s: That thus they all shall meet in future days:


s: No more to sigh, or shed the bitter tear,


s: Together hymning their Creator's praise,


s: While circling Time moves round in an eternal sphere.


s: Compar'd with this, how poor Religion's pride,


s: Devotion's ev'ry grace, except the heart!


s: The Pow'r, incens'd, the pageant will desert,


s: The pompous strain, the sacerdotal stole;


s: May hear, well pleas'd, the language of the soul;


s: And in His book of life the inmates poor enrol.


s: Then homeward all take off their sev'ral way;


s: Their Parent-pair their secret homage pay,


s: And proffer up to Heaven the warm request,


s: That HE, who stills the raven's clam'rous nest,


s: And decks the lily fair in flow'ry pride,


s: Would, in the way His wisdom sees the best,


s: For them and for their little ones provide;


s: But, chiefly, in their hearts with grace divine preside.


s: From scenes like these, old Scotia's grandeur springs,


s: That makes her lov'd at home, rever'd abroad:


s: Princes and lords are but the breath of kings,


s: "An honest man's the noblest work of GOD;"


s: And certes, in fair virtue's heav'nly road,


s: The cottage leaves the palace far behind;


s: What is a lordship's pomp? a cumbrous load,


s: Disguising oft the wretch of human kind,


s: Studied in arts of Hell, in wickedness refin'd!


s: For whom my warmest wish to Heaven is sent!


s: Be blest with health, and peace, and sweet content!


s: And, O! may heaven their simple lives prevent


s: Then, howe'er crowns and coronets be rent,


s: And stand a wall of fire around their much-lov'd Isle.


s: That stream'd through Wallace's undaunted heart:


s: (The patriot's God, peculiarly Thou art,


s: His friend, inspirer, guardian, and reward!)


s: But still the patriot, and the patriot bard,


s: In bright succession raise, her ornament and guard!


s: probably desired to balance it with something at which the devout


s: That Pow'r which rais'd and still upholds


s: Thou giv'st the word: Thy creature, man,


s: The flaunting flowers our gardens yield,


s: High shelt'ring woods and wa's maun shield


s: 'Till she, like thee, all soil'd, is laid


s: 'Till billows rage, and gales blow hard,


s: Who long with wants and woes has striv'n,


s: 'Till wrenched of every stay but Heav'n,


s: Ev'n thou who mourn'st the Daisy's fate,


s: 'Till crush'd beneath the furrow's weight,


s: "Thoughts close and looks loose." Whether he profited by all the


s: counsel showered upon him by the muse we know not: he was much


s: In ploughman phrase, 'God send you speed,'


s: welcome: it appeared in the Kilmarnock copy of his Poems, and


s: Gae somewhere else, and seek your dinner


s: Swith, in some beggar's haffet squattle;


s: There ye may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle


s: My sooth! right bauld ye set your nose out,


s: What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us,


s: And then their failings, flaws, an' wants,


s: Spare't for their sakes wha aften wear it,


s: But your curst wit, when it comes near it,


s: Think, wicked sinner, wha ye're skaithing,


s: It's just the blue-gown badge and claithing


s: O' saunts; tak that, ye lea'e them naething


s: The widows, wives, an' a' may bless him,


s: "The valiant, in himself, what can he suffer?


s: To dearer selves, to the lov'd tender fair,


s: The those whose bliss, whose beings hang upon him,


s: To helpless children! then, O then! he feels


s: The point of misery fest'ring in his heart,


s: And weakly weeps his fortune like a coward.


s: Once fondly lov'd and still remember'd dear;


s: Accept this mark of friendship, warm, sincere,--


s: Friendship! 'tis all cold duty now allows.


s: And when you read the simple artless rhymes,


s: One friendly sigh for him--he asks no more,--


s: Who distant burns in flaming torrid climes,


s: Or haply lies beneath th' Atlantic roar.


s: Maun please the great folk for a wamefou;


s: Sae I shall say, an' that's nae flatt'rin',


s: He's just--nae better than he should be.


s: But then, nae thanks to him for a' that;


s: That he's the poor man's friend in need,


s: Vain is his hope, whose stay and trust is


s: Learn three-mile pray'rs an' half-mile graces,


s: Wi' weel-spread looves, and lang wry faces;


s: Ye'll some day squeal in quaking terror!


s: When Vengeance draws the sword in wrath,


s: Just frets 'till Heav'n commission gies him:


s: Still louder shrieks, and heavier groans!


s: I'm baith dead sweer, an' wretched ill o't;


s: Are blest with Fortune's smiles and favours,


s: While hopes, and joys, and pleasures fly him,


s: Then Sir, your hand--my friend and brother.


s: To tell the truth, they seldom fash't him,


s: Except the moment that they crush't him;


s: For sune as chance or fate had hush't 'em,


s: But, hark ye, friend! I charge you strictly


s: My shins, my lane, I there sit roastin',


s: Wi' hale breeks, saxpence, an' a bannock,


s: Tell them, frae me, wi' chiels be cautious,


s: For, faith, they'll aiblins fin' them fashious;


s: An' steer you seven miles south o' hell:


s: But first, before you see heaven's glory,


s: France, whither she had gone in search of health.]


s: Auld Truth hersel' might swear ye're fair,


s: Their hope--their stay--their darling youth,


s: Thous know'st the snares on ev'ry hand--


s: When soon or late they reach that coast,


s: Heaven spare you lang to kiss the breath


s: It was first printed in 1801, by Stewart.]


s: For lack o' thee, I leave this much-lov'd shore,


s: Never, perhaps, to greet old Scotland more.


s: "Thoughts, words, and deeds, the statute blames with reason;


s: But surely dreams were ne'er indicted treason."


s: Down pleasure's stream, wi' swelling sails,


s: realized and that the record was authentic?"]


s: Owre fast for thought, owre hot for rule,


s: Owre blate to seek, owre proud to snool,


s: Here pause--and, through the starting tear,


s: imagination." The Ettrick Shepherd, a judge of collies, says that


s: The first I'll name, they ca'd him Cæsar,


s: His hair, his size, his mouth, his lugs,


s: Nae tawted tyke, though e'er sae duddie,


s: And stroan't on stanes and hillocks wi' him.


s: Wi' social nose whyles snuff'd and snowkit,


s: Whyles mice and moudiewarts they howkit;


s: What sort o' life poor dogs like you have;


s: As lang's my tail, whare, through the steeks,


s: Frae morn to e'en its nought but toiling,


s: An' though the gentry first are stechin,


s: Wi' sauce, ragouts, and sic like trashtrie,


s: That's little short o' downright wastrie.


s: An' what poor cot-folk pit their painch in,


s: Trowth, Cæsar, whyles they're fash't eneugh


s: Like loss o' health, or want o' masters,


s: An' they maun starve o' cauld and hunger;


s: How huff'd, and cuff'd, and disrespeckit!


s: He'll stamp an' threaten, curse an' swear,


s: While they maun stan', wi' aspect humble,


s: They're no sae wretched's ane wad think;


s: Their grushie weans, an' faithfu' wives;


s: The prattling things are just their pride,


s: Love blinks, Wit slaps, an' social Mirth


s: The young anes rantin' thro' the house,--


s: For Britain's guid! guid faith, I doubt it!


s: For Britain's guid!--for her destruction


s: For thae frank, rantin', ramblin' billies,


s: Fient haet o' them's ill-hearted fellows;


s: The ne'er a bit they're ill to poor folk.


s: Sure great folk's life's a life o' pleasure?


s: Nae cauld or hunger e'er can steer them,


s: L--d, man, were ye but whyles whare I am,


s: They've nae sair wark to craze their banes,


s: In like proportion, less will hurt them.


s: Their days insipid, dull, an' tasteless;


s: Their nights unquiet, lang an' restless;


s: An' even their sports, their balls an' races,


s: Ae night they're mad wi' drink and wh-ring,


s: But hear their absent thoughts o' ither,


s: They're a' run deils an' jads thegither.


s: Whyles, o'er the wee bit cup an' platie,


s: Stake on a chance a farmer's stack-yard,


s: An' cheat like onie unhang'd blackguard.


s: Address to Edinburgh, 'Fair B----,' is the heavenly Miss Burnet,


s: Here wealth still swells the golden tide,


s: Their views enlarg'd, their liberal mind,


s: With awe-struck thought, and pitying tears,


s: Wild beats my heart to trace your steps,


s: Hail, thairm-inspirin', rattlin' Willie!


s: Though fortune's road be rough an' hilly


s: Hale be your heart! Hale be your fiddle!


s: Come wealth, come poortith, late or soon,


s: Heaven send your heart-strings ay in tune,


s: A sweeping, kindling, bauld strathspey--


s: But come, your hand, my careless brither,


s: We've faults and failings--granted clearly,


s: Eve's bonny squad, priests wyte them sheerly


s: But stilt, but still, I like them dearly--


s: But by yon moon!--and that's high swearin'--


s: An' trowth my rhymin' ware's nae treasure;


s: But when in Ayr, some half-hour's leisure,


s: Stewart, of Stair, are gratefully recorded.]


s: The simple Bard, rough at the rustic plough,


s: Learning his tuneful trade from ev'ry bough;


s: The chanting linnet, or the mellow thrush,


s: Hailing the setting sun, sweet, in the green thorn bush:


s: The soaring lark, the perching red-breast shrill,


s: Or deep-ton'd plovers, gray, wild-whistling o'er the hill;


s: Shall he, nurst in the peasant's lowly shed,


s: And train'd to arms in stern misfortune's field--


s: Shall he be guilty of their hireling crimes,


s: With all the venal soul of dedicating prose?


s: No! though his artless strains he rudely sings,


s: And throws his hand uncouthly o'er the strings,


s: He glows with all the spirit of the Bard,


s: Fame, honest fame, his great, his dear reward!


s: Still, if some patron's gen'rous care he trace,


s: Skill'd in the secret to bestow with grace;


s: When Ballantyne befriends his humble name,


s: And hands the rustic stranger up to fame,


s: With heart-felt throes his grateful bosom swells,


s: The godlike bliss, to give, alone excels.


s: 'Twas when the stacks get on their winter hap,


s: And thack and rape secure the toil-won crap;


s: Of coming Winter's biting, frosty breath;


s: The bees, rejoicing o'er their summer toils,


s: Unnumber'd buds, an' flow'rs delicious spoils,


s: Seal'd up with frugal care in massive waxen piles,


s: Are doom'd by man, that tyrant o'er the weak,


s: The death o' devils smoor'd wi' brimstone reek


s: The thundering guns are heard on ev'ry side,


s: The wounded coveys, reeling, scatter wide;


s: The feather'd field-mates, bound by Nature's tie,


s: Sires, mothers, children, in one carnage lie:


s: (What warm, poetic heart, but inly bleeds,


s: And execrates man's savage, ruthless deeds!)


s: Nae mair the flow'r in field or meadow springs;


s: Nae mair the grove with airy concert rings,


s: Except, perhaps, the robin's whistling glee,


s: Proud o' the height o' some bit half-lang tree:


s: Mild, calm, serene, wide spreads the noontide blaze,


s: While thick the gossamer waves wanton in the rays.


s: 'Twas in that season, when a simple bard,


s: Ae night, within the ancient brugh of Ayr,


s: By whim inspired, or haply prest wi' care,


s: He left his bed, and took his wayward rout,


s: And down by Simpson's wheel'd the left about:


s: (Whether impell'd by all-directing Fate,


s: He wander'd out he knew not where nor why)


s: The drowsy Dungeon-clock, had number'd two,


s: And Wallace Tow'r had sworn the fact was true:


s: The tide-swol'n Firth, with sullen sounding roar,


s: Through the still night dash'd hoarse along the shore.


s: All else was hush'd as Nature's closed e'e:


s: The silent moon shone high o'er tow'r and tree:


s: The chilly frost, beneath the silver beam,


s: Crept, gently-crusting, o'er the glittering stream.--


s: When, lo! on either hand the list'ning Bard,


s: The clanging sugh of whistling wings is heard;


s: Two dusky forms dart thro' the midnight air,


s: Swift as the gos drives on the wheeling hare;


s: Ane on th' Auld Brig his airy shape uprears,


s: The ither flutters o'er the rising piers:


s: The Sprites that owre the brigs of Ayr preside.


