Lieutenant
Adam Allan 1798
Lieut. Adam Allan, Stationed at
the Military post at the Grand
Falls in 1798 wrote the following poetic description of the falls which
was annexed to his translation of .
THE NEW GENTLE SHEPHERD
A Pastoral Comedy
Originally
Written in the Scotch Dialect by Allan
Ramsay.
Reduced to English by
Lieutenant Adam Allan
To
which is Annexed a Description of the Great Falls
of the
River St. John, in the Province of New Brunswick.
DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT FALLS OF THE RIVER ST. JOHN,* IN THE PROVINCE
OF NEW BRUNSWICK.
By A. ALLAN, ESQ. 1798.
Yes, "the commanding muse my
chariot guides,
"Which o'er the dubious
cliff securely rides.
"And pleased I am no beaten road
to take,
"But first the way to new
discovries make."
A placid river, gliding easy on
To its dire Fall o'er a huge bed
of stone:
Into an abyss,--dreadful!--even
to thought,
Where caves, immense by
whirlpools, are wrought,
And where huge trees, by annual
freshets brought,
Are by incessant motion ground to
nought.
See, where obstruction checks the
torrent's way,
The parts announced by a vast
mount of spray
Where, as the sun its daily
course pursues,
Reflects an arch of the most
beauteous hues;
Combining elegance, with scenes
of horror,
Delight, and wonder, with most
awful terror.
From this dread gulph of
never-ending noise,
Resembling that where devils but
rejoice,
The waters rush, like lava from
the pits,
Of fam'd Vesuvius, and Mount
AEtna's lips;
Foaming with rage, it forward
presses on
From fall to fall, o'er
vertegated stone;
'Tween banks stupenduous! seeming
to the eye
An eagle's flight, when tow'ring
to the sky.
This wond'rous charm takes the
crescent form,
The better its rude majesty to
'dorn;
So that, where're you ramble for
a view,
Each change of station shews you
something new;
Verse colours faintly when
restrained from fiction,
Truth, here alone, has governed
this description.
Now on the wings of fancy let me
rove,
To paint the Falls* and margin of
the grove,
In depth of winter,--when the
River's bound,
And op'nings rarely but at falls
are found.
How changed the scene!--each
horror now is fled,
And frost's chill hand enchanting
prospects made:
Now every tree with ice is
spangled oe'r,
And every rock is crystall'd on
the shore;
The fall, too, now most
gorgeously appear,
Since purer waters aid its bold
career;
Strong banks of ice contract its
former bounds,
And under ice it echoes hollow
sounds;
Around the verge what curious
objects rise,
To feed the fancy, and to feast
the eyes!
Pilasters, arches, pyramids, and
cones,
Turrets enriched with porticos
and domes;
In artless order,--formed by
surge and spray,
And crystalline-garnet hues their
rich array:
A dazzling cascade ground
throughout the whole
Strikes deep with pleasure the
enraptur'd soul.
FINIS 1798
