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: Aroused by blustering winds an' spotting thowes,


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


s: While crashing ice, borne on the rolling spate,


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


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 Lord 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 sculptures 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 wi' 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 aye;


s: Ye dainty Deacons, and ye douce Conveners,


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, agonising, curse the time and place


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: "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 hae 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 and 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 clish-ma-claver aight been said,


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


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


s: Adown the glittering stream they featly danc'd;


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


s: They footed o'er 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,^7 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 raptured 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 locks did hoary show,


s: Next followed Courage with his martial stride,


s: Learning and Worth in equal measures trode,


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


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


s: on the Feal or Faile, a tributary of the Ayr.]


s: Lying at a reverend friend's house one night, the author left the


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


s: When, soon or late, they reach that coast,


s: "I composed this song as I conveyed my chest so far on my road to


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: While round the fire the giglets keckle,


s: Ill hairsts, daft bargains, cutty stools,


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


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


s: Tune--"Shawn-boy," or "Over the water to Charlie."


s: Ye sons of old Killie, assembled by Willie,


s: Your thrifty old mother has scarce such another


s: A prayer from thee 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: An honest man's the noblest work of God--Pope.


s: When this worthy old sportman went out, last muirfowl season, he


s: million. Vide "The Ordination." stanza ii.--R. B.]


s: who was at that time ailing. For him see also "The Ordination,"


s: An' cleed her bairns, man, wife, an' wean,


s: While by their nose the tears will revel,


s: Since, dark in Death's fish-creel, we wail


s: "Lord, five!" he cry'd, an' owre did stagger--


s: Whare Burns has wrote, in rhyming blether,


s: For, yet unskaithed by Death's gleg gullie.


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


s: Up hill, down brae, till some mischanter,


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


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


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


s: A sweeping, kindling, bauld strathspey--


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


s: We, cheek for chow, shall jog thegither,


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


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


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


s: The witching, curs'd, delicious blinkers


s: By 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: Poor naked wretches, wheresoe'er you are,


s: That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm!


s: How shall your houseless heads, and unfed sides,


s: Your loop'd and window'd raggedness, defend you


s: From seasons such as these?--Shakespeare.


s: While burns, wi' snawy wreaths up-choked,


s: List'ning the doors an' winnocks rattle,


s: And thro' the drift, deep-lairing, sprattle


s: Whare wilt thou cow'r thy chittering wing,


s: The blood-stain'd roost, and sheep-cote spoil'd


s: Still crowding thoughts, a pensive train,


s: "Blow, blow, ye winds, with heavier gust!


s: Than heaven-illumin'd Man on brother Man bestows!


s: Sending, like blood-hounds from the slip,


s: Truth, weeping, tells the mournful tale,


s: How pamper'd Luxury, Flatt'ry by her side,


s: With all the servile wretches in the rear,


s: Looks o'er proud Property, extended wide;


s: Whose toil upholds the glitt'ring show--


s: Plac'd for her lordly use thus far, thus vile, below!


s: "Where, where is Love's fond, tender throe,


s: Regardless of the tears and unavailing pray'rs!


s: Perhaps this hour, in Misery's squalid nest,


s: She strains your infant to her joyless breast,


s: And with a mother's fears shrinks at the rocking blast!


s: Feel not a want but what yourselves create,


s: Think, for a moment, on his wretched fate,


s: Ill-satisfy'd keen nature's clamorous call,


s: Stretch'd on his straw, he lays himself to sleep;


s: Chill, o'er his slumbers, piles the drifty heap!


s: Affliction's sons are brothers in distress;


s: A brother to relieve, how exquisite the bliss!"


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 tends his flock as he pipes on his reed.


s: Not Gowrie's rich valley, nor Forth's sunny shores,


s: To me hae the charms o'yon wild, mossy moors;


s: For there, by a lanely, sequestered stream,


s: Besides 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 flie the swift hours o'love.


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 flie 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: 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: Then, horn for horn, they stretch an' strive:


s: Shrewd Willie Smellie to Crochallan came;


s: The old cock'd hat, the grey 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: Thy smiles are sae like my blythe sodger laddie,


s: Thou's aye the dearer, and dearer to me!


s: But I'll big a bow'r on yon bonie banks,


s: An' I'll cleed thee in the tartan sae fine,


s: And mak thee a man like thy daddie dear.


s: No sculptured marble here, nor pompous lay,


s: This simple stone directs pale Scotia's way,


s: To pour her sorrows o'er the Poet's dust.


s: She mourns, sweet tuneful youth, thy hapless fate;


s: Tho' all the powers of song thy fancy fired,


s: And, thankless, starv'd what they so much admired.


s: But dear to fame thy Song immortal lives,


s: Curse on ungrateful man, that can be pleased,


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: Waen 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 barb'rous throng,


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


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


s: Before whose sons I'm honour'd 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 Empire's fluctuating course;


s: Here Douglas forms wild Shakespeare 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: Firm may she rise, with generous disdain


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: The heather was blooming, the meadows were mawn,


s: Our lads gaed a-hunting ae day at the dawn,


s: O'er moors and o'er mosses and mony a glen,


s: At length they discover'd a bonie moor-hen.


s: Chorus.--I rede you, beware at the hunting, young men,


s: I rede you, beware at the hunting, young men;


s: Take some on the wing, and some as they spring,


s: Sweet--brushing the dew from the brown heather bells


s: Her colours betray'd her on yon mossy fells;


s: Her plumage outlustr'd the pride o' the spring


s: And O! as she wanton'd sae gay on the wing.


s: Auld Phoebus himself, as he peep'd o'er the hill,


s: In spite at her plumage he tried his skill;


s: He levell'd his rays where she bask'd on the brae--


s: His rays were outshone, and but mark'd where she lay.


s: They hunted the valley, they hunted the hill,


s: The best of our lads wi' the best o' their skill;


s: But still as the fairest she sat in their sight,


s: Then, whirr! she was over, a mile at a flight.


s: Chorus.--My lady's gown, there's gairs upon't,


s: Ye've wealth o' gear for spoon and knife--


s: Heav'n keep you clear o' sturt and strife,


s: Through and through th' inspir'd leaves,


s: On Elphinstone's Translation Of Martial's Epigrams


s: Heard'st thou yon groan?--proceed no further,


s: There's nane that's blest of human kind,


s: With an Impression of the Author's Portrait.


s: A name, which to love was the 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: 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: 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: Who was looking up the text during sermon.


s: Down droops her ance weel burnish'd crest,


s: But now they'll busk her like a fright,--


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


s: Poor Burns ev'n Scotch Drink canna quicken,


s: Scar'd frae it's minnie and the cleckin,


s: He wha could brawlie ward their bellum--


s: From thy lov'd friends, when first thy heart


s: There's naething here but Highland pride,


s: Brother to a young Lady, a particular friend of the Author's.