s: (That Bards are second-sighted is nae joke,


s: And ken the lingo of the sp'ritual folk;


s: Fays, Spunkies, Kelpies, a', they can explain them,


s: And ev'n the vera deils they brawly ken them.)


s: Auld Brig appear'd of ancient Pictish race,


s: He seem'd as he wi' Time had warstl'd lang,


s: Yet, teughly doure, he bade an unco bang.


s: In's hand five taper staves as smooth's a bead,


s: The Goth was stalking round with anxious search,


s: Spying the time-worn flaws in ev'ry arch;--


s: It chanc'd his new-come neebor took his e'e,


s: And e'en a vex'd and angry heart had he!


s: Wi' thieveless sneer to see his modish mien,


s: He, down the water, gies him this guid-e'en:--


s: I doubt na', frien', ye'll think ye're nae sheep-shank,


s: Ance ye were streekit o'er frae bank to bank!


s: Tho' faith, that day I doubt ye'll never see;


s: There'll be, if that date come, I'll wad a boddle,


s: Some fewer whigmeleeries in your noddle.


s: Auld Vandal, ye but show your little mense,


s: Just much about it wi' your scanty sense;


s: Will your poor, narrow foot-path of a street,


s: Where twa wheel-barrows tremble when they meet--


s: Your ruin'd formless bulk o' stane en' lime,


s: Compare wi' bonnie Brigs o' modern time?


s: There's men o' taste wou'd tak the Ducat-stream,


s: Tho' they should cast the vera sark and swim,


s: Ere they would grate their feelings wi' the view


s: Conceited gowk! puff'd up wi' windy pride!--


s: This mony a year I've stood the flood an' tide;


s: I'll be a Brig, when ye're a shapeless cairn!


s: But twa-three winters will inform ye better.


s: When heavy, dark, continued a'-day rains,


s: Wi' deepening deluges o'erflow the plains;


s: When from the hills where springs the brawling Coil,


s: Or stately Lugar's mossy fountains boil,


s: Or where the Greenock winds his moorland course,


s: Or haunted Garpal draws his feeble source,


s: Arous'd by blust'ring winds an' spotting thowes,


s: In mony a torrent down the snaw-broo rowes;


s: While crashing ice born on the roaring speat,


s: Sweeps dams, an' mills, an' brigs, a' to the gate;


s: And from Glenbuck, down to the Ratton-key,


s: Auld Ayr is just one lengthen'd tumbling sea--


s: Then down ye'll hurl, deil nor ye never rise!


s: And dash the gumlie jaups up to the pouring skies.


s: Fine Architecture, trowth, I needs must say't o't!


s: The L--d be thankit that we've tint the gate o't!


s: Gaunt, ghastly, ghaist-alluring edifices,


s: Hanging with threat'ning jut like precipices;


s: O'er-arching, mouldy, gloom-inspiring coves,


s: Supporting roofs fantastic, stony groves;


s: Windows and doors, in nameless sculpture drest,


s: Forms like some bedlam Statuary's dream,


s: Forms might be worshipp'd on the bended knee,


s: And still the second dread command be free,


s: Their likeness is not found on earth, in air, or sea.


s: Mansions that would disgrace the building taste


s: Or frosty maids forsworn the dear embrace;


s: Or cuifs of later times wha held the notion


s: That sullen gloom was sterling true devotion;


s: Fancies that our guid Brugh denies protection!


s: And soon may they expire, unblest with resurrection!


s: O ye, my dear-remember'd ancient yealings,


s: Were ye but here to share my wounded feelings!


s: Wha in the paths o' righteousness did toil ay;


s: Ye dainty Deacons and ye douce Conveeners,


s: To whom our moderns are but causey-cleaners:


s: Ye godly Councils wha hae blest this town;


s: Wha meekly gie your hurdies to the smiters;


s: And (what would now be strange) ye godly writers;


s: A' ye douce folk I've borne aboon the broo,


s: Were ye but here, what would ye say or do!


s: How would your spirits groan in deep vexation,


s: And, agonizing, curse the time and place


s: When ye begat the base, degen'rate race!


s: Nae langer rev'rend men, their country's glory,


s: In plain braid Scots hold forth a plain braid story!


s: Meet owre a pint, or in the council-house;


s: But staumrel, corky-headed, graceless gentry,


s: Men, three parts made by tailors and by barbers,


s: Wha waste your weel-hain'd gear on d--d new Brigs and Harbours!


s: Now haud you there! for faith ye've said enough,


s: And muckle mair than ye can mak to through;


s: As for your Priesthood, I shall say but little,


s: Corbies and Clergy, are a shot right kittle:


s: Abuse o' Magistrates might weel be spar'd:


s: In Ayr, wag-wits nae mair can have a handle


s: To mouth 'a citizen,' a term o' scandal;


s: Nae mair the Council waddles down the street,


s: Men wha grew wise priggin' owre hops an' raisins,


s: Or gather'd lib'ral views in bonds and seisins,


s: Had shor'd them with a glimmer of his lamp,


s: And would to Common-sense for once betray'd them,


s: Plain, dull Stupidity stept kindly in to aid them


s: What farther clishmaclaver might been said,


s: What bloody wars, if Spirites had blood to shed,


s: No man can tell; but all before their sight,


s: Adown the glitt'ring stream they featly danc'd;


s: Bright to the moon their various dresses glanc'd:


s: They footed owre the wat'ry glass so neat,


s: The infant ice scarce bent beneath their feet:


s: While arts of minstrelsy among them rung,


s: And soul-ennobling bards heroic ditties sung.--


s: O had M'Lauchlan, thairm-inspiring Sage,


s: Been there to hear this heavenly band engage,


s: When thro' his dear strathspeys they bore with highland rage;


s: Or when they struck old Scotia's melting airs,


s: The lover's raptur'd joys or bleeding cares;


s: How would his highland lug been nobler fir'd,


s: And ev'n his matchless hand with finer touch inspir'd!


s: No guess could tell what instrument appear'd,


s: But all the soul of Music's self was heard,


s: While simple melody pour'd moving on the heart.


s: The Genius of the stream in front appears,


s: His hoary head with water-lilies crown'd,


s: Next came the loveliest pair in all the ring,


s: Sweet Female Beauty hand in hand with Spring;


s: Then, crown'd with flow'ry hay, came Rural Joy,


s: And Summer, with his fervid-beaming eye:


s: All-cheering Plenty, with her flowing horn,


s: Led yellow Autumn, wreath'd with nodding corn;


s: Then Winter's time-bleach'd looks did hoary show,


s: Next follow'd Courage, with his martial stride,


s: From where the Feal wild woody coverts hide;


s: A female form, came from the tow'rs of Stair:


s: Learning and Worth in equal measures trode


s: From simple Catrine, their long-lov'd abode:


s: Last, white-rob'd Peace, crown'd with a hazel wreath,


s: At sight of whom our Sprites forgat their kindling wrath.


s: Lone on the bleaky hills the straying flocks


s: Shun the fierce storms among the sheltering rocks;


s: Down from the rivulets, red with dashing rains,


s: The gathering floods burst o'er the distant plains;


s: Beneath the blasts the leafless forests groan;


s: Ye hills, ye plains, ye forests and ye caves,


s: Ye howling winds, and wintry swelling waves!


s: Where to the whistling blast and waters' roar


s: Pale Scotia's recent wound I may deplore.


s: O heavy loss, thy country ill could bear!


s: A loss these evil days can ne'er repair!


s: Justice, the high vicegerent of her God,


s: Her doubtful balance ey'd, and sway'd her rod;


s: Wrongs, injuries, from many a darksome den,


s: Now gay in hope explore the paths of men:


s: See from this cavern grim Oppression rise,


s: Keen on the helpless victim see him fly,


s: And stifle, dark, the feebly-bursting cry:


s: Mark ruffian Violence, distain'd with crimes,


s: Rousing elate in these degenerate times;


s: As guileful Fraud points out the erring way:


s: While subtile Litigation's pliant tongue


s: The life-blood equal sucks of Right and Wrong:


s: Hark, injur'd Want recounts th' unlisten'd tale,


s: And much-wrong'd Mis'ry pours th' unpitied wail!


s: Ye dark waste hills, and brown unsightly plains,


s: To you I sing my grief-inspired strains:


s: Ye tempests, rage! ye turbid torrents, roll!


s: Life's social haunts and pleasures I resign,


s: Be nameless wilds and lonely wanderings mine,


s: To mourn the woes my country must endure,


s: And Sackville dour, wha stood the stoure,


s: Saint Stephen's boys, wi' jarring noise,


s: Then clubs an' hearts were Charlie's cartes,


s: Behind the throne then Grenville's gone,


s: An' Chatham's wraith, in heavenly graith,


s: But, word an' blow, North, Fox, and Co.,


s: Till Suthron raise, and coost their claise


s: An' swoor fu' rude, thro' dirt an' blood


s: Than 'twixt Hal and Bob for the famous job--


s: Which shows that heaven can boil the pot,


s: Chose one who should owe it all, d'ye see,


s: Curse on ungrateful man, that can be pleas'd,


s: And yet can starve the author of the pleasure!


s: Yet has so keen a relish of its pleasures?


s: When by a generous Public's kind acclaim,


s: That dearest meed is granted--honest fame;


s: When _here_ your favour is the actor's lot,


s: Nor even the _man_ in _private life_ forgot;


s: What breast so dead to heavenly virtue's glow,


s: But heaves impassion'd with the grateful throe?


s: Poor is the task to please a barbarous throng,


s: It needs no Siddons' powers in Southerne's song;


s: For genius, learning high, as great in war--


s: Before whose sons I'm honoured to appear!


s: That can inform the mind, or mend the heart,


s: Is known; as grateful nations oft have found


s: Far as the rude barbarian marks the bound.


s: Here holds her search by heaven-taught Reason's beam;


s: Here History paints, with elegance and force,


s: The tide of Empires' fluctuating course;


s: Here Douglas forms wild Shakspeare into plan,


s: When well-form'd taste and sparkling wit unite,


s: With manly lore, or female beauty bright,


s: (Beauty, where faultless symmetry and grace,


s: Witness my heart, how oft with panting fear,


s: As on this night, I've met these judges here!


s: But still the hope Experience taught to live,


s: Equal to judge--you're candid to forgive.


s: Nor Insolence assumes fair Freedom's name;


s: O Thou dread Power! whose Empire-giving hand


s: Has oft been stretch'd to shield the honour'd land!


s: Strong may she glow with all her ancient fire:


s: At Tyranny's, or direr Pleasure's chain;


s: Still self-dependent in her native shore,


s: Bold may she brave grim Danger's loudest roar,


s: Till Fate the curtain drop on worlds to be no more.


s: A little, upright, pert, tart, tripping wight,


s: And still his precious self his dear delight;


s: Who loves his own smart shadow in the streets


s: Better than e'er the fairest she he meets:


s: A man of fashion, too, he made his tour,


s: Learn'd vive la bagatelle, et vive l'amour:


s: So travell'd monkeys their grimace improve,


s: Polish their grin, nay, sigh for ladies' love.


s: Much specious lore, but little understood;


s: His solid sense--by inches you must tell.


s: But mete his cunning by the old Scots ell;


s: Still making work his selfish craft must mend.


s: Down droops her ance weel-burnisht crest,


s: May mourn their loss wi' doofu' clamour;


s: Poor Burns--e'en Scotch drink canna quicken,


s: picturesque; and their effect, when Burns visited them, was much


s: impaired by want of shrubs and trees. This was in 1787: the poet,


s: injunction: the picturesque points are now crowned with thriving


s: woods, and the beauty of the Falls is much increased.]


s: They're left the whitening stanes amang,


s: He'll shade my banks wi' tow'ring trees,


s: The blackbird strong, the lintwhite clear,


s: The flow'rs shall vie in all their charms


s: William Murray, of Ochtertyre, during one of his Highland tours.


