Belyve, (1) the elder bairns come drapping in, | The youngster's artless heart o'erflows wi' 30 A cannie errand to a neebor town: Their eldest hope, their Jenny, woman grown, In youthfu' bloom, love sparkling in her e'e, Comes hame, perhaps, to shew a braw new gown, Or deposit her sair-won penny-fee, (2) 35 To help her parents dear, if they in hardship be. Wi' joy unfeign'd, brothers and sisters meet, joy, But blate an' faithfu', scarce can weel The mother, wi' a woman's wiles, can spy 70 What makes the youth sae bashfu' an' sae grave; Weel pleas'd to think her bairn's respected like the lave. O happy love! where love like this is found! One cordial in this melancholy vale, Each tells the uncos that he sees or hears; The parents, partial, eye their hopefu' years; Anticipation forward points the view: The mother, wi' her needle and her shears, Gars auld claes look amaist as weel's Beneath the milk-white thorn that scents the evening gale.' new; The father mixes a' wi' admonition due. 45 80 (1) Oatmeal porridge. (2) Cow. (3) Partition. (1) By-and-by. (2) Wages. (3) Diligent. (4) Half, (4) Long spared cheese. Fell, biting, sharp-tasted. partly. (5) Chats. (5) Twelve-mouth. (6) The flax was in flower. His bonnet reverently is laid aside, He wales (2) a portion with judicious care, And 'Let us worship God,' he says, with solemn air. They chant their artless notes in simple guise; They tune their hearts, by far the noblest aim; 110 Perhaps 'Dundee's' wild-warbling measures rise, Or plaintive 'Martyrs,' worthy of the name; Or noble 'Elgin' beets (3) the heav'n-ward flame, The sweetest far of Scotia's holy lays; Compar'd wi' these, Italian thrills are tame; The tickl'd ears no heart-felt raptures raise; Nae unison hae they wi' our Creator's praise. The priest-like father reads the sacred page, How Abram was the friend of God on high; Or, Moses bade eternal warfare wage, 120 125 Or Job's pathetic plaint, or wailing cry; Perhaps the Christian volume is the theme, name, Had not on earth whereon to lay his head: How his first followers and servants sped, The precepts sage they wrote to many a land: How He, who lone in Patmos banished, Saw in the sun a mighty angel stand; And heard great Bab'lon's doom pronounc'd by Heav'n's command. 135 Then kneeling down to Heaven's Eternal King, The saint, the father, and the husband prays: Hope 'springs exulting on triumphant wing,' (1) Gray temples. (2) Chooses. (3) Kindles. 140 Princes and lords are but the breath of kings, 165 'An honest man's the noblest work of God;' And certes, in fair virtue's heavenly road, The cottage leaves the palace far behind. What is a lordling's pomp? a cumbrous load, Disguising oft the wretch of human kind, Studied in arts of hell, in wickedness refin'd. O Scotia! my dear, my native soil; For whom my warmest wish to heaven is sent, Long may thy hardy sons of rustic toil Be blest with health, and peace, and sweet content! And, O! may Heaven their simple lives prevent 175 From luxury's contagion, weak and vile; Then, howev'r crowns and coronets be rent, A virtuous populace may rise the while, And stand a wall of fire around their muchlov'd isle. 180 O Thou! who pour'd the patriotic tide, That stream'd through Wallace's undaunted heart; Who dar'd to, nobly, stem tyrannic pride, O never, never Scotia's realm desert; TAM O' SHANTER. When chapman billies (1) leave the street, 10 This truth fand honest Tam o' Shanter, As he fra Ayr ae night did canter, (Auld Ayr, wham ne'er a town surpasses 15 For honest men an' bonnie lasses.) O Tam! hadst thou but been sae wise, As ta'en thy ain wife Kate's advice! She tauld thee weel thou wat a skellum, (4) A bletherin', blusterin', drunken blellum; (5) That frae November till October, Ae market-day thou was na sober, That ilka melder (6) wi' the miller, Thou sat as lang as thou had siller; That ev'ry naig was ca'd a shoe on, The smith and thee gat roaring fou on, That at the L-d's house ev'n on Sunday, Thou drank wi' Kirkton Jean till Monday. She prophesied that, late or soon, Thou wad be found deep drown'd in Doon, Or catch'd wi' warlocks (7) in the mirk, By Alloway's auld haunted kirk. But to our tale:-Ae market night, Tam had got planted unco right; Fast by an ingle, bleezing finely, Wi' reaming swats (1) that drank divinely, And at his elbow, Souter Johnny, His ancient, trusty, drouthy crony; Tam lo'ed him like a vera brither: They had been fou' for weeks thegither. The night drave on wi' sangs an' clatter; An' aye the ale was growin" better; The landlady and Tam grew gracious, Wi' favours secret, sweet, and precious, The Souter tauld his queerest stories; The landlord's laugh was ready chorus; 50 The storm without might rair and rustleTam did na mind the storm a whistle. Care, mad to see a man sae happy, E'en drown'd himsel' amang the nappy; As bees flee hame wi' lades o' treasure, 55 The minutes wing'd their way wi' pleasure: 5 Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious, O'er a' the hills o' life victorious. 