Sonnet III (Written in the Highlands of Scotland, 1767)

When Recollection stirs up in the mind
And sets before her eye past scenes of woe,
In vain the Wise their hoarded precepts bring,
Dead, unimpassion'd, written in the flow
Of health and strength, to nicer feelings blind:
In vain against Reflection's piercing sting,
They urge a formal phrase, or adage quaint,
And with a shrewd and well-turn'd point of wit,
Or a laborious studied argument,
Think to chase far away the fretful fit:
They might as well drink the wide ocean dry,
Or rob cold Winter of his snowy beard:
Spite of the vain saws of Philosophy,
Nature is prevalent, and will be heard.