s: These northern scenes with weary feet I trace;


s: O'er many a winding dale and painful steep,


s: Th' abodes of covey'd grouse and timid sheep,


s: 'Till fam'd Breadalbane opens to my view.--


s: The meeting cliffs each deep-sunk glen divides,


s: The woods, wild scatter'd, clothe their ample sides;


s: Th' outstretching lake, embosom'd 'mong the hills,


s: The eye with wonder and amazement fills;


s: The Tay, meand'ring sweet in infant pride,


s: The lawns, wood-fring'd in Nature's native taste;


s: The hillocks, dropt in Nature's careless haste;


s: The arches, striding o'er the new-born stream;


s: The village, glittering in the noontide beam--


s: Lone wand'ring by the hermit's mossy cell:


s: Th' incessant roar of headlong tumbling floods--


s: Here Poesy might wake her heav'n-taught lyre,


s: And look through Nature with creative fire;


s: Here, to the wrongs of fate half reconcil'd,


s: Misfortune's lighten'd steps might wander wild;


s: And Disappointment, in these lonely bounds,


s: Find balm to soothe her bitter--rankling wounds:


s: Here heart-struck Grief might heav'nward stretch her scan,


s: And injur'd Worth forget and pardon man.


s: The roaring Fyers pours his mossy floods;


s: Till full he dashes on the rocky mounds,


s: Where, thro' a shapeless breach, his stream resounds,


s: As high in air the bursting torrents flow,


s: Prone down the rock the whitening sheet descends,


s: And viewless Echo's ear, astonish'd, rends.


s: Dim seen, through rising mists and ceaseless show'rs,


s: The hoary cavern, wide surrounding, low'rs.


s: Still thro' the gap the struggling river toils,


s: And still below, the horrid cauldron boils--


s: A name, which to love, was once mark of a true heart,


s: Tho' something like moisture conglobes in my eye,


s: A poor friendless wand'rer may well claim a sigh,


s: Still more, if that wand'rer were royal.


s: My fathers that name have rever'd on a throne,


s: Those fathers would spurn their degenerate son,


s: That name should he scoffingly slight it.


s: Still in prayers for King George I most heartily join,


s: Be they wise, be they foolish, is nothing of mine;


s: But why of that epocha make such a fuss,


s: But loyalty truce! we're on dangerous ground,


s: The doctrine, to-day, that is loyalty sound,


s: I send you a trifle, the head of a bard,


s: But accept it, good Sir, as a mark of regard,


s: Now life's chilly evening dim shades on your eye,


s: But you, like the star that athwart gilds the sky,


s: Round Peace, the tenderest flower of Spring;


s: Life's proud summits would'st thou scale?


s: On all thou'st seen, and heard, and wrought;


s: Your news and review, Sir, I've read through and through, Sir,


s: The papers are barren of home-news or foreign,


s: Our friends, the reviewers, those chippers and hewers,


s: But of _meet_ or _unmeet_ in a _fabric complete_,


s: I'll boldly pronounce they are none, Sir.


s: My goose-quill too rude is to tell all your goodness


s: Would to God I had one like a beam of the sun,


s: And then all the world, Sir, should know it!


s: qualified himself; and as he began to dread that farming would be


s: When Nature her great master-piece designed,


s: And fram'd her last, best work, the human mind,


s: She form'd of various parts the various man.


s: Then first she calls the useful many forth;


s: Plain plodding industry, and sober worth:


s: Thence peasants, farmers, native sons of earth,


s: And merchandise' whole genus take their birth:


s: Each prudent cit a warm existence finds,


s: The lead and buoy are needful to the net;


s: Makes a material for mere knights and squires;


s: The martial phosphorus is taught to flow,


s: She kneads the lumpish philosophic dough,


s: Then marks th' unyielding mass with grave designs,


s: Law, physic, politics, and deep divines:


s: Last, she sublimes th' Aurora of the poles,


s: The order'd system fair before her stood,


s: Nature, well pleas'd, pronounc'd it very good;


s: Half-jest, she tried one curious labour more.


s: Some spumy, fiery, _ignis fatuus_ matter,


s: Such as the slightest breath of air might scatter;


s: (Nature may have her whim as well as we,


s: Her Hogarth-art perhaps she meant to show it)


s: She forms the thing, and christens it--a Poet.


s: Creature, tho' oft the prey of care and sorrow,


s: When blest to-day, unmindful of to-morrow.


s: A being form'd t'amuse his graver friends,


s: Admir'd and prais'd--and there the homage ends:


s: A mortal quite unfit for fortune's strife,


s: Yet oft the sport of all the ills of life;


s: Prone to enjoy each pleasure riches give,


s: Longing to wipe each tear, to heal each groan,


s: She laugh'd at first, then felt for her poor work.


s: Pitying the propless climber of mankind,


s: And, to support his helpless woodbine state,


s: Attach'd him to the generous truly great,


s: To lay strong hold for help on bounteous Graham.


s: Weak, timid landsmen on life's stormy main!


s: Their hearts no selfish stern absorbent stuff,


s: That never gives--tho' humbly takes enough;


s: The little fate allows, they share as soon,


s: Unlike sage proverb'd wisdom's hard-wrung boon.


s: The world were blest did bliss on them depend,


s: Ah, that "the friendly e'er should want a friend!"


s: Let prudence number o'er each sturdy son


s: Who feel by reason and who give by rule,


s: (Instinct's a brute, and sentiment a fool!)


s: Who make poor _will do_ wait upon _I should_--


s: We own they're prudent, but who feels they're good?


s: Ye wise ones, hence! ye hurt the social eye!


s: God's image rudely etch'd on base alloy!


s: But come ye who the godlike pleasure know,


s: Heaven's attribute distinguished--to bestow!


s: Whose arms of love would grasp the human race:


s: Come thou who giv'st with all a courtier's grace;


s: Friend of my life, true patron of my rhymes!


s: Prop of my dearest hopes for future times.


s: Why shrinks my soul half blushing, half afraid,


s: Backward, abash'd to ask thy friendly aid?


s: I crave thy friendship at thy kind command;


s: But there are such who court the tuneful nine--


s: Heavens! should the branded character be mine!


s: Whose verse in manhood's pride sublimely flows,


s: Yet vilest reptiles in their begging prose.


s: Mark, how their lofty independent spirit


s: Soars on the spurning wing of injur'd merit!


s: Seek not the proofs in private life to find;


s: Pity the best of words should be but wind!


s: So to heaven's gates the lark's shrill song ascends,


s: But grovelling on the earth the carol ends.


s: In all the clam'rous cry of starving want,


s: They dun benevolence with shameless front;


s: Oblige them, patronize their tinsel lays,


s: They persecute you all your future days!


s: Ere my poor soul such deep damnation stain,


s: The pie-bald jacket let me patch once more;


s: On eighteen-pence a week I've liv'd before.


s: Tho', thanks to Heaven, I dare even that last shift!


s: I trust, meantime, my boon is in thy gift:


s: That, plac'd by thee upon the wish'd-for height,


s: Where, man and nature fairer in her sight,


s: My muse may imp her wing for some sublimer flight.


s: The lamp of day, with ill-presaging glare,


s: Dim, cloudy, sunk beneath the western wave;


s: Th' inconstant blast howl'd thro' the darkening air,


s: Lone as I wander'd by each cliff and dell,


s: Once the lov'd haunts of Scotia's royal train;


s: Or mus'd where limpid streams once hallow'd well,


s: Or mould'ring ruins mark the sacred fane.


s: Th' increasing blast roared round the beetling rocks,


s: The clouds, swift-wing'd, flew o'er the starry sky,


s: The groaning trees untimely shed their locks,


s: And shooting meteors caught the startled eye.


s: And 'mong the cliffs disclos'd a stately form,


s: In weeds of woe that frantic beat her breast,


s: And mix'd her wailings with the raving storm.


s: Wild to my heart the filial pulses glow,


s: 'Twas Caledonia's trophied shield I view'd:


s: Her form majestic droop'd in pensive woe,


s: The lightning of her eye in tears imbued.


s: Revers'd that spear, redoubtable in war,


s: Reclined that banner, erst in fields unfurl'd,


s: That like a deathful meteor gleam'd afar,


s: And brav'd the mighty monarchs of the world.--


s: "My patriot son fills an untimely grave!"


s: With accents wild and lifted arms--she cried;


s: "Low lies the hand that oft was stretch'd to save,


s: Low lies the heart that swell'd with honest pride.


s: "A weeping country joins a widow's tear,


s: The helpless poor mix with the orphan's cry;


s: The drooping arts surround their patron's bier,


s: And grateful science heaves the heart-felt sigh!


s: "I saw my sons resume their ancient fire;


s: I saw fair freedom's blossoms richly blow:


s: Relentless fate has laid their guardian low.


s: "My patriot falls, but shall he lie unsung,


s: While empty greatness saves a worthless name!


s: No; every muse shall join her tuneful tongue,


s: "And I will join a mother's tender cares,


s: Thro' future times to make his virtues last;


s: That distant years may boast of other Blairs!"--


s: She said, and vanish'd with the sweeping blast.


s: In this strange land, this uncouth clime,


s: Where words ne'er crost the muse's heckles,


s: Except when drunk he stacher't thro' it,


s: For life and spunk like ither Christians,


s: While tears hap o'er her auld brown nose!


s: Thou bure the bard through many a shire?


s: Would take _His_ hand, whose vernal tints


s: reflects a distinct image of those yeasty times.]


s: E'en let them die--for that they're born,


s: The tither's something dour o' treadin',


s: But better stuff ne'er claw'd a midden--


s: Nae hand-cuff'd, mizl'd, hap-shackl'd Regent,


s: Ill har'sts, daft bargains, cutty-stools,


s: Where'er that place be priests ca' hell,


s: Thou, Toothache, surely bear'st the bell


s: Aught of Humanity's sweet melting grace?


s: See these hands, ne'er stretch'd to save,


s: Lo, there she goes, unpitied and unblest


s: She goes, but not to realms of everlasting rest!


s: Seest thou whose step, unwilling hither bends?


s: No fallen angel, hurl'd from upper skies;


s: While down the wretched vital part is driv'n!


s: The cave-lodg'd beggar, with a conscience clear,


s: Expires in rags, unknown, and goes to Heav'n.


s: How wisdom and folly meet, mix, and unite;


s: How virtue and vice blend their black and their white;


s: How genius, th' illustrious father of fiction,


s: Confounds rule and law, reconciles contradiction--


s: I sing: if these mortals, the critics, should bustle,


s: I care not, not I--let the critics go whistle!


s: But now for a patron, whose name and whose glory


s: At once may illustrate and honour my story.


s: Thou first of our orators, first of our wits;


s: Yet whose parts and acquirements seem mere lucky hits;


s: With knowledge so vast, and with judgment so strong,


s: No man with the half of 'em e'er went far wrong;


s: With passions so potent, and fancies so bright,


s: No man with the half of 'em e'er went quite right;--


s: A sorry, poor misbegot son of the muses,


s: For using thy name offers fifty excuses.


s: Good L--d, what is man? for as simple he looks,


s: Do but try to develope his hooks and his crooks;


s: With his depths and his shallows, his good and his evil,


s: All in all he's a problem must puzzle the devil.


s: On his one ruling passion Sir Pope hugely labours,


s: That, like th' old Hebrew walking-switch, eats up its neighbours;


s: Pull the string, ruling passion the picture will show him.


s: What pity, in rearing so beauteous a system,


s: One trifling particular, truth, should have miss'd him;


s: For spite of his fine theoretic positions,


s: Mankind is a science defies definitions.


s: Some sort all our qualities each to its tribe,


s: And think human nature they truly describe;


s: Have you found this, or t'other? there's more in the wind,


s: As by one drunken fellow his comrades you'll find.


s: But such is the flaw, or the depth of the plan,


s: In the make of that wonderful creature, call'd man,


s: No two virtues, whatever relation they claim,


s: Nor even two different shades of the same,


s: Though like as was ever twin brother to brother,


s: Possessing the one shall imply you've the other.


s: But truce with abstraction, and truce with a muse,


s: Whose rhymes you'll perhaps, Sir, ne'er deign to peruse:


s: Will you leave your justings, your jars, and your quarrels,


s: Contending with Billy for proud-nodding laurels.


s: My much-honour'd Patron, believe your poor poet,


s: Your courage much more than your prudence you show it;


s: In vain with Squire Billy, for laurels you struggle,


s: He'll have them by fair trade, if not, he will smuggle;


s: Not cabinets even of kings would conceal 'em,


s: He'd up the back-stairs, and by G--he would steal 'em.


s: Then feats like Squire Billy's you ne'er can achieve 'em;


s: It is not, outdo him, the task is, out-thieve him.