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


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


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


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


s: Th' increasing blast roar'd 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 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 heartfelt 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: Sae may, shou'd we to Hell's yetts come,


s: Jove's tunefu' dochters three times three


s: Of an Inn at Stirling, on seeing the Royal Palace in ruin.


s: Whence groveling reptiles take their birth.


s: The Poet's Reply To The Threat Of A Censorious Critic


s: My imprudent lines were answered, very petulantly, by somebody, I


s: With Esop's lion, Burns says: Sore I feel


s: Each other's scorn, but damn that ass' heel!


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: 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, imbosomed '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: Misfortunes 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 hoary cliffs are crown'd wi' flowers,


s: and beautiful; but their effect is much impaired by the want of


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: Despising worlds, with all their wealth,


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


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 viewles Echo's ear, astonished, rends.


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


s: The hoary cavern, wide surrounding lours:


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


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


s: sentimental "except when my passions were heated by some


s: accidental cause," and a tour through the country where Montrose,


s: Strathallan fell gloriously at Culloden.--Lang.]


s: Air--"The Ruffian's Rant," or "Roy's Wife."


s: That fills the place where she should be;


s: We'll send him o'er to his native shore,


s: A wild scene among the Hills of Oughtertyre.


s: Chorus.--Blythe, blythe and merry was she,


s: Murray, a cousin of Sir William Murray of Oughtertyre.--Lang.]


s: How pleasant the banks of the clear winding Devon,


s: With green spreading bushes and flow'rs blooming fair!


s: But the boniest flow'r 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 or 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: Tune--"Neil Gow's Lament for Abercairny."


s: Tune--"Tha a' chailleach  ir mo dheigh."


s: Beasts of the forest have their savage homes,


s: But He, who should imperial purple wear,


s: Owns not the lap of earth where rests his royal head!


s: Nor think to lure us as in days of yore:


s: To prove our loyal truth--we can no more,


s: Who nobly perished in the glorious cause,


s: From great Dundee, who smiling Victory led,


s: (What breast of northern ice but warms!)


s: Whose soul of fire, lighted at Heaven's high flame,


s: Deserves the proudest wreath departed heroes claim:


s: As from the cliff, with thundering course,


s: With doubling speed and gathering force,


s: Till deep it, crushing, whelms the cottage in the vale;


s: And Stewart's wrongs and yours, with tenfold weight repay.


s: The tools of faction, and the nation's curse!


s: With murdering eyes already they devour;


s: Where each avenging hour still ushers in a worse!


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 blast 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 water's 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 eyed, 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 his 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, distained with crimes,


s: Rousing elate in these degenerate times,


s: As guileful Fraud points out the erring way:


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 the unpitied wail!


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


s: Congenial scenes, ye soothe my mournful 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: But still in Friendships' guarded guise,


s: 'Twas, 'cause "he'd nothing else to do."


s: Would bless me with your charms and you!


s: Your thought, if Love must harbour there,


s: Chorus.--I'm o'er young, I'm o'er young,


s: Chorus.--To the weaver's gin ye go, fair maids,


s: He play'd a spring, and danc'd it round,


s: Now farewell light, thou sunshine bright,


s: The lee-lang night we watch'd the fauld,


s: But the houlet cry'd frau the castle wa',


s: And lang's the night frae e'en to morn--


s: The moor was dreigh, and Meg was skeigh,


s: Chorus.--The lang lad they ca'Jumpin John


s: A vera gude tocher, a cotter-man's dochter,


s: Wi' his fause heart and flatt'ring tongue,


s: Wi' his teethless gab and his auld beld pow,


s: And the rain rains down frae his red blear'd e'e;


s: The winter it is past, and the summer comes at last


s: And the small birds, they sing on ev'ry tree;


s: Now ev'ry thing is glad, while I am very sad,


s: The rose upon the breer, by the waters running clear,


s: May have charms for the linnet or the bee;


s: Their little loves are blest, and their little hearts at rest,


s: The small birds rejoice in the green leaves returning,


s: The murmuring streamlet winds clear thro' the vale;


s: The primroses blow in the dews 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: When the lingering moments are numbered by care?


s: No birds sweetly singing, nor flow'rs gaily springing,


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, tho' I can find none!


s: But 'tis not my suff'rings, thus wretched, forlorn,


s: My brave gallant friends, 'tis your ruin I mourn;


s: Your faith proved so loyal in hot bloody trial,--


s: In this strange land, this uncouth clime,


s: Where words ne'er cross't 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: Tune--"Miss Admiral Gordon's Strathspey."


s: There's wild-woods grow, and rivers row,


s: There's not a bonie flower that springs,


s: She talks, she charms--but who can trace


s: Annbank,^3 wha guessed the ladies' taste,


s: Where, gathering flowers, and busking bowers,


s: The western breeze steals thro'the trees,


s: When Nature her great master-piece design'd,


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: 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 injured 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, patronise 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 eighteenpence 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: Than kingly robes, than crowns and globes,


s: Thy waist sae jimp, thy limbs sae clean,


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 I have 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: And we'll tak a right gude-willie waught,


s: Life's proud summits wouldst thou scale?


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


s: Thou, Nature, partial Nature, I arraign;


s: The peopled fold thy kindly care have found,


s: The horned bull, tremendous, spurns the ground;


s: Thou giv'st the ass his hide, the snail his shell,


s: The puny wasp, victorious, guards his cell.


s: Thy minions, kings defend, controul devour,


s: In all th' omnipotence of rule and power:


s: Foxes and statesmen subtle wiles ensure;


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: Their eyes, their tongues--and nameless other parts.


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, true to Mammon's foot,


s: Or grunting, grub sagacious, evil's root:


s: The silly sheep that wanders wild astray,


s: Is not more friendless, is not more a prey;


s: Vampyre--booksellers drain him to the heart,


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: By blockhead's daring into madness stung,


s: His heart by wanton, causeless malice wrung,


s: His well-won ways--than life itself more dear--


s: By miscreants torn who ne'er one sprig must wear;


s: Foil'd, bleeding, tortur'd in th' unequal strife,


s: The hapless Poet flounces on through life,


s: Till, fled each hope that once his bosom fired,


s: And fled each Muse that glorious once inspir'd,


s: Dead even resentment for his injur'd page,


s: He heeds no more the ruthless critics' rage.


s: So by some hedge the generous steed deceas'd,


s: For half-starv'd, snarling curs a dainty feast;


s: By toil and famine worn to skin and bone,


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: Much specious lore, but little understood,


s: (Veneering oft outshines the solid wood),


s: His solid sense, by inches you must tell,


s: But mete his cunning by the Scottish ell!


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: Still making work his selfish craft must mend.


s: The old cock'd hat, the brown surtout--the same;


s: His grisly beard just bristling in its might--


s: 'Twas four long nights and days from shaving-night;


s: His uncomb'd, hoary 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: 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: With sober, selfish ease they sip it up;


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 thread of Hope,


s: When, 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 heaven, or vaulted hell!


