And let him, let him go his way, Alone, and innocent, and gay! For, if good Angels love to wait This Child will take no harm. But now the passionate lament, Which from the crowd on shore was sent, The cries which broke from old and young In Gaelic, or the English tongue, Are stifled, all is still. And quickly, with a silent crew, And from the shore their course they take, But soon they move with softer pace; Or as the wily sailors crept To seize (while on the Deep it slept) They steal upon their prey. With sound the least that can be made, "Lei-gha,-Lei-gha," he then cried out, "Lei-gha,-Lei-gha,"-with eager shout; Thus did he cry, and thus did pray, And what he meant was, "Keep away, And leave me to myself!" Alas! and when he felt their hands Or melt it into air: So all his dreams, — that inward light With which his soul had shone so bright, All vanished; -'t was a heartfelt cross As he had ever known. But hark! a gratulating voice, "T is from the crowd, who tremblingly Have watched the event, and now can see That he is safe at last. And then, when he was brought to land, And in the general joy of heart But most of all, his Mother dear, She led him home, and wept amain, When he was in the house again : Tears flowed in torrents from her eyes; She kissed him, - how could she chastise? She was too happy far. Thus, after he had fondly braved The perilous Deep, the Boy was saved; To live in peace on shore. And in the lonely Highland dell Note. It is recorded in Dampier's Voyages, that a boy, son of the 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 intrust himself to the dangerous current of Loch Leven, as was related to me by an eyewitness. MEMORIALS OF A TOUR IN SCOTLAND. 1814. 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. I. To barren heath, bleak moor, and quaking fen, Or depth of labyrinthine glen; Or into trackless forest set With trees, whose lofty umbrage met; To such apartments as they found, II. High lodged the Warrior, like a bird of prey, Or where broad waters round him lay: |