s: Inhuman man! curse on thy barb'rous art,


s: Go live, poor wanderer of the wood and field!


s: No more the thickening brakes and verdant plains


s: To thee shall home, or food, or pastime yield.


s: Seek, mangled wretch, some place of wonted rest,


s: The sheltering rushes whistling o'er thy head,


s: The cold earth with thy bloody bosom prest.


s: The sober eve, or hail the cheerful dawn;


s: I'll miss thee sporting o'er the dewy lawn,


s: And curse the ruffian's aim, and mourn thy hapless fate.


s: Lowp, sing, and lave your pretty limbies,


s: They maun hae brose and brats o' duddies;


s: Ye ken yoursels my heart right proud is--


s: But I'll sned besoms--thraw saugh woodies,


s: (I'm scant o' verse, and scant o' time,)


s: No envious cloud o'ercast his evening ray;


s: No wrinkle furrowed by the hand of care,


s: Nor ever daughter give the mother pain."


s: No song nor dance I bring from yon great city


s: That queens it o'er our taste--the more's the pity:


s: Tho', by-the-by, abroad why will you roam?


s: Good sense and taste are natives here at home:


s: Old Father Time deputes me here before ye,


s: Not for to preach, but tell his simple story:


s: The sage grave ancient cough'd, and bade me say,


s: "You're one year older this important day."


s: If wiser too--he hinted some suggestion,


s: But 'twould be rude, you know, to ask the question;


s: And with a would-be roguish leer and wink,


s: He bade me on you press this one word--"think!"


s: Ye sprightly youths, quite flushed with hope and spirit,


s: Who think to storm the world by dint of merit,


s: In his sly, dry, sententious, proverb way;


s: He bids you mind, amid your thoughtless rattle,


s: That the first blow is ever half the battle:


s: That tho' some by the skirt may try to snatch him,


s: Yet by the forelock is the hold to catch him;


s: That whether doing, suffering, or forbearing,


s: Last, tho' not least in love, ye youthful fair,


s: Angelic forms, high Heaven's peculiar care!


s: To yon old Bald-pate smooths his wrinkled brow,


s: And humbly begs you'll mind the important NOW!


s: To crown your happiness he asks your leave,


s: And offers bliss to give and to receive.


s: For our sincere, tho' haply weak endeavours,


s: With grateful pride we own your many favours,


s: And howsoe'er our tongues may ill reveal it,


s: Believe our glowing bosoms truly feel it.


s: What needs this din about the town o' Lon'on,


s: How this new play an' that new sang is comin'?


s: Why is outlandish stuff sae meikle courted?


s: Does nonsense mend like whiskey, when imported?


s: Is there nae poet, burning keen for fame,


s: Will try to gie us songs and plays at hame?


s: A fool and knave are plants of every soil;


s: Nor need he hunt as far as Rome and Greece


s: There's themes enough in Caledonian story,


s: Would show the tragic muse in a' her glory.


s: Is there no daring bard will rise, and tell


s: How glorious Wallace stood, how hapless fell?


s: Where are the muses fled that could produce


s: How here, even here, he first unsheath'd the sword,


s: 'Gainst mighty England and her guilty lord,


s: And after mony a bloody, deathless doing,


s: Wrench'd his dear country from the jaws of ruin?


s: To draw the lovely, hapless Scottish Queen!


s: Vain all th' omnipotence of female charms


s: 'Gainst headlong, ruthless, mad Rebellion's arms.


s: She fell, but fell with spirit truly Roman,


s: A woman--tho' the phrase may seem uncivil--


s: One Douglas lives in Home's immortal page,


s: And tho' your fathers, prodigal of life,


s: A Douglas follow'd to the martial strife,


s: Perhaps if bowls row right, and right succeeds,


s: Ye yet may follow where a Douglas leads!


s: Would take the muses' servants by the hand;


s: Not only hear, but patronize, befriend them,


s: And where ye justly can commend, commend them;


s: And aiblins when they winna stand the test,


s: Wink hard, and say the folks hae done their best!


s: Would a' the land do this, then I'll be caution


s: Ye'll soon hae poets o' the Scottish nation,


s: Will gar fame blaw until her trumpet crack,


s: And warsle time, on' lay him on his back!


s: For us and for our stage should ony spier,


s: "Whose aught thae chiels maks a' this bustle here!"


s: My best leg foremost, I'll set up my brow,


s: We're your ain bairns, e'en guide us as ye like,


s: But like good withers, shore before ye strike.--


s: And gratefu' still I hope ye'll ever find us,


s: For a' the patronage and meikle kindness


s: We've got frae a' professions, sets, and ranks:


s: God help us! we're but poor--ye'se get but thanks.


s: afterwards married to Robert Glasgow, Esq. Another of the Dunlops


s: General. They were a gallant race, and all distinguished.]


s: This day, Time winds th' exhausted chain,


s: That grandchild's cap will do to-morrow--


s: And what is this day's strong suggestion?


s: Since then, my honour'd, first of friends,


s: Tho' you, with days and honours crown'd,


s: How guess'd ye, Sir, what maist I wanted?


s: This mony a day I've grain'd and gaunted,


s: To ken what French mischief was brewin';


s: How cut-throat Prussian blades were hingin';


s: How royal George, the Lord leuk o'er him!


s: How cesses, stents, and fees were rax'd,


s: Pimps, sharpers, bawds, and opera girls;


s: So, gratefu', back your news I send you,


s: And pray, a' guid things may attend you!


s: Let me sound an alarm to your conscience:


s: For the foul thief is just at your gate.


s: He has cooper'd and cawd a wrang pin in't.


s: Ye but smelt, man, the place where he ----.


s: And the book not the waur, let me tell ye;


s: And ye'll ha'e a calf's head o' sma' value.


s: If ye'll meddle nae mair wi' the matter,


s: And your friends they dae grunt you nae mair.


s: And your skulls are storehouses o' lead.


s: Cromek calls it, "A silly satire, on some worthy ministers of the


s: Let me sound an alarm to your conscience--


s: That what is not sense must be nonsense,


s: That what is not sense must be nonsense.


s: And your skulls are a storehouse of lead,


s: And your skulls are a storehouse of lead.


s: And the book nought the waur--let me tell you;


s: And ye'll hae a calf's-head o' sma' value,


s: And ye'll hae a calf's-head o' sma' value.


s: Wi' your "liberty's chain" and your wit;


s: He has cooper'd and ca'd a wrong pin in't,


s: He has cooper'd and ca'd a wrong pin in't.


s: It's a sign they're no nice o' recruits,


s: And your friends daurna say ye hae mair,


s: And your friends daurna say ye hae mair.


s: (1759) and afterwards well known and much esteemed in the town of


s: And like stock-fish come o'er his studdie


s: He's gane! he's gane! he's frae us torn,


s: Thee, Matthew, Nature's sel' shall mourn


s: Ye cliffs, the haunts of sailing yearns,


s: Come join, ye Nature's sturdiest bairns,


s: At ev'n, when beans their fragrance shed


s: An' mourn, ye whirring paitrick brood!--


s: Mourn, clam'ring craiks, at close o' day,


s: Mourn, spring, thou darling of the year!


s: Mourn him, thou sun, great source of light!


s: For through your orbs he's ta'en his flight,


s: remembered, the Whig interest prevailed.]


s: "And mony a friend that kiss'd his caup,


s: But it's ne'er be sae wi' whiskey Jean,--


s: "The auld gudeman, or the young gudeman,


s: "For fools will prate o' right and wrang,


s: But he'll sair them, as he sair'd the King,


s: Th' unmanner'd dust might soil his star;


s: While he, all-conquering, play'd his part


s: And Welsh, who ne'er yet flinch'd his ground,


s: What verse can sing, what prose narrate,


s: Grim Horror grinn'd--pale Terror roar'd,


s: Lo, from the shades of Death's deep night,


s: (Forgive, forgive, much-wrong'd Montrose!


s: Not Pulteney's wealth can Pulteney save!


s: Wi' deils, they say, L--d save's! colleaguin'


s: Ilk ghaist that haunts auld ha' or chaumer,


s: And you deep read in hell's black grammar,


s: And parritch-pats, and auld saut-backets,


s: Auld Tubal-Cain's fire-shool and fender;


s: But please transmit the enclosed letter,


s: "Of brownys and of bogilis full is this buke."


s: Gathering her brows like gathering storm,


s: A blethering, blustering, drunken blellum;


s: That at the Lord's house, ev'n on Sunday,


s: Thou would be found deep drown'd in Doon;


s: The night drave on wi' sangs an' clatter;


s: The storm without might rair and rustle--


s: As bees flee hame wi' lades o' treasure,


s: The minutes wing'd their way wi' pleasure:


s: Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious,


s: You seize the flow'r, its bloom is shed;


s: That flit ere you can point their place;


s: That hour, o' night's black arch the key-stane,


s: That dreary hour he mounts his beast in;


s: The speedy gleams the darkness swallow'd;


s: Loud, deep, and lang the thunder bellow'd:


s: Whiles holding fast his guid blue bonnet;


s: Whiles crooning o'er some auld Scots sonnet;


s: Whiles glow'ring round wi' prudent cares,


s: Whare ghaists and houlets nightly cry.--


s: The doubling storm roars thro' the woods;


s: When, glimmering thro' the groaning trees,


s: Thro' ilka bore the beams were glancing;


s: The swats sae ream'd in Tammie's noddle,


s: But hornpipes, jigs, strathspeys, and reels,


s: He screw'd the pipes and gart them skirl,


s: That shaw'd the dead in their last dresses;


s: Twa span-lang, wee, unchristen'd bairns;


s: The mirth and fun grew fast and furious:


s: They reel'd, they set, they cross'd, they cleekit,


s: Their sarks, instead o' creeshie flannen,


s: That ance were plush, o' guid blue hair,


s: But Tam kenn'd what was what fu' brawlie,


s: Wi' twa pund Scots ('twas a' her riches),


s: Even Satan glowr'd, and fidg'd fu' fain,


s: And hotch'd and blew wi' might and main:


s: When plundering herds assail their byke;


s: When, pop! she starts before their nose;


s: Wi' mony an eldritch screech and hollow.


s: Ah, Tam! Ah, Tam! thou'll get thy fairin'!


s: In hell they'll roast thee like a herrin'!


s: Three lawyers' tongues turn'd inside out,


s: And priests' hearts rotten black as muck,


s: mention to the benighted traveller, that when he falls in with


s: to his friend Rankine of Adam Hill, in Ayrshire.]


s: Long life, my Lord, an' health be yours,


s: They'll mak' what rules and laws they please;


s: May set their Highland bluid a ranklin';


s: When by such heads and hearts directed--


s: Nae sage North, now, nor sager Sackville,


s: To watch and premier o'er the pack vile,


s: An' whare will ye get Howes and Clintons


s: But what your lordship likes to gie them?


s: Your factors, grieves, trustees, and bailies,


s: Yet while they're only poind't and herriet,


s: They'll keep their stubborn Highland spirit;


s: But smash them! crash them a' to spails!


s: The young dogs, swinge them to the labour;


s: The hizzies, if they're aughtlins fawsont,


s: The langest thong, the fiercest growler,


s: Winifred gave him a valuable snuff-box, with the portrait of the


s: unfortunate Mary on the lid. The bed still keeps its place in


s: Nor th' balm that draps on wounds of woe


s: And where thou meet'st thy mother's friend


s: And the next flow'rs that deck the spring


s: 'And blew on the whistle his requiem shrill.'


s: I sing of a whistle, a whistle of worth,


s: I sing of a whistle, the pride of the North,


s: Was brought to the court of our good Scottish king,


s: And long with this whistle all Scotland shall ring.


s: Old Loda, still rueing the arm of Fingal,


s: The god of the bottle sends down from his hall--


s: "This whistle's your challenge--to Scotland get o'er,


s: And drink them to hell, Sir! or ne'er see me more!"


s: Old poets have sung, and old chronicles tell,


s: What champions ventur'd, what champions fell;


s: The son of great Loda was conqueror still,


s: And blew on his whistle his requiem shrill.


s: Unmatch'd at the bottle, unconquer'd in war,


s: He drank his poor godship as deep as the sea,


s: No tide of the Baltic e'er drunker than he.


