Even Satan glowr'd, and fidged fu' fain, An' scarcely had he Maggie rallied, ADDRESS TO THE DEIL. O Prince! O Chief of many throned Pow. That led th' embattled Seraphim to war. O THOU! Whatever title suit thee, Spairges 3 about the brunstane cootie, Wi' mony an eldritch screech and hollow. To skelp an' scaud poor dogs like me, Ah, Tam! ah, Tam! thou'lt get thy fairin'! Now, wha this tale o' truth shall read, 9 It is a well-known fact, that witches, or any evil spirits, have no power to follow a poor wight any further than the middle of the next running stream. It may be proper likewise to mention to the benighted traveller, that when he falls in with bogles, whatever danger may be in his going forward, there is much more hazard in turning back. -BURNS. 1 Upon this poem Sir Walter Scott has the following: "In the inimitable tale of Tam o' Shanter, Burns has left us sufficient evidence of his ability to combine the ludicrous with the awful. No poet, with the exception of Shakespeare, ever pos An' hear us squeel! Great is thy power, an' great thy fame; An', faith! thou's neither lag nor lame, Whyles, ranging like a roarin' lion, Whyles in the human bosom pryin', sessed the power of exciting the most va ried and discordant emotions with such rapid transitions." To this I must add a choice bit from Campbell: "Burns has given the elixir of life to his native dialect. The Scottish Tam o' Shanter will be read as long as any production of the same century. The impression of his genius is deep and universal. Into Tam o'Shanter he has poured the whole witchery of song,-humorous, gay, gloomy, terrific and sublime." 2 It was, I think, in the Winter of 1784, as we were going with carts for coals to the family fire, that Robert first repeated to me the Address to the Deil. The curious idea of such an address was suggested to him by running over in his mind the many ludicrous accounts and representations we have from various quarters of this august personage.-GILBERT BURNS. 3 We see the Deil standing at a large boiling vat, with something like a golfbat, striking the liquid this way and that way aslant, with all his might, making it fiy through the whole apartment, while the inmates are winking and holding up their arms to defend their faces. This is pre cisely the idea conveyed by spairges. THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD. By witching skill; An' dawtit, twal-pint hawkie's gaen When thowes dissolve the snawy hoord, An' 'nighted travellers are allured An' aft your moss-travérsing spunkies Till in some miry slough he sunk is, When masons' mystic word an' grip The youngest brother ye wad whip Lang syne, in Eden's bonnie yard, Sweet on the fragrant, flowery sward, Then you, ye auld, snick-drawing dog! An' play'd on man a cursèd brogue, An' gied the infant warld a shog, D'ye mind that day, when in a bizz, An' sklented on the man of Uz An' how ye gat him i' your thrall. An' lows'd his ill-tongued, wicked so But a' your doings to rehearse, Wad ding a Lallan tongue, or Erse, An' now, auld Cloots, I ken ye're thinkin' The bleezin', curst, mischievous monkeys But, faith! he'll turn a corner jinkin', Delude his eyes, 4 As milkless as the bull.-Hawkie is the favourite cow.-A Scottish pint equals two English quarts; so that a twal-pint cow is a cow that gives twentyfour quarts of milk a day. An' cheat you yet. But fare you weel, auld Nickie-ben! 5 Alluding to the representation given in Paradise Lost, Book vi. Ye aiblins might-I dinna ken- I'm wae to think upo' yon den, THE VISION. DUAN FIRST.7 THE Sun had closed the winter day, While faithless snaws ilk step betray The thresher's weary flingin'-tree And whan the day had closed his e'e, Ben i' the spence, right pensivelie, There, lanely, by the ingle-cheek, An' heard the restless rattons squeak All in this mottie, misty clime, An' done naething, But stringin' blethers up in rhyme, Had I to guid advice but harkit, My cash-account: Now bleezin' bright, A tight, outlandish hizzie, braw, Ye