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


s: Nae handcuff'd, mizl'd, hap-shackl'd Regent,


s: Curs'd be the man, the poorest wretch in life,


s: Who has no will but by her high permission,


s: Who has not sixpence but in her possession;


s: Who must to he, his dear friend's secrets 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: Just like the Landlord's to his Guest's,


s: He looked just as your sign-post Lions do,


s: With aspect fierce, and quite as harmless too.


s: A head, pure, sinless quite of brain and soul,


s: And looks, when well preserv'd, amazing big.


s: Aught of Humanity's sweet, melting grace?


s: See these hands ne'er stretched 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 driven!


s: The cave-lodged Beggar,with a conscience clear,


s: Expires in rags, unknown, and goes to Heaven.


s: No friendly face e'er lights my squalid cot;


s: Shunn'd, hated, wrong'd, unpitied, unredrest,


s: The mock'd quotation of the scorner's jest!


s: Ev'n the poor support of my wretched life,


s: Snatched by the violence of legal strife.


s: To those my family's once large bounty fed;


s: My griefs, my woes, my sighs, my tears they share:


s: (Their vulgar souls unlike the souls refin'd,


s: The fashioned marble of the polished mind).


s: In vain would Prudence, with decorous sneer,


s: Point out a censuring world, and bid me fear;


s: Above the world, on wings of Love, I rise--


s: I know its worst, and can that worst despise;


s: Let Prudence' direst bodements on me fall,


s: M[ontgomer]y, rich reward, o'erpays them all!


s: Mild zephyrs waft thee to life's farthest shore,


s: Falsehood accurst! No! still I beg a place,


s: Still near thy heart some little, little trace:


s: For that dear trace the world I would resign:


s: O let me live, and die, and think it mine!


s: "I burn, I burn, as when thro' ripen'd corn


s: By driving winds the crackling flames are borne;"


s: Now raving-wild, I curse that fatal night,


s: Then bless the hour that charm'd my guilty sight:


s: In vain the laws their feeble force oppose,


s: Chain'd at Love's feet, they groan, his vanquish'd foes.


s: In vain Religion meets my shrinking eye,


s: Conscience in vain upbraids th' unhallow'd fire,


s: Love grasps her scorpions--stifled they expire!


s: Reason drops headlong from his sacred throne,


s: Your dear idea reigns, and reigns alone;


s: By all the conscious villain fears below!


s: By your dear self!--the last great oath I swear,


s: Not life, nor soul, were ever half so dear!


s: She's fair and fause that causes my smart,


s: She's broken her vow, she's broken my heart,


s: 'Twad been o'er meikle to gi'en thee mair--


s: I'll boldly pronounce they are none, sir;


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


s: And trowth, your kindness, soon and late,


s: There was once a day, but old Time wasythen young,


s: That brave Caledonia, the chief of her line,


s: From some of your northern deities sprung,


s: (Who knows not that brave Caledonia's divine?)


s: From Tweed to the Orcades was her domain,


s: To hunt, or to pasture, or do what she would:


s: Her heav'nly relations there fixed her reign,


s: And pledg'd her their godheads to warrant it good.


s: The pride of her kindred, the heroine grew:


s: Her grandsire, old Odin, triumphantly swore,--


s: "Whoe'er shall provoke thee, th' encounter shall rue!"


s: With tillage or pasture at times she would sport,


s: To feed her fair flocks by her green rustling corn;


s: But chiefly the woods were her fav'rite resort,


s: Her darling amusement, the hounds and the horn.


s: Long quiet she reigned; till thitherward steers


s: A flight of bold eagles from Adria's strand:


s: Repeated, successive, for many long years,


s: They darken'd the air, and they plunder'd the land:


s: Their pounces were murder, and terror their cry,


s: They'd conquer'd and ruin'd a world beside;


s: She took to her hills, and her arrows let fly,


s: The daring invaders they fled or they died.


s: The Cameleon-Savage disturb'd her repose,


s: With tumult, disquiet, rebellion, and strife;


s: Provok'd beyond bearing, at last she arose,


s: And robb'd him at once of his hopes and his life:


s: Oft prowling, ensanguin'd the Tweed's silver flood;


s: But, taught by the bright Caledonian lance,


s: He learned to fear in his own native wood.


s: The fell Harpy-raven took wing from the north,


s: The scourge of the seas, and the dread of the shore;


s: To wanton in carnage and wallow in gore:


s: O'er countries and kingdoms their fury prevail'd,


s: No arts could appease them, no arms could repel;


s: But brave Caledonia in vain they assail'd,


s: As Largs well can witness, and Loncartie tell.


s: Thus bold, independent, unconquer'd, and free,


s: Her bright course of glory for ever shall run:


s: I'll prove it from Euclid as clear as the sun:


s: Rectangle--triangle, the figure we'll chuse:


s: The upright is Chance, and old Time is the base;


s: Then, ergo, she'll match them, and match them always.


s: Her een sae bright, like stars by night,


s: In a' their charms, and conquering arms,


s: With groans that make the mountains shake,


s: Thou mourn thy ill-starr'd, blighted birth;


s: And as each jarring, monster-mass is past,


s: Hear, Spirit, hear! thy presence I invoke!


s: Where, order exil'd from his native sway,


s: Paint all the triumph of the Portland Band;


s: Hark how they lift the joy-elated voice!


s: The iron tears their flinty cheeks bedew;


s: See how unfurled the parchment ensigns fly,


s: And how their num'rous creditors rejoice;


s: But just as hopes to warm enjoyment rise,


s: Cry Convalescence! and the vision flies.


s: Then next pourtray a dark'ning twilight gloom,


s: While proud Ambition to th' untimely tomb


s: By gnashing, grim, despairing fiends is borne:


s: Paint ruin, in the shape of high D[undas]


s: In vain he struggles, the fates behind him press,


s: And clam'rous hell yawns for her prey below:


s: How fallen That, whose pride late scaled the skies!


s: And This, like Lucifer, no more to rise!


s: See Day, triumphant from the night, restored.


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: On the Thanksgiving-Day for His Majesty's Recovery.


s: Yet they, even they, with all their strength,


s: Essay on the Death of Jesus Christ" led to a charge of


s: heresy against him. Burns took up his cause in "The Kirk of


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 just lucky hits;


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


s: No man with the half of 'em e'er could go wrong;


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


s: No man with the half of 'em e'er could go right;


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


s: For using thy name, offers fifty excuses.


s: Good Lord, what is Man! for as simple he looks,


s: Do but try to develop 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 called 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 God, he would steal 'em,


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


s: It is not, out-do him--the task is, out-thieve him!


