John Wilson

“ In trade and riches rise, by swift degrees,
To rival London, empress of the seas:
Still may her ships to distant regions run,
Beyond the rising or the setting sun, 270
Till Clyde's broad bosom can no longer greet
The rolling tide that wafts the passing fleet.
Kelvin, a stream that slept inglorious long,
Shall rise to fame, and shine in future song;
Where sable artists match the ancient fame
Of Lemnos, or of Ætna's mightier name;
Who bend the stubborn steel in smouldering fire,
Rend it to rods, or wring to ductile wire:
Enormous tubes, like roaring tempests, sound ”

“ That charming isle! the distant sight deceives,
Which floats, like Delos, on the ambient waves:
There Delos' god, deceived, first pours his beams,
The dome so like his ancient temple seems.
Clyde, now a sea, affects a wide command,
And far his mighty arms invade the land;
Far pour his lakes, and pierce the solid ground!
Scarce their wide sway the heathy mountains bound;
Where Campbells, sprung of old O'Dubin's race,
Old as their hills, still rule their native place. ”

“ But fairer Roseneath's towers, where, spreading wide,
Rolls on the mighty majesty of Clyde,
From Lennox hills, which, towering, prop the sky,
To where his fleets in spacious harbours lie;
Where, crowned with wood, fair hills embrace the bay,
Where Newport smiles in youthful lustre gay; 500
Where the broad marsh, a shuddering surface, lies,
Fair Greenock's spires in new-born beauty rise;
And many an infant city rises round,
Emerging swiftly from the teeming ground ”

“ Yet softer Clyde's, where subterranean ire
Ne'er darts the bursts of dark sulphureous fire;
Which deep entomb the swarthy peasant's toil,
And parch to ashes all the burning soil.
Yet summer's heat drives frequent to the pool
The active youth, their glowing limbs to cool. 50
They dive, and distant far emerge again,
Or easy float along the liquid plain;
While curling waves around their bodies twine,
Through which their limbs like polished marble shine.
Now with strong arms they strive against the tide ”

“ Clyde's ample sea in waves tremendous roars,
To where Kintyre, beneath the evening skies
Stretching a mighty length, among the billows lies.
See towering Ailsa o'er the waters rise;
Beneath the seas his deep foundation lies:
Hoarse round his rugged roots the ocean roars,
And high above the clouds his summit soars:
White wreaths of mist o'er his huge shoulders hang;
Round his strong sides unnumbered sea-fowls clang; 580
The royal falcon, and the bird of Jove,
Dare only scale the steep, and spread their wings above. ”

“ Its base by Clyde and Leven's tide embraced: 430
From the broad stream its whitening summits rise,
Like famed Parnassus, towering to the skies.
And here, remote, the Latian muses came,
When Italy had lost her former fame.
As on this new Parnassus they repose,
Their sacred spring between its summits rose;
They bade the rock that far-famed thistle yield,
Which glorious shines in Scotia's warlike shield ”

“ 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. ”

“ The curious texture of the tubes survey,
And from the pores see subtle odours play:
How the firm bones their strength and grandeur lend,
And vitals soft from injury defend;
How principles, by nature prone to strife,
Kindly conspire to the support of life:
Impelled through all the complicated frame,
How rapid fluids feed the vital flame:
Whence on the face the glowing beauties rise,
And all the soul beams genuine from the eyes. 180
That curious chemist mark! whose keen desire
Examines nature by tormenting fire ”

“ Round Rothsay's towers the morning sun-beams play,
That, like her chief, superior and serene,
Smiles o'er the murmurs of the curling main:
Mid groves with undiminished verdure gay,
She mocks the waves, and laughs the storms away;
And bids her Brandons, mid the ranks of fame,
Aspiring rise, and claim a nation's name ”

“ Unrivalled Glasgow lifts her stately spires:
For Commerce, glorious with her golden crown,
Has marked fair Glasgow for her favourite town:
She makes her stately edifices thrive,
And merchants rich, in princely splendor live ”

“ Than those dire tubes that thin the ranks of fight.
Through Carron's channel, now with Kelvin joined,
The wondering barks a ready passage find: 290
The ships, on swelling billows wont to rise,
On solid mountains climb to scale the skies;
Old ocean sees the fleets forsake his floods,
Sail the firm land, the mountains and the woods ”