriptions, sole occupatlon is to make money, and who have no which is an ancient Tamal dialect and character, in adname for such phrases as national honour, public spirit,dition to the Jewish tablets of Cochin, which were in or patriotism; men, in short, who would sell their own the ancient Malayalam, generally termed Malabar. 1 honour, or their country's credit, to the highest bidder, enter into these details merely to show you that I have without a shadow of scruple. What is more unfor- not been idle, and that my time has neither been dissi. tunate, this is the party that stands highest in credit pated, nor devoid of plan, though that plan is not suffiwith the East India Company. There is another party, ciently unfolded. To what I have told you of, you are for whom I am more at a loss to find an epithet. They to add constant and necessary exposure to the sun, cannot with propriety be termed the anti-mercantile damps and dews from the jungles, and putrid exhalation party, as they have the interests of our national com- of marshes, before I had been properly accustomed to merce more at heart than the others; but they have dis- the climate, constant rambling in the haunts of tigers, covered that we are not merely merchants in India, but leopards, bears, and serpents of thirty or forty feet long, legislators and governors; and they assert, that our that make nothing of swallowing a buffalo, by way of conduct there ought to be calculated for stability and se- demonstrating their appetite in a morning, together curity, and equally marked by a wise internal adminis-with smaller and more dangerous snakes, whose haunts tration of justice, financial and political economy, and are perilous, and bite deadly; and you have a faint idea by a vigilant, firm, and steady system of external poli- of a situation, in which, with health, I lived as happy as tics. This class is represented by the first, as only ac- the day was long. It was occasionally diversified with tuated by the spirit of innovation, and tending to em-rapid jaunts of a hundred miles or so, as fast as horses broil us everywhere in India. Its members consist of or bearers could carry me, by night or day, swimming men of the first abilities, as well as principles, that have through rivers, afloat in an old brass kettle at midnight! been draughted from the common professional routine, O! I could tell you adventures to outrival the witch of for difficult or dangerous service. I fancy this division Endor, or any witch that ever swam in egg shell or applies as much to Bombay and Bengal as to Madras. sieve; but you would undoubtedly imagine I wanted to As to the members of my own profession, I found them impose on you were I to relate what I have seen and in a state of complete depression; so much so, that the passed through. No! I certainly shall never repent of commander in chief had assumed all the powers of the having come to India. It has awakened energies in me Medical Board, over whom a court martial was at that that I scarcely imagined I possessed, though I could very time impending. The medical line had been, from gnaw my living nails with pure vexation to think how time immemorial, shut out from every appointment, ex-much I have been thwarted by indisposition. If, howcept professional, and the emoluments of these had been ever, I get over it, I shall think the better of my constiIn 1806 he took leave of Penang, regretted by many greatly diminished just before my arrival. In this situa-tution as long as I live. It is not every constitution that friends, whom his eccentricities amused, his talents ention I found it very difficult at first what to resolve on. can resist the combined attack of liver, spleen, bloody lightened, and his virtues conciliated. His reception at I saw clearly that there were only two routes in a per- flux, and jungle fever, which is very much akin to the Calcutta, and the effect which he produced upon society son's choice; first, to sink into a mere professional plague of Egypt, and yellow fever of America. It is there, are so admirably illustrated by his ingenious and drudge, and, by strict economy, endeavour to collect a truc, I have been five times given up by the most skilful well-known countryman, General Sir John Malcolin, that few thousand pounds in the course of twenty years; or, physicians in these parts; but in spite of that, I am it would be impossible to present a more living picture secondly, to aspire a little beyond it, and by a superior firmly convinced that my doom is not to die this day,' of his manners and mind; and the reader will pardon knowledge of India, its laws, relations, politics, and lan- and that you shall see me emerge from this tribulation some repetition, for the sake of observing how the same guages, to claim a situation somewhat more respectable, like gold purified by the fire; and when that happens, individual was regarded in two distant hemispheres. Malay's woods and mountains ring The dirge of the departed year. Beside the shell-depainted shore, On days that shall return no more. If sprightly strains alone are dear; The footsteps of the parting year. Oft have I hail'd the jocund day, If pleasure brought a