Yet was Rob Roy as wise as brave; Must scorn a timid song. Say, then, that he was wise as brave ; He sought his moral creed. Said generous Rob, "What need of Books? Burn all the Statutes and their shelves: They stir us up against our Kind; And worse, against Ourselves. We have a passion, make a law, And, puzzled, blinded thus, we lose The Creatures see of flood and field, And those that travel on the wind! With them no strife can last; they live For why?-because the good old Rule That they should take, who have the power, A lesson that is quickly learned, A signal this which all can see! All freakishness of mind is checked; All Kinds, and Creatures, stand and fall And who is to submit. Since, then, the rule of right is plain, And thus among these rocks he lived, Through summer heat and winter snow: The Eagle, he was Lord above, And Rob was Lord below. So was it would, at least, have been For Polity was then too strong; Or shall we say an age too soon? Then rents and Factors, rights of chase, Sheriffs, and Lairds and their domains, Would all have seemed but paltry things, Not worth a moment's pains. Rob Roy had never lingered here, To these few meagre Vales confined; But thought how wide the world, the times How fairly to his mind! And to his Sword he would have said, 'Tis fit that we should do our part; Becoming, that mankind should learn That we are not to be surpassed In fatherly concern. Of old things all are over old, Of good things none are good enough:- I, too, will have my Kings that take And, if the word had been fulfilled, As might have been, then, thought of joy! Oh! say not so ; compare them not; Would wrong thee nowhere; least of all Here standing by thy Grave. For Thou, although with some wild thoughts, Wild Chieftain of a Savage Clan! Hadst this to boast of; thou didst love The liberty of Man. And, had it been thy lot to live With us who now behold the light, Thou would'st have nobly stirred thyself, And battled for the Right. For thou wert still the poor Man's stay, The poor man's heart, the poor man's hand; And all the oppressed, who wanted strength, Had thine at their command. |