25 But pleasures are like poppies spread, You see the flower, its bloom is shed; 60 Or like the snow-falls in the river, A moment white-then melts for ever; Or like the borealis race, - 65 That fit ere you can point their place; That dreary hour he mounts his beast in; The wind blew as 'twad blawn its last; 95 By this time he was cross the foord, Whare in the snaw the chapman smoor'd ; (1) An' past the birks an' meikle stane, Whare drunken Charlie brak's neck-bane: An' thro' the whins and by the cairn, Whare hunters fand the murder'd bairn; And near the thorn, aboon the well, Whare Mungo's mother hang'd hersel'.Before him Doon pours a' his floods; The doublin' storm roars thro' the woods; The lightnings flash frae pole to pole; Near and more near the thunders roll, 100 When, glimmerin' thro' the groanin' trees, Kirk-Alloway seem'd in a bleeze; Thro' ilka bore (2) the beams were glancin', And loud resounded mirth an' dancin'. 105 115 Inspirin' bold John Barleycorn! What dangers thou canst mak' us scorn! Wi' tippenny (3) we fear nae evil; Wi' usquabae (4) we'll face the Devil!The swats sae ream'd in Tammie's noddle, Fair play, he car'd nae deils a boddle. 110 But Maggie stood right sair astonish'd, Till, by the heel an' hand admonish'd, She ventur'd forward on the light; An', wow! Tam saw an unco sight! Warlocks an' witches in a dance; Nae cotillon brent new frae France, But hornpipes, jigs, strathspeys, an' reels, Put life an' mettle i' their heels: At winnock-bunker (5) i' the east, There sat auld Nick in shape o' beast; 120 A towzie tyke, (6) black, grim an' large, To gie them music was his charge; He screw'd the pipes, and gart them skirl, Till roof and rafters a' did dirl.Coffins stood round like open presses, 125 That shaw'd the dead in their last dresses; And by some dev'lish cantraip slight (7) Each in his cauld hand held a light,By which heroic Tam was able, To note upon the haly table, A murderer's banes in gibbet airns: (8) Twa span-lang, wee, unchristen'd bairns; (9) A thief, new cutted frae a rape, Wi' his last gasp his gab (10) did gape: Five tomahawks wi' blood red-rusted; A garter, which a babe had strangled; A knife, a father's throat had mangled, Whom his ain son o' life bereft, The grey hairs yet stack to the heft; Wi' mair o' horrible an' awfu', Which ev'n to name wad be unlawfu'. 130 135 140 As Tammie glowr'd, amaz'd, an' curious, The mirth an' fun grew fast an' furious: The piper loud an' louder blew, The dancers quick and quicker flew; 145 (1) Was smothered. (2) Crevice. (3) Twopenny ale. (4) Whisky. (5) Window-seat. (6) Shaggy dog. (7) Magic charm. (8) Irons. (9) Children. (10) Mouth. They reel'd, they set, they cross'd, they cleekit, (1) Till ilka carlin (2) swat and reekit, 150 Now Tam, O Tam! had thae been queans, (6) A' plump an' strappin' in their teens; Their sarks, instead o' creeshie flannen, Been snaw-white se'enteen hunder linen! Thir breeks o' mine, my only pair, That ance were plush, o' guid blue hair, I wad hae gi'en them aff my hurdies, For ae blink o' the bonny burdies! But wither'd beldams, auld an' droll, Rigwoodie hags wad spean a foal, Lowpin' an' flinging on a crummock, (7) I wonder did na turn thy stomach. But Tam kenn'd what was what fu' brawlie, 165 "There was ae winsome wench an' wailie,' (8) It was her best, and she was vauntie.- 180 But here my muse her wing maun cour; Till first ae caper, syne anither, An' roars out, "Weel done, Cutty-sark!' An' scarcely had he Maggie rallied, 185 190 As bees bizz out wi' angry fyke, (14) When plunderin' herds assail their byke, (15) (1) Joined hands. (2) Stout old woman. (3) Cast away her clothes. (4) Tripped. (5) Shift. (6) Young girls. (7) Place infested by worms. (Gaelic Croimheag.) (8) Plump. (9) Barley. (10) Short shift. (11) Homespun linen. (12) Bought. (13) Hitched. (14) Haste. (15) Wild-bees' nest. As open pussie's (1) mortal foes, 200 205 Ah, Tam! ah, Tam! thou'lt get thy fairin'! (3) In hell they'll roast thee like a herrin'! In vain thy Kate awaits thy comin', Kate soon will be a waefu' woman! Now, do thy speedy utmost, Meg, An' win the key-stane of the brig; There at them thou thy tail may toss, A running stream they darena cross; But ere the key-stane she could make, The fient a tail (4) she had to shake! For Nannie, far before the rest, Hard upon noble Maggie prest, An' flew at Tam wi' furious ettle; (5) But little wist she Maggie's mettle,Ae spring brought aff her master hale, But left behind her ain grey tail: The carlin caught her by the rump, An' left poor Maggie scarce a stump. Now, wha this tale o' truth shall read, Ilk man and mother's son, take heed: Whene'er to drink you are inclin'd, Or cutty-sarks run in your mind, Think, ye may buy the joys o'er dear, Remember Tam o' Shanter's mare. LAMENT OF MARY QUEEN Now Nature hangs her mantle green And spreads her sheets o' daisies white 210 215 220 Now Phoebus cheers the crystal streams, 5 And glads the azure skies; But naught can glad the weary wight That fast in durance lies. Now lav'rocks (6) wake the merry morn, The merle, in his noontide bow'r, The mavis (7) wild, wi' mony a note, In love and freedom they rejoice, 10 Sing on, sweet bird, I listen to thy strain; See aged Winter, 'mid his surly reign, clears his furrow'd brow. 15 At thy blythe carol (1) The hare. (2) Goblin, unearthly. (3) A present given at fairs or markets. (4) The devil a tail. (5) Attempt. (6) Lark. (7) Thrush. (8) Rising ground. Herrig, British Auth. |