If thou wouldst view fair Melrose aright,
Go visit it by the pale moonlight;
For the gay beams of lightsome day
Gild, but to flout, the ruins grey....
Yet there can be no doubt that he himself had never seen the Abbey by moonlight! He further tells his readers that they can
Home returning, soothly swear
Was never scene so sad and fair.
They, having seen it, can “soothly” (i.e., truthfully) swear to its beauty, which was more than he himself could!
Calverley’s last line is from Sydney Smith’s “Recipe for a Salad”: