From one vast mountain bursting on the day,
Tweed, Clyde, and Annan urge their separate way.(1)
To Anglia's shores bright Tweed and Annan run,
That seeks the rising, this the setting sun;
Where raged the Border war, and either flood
Now blush'd with Scottish, now with English blood;
Both lands by turns their heroes lost deplore:
But blest Britannia knows these woes no more.
CLYDE far from scenes of strife and horror fled,
And through more peaceful fields his waters led:
But ere he issued from their deep abodes,

He sagely thus address'd his brother floods:

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(1) [Popular opinion represents the Clyde as rising in the same hill whence flow the Tweed and the Annan, and indulges the fancy of the three rivers diverging away in nearly regular radii over the face of the lowlands. The Clyde, however-like most large streams whose first waters are gathered amid the inequalities of a rolling mountain regionmay truly be said to have numerous sources. A range of mountains, consisting of the Lowthers, the Leadhills, Queensberry hill, and the heights which connect the last with Hart-Fell, bends elliptically round the southrn part of Lanarkshire, and divides it from Dumfries-shire. At short intervals, round all the southern part of this range, arise rills and streamlets which flow onward to various meeting-points to form the Clyde, and almost each of which might advance pretensions to be the parent-river. The original Clyde, of popular opinion and poetic allusion, rises at an elevation of 1,400 feet above sea-level, between four hills, nearly 2 miles south-east of Rodger-Law, and about 4 or 5 miles east of the village of Elvanfoot. But this streamlet is both tiny in bulk, and of brief length, compared to the Daer or Dear, with which, after a course of only 4 miles westward, it mingles its waters,-or to the Powtrail which 1 mile to the south, had previously flowed into the Daer. Before the confluence of the reputed Clyde and the Daer, the latter flows over a distance of 14 or 15 miles, taking its rise on the borders of the parish of Closeburn in Dumfries-shire, and flowing generally in a direction due north; while the Powtrail, previous to its confluence with the Daer, traverses a distance of about 9 miles, taking its rise on the border of the parish of Durrisdeer, and flowing toward the east of north. The mountain-district which pours forth these streams and their numerous little tributaries, is lofty, raising various of its summits nearly or quite 3,000 feet above the level of the sea, and nowhere, till the accumulated waters have become a considerable river, shaking off a dress of highland wildness, or wearing a smile of pastoral beauty. All the early waters of the Clyde, or the incipient rivulets which roll themselves together to form it into a river, are in consequence, simple mountain-streams, — noisy, rapid, and marked occasionally with a dash of the romantic.]

"Full well you know the imperial mandate given,
His salutary law who rules in heaven!

That, hasting hence, our waters seek the day,
And from a thousand fountains force their way,
Pour on the plain, and genial moisture yield

To verdant pasture and to golden field ;
Nurse the fair flowers which on our margins rise,
And forests proud which sweep the lofty skies;
See populous cities on our banks extend,

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And through their crowded gates their thousands send;
Feel mighty fleets on our fair bosoms ride,
Loading with war or wealth our labouring tide ;
Round spacious islands stretch our silver arms,
And in our caverns feed the scaly swarms.
Then in the ocean poured, our journey run,
Forced by rude winds, or courted by the sun,
Our waters from the brine disdainful rise,
Through air aspire, and sail along the skies;
On deluged plain, or parched pasture pour
In sounding tempest, or in silent shower;
Adorn the fields, mature the golden grain,
And blot from fields of death the sanguine stain;
Or load with lowering mists the mountain's brow,
Sink through the soil, and feed the springs below;
Or, darkly from the bottom of the deep,
Along the beds of sand in silence creep;

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Through earth's dark veins work out their winding way, And fresh to light from countless fountains play.

Heaven's generous purpose let us glad assist,

For general good. To yield is to be blest."

The river said; and with impetuous force

Rent the huge hills, and rushed along his course.
Along his infant stream, on either side

The lofty hills, in clouds, their summits hide ;

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In whose vast bowels, treasured dark and deep,
Exhaustless mines of lead in secret sleep.

But man, audacious man! whose stubborn pride
Free gifts disdains, and longs for all denied,
Mid central earth, bids hardy hands combine
To drag the metal from its parent mine;
Which, forced to light, forms the destructive ball,
At whose dire touch, fleets sink, and armies fall;
Seas blush with blood, while floats the crimson field;
Walls sink to dust, to rapine cities yield.
Nor death alone to fated realms it brings;
It to the cistern guides the distant springs;
The lofty palace, or the temple crowns,
Or, raised on high, a sage or hero frowns.
Yet, mortals, fear the first of crimes, be wise;

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Prize what Heaven gives, forbear what Heaven denies;
Who numerous flocks o'er every mountain pours,
And makes the fleece and harmless bearer yours;
Burdened with milk, o'er all the hills they bleat,
Or, clad with wool, they crop the pasture sweet.
His glossy silks let the soft Indian show,
Or boast his cotton white as flickering snow:
Boast we the fleece, as downy cotton fair,
Outshining every dye his silk can wear.

