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BURNS.

The honest heart that's free frae a'
Intended fraud or guile,
However fortune kick the ba',1
Has aye some cause to smile;
And mind still you'll find still
A comfort this, nae sma',2
Nae mair then we'll care then,
Nae farther can we fa'."

What though, like commoners of air,
We wander out, we know not where,
But either house or hall?

Yet nature's charms, the hills and woods,
The sweeping vales and foaming floods,
Are free alike to all.

In days when daisies deck the ground,
And blackbirds whistle clear,
With honest joy our hearts will bound
To see the coming year:

On braes, when we please, then,
We'll sit and sowth 5 a tune;
Syne rhyme till 't' we'll time till 't,
And sing 't when we hae done.

It's no in titles nor in rank,

It's no in wealth like Lon'on bank,
To purchase peace and rest;
It's no in makin' muckle mair,8
It's no in books, it's no in lear,
To make us truly blest:
If happiness hae not her seat

And centre in the breast,
We may be wise, or rich, or great,
But never can be blest;

Nae treasures nor pleasures
Could make us happy lang;
The heart aye's the part aye

That makes us right or wrang.10

Think ye that sic 11 as you and I,

Wha drudge and drive through wet and dry
Wi' never-ceasing toil;

Think ye, are we less blest than they

Wha scarcely tent us in their way,

As hardly worth their while?

413

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Alas! how aft in haughty mood
God's creatures they oppress!
Or else, neglecting a' that's guid,
They riot in excess !

Baith careless and fearless

Of either heaven or hell!
Esteeming and deeming

It's a' an idle tale!

Then let us cheerfu' acquiesce,
Nor make our scanty pleasures less
By pining at our state;

And, even should misfortunes come,
I, here wha sit, hae met wi' some,
An's thankfu'2 for them yet.
They gie the wit of age to youth;
They let us ken oursel; 3

They make us see the naked truth,
The real guid and ill.

Though losses and crosses

Be lessons right severe,

There's wit there, ye'll get there,

Ye'll find nae other where.

Still more animated is his Answer to the Guid Wife [Mistress] of Wauchope House, written in March, 1787, of which this is the commencement :

1 Both.

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4 I remember it well.

6 Thrash the corn on the barn floor.

8 Fatigued sore enough. 11 Every.

3 Know ourself.

5 Modest, bashful. 7 Hold a yoking at the plough. 10 With the rest. 13 Reaping. 15 With idle stories and nonsense.

9 Very.

12 Take rank in respect to my ridge.

14 T'other row of shocks.

Ev'n then, a wish (I mind its pow'r),
A wish that to my latest hour

Shall strongly heave my breast,
That I, for poor auld Scotland's sake,
Some usefu' plan or book could make,
Or sing a sang' at least.

The rough bur-thistle, spreading wide
Among the bearded bear,2-

I turned my weeding-heuk3 aside,
An' spared the symbol dear.
No nation, no station,

My envy e'er could raise;
A Scot still, but blot still,
I knew nae higher praise.

But still the elements o' sang,
In formless jumble, right an' wrang,
Wild floated in my brain;
Till on that hairst I said before,
My partner in the merry core,

She roused the forming strain :
I see her yet, the sonsie 7 quean,
That lighted up the jingle,
Her witching smile, her pawky een,
That gart my heartstrings tingle;
I fired, inspired,

9

At every kindling keek,10
But, bashing and dashing,"

I feared aye to speak.

8

But the most elevated and impassioned of the poems of this class is that entitled The Vision. It is too long to be quoted entire; its course, however, will be understood from the following extracts:

The sun had closed the winter day,
The curlers quat 12 their roaring play,
An' hungered mawkin 13 ta'en her way
To kail-yards 14 green,

While faithless snaws 15 ilk 16 step betray
Whare 17 she has been.

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There, lanely,' by the ingle-cheek,
I sat and eyed the spewing reek,9
That filled wi' hoast-provoking smeek 10
The auld clay biggin';11

An' heard the restless rattons 12 squeak
About the riggin'.13

All in this mottie,14 misty clime,
I backward mused on wasted time,
How I had spent my youthfu' prime,
An' done nae thing

But stringin' blethers 15 up in rhyme,
For fools to sing.

Had I to guid advice but harkit,16
I might, by this,17 hae led a market,
Or strutted in a bank an' clarkit 18
My cash account:

While here, half-mad, half-fed, half-sarkit,19
Is a' the amount.

I started, muttering Blockhead! Coof!20
And heaved on high my waukit loof,"1
To swear by a' yon starry roof,

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