Whether as heavenly glory bright, Let us th' important now employ, And live as those who never die. Tho' you, with days and honors crown'd, Others now claim your chief regard; EXTEMPORE, EXTEMPORE, ON THE LATE MR. WILLIAM SMELLIE, Author of the Philosophy of Natural History, and Member of the Antiquarian and Royal Societies of Edinburgh. To Crochallan came* The old cock'd hat, the grey surtout, the same; Yet tho' his caustick wit was biting, rude, POETICAL * Mr. Smellie, and our poet, were both members of a club in Edinburgh, under the name of Crochallan Fencibles. E. POETICAL INSCRIPTION FOR AN ALTAR TO INDEPENDENCE, At Kerroughtry, the Seat of Mr. Heron. [Written in Summer, 1795.] THOU of an independent mind, Virtue alone who dost revere, Thy own reproach alone dost fear, SONNET, SONNET, On the Death of ROBERT RIDDEL, Esq. of Glen Riddel, April, 1794. No more, ye warblers of the wood, no more, Nor pour your descant, grating, on my soul: Thou young-eyed spring, gay in thy verdant stole, More welcome were to me grim winter's wildest roar. How can ye charm, ye flow'rs, with all your dyes? 1 Ye blow upon the sod that wraps my friend: How can I to the tuneful strain attend? That strain flows round th' untimely tomb where Riddel lies.* Yes, * Robert, Riddel, Esq. of Friars' Carse, a very worthy character, and one to whom our bard thought himself under many obligations. It is a curious circumstance, that the two concluding lines express a sentiment exactly similar to one of the most beautiful passages in the "Pastor Fido," from the 7th to the 10th line of the Monologue, at the opening of the third Act; yet Burns had no acquaintance with Guarini's work. Feeling dictates to genius in all ages, and all countries, and her language must be often the same. E. |