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


s: Go live, poor wand'rer of the wood and field!


s: No more the thickening brakes and verdant plains


s: To thee a 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: Perhaps a mother's anguish adds its woe;


s: The playful pair crowd fondly by thy side;


s: Ah! helpless nurslings, who will now provide


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: succeeded by future communications from--Yours, &c., R. Burns.


s: To deck her gay, green-spreading bowers,


s: Her lip, still as she fragrant breath'd,


s: Thro' wind and weet, thro' frost and snaw:


s: Where lambkins wanton through the broom.


s: Yet I love my love in secret, my Sandy O.


s: While down his cheeks the saut tears row'd;


s: O wilt thou go wi' me, sweet Tibbie Dunbar?


s: Wilt thou ride on a horse, or be drawn in a car,


s: Or walk by my side, O sweet Tibbie Dunbar?


s: I care na thy daddie, his lands and his money,


s: I care na thy kin, sae high and sae lordly;


s: But sae that thou'lt hae me for better for waur,


s: And come in thy coatie, sweet Tibbie Dunbar.


s: Chorus.--O mount and go, mount and make you ready,


s: O mount and go, and be the Captain's lady.


s: When the drums do beat, and the cannons rattle,


s: Thou shalt sit in state, and see thy love in battle:


s: Thou shalt sit in state, and see thy love in battle.


s: When the vanquish'd foe sues for peace and quiet,


s: To the shades we'll go, and in love enjoy it:


s: To the shades we'll go, and in love enjoy it.


s: There's a youth in this city, it were a great pity


s: That he from our lassies should wander awa';


s: For he's bonie and braw, weel-favor'd witha',


s: An' his hair has a natural buckle an' a'.


s: His coat is the hue o' his bonnet sae blue,


s: His fecket is white as the new-driven snaw;


s: His hose they are blae, and his shoon like the slae,


s: And his clear siller buckles, they dazzle us a'.


s: For beauty and fortune the laddie's been courtin;


s: Weel-featur'd, weel-tocher'd, weel-mounted an' braw;


s: But chiefly the siller that gars him gang till her,


s: There's Meg wi' the mailen that fain wad a haen him,


s: And Susie, wha's daddie was laird o' the Ha';


s: There's lang-tocher'd Nancy maist fetters his fancy,


s: --But the laddie's dear sel', he loes dearest of a'.


s: By love, and by beauty, by law, and by duty,


s: A' pleasure exile me, dishonour defile me,


s: On The Late Captain Grose's Peregrinations Thro' Scotland


s: Wi' deils, they say, Lord 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: The Devil got notice that Grose was a-dying


s: So whip! at the summons, old Satan came flying;


s: But when he approached where poor Francis lay moaning,


s: And saw each bed-post with its burthen a-groaning,


s: Astonish'd, confounded, cries Satan--"By God,


s: I'll want him, ere I take such a damnable load!"


s: Orthodox! orthodox, who believe in John Knox,


s: Let me sound an alarm to your conscience:


s: A heretic blast has been blown in the West,


s: "That what is no sense must be nonsense,"


s: Orthodox! That what is no sense must be nonsense.


s: Doctor Mac! Doctor Mac, you should streek on a rack,


s: To join Faith and Sense, upon any pretence,


s: Doctor Mac!^1 'Twas heretic, damnable error.


s: Town of Ayr! town of Ayr, it was mad, I declare,


s: Provost John^3 is still deaf to the Church's relief,


s: Town of Ayr! Yes, Orator Bob is its ruin.


s: D'rymple mild! D'rymple mild, tho' your heart's like a child,


s: Yet that winna save you, auld Satan must have you,


s: D'rymple mild!^5 For preaching that three's ane an' twa.


s: Rumble John! rumble John, mount the steps with a groan,


s: Then out wi' your ladle, deal brimstone like aidle,


s: Rumble John!^6 And roar ev'ry note of the damn'd.


s: Simper James! simper James, leave your fair Killie dames,


s: I'll lay on your head, that the pack you'll soon lead,


s: Simper James!^7 For puppies like you there's but few.


s: Singet Sawnie! singet Sawnie, are ye huirdin the penny,


s: With a jump, yell, and howl, alarm ev'ry soul,


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


s: Singet Sawnie!^8 For the foul thief is just at your gate.


s: Poet Willie! poet Willie, gie the Doctor a volley,


s: Wi' your "Liberty's Chain" and your wit;


s: O'er Pegasus' side ye ne'er laid a stride,


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


s: Poet Willie!^9 Ye but smelt man, the place where he sh--t.


s: Barr Steenie! Barr Steenie, what mean ye, what mean ye?


s: Ye may hae some pretence to havins and sense,


s: Barr Steenie!^10 Wi'people that ken ye nae better.


s: Jamie Goose! Jamie Goose, ye made but toom roose,


s: But the Doctor's your mark, for the Lord's holy ark,


s: He has cooper'd an' ca'd a wrang pin in't,


s: Jamie Goose!^11 He has cooper'd an' ca'd a wrang pin in't.


s: Davie Bluster! Davie Bluster, for a saint ye do muster,


s: who, among many other things, published an ode on the "Centenary


s: of the Revolution," in which was the line: "And bound in


s: foiled in an ecclesiastical prosecution against a Lieutenant


s: Yet to worth let's be just, royal blood ye might boast,


s: Davie Bluster!^12 If the Ass were the king o' the brutes.


s: Irvine Side! Irvine Side, wi' your turkey-cock pride


s: Ye've the figure, 'tis true, ev'n your foes will allow,


s: And your friends they dare grant you nae mair,


s: Irvine Side!^13 And your friends they dare grant you nae mair.


s: Muirland Jock! muirland Jock, when the Lord makes a rock,


s: If ill-manners were wit, there's no mortal so fit


s: Muirland Jock!^14 To confound the poor Doctor at ance.


s: Andro Gowk! Andro Gowk, ye may slander the Book,


s: An' the Book nought the waur, let me tell ye;


s: Tho' ye're rich, an' look big, yet, lay by hat an' wig,


s: An' ye'll hae a calf's--had o' sma' value,


s: Andro Gowk!^15 Ye'll hae a calf's head o' sma value.


s: Daddy Auld! daddy Auld, there'a a tod in the fauld,


s: Tho' ye do little skaith, ye'll be in at the death,


s: Daddy Auld!^16 Gif ye canna bite, ye may bark.


s: Holy Will! holy Will, there was wit in your skull,


s: The timmer is scant when ye're taen for a saunt,


s: Holy Will!^17 Ye should swing in a rape for an hour.


s: Calvin's sons! Calvin's sons, seize your spiritual guns,


s: Your hearts are the stuff will be powder enough,


s: And your skulls are a storehouse o' lead,


s: Calvin's sons! Your skulls are a storehouse o' lead.


s: Poet Burns! poet Burns, wi' your priest-skelpin turns,


s: Your muse is a gipsy, yet were she e'en tipsy,


s: Poet Burns! She could ca'us nae waur than we are.


s: Factor John! Factor John, whom the Lord made alone,


s: Thy poor servant, the Bard, in respectful regard,


s: Factor John! He presents thee this token sincere.


s: Afton's Laird! Afton's Laird, when your pen can be spared,


s: On the same sicker score as I mention'd before,


s: Afton's Laird! To that trusty auld worthy, Clackleith.