s: Thus Robert, victorious, the trophy has gain'd;


s: Which now in his house has for ages remain'd;


s: Till three noble chieftains, and all of his blood,


s: Three joyous good fellows, with hearts clear of flaw;


s: Craigdarroch, so famous for wit, worth, and law;


s: And trusty Glenriddel, so skill'd in old coins;


s: And gallant Sir Robert, deep-read in old wines.


s: Craigdarroch began, with a tongue smooth as oil,


s: Desiring Glenriddel to yield up the spoil;


s: Or else he would muster the heads of the clan,


s: And once more, in claret, try which was the man.


s: "By the gods of the ancients!" Glenriddel replies,


s: "Before I surrender so glorious a prize,


s: I'll conjure the ghost of the great Rorie More,


s: And bumper his horn with him twenty times o'er."


s: Sir Robert, a soldier, no speech would pretend,


s: But he ne'er turn'd his back on his foe--or his friend,


s: Said, toss down the whistle, the prize of the field,


s: And, knee-deep in claret, he'd die or he'd yield.


s: To the board of Glenriddel our heroes repair,


s: So noted for drowning of sorrow and care;


s: Bur for wine and for welcome not more known to fame


s: Than the sense, wit, and taste of a sweet lovely dame.


s: A bard was selected to witness the fray,


s: And tell future ages the feats of the day;


s: A bard who detested all sadness and spleen,


s: And wish'd that Parnassus a vineyard had been.


s: The dinner being over, the claret they ply,


s: And ev'ry new cork is a new spring of joy;


s: In the bands of old friendship and kindred so set,


s: And the bands grew the tighter the more they were wet.


s: Gay Pleasure ran riot as bumpers ran o'er;


s: Bright Phoebus ne'er witness'd so joyous a core,


s: And vow'd that to leave them he was quite forlorn,


s: Till Cynthia hinted he'd find them next morn.


s: Six bottles a-piece had well wore out the night,


s: When gallant Sir Robert, to finish the fight,


s: Turn'd o'er in one bumper a bottle of red,


s: And swore 'twas the way that their ancestor did.


s: Then worthy Glenriddel, so cautions and sage,


s: No longer the warfare, ungodly, would wage;


s: He left the foul business to folks less divine.


s: The gallant Sir Robert fought hard to the end;


s: But who can with fate and quart-bumpers contend?


s: Though fate said--a hero shall perish in light;


s: So up rose bright Phoebus--and down fell the knight.


s: Next up rose our bard, like a prophet in drink;--


s: "Craigdarroch, thou'lt soar when creation shall sink;


s: But if thou would flourish immortal in rhyme,


s: Come--one bottle more--and have at the sublime!


s: "Thy line, that have struggled for freedom with Bruce,


s: So thine be the laurel, and mine be the bay;


s: The field thou hast won, by yon bright god of day!"


s: consumption, when only twenty-five years old." Her name was


s: As Burnet, lovely from her native skies;


s: Nor envious death so triumph'd in a blow,


s: As that which laid th' accomplish'd Burnet low.


s: Thy form and mind, sweet maid, can I forget?


s: In thee, high Heaven above was truest shown,


s: As by his noblest work, the Godhead best is known.


s: In vain ye flaunt in summer's pride, ye groves;


s: Thou crystal streamlet with thy flowery shore,


s: Ye woodland choir that chant your idle loves,


s: Ye heathy wastes, immix'd with reedy fens;


s: Ye mossy streams, with sedge and rushes stor'd;


s: Ye rugged cliffs, o'erhanging dreary glens,


s: Princes, whose cumb'rous pride was all their worth,


s: Shall venal lays their pompous exit hail?


s: And thou, sweet excellence! forsake our earth,


s: We saw thee shine in youth and beauty's pride,


s: And virtue's light, that beams beyond the spheres;


s: But like the sun eclips'd at morning tide,


s: Thou left'st us darkling in a world of tears.


s: The parent's heart that nestled fond in thee,


s: That heart how sunk, a prey to grief and care;


s: So leck'd the woodbine sweet yon aged tree;


s: So from it ravish'd, leaves it bleak and bare.


s: connected with the History of Scotland, from the days of Malcolm


s: Whose trunk was mould'ring down with years;


s: His locks were bleached white with time,


s: Nae leaf o' mine shall greet the spring,


s: His country's pride! his country's stay--


s: Though brought from fortune's mirkest gloom.


s: Thou, who thy honour as thy God rever'st,


s: Who, save thy mind's reproach, nought earthly fear'st,


s: The friend thou valuedst, I, the patron, lov'd;


s: His worth, his honour, all the world approv'd,


s: We'll mourn till we too go as he has gone,


s: And tread the dreary path to that dark world unknown.


s: stream, catch inspiration in the devious walk, till he finds Lord


s: Shall bloom that wreath thou well hast won;


s: Dull, listless, teas'd, dejected, and deprest,


s: (Nature is adverse to a cripple's rest;)


s: Will generous Graham list to his Poet's wail?


s: (It soothes poor misery, hearkening to her tale,)


s: And hear him curse the light he first survey'd,


s: And doubly curse the luckless rhyming trade?


s: Thou, Nature, partial Nature! I arraign;


s: The lion and the bull thy care have found,


s: One shakes the forests, and one spurns the ground:


s: Thou giv'st the ass his hide, the snail his shell,


s: Th' envenom'd wasp, victorious, guards his cell;


s: Thy minions, kings, defend, control, devour,


s: In all th' omnipotence of rule and power;


s: Foxes and statesmen, subtile wiles insure;


s: The cit and polecat stink, and are secure;


s: Toads with their poison, doctors with their drug,


s: The priest and hedgehog in their robes are snug;


s: Her tongue and eyes, her dreaded spear and darts;--


s: But, oh! thou bitter stepmother and hard,


s: To thy poor fenceless, naked child--the Bard!


s: No heels to bear him from the op'ning dun;


s: No claws to dig, his hated sight to shun;


s: No horns, but those by luckless Hymen worn,


s: No nerves olfact'ry, Mammon's trusty cur,


s: Clad in rich dullness' comfortable fur;--


s: He bears the unbroken blast from every side.


s: Vampyre booksellers drain him to the heart,


s: And scorpion critics cureless venom dart.


s: Critics!--appall'd I venture on the name,


s: Those cut-throat bandits in the paths of fame.


s: Bloody dissectors, worse than ten Monroes!


s: He hacks to teach, they mangle to expose.


s: His heart by causeless wanton malice wrung,


s: By blockheads' daring into madness stung;


s: His well-won bays, than life itself more dear,


s: By miscreants torn, who ne'er one sprig must wear:


s: Foil'd, bleeding, tortur'd, in the unequal strife,


s: The hapless poet flounders on through life;


s: Till, fled each hope that once his bosom fir'd,


s: And fled each muse that glorious once inspir'd,


s: Dead, even resentment, for his injur'd page,


s: He heeds or feels no more the ruthless critic's rage!


s: So, by some hedge, the gen'rous steed deceas'd,


s: For half-starv'd snarling curs a dainty feast:


s: By toil and famine wore to skin and bone,


s: Thy sons ne'er madden in the fierce extremes


s: Of fortune's polar frost, or torrid beams.


s: If mantling high she fills the golden cup,


s: Conscious the bounteous meed they well deserve,


s: They only wonder "some folks" do not starve.


s: The grave sage hern thus easy picks his frog,


s: And thinks the mallard a sad worthless dog.


s: When disappointment snaps the clue of hope,


s: And thro' disastrous night they darkling grope,


s: With deaf endurance sluggishly they bear,


s: And just conclude that "fools are fortune's care."


s: So, heavy, passive to the tempest's shocks,


s: Strong on the sign-post stands the stupid ox.


s: Not such the workings of their moon-struck brain;


s: By turns in soaring heav'n or vaulted hell


s: I dread thee, fate, relentless and severe,


s: With all a poet's, husband's, father's fear!


s: Already one strong hold of hope is lost,


s: Glencairn, the truly noble, lies in dust;


s: (Fled, like the sun eclips'd as noon appears,


s: And left us darkling in a world of tears:)


s: O! hear my ardent, grateful, selfish pray'r!--


s: Fintray, my other stay, long bless and spare!


s: Thro' a long life his hopes and wishes crown;


s: And bright in cloudless skies his sun go down!


s: May bliss domestic smooth his private path;


s: Give energy to life; and soothe his latest breath,


s: With many a filial tear circling the bed of death!


s: I call no goddess to inspire my strains,


s: A fabled muse may suit a bard that feigns;


s: Friend of my life! my ardent spirit burns,


s: And all the tribute of my heart returns,


s: The gift still dearer, as the giver, you.


s: Thou orb of day! thou other paler light!


s: And all ye many sparkling stars of night;


s: If aught that giver from my mind efface;


s: Then roll to me, along your wandering spheres,


s: Where the wa'-flower scents the dewy air,


s: Where th' howlet mourns in her ivy bower


s: Hasting to join the sweeping Nith,[109A]


s: The cauld blue north was streaming forth


s: Might rous'd the slumb'ring dead to hear;


s: Thy lengthen'd days on this blest morrow,


s: Your friends ay love, your faes ay fear ye;


s: "But truce with kings and truce with constitutions,"


s: While Europe's eye is fix'd on mighty things,


s: The fate of empires and the fall of kings;


s: While quacks of state must each produce his plan,


s: And even children lisp the Rights of Man;


s: Amid this mighty fuss just let me mention,


s: The Rights of Woman merit some attention.


s: First on the sexes' intermix'd connexion,


s: One sacred Right of Woman is protection.


s: The tender flower that lifts its head, elate,


s: Helpless, must fall before the blasts of fate,


s: Sunk on the earth, defac'd its lovely form,


s: Unless your shelter ward th' impending storm.


s: Our second Right--but needless here is caution,


s: To keep that right inviolate's the fashion,


s: Each man of sense has it so full before him,


s: He'd die before he'd wrong it--'tis decorum.--


s: There was, indeed, in far less polish'd days,


s: A time, when rough, rude man had haughty ways;


s: Would swagger, swear, get drunk, kick up a riot,


s: Now, thank our stars! these Gothic times are fled;


s: Now, well-bred men--and you are all well-bred--


s: Most justly think (and we are much the gainers)


s: Such conduct neither spirit, wit, nor manners.


s: For Right the third, our last, our best, our dearest,


s: That right to fluttering female hearts the nearest,


s: Which even the Rights of Kings in low prostration


s: Most humbly own--'tis dear, dear admiration!


s: In that blest sphere alone we live and move;


s: There taste that life of life--immortal love.--


s: Smiles, glances, sighs, tears, fits, flirtations, airs,


s: 'Gainst such an host what flinty savage dares--


s: When awful Beauty joins with all her charms,


s: But truce with kings and truce with constitutions,


s: Let majesty your first attention summon,


s: How cold is that bosom which folly once fired,


s: How pale is that cheek where the rouge lately glisten'd!


s: How silent that tongue which the echoes oft tired,


s: How dull is that ear which to flattery so listen'd!


s: From friendship and dearest affection remov'd;


s: Thou diest unwept as thou livedst unlov'd.


s: Loves, Graces, and Virtues, I call not on you;


s: So shy, grave, and distant, ye shed not a tear:


s: But come, all ye offspring of Folly so true,


s: And flowers let us cull for Maria's cold bier.


s: We'll search through the garden for each silly flower,


s: We'll roam through the forest for each idle weed;


s: But chiefly the nettle, so typical, shower,


s: For none e'er approach'd her but rued the rash deed.


s: We'll sculpture the marble, we'll measure the lay;


s: There keen indignation shall dart on her prey,


s: Which spurning Contempt shall redeem from his ire.


s: Here lies, now a prey to insulting neglect,


s: What once was a butterfly, gay in life's beam:


s: "Motley foundling fancies, stolen or strayed;"


s: "Still matchless tongue that conquers all reply."]


s: From those drear solitudes and frowsy cells,


s: Where infamy with sad repentance dwells;


s: Where turnkeys make the jealous portal fast,


s: And deal from iron hands the spare repast;


s: Where truant 'prentices, yet young in sin,


s: Blush at the curious stranger peeping in;


s: Where strumpets, relics of the drunken roar,


s: Where tiny thieves not destin'd yet to swing,


s: Beat hemp for others, riper for the string:


s: From these dire scenes my wretched lines I date,


s: Will turn thy very rouge to deadly pale;


s: Will make they hair, tho' erst from gipsy polled,


s: Though twisted smooth with Harry's nicest care,


s: Or haughty Chieftain, 'mid the din of arms,


s: In Highland bonnet woo Malvina's charms;


s: While sans culottes stoop up the mountain high,


s: Blest Highland bonnet! Once my proudest dress,


s: Now prouder still, Maria's temples press.


