And, like ... 1835.
[886] Compare The Triad, II. 145-148—
High is her aim as heaven above,
And wide as ether her good-will;
And, like the lowly reed, her love
Can drink its nurture from the scantiest rill.—Ed.
XXV
ON REVISITING DUNOLLY CASTLE
(See former series, "Yarrow Revisited," etc., p. [278].)
The captive Bird was gone;—to cliff or moor
Perchance had flown, delivered by the storm;
Or he had pined, and sunk to feed the worm:
Him found we not: but, climbing a tall tower,
There saw, impaved with rude fidelity 5
Of art mosaic, in a roofless floor,[887]
An Eagle with stretched wings, but beamless eye—
An Eagle that could neither wail nor soar.
Effigy[888] of the Vanished[889]—(shall I dare
To call thee so?) or symbol of fierce deeds 10
And of the towering courage which past times
Rejoiced in—take, whate'er thou be, a share,[890]
Not undeserved, of the memorial rhymes
That animate my way where'er it leads!
Lieutenant-Colonel M'Dougal of Dunollie wrote to me (October 1883) that "the mosaic picture of an eagle—if it may be called so—still exists, though it is rather a rude work of art. I believe it was executed by a gardener, who was here about the time of Wordsworth's visit. It was made of small stones, and is now a good deal overgrown with weeds, moss, etc., as the second story of the old ruin is open to the weather. An eagle was for many years kept in a cage, made against a wall of the ruin, and this no doubt was the cause of the rude picture being made."—Ed.
FOOTNOTES:
[887] 1835.