Conscious the bounteous meed they well deserve, Not so the idle muses' mad-cap train, Not such the workings of their moon-struck brain; In equanimity they never dwell, By turns in soaring heav'n or vaulted hell. I dread thee, fate, relentless and severe, TO ROBERT GRAHAM, ESQ., OF FINTRAY. ON RECEIVING A FAVOUR. Graham of Fintray not only obtained for the poet the appointment in the Excise, which, while he lived in Edinburgh, he desired, but he also removed him, as he wished, to a better district; and when imputations were thrown out against his loyalty, he defended him with obstinate and successful eloquence. Fintray did all that was done to raise Burns out of the toiling humility of his condition, and enable him to serve the ase without fear of want.] I CALL no goddess to inspire my strains, A fabled muse may suit a bard that feigns; Friend of my life! my ardent spirit burns, Thou orb of day! thou other paler light! A VISION. [This Vision of Liberty descended on Burns among the magnificent ruins of the Col· lege of Lincluden, which stand on the junction of the Cluden and the Nith, a short mile above Dumfries. He gave us the Vision; perhaps. he dared not in those yeasty times venture on the song, which his secret visitant poured from her lips. The scene is chiefly copied from nature: the swellings of the Nith, the howlings of the fox on the hill, and the ery of the owl, unite at times with the natural beauty of the spot, and give it life and voice. These ruins were a favourite haunt of the poet.] As I stood by yon roofless tower, Where the wa'-flower scents the dewy air, The winds were laid, the air was still, The fox was howling on the hill, And the distant echoing glens reply. The stream, adown its hazelly path, Whose distant roaring swells and fa's. The cauld blue north was streaming forth VARIATION. 1 To join yon river on the Strath. By heedless chance I turn'd mine eyes, Had I a statue been o' stane, His darin' look had daunted me; And frae his harp sic strains did flow, Might rous'd the slumb'ring dead to hear; But, oh! it was a tale of woe, As ever met a Briton's ear. He sang wi' joy the former day, He weeping wail'd his latter times; TO JOHN MAXWELL OF TERRAUGHTY, ON HIS BIRTH-DAY. John Maxwell of Terraughty and Munshes, to whom these verses are addressed, though descended from the Earls of Nithsdale, cared little about lineage, and claimed merit only from a judgment sound and clear-a knowledge of business which penetrated into all the concerns of life, and a skill in handling the most difficult subjects, which was considered unrivalled. Under an austere manner, he hid much kindness of heart, and was in a fair way of doing an act of gentleness when giving a refusal. He loved to meet Burns: not that he either cared for or comprehended poetry; but he was pleased with his knowledge of human nature, and with the keen and piercing remarks in which he indulged. He was seventy-one years old when these verses were written, and survived the poet twenty years.] HEALTH to the Maxwell's vet'ran chief! Inspir'd, I turn'd Fate's sybil leaf This natal morn; I see thy life is stuff o' prief, Scarce quite half worn. VARIATION. 1 Now looking over firth and fauld, Her horn the pale-fac'd Cynthia rear'd; A stern and stalwart ghaist appear'd. This day thou metes three score eleven, On thee a tack o' seven times seven If envious buckies view wi' sorrow Thy lengthen'd days on this blest morrow, Nine miles an hour, Rake them like Sodom and Gomorrah, In brunstane stoure But for thy friends, and they are mony, Wi' mornings blythe and e'enings funny Fareweel, auld birkie! Lord be near ye, If niest my heart I dinna wear ye While BURNS they ca' me! Dumfries, 18 Feb. 1792. THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN. AN OCCASIONAL ADDRESS SPOKEN BY MISS FONTENELLE ON HER BENEFIT NIGHT, Nov. 26, 1792. [Miss Fontenelle was one of the actresses whom Williamson, the manager, brought for Beveral seasons to Dumfries: she was young and pretty, indulged in little levities of speech. and rumour added, perhaps maliciously, levities of action. The Rights of Man had been advocated by Paine, the Rights of Woman by Mary Wolstonecroft, and nought was talked of, but the moral and political regeneration of the world. The line "But truce with kings and truce with constitutions," got an uncivil twist in recitation, from some of the audience. The words were eagerly caught up, and had some hisses bestowed on them.] WHILE Europe's eye is fix'd on mighty things, The fate of empires and the fall of kings; While quacks of state must cach produce his plan, Our second Right-but needless here is caution, Now, thank our stars! these Gothic times are fled; For Right the third, our last, our best, our dearest, But truce with kings and truce with constitutions, |