s: I see her wave thy towering plumes afar,


s: I see her face the first of Ireland's sons,


s: And even out-Irish his Hibernian bronze;


s: The crafty colonel leaves the tartan'd lines,


s: The hopeful youth, in Scottish senate bred,


s: Who owns a Bushby's heart without the head;


s: Comes, 'mid a string of coxcombs to display


s: The shrinking bard adown the alley skulks,


s: And dreads a meeting worse than Woolwich hulks;


s: Though there, his heresies in church and state


s: Might well award him Muir and Palmer's fate:


s: Still she undaunted reels and rattles on,


s: And dares the public like a noontide sun.


s: (What scandal call'd Maria's janty stagger


s: The ricket reeling of a crooked swagger,


s: Whose spleen e'en worse than Burns' venom when


s: He dips in gall unmix'd his eager pen,--


s: And pours his vengeance in the burning line,


s: Who christen'd thus Maria's lyre divine;


s: Who call'd her verse, a parish workhouse made


s: For motley foundling fancies, stolen or stray'd?)


s: A workhouse! ah, that sound awakes my woes,


s: And pillows on the thorn my rack'd repose!


s: In durance vile here must I wake and weep,


s: And all my frowsy couch in sorrow steep;


s: That straw where many a rogue has lain of yore,


s: And vermin'd gipsies litter'd heretofore.


s: Why, Lonsdale, thus thy wrath on vagrants pour?


s: Must earth no rascal save thyself endure?


s: Must thou alone in guilt immortal swell,


s: Thou know'st, the virtues cannot hate thee worse,


s: The vices also, must they club their curse?


s: Because thy guilt's supreme enough for all?


s: Maria, send me too thy griefs and cares;


s: As thou at all mankind the flag unfurls,


s: Who on my fair one satire's vengeance hurls?


s: Who calls thee, pert, affected, vain coquette,


s: Who says, that fool alone is not thy due,


s: And quotes thy treacheries to prove it true?


s: Our force united on thy foes we'll turn,


s: And dare the war with all of woman born:


s: For who can write and speak as thou and I?


s: And thy still matchless tongue that conquers all reply.


s: In chase o' thee, what crowds hae swerv'd


s: They're no herd's ballats, Maro's catches;


s: Squire Pope but busks his skinklin patches


s: Where blackbirds join the shepherd's lays


s: That charm that can the strongest quell,


s: Sing on, sweet thrush, upon the leafless bough,


s: Sing on, sweet bird, I listen to thy strain:


s: At thy blythe carol clears his furrow'd brow.


s: Sits meek Content with light unanxious heart,


s: Welcomes the rapid moments, bids them part,


s: Nor asks if they bring aught to hope or fear.


s: I thank Thee, Author of this opening day!


s: Thou whose bright sun now gilds yon orient skies!


s: What wealth could never give nor take away.


s: Yet come, thou child of poverty and care,


s: The mite high Heaven bestow'd, that mite with thee I'll share.


s: No more, ye warblers of the wood--no more!


s: Nor pour your descant, grating, on my soul;


s: Thou young-eyed Spring, gay in thy verdant stole,


s: More welcome were to me grim Winter's wildest roar.


s: How can ye charm, ye flow'rs, with all your dyes?


s: Ye blow upon the sod that wraps my friend:


s: That strain flows round th' untimely tomb where Riddel lies.


s: Yes, pour, ye warblers, pour the notes of woe!


s: And soothe the Virtues weeping on this bier:


s: The Man of Worth, who has not left his peer,


s: Is in his "narrow house" for ever darkly low.


s: Thee, Spring, again with joy shall others greet,


s: Thus once to Jove his prayer preferr'd,--


s: Spring, Summer, Autumn, cannot match me;


s: directing genius of Washington and Franklin.]


s: Thee, fam'd for martial deed and sacred song,


s: Beneath the hallow'd turf where Wallace lies!


s: Hear it not, Wallace, in thy bed of death!


s: Behold that eye which shot immortal hate,


s: Here, where the Scottish muse immortal lives,


s: In sacred strains and tuneful numbers join'd,


s: Accept the gift;--tho' humble he who gives,


s: Rich is the tribute of the grateful mind.


s: So may no ruffian feeling in thy breast,


s: But peace attune thy gentle soul to rest,


s: While conscious virtue all the strain endears,


s: And heaven-born piety her sanction seals.


s: 'Twas where the birch and sounding thong are ply'd,


s: Where ignorance her darkening vapour throws,


s: And cruelty directs the thickening blows;


s: His awful chair of state resolves to mount,


s: And call the trembling vowels to account.--


s: First enter'd A, a grave, broad, solemn wight,


s: But, ah! deform'd, dishonest to the sight!


s: His twisted head look'd backward on the way,


s: And flagrant from the scourge he grunted, _ai!_


s: Reluctant, E stalk'd in; with piteous race


s: The justling tears ran down his honest face!


s: That name! that well-worn name, and all his own,


s: Pale he surrenders at the tyrant's throne!


s: Not all his mongrel diphthongs can compound;


s: And next the title following close behind,


s: He to the nameless, ghastly wretch assign'd.


s: In sullen vengeance, I, disdain'd reply:


s: The pedant swung his felon cudgel round,


s: And knock'd the groaning vowel to the ground!


s: Might there have learnt new mysteries of his art;


s: So grim, deform'd, with horrors entering U,


s: His dearest friend and brother scarcely knew!


s: As trembling U stood staring all aghast,


s: The pedant in his left hand clutched him fast,


s: In helpless infants' tears he dipp'd his right,


s: Baptiz'd him _eu_, and kick'd him from his sight.


s: "I'll not march through Coventry with them, that's flat!"]


s: From him that wears the star and garter,


s: Nor 'mang the sp'ritual core present them,


s: and so transferring the whole to another heroine.]


s: Still anxious to secure your partial favour,


s: And not less anxious, sure, this night than ever,


s: A Prologue, Epilogue, or some such matter,


s: 'Twould vamp my bill, said I, if nothing better;


s: So sought a Poet, roosted near the skies,


s: Told him I came to feast my curious eyes;


s: Said nothing like his works was ever printed;


s: And last, my Prologue-business slyly hinted!


s: "Ma'am, let me tell you," quoth my man of rhymes,


s: "I know your bent--these are no laughing times:


s: Can you--but, Miss, I own I have my fears,


s: Dissolve in pause--and sentimental tears;


s: With laden sighs, and solemn-rounded sentence,


s: Rouse from his sluggish slumbers, fell Repentance;


s: Paint Vengeance as he takes his horrid stand,


s: Calling the storms to bear him o'er a guilty land?"


s: I could no more--askance the creature eyeing,


s: D'ye think, said I, this face was made for crying?


s: I'll laugh, that's poz--nay more, the world shall know it;


s: And so your servant: gloomy Master Poet!


s: Firm as my creed, Sirs, 'tis my fix'd belief,


s: That so much laughter, so much life enjoy'd.


s: Still under bleak Misfortune's blasting eye;


s: Doom'd to that sorest task of man alive--


s: To make three guineas do the work of five:


s: Laugh in Misfortune's face--the beldam witch!


s: Say, you'll be merry, tho' you can't be rich.


s: Thou other man of care, the wretch in love,


s: Who long with jiltish arts and airs hast strove;


s: Who, us the boughs all temptingly project,


s: Measur'st in desperate thought--a rope--thy neck--


s: Or, where the beetling cliff o'erhangs the deep,


s: Would'st thou be cur'd, thou silly, moping elf?


s: Laugh at their follies--laugh e'en at thyself:


s: Learn to despise those frowns now so terrific,


s: And love a kinder--that's your grand specific.


s: And as we're merry, may we still be wise.


s: 'Tis Friendship's pledge, my young, fair friend,


s: (A world 'gainst peace in constant arms)


s: Since life's gay scenes must charm no more,


s: Still nobler wealth hast thou in store--


s: purpose of announcing the candidate's sentiments on freedom.]


s: Prepar'd Power's proudest frown to brave,


s: venomous. On the Earl of Galloway's family, and on the Murrays of


s: Like brothers they'll stand by each other,


s: An' where is our king's lord lieutenant,


s: An' there will be wealthy young Richard,


s: An' there will be Collieston's whiskers,


s: Teugh Johnnie, staunch Geordie, an' Walie,


s: Then hey the chaste interest o' Broughton,


s: And while my heart wi' life-blood dunted


s: Ye've heard this while how I've been licket,


s: But by that health, I've got a share o't,


s: And by that life, I'm promised mair o't,


s: Would pain and care and sickness spare it;


s: (And aye a rowth, roast beef and claret;


s: Dame Life, tho' fiction out may trick her,


s: And in paste gems and frippery deck her;


s: Syne, whip! his tail ye'll ne'er cast saut on--


s: To plague you with this draunting drivel,


s: O ye whose cheek the tear of pity stains,


s: Draw near with pious rev'rence and attend!


s: Here lie the loving husband's dear remains,


s: The tender father and the gen'rous friend.


s: The pitying heart that felt for human woe;


s: The dauntless heart that feared no human pride;


s: "For ev'n his failings lean'd to virtue's side."


s: Few hearts like his, with virtue warm'd,


s: If there's another world, he lives in bliss;


s: If there is none, he made the best of this.


s: O Death, hadst thou but spared his life,


s: One Queen Artemisia, as old stories tell,


s: When depriv'd of her husband she loved so well,


s: In respect for the love and affection he'd show'd her,


s: She reduc'd him to dust and she drank up the powder.


s: But Queen Netherplace, of a diff'rent complexion,


s: When call'd on to order the fun'ral direction,


s: Would have eat her dear lord, on a slender pretence,


s: Not to show her respect, but to save the expense.


s: Shrewd Willie Smellie to Crochallan came,


s: The old cock'd hat, the gray surtout, the same;


s: His bristling beard just rising in its might,


s: 'Twas four long nights and days to shaving night:


s: His uncomb'd grizzly locks wild staring, thatch'd


s: A head for thought profound and clear, unmatch'd:


s: Yet tho' his caustic wit was biting, rude,


s: His heart was warm, benevolent, and good.


s: Through and through the inspir'd leaves,


s: myself for it," which he did in these words.]


s: Rash mortal, and slanderous Poet, thy name


s: Shall no longer appear in the records of fame;


s: Dost not know that old Mansfield, who writes like the Bible,


s: Says the more 'tis a truth, Sir, the more 'tis a libel?


s: Like Esop's lion, Burns says, sore I feel


s: All others' scorn--but damn that ass's heel.


s: Cease, ye prudes, your envious railings,


s: Curs'd be the man, the poorest wretch in life,


s: The crouching vassal to the tyrant wife!


s: Who has no will but by her high permission;


s: Who has not sixpence but in her possession;


s: Who must to her his dear friend's secret tell;


s: Who dreads a curtain lecture worse than hell!


s: Were such the wife had fallen to my part,


s: I'd break her spirit, or I'd break her heart;


s: I'd charm her with the magic of a switch,


s: I'd kiss her maids, and kick the perverse b----h.


s: mistake, and of a resolution not to be soothed on the part of the


s: There's naething here but Highland pride


s: merchant's shop in Edinburgh, a friend of mine one day put


s: Elphinston's Translation of Martial into my hand, and desired my


s: Heard'st thou that groan? proceed no further;


s: 'Twas laurell'd Martial roaring murther!


s: No sculptured marble here, nor pompous lay,


s: This simple stone directs pale Scotia's way


s: To pour her sorrows o'er her poet's dust.


s: The devil got notice that Grose was a-dying,


s: So whip! at the summons, old Satan came flying;


s: But when he approach'd where poor Francis lay moaning,


s: And saw each bed-post with its burden a-groaning,


s: Astonish'd! confounded! cry'd Satan, "By ----,


s: I'll want him, ere I take such a damnable load!"


s: Cost Scotland blood--cost Scotland tears;


s: passed the window, were out of sight, the following answer was


s: unworthy of him, and he seldom hesitated to say so.]


