Ballads in Blue China | Page 7

o'er linn and fa', They praise a' ither streams aboon; They boast their braes o' bonny Doon: Gie ME to hear the ringing reel, Where shilfas sing, and cushats croon By fair Tweed-side, at Ashiesteel!
There's Ettrick, Meggat, Ail, and a', Where trout swim thick in May and June; Ye'll see them take in showers o' snaw Some blinking, cauldrife April noon: Rax ower the palmer and march-broun, And syne we'll show a bonny creel, In spring or simmer, late or soon, By fair Tweed-side, at Ashiesteel!
There's mony a water, great or sma', Gaes singing in his siller tune, Through glen and heugh, and hope and shaw, Beneath the sun-licht or the moon: But set us in our fishing-shoon Between the Caddon-burn and Peel, And syne we'll cross the heather broun By fair Tweed-side at Ashiesteel!
ENVOY.
Deil take the dirty, trading loon Wad gar the water ca' his wheel, And drift his dyes and poisons doun By fair Tweed-side at Ashiesteel!

BALLADE OF THE BOOK-HUNTER.

In torrid heats of late July, In March, beneath the bitter bise, He book-hunts while the loungers fly, - He book-hunts, though December freeze; In breeches baggy at the knees, And heedless of the public jeers, For these, for these, he hoards his fees, - Aldines, Bodonis, Elzevirs.
No dismal stall escapes his eye, He turns o'er tomes of low degrees, There soiled romanticists may lie, Or Restoration comedies; Each tract that flutters in the breeze For him is charged with hopes and fears, In mouldy novels fancy sees Aldines, Bodonis, Elzevirs.
With restless eyes that peer and spy, Sad eyes that heed not skies nor trees, In dismal nooks he loves to pry, Whose motto evermore is Spes! But ah! the fabled treasure flees; Grown rarer with the fleeting years, In rich men's shelves they take their ease, - Aldines, Bodonis, Elzevirs!
ENVOY.
Prince, all the things that tease and please, - Fame, hope, wealth, kisses, cheers, and tears, What are they but such toys as these - Aldines, Bodonis, Elzevirs?

BALLADE OF THE VOYAGE TO CYTHERA. AFTER THEODORE DE BANVILLE.

I know Cythera long is desolate; I know the winds have stripp'd the gardens green. Alas, my friends! beneath the fierce sun's weight A barren reef lies where Love's flowers have been, Nor ever lover on that coast is seen! So be it, but we seek a fabled shore, To lull our vague desires with mystic lore, To wander where Love's labyrinths beguile; There let us land, there dream for evermore: "It may be we shall touch the happy isle."
The sea may be our sepulchre. If Fate, If tempests wreak their wrath on us, serene We watch the bolt of heaven, and scorn the hate Of angry gods that smite us in their spleen. Perchance the jealous mists are but the screen That veils the fairy coast we would explore. Come, though the sea be vex'd, and breakers roar, Come, for the air of this old world is vile, Haste we, and toil, and faint not at the oar; "It may be we shall touch the happy isle."
Grey serpents trail in temples desecrate Where Cypris smiled, the golden maid, the queen, And ruined is the palace of our state; But happy Loves flit round the mast, and keen The shrill wind sings the silken cords between. Heroes are we, with wearied hearts and sore, Whose flower is faded and whose locks are hoar, Yet haste, light skiffs, where myrtle thickets smile; Love's panthers sleep 'mid roses, as of yore: "It may be we shall touch the happy isle!"
ENVOY.
Sad eyes! the blue sea laughs, as heretofore. Ah, singing birds your happy music pour! Ah, poets, leave the sordid earth awhile; Flit to these ancient gods we still adore: "It may be we shall touch the happy isle!"

BALLADE OF THE SUMMER TERM. (Being a Petition, in the form of a Ballade, praying the University Commissioners to spare the Summer Term.)

When Lent and Responsions are ended, When May with fritillaries waits, When the flower of the chestnut is splendid, When drags are at all of the gates (Those drags the philosopher "slates" With a scorn that is truly sublime), {1} Life wins from the grasp of the Fates Sweet hours and the fleetest of time!
When wickets are bowl'd and defended, When Isis is glad with "the Eights," When music and sunset are blended, When Youth and the summer are mates, When Freshmen are heedless of "Greats," And when note-books are cover'd with rhyme, Ah, these are the hours that one rates - Sweet hours and the fleetest of time!
When the brow of the Dean is unbended At luncheons and mild tete-a-tetes, When the Tutor's in love, nor offended By blunders in tenses or dates; When bouquets are purchased of Bates, When the bells in their melody chime, When unheeded the Lecturer prates - Sweet hours and