[Page 43]
Kinross, 1767.

[Scarce a breeze on the lake, with four oars to our boat;]

1 SCarce a breeze on the lake, with four oars to our boat;
2 The landscape! no pencil could paint.
3 I thought of her fate, the midst of this scene,
4 When a boar put us all in a fright.
5 Confusion and terror, my heart beat my breast,
6 Neither castle nor bower could I see;
7 The beautiful!
* Queen Mary.
Queen who once made her escape,
8 Was scarcely so frighted as me.
9 The house — and the trees — the town and the spire;
10 The hills — and the cottages round;
11 The water — the wind — and the flight of the birds;
12 Did only my senses confound.
13 No thought was distinct — or but lost in myself;
14 I pray'd — and our fate did deplore;
15 When Serff
† St Serff's Island in Loch-Leven.
that good saint — from his peaceful retreat,
16 Came quickly, and brought us to shore.

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About this text

Title (in Source Edition): [Scarce a breeze on the lake, with four oars to our boat;]
Author: ‘Christian Carstairs’
Themes:
Genres: occasional poem

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Source edition

Carstairs, Christian. Original Poems. By a Lady, Dedicated to Miss Ann Henderson. A Tribute to Gratitude and Friendships. Edinburgh: Andrew Shortrede, 1786, p. 43.  (ESTC T76883) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Harding C 680].)

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