I must--I shall--I meet not such tit bits-- I meet not such sweet creatures every day-- By my old night cap night cap night and day I must have one sweet Buss--I must and shall! Red Crag!--What Madam can you then repent Of all the toil and vigour you have spent To see Ben Nevis and to touch his nose? Red Crag I say! O I must have them close! Red Crag, there lies beneath my furthest toe A vein of Sulphur--go dear Red Crag, go-- And rub your flinty back against it--budge! Dear Madam I must kiss you, faith I must! I must Embrace you with my dearest gust! Block-head, d'ye hear--Block-head I'll make her feel There lies beneath my east leg's northern heel A cave of young earth dragons--well my boy Go thither quick and so complete my joy Take you a bundle of the largest pines And when the sun on fiercest Phosphor shines Fire them and ram them in the Dragon's nest Then will the dragons fry and fizz their best Until ten thousand now no bigger than Poor Alligators--poor things of one span-- Will each one swell to twice ten times the size Of northern whale--then for the tender prize-- The moment then--for then will Red Crag rub His flinty back--and I shall kiss and snub And press my dainty morsel to my breast. Block-head make haste! O Muses weep the rest-- The Lady fainted and he thought her dead So pulled the clouds again about his head And went to sleep again--soon she was rous'd By her affrighted servants--next day hous'd Safe on the lowly ground she bless'd her fate That fainting fit was not delayed too late. But what surprises me above all is how this Lady got down again. I felt it horribly. 'Twas the most vile descent--shook me all to pieces. Over leaf you will find a Sonnet I wrote on the top of Ben Nevis. We have just entered Inverness. I have three Letters from you and one from Fanny--and one from Dilke. I would set about crossing this all over for you but I will first write to Fanny and Mrs. Wylie. Then I will begin another to you and not before because I think it better you should have this as soon as possible. My Sore throat is not quite well and I intend stopping here a few days. Read me a lesson, Muse, and speak it loud Upon the top of Nevis, blind in mist! I look into the chasms, and a shroud Vapourous doth hide them,--just so much I wist Mankind do know of hell; I look o'erhead, And there is sullen mist,--even so much Mankind can tell of heaven; mist is spread Before the earth, beneath me,--even such, Even so vague is man's sight of himself! Here are the craggy stones beneath my feet,-- Thus much I know that, a poor witless elf, I tread on them,--that all my eye doth meet Is mist and crag, not only on this height, But in the world of thought and mental might! Good-bye till to-morrow. Your most affectionate Brother JOHN ----. LXV.--TO MRS. WYLIE. Inverness, August 6 [1818].