 | A New Year's Eve, and Other Poems |  |
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THE NORTH COUNTRIE.
“But he, I ween, was of the North Countrie.”
Beattie's Minstrel.
Beattie's Minstrel.
The North Countrie! the North Countrie!
Who hath not heard its fame?
From shore to shore, from sea to sea,
It bears an honoured name.
Legend, and tale, and minstrelsy,
And painter's magic hand,
Have made it seem to heart and eye
A loved and lovely land.
Who hath not heard its fame?
From shore to shore, from sea to sea,
It bears an honoured name.
Legend, and tale, and minstrelsy,
And painter's magic hand,
Have made it seem to heart and eye
A loved and lovely land.
The North Countrie! the North Countrie!
There mighty mountains rise,
And many a sweetly sheltered lea
In gentler beauty vies;
There gleams the lake,—and in its pride
Is heard the torrent's flood,
Whose grey rocks frowning by its side
As guardians long have stood.
There mighty mountains rise,
And many a sweetly sheltered lea
In gentler beauty vies;
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Is heard the torrent's flood,
Whose grey rocks frowning by its side
As guardians long have stood.
The North Countrie! the North Countrie!
Full many a ruined tower
Is there, like trunk of scathed tree,
Stripped of its pride and power;
Yet lovely to the musing eye
Each battlemented hold,
Telling a tale of deeds gone by,
And feudal days of old.
Full many a ruined tower
Is there, like trunk of scathed tree,
Stripped of its pride and power;
Yet lovely to the musing eye
Each battlemented hold,
Telling a tale of deeds gone by,
And feudal days of old.
The North Countrie! the North Countrie!
There spectral visions dwell,
And Superstition holds the key
Of Fancy's wizard cell;
There Wraith and Brownie linger still,
For beldame or for bairn,
On barren moor, on lofty hill,
Beside the chieftain's cairn.
There spectral visions dwell,
And Superstition holds the key
Of Fancy's wizard cell;
There Wraith and Brownie linger still,
For beldame or for bairn,
On barren moor, on lofty hill,
Beside the chieftain's cairn.
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The North Countrie! the North Countrie!
There Knowledge sheds her light,
And soon before its beams must flee
The shades of Error's night.
Yet long the memory of the past,
O'er glen and cavern drear
A dim and shadowy spell shall cast,
To wayward Fancy dear.
There Knowledge sheds her light,
And soon before its beams must flee
The shades of Error's night.
Yet long the memory of the past,
O'er glen and cavern drear
A dim and shadowy spell shall cast,
To wayward Fancy dear.
Thou bonnie North! thou bonnie North!
If southron hearts can feel
Of all thy blended charms the worth,
And own their fond appeal,
How must thy children love each grace
That crowns their “ain countrie!”
And well may poet proudly trace
His kith and kin to thee.
If southron hearts can feel
Of all thy blended charms the worth,
And own their fond appeal,
How must thy children love each grace
That crowns their “ain countrie!”
And well may poet proudly trace
His kith and kin to thee.
| A New Year's Eve, and Other Poems | |