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TO

LORD VISCOUNT GLENORCHY.

MY LORD,

I HOPE I shall not be accounted guilty. of adulation, when I affirm, that the affability of your disposition, the general esteem in which you are held by your Fellow-students and acquaintances, not your exalted rank and title, induce me to usher the following TALE to the world under your auspices and protection.

That your Lordship, the heir of an ancient and illustrious line of Ancestry, by the cultivation of useful knowledge,

the indulgence of every generous and noble feeling of the mind, and the exercise of every distinguished virtue, may hereafter become the father of your tenantry, the support of your country, and the ornament of society, is the sincere wish of,

My LORD,

Your Lordship's very humble

And obedient Servant,

WILLIAM CARR

GLASGOW COLLIGI.

ERINA:

TALE OF OTHER TIMES.

WHERE, high above the billowy-breasted deep,

Slieu-donard, monarch of the hills, uprears

His venerable front, dark with the heath
Of countless years; far in a vale, retired
From public view, the cottage yet is seen,
Where liv'd, in all the sweets of rural joy,
The fair Erina, blest with beauty, wealth,

And virtuous innocence. The modest rose,

A

That blushes on its mossy stem, and scents

The passing gale, blooms oft unseen, unknown-
Not so Erina; all the village hailed

Her, queen of smiles, and flow'r of loveliness.
To win her to his arms, full many a swain,

With soft exertion, strove, and bow'd and sigh'd;
But sigh'd and bow'd in vain.-Full many a chief,
Full many a warrior, high in martial fame,
Has own'd the conquest of her sparkling eye,
And talk'd of love; but all in vain: the maid
Alone approves of Oscar's vows, alone

On Oscar beams a soft-approving smile,

And shares with him possession of her soul.
Fond youth, 'twas his, when summer suns enrich
The fertile glebe, and hill and valley smile
With vernal sweetness, thro' the dewy lawn,
What time appears the blushing face of morn,
And sweetest music wakes the grove, to lead

His dear Erina, and enjoy the bliss,

The chastest, purest bliss of mutual love.

How raptured felt the maid, when, 'midst the bow'r,
Or down the glen, she wandered with the gay,
The all-accomplished Oscar! beauteous seem'd
The landscape then, for not a single charm
Or grace escap'd the polished Oscar's eye,
Or to the list❜ning fair one was untold.
Soft flew the hour, at morn, or dusky eve,
By grotto, stream, or woody glade, when Love
All-powerful Love, his magic influence lent

To gild the passing joy, and nectared draughts.
Of unimbettered pleasure flowed around.
Erina, as o'er mossy height, or mid

The verdant foliage, breathing balm, or down

The lowland wilderness, with wood o'erhung,

She roamed, the tender Oscar at her side,

Felt not a wish ungratified, a bliss,

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