54
CLYDE;
Nor he alone reposes in the dust,
But Aristides too, the good, the just, 400
Whose worth by all that knew him was confest,
And still they prized him most who knew him best.
Good men him loved, and men of sense revered;
The wretched blest him, and the villain feared.
For virtue's self he followed virtue's ways,
And valued not if crowds should blame or praise.
From that Hungarian chief his line descends,
Who led with Edgar his Sarmatian bands;
Who, when the conquering Norman's lawless might
Drove the young sovereign from his royal right, 410
A faithful friend, aspired his fate to share:
But when great Malcolm raised his virtuous heir
To Scotia's throne, and bade the warrior reign
The princely lord of many a vast domain,
For Somervilles were daily heifers slain,
Which grazed Carnwath's luxuriant level plain.
Where ancient Corehouse hangs above the stream,
And far beneath the tumbling surges gleam,
Engulphed in crags, the fretting river raves,
Chaffed into foam, resound his tortured waves; 420
With giddy heads we view the dreadful deep,
And cattle snort, and tremble at the steep,
But Aristides too, the good, the just, 400
Whose worth by all that knew him was confest,
And still they prized him most who knew him best.
Good men him loved, and men of sense revered;
The wretched blest him, and the villain feared.
For virtue's self he followed virtue's ways,
And valued not if crowds should blame or praise.
From that Hungarian chief his line descends,
Who led with Edgar his Sarmatian bands;
Who, when the conquering Norman's lawless might
Drove the young sovereign from his royal right, 410
A faithful friend, aspired his fate to share:
But when great Malcolm raised his virtuous heir
To Scotia's throne, and bade the warrior reign
The princely lord of many a vast domain,
For Somervilles were daily heifers slain,
Which grazed Carnwath's luxuriant level plain.
Where ancient Corehouse hangs above the stream,
And far beneath the tumbling surges gleam,
Engulphed in crags, the fretting river raves,
Chaffed into foam, resound his tortured waves; 420
With giddy heads we view the dreadful deep,
And cattle snort, and tremble at the steep,
