Than monie scores as guid 's the priest An' may a bard no crack his jest What way they've us'd him? See him, the poor man's friend in need, By worthless skellums, An' no a muse erect her head To cowe the blellums? O Pope, had I thy satire's darts Their jugglin' hocus-pocus arts To cheat the crowd. God knows, I'm no the thing I shou'd be, But, twenty times, I rather wou'd be An atheist clean, Than under Gospel colours hid be, Just for a screen. An honest man may like a glass, He'll still disdain, An' then cry zeal for Gospel laws, Like some we ken. They tak religion in their mouth; On some puir wight, All bail, Religion! maid divine! Thus daurs to name thee, To stigmatise false friends of thine Can ne'er defame thee, 1 Vent. TO THE REV. JOHN M'MATH. Who boldly daur thy cause maintain In spite o' crowds, in spite o' mobs, At worth an' merit, By scoundrels, even wi' holy robes, But hellish spirit. O Ayr! my dear, my native ground! Of public teachers, As men, as Christians too, renown'd, An' manly preachers. Sir, in that circle you are nam'd; Sir, in that circle you are fam'd; An' some, by whom your doctrine's blam'd, (Which gies you honour,) Even, Sir, by them your heart's esteem'd, An' winning manner. Pardon this freedom I have ta'en, 203 Whase heart ne'r wrang'd yo, But to his utmost would befriend Ought that belang'd t' ye. TO GAVIN HAMILTON, ESQ., MAUCHLINE. RECOMMENDING A BOY. Mosgaville, May 3, 1786 I HOLD it, Sir, my bounden duty, Was here to lure the lad away But lest he learn the callan tricks, As faith, I muckle doubt him, Like scrapin' out auld Crummie's nicks, Not fitted otherwhere. Altho' I say't, he's gleg' enough, An' 'bout a house that's rude an' rough, Ye'll catechise him every quirk, An' shore him weel wi' hell; An' gar him follow to the kirk -Aye when ye gang yoursel. My word of honour I hae gi'en, To try to get the twa to gree, An' name the airles" an' the fee, In legal mode an' form: 1 Master Tootie then lived in Mauchline; a dealer in cows. It was his common practice to cut the nicks or markings from the hors of cattle, to disguise their age. He was an artful trick-contriving character; hence he is called a snick-drawer. Burns styles the Devil, in his address to that personage, an auld, snick-drawing dog."-Cromek, 2 Off hand. 4 Threaten. * Sharp. • Make. EPISTLE TO MR. M'ADAM. I ken he weel a snick can draw,' When simple bodies let him; An' if a Devil be at a', In faith he's sure to get him. 205 EPISTLE TO MR. M'ADAM OF CRAIGEN-GILLAN, SIR, o'er a gill I gat your card, "See wha taks notice o' the Bard!" "Now deil-ma-care about their jaw, Tho', by his banes wha in a tub Match'd Macedonian Sandy! On my ain legs, thro' dirt and dub, And when those legs to gude, warm kail, Wi' welcome canna bear me; A lee dyke-side, a sybow tail, And barley scone shall cheer me. Heaven spare you lang to kiss the breath And bless your bonny lasses baith, And God bless young Dunaskin's laird, And may he wear an auld man's beard, * Contrive a trick. * Diogenes. • Girls. TO CAPTAIN RIDDEL, GLENRIDDEL. EXTEMPORE LINES ON RETURNING A NEWSPAPER. Ellisland, Monday Evening. YOUR News and Review, Sir, I've read through and through, Sir, With little admiring or blaming: The papers are barren of home-news or foreign, No murders or rapes worth the naming. Our friends the Reviewers, those chippers and hewers, But of meet, or unmeet, in a fabrick complete, My goose-quill too rude is, to tell all your goodness Would to God I had one like a beam of the sun, TO TERRAUGHTY,' ON HIS BIRTHDAY. HEALTH to the Maxwells' vet'ran Chief! This natal morn, I see thy life is stuff o' prief,' 2 Scarce quite half worn. This day thou metes threescore eleven, To ilka Poet) On thee a tack o' seven times seven Will yet bestow it. If envious buckies view wi' sorrow Thy lengthen'd days on this blest morrow, Nine miles an hour, Rake them, like Sodom and Gomorrah, 1 Mr. Maxwell, of Terraughty, near Dumfries. Dust. • Proof. |