Nine times a week, If he some scheme, like tea an' winnocks, Could he some commutation broach, Yon mixtie-maxtier queer hotch-potch, Auld Scotland has a raucles tongue; An' if she promise auld or young To tak their part, Though by the neck she should be strung, An' now, ye chosen Five-and-Forty," An' kick your place, Ye'll snap your fingers, poor an' hearty, God bless your honours a' your days That haunt Saint Jamie's! Your humble Poet sings an' prays While Rab his name is. POSTSCRIPT, Let half-starv'd slaves, in warmer skies, lea and windows; an allusion to Mr. Pitt's r Confusedly mixed. s Rash, fearless. u The Scotch members of parliament. Sups of kail-broth. y Rags of clothes. commutation tax. Their lot auld Scotland ne'er envies, But blythe and frisky, She eyes her free-born, martial boys Tak aff their whisky. What tho' their Phoebus kinder warms, While fragrance blooms and beauty charms! Or hounded forth, dishonour arms In hungry droves : Their gun's a burden on their shouther; Till skelp-a shot!-they're aff a' throwther, But bring a Scotsman frae his hill, An' there's the foe, He has nae thought but how to kill Nae cauld, faint-hearted doubtings tease him; An' when he fa's, His latest draught o' breathin' lea'ese him Sages their solemn een may steek, a Cannot. b Hesitation. ● All pell-mell, or in confusion. • Leaves. Shut. d A gill of Highland whisky. g Smoke. An' physically causes seek, In clime an' season; But tell me whisky's name in Greek, Scotland, my auld respected Mither! (Freedom and Whisky gang thegither!) THE VISION. DUAN FIRST.m THE Sun had clos'd the winter day, To kail-yards green, While faithless snaws ilka step betray The thresher's weary flingin-treer And whan the day had clos'd his e'e, Far i' the west, Ben i' the spencet right pensivelie, There, lanely, by the ingle-cheek," h Sometimes. i Crops. k Lose your urine. Burns was not so much the votary of Bacchus as this and 'Scotch Drink,' the preceding poem, would lead the reader w suppose. When Auld Nanse Tinnock,' the Mauchline landlady, found her name celebrated in this poem, she said, 'Robin Burne may be a clever enough lad, but he has little regard to truth; for I'm sure the chiel' was never in a' his life aboon three times i' my house.' m Duan, a term of Ossian's for the different divisions of a digressive poem. See his Cath-Loda. n A game on the ice • Did quit. Live-long. p A hare. r A flail. Fire-side. That fill'd, wi' hoast-provoking smeek, The auld clay biggin ; An' heard the restless rattons squeak All in this mottie, misty clime, But stringin' blethers up in rhyme, Had I to guid advice but harkit,b My cash-account: I started, mutt'ring, blockhead! coof! Or some rash aith,8 That I, henceforth, would be rhyme proof Till my last breath When click! the string the snick did draw ; And jee! the door gaed to the wa'; An' by my ingle lowel I saw, Now bleezin' bright, A tight, outlandish Hizzie, braw, Come full in sight. Ye need na doubt, I held my whisht;m I glow'r'd as eerie 's I'd been dush't" In some wild glen; When sweet, like modest Worth, she blusht, Green, slender, leaf-clad holly-boughs By that same token; An' come to stop those reckless vows, Wou'd soon been broken. A hair-brain'd sentimental trace,' Her eye, Shone full upon her ; ev'n turn'd on empty space, Beam'd keen with Honour. Down flow'd her robe, a tartan sheen,p And such a leg! my bonnie Jean Could only peer" it; Sae straught, sae taper, tight, and clean, Her mantle large, of greenish hue, My gazing wonder chiefly drew; Deep lights and shades, bold-mingling, threw And seem'd, to my astonish'd view, A well known land. Here, rivers in the sea were lost; There, mountains to the skies were tost; Here, tumbling billows mark'd the coast, With surging foam; o Into the parlour. n Stared frightfully, as if I had been suddenly pushed, or attacked by an ox. PA bright, or shining tartan, or chequered woollen stuff, much worn in Scotland, particularly in the Highlands. q Scantily. Equal. s Straight. |