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 gifts 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 wand'rig spheres,


s: And grateful would, but cannot speak the rest.


s: On being appointed to an Excise division.


s: That clarty barm should stain my laurels:


s: These movin' things ca'd wives an' weans,


s: Three blyther hearts, that lee-lang night,


s: Chorus.--We are na fou, we're nae that fou,


s: master. The scene is between Moffat and the head of the Loch of


s: Till clay-cauld death sall blin' my e'e,


s: She talk'd, she smil'd, my heart she wyl'd;


s: But "spare to speak, and spare to speed;"


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 braid-swords, clash'd,


s: And thro' they dash'd, and hew'd and smash'd,


s: Drew blades o' death, till, out o' breath,


s: And straught to Stirling wing'd their flight;


s: For fear, for 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: Chorus.--An ye had been whare I hae been,


s: Our thrissles flourish'd fresh and fair,


s: An' write their names in his black beuk,


s: He wauken'd the auld wife frae her sleep,


s: And all his well-earn'd praise disclaim.


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: Chorus.--My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,


s: My heart's in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;


s: Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,


s: My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.


s: Farewell to the mountains, high-cover'd with snow,


s: Farewell to the straths and green vallies below;


s: Farewell to the forests and wild-hanging woods,


s: Farewell to the torrents and loud-pouring floods.


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: "The 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 the Whistle their requiem shrill.


s: Till Robert, the lord of the Cairn and the Scaur,


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


s: He drank his poor god-ship 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 with, 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 Downrightly 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!" Downrightly 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 ere he'd yield.


s: To the board of Glenriddel our heroes repair,


s: So noted for drowning of sorrow and care;


s: But, 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 see 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 cautious 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 should perish in light;


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


s: Next uprose 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: Thou ling'ring star, with lessening 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, thickening green;


s: 'Twin'd amorous round the raptur'd scene:


s: Still o'er these scenes my mem'ry wakes,


s: And tired o' sauls to waste his lear on,


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: But the Soger's friends hae blawn the best,


s: "There's some great folk set light by me,


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


s: proposal that, during George III's illness, the Prince of Wales


s: should assume the Government with full prerogative.]


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 bye, 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: Said--"Sutherland, in one word, bid them Think!"


s: Ye sprightly youths, quite flush 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 foreclock 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 you old Bald-pate smoothes 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: 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: 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 brandy, when imported?


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


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


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


s: Nor need he hunt as far as Rome or Greece,


s: There's themes enow in Caledonian story,


s: Would shew 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: To glut that direst foe--a vengeful woman;


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 followed 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 he 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 caition,


s: Ye'll soon hae Poets o' the Scottish nation


s: Will gar Fame blaw until her trumpet crack,


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


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


s: "Whase 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 mithers shore before ye strike;


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


s: For gen'rous 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: Who had sent the Poet a Newspaper, and offered


s: How guessed ye, Sir, what maist I wanted?


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


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: But we'll ne'er stray for faut o' light;


s: Chorus.--Then gudewife, count the lawin,


s: Follies and crimes have stain'd the name,


s: But, Queensberry, thine the virgin claim,


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


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


s: What verse can sing, what prose narrate,


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: And Hopetoun falls, the generous, brave;


s: Now, for my friends' and brethren's sakes,


s: A Gentleman who held the Patent for his Honours immediately from


s: Should the poor be flattered?--Shakespeare.


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 hills, near neighbours o' the starns,


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


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


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: Written on an Envelope, enclosing a Letter to Him.


s: Ken ye aught o' Captain Grose?--Igo, and ago,


s: Is he to Abra'm's bosom gane?--Igo, and ago,


s: Is he south or is he north?--Igo, and ago,


s: Is he slain by Hielan' bodies?--Igo, and ago,


s: Where'er he be, the Lord be near him!--Igo, and ago,


s: But please transmit th' enclosed letter,--Igo, and ago,


s: So may ye hae auld stanes in store,--Igo, and ago,


s: So may ye get in glad possession,--Igo, and ago,


s: "Of Brownyis and of Bogillis 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 drank wi' Kirkton Jean till Monday,


s: Thou wad be found, deep drown'd in Doon,


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


s: Wi' favours secret, sweet, and precious:


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 gude blue bonnet,


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


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


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 Maggie stood, right sair astonish'd,


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, unchristened bairns;


s: The mirth and fun grew fast and furious;


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


s: Their sarks, instead o' creeshie flainen,


s: Been snaw-white seventeen hunder linen!--


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 skreich and hollow.


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


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


s: Born in peculiar circumstances of family distress.


s: spirits, have no power to follow a poor wight any further than


s: the middle of the next running stream. It may be proper likewise


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


s: much more hazard in turning back.--R.B.]


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 chaunt your idle loves,


s: Ye healthy 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: And not a Muse with honest grief bewail?


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 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 deckt the woodbine sweet yon aged tree;


s: So, from it ravish'd, leaves it bleak and bare.


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: There'll Never Be Peace Till Jamie Comes Hame


s: By yon Castle wa', at the close of the day,


s: I heard a man sing, tho' his head it was grey:


s: And as he was singing, the tears doon 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 dare na weel say't, but we ken wha's to blame,--


s: My seven braw sons for Jamie drew sword,


s: But now I greet round their green beds in the yerd;


s: It brak the sweet heart o' my faithful and dame,--


s: Sin' I tint my bairns, and he tint his crown;


s: But till my last moments my words are the same,--


s: Out over the Forth, I look to the North;


s: But what is the north and its Highlands to me?


s: The south nor the east gie ease to my breast,


s: The far foreign land, or the wide rolling sea.


s: But I look to the west when I gae to rest,


s: That happy my dreams and my slumbers may be;


s: For far in the west lives he I loe best,


s: The man that is dear to my babie and me.


s: Thou'll break my heart, thou bonie bird,


s: Thou'll break my heart, thou warbling bird,


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: Thou 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 valued'st, I, the Patron lov'd;


s: His worth, his honour, all the world approved:


s: We'll mourn till we too go as he has gone,


s: And tread the shadowy path to that dark world unknown.


s: Sweet closes the ev'ning on Craigieburn Wood,


s: But the pride o' the spring in the Craigieburn Wood


s: Chorus.--Beyond thee, dearie, beyond thee, dearie,


s: Chorus.--Bonie wee thing, cannie wee thing,


s: As the wretch looks o'er Siberia's shore,


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 penny that tempted my minnie


s: To sell her puir Jenny for siller an' lan'.


s: To sell her puir Jenny for siller an' lan'!


