University of Virginia Library


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ON THE RUINS OF Wallace's Tree In the TORWOOD.

Hail! rev'rend Reliques of a princely Oak,
Devouring Time Thy Giant Strength hath broke;
In Royal Pomp, six hundred Years you've stood,
Pride of the Plains, and Sovereign of the Wood:
How I revere thy venerable Bones,
Fit to be set 'mongst Pearls and precious Stones.
May foreign Pilgrims in Devotion come
Hither, to bear thy sacred Ashes home:
Hear ev'ry Thing Tradition speaks of Thee,
And write the Wonders of the Torwood Tree.
Thou in the Center of Thy Army stood,
Till Years declar'd the Manhood of the Wood;
And when fell Engines had Thy Forces slain,
Alone, Thou did'st a Monarch's Pow'r maintain:
So did thy Chiftian Wallace stand alone,
In warlike Posture, when his Men were gone.

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Henceforth the Oak shall o'er the Forrest reign,
And ev'ry Tree pay Homage to this King;
Since it is Loyal, far beyond its Fellows,
Prov'd to a Rebel Absolon a Gallows;
But shelter'd Royal Charles, and Scotlands Guardian Wallace.
Oft hath the Hero lodg'd within Thy Bark,
Safe as the Patriarch Noah in his Ark;
Thence saillied forth upon his Foes with Force,
So sprung the Grecians from the Trojan Horse:
Who's wooden Womb invented to decoy,
Frightn'd Æneas, who defended Troy.
Hail old Patrician! famous thro' the Isle;
Uncut Thou falls for Scotia's Fun'ral Pile:
Green grew thy Boughs, till Scotia was betray'd,
With Her Thou flourish'd, and with Her decay'd.
I saw Thee on the fatal first of May,
Fair Scotia's Wedding, no, her Burial-Day,
Drop all Thy Leaves, Thy Sorrow to express,
Nodding Thy aged Head down to the matted Grass.
Ere then the feather'd Quires perch'd on Thy Boughs,
And sung their Mattins when the Morning rose;
With daw'ning Day the Musick was begun,
The Consort lasted till the setting Sun:
On Thee they built their Nest, there hatch'd their Young,
Paying the Tribute of a daily Song.
But, since they're gone, and Thou art Visit now,
By chat'ring Magpy's, and the dull Cukoo;

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Low at Thy Feet, beneath Thy benign Shade,
Where loving Ivy and the Primrose spread,
Deadly Solanum droops his baneful Head:
There hissing Serpents spew their Vomit out,
And Poison with their forked Tongues Thy root.
In frozen Winter, when rough Storms did blow,
Clothing Thy shaven Head with Webs of Snow,
Briareus Hands Thou streach'd above the Plain,
To shelter from bleek Winds, the Nymph and Swain.
In Summer, when the Day began to peep,
E'er Buxom Mopsa went to 'tend her Sheep,
To a South runing Stream she bends her Way,
Muttering Words the Flamines bid her say:
Then streight with Vigour to the Wood she ran,
And revell'd thrice about the Old-Good-Man.
Pronounc'd the Charm
Would keep from Harm,
And save her thro' the Day;
By Mary's Might
And Wallace Wight,
I Conjure Thee O Tree,
Preserve my Drove,
Cause Damon prove
True to his Love,
And wed with none save me.

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But now, no Sheperdess or Swain is seen,
To gamble round Thy Trunk, or Dance upon the Green;
No more the Dairy Maid with Milking-Pail
Sits at Thy Roots, to hear her Strephon's Tale;
No more the Shepherd in the scroching Noon,
Drives to Thy cooling Shade, there to ly down;
No more on Trumps, plays sweetly to his Clara,
Nor with his native Notes, sings Leader Haughs and Yarow.