Ossian Collection > Selections from the Gaelic bards

HEBRIDIAN SKETCHES
A FAIR DAY.
For it was their feist day.
They said
Of PebUs to the Play.
Oi,D Poem.
A VILLAGE looks the keen and lucid north
Full in the blue and weather-beaten face ;
Before it lies a long and winding bay,
Within whose shelter, in the gloom and storm,
When winter revels o'er the roughening sea,
Full many a coasting brig, and drudging sloop,
And tempest-baffled bark at anchor ride.
And rest from wind and tossing wave without.
Then is the village crowded with the crews,
The taverns thronged, and hard-won eaniings spent,
And sometimes squabbles raised by Jack ashore.
Beyond the anchorage, a range of hills.
In mellow, undulating line, is set;
With parti-coloured culture, varied so.
They seem in Autumn as with tartan clad.
Westward, and looking from the hither side,
Down on the beach and o'er the bending bay,
A rocky eminence the village flanks,
Wliose top is crested with a broken tower.
Scene of much talk and observation long.
Eastward, is offered with the tide at full,