s: He's always compleenin' frae mornin' to e'enin',


s: He hoasts and he hirples the weary day lang;


s: He's doylt and he's dozin, his blude it is frozen,--


s: He's doylt and he's dozin, his blude 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 an' jealous o' a' the young fellows,--


s: O, dool on the day I met wi' an auld man!


s: He's peevish an' jealous o' a' the young fellows,


s: O, dool on the day I met wi' an auld man.


s: I'll do my endeavour to follow her plan;


s: I'll cross him an' wrack him, until I heartbreak him


s: And then his auld brass will buy me a new pan,


s: I'll cross him an' wrack him, until I heartbreak him,


s: And then his auld brass will buy me a new pan.


s: O luve will venture in where it daur na weel be seen,


s: O luve will venture in where wisdom ance has been;


s: But I will doun yon river rove, amang the wood sae green,


s: And a' to pu' a Posie to my ain dear May.


s: The primrose I will pu', the firstling o' the year,


s: And I will pu' the pink, the emblem o' my dear;


s: For she's the pink o' womankind, and blooms without a peer,


s: And a' to be a Posie to my ain dear May.


s: I'll pu' the budding rose, when Phoebus peeps in view,


s: For it's like a baumy kiss o' her sweet, bonie mou;


s: The hyacinth's for constancy wi' its unchanging blue,


s: The lily it is pure, and the lily it is fair,


s: And in her lovely bosom I'll place the lily there;


s: The daisy's for simplicity and unaffected air,


s: The hawthorn I will pu', wi' its locks o' siller gray,


s: Where, like an aged man, it stands at break o' day;


s: But the songster's nest within the bush I winna tak away


s: The woodbine I will pu', when the e'ening star is near,


s: And the diamond draps o' dew shall be her een sae clear;


s: The violet's for modesty, which weel she fa's to wear,


s: I'll tie the Posie round wi' the silken band o' luve,


s: And I'll place it in her breast, and I'll swear by a' above,


s: That to my latest draught o' life the band shall ne'er remove,


s: And this will be a Posie to my ain dear May.


s: As sleek's a mouse, as round's an apple,


s: That when thou pleasest canst do wonders;


s: Wilt break thy neck ere thou go further.


s: Could'st thou enslave a free-born creature,


s: How could'st thou, with a heart so good,


s: (A better ne'er was sluiced with blood!)


s: Of Princes', Kings', and Nations' fates,


s: (All ills till then were trivial matters)


s: For Man dethron'd forge hen-peck fetters;


s: Thought cutting throats was reaping glory,


s: Has gagg'd old Britain, drain'd her coffer,


s: As who should say, 'I never can need him,'


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: "When, glinting thro' the trees, appear'd


s: Has stripped the cleeding o' your braes?


s: Or was't the wil'fire scorch'd their boughs,


s: "Nae eastlin blast," the sprite replied;


s: As through the cliffs he sank him down--


s: While corn grows green in summer showers,


s: At Brownhill we always get dainty good cheer,


s: And plenty of bacon each day in the year;


s: We've a' thing that's nice, and mostly in season,


s: But why always Bacon--come, tell me a reason?


s: Chorus.--You're welcome, Willie Stewart,


s: There's ne'er a flower that blooms in May,


s: May foes be strang, and friends be slack


s: The lines are said to have "afforded much amusement."--Lang]


s: May he whase arms shall fauld thy charms


s: When first my brave Johnie lad came to this town,


s: He had a blue bonnet that wanted the crown;


s: But now he has gotten a hat and a feather,


s: Hey, brave Johnie lad, cock up your beaver!


s: Cock up your beaver, and cock it fu' sprush,


s: We'll over the border, and gie them a brush;


s: There's somebody there we'll teach better behaviour,


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 dune, be it late, be it sune,


s: Thou's welcome again to thy ain Jock Rab.


s: What says she, my dearie, my Eppie Macnab?


s: She let's 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 Macnab!


s: As light as the air, and as fause as thou's fair,


s: Thou's broken the heart o' thy ain Jock Rab.


s: Altho' 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: It's a' for the apple he'll nourish the tree,


s: It's a' for the hinny he'll cherish the bee,


s: My laddie's sae meikle in luve wi' the siller,


s: Ye're like to the timmer o' yon rotten wood,


s: Ye're like to the bark 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 three short years will soon wheel roun',


s: But, hear'st thou laddie! there's my loof,


s: Now crystal clear are the falling waters,


s: Fresh o'er the mountains breaks forth the morning,


s: All creatures joy in the sun's returning,


s: Flow gently, sweet Afton! amang 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 stockdove 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 Ev'ning weeps over the lea,


s: The sweet-scented birk shades my Mary and me.


s: Thy crystal stream, Afton, how lovely it glides,


s: And winds by the cot where my Mary resides;


s: How wanton thy waters her snowy feet lave,


s: As, gathering sweet flowerets, she stems thy clear wave.


s: Flow gently, sweet Afton, amang thy green braes,


s: Flow gently, sweet river, the theme of my lays;


s: My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream,


s: Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream.


s: Shall bloom that wreath thou well hast won;


s: To mark where England's province stands--


s: We're bought and sold for English gold--


s: Ye Jacobites by name, give an ear, give an ear,


s: Your doctrines I maun blame, you shall hear.


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, famed afar, famed afar?


s: Or hunt a Parent's life, wi' bluidy war?


s: Then let your schemes alone, in the state, in the state,


s: Then let your schemes alone in the state.


s: Here's Kenmure's health in wine, Willie!


s: There's ne'er a coward o' Kenmure's blude,


s: Epistle To John Maxwell, ESQ., Of Terraughty


s: Thy lengthen'd days on this blest morrow,


s: Wi' mornings blythe, and e'enings funny,


s: Your friends aye love, your faes aye fear ye;


s: Second Epistle To Robert Graham, ESQ., Of Fintry


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 ensure;


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 step-mother 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: He bears th' unbroken blast from ev'ry 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 th' unequal strife,


s: The hapless Poet flounders on thro' 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 disappointments 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: Fintry, 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: Scene--A Field of Battle. Time of the day--evening. The wounded


s: and dying of the victorious army are supposed to join in the


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: And the Dukes that you dined wi' yestreen,


s: Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,


s: Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee.


s: While thro' your sweets she holds her way,


s: Ance mair I hail thee, thou gloomy December!


s: Ance mair I hail thee wi' sorrow and care;


s: Sad was the parting thou makes me remember--


s: Parting wi' Nancy, oh, ne'er to meet mair!


s: Fond lovers' parting is sweet, painful pleasure,


s: Hope beaming mild on the soft parting hour;


s: But the dire feeling, O farewell for ever!


s: Wild as the winter now tearing the forest,


s: Till the last leaf o' the summer is flown;


s: Such is the tempest has shaken my bosom,


s: Till my last hope and last comfort is gone.


