ELEGANT EXTRACTS. PART V. Odes. ON THE POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS OF THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND: CONSIDERED AS THE SUBJECT OF POETRY. Inscribed to Mr. John Home. HOME! thou return'st from Thames, whose naiads long Have seen thee lingering with a fond delay, Mid those soft friends whose hearts, some fu ture day, Shall melt, perhaps, to hear thy tragic song. Whom, long endear'd, thou leavest by Lavant's Together let us wish him lasting truth [side; And joy untainted, with his destined bride. * A gentleman of the name of Barrow, who introduced Home to Collins. VOL. III. B Go! nor regardless, while these numbers boast Thou need'st but take thy pencil to thy hand, And paint what all believe who own thy genial land. There must thou wake perforce thy Doric quill; Nor thou, though learn'd, his homelier thoughts neglect; Let thy sweet Muse the rural faith sustain; strain. E'en yet preserved, how often mayst thou hear, Where to the pole the Boreal mountains run, Taught by the father, to his listening son, [ear. Strange lays, whose power had charm'd a Spenser's |