The poetical works of Sir Walter Scott ... Notes & life of the author.

408 ROKEBY. bAN'TO L
Each outward change of ill and good:
But Wilfrid, docile, soft, and mild,
Was Fancy's spoiled and wayward childA
In her bright car she bade him ride,
With one fair form to grace his side,
Or, in some wild and lone retreat,
Flung her high spells around his seat,
Bath'd in her dews his languid head,
Her fairy mantle o'er him spread,
For him her opiates gave to flow,
Which he who tastes, can ne'er forego,
And plac'd him in her circle, free
From every stern reality.
Till, to the Visionary, seem
Her day-dreams truth, and truth a dream.
XXXL
Woe to the youth, whom Fancy gains,
Winning from Reason's hand the reins;
Pity and woe! for such a mind
Is soft,contemplative, and kind;
And woe to those who train such youth,
And spare to press the rights of truth,
The mind to strengthen and anneal,
While on the stithy glon s the steell
O teach him, while your lessons last
To judge the present by the past;
Remind him of each wish pursued,
How rich it glow'd with promised good.
Remind him of each wish enjoyed,
HIow soon his hopes possession cloyed!
Tell him, we play unequal game,
Whene'er we shoot by Fancy's aim!
And, ere he strip him for her race,
Show the conditions of the chase.
Two sisters by the goal are set,
Cold Disappointment and Regret;
One disenchants the winner's eyes,
And strips of all its worth the prize.
While one augments its gaudy show
More to enh~ance the loser's woe.
The victor sees his fairy gold,
Transform'd, when won, to drossy mould,
But still the vanquish'd mourns his loss,
And rues, as gold, that glittering dross