Roose1 you sae weel for your deserts,
In terms sae friendly,

Yet ye'll neglect to shaw your parts,
An' thank him kindly!"

Sae I gat paper in a blink,

An' down gaed stumpie in the ink;
Quoth I, "Before I sleep a wink,
I vow I'll close it;

An' if you winna mak it clink,

By Jove I'll prose it!"

Sae I've begun to scrawl, but whether
In rhyme or prose, or baith thegither,
Or some hotch-potch that's rightly neither,
Let time mak proof;

But I shall scribble down some blether2
Just clean aff-loof.3

My worthy friend, ne'er grudge an' carp,
Tho' Fortune use you hard and sharp;
Come, kittle up your moorland harp
Wi' gleesome touch!

Ne'er mind how Fortune waft and warp;
She's but a bitch.

She's gien me mony a jirt an' fleg,
Sin' I could striddle1 owre a rig;5
But, by the Lord, tho' I should beg

Wi' lyart pow,

6

I'll laugh an' sing, an' shake my leg
As lang's I dow!"

Now comes the sax-an'-twentieth simmer

I've seen the bud upo' the timmer,

Still persecuted by the limmer"

Frae year to year;

8

But yet, despite the kittle kimmer, 10

I, Rob, am here.

Do ye envy the city gent.,

Behind a kist11 to lie and sklent,12

1 Praise, commend.-2 Nonsense.-3 Unpremeditated, off-hand.-4 Straddle.-5 Ridge.—6 With gray hairs.-7 Can.-8 Tree.-9 Kept mistress.10 Skittish girl.—11 Shop counter.-12 To look sideways, and cunning.

Or purse-proud, big wi' cent. per cent.
And muckle wame,1

In some bit burgh to represent

A bailie's name?

1

Or, is 't the paughty, feudal thane,
Wi' ruffled sarks an' glancing cane,
Wha thinks himself nae sheep-shank bane,*
But lordly stalks,

While caps and bonnets aff are taen,
As by he walks?

"O Thou, wha gies us each good gift!
Gie me o' wit an' sense a lift,

Then turn me, if thou please, adrift,
Thro' Scotland wide;

Wi' cits nor lairds I wadna shift,

In a' their pride!”

Were this the charter of our state-
"On pain of hell be rich and great;
Damnation then would be our fate,
Beyond remead ;5

But, thanks to Heaven! that's no the gate
We learn our creed :-

For thus the royal mandate ran,
When first the human race began-
"The social, friendly, honest man,
Whate'er he be,

'Tis he fulfils great Nature's plan,
An' none but he."

O mandate glorious and divine!
The ragged followers of the Nine,
Poor, thoughtless devils! yet may shine
In glorious light,

While sordid sons of Mammon's line

Are dark as night.

Tho' here they scrape, an' squeeze, an' growl,
Their worthless nievefu" of a soul

May in some future carcase howl,

The forest's fright;

4

1 Large belly. -2 Small borough. -3 Shirt. No mean personage.

5 Remedy. The way.-7 Handful.

Or in some day-detesting owl,

May shun the light.

Then may Lapraik and Burns arise,
To reach their native, kindred skies,
And sing their pleasures, hopes, an' joys,
In some mild sphere,

Still closer knit in friendship's ties

Each passing year!

TO THE SAME.

Sept. 13th, 1785.

GUID speed an' furder to you, Johnie,

Guid health, hale han's, an' weather bonnie;
Now when ye 're nickan' down fu' cannie1
The staff o' bread,

May ye ne'er want a stoop3 o' brany
To clear your head.

May Boreas never thresh your rigs,
Nor kick your rickles aff their legs,
Sendin' the stuff o'er muirs an' haggs1
Like drivin' wrack;
But may the tapmast grain that wags
Come to the sack.

I'm bizzie' too, an' skelpin" at it,
But bitter, daudin showers hae wat it,
Sae my auld stumpie pen I gat it,
Wi' muckle wark,

An' took my jocteleg an' whatts it,
Like ony clerk.

It's now twa month that I'm your debtor,
For your braw, nameless, dateless letter,
Abusin' me for harsh ill nature

On holy men,

While deil a hair yoursel ye 're better,

But mair profane.

1 Cutting.-2 Dexterous.-3 Jug or dish with a handle.-4 Scars or gulfs in mosses.-5 Busy.-6 Driving or pressing forward.-7 A kind of knife.-8 To polish by cutting.

But let the kirk-folk ring their bells,
Let's sing about our noble sels;
We'll cry nae jads frae heathen hills
To help, or roose us,

But browster wives and whiskie stills,
They are the muses.

Your friendship, Sir, I winna quat1 it,
An' if ye mak objections at it,

Then han' in nieve' some day we'll knot it,
An' witness take,

An' when wi' usquabae we've wat it
It winna break.

But if the beast and branks3 be spared
Till kye1 be gaun" without the herd,
An' a' the vittel in the yard,

An' theckit right,

I mean your ingle-side to guard

Ae winter night.

Then muse-inspirin' aqua-vitæ

Shall make us baith sae blithe an' witty,
Till ye forget ye 're auld an' gatty,"
An' be as canty,

As ye were nine years less than thretty,
Sweet ane an' twenty!

But stooks are cowpet1o wi' the blast,
An' now the sun keeks" in the west,
Then I maun rin12 amang the rest

12

An' quat my chanter;

Sae I subscribe mysel in haste,

Yours, Rab the Ranter.

1 1 Quit.—2 Hand in hand.-3 A kind of wooden curb.- Cows.—3 Going. 6 Thatched.—7 Infirm.-8 Merry.-9 Shocks of corn.-10 Upset.-11 Peeps.

12 Must run.

EPISTLE TO DAVIE,1

A BROTHER POET.

JAN.

WHILE winds frae aff Ben-Lomond blaw,
And bar the doors wi' driving snaw,
And hing2 us owre the ingle,3
I set me down to pass the time,
And spin a verse or twa o' rhyme,
In hamely westlin' jingle.

While frosty winds blaw in the drift,
Ben to the chimla lug,5

I grudge a wee the great folks' gift,
That live sae bien and snug:
I tent' less, and want less
Their roomy fireside;
But hanker and canker,

To see their cursed pride.

It's hardly in a body's power
To keep, at times, frae being sour,
To see how things are shared;
How best o'chiels are whiles in want,
While coofs on countless thousands rant,
And ken na how to wair 't:10

12

But, Davie lad, ne'er fash" your head
Tho' we hae little gear,
We're fit to win our daily bread
As lang's we're hale and fier;
"Mair spier13 na, nor fear na',14
Auld age ne'er mind a feg,is
The last o't, the warst o't,
Is only for to beg.

14

To lie in kilns and barns at e'en,
When banes are crazed and bluid is thin,
Is, doubtless, great distress!

Yet then content could make us blest:

1 David Sillar, author of a volume of Poems in the Scottish dialect.

2 Hang.-3 Fireplace.-4 West country.-5 The fireside.- In plenty.-7 Heed. -8 Best of men.-9 Blockheads.-10 To spend it.-11 Trouble.--12 Sound.13 More ask not.-14 Ramsay,-15 Fig.