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Lines Suggested by the Third Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science

Held at Cambridge, in June, 1833. By the late William Sotheby ... With a Short Memoir of his Life

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Proem.

I who erewhile with Hope's delightful strain
To Italy's bright sun and syren bay,
O'er the blue splendour of the midland main,
Accompanied the Minstrel on his way,
And preluded his glories yet to come,
The golden close of Fame's unclouded day.—
Ah! dire reverse! now breathe the funeral lay,
And strew these fading flowers on Scott's untimely tomb.
Mourn Abbotsford!
Mourn Thou! far famed retreat!
Where, picturing on the Tweed th'embattled crest,
The great Magician raised his Gothic seat!
Thou roof! whose hospitable rest
Welcomed the stranger guest,—

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And Thou armorial Hall!
Where the Bard, communing with chiefs of yore,
Hung their proud weapons on his storied wall:
Ye haunts! where once in happier hour
Th' Enchanter led me to his secret bow'r,
Receive my farewell word!
Ne'er may the Sun behold an alien Lord
Scott's sacred hearth profane!
But, evermore, a Scott there hold th'ancestral reign!