410. Composed at Neidpath Castle, the Property of Lord Queensberry

[1803]

DEGENERATE Douglas! oh, the unworthy lord!

Whom mere despite of heart could so far please

And love of havoc, (for with such disease

Fame taxes him,) that he could send forth word

To level with the dust a noble horde,

A brotherhood of venerable trees,

Leaving an ancient dome, and towers like these,

Beggar’d and outraged!—Many hearts deplored

The fate of those old trees; and oft with pain

The traveller at this day will stop and gaze

On wrongs, which Nature scarcely seems to heed:

For shelter’d places, bosoms, nooks, and bays,

And the pure mountains, and the gentle Tweed,

And the green silent pastures, yet remain.