thought of pain, Like one that has been long time dead. For whom the pallid grave-flowers blow; And sternly mock at joy or woc! 3 ountains ring e and sad to hear, pirits sing -parted year. tones sublime, r heads they bend, as we steal your time, your days shall end.” , and wake the song, = mirth and glee; bass'd along, more shall see. nightly dews, painted shore, sit to muse, return no more. - bard, alone are dear; he has heard parting year. beloved in vain, jocund day, thought of pain, passing lay. or ever dear, a this bosom fled? here, een long time dead. early tomb, grave-flowers blow; d doom, joy or woe! Penang, regretted by muy ties amused, his talents & nciliated. His reception hhe produced upon society by his ingenious and that of human science, and he was alike ardent in the pursuit riod to prevail upon him to relax in shown in his acquisition of modern and ancient lan- study, it was in vain. He used, whe Dr. Leyden had, from his earliest years, cultivated Blood of the brave, thou art not lost, And thou shalt be the vernal dew "His memory was most tenacious, To foster valour's daring seed; And w lence to the human character. The manners of Dr. "His love of the place of his nativit strange melody, and still stranger g aloud, Wha dar meddle wi' me, wha Several of those who witnessed this s as one that was raving in the delirium "These anecdotes will display mo description I can give, the lesser shad "It is not easy to convey an idea of the method which Dr. Leyden used in his studies, or to describe the unconquerable ardour with which these were pursued. *This lively tune has been called During his early residence in India, I had a particular the Elliots, a clan now and formerly opportunity of observing both. When he read a lesson the district of Liddesdale. The burth princes in the neighbourhood of the Dutch settlements. His spirit of romantic adventure led him literally to rush upon death; for, with another volunteer who attended: the expedition, he threw himself into the surf, in order to be the first Briton of the expedition who should set foot upon Java. When the success of the well-concerted movements of the invaders had given them possession of the town of Batavia, Leyden displayed the same illomened precipitation, in his haste to examine a library, or rather a warehouse of books, in which many Indian manuscripts of value were said to be deposited. A library, in a Dutch settlement, was not, as might have been expected, in the best order; the apartment had not been regularly ventilated, and, either from this circumstance, or already affected by the fatal sickness peculiar to Batavia, Leyden, when he left the place, had a fit of shivering, and declared the atmosphere was enough to give any mortal a fever. The presage was too jus; he took his bed, and died in three days, on the eve of the battle which gave Java to the British empire. While large and pale the ghostly structures grow, Is that dull sound the hum of Teviot's stream? him; and, being rejected with scorn, she excited, by enchantment, a mist, which long concealed the island from all navigators. I must mention another monkish tradition, because, being derived from the common source of Celtic mythology, they appear the most natural illustrations of the Hebridean tale. About fifty years before Waldron went to reside in Man, (for there were living witnesses of the legend when he was upon the island,) a project was undertaken, to fish treasures up from the deep, by means of a diving bell. A venturous fellow, accordingly, descend. ed, and kept pulling for more rope, till all they had on board was expended. This must have been no small quantity, for a skilful mathematician, who was on board, judging from the proportion of line let down, declared, that the adventurer must have descended at least double the number of leagues, which the moon is computed to be distant from the earth. At such a depth, wonders might be expected, and wonderful was the account given by the adventurer, when drawn up to the air. Such is the language of nature, moved by the kindly After," said he, "I had passed the region of fishes, I associations of country and of kindred affections. But descended into a pure element, clear as the air in the se. the best epitaph is the story of a life engaged in the prac-renest and most unclouded day, through which, as I tice of virtue and the pursuit of honourable knowledge; passed, I saw the bottom of the watery world, paved with the best monument, the regret of the worthy and of the coral, and a shining kind of pebbles, which glittered like the sun-beams, reflected on a glass. I longed to tread the delightful paths, and never felt more exquisite And bear our mouldering bones across the main, Thus died John Leyden, in a moment, perhaps, most calculated to gratify the feelings which were dear to his heart; upon the very day of military glory, and when every avenue of new and interesting discovery was opened to his penetrating research. In the emphatic words of scripture, the bowl was broken at the fountain. His wise. literary property was intrusted by his last will to the charge of Mr. Heber, and his early and constant friend From the Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border-Edited by Sir Walter delight, than when the machine, I was inclosed in, grazed Scott. THE MERMAID. BY J. LEYDEN. upon it. "On looking through the little windows of my prison, I saw large streets and squares on every side, ornament the same. Mr. William Erskine of Calcutta, his exccutors, under whose inspection his poetical remains were given to the public in 1821, with a Memoir of his Life by the Rev. Robert Morton, a friend and relation of the deceased poet. The following poem is founded upon a Gaelic tradi-ed with huge pyramids of crystal, not inferior in brightAcquiescing in the sentiment by which it is introduced, tional ballad, called Macphail of Colonsay, and the Mermaidness to the finest diamonds; and the most beautiful buildit is not easy to resist transcribing from that piece of of Corrivrekin. The dangerous gulf of Corrivrekin liesing, not of stone, nor brick, bat of mother-of-pearl, and biography the following affecting passage: between the islands of Jura and Scarba, and the superembossed in various figures, with shells of all colours. The "The writer cannot here resist his desire to relate an stition of the islanders has tenanted its shelves and eddies passage, which led to one of these magnificent apartments, anecdote of Leyden's father, who, though in a humble with all the fabulous monsters and demons of the ocean. being open, I endeavoured, with my whole strength, to walk of life, is ennobled by the possession of an intelli- Among these, according to a universal tradition, the mermove my enclosure towards it; which I did, though with gent mind, and has all that just pride which characterises maid is the most remarkable. In her dwelling, and in great difficulty, and very slowly. At last, however, I got the industrious and virtuous class of Scottish peasantry to her appearance, the mermaid of the northern nations re-stood a large amber table, with several chairs round, of entrance into a very spacious room, in the midst of which which he belongs. Two years ago, when Sir John Mal- sembles the syren of the ancients. The appendages of a colin visited the seat of Lord Minto, in Roxburghshire, comb and mirror are probably of Celtic invention. The floor of it was composed of rough diahe requested that John Leyden, who was employed in the The Gaelic story declares, that Macphail of Colonsaymonds, topazes, emeralds, rubies, and pearls. Here I vicinity, might be sent for, as he wished to speak with was carried off by a mermaid, while passing the gulf, doubted not but to make my voyage as profitable as it him. He came after the labour of the day was finished, above mentioned: that they resided together, in a grotto few of these, they would have been of more value than was pleasant; for, could I have brought with me but a and, though his feelings were much agitated, he appeared beneath the sea, for several years, during which time she all we could hope for in a thousand wrecks; but they rejoiced to see one who he knew had cherished so sincere bore him five children: but, finally, he tired of her soa regard for his son. In the course of the conversation ciety, and, having prevailed upon her to carry him near were so closely wedged in, and so strongly cemented by which took place on this occasion, Sir J. Malcolm, after the shore of Colonsay, he escaped to land. time, that they were not to be unfastened. I saw several mentioning his regret at the unavoidable delays which The inhabitants of the Isle of Man have a number of chains, carcanets, and rings, of all manner of precious had occurred in realising the little property that had been such stories, which may be found in Waldron. One stones, finely cut, and set after our manner; which I left, said he was authorised by Mr. Heber (to whom all states, that a very beautiful mermaid fell in love with a suppose had been the prize of the winds and waves: these Leyden's English manuscripts had been bequeathed) to young shepherd, who kept his flocks beside a creek, much were hanging loosely on the jasper walls, by strings made of rushes, which I might easily have taken down; but, say, that such as were likely to produce a profit should frequented by these marine people. She frequently cabe published as soon as possible, for the benefit of the ressed him, and brought him presents of coral, fine pearls, I was unfortunately drawn back, through your want of as I had edged myself within half a foot reach of them, family. Sir,' said the old man with animation, and with and every valuable production of the ocean. tears in his eyes, 'God blessed me with a son, who, had a time, as she threw her arms eagerly round him, he sus-beautiful mermaids, the inhabitants of this blissful real, Once upon line. In my return, I saw several comely mermen, and he been spared, would have been an honour to his country! peeted her of a design to draw him into the sca, and, As it is, I beg of Mr. Heber, in any publication he may struggling hard, disengaged himself from her embrace, swiftly descending towards it; but they seemed frighted intend, to think more of his memory than my wants. and ran away. But the mermaid resented either the sus at my appearance, and glided at a distance from me, ta The money you speak of would be a great comfort to me picion, or the disappointment, so highly, that she threw a king me, no doubt, for some monstrous and new-created in my old age; but thanks to the Almighty, I have good stone after him, and flung herself into the sea, whence species."