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!
When wretches range, in famish'd swarms,
The scented groves,

Or hounded forth, dishonor arms

In hungry droves:

Their gun's a burden on their shouther;
They downa' bide the stink o' pouther;
Their bauldest thought's a hank'ring swither'
To stan' or rin,

Till skelp-a shot!—they're aff a' throwther,
To save their skin.

But bring a Scotsman frae his hill,
Clap in his cheek a Highland gill,*
Say, such is royal George's will,

An' there's the foe,

He has nae thought but how to kill
Twa at a blow.

Nae cauld, faint-hearted doubtings tease him;
Death comes, wi' fearless eye he sees him;
Wi' bluidy hand a welcome gies him :

An' when he fa's,

His latest draught o' breathin' lea'es' him
In faint huzzas.

Sages their solemn een may steek,
An' raise a philosophic reek,"

An' physically causes seek,

In clime an' season;

But tell me whisky's name in Greek,

I'll tell the reason.

Scotland, my auld respected Mither!

Tho' whyles ye moistify your leather,

Cannot.-2 Hesitation.-3 All pell-mell, or in confusion.- A gill of High

land whisky. Leaves.-6 Shut.-7 Smoke.-8 Sometimes.

4*

Till whare ye sit, on craps' o' heather,
Ye tine your dam ;'

(Freedom and Whisky gang thegither!)
Tak aff your dram!3

THE VISION.

DUAN FIRST.4

THE sun had closed the winter day,
The curlers quat their roaring play,
An' hunger'd maukin' ta'en her way
To kail-yards green,

While faithless snaws ilk step betray
Whar she has been.

The thresher's weary flingin-tree"
The lee-lang1 day had tired me;
And whan the day had closed his e’e,,
Far i' the west,

Ben i' the spence" right pensivelie,
I gaed to rest.

There, lanely, by the ingle-cheek,12
I sat and eyed the spewing reek,13
That fill'd, wi' hoast-provoking smeek,"4
The auld clay biggin;15

An' heard the restless rattons squeak

About the riggin'.

All in this mottie," misty clime,

I backward mused on wasted time,

1 Crops.-2]
2 Lose your urine.

3 Burns was not so much the votary of Bacchus as this and "Scotch Drinks," the preceding poem, would lead the reader to suppose. When "Auld Nanse Tinnock," the Mauchline landlady, found her name celebrated in this poem, she said, "Robin Burns 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."

4 Duan, a term of Ossian's for the different divisions of a digressive poem. See his Cath-Loda.

A game on the ice.- Did quit.-7 A hare.-8 Each.—9 A flail.—10 Livelong.-11 In the country parlor.-12 Fireside.—13 Smoke.-14 Cough-provok ing smoke.-15 Building.-16 Full of motes.

How I had spent my youthfu' prime,
An' done nae-thing,

But stringin' blethers' up in rhyme,
For fools to sing.

Had I to guid advice but harkit,'
I might, by this, hae led a market,
Or strutted in a bank and clarkit3
My cash-account:

While here, half-mad, half-fed, half-sarkit,"
Is a' th' amount.

I started, muttering, blockhead! coof!"
And heaved on high my waukit loof,"
To swear by a' yon starry roof,

Or some rash aith,?

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 lowe I saw,

Now bleezin" bright,

A tight, outlandish Hizzie," braw,

Come full in sight.

Ye need na doubt, I held my whisht;"
The infant aith, half-form'd, was crusht;
I glower'd as eerie 's I'd been dush't's
In some wild glen;

When sweet, like modest Worth, she blusht,
And stepped ben.14

14

Green, slender, leaf-clad holly-boughs
Were twisted, gracefu', round her brows;
I took her for some Scottish Muse,

By that same token;

An' come to stop those reckless vows,

Would soon been broken.

1 Foolish or romantic ideas.-2 Hearkened.-3 Wrote.-4 Badly provided with shirts.-5 Ninny.-6 Thick or clumsy hand.-7 Oath.-8 The latch of a door.-9 Flame of the fire.-10 Blazing.-11 A young girl.-12 Was silent. 13 Stared frightfully, as if I had been suddenly pushed, or attacked by

an ox.

14 Into the parlor.

A "hair-brain'd sentimental trace,"
Was strongly marked in her face;
A wildy-witty, rustic grace

Shone full upon her;

Her eye, even turn'd on empty space,
Beam'd keen with Honor.

Down flow'd her robe, a tartan sheen,'
Till half a leg was scrimply' seen;
And such a leg! my bonnie Jean

4

Could only peer3 it;

Sae straught, sae taper, tight, and clean,
Nane else came near it.

Her mantle large, of greenish hue,
My gazing wonder chiefly drew;

Deep lights and shades, bold-mingling, threw
A lustre grand;

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;

There, distant shone Art's lofty boast,
The lordly dome.

Here, Doon pour'd down his far-fetch'd floods;
There, well-fed Irwine stately thuds;5
Auld hermit Ayr staw" thro' his woods,
On to the shore;

And many a lesser torrent scuds,

With seeming roar.

Low, in a sandy valley spread,
An ancient borough rear'd her head;
Still, as in Scottish story read,

She boasts a race,

To every nobler virtue bred,

And polish'd grace.

1 A bright, or shining tartan, or checkered woollen stuff, much worn in Scotland, particularly in the Highlands.

2 Scantily.- Equal.-4 Straight.-5 To make a loud continued noise.6 Stole.

By stately tower or palace fair,

Or ruins pendent in the air,

Bold stems of heroes, here and there,
I could discern;

Some seem'd to muse, some seem'd to dare,
With feature stern.

My heart did glowing transport feel,
To see a race heroic wheel,

And brandish round the deep-dyed steel
In sturdy blows;

While back-recoiling seem'd to reel

Their Suthron foes.

His Country's Saviour,2 mark him well;
Bold Richardton's' heroic swell;
The chief on Sark' who glorious fell,
In high command;

And He whom ruthless fates expel
His native land.

There, where a scepter'd Pictish shade
Stalk'd round his ashes lowly laid,
I mark'd a martial race, portray'd
In colors strong;

Bold, soldier-featured, undismay'd
They strode along.

Thro' many a wild, romantic grove,
Near many a hermit-fancied cove,
(Fit haunts for Friendship or for Love,)
In musing mood,

An aged Judge, I saw him rove,

Dispensing good.

1 The Wallaces.-2 William Wallace.

3 Adam Wallace, of Richardton, cousin to the immortal preserver of Scottish Independence.

4 Wallace, laird of Craigie, who was second in command, under Douglas, earl of Ormond, at the famous battle on the banks of Sark, fought anno 1448. That glorious victory was principally owing to the judicious conduct and intrepid valor of the gallant laird of Craigie, who died of his wounds after the action.

5 Coilus, King of the Picts, from whom the district of Kyle is said to take its name, lies buried, as tradition says, near the family seat of the Montgome ries of Coil's-field, where his burial-place is still shown.

6 Barksimming, the seat of the late Lord Justice Clerk.