s: Still as I hail thee, thou gloomy December,


s: Still shall I hail thee wi' sorrow and care;


s: For sad was the parting thou makes me remember,


s: Parting wi' Nancy, oh, ne'er to meet mair.


s: Gie body strength, then I'll ne'er start


s: That lips could speak thy heart could muve.


s: Ill-fated genius! Heaven-taught Fergusson!


s: What heart that feels and will not yield a tear,


s: To think Life's sun did set e'er well begun


s: To shed its influence on thy bright career.


s: O why should truest Worth and Genius pine


s: In all the splendour Fortune can bestow?


s: Chorus.--The weary pund, the weary pund,


s: And when she cam' ben, she kiss'd Cockpen,


s: Thy lips are as sweet, and thy figure complete,


s: Tho' thou has nae silk, and holland sae sma',


s: Thy coat and thy sark are thy ain handiwark,


s: There was a wife wonn'd in Cockpen, Scroggam;


s: The gudewife's dochter fell in a fever, Scroggam;


s: The priest o' the parish he fell in anither;


s: They laid the twa i' the bed thegither, Scroggam;


s: That the heat o' the tane might cool the tither;


s: They a' are mine, and they shall be thine,


s: and the warld before me to win my bread,


s: She's twisted right, she's twisted left,


s: O lady Mary Ann looks o'er the Castle wa',


s: She saw three bonie boys playing at the ba',


s: The youngest he was the flower amang them a',


s: My bonie laddie's young, but he's growin' yet.


s: We'll send him a year to the college yet,


s: We'll sew a green ribbon round about his hat,


s: And that will let them ken he's to marry yet.


s: Sweet was its smell and bonie was its hue,


s: And the longer it blossom'd the sweeter it grew,


s: For the lily in the bud will be bonier yet.


s: Young Charlie Cochran was the sprout of an aik,


s: Bonie and bloomin' and straught was its make,


s: The sun took delight to shine for its sake,


s: And it will be the brag o' the forest yet.


s: The simmer is gane when the leaves they were green,


s: But far better days I trust will come again;


s: For my bonie laddie's young, but he's growin' yet.


s: And he had a wife was the plague of his days,


s: And the thyme it is wither'd, and rue is in prime.


s: Ae day as the carl gaed up the lang glen,


s: He met with the Devil, says, "How do you fen?"


s: I've got a bad wife, sir, that's a' my complaint,


s: "For, savin your presence, to her ye're a saint,"


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 carl said,


s: "But if ye can match her ye're waur than 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: Then straight he makes fifty, the pick o' his band,


s: Turn out on her guard in the clap o' a hand,


s: The carlin gaed thro' them like ony wud bear,


s: Whae'er she gat hands on cam near her nae mair,


s: "O help, maister, 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 travell'd again wi' his pack,


s: And to her auld husband he's carried her back,


s: "But ne'er was in hell till I met wi' a wife,"


s: It was in sweet Senegal that my foes did me enthral,


s: Torn from that lovely shore, and must never see it more;


s: All on that charming coast is no bitter snow and frost,


s: There streams for ever flow, and there flowers for ever blow,


s: The burden I must bear, while the cruel scourge I fear,


s: And I think on friends most dear, with the bitter, bitter tear,


s: The fien-ma-care, quo' the feirrie auld wife,


s: This seven lang years I hae lien by his side,


s: O haud your tongue, my feirrie auld wife,


s: We'll mak our maut, and we'll brew our drink,


s: And mony braw thanks to the meikle black deil,


s: There's threesome reels, there's foursome reels,


s: But the ae best dance ere came to the land


s: Says--"I'll be wed, come o't what will":


s: But some will spend and some will spare,


s: Green be your woods, and fair your flowers,


s: How sweetly bloom'd the gay, green birk,


s: Now green's the sod, and cauld's the clay


s: And clos'd for aye, the sparkling glance


s: There's Auld Rob Morris that wons in yon glen,


s: He's the King o' gude fellows, and wale o' auld men;


s: He has gowd in his coffers, he has owsen and kine,


s: She's fresh as the morning, the fairest in May;


s: She's sweet as the ev'ning amang the new hay;


s: As blythe and as artless as the lambs on the lea,


s: And dear to my heart as the light to my e'e.


s: But oh! she's an Heiress, auld Robin's a laird,


s: And my daddie has nought but a cot-house and yard;


s: A wooer like me maunna hope to come speed,


s: The wounds I must hide that will soon be my dead.


s: The day comes to me, but delight brings me nane;


s: The night comes to me, but my rest it is gane;


s: I wander my lane like a night-troubled ghaist,


s: And I sigh as my heart it wad burst in my breast.


s: I then might hae hop'd she wad smil'd upon me!


s: O how past descriving had then been my bliss,


s: As now my distraction nae words can express.


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, in the Sexes' intermix'd connection,


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 naughty ways,


s: Would swagger, swear, get drunk, kick up a riot,


s: Now, thank our stars! those 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: And claught th' unfading garland there--


s: And wha winna wish gude luck to our cause,


s: Here's a health to Charlie^1 the chief o' the clan,


s: May tyrants and tyranny tine i' the mist,


s: Here's a health to Tammie,^2 the Norlan' laddie,


s: There's nane ever fear'd that the truth should be heard,


s: Here's to Maitland and Wycombe, let wha doesna like 'em


s: And may he be that wad turn the buff and blue coat


s: Here's chieftain M'Leod, a chieftain worth gowd,


s: Here's friends on baith sides o' the firth,


s: And friends on baith sides o' the Tweed;


s: And comforts himself as he dow, as he dow,


s: E'en let him come out as he dow, dow, dow,


s: And lang may they ring as they dow, dow, dow,


s: Chorus--O why should Fate sic pleasure have,


s: It ne'er was wealth, it ne'er was wealth,


s: That coft contentment, peace, or pleasure;


s: Sonnet Written On The Author's Birthday,


s: On hearing a Thrush sing in his Morning Walk.