-Waldron, ibidem. health, and can still earn my livelihood; and I pray there- she never returned. The youth, though but slightly It would be very easy to enlarge this introduction, by fore of you and Mr. Heber to publish nothing that is not struck with the pebble, felt, from that moment, the most quoting a variety of authors, concerning the supposed exfor my son's good fame.'" excruciating agony, and died at the end of seven days.—the Telliamed of M. Maillet, who, in support of the Nepistence of these marine people. The reader may consult Since that period the Commentaries of Baber, transWaldron's Works, p. 176. Another tradition of the same island affirms, that one tunist's system of geology, has collected a variety of le lated from the Turki language, chiefly by Dr. Leyden, and completed by his friend and executor, William Ers-of these amphibious damsels was caught in a net, and gends, respecting mermen and mermaids, p. 230, et sequen. kine, were published, in 1826, for the advantage of Mr. brought to land, by some fishers, who had spread a snare dan's Natural History of Norway, who fails not to peoMuch information may also be derived from PontoppiLeyden, senior. It is a work of great interest to those for the denizens of the occan. She was shaped like the who love the study of Indian antiquities, being the auto- most beautiful female down to the waist, but below trailed ple her scas with this amphibious race.* a voluminous fish's tail, with spreading fins. As she thority is to be found in the Kongs skugg-sio, or Royal biography of one of the Mogul Emperors of Hindustan, would neither eat nor speak, (though they knew she had Mirror, written, as its believed, about 1170. The merwho, like Caesar, recorded his own conquests, but, more communicative than the Roman, descended to record his the power of language,) they became apprehensive that men, there mentioned, are termed hafstrambur (seaamusements, as well as to relate deeds of policy and arms. the island would be visited with some strange calamity, giants,) and are said to have the upper parts resembling of Koran and Prophet, both deep and frequent; and the third night, they left the door open, that she might escape with a dolphin's tail. The female monster is called mar He recapitulates his drinking bouts, which were, in spite if she should die for want of food; and therefore, on the the human race; but the author, with becoming diffidence, declines to state positively, whether they are equipped whole tenor of the history gives us the singular picture Accordingly, she did not fail to embrace the opportunity; of a genuine sultan of the ancient Tartar descent, in his but gliding with incredible swiftness to the sea-side, shega (sca-giantess), and is averred, certainly, to drag a fish's train. She appears, generally, in the act of devourstrength and his weakness, his virtues, his follies, and his plunged herself into the waters, and was welcomed by a number of her own species, who were heard to enquire,ing fish, which she has caught. According to the appathing," she answered, "wonderful, except that they were what she had seen among the natives of the earth. "No rent voracity of her appetite, the sailors pretended to silly enough to throw away the water, in which they had boiled their eggs." crimes. The remains of John Leyden, honoured with every respect by Lord Minto, now repose in a distant land, far from the green-sod graves of his ancestors at Hazeldean, to which, with a natural anticipation of such an event, he bids an affecting farewell in the solemn passage which concludes the Scenes of Infancy: The silver moon, at midnight cold and still, Collins, in his notes upon the line, "Mona, long hid from those who sail the main," explains it, by a similar Celtic tradition. It seems, a mermaid had become so much charmed with a young man, who walked upon the beach, that she made love to An older au in the school editions of Guthrie's Geographical Gram- guess what chance they had of saving their lives in the tempests, which always followed her appearance.-Speculum Regale, 1768, p. 166. Mermaids were sometimes supposed to be possessed of supernatural powers. Resenius, in his life of Frederick II. gives us an account of a syren, who not only prophesied future events, but, as might have been expected from the element in which she dwelt, preached vehemently against the sin of drunkenness. The mermaid of Corrivrekin possessed the power of occasionally resigning her scaly train, and the Celtic tradition bears, that, when, from choice or necessity, she was invested with that appendage, her manners were more stern and savage than when her form was entirely human. Of course, she warned her lover not to come into her presence, when she was thus transformed. This belief is alluded to in the following ballad. THE MERMAID. On Jura's heath how sweetly swell The murmurs of the