need na doubt, I held my whist; When sweet, like modest worth,she blusht, Green, slender, leaf-clad holly boughs An' come to stop those reckless vows, A "hair-brain'd, sentimental trace," Down flow'd her robe, a tartan sheen, Sae straught, sae taper, tight and clean, Her mantle large, of greenish hue, While here, half-mad, half-fed, half-sarkit, My gazing wonder chiefly drew; Is a' th' amount. Deep lights and shades, bold-mingling, Burns even pities the very Diel, with- And seem'd, to my astonish'd view, out knowing, I am sure, that my uncle 7 Duan is a term used by Ossian for the divisions of a digressive poem. 8 Curling is a game played with stones on the ice; Curlers, the players at it. The game resembles bowls, but is much more animated; hence aptly called "roaring play." [threw There, mountains to the skies were tost: There, Here, Doon pour'd down his far-fetch'd floods; There, well-fed Irvine stately thuds: Auld hermit Ayr staw through his woods, (Fit haunts for friendship or for love,) On to the shore; And many a lesser torrent scuds, With seeming roar. Low, in a sandy valley spread, She boasts a race To every nobler virtue bred, And polish'd grace. By stately tower or palace fair, Or ruins pendent in the air, Bold stems of heroes, here and there, I could discern: Some seem'd to muse, some seem'd to My heart did glowing transport feel, While back-recoiling seem to reel Their Southron foes. His Country's Saviour,2 mark him well! And he whom ruthless fates expel There, where a sceptred Pictish shade 5 Bold, soldier-featured, undismay'd Through many a wild romantic grove," Near many a hermit-fancied cove, 9 Ayr, whose charter dates from the beginning of the thirteenth century. I The heroic race of the Wallaces. 2 Sir William Wallace. 3 Adam Wallace, of Richardton, cousin of Sir William. 4 Wallace, Laird of Craigie, who was the second in command at the battle on the banks of Sark, in 1448. The victory was chiefly owing to his conduct and valour; but he died of his wounds after the action. 5 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. 6 Barskimming, the seat of Sir Thomas Miller, at one time Lord Justice-Clerk, In musing mood, An agèd Judge, I saw him rove, With deep-struck reverential awe, This, all its source and end to draw, That, to adore. Brydone's brave ward I well could spy, Whare many a patriot-name on high, DUAN SECOND. WITH musing-deep, astonish'd stare, When with an elder sister's air "All hail, my own inspired bard! I come to give thee such reward Know, the great geinus of this land As arts or arms they understand, They Scotia's race among them share: Some teach the bard, a darling care, afterwards President of the Court of Session. 7 The Rev. Dr. Matthew Stewart, dis tinguished as a mathematician, and his son, Professor Dugald Stewart, the cele brated metaphysician. Their villa of Catrine was situated on the Ayr. 8 Referring to Colonel Fullarton. 'Mong swelling floods of reeking gore, To mend the honest patriot-lore, And when the bard or hoary sage In energy, Or point the inconclusive page Hence Fullarton, the brave and young; Or tore, with noble ardour stung, To lower orders are assign'd The artisan: All choose, as various they're inclined, When yellow waves the heavy grain, I mark'd thy embryo tuneful flame, With future hope I oft would gaze, Fired at the simple, artless lays I saw thee seek the sounding shore, I saw grim Nature's visage hoar Or, when the deep green-mantled earth I saw thee eye the general mirth When ripen'd fields and azure skies The threatening storm some strongly rein; To vent thy bosom's swelling rise I taught thy manners-painting strains, Of these am I, -Coila my name; Held ruling power: [fame, 9 Alluding to Beattie's Essay on Truth, which was meant as a refutation of Hume's sceptical reasonings. 1 The Loudoun branch of the Camp. Become thy friends. bells is here meant. Mossgiel and much of the neighbouring land then belonged to the Earl of Loudoun. 2 See page 159, note 2. |