That, to adore. Here Doon pour'd down his far-fetch'd floods; | This, all its source and end to draw, On to the shore; And many a lesser torrent scuds, With seeming roar. Brydon's brave ward* I well could spy, Who call'd on Fame, low standing by, Where many a patriot-name on high, And when the bard, or hoary sage, Or point the inconclusive page Full on the eye. The Wallaces. William Wallace. Adam Wallace, of Richardton, cousin to the immortal preserver of Scottish independence. Wallace, Laird of Craigie, who was second in con. mand, under Douglas Earl of Ormond, at the famous Hence sweet harmonious Beuttie sung battle on the banks of Sark, fought anno 1448. glorious victory was principally owing to the judicious Hence Fullarton, the brave and young; Hence Dempster's zeal-inspired tongue; That His "Minstrel lays ;" conduct and intrepid valour of the gallant Land of Or tore, with noble ardour stung, Craigie, who died of his wounds after the action. 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 Montgomeries of Coilsfield, where his burial place is still shown. Clerk. Barskimming, the seat of the late Lord Justice Catrine, the seat of the late Doctor, and present Professor Stewart. The sceptic's bays. To lower orders are assign'd Colonel Fullarton. Some hint the lover's harmless wile; Some grace the maiden's artless smile; Some soothe the lab'rer's weary toil, For humble gains, And make his cottage scenes beguile His cares and pains. "Some bounded to a district-space, Of rustic Bard; Of these am I--Coila my name; Then never murmur nor repine; Strive in thy humble sphere to shine; And trust me, not Potosi's mine, Nor king's regard, Can give a bliss o'ermatching thine, A rustic Bard. To give my counsels all in one, Thy tuneful flame still careful fan; Preserve the dignity of Man, With soul erect; And trust the Universal plan Will all protect. And wear thou this,' she solemn said, And bound the Holly round my head; The polish'd leaves, and berries red, Did rustling play; And, like a passing thought, she fled In light away. ADDRESS TO THE UNCO GUID OR THE RIGIDLY RIGHTEOUS. My son, these maxims make a rule, The cleanest corn that e'er was dight Solomon-Eccles. ch. vii. ver. 16. I. OYE wha are sae guid yoursel, Ye've nought to do but mark and tell Your neebour's fauts and folly! II. Hear me, ye venerable core, As counsel for poor mortals, That frequent pass douce Wisdom's door I, for their thoughtless, careless sakes, Their donsie tricks, their black mistakes, III. Ye see your state wi' theirs compared, But cast a moment's fair regard, An' (what's aft mair than a' the lave) IV. Think, when your castigated pulse V. See social life and glee sit down, Till, quite transmogrified, they're grown O would they stay to calculate Th' eternal consequences; VI. Ye high, exalted, virtuous dames, The brethren of the mystic level, May hing their head in woefu' bevel, While by their nose the tears will revel, Like ony bead! Death's gien the lodge an unco devel, Tam Samson's dead! When winter muffles up his cloak, Wha will they station at the cock? He was the king o' a' the core, When this worthy old sportsman went out last muirfowl season, he supposed it was to be, in Ossian's phrase, the last of his fields and expressed an ardent wish to die and be buried in the muirs. On this hint the author composed his elegy and epitaph. † A certain preacher, a great favourite with the million. Vide the Ordination, Stanza II. Another preacher, an equal favourite with the few, who was at that time ailing. For him see also the Or dination, Stanza IX. [THE following poem will, by many readers, be well enough understood; but for the sake of those who are unacquainted with the manners and traditions of the country where the scene is cast, notes are added, to give some account of the principal charms and spells of that night, so big with prophecy to the peasantry in the West of Scotland. The passion of prying into futurity makes a striking part of the history of human nature in its rude state, in all ages and nations; and it may be some entertainment to a philosophic mind, if any such should honour the author with a perusal, to see the remains of it a mong the more unenlightened in our own.] * They go to the barn-yard, and pull each, at three several times, a stalk of oats. If the third stalk wants the top-pickle, that is, the grain at the top of the stalk, the party in question will come to the marriage-bed any thing but a maid. The first ceremony of Halloween, is pulling each a stock, or plant of kail. They must go out, hand in hand, with eyes shut, and pull the first they meet with! Its being big or little, straight, or crooked, is prophetic of the size and shape of the grand object of all their spells the husband or wife. If any yird, or When the corn is in a doubtful state, by being too earth, stick to the root, that is tocher, or fortune; and green, or wet, the stack-builder, by means of old tim the taste of the custoc, that is the heart of the stem, is ber, &c. makes a large apartment in his stack, with an indicative of the natural temper and disposition.-opening in the side which is fairest exposed to the Lastly, the stems, or, to give them their ordinary ap-wind; this he calls a fause-house. pellation, the runts, are placed somewhere above the Burning the nuts is a favourite charm. They name head of the door; and the Christian names of the peo- the lad and lass to each particular nut, as they lay them ple whom chance brings into the house, are, according in the fire, and accordingly as they burn quietly toge to the priority of placing the runts, the names in ques-ther, or start from beside one another, the course and issue of the courtship will be. tion. |