100
CLYDE;
Who, like Buchanan in the historic page,
Fearless pourtrayed the crimes of every age.
Here Cambria's monarchs held their mighty reign,
Till Rome's proud eagles seized their fair domain. 450
When Fingal, first of men, his warriors led
From Morven's hills to Carron's sedgy bed,
With him was Oscar swift, Diarmed strong,
And Ossian, master of the tuneful song:
With dark disdain, the mountain heroes eyed
The troops of Cambria on the tyrant's side:
They bade the blast howl round the ruined walls,
And beasts obscene frequent the lonely halls:
From shattered spires the screaming owls were heard;
Howling through windows waste the wolf appeared; 460
Till Leven's stream, that scorns by slow degrees
To rise, but from its source a river sees,
Rushed on resistless, with ungoverned force,
And swept the ancient bulwarks in its course;
From their firm seats their deep foundations tore,
And sunk the ruins, to be seen no more.
How wide the lake in limpid beauty smiles,
Round the green yews that shade the Lomond isles;
While proud Benlomond rises huge and vast,
To bar eternally the northern blast. 470
Fearless pourtrayed the crimes of every age.
Here Cambria's monarchs held their mighty reign,
Till Rome's proud eagles seized their fair domain. 450
When Fingal, first of men, his warriors led
From Morven's hills to Carron's sedgy bed,
With him was Oscar swift, Diarmed strong,
And Ossian, master of the tuneful song:
With dark disdain, the mountain heroes eyed
The troops of Cambria on the tyrant's side:
They bade the blast howl round the ruined walls,
And beasts obscene frequent the lonely halls:
From shattered spires the screaming owls were heard;
Howling through windows waste the wolf appeared; 460
Till Leven's stream, that scorns by slow degrees
To rise, but from its source a river sees,
Rushed on resistless, with ungoverned force,
And swept the ancient bulwarks in its course;
From their firm seats their deep foundations tore,
And sunk the ruins, to be seen no more.
How wide the lake in limpid beauty smiles,
Round the green yews that shade the Lomond isles;
While proud Benlomond rises huge and vast,
To bar eternally the northern blast. 470
