Sweet Home.

Sweet home! how I hail thee, though humble and low,
For rich are thy pleasures 'bove splendour or show;
Thy charms all allure me, wherever I roam,
With fondness to seek thy enjoyments, sweet home!
Home! home! sweet, sweet home!
There is no place on earth like my dear native home.

As landscapes of mountains, and woodlands all green,
More pleasant appear when at distance they're seen,
Than when on their summits we carelessly roam,
So felt by the soul are the pleasures of home.
Home! home! sweet, &c.

Yes, home, thou art prized with a hallow'd delight,
Where friendship and peace as twin sisters unite,
In kindest embraces, still blest from above,
Whose social delights give endearments to love.
Home! home! sweet, &c.

page 80

All hail! Caledonia, dear to my breast,
Sweet land of my fathers, in thee how I'm blest!
Though storms on the wing of the dark rolling year,
Ride round thy bleak mountains, as barren, so drear.
Home! home! sweet, &c.

Still dear are thy scenes of each homely delight,
Where wildness and picturesque grandeur unite,
With wide spreading plains and high hazy hills hoar,
While down the deep glens foaming cataracts roar.
Home! home! sweet, &c.

Lo! such are thy glories where Freedom doth rove,
As free as the mountain breeze, meek as the dove;
While brave are thy sons, independent, and free,—
Thy valiant protectors by land or by sea.
Home! home! sweet, &c.

Though groves of rich spices were never thy boast,
The slave is made free when he reaches thy coast,
Where thistles grow wild, and nod proudly each plume,
To breezes full fraught with the heather's perfume.
Home! home! sweet, &c.

page 81

Sweet land of my sires! where their ashes now rest,
Though me from thy bosom stern Fortune should thrust,
Heav'n grant me the pleasure, where'er I may roam,
Of spending in peace my last moments at home.
Home! home! sweet; &c.