Air—"Mrs. Hamilton of Wishaw's Strathspey." 1806.
FAR from the giddy court of mirth,
Where sickening follies reign,
By Levern banks I wander forth
To hail each sylvan scene.
All hail, ye dear romantic shades !
Ye banks, ye woods, and sunny glades!
Here oft the musing poet treads
In Nature's riches great :
Contrasts the country with the town,
Makes Nature's beauties all his own,
And, borne on fancy's wings, looks down
On empty pride and state.
By dewy dawn, or sultry noon,
Or sober evening gray,
I often quit the dinsome town,
By Levern banks [1] to stray.
Or from the upland's mossy brow
Enjoy the fancy pleasing view
Of streamlets, woods, and fields below,
And sweetly varied scene.
Give riches to the miser's care,
Let folly shine in fashion's glare,
Give me the wealth of peace and health,
With all their happy train.
This song first appeared in the Glasgow Nightingale of 1806, page 150. See the first Note to No. 13.—Ed.
[1] The Levern rivulet has its source in the Long Loch, four miles above the village of Neilston, and after its noisy passage through the parish of that name, enriching the district by its valuable water for driving power, and receiving supplies from tributary streamlet, merges in the River Cart near Crocston Castle.—Ed.
[Semple 87]