When Lucifer, unrivalled marks his way
Through fainting stars, to usher in the day;
And soft-awakening morn, serenely bright,
Pours from her opening eyes the silver light;
Less huge the hills, the steeps less dreadful seem,
O'er dewy valleys shoots a silver gleam;
Brighter and wider dart the reddening rays,
Till the pale stars expire amidst the blaze,
And all the east, the veil of clouds unrolled,
Flames bright in purple and celestial gold.

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Then glorious as a hero drest for war,
Forth issues Phoebus in his radiant car;

Inflames the heavens, and rushing on his way,
O'erflows the world with blazing boundless day.
Each blushing flower, tinged cloud, and gilded field,
In various lustres grateful tributes yield.
Glad swarm the insects forth, the fishes play,
The cattle wanton, mankind bless his ray.
Healthful and gay, the shepherd leaves his rest,
As early morn first streaks the ruddy east ;
His dogs attending, bounds the mountains o'er;
Explores, collects, and counts his fleecy store;
Then tunes his pipe, and with a cheerful lay
Joins the grand hymn, to welcome rising day.
The towering lark ascends on pinions strong,
And as she mounts, improves the varying song,
Sweeter and sweeter modulates the sound,
Till song and songster are in ether drowned.
Her numbers clear the shepherd's mind employ,
Who sucks the soul of harmony and joy :
His harmless flock and tender lambs conspire,
To feed humanity's refining fire.

Smooth glide his days in innocence and ease;
The half of earth, and more of heaven he sees;
As on the airy hill he lies reclined,
Each prospect swells his self-illumined mind.

At dawn, the sprightly milk-maid band appears,
Whose distant laugh strikes his delighted ears,
All fresh as morn, as early summer gay,
And sweetly fragrant as the breath of May:
Health decks their comely cheeks with rosy grace,
And innocence plays cheerful o'er their face:
Love lends his pinions, swift the shepherd springs,
And to the fold the milky mothers brings.

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Then frolic nymphs and swains with sportful glee;
Pure are their hearts, and their behaviour free:
The foaming pails, which snowy floods o'erflow,
Raised on their heads, they singing homeward go.
Such scenes adorn bright Dara's (1) silver course,
Who amorous yields to Clyde's inferior force;
Who girds Leadhills, (2) for wealthy mines renowned,
And Crawford's (3) spacious downs, where flocks abound;

(1) [The Daer, or Dear, takes its rise in the mountains bordering on Dumfries-shire. It has been contended by many-and not without show of reason that the Daer is the origin of the Clyde, in so far as the streamlet which bears the latter name is insignificant in size as compared with the former at the point at which the confluence of their waters takes place. It affords the title of Lord Daer to the eldest son of the earl of Selkirk, the residence of which noble family is at St. Mary's Isle, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, and their principal possessions are also situ. ated in that neighbourhood. See Note on page 36.]

(2) [Leadhills is a mining village in the moorland parish of Crawford, situated at the southern extremity of the county of Lanark, about 1,300 feet above the level of the sea, and perhaps the highest inhabited land in Scotland. It is 46 miles from Edinburgh; 44 from Glasgow; 15 from Douglas mill; and 16 from Thornhill in Dumfries-shire. The aspect of the country around is of the most sterile description imaginable, consisting of hills above hills of scanty herbage or heather, and elevated though it may be, the village occupies a position in a valley, from one side of which a bleak lofty ridge ascends to the height of 2,450 feet. The view from this point is truly magnificent, embracing on the north the Pentland hills; on the south, the ample sweep of the Solway frith, the Isle of Man, and beyond the mountains of Hellvellyn and Skiddaw in Cumberland; and on the west, the eye ranges over Ailsa Craig, the serrated peaks of the Isle of Arran, the lofty Benlomond, and the Paps of Jura. This inhospitable region has attracted to it an industrious community from the lead which has been worked there almost, it may be said, from time immemorial. It is surmised that the prevailing mineral was first worked here by the Romans; at all events they are known to have worked lead-mines in England; one of their principal military roads passed through the parish of Crawford, and the remains of their camps and stations are still visible in the neighbourhood. If worked by that enterprising people, a long period of inactivity followed; for it is matter of pretty authentic tradition, that one of the recent lead veins in modern times, was discovered by a man named Matthew Templeton, in 1517, though the written records, concerning their operation, do not reach farther back than about the year 1600.]

(3) ["The farmers of Crawford are, says the intelligent Robert Heron, writing in 1791, "the most skilful and successful shepherds in Scotland."]