Ye mauchlin bairns as on ye pass
To school in bands thegither,
O tread you lightly on the grass,
Perhaps he was your father.

ON JOHN DOVE,

INN-KEEPER, MAUCHLINE

HERE lies Johnny Pidgeon,
What was his religion,
Whae'er desires to ken,
To some other warl

Maun follow the carl,

For here Johnny Pidgeon had nane.

Strong ale was ablution,
Small beer persecution,

A dram was memento mori;
But a full flowing-bowl
Was the saving his soul,

And port was celestial glory.

ON WALTER S

SIC a reptile was Wat,

Sic a miscreant slave,

That the worms ev'n dd him,
When laid in his grave.

"In his flesh there's a famine,"
A starv'd reptile cries;

"An' his heart is rank poison,"
Another replies.

ON A HENPECKED COUNTRY SQUIRE.

As father Adam first was fool'd,
A case that's still too common,
Here lies a man a woman rul'd,
The Devil rul'd the woman.

EPIGRAM ON SAID OCCASION.

death, hadst thou but spar'd his life,
Whom we this day lament!
We freely wad exchang'd the wife,
And a' been weel content.

Ev'en as he is, cauld in his graff,
The swap we yet will do't;
Tak thou the Carlin's carcase aff,
Thou'se get the saul o' boot.

ANOTHER.

ONE Queen Artemisa, as old stories tell,

When deprived of her husband she loved so well,
In respect for the love and affection he'd shewn her,
She reduc'd him to dust and she drank up the pow-

der.

But Queen N******* of a different complexion, When call'd on to order the fun'ral direction, Would have eat her dead lord, on a slender pretence, Not to shew her respect, but-to save the expense.

ON THE DEATH OF A LAP DOG
NAMED ECHO.

IN wood and wild, ye warbling throng,
Your heavy loss deplore;

Now half-extinct your powers of song,
Sweet Echo is no more.

Ye jarring, screeching things around,
Scream your discordant joys;
Now half your din of tuneless sound
With Echo silent lies.

IMPROMPTU ON MRS.-'S BIRTH-DAY.

4th November, 1793.

OLD Winter with his frosty beard,
Thus once to Jove his prayer preferr'd:
What have I done of all the year,
To bear this hated doom severe?
My cheerless sons no pleasure know;
Night's horrid car drags dreary, slow;
My dismal months no joys are crowning,
But spleeny English, hanging, drowning.

Now, Jove, for once, be mighty civil,
To counterbalance all this evil;

Give me, and I've no more to say,

Give me Maria's natal day!

That brilliant gift will so enrich me,

Spring, summer, autumn, cannot match me.--
'Tis done says Jove;-so ends my story,
And Winter once rejoic'd in glory.

MONODY

ON A LADY FAMED FOR HER CAPRICE.

How cold is that bosom which folly once fir'd! How pale is that cheek where the rouge lately glisten'd!

How silent that tongue which the echoes oft tir'd! How dull is that ear which to flattery so listen'd!

If sorrow and anguish their exit await,

From friendship and dearest affection remov'd; How doubly severer, Eliza, thy fate,

Thou diedst unwept as thou livedst unlov'd.

Loves, Graces, and Virtues, I call not on you; So shy, grave, and distant, ye shed not a tear: But come, all ye offspring of Folly so true,

And flowers let us cull for Eliza's cold bier.

We'll search thro' the Garden for each silly flower, We'll roam thro' the forest for each idle weed; But chiefly the nettle, so typical, shower,

For none e'er approach'd her but rued the rash deed.

We'll sculpture the marble, we'll measure the lay; Here Vanity strums on her idiot lyre;

There keen Indignation shall dart on her prey, Which spurning Contempt shall redeem from her ire.

THE EPITАРН.

Here lies, now a prey to insulting neglect,
What once was a butterfly, gay in life's beam
Want only of wisdom denied her respect
Want only of goodness denied her esteem.

ODE,

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF MRS.

OF

DWELLER in yon dungeon dark,
Hangman of creation! mark
Who in widow-weeds appears,
Laden with unhonor'd years,
Noosing with care a bursting purse,
Baited with many a deadly curse!

STROPHE.

VIEW the wither'd beldam's face-
Can thy keen inspection trace

Aught of humanity's sweet melting grace?
Note that eye, 'tis rheum o'erflows,

Pity's flood there never rose.

See those hands, ne'er stretch'd to save,