the gaze of inquisitive eyes;
Yet the gem that 's within may be lovely and bright
As the smiles of the morn, or the stars of the night;
Then say not the Bard has turn'd old.

When the tapers burn clear, and the goblet shines bright,
In the hall of his chief, on a festival night,
I have smiled at the glance of his rapturous eye,
While the brim of the goblet laugh'd back in reply;
Then say not the Bard has turn'd old.

When he sings of the valorous deeds that were done,
By his clan or his chief, in the days that are gone,
His strains then are various--now rapid, now slow,
As he mourns for the dead or exults o'er the foe;
Then say not the Bard has turn'd old.

When summer in gaudy profusion is dress'd,
And the dew-drop hangs clear on the violet's breast,
I list with delight to his rapturous strain,
While the borrowing echo returns it again;
Then say not the Bard has turn'd old.

But not summer's profusion alone can inspire
His soul in the song, or his hand on the lyre,
But rapid his numbers and wilder they flow,
When the wintry winds rave o'er his mountains of snow;
Then say not the Bard has turn'd old.

I have seen him elate when the black clouds were riven,
Terrific and wild, by the thunder of heaven,
And smile at the billows that angrily rave,
Incessant and deep o'er the mariner's grave;
Then say not the Bard has turn'd old.

When the eye that expresses the warmth of his heart,
Shall fail the benevolent wish to impart--
When his blood shall be cold as the wintry wave,
And silent his harp as the gloom of the grave,
Then say that the Bard has turn'd old.

HAMILTON PAUL.

A man of fine intellect, a poet, and an elegant writer, Hamilton Paul
has claims to remembrance. On the 10th April 1773, he was born in a
small cottage on the banks of Girvan Water, in the parish of Dailly, and
county of Ayr. In the same dwelling, Hugh Ainslie, another Scottish
bard, was afterwards born. Receiving his elementary education at the
parish school, he became a student in the University of Glasgow. Thomas
Campbell, author of "The Pleasures of Hope," was a college contemporary;
and their mutual love of poetry drew them closely to each other; they
competed for academical rewards offered for the best compositions in
verse, till frequent adjudication as to the equality of their mer