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 furrowed brow.


s: Sits meek Content with light, unanxious heart;


s: Welcomes the rapid moments, bids them part,


s: Nor asks if they bring ought to hope or fear.


s: I thank thee, Author of this opening day!


s: Thou whose bright sun now gilds yon orient skies!


s: Riches denied, thy boon was purer joys--


s: What wealth could never give nor take away!


s: Yet come, thou child of poverty and care,


s: The mite high heav'n bestow'd, that mite with thee I'll share.


s: Now tired with wandering, haud awa hame;


s: And tell me thou bring'st me my Willie the same.


s: Loud blew the cauld winter winds at our parting;


s: It was na the blast brought the tear in my e'e:


s: Now welcome the Simmer, and welcome my Willie,


s: Ye hurricanes rest in the cave o'your slumbers,


s: Awaken ye breezes, row gently ye billows,


s: And waft my dear laddie ance mair to my arms.


s: But if he's forgotten his faithfullest Nannie,


s: O still flow between us, thou wide roaring main;


s: May I never see it, may I never trow it,


s: But, dying, believe that my Willie's my ain!


s: Tell me thou bring'st me my Willie the same.


s: Winter winds blew loud and cauld at our parting,


s: Fears for my Willie brought tears in my e'e,


s: Welcome now the Simmer, and welcome, my Willie,


s: Rest, ye wild storms, in the cave of your slumbers,


s: Wauken, ye breezes, row gently, ye billows,


s: But oh, if he's faithless, and minds na his Nannie,


s: Flow still between us, thou wide roaring main!


s: Lord Gregory, mind'st thou not the grove


s: Tho' thou hast been false, I'll ever prove true,


s: The frost that freezes the life at my heart,


s: The wan Moon is setting beyond the white wave,


s: False friends, false love, farewell! for mair


s: She has open'd the door, she has open'd it wide,


s: She sees the pale corse on the plain, oh:


s: "My true love!" she cried, and sank down by his side,


s: True hearted was he, the sad swain o' the Yarrow,


s: And fair are the maids on the banks of the Ayr;


s: But by the sweet side o' the Nith's winding river,


s: Are lovers as faithful, and maidens as fair:


s: To equal young Jessie seek Scotland all over;


s: To equal young Jessie you seek it in vain,


s: Grace, beauty, and elegance, fetter her lover,


s: O, fresh is the rose in the gay, dewy morning,


s: And sweet is the lily, at evening close;


s: But in the fair presence o' lovely young Jessie,


s: Love sits in her smile, a wizard ensnaring;


s: Enthron'd in her een he delivers his law:


s: And still to her charms she alone is a stranger;


s: O ken ye what Meg o' the Mill has gotten,


s: An' ken ye what Meg o' the Mill has gotten?


s: She gotten a coof wi' a claut o' siller,


s: And broken the heart o' the barley Miller.


s: The Miller was strappin, the Miller was ruddy;


s: A heart like a lord, and a hue like a lady;


s: The laird was a widdifu', bleerit knurl;


s: She's left the gude fellow, and taen the churl.


s: The Miller he hecht her a heart leal and loving,


s: The lair did address her wi' matter mair moving,


s: A fine pacing-horse wi' a clear chained bridle,


s: A whip by her side, and a bonie side-saddle.


s: O wae on the siller, it is sae prevailin',


s: And wae on the love that is fixed on a mailen!


s: A tocher's nae word in a true lover's parle,


s: But gie me my love, and a fig for the warl'!


s: A braw new naig wi' the tail o' a rottan,


s: And that's what Meg o' the Mill has gotten.


s: O ken ye what Meg o' the Mill lo'es dearly,


s: An' ken ye what Meg o' the Mill lo'es dearly?


s: A dram o' gude strunt in the morning early,


s: And that's what Meg o' the Mill lo'es dearly.


s: O ken ye how Meg o' the Mill was married,


s: An' ken ye how Meg o' the Mill was married?


s: The priest he was oxter'd, the clark he was carried,


s: And that's how Meg o' the Mill was married.


s: O ken ye how Meg o' the Mill was bedded,


s: An' ken ye how Meg o' the Mill was bedded?


s: The groom gat sae fou', he fell awald beside it,


s: And that's how Meg o' the Mill was bedded.


s: Wi' alter'd voice, quoth I, "Sweet lass,


s: Ye true "Loyal Natives" attend to my song


s: In uproar and riot rejoice the night long;


s: From Envy and Hatred your corps is exempt,


s: But where is your shield from the darts of Contempt!


s: Lines Inscribed In A Lady's Pocket Almanac


s: Grant me, indulgent Heaven, 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 that were.


s: God won't accept your thanks for Murther!


s: Lines On The Commemoration Of Rodney's Victory


s: Instead of a Song, boy's, I'll give you a Toast;


s: Here's to 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 will last while the world goes round.


s: The next in succession I'll give you's 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 our great Revolution!


s: And longer with Politics not to be cramm'd,


s: And who would to Liberty e'er prove disloyal,


s: May his son be a hangman--and he his first trial!


s: Thou greybeard, old Wisdom! may boast of thy treasures;


s: I grant thee thy calm-blooded, time-settled pleasures,


s: Ye men of wit and wealth, why all this sneering


s: 'Gainst poor Excisemen? Give the cause a hearing:


s: What are your Landlord's rent-rolls? Taxing ledgers!


s: What Premiers? What ev'n Monarchs? Mighty Gaugers!


s: Nay, what are Priests? (those seeming godly wise-men,)


s: What are they, pray, but Spiritual Excisemen!


s: Why did they not come along with you, Dumourier?


s: I will fight France with you, Dumourier;


s: By my soul, I'll dance with you, Dumourier.


s: Then we'll be damn'd, no doubt, Dumourier.


s: What throes, what tortures passing cure,


s: The bees hum round the breathing flowers;


s: And frost will blight the fairest flowers,


s: Her heart was tint, her peace was stown!


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


s: No wrinkle, furrow'd by the hand of care,


s: When Morine, deceas'd, to the Devil went down,


s: 'Twas nothing would serve him but Satan's own crown;


s: "Thy fool's head," quoth Satan, "that crown shall wear never,


s: I grant thou'rt as wicked, but not quite so clever."


s: Had I a cave on some wild distant shore,


s: Where the winds howl to the wave's dashing roar:


s: Falsest of womankind, can'st thou declare


s: All thy fond, plighted vows fleeting as air!


s: The winds are whispering thro' the grove,


s: She, sinking, said, 'I'm thine for ever!'


s: The haunt o' Spring's the primrose-brae,


s: Or chain the soul in speechless pleasure?


s: Chorus.--O Whistle, an' I'll come to ye, my lad,


s: Tho' father an' mother an' a' should gae mad,


s: But warily tent when ye come to court me,


s: And come nae unless the back-yett be a-jee;


s: Syne up the back-stile, and let naebody see,


s: At kirk, or at market, whene'er ye meet me,


s: Gang by me as tho' that ye car'd na a flie;


s: But steal me a blink o' your bonie black e'e,


s: Aye vow and protest that ye care na for me,


s: And whiles ye may lightly my beauty a-wee;


s: But court na anither, tho' jokin' ye be,


s: For fear that she wile your fancy frae me,


s: For fear that she wile your fancy frae me.


s: To mark the sweet flowers as they spring;


s: Chorus.--Awa' wi' your belles and your beauties,


s: Her breath is the breath of the woodbine,


s: That wakes thro' the green-spreading grove


s: To deck her gay, green-spreading bowers;


s: There, latest mark'd her vanish'd sail."


s: While thro' thy sweets she loves to stray,


s: Where are the joys I have met in the morning,


s: Where is the peace that awaited my wand'ring,


s: No more a winding the course of yon river,