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Mean time young Alpin feeks the king and peers;

But fair Culena in his bosom bears.

In vain against the rifing flame he ftrove,
For all the man dissolv'd at once to love.
Within the high-arch'd hall the nobles fat,
And form'd in council the reviving state;
For inftant peace folicitous prepare,

And raise a bulwark 'gainft the future war.
No high-flown zeal the patriot hurl'd along,
No fecret gold engag'd the speaker's tongue.
No jarring.feeds are by a tyrant fown,
Nor cunning fenate undermines the throne.
To public good their public thoughts repair,
And CALEDONIA is the gen'ral care.
No orator in pompous phrases shines,
Or veils with public weal his base designs.
Truth flood-confpicuous, undisguis'd by art,
They spoke the homely language of the heart,
Arriv'd the gallant warrior of the night;
They hear with eager joy the gloom
His conduct, courage, and comp

And ev'ry voice is forward in his
The great DUMBAR his awful

His temples whiten'd with the fn

On the brave youth he bends his folemn look,

Then, turning round, thus to the nobles spoke. "Beneath the royal banner, Scors afar

Had urg'd on Humber's banks the foreign war;
My father dead, tho' young I took the fhield,"
And led my kindred-warriors to the field.
The noble CALEDONIAN camp was laid
Within the bofom of a spacious mead.
Green-rifing hills encompass'd it around,
And these king Malcolm with his archers crown'd;
Full on the right a fpacious wood arofe,

And thither night convey'd a band of foes.
The king commands a chief to clear the wood,
And I the dang❜rous fervice claim aloud.

I went, expell'd the foes, and kill'd their lord,
And ever fince have worn his fhining fword.
I now retire from war, in age to rest;

Take it brave youth; for you can wield it best."
He faid, and reach'd the fword.----The youth

reply'd,

Shooting the heavy blade athwart his fide,

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My lord with gratitude this fword I take, Efteem the prefent for the giver's fake.

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It still may find the way it oft explor'd,

And glut with hoftile blood its fecond lord;
To bloody honour hew its wafteful path,
A faithful fickle in the fields of death.

He thus.---With placid mein great INDULPH rose,
And spoke; "Thus always meet our Albion's foes;
With foreign blood your native arms adorn,
And boldly fight for ages yet unborn.

For us, my lords, fought all our godlike fires;
The debt we owe to them, our race requires:
Tho' future arms our country fhould enflave,
She fhall acquit our afhes in the grave;

Pofterity degen'rate, as they groan,

Shall bless their fires, and call their woes their own.

Let us, my lords, each virt'ous spark inspire,

And where we find it, blow it to a fire.

Thy service, gallant ALPIN, in this war,
Shall both be INDULPH's and the fenate's care.
Mean time, with manly sports and exercise
Let us from bus'ness turn the mental eyes:
The mind relax'd acquires a double force,
And with new vigour finishes the course."

He added not the godlike chiefs obey;
All rife at once; great INDULPH leads the way.

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The palace here, and there a virid mound,

Confine a flow'ry spot of graffy ground.
The under-rock, emerging thro' the green,

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Chequers with hoary knobs the various scene.
Thither repair the chiefs and scepter'd king,
And bend upon the plain the hollow ring.
Obedient fervants from the palace bear
The horny bow, the helm, the fhining spear,
The mail, the corflet, and the brazen shield;
And throw the ringing weight upon the field.
Imperial INDULPH, tow'ring o'er the plain,
With placid words addrefs'd the warrior-train:
"Let thofe who bend the stubborn bow arise,
And with the feather'd fhaft difpute this prize;

An antique bow a BALEARIAN Wore,

When Romans thunder'd on our ALBION's shore.
The skilful archer, dealing death afar,

Threw on our Scottish host the distant war;
Great FERGUS fprings, a king devoid of fear,
And thro' his body shoots the reeking spear;
The bloody spoil thro' striving cohorts brings,
And fends this relique down to after kings."

Thus, grafping the long bow, the monarch faid; Rofe valiant Grahame and youthful SOMERLED.

Next GoWAL in the ftrife demands a part,

Fam'd on his native hills to wing the dart.

Full on the mound a helm, their aim, was plac'd; And GowAL drew the nerve, firft, to his breaft; The bow reluctant yields, then backward fprings; The nerve resounds, thro' air the arrow fings. Clofe to the aim, the earth the arrow meets, And as it vibrates the bright helmet beats. Applause enfues.--- The shaft was fent by Grahame, And cut its brazen journey thro' the aim. The prize on him the murm'ring chiefs bestow, Till SOMERLED affumes the antient bow. The dancing chord the leaping arrow left, And, rushing, took on end Grahame's birchen shaft; Tore on its way, around the fhivers fly,

And SOMERLED brings off the prize with joy. "Who," cries the king, " this fhield his prize

fhall bear,

And fling with skilful hand the martial spear? Behind this buckler mighty KENNETH stood, When Tay, impurpled, ran with Pictish blood." He said, and plac'd a mark, the knobby roun And meafur'd back with equal fteps the groun

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