Misled by fancy's meteor ray, By passion driv'n ; But yet the light that led astray 'I taught thy manners-painting strains, And some, the pride of Coila's plains, "Thou canst not learn, nor can I show, To paint with Thomson's landscape glow, Or wake the bosom-melting throe With Shenstone's art, Or pour, with Gray, the moving flow "Yet all beneath the unrivall'd rose, Yet green the juicy hawthorn grows, "Then never murmur nor repine; Strive in thy humble sphere to shine; Nor king's regard, Can give a bliss o'ermatching thine, "To give my counsels all in one, Thy tuneful flame still careful fan · Preserve the Dignity of Man, And trust, the Universal Plan Will all protect! • And wear thou this!" she solemn said, And, like a passing thought, she fled THE COTTER'S SATURDAY NIGHT. Inscribed to R. A****, Esq. Let not ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joys and destiny obscure; Nor grandeur hear, with a disdainful smile, The short but simple annals of the poor.- GRAY I. Mr lov'd, my honor'd, much respected friend! My dearest meed, a friend's esteem and praise: To you I sing, in simple Scottish lays, The lowly train in life's sequester'd scene; The native feelings strong, the guileless ways; What A**** in a cottage would have been ; Ah! tho' his worth unknown, far happier there, I ween II. November chill blaws loud wi' angry sugh; The short'ning winter-day is near a close; This night his weekly moil is at an end, III. At length his lonely cot appears in view, Th' expectant wee-things, toddlin, stacher thro' His clean hearth-stane, his thrifty wifie's smile, Does a' his weary, carking cares beguile, An' makes him quite forget his labor and his toil. IV. Belyve the elder bairns come drappin in, Their eldest hope, their Jenny, woman grown, In youthfu' bloom, love sparkling in her e'e, Comes hame, perhaps, to show a braw new gown, Or deposite her sair-won penny-fee, To help her parents dear, if they in hardship be V. Wi' joy unfeign'd, brothers and sisters meet, The mother, wi' her needle an' her sheers, Gars auld claes look amaist as weel's the new; The father mixes a' wi' admonition due. Their master's an' their mistress's command, An' ne'er, tho' out o' sight, to jauk or play, An' mind your duty, duly, morn an' night! Lest in temptation's path ye gang astray, Implore His counsel and assisting might; They never sought in vain, that sought the Lord aright, VII. But hark! a rap comes gently to the door; Sparkle in Jenny's e'e, and flush her cheek; [rake. Wi' kindly welcome, Jenny brings him ben, The father cracks of horses, pleughs, and kye But blate an' laithfu', scarce can weel behave; The mother, wi' a woman's wiles, can spy What makes the youth sae bashfu' an' sae grave; Weel pleas'd to think her bairn's respected like the jave IX. O, happy love! where love like this is found; And sage experience bids me this declare "Tis when a youthful, loving, modest pair, In other's arms breathe out the tender tale, Beneath the milk-white thorn that scents the evening gale. X Is there, in human form, that bears a heart, That can, with studied, sly, ensnaring art, Is there no pity, no relenting ruth, Points to the parents fondling o'er their child? 'Then paints the ruin'd maid, and their distraction wild |