s: That clarty barm should stain my laurels;


s: These movin' things ca'd wives and weans


s: No more of your guests, be they titled or not,


s: Who is proof to thy personal converse and wit,


s: Lochrutton, enclosed an invitation to dinner.]


s: Grant me, indulgent Heav'n, that I may live


s: To see the miscreants feel the pains they give,


s: Deal Freedom's sacred treasures free as air,


s: Till slave and despot be but things which were.


s: And of dukes that you dined with yestreen?


s: Lord! a louse, Sir, is still but a louse,


s: Instead of a song, boys, I'll give you a toast--


s: Here's the memory of those on the twelfth that we lost!--


s: That we lost, did I say? nay, by Heav'n, that we found;


s: For their fame it shall last while the world goes round.


s: The next in succession, I'll give you--the King!


s: Whoe'er would betray him, on high may he swing;


s: And here's the grand fabric, our free Constitution,


s: As built on the base of the great Revolution;


s: And longer with politics not to be cramm'd,


s: Be Anarchy curs'd, and be Tyranny damn'd;


s: And who would to Liberty e'er prove disloyal,


s: May his son be a hangman, and he his first trial.


s: Here lies a mock Marquis, whose titles were shamm'd;


s: If ever he rise, it will be to be damn'd.


s: Ye men of wit and wealth, why all this sneering


s: 'Gainst poor Excisemen? give the cause a hearing;


s: What are you, landlords' rent-rolls? teasing ledgers:


s: What premiers--what? even monarchs' mighty gaugers:


s: Nay, what are priests, those seeming godly wise men?


s: What are they, pray, but spiritual Excisemen?


s: The greybeard, old Wisdom, may boast of his treasures,


s: I grant him his calm-blooded, time-settled pleasures,


s: Galloway by the name of "The Selkirk Grace."]


s: He's blest--if, as he brew'd, he drink--


s: Ye true "Loyal Natives," attend to my song,


s: In uproar and riot rejoice the night long;


s: From envy or hatred your corps is exempt,


s: But where is your shield from the darts of contempt?


s: If you rattle along like your mistress's tongue,


s: But, a fly for your load, you'll break down on the road


s: If your stuff has the rot, like her heart.


s: He who of Rankine sang lies stiff and dead,


s: And a green grassy hillock hides his head;


s: verses, which I printed in my edition of the poet in 1834: it is


s: Weel pleas'd he greets a wight so famous,


s: And Death was nae less pleas'd wi' Thomas,


s: Death takes him hame to gie him quarters.


s: She promis'd fair and perform'd but ill;


s: Of mistress, friends, and wealth bereav'd me,


s: Yet I bear a heart shall support me still.--


s: I'll act with prudence as far's I'm able,


s: Then come misfortune, I bid thee welcome,


s: L--d, man, there's lasses there wad force


s: And down the gate in faith they're worse


s: But as I'm sayin', please step to Dow's,


s: Farewell, dear friend! may guid luck hit you,


s: Thou flattering work of friendship kind,


s: Within your dear mansion may wayward contention


s: May secrecy round be the mystical bound,


s: There's ne'er a flower that blooms in May,


s: My foes be strang, and friends be slack,


s: Though scarce as lang's a gude kale-whittle,


s: Because we stang'd her through the place,


s: And now we're dern'd in glens and hallows,


s: By constables, those blackguard fellows,


s: Auld, grim, black-bearded Geordie's sel',


s: When Death comes in wi' glimmering blink,


s: Weel stang'd by market, mill, and smiddie,


s: I dream'd I lay where flowers were springing


s: But lang or noon, loud tempests storming,


s: She promis'd fair, and perform'd but ill;


s: Tho' Fortune's frown still hunts me down,


s: But come what will, I've sworn it still,


s: They took a plough and plough'd him down,


s: And they ha'e ta'en his very heart's blood,


s: Tune--"_I had a horse, I had nae mair._"


s: But when I came roun' by Mauchline town,


s: 'Till the mortal stroke shall lay me low,


s: The moor-cock springs, on whirring wings,


s: And the moon shines bright, when I rove at night


s: I'll grasp thy waist, and, fondly prest,


s: But I'll get my plaid, an' out I'll steal,


s: But I'm as blythe that hauds his pleugh,


s: "Cupid's Whirlygig," where these words are to be found.]


s: Though mountains rise, and deserts howl,


s: "Miss Miller is fine, Miss Markland's divine,


s: Miss Smith, she has wit, and Miss Betty is braw;


s: There's beauty and fortune to get with Miss Morton,


s: They heat your brains, and fire your veins,


s: Tune--"_Last time I cam o'er the muir._"


s: Her lips, more than the cherries bright,


s: Tune--"_Prepare, my dear brethren, to the tavern_ _let's fly._"


s: No churchman am I for to rail and to write,


s: No statesman nor soldier to plot or to fight,


s: No sly man of business, contriving to snare--


s: For a big-bellied bottle's the whole of my care.


s: The peer I don't envy, I give him his bow;


s: I scorn not the peasant, tho' ever so low;


s: But a club of good fellows, like those that are here,


s: And a bottle like this, are my glory and care.


s: Here passes the squire on his brother--his horse;


s: There centum per centum, the cit with his purse;


s: But see you The Crown, how it waves in the air!


s: There a big-bellied bottle still eases my care.


s: The wife of my bosom, alas! she did die;


s: For sweet consolation to church I did fly;


s: I found that old Solomon proved it fair,


s: That a big-bellied bottle's a cure for all care.


s: A letter inform'd me that all was to wreck;--


s: But the pursy old landlord just waddled up stairs,


s: With a glorious bottle that ended my cares.


s: "Life's cares they are comforts,"--a maxim laid down


s: By the bard, what d'ye call him, that wore the black gown;


s: And faith I agree with th' old prig to a hair;


s: For a big-bellied bottle's a heav'n of care.


s: Then fill up a bumper and make it o'erflow.


s: The honours masonic prepare for to throw;


s: May every true brother of the compass and square


s: Have a big-bellied bottle when harass'd with care!


s: Ye sons of old Killie, assembled by Willie,


s: Your thrifty old mother has scarce such another


s: A prayer from the muse you well may excuse,


s: Ye powers who preside o'er the wind and the tide,


s: Who formed this frame with beneficent aim,


s: Within this dear mansion, may wayward contention


s: May secrecy round be the mystical bound,


s: For it's jet, jet black, an' it's like a hawk,


s: The sheep-herd steeks his faulding slap,


s: And when the lark, 'tween light and dark,


s: And mounts and sings on flittering wings,


s: Tarbolton, when his chest was on the way to Greenock: men are yet


s: Tune--"_If he be a butcher neat and trim._"


s: And drinks the stream with vigour fresh;


s: She's spotless like the flow'ring thorn,


s: With flow'rs so white and leaves so green,


s: While hid the murmuring streamlets flow;


s: They tempt the taste and charm the sight;


s: While his mate sits nestling in the bush;


s: But it's not her air, her form, her face,


s: 'Tis the mind that shines in ev'ry grace,


s: Tune--"_Miss Forbes's Farewell to Banff._"


s: Then pride might climb the slippery steep,


s: That heart transpierc'd with many a wound;


s: Farewell, my friends! farewell, my foes!


s: My peace with these, my love with those--


s: O, whar did ye get that hauver meal bannock?


s: I gat it frae a young brisk sodger laddie,


s: Between Saint Johnston and bonnie Dundee.


s: May Heaven protect my bonnie Scots laddie,


s: And send him safe hame to his babie and me!


s: Thy smiles are sae like my blythe sodger laddie,


s: But I'll big a bower on yon bonnie banks,


s: And I'll cleed thee in the tartan sae fine,


s: And mak thee a man like thy daddie dear.


s: At length from me her course she steer'd,


s: Tune--"_Whistle, and I'll come to you, my lad._"


s: The hoary cliffs are crown'd wi' flowers,


s: He play'd a spring, and danc'd it round,


s: Now farewell light--thou sunshine bright,


s: Sae white her teeth, sae sweet her mou',


s: believed that he escaped to France and died in exile.]


s: Tune--"_What will I do gin my Hoggie die?_"


s: The lee-lang night we watch'd the fauld,


s: But the houlet cry'd frae the castle wa',


s: A vera gude tocher, a cotter-man's dochter,


s: Scottish Lyrics, "is old, the two stanzas are mine." The air is


s: And lang's the night frae e'en to morn--


s: The moor was driegh, and Meg was skiegh,


s: How pleasant the banks of the clear winding Devon,


s: With green spreading bushes, and flowers blooming fair!


s: But the bonniest flower on the banks of the Devon


s: Was once a sweet bud on the braes of the Ayr.


s: Mild be the sun on this sweet blushing flower,


s: In the gay rosy morn, as it bathes in the dew;


s: And gentle the fall of the soft vernal shower,


s: That steals on the evening each leaf to renew.


s: O spare the dear blossom, ye orient breezes,


s: With chill hoary wing, as ye usher the dawn;


s: And far be thou distant, thou reptile that seizes


s: The verdure and pride of the garden and lawn!


s: Let Bourbon exult in his gay gilded Lilies,


s: And England, triumphant, display her proud Rose:


s: A fairer than either adorns the green valleys,


s: Where Devon, sweet Devon, meandering flows.


s: extracted for Johnson, had no right to be called a lad of grace:


s: another version, and in a happier mood, was written for Thomson.]


s: And auld Mess John will mend the skaith,


s: amended version, are in the collection of Herd.]


s: Wi' his fause heart and flatt'ring tongue.


s: Wi' his teethless gab and Ma auld beld pow,


s: And the rain rains down frae his red bleer'd ee--


s: Wi' his fause heart and flatt'ring tongue,


s: Come weal, come woe, we'll gather and go,


s: afterwards Mrs. Henderson, daughter of William Cruikshank, of St.


s: fellows in the world--William Dunbar, Esq., Write to the Signet,


s: Tune--"_Neil Gow's Lamentations for Abercairny._"


s: Tune--"_The Tailor fell thro' the bed, thimbles an' a'._"


s: The Tailor fell thro' the bed, thimbles an' a',


s: The Tailor fell thro' the bed, thimbles an' a';


s: The blankets were thin, and the sheets they were sma',


s: The Tailor fell thro' the bed, thimbles an' a'.


s: The sleepy bit lassie, she dreaded nae ill,


s: The sleepy bit lassie, she dreaded nae ill;


s: The weather was cauld, and the lassie lay still,


s: She thought that a tailor could do her nae ill.


s: Gie me the groat again, canny young man;


s: The day it is short, and the night it is lang,


s: There's somebody weary wi' lying her lane;


s: There's some that are dowie, I trow would be fain


s: To see the bit tailor come skippin' again.


s: Her een sae bright, like stars by night,


s: In a' their charms, and conquering arms,


s: He gaz'd, he wish'd, he fear'd, he blush'd,


s: Her lips still as she fragrant breath'd,


s: He gaz'd, he wish'd, he fear'd, he blush'd--


s: Than kingly robes, than crowns and globes,


s: Tune--"_Go fetch to me a pint o' wine._"


s: The lazy mist hangs from the brow of the hill,


s: Concealing the course of the dark winding rill;


s: How languid the scenes, late so sprightly, appear!


s: As Autumn to Winter resigns the pale year.


s: The forests are leafless, the meadows are brown,


s: And all the gay foppery of summer is flown:


s: How quick Time is flying, how keen Fate pursues!


s: How long have I liv'd, but how much liv'd in vain!


s: How little of life's scanty span may remain!


s: What aspects, old Time, in his progress, has worn!


s: What ties cruel Fate in my bosom has torn!


s: How foolish, or worse, till our summit is gain'd!


s: And downward, how weaken'd, how darken'd, how pain'd!


s: Life is not worth having with all it can give--


s: For something beyond it poor man sure must live.


s: amended by Burns, to the Musical Museum.]


s: Tune--"_Miss Admiral Gordon's Strathspey._"


s: There's not a bonnie flower that springs


s: Thy waist sae jimp, thy limbs sae clean,


s: That he frae our lasses shou'd wander awa:


s: And his hair has a natural buckle an' a'.


s: His feck it is white as the new-driven snaw;


s: And his clear siller buckles they dazzle us a'.