mountain bee, The mermaid's sweet sea-soothing lay, That charmed the dancing waves to sleep, Before the bark of Colonsay. Aloft the purple pennons wave, As parting gay from Crinan's shore, From Morven's wars, the seamen brave Their gallant chieftain homeward bore. In youth's gay bloom, the brave Macphail Still blamed the lingering bark's delay; For her he chid the flagging sail, The lovely maid of Colonsay. “And raise," he cried, "the song of love, The maiden sung with tearful smile, When first, o'er Jura's hills to rove, We left afar the lonely isle! When on this ring of ruby red Shall die,' she said, 'the crimson hue, Know that thy favourite fair is dead, Or proves to thee and love untrue."" Disperses wide the foamy spray, Before my love, sweet western gale! Where Corrivrekin's surges roar! "If, from that unbottomed deep, With wrinkled form and writhed train, O'er the verge of Scarba's steep, The sea-snake heave his snowy mane,* They, who, in works of navigation, on the coast of Norway, employ themselves in fishing or merchandise, do all agree in this strange story, that there is a serpent there, which is of a vast magnitude, namely two hundred feet long, and moreover twenty feet thick; and is wont to live in rocks and caves, towards the sea-coast about Berge; which will go alone from his holes, in a clear night in summer, and devours calves, lambs, and hogs; or else he goes into the sea to feed on polypus, locusts, and all sorts of sea-crabs. He hath commonly hair hanging from his neck, a cubit long, and sharp scales, and is black, and he hath flaming shining eyes. This snake disquiets the skippers, and he puts up his head on high, like a pillar, and catcheth away men, and he devours them; and i this hapneth not but it signifies some wonderful change of the kingdom near at hand; namely that the princes shall die, or be banished; or some tumultuous wars shall presentlie follow."-Olaus Magnus, London, 1558, rendered into English by J. S. Much more of the sea-snake may be learned from the credible witnesses cited by Pontoppidan, who saw it raise itself from the sea, twice as high as the mast of their vessel. The tradition probably originates in the immense snake of the Edda, whose folds were supposed to girdle the carth. 66 Unwarp, unwind his oozy coils, And in the gulf, where occan boils, The unwieldly wallowing monster chain. "Softly blow, thou western breeze, Softly rustle through the sail, Inpatient for the rising day, Their course, a female form was seen. The sea-maid's form, of pearly light, Was whiter than the downy spray, And round her bosom, heaving bright, Her glossy, yellow ringlets play. Borne on a foamy-crested wave, She reached amain the bounding prow, Then, clasping fast the chieftain brave, She, plunging, sought the deep below. Ah! long beside thy feigned bier, The monks the prayers of death shall say, And long for thee, the fruitless tear Shall weep the maid of Colonsay! But downwards, like a powerless corse, The eddying waves the chieftain bear;— He only heard the moaning hoarse Of waters, murmuring in his ear. The murmurs sink by slow degrees; No more the surges round him rave; Lulled by the music of the seas, He lies within a coral cave. In dreamy mood reclines he long, Soft as that harp's unseen control, In morning dreams that lovers hear, As sunbeams, through the tepid air, So melting soft the music fell; It seemed to soothe the fluttering spray "Say, heardst thou not these wild notes swell?" "Ah! 'tis the song of Colonsay." Like one that from a fearful dream Yet fears to find the vision true, IIe heard that strain, so wildly sweet, Shall bend thy soul to beauty's sway; Compare to her of Colonsay?" From the paved floor he lightly sprung, It shone like ocean's snowy foam; And careless bound her tresses wild; Like music from the greenwood tree, With rubies and with emeralds set, Shall sing, when we for love are met. "How sweet to dance, with gliding feet, Along the level tide so green, Responsive to the cadence sweet, That breathes along the moonlight scene! "And soft the music of the main Rings from the motley tortoise-shell, While moonbeams, o'er the watery plain, Scem trembling in its fitful swell. "How sweet, when billows heave their head, And shake their snowy crests on high, Serene in Ocean's sapphire bed, Beneath the tumbling surge, to lic; Calm in the bosom of the deep. "Through the green meads beneath the sea, Enamoured, we shall fondly strayThen, gentle warrior, dwell with me, And leave the maid of Colonsay!" —“Though bright thy locks of glistering gold, Fair maiden of the foamy main! Thy life-blood is the water cold, While mine beats high in every vein. "If I, beneath thy sparry cave, Should in thy snowy arms recline, Inconstant as the restless wave, My heart would grow as cold as thine." As cygnet down, proud swelled her breast; To joy, to love's delirious thrill?" Though all the splendour of the sea Around thy faultless beauty shine, That heart, that riots wild and free, Can hold no sympathy with mine. "These sparkling eyes, so wild and gay, They swim not in the light of love: The beauteous maid of Colonsay, Her eyes are milder than the dove! "Even now, within the lonely isle, Her eyes