THE RIVERS OF SCOTLAND.

AN ODE.

Set to Music by Mr. Collet.

O'ER Scotia's parched land the Naïads flew,
From towering hills explored her shelter'd vales,
Caused Forth in wild meanders please the view,
And lift her waters to the zephyr's gales.

Where the glad swain surveys his fertile fields,
And reaps the plenty which his harvest yields.

Here did these lovely nymphs unseen,
Oft wander by the river's side,
And oft unbind their tresses green,

To bathe them in the fluid tide.

Then to the shady grottoes would retire,
And sweetly echo to the warbling choir;

Or to the rushing waters tune their shells,
To call up Echo from the woods,

Or from the rocks or crystal floods,
Or from surrounding banks, or hills, or dells.

CHORUS.

Or to the rushing waters, etc.

When the cool fountains first their springs forsook, Murmuring smoothly to the azure main,

Exulting Neptune then his trident shook,

And waved his waters gently to the plain.

The friendly Tritons, on his chariot borne,

With cheeks dilated blew the hollow-sounding horn.

Now Lothian and Fifan shores,
Resounding to the mermaid's song,
Gladly emit their limpid stores,

And bid them smoothly sail along

To Neptune's empire, and with him to roll
Round the revolving sphere from pole to pole;

To guard Britannia from envious foes;
To view her angry vengeance hurl'd

In awful thunder round the world,
And trembling nations bending to her blows.

CHORUS.

To guard Britannia, etc.

High towering on the zephyr's breezy wing,
Swift fly the Naïads from Fortha's shores,
And to the southern airy mountains bring
Their sweet enchantment and their magic powers.

Each nymph her favourite willow takes;
The earth with feverous tremor shakes;
The stagnant lakes obey their call;
Streams o'er the grassy pastures fall.

Tweed spreads her waters to the lucid ray;
Upon the dimpled surf the sunbeams play.

On her green banks the tuneful shepherd lies:
Charm'd with the music of his reed,

Amidst the wavings of the Tweed,

From sky-reflecting streams the river-nymphs arise.

CHORUS.

On her green banks, etc.

The listening Muses heard the shepherd play;
Fame with her brazen trump proclaim'd his name,
And to attend the easy graceful lay,

Pan from Arcadia to Tweeda came.

Fond of the change, along the banks he stray'd, And sang, unmindful of the Arcadian shade.

AIR-Tweed-side.

Attend, every fanciful swain,

Whose notes softly flow from the reed;
With harmony guide the sweet strain,
To sing of the beauties of Tweed:

Where the music of woods and of streams
In soothing sweet melody join,
To enliven your pastoral themes,
And make human members divine.

Ye warblers from the vocal grove,
The tender woodland strain approve,
While Tweed in smoother cadence glides
O'er flowery vales in gentle tides;
And as she rolls her silver waves along,
Murmurs and sighs to quit the rural song.
Scotia's great Genius, in russet clad,
From the cool sedgy bank exalts her head;
In joyful rapture she the change espies,
Sees living streams descend and groves arise.

AIR-Gilderoy.

As sable clouds at early day

Oft dim the shining skies,
So gloomy thoughts create dismay,
And lustre leaves her eyes.

"Ye powers! are Scotia's ample fields
With so much beauty graced,

To have those sweets your bounty yields
By foreign foes defaced?

"Oh Jove! at whose supreme command
The limpid fountains play,
O'er Caledonia's northern land

Let restless waters stray.

"Since from the void creation rose,

Thou'st made a sacred vow,

That Caledon to foreign foes

Should ne'er be known to bow."

The mighty Thunderer on his sapphire throne,
In mercy's robes attired, heard the sweet voice
Of female woe-soft as the moving song
Of Philomela 'midst the evening shades;
And thus return'd an answer to her prayers:

"Where birks at Nature's call arise;
Where fragrance hails the vaulted skies;
Where my own oak its umbrage spreads,
Delightful 'midst the woody shades;
Where ivy mouldering rock entwines;
Where breezes bend the lofty pines;
There shall the laughing Naïads stray,
'Midst the sweet banks of winding Tay."

From the dark tomb of earth Tay's waters spring,
Ordain'd by Jove's unalterable voice;
The sounding lyre celestial muses string;
The choiring songsters in the grove rejoice.

Each fount its crystal fluid pours,

Which from surrounding mountains flow;
The river bathes its verdant shores;
Cool o'er the surf the breezes blow.

Let England's sons extol their garden fair;

Scotland may freely boast her generous streams: Their soil more fertile, and their milder air; Her fishes sporting in the solar beams.

Thames, Humber, Severn, all must yield the bay
To the pure streams of Forth, of Tweed, and Tay.

Thames, Humber, etc.

CHORUS.

Oh Scotia! when such beauty claims
A mansion near thy flowing streams,
Ne'er shall stern Mars, in iron car,
Drive his proud coursers to the war;
But fairy forms shall strew around
Their olives on the peaceful ground;
And turtles join the warbling throng,
To usher in the morning song;

Or shout in chorus all the livelong day,

From the green banks of Forth, of Tweed, and Tay.

When gentle Phoebe's friendly light
In silver radiance clothes the night,
Still music's ever-varying strains
Shall tell the lovers Cynthia reigns;
And woo them to her midnight bowers,
Among the fragrant dew-clad flowers,
Where every rock, and hill, and dale,
With echoes greet the nightingale,
Whose pleasing, soft, pathetic tongue,
To kind condolence tunes the song;

And often wins the sick-love swain to stray,

To hear the tender variegated lay,

Through the dark woods of Forth, of Tweed, and Tay.

Hail, native streams, and native groves!

Oozy caverns, green alcoves!

Retreats for Cytherea's reign,

With all the graces in her train.

Hail, Fancy! thou whose ray so bright

Dispels the glimmering taper's light!

Come in aërial vesture blue,

Ever pleasing, ever new;