s: Weel-featured, weel-tocher'd, weel-mounted and braw;


s: And Susie, whose daddy was laird o' the ha';


s: But the laddie's dear sel' he lo'es dearest of a'.


s: My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here;


s: My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer;


s: A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe--


s: My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go.


s: Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,


s: The birth-place of valour, the country of worth;


s: The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.


s: Farewell to the mountains high cover'd with snow;


s: Farewell to the straths and green valleys below:


s: Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods;


s: Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods.


s: My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,


s: Chasing the wild deer, and following the roe--


s: Our thrissles flourish'd fresh and fair,


s: And write their names in his black beuk,


s: 'Till clay-cauld death sall blin' my e'e,


s: An' a' the lang night as happy's a king.


s: Blest be the hour she cool'd in her linens,


s: And blythe be the bird that sings on her grave.


s: Drunken or sober, here's to thee, Katie!


s: Thou lingering star, with less'ning ray,


s: Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast?


s: Ayr, gurgling, kiss'd his pebbled shore,


s: O'erhung with wild woods, thick'ning green;


s: Twin'd am'rous round the raptured scene;


s: Still o'er these scenes my mem'ry wakes,


s: My heart, for fear, gaed sough for sough,


s: They rush'd and push'd, and blude outgush'd,


s: They hough'd the clans like nine-pin kyles,


s: They hack'd and hash'd, while broad-swords clash'd,


s: And thro' they dash'd, and hew'd, and smash'd,


s: Wi' Highland wrath they frae the sheath,


s: Drew blades o' death, 'till, out o' breath,


s: And straught to Stirling winged their flight;


s: For fear, by foes, that they should lose


s: Their cogs o' brose--they scar'd at blows.


s: Some fell for wrang, and some for right;


s: Thro' wind and weet, thro' frost and snaw;


s: business." The Willie who made the browst was, therefore, William


s: Three blither hearts, that lee-lang night


s: Burns's name." It was composed by Burns on the battle of


s: She talk'd, she smil'd, my heart she wyl'd;


s: Beyond thee, dearie, beyond thee, dearie,


s: Sweet closes the evening on Craigie-burn-wood,


s: But the pride of the spring in the Craigie-burn-wood


s: I see thee gracefu', straight, and tall,


s: It's a' for the apple he'll nourish the tree;


s: It's a' for the hiney he'll cherish the bee;


s: My laddie's sae meikle in luve wi' the siller,


s: Sae ye wi' anither your fortune maun try.


s: Ye're like to the timmer o' yon rotten tree,


s: Ye'll slip frae me like a knotless thread,


s: And ye'll crack your credit wi' mae nor me.


s: But we'll ne'er stray for fau't o' light,


s: An' ye drink but deep ye'll find him out.


s: Tune--"_There art few gude fellows when Willie's awa._"


s: By yon castle wa', at the close of the day,


s: I heard a man sing, though his head it was gray;


s: And as he was singing the tears down came,


s: There'll never be peace till Jamie comes hame.


s: The church is in ruins, the state is in jars;


s: Delusions, oppressions, and murderous wars:


s: We darena weel say't, though we ken wha's to blame,


s: There'll never be peace till Jamie comes hame!


s: My seven braw sons for Jamie drew sword,


s: And now I greet round their green beds in the yerd.


s: It brak the sweet heart of my faithfu' auld dame--


s: Now life is a burthen that bows me down,


s: Since I tint my bairns, and he tint his crown;


s: But till my last moments my words are the same--


s: Tune--"_The bonnie lad that's far awa._"


s: sufferings of Jean Armour, when her correspondence with Burns was


s: Tune--"_I do confess thou art sae fair._"


s: That lips could speak thy heart could muve.


s: Yon wild mossy mountains sae lofty and wide,


s: That nurse in their bosom the youth o' the Clyde,


s: Where the grouse lead their coveys thro' the heather to feed,


s: And the shepherd tents his flock as he pipes on his reed.


s: Not Gowrie's rich valleys, nor Forth's sunny shores,


s: To me hae the charms o' yon wild, mossy moors;


s: For there, by a lanely and sequester'd stream,


s: Resides a sweet lassie, my thought and my dream.


s: Amang thae wild mountains shall still be my path,


s: Ilk stream foaming down its ain green, narrow strath;


s: For there, wi' my lassie, the day lang I rove,


s: While o'er us unheeded flee the swift hours o' love.


s: For there wi' my lassie, the day lang I rove,


s: She is not the fairest, altho' she is fair;


s: O' nice education but sma' is her share;


s: But I lo'e the dear lassie because she lo'es me.


s: To beauty what man but maun yield him a prize,


s: In her armour of glances, and blushes, and sighs?


s: And when wit and refinement hae polish'd her darts,


s: They dazzle our een as they flee to our hearts.


s: They dazzle our een, as they flee to our hearts.


s: But kindness, sweet kindness, in the fond sparkling e'e,


s: Has lustre outshining the diamond to me:


s: And the heart beating love as I'm clasp'd in her arms,


s: O, these are my lassie's all-conquering charms!


s: Sleep I canna get, for thinkin' o' my dearie.


s: published his altered version in the Museum.]


s: She's down in the yard, she's kissin' the laird,


s: She winna come hame to her ain Jock Rab.


s: Whate'er thou hast done, be it late, be it soon,


s: Thou's welcome again to thy ain Jock Rab.


s: What says she, my dearie, my Eppie M'Nab?


s: She lets thee to wit, that she has thee forgot,


s: And for ever disowns thee, her ain Jock Rab.


s: O had I ne'er seen thee, my Eppie M'Nab!


s: As light as the air, and fause as thou's fair,


s: Thou's broken the heart o' thy ain Jock Rab.


s: Then gae your gate, ye'se nae be here!--


s: Tune--"_What can a young lassie do wi' an auld man._"


s: What can a young lassie, what shall a young lassie,


s: What can a young lassie do wi' an auld man?


s: Bad luck on the pennie that tempted my minnie


s: To sell her poor Jenny for siller an' lan'!


s: He's always compleenin' frae mornin' to e'enin',


s: He hosts and he hirples the weary day lang;


s: He's doyl't and he's dozin', his bluid it is frozen,


s: He hums and he hankers, he frets and he cankers,


s: I never can please him, do a' that I can;


s: He's peevish and jealous of a' the young fellows:


s: O, dool on the day I met wi' an auld man!


s: My auld auntie Katie upon me takes pity,


s: I'll do my endeavour to follow her plan;


s: I'll cross him, and wrack him, until I heart-break him,


s: And then his auld brass will buy me a new pan.


s: Highlands. I have heard a Gaelic song to it, which was not by any


s: Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,


s: Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee.


s: Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee!


s: As the wretch looks o'er Siberia's shore,


s: Her smile's a gift, frae 'boon the lift,


s: But three short years will soon wheel roun'--


s: But hear'st thou, laddie--there's my loof--


s: Tune--"_O Kenmure's on and awa, Willie._"


s: Here's Kenmure's health in wine, Willie!


s: There ne'er was a coward o' Kenmure's blude,


s: Their hearts and swords are metal true--


s: And here's the flower that I love best--


s: They a' are mine, and they shall be thine,


s: And the world before me to win my bread,


s: And they'll gae bigg Terreagle's towers,


s: As I was a-wand'ring ae midsummer e'enin',


s: The pipers and youngsters were making their game;


s: Amang them I spied my faithless fause lover,


s: Which bled a' the wound o' my dolour again.


s: Weel, since he has left me, may pleasure gae wi' him;


s: I may be distress'd, but I winna complain;


s: My heart it shall never be broken for ane.


s: I could na get sleeping till dawin for greetin',


s: The tears trickled down like the hail and the rain:


s: Had I na got greetin', my heart wad a broken,


s: For, oh! luve forsaken's a tormenting pain.


s: Although he has left me for greed o' the siller,


s: I rather wad bear a' the lade o' my sorrow


s: Than ever hae acted sae faithless to him.


s: Weel, since he has left me, may pleasure gae wi' him,


s: But some will spend, and some will spare,


s: Ye Jacobites by name, give and ear, give an ear;


s: What is right, and what is wrang, by the law, by the law?


s: What is right and what is wrang, by the law?


s: What makes heroic strife, fam'd afar, fam'd afar?


s: Then let your schemes alone, in the state, in the state;


s: Then let your schemes alone in the state;


s: Thou'll break my heart, thou bonnie bird,


s: Thou'lt break my heart, thou warbling bird,


s: She's twisted right, she's twisted left,


s: Tune.--"_A parcel of rogues in a nation._"


s: independence of Scotland, at the time of the Union.]


s: To mark where England's province stands--


s: We've bought and sold for English gold--


s: (Hey, and the rue grows bonnie wi' thyme),


s: And he had a wife was the plague o' his days;


s: And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.


s: Ae day as the carle gaed up the lang glen,


s: He met wi' the devil; says, "How do yow fen?"


s: "I've got a bad wife, sir; that's a' my complaint;


s: For, saving your presence, to her ye're a saint;


s: And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime."


s: "It's neither your stot nor your staig I shall crave,


s: But gie me your wife, man, for her I must have,


s: "O welcome, most kindly," the blythe carle said,


s: "But if ye can match her, ye're waur nor ye're ca'd,


s: The devil has got the auld wife on his back;


s: And, like a poor pedlar, he's carried his pack;


s: He's carried her hame to his ain hallan-door;


s: (Hey, and the rue grows bonnie wi' thyme).


s: Syne bade her gae in, for a b--h and a w--e,


s: Then straight he makes fifty, the pick o' his band,


s: (Hey, and the rue grows bonnie wi' thyme),


s: Turn out on her guard in the clap of a hand;


s: And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.


s: The carlin gaed thro' them like ony wud bear,


s: Whate'er she gat hands on cam near her nae mair;


s: "O, help, master, help, or she'll ruin us a',


s: And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime."


s: The devil he swore by the edge o' his knife,


s: He pitied the man that was tied to a wife;


s: The devil he swore by the kirk and the bell,


s: He was not in wedlock, thank heav'n, but in hell;


s: Then Satan has travelled again wi' his pack;


s: And to her auld husband he's carried her back:


s: "I hae been a devil the feck o' my life;


s: But ne'er was in hell, till I met wi' a wife;


s: Tune--"_Jockey's ta'en the parting kiss._"


s: Her house sae bien, her curch sae clean,


s: The small birds rejoice in the green leaves returning,


s: The murmuring streamlet winds clear thro' the vale;


s: The hawthorn trees blow in the dew of the morning,


s: And wild scatter'd cowslips bedeck the green dale:


s: But what can give pleasure, or what can seem fair,


s: While the lingering moments are number'd by care?


s: No flow'rs gaily springing, nor birds sweetly singing,


s: Can soothe the sad bosom of joyless despair.


s: The deed that I dared, could it merit their malice,


s: A king and a father to place on his throne?


s: His right are these hills, and his right are these valleys,


s: Where the wild beasts find shelter, but I can find none;


s: But 'tis not my sufferings thus wretched, forlorn:


s: My brave gallant friends! 'tis your ruin I mourn;


s: Your deeds proved so loyal in hot-bloody trial--


s: Farewell, thou fair day, thou green earth, and ye skies,


s: Farewell loves and friendships, ye dear tender ties--


s: Thou grim king of terrors, thou life's gloomy foe!


s: Go, teach them to tremble, fell tyrant! but know,


s: Thou strik'st the dull peasant--he sinks in the dark,


s: Thou strik'st the young hero--a glorious mark!


s: In the field of proud honour--our swords in our hands,


s: While victory shines on life's last ebbing sands,


s: Flow gently, sweet Afton! among thy green braes,


s: Flow gently, I'll sing thee a song in thy praise;


s: My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream--


s: Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.


s: Thou stock-dove, whose echo resounds thro' the glen;


s: Ye wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny den;


s: Thou green-crested lapwing, thy screaming forbear--


s: I charge you disturb not my slumbering fair.


s: How lofty, sweet Afton! thy neighbouring hills,


s: Far mark'd with the courses of clear, winding rills;


s: There daily I wander as noon rises high,


s: My flocks and my Mary's sweet cot in my eye.


s: How pleasant thy banks and green valleys below,


s: Where wild in the woodlands the primroses blow!


s: There, oft as mild evening weeps over the lea,


s: The sweet-scented birk shades my Mary and me.


s: Thy crystal stream, Afton, how lovely it glides,