are dim with tears for me; And canst thou think that syren smile Can lure my soul to dwell with thee?" An oozy film her limbs o'erspread; Unfolds in length her scaly train; She tossed, in proud disdain, her head, And lashed, with webbed fin, the main. "Dwell here, alone!" the mermaid cried, "And view far off the sea-nymphs play; Thy prison-wall, the azure tide, Shall bar thy steps from Colonsay. She fled; around the crystal cave The rolling waves resume their road, On the broad portal idly rave, But enter not the nymph's abode. And many a weary night went by, As in the lonely cave he lay, And many a sun rolled through the sky, And oft, beneath the silver moon, He heard afar the mermaid sing, And oft, to many a melting tune, The shell-formed lyres of ocean ring; And, when the moon went down the sky, Still rose, in dreams, his native plain, And oft he thought his love was by, And charmed him with some tender strain; And, heart-sick, oft he waked to weep, When ceased that voice of silver sound, And thought to plunge him in the deep, That walled his crystal cavern round. But still the ring, of ruby red, Retained its vivid crimson hue, And each despairing accent fled, To find his gentle love so true. When seven long lonely months were gone, "O give to me that ruby ring, That on thy finger glances gay, Shall on thy finger glitter gay, "Except thou quit thy former love, I plight my faith to dwell with thee." While slow unfolds her scaly train, With gluey fangs her hands were clad, She lashed with webbed fin the main. He grasps the mermaid's scaly sides, As, with broad fin, she oars her way; That sweetly sleeps on Colonsay, She raised her voice, and sweetly sung. Slow gliding o'er the moonlight bay, O sad the mermaid's gay notes fell, So sadly mourns the writhed shell Of Jura's shore, its parent sea, And ever as the year returns, The charm-bound sailors know the day; For sadly still the mermaid mourns The lovely chief of Colonsay, As good poetry is a rarity of late, a few more speci- The hunter of red deer now ceases to number mens of the talent of Dr. Leyden are inserted; the Ode The lonely gray stones on the fields of our slumber. to an Indian Gold Coin is probably better known than Fly, stranger, and let not thine eye be reverted! Ah! why should'st thou see that our fame is departed?" most of his productions, but is not on that account less worthy of preservation. ODE TO AN INDIAN GOLD COIN. Written in Chéricál, Malabar. Slave of the dark and dirty mine! What vanity has brought thee here? So bright, whom I have bought so dear?— The jackal's shriek bursts on mine ear, Where cane-tufts shadow all the wild, Where loves of youth and friendships smil'd, Fade, day-dreams sweet, from memory fade!- Revives no more in after-time. I haste to an untimely grave; The daring thoughts that soar'd sublime Gleams baleful as the tomb-fire drear.- My lonely widow'd heart to cheer; Her fond heart throbs with many a fear!— I cannot bear to see thee shine. For thee, for thee, vile yellow slave, I left a heart that lov'd me true! I cross'd the tedious ocean-wave, To roam in climes unkind and new. Dark and untimely met my view— A wanderer's banish'd heart forlorn, Of sun-rays tipt with death has borne? Vile slave, thy yellow dross I scorn! Written in Glenorchy, near the scene of the massacre of the Macgregors. In the vale of Glenorchy the night-breeze was sighing ON SEEING AN EAGLE PERCHED ON THE TOMBSTONE OF ARIS- The shades that have long been in silence reposing! TOMENES. Through their form dimly twinkles the moon-beam descending, As their red eye of wrath on a stranger are bending. Our fame fades away like the foam of the river, A LOVE TALE. A FRAGMENT. The glance of my love is mild and fair And round her forehead twine; I would not give the tresses that deck Her gentle face is of lily hue; But whene'er her eyes meet mine, When the morning sun-beams shine. "Why heaves your breast with the smother'd sigh? My dear love, tell me true! Why does your colour come and fly, And wander o'er ocean-sea; I'll love thee though thou love not me." She rais'd her eye with a feeble smile, That through the tear-drops shone! "Ah me! I lov'd my brother well Till he went o'er the sea ;And none till now could ever tell If joy or woe to the youth befel; But he will not return to me.' TO CAMOENS. * FROM THE PORTUGUESE OF DE MATOS. So' com o grande e immortal Camoes, &c. Camoens, o'er thy bright immortal lays, Of mournful elegy or lyric song, How fleetly glide the rapid hours along! I give to thee my nights, to thee my days. The harms of fortune and the woes of love, The changes of thy destiny severe, I mark with sadly sympathetic tear, And can but sigh for what was thine to prove. For thee, mine eyes with bursting tears o'erflow, Majestic poet! whose undaunted soul Brav'd the ill-omen'd stars of either pole, And found in other climes but change of woe. What bard of fickle fortune dare complain, Who knows thy fate, and high immortal strain? TO THE COURIER DOVE. Fair traveller of the pathless air, EPITAPH. FROM THE LATIN. Once in the keen pursuit of fame I, school-boy-like, pursued a bubble: But Death, before I gain'd a name, Stept in and say'd a world of trouble. |