YE vot'ries of pleasure and ease,
Proud, wasting in riot the day,
Drive on your career as ye please,
Let me follow a different way.
The woodland, the mountain, and hill,
With the birds singing sweet from the tree,
The soul with serenity fill,
And have pleasures more pleasing to me.
When I see yon parade thro the streets,
With affected, unnatural airs,
I smile at your low, trifling gaits,
And could heartily lend you my pray'rs.
Great Jove I was it ever design'd
That man should his reason lay down,
And barter the peace of his mind,
For the follies and fashions of town ?
I'll retire to yon broom-cover'd fields,
On the green mossy turf I'll recline,
The pleasures that Solitude yields,
Composure and peace shall be mine.
There Thomson [1] or Shenstone [2] I'll read,
Well pleas'd with each well-manag'd theme,
With nothing to trouble my head,
But ambition to imitate them.
Tannahill, in these excellent verses, composed in the guileless simplicity of his heart, has shown the leaning of his mind, and made his CHOICE. The poet has firmly stated he had no desire for tavern dissipation and degradation, which drives on to destruction both physically and morally. The chief wish of our sweet lyrist was to enjoy the solitude and scenery of Gleniffer Braes among the woodland choristers, reading “Thomson's Seasons” or “Shenstone's Poems," and striving to imitate them.—Ed.
[1] James Thomson, an eminent Poet, was born at Ednam in Roxburghshire on 11th September, 1700. His Seasons of Winter, Summer, Spring, and Autumn, were published separately between 1725 and 1730, and now hold a high place in English literature. He died 22nd August, 1748.—Ed.
[2] See Note to “The Parnassiad,” No. 17.—Ed.
[Semple 29]