The shouts o' war are heard afar, The battle closes thick and bloody. Wad make me langer wish to tarry; LINES WRITTEN IN FRIARS' CARSE HERMITAGE. Extended Copy. THOU whom chance may hither lead, Be thou clad in russet weed, Be thou deckt in silken stole, Grave these counsels on thy soul. Life is but a day at most, Sprung from night, in darkness lost; 1 Hope not sunshine every hour, 1 In the shorter copy, an additional couplet is here in serted Day, how rapid in its flight! Day, how few must see the night! As Youth and Love with sprightly dance, May delude the thoughtless pair; As thy day grows warm and high, Dost thou spurn the humble vale? Life's proud summits wouldst thou scale? Evils lurk in felon wait: Dangers, eagle-pinioned, bold, Soar around each cliffy hold, While cheerful peace, with linnet song, As the shades of evening close, On all thou'st seen, and heard, and wrought, Is not art thou high or low? Did thy fortune ebb or flow? 1 Thus resigned and quiet, creep Sleep, whence thou shalt ne'er awake, Stranger, go! Heaven be thy guide! 1 Variation Say, man's true genuine estimate Peer or peasant? -no such thing! Did many talents, etc. 2 This extended copy of the lines for Friars' Carse Hermit ELEGY ON THE YEAR 1788. Jan. 1, 1789. FOR Lords or Kings I dinna mourn, E'en let them die for that they're born: A towmont, sirs, is gane to wreck! twelvemonth The Spanish empire's tint a head,1 lost fight The tither's something dour o' treadin', unsparing But better stuff ne'er clawed a midden. dunghill age was produced in December. We agree with Allan Cunningham in seeing in this second effort a proof of the comparative labor which Burns encountered in attempting to compose in pure English. The restricted religious views of the poet will be remarked. 1 Charles III., king of Spain, died on the 13th of December, 1788. 2 A generic familiar name for a dog in Scotland. Ye ministers, come mount the pu'pit, raucous money coin consideration cattle How dowf and dowie now they creep: dull — sad Nay, even the yirth itsel' does cry, For Embro' wells are grutten dry.1 Edinburgh - wept Oh Eighty-nine, thou's but a bairn, Nae hand-cuffed, muzzled, hap-shackled foot-tied But, like himsel', a full free agent. 1 The Edinburgh newspapers of this period contain many references to a scarcity of water, in consequence of severe frost. 2 The king having shown symptoms of unsound mind in November, the public was at this time agitated with discussions as to the choice of a regent. |