J. F. Campbell Collection > Works of the Caledonian bards

S C A R L A W. S'3:
Sons of the few years, ye that be but of ye-
fterday ! the ftrength that was mine is yours*
Lend me the arm of your youth. — Carry me
to the towering top of Benmore, that I may
view the hills that wave 'their heath-browa
locks round the ftrath of F ingal *, the Avarrior
of other days.
O
It has been remarked of great poets, That they are very
/"paring ofgeneial encominnos on the fair-fcx ; and the
prclent compliment feems to come undcfignecily. Their
contemptuous negle£V of a pufillanirnous chief, is here
menlicned, with a view to darken his chara^er, not to
illuni^nate theirs. But the eye of penetration may look a
little fnrther, and view them in their genuine colours, pu-
nilliing vice with their frowns, and rewarding virtue with
their fmiles.
JEncouraged by the filence of fome antient poet?, certain
modern or,es have prefumed to pronounce general cenfures
upon the fex. But, had thefe gentlemen given us their
Corrpofitions with as little referve as the prelent I'ard feems
to have done, and prefented the image of their own brcafl
with eqxial ingenuity, there is great reaf.>n to think, that:
feveral pafTages fimilar to thi-, would appear againfl them
in t!:eir writing?. No poet of reputation, however, has
ventured to deviate from nature, {o far as to make the
foft eye of beauty fmils on a defpicable character among
the n^aie«.
* f inga!, the Celtic htro. The word Gad, (the Celts of
the