NEGLECTED SCOTLAND ſhews her awful Brow,
Not always quite ſo near to Heaven as now.
Circled with dreadful Clifts and Barb'rous Shores,
Where the ſtrong Surff with high impetuous Roars,
Invades the Rocks, and theſe their Rage diſdain,
And with redoubling Noiſe they'r hurry'd home again;
The hollow Caverns Mutual Roars return,
And Baffled Neptune [1] raging makes the Ocean burn.
The furious Elements in vain contend,
Unmov'd the mighty natural Breaſt-works ſtand.
Their awful Hights in threatning Grandeur ſhine,
Emblems of mightier Hearts of Stone within.
Th' Inſtructing Rocks, Invincible and Strong,
Deſcribe the Race that to theſe Rocks belong,
And bid the quick retreating Waves declare,
And warn the World againſt a Northern War.
Tell them the Hopes of Conqueſt muſt be vain;
When Hands of Steel ſhall Rocks of Flint maintain.
[2] Theſe are th' eternal Bounds of Providence,
The Oceans Bridle, and the Lands Defence.
The Warts and Wrinkles plac'd on Natures Brow
That her Maternal Care and Conduct ſhow.
The meaneſt parts of Nature have their Uſe,
And ſome to Terror, ſome to Strength conduce:
Nor is their Ornament at all the leſs;
For Beauty's beſt deſcrib'd by Uſefulneſs.
- ↑ The Raging of the Sea will often reſemble Fire, and ſeem to burn, eſpecially as ſome ſay on a Southerly Wind.
- ↑ The high Shores could be in no place more needful to place Bounds proportion'd to the furious and vaſt Northern Ocean that beat upon Scotland, from whence there is nothing but Water to the very Frozen Zone of the North Pole. Thoſe Rocks therefore are the Lands Defence, and the Oceans Bridle, and conſequently Beauties in their Kind, made ſo by the Neceſſity of them.
