EPISTLES. 1 EPISTLE TO JAMES SMITH.P Friendship! mysterious cement of the soul! DEAR Smith, the sleest, pawkier thief, For ne'er a bosom yet was priefu For me, I swear by sun and moon, And ev'ry ither pair that 's done, Mair taen I'm wi' you. That auld capricious carlin Nature, And in her freaks, on ev'ry feature, She 's wrote 'the man." Just now I've taen the fit o' rhyme, My fancy yerkita up sublime Wi' hasty summon: Hae ye a leisure-moment's time To hear what 's comin'? Then a shopkeeper in Mauchline. He afterward went to the West Indies, where he died. 9 Pronounced slee-est, slyest. & Plunder. t Wizard-spell. r Cunning. y Scanty. a Jerked, lashed. More delighted. x A stout old woman. z Like barm, or yeast. Some rhyme, a neebor's name to lash; Some rhyme (vain thought!) for needfu' cash; For me, an aim I never fash !d I rhyme for fun. The star that rules my luckless lot, An' damn'd my fortune to the groat ; Has bless'd me wi' a random shot O' countra wit. This while my notion 's taen a sklent,' Something cries-'Hoolie Ye'll shaw your folly. There's ither poets, much your betters, Now moths deform in shapeless tetters Then fareweel hopes o' laurel-boughs, Henceforth I'll rove where busy ploughs And teach the lanely heights an' howesk My rustic sang. I'll wander on wi' tentless' heed How never-halting moments speed, Country talk. f Aslant. Take need. e Doomed me to poverty. d To care for. A Counsel. Till fate shall snap the brittle thread; I'll lay me with th' inglorious dead, But why o' death begin a tale? Just now we're living, sound, and hale, And large, before enjoyment's gale, This life, sae far 's I understand, Where pleasure is the magic wand, That, wielded right, Maks hours like minutes, hand in hand, Dance by fu' light. The magic wand then let us wield; Wi' wrinkled face, Come hostin', hirplin',P owre the field, When ance life's day draws near the gloamin'. An' fareweel, dear, deluding woman, O Life! how pleasant in thy morning, Like school-boys at th' expected warning, m Once. Coughing. n To climb. o Old age. r Twilight. We wander there, we wander here, Amang the leaves; And tho' the puny wound appear, Short while it grieves. Some, lucky, find a flow'ry spot, And, haply, eye the barren hut With high disdain. With steady aim some fortune chase; Then cannie," in some coziew place, And others, like your humble servan', They zig-zag on; Till curst with age, obscure an' starvin', They aften groan. Alas! what bitter toil an' straining- E'en let her gang! Beneath what light she has remaining Let's sing our sang. My pen I here fling to the door, And kneel, Ye Powers!' and warm implore, 'Tho' I should wander terra o'er, In all her climes, Did sweat. Without. u Dexterously. w Snug Grant me but this, I ask no more, 'Gie dreeping roasts to countra lairds, And yill an' whisky gie to cairds, Until they sconner.b 'A title, Dempster merits it; A garter gie to Willie Pitt; Gie wealth to some be-ledger'd cit, In cent. per cent.; But gie me real, sterling wit, And I'm content. 'While ye are pleas'd to keep me hale, As lang 's the Muses dinna fail To say the grace.' An anxious e'e I never throws Sworn foe to sorrow, care, and prose, O ye douces folk that live by rule, Your hearts are just a standing pool, Plenty. b Loathe it. Your lives, a dyke! y Clothes. z Ale. a Tinkers. c George Dempster, Esq. of Dunnichen. d Made of meal and water only. • Broth, composed of water, shelled barley, and greens. To stoop. g Wise. |