But most of all, his Mother dear, The Child; when she can trust her eyes, She led him home, and wept amain, Tears flowed in torrents from her eyes; Thus, after he had fondly braved And in the lonely Highland Dell And how he was preserved. It is recorded in Dampier's Voyages, that a Boy, the Son of a Captain of a Man of War, seated himself in a Turtle Shell, and floated in it from the shore to his Father's ship, which lay at anchor at the distance of half a mile. In deference to the opinion of a Friend, I have substituted such a Shell for the less elegant Vessel in which my Blind Voyager did actually entrust himself to the dangerous current of Loch Leven, as was related to me by an eyewitness. I. SUGGESTED BY A BEAUTIFUL RUIN UPON ONE OF THE ISLANDS OF LOCH LOMOND, A PLACE CHOSEN FOR THE RETREAT OF A SOLITARY INDIVIDUAL, FROM WHOM THIS HABITATION ACQUIRED THE NAME OF THE BROWNIE'S CELL. To barren heath, and quaking fen, Or into trackless forest set With trees, whose lofty umbrage met; World-wearied Men withdrew of yore, (Penance their trust, and Prayer their store ;) To such apartments as they found ; That God might suitably be praised. |