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 Of art mosaic, in a roofless floor, An Eagle with stretched wings, but beamless eye-- An Eagle that could neither wail nor soar. Effigy of the Vanished--(shall I dare To call thee so?) or symbol of fierce deeds And of the towering courage which past times Rejoiced in--take, whate'er thou be, a share, 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.