(The patriot's God peculiarly Thou art, 185
His friend, inspirer, guardian, and reward!)
O never, never, Scotia's realm desert,
But still the patriot and the patriot-bard
In bright succession raise, her ornament and guard!

[*]In printing this poem, it has seemed best to follow the text as
given in the scholarly _Centenary Burns_ (1896), edited by Messrs.
Henley and Henderson.

NOTE.--_The Cotter's Saturday Night_ was written in 1785 or the
beginning of 1786. In all English poetry there are few pictures of
home life so charming as that portrayed in this poem. The stanza
employed is the Spenserian stanza, named for Edmund Spenser, who first
used it. The first eight lines have five feet each, while the last has
six feet.

Cotter, as used by Burns, means _peasant farmer_.

[1.] Much respected friend, Robert Aiken, an early friend of the
poet's, to whom the poem was inscribed.

[2.] Ween, think, fancy.

[3.] Sugh (pronounced much like sook, with the _k_ softened; _i.e._
like _such_ in German), wail, sough.

[4.] Frae, from.

[5.] Pleugh (the _gh_ has a guttural sound), plough.

[6.] Trains o' craws, trains of crows.

[7.] Moil, toil.

[8.] Mattocks, implements for digging.

[9.] The morn, to-morrow.

[10.] Hameward, homeward.

[11.] Stacher, totter.

[12.] Flichterin', fluttering.

[13.] Ingle, fireplace.

[14.] Bonilie, cheerfully, attractively.

[15.] Hearth-stane, hearth-stone.

[16.] Does a' his weary kiaugh and care beguile, Does all his weary
cark (fret) and care beguile. _A'_ has the sound of _a_ in _all_;
pronounce _kiaugh_ something like _kee-owch'_, giving the _ch_ a harsh,
guttural sound. (In later editions, _carking cares_ was substituted
for _kiaugh_ and _care_.)

[17.] Belyve the elder bairns come drapping in, Presently the older
children come dropping in. (The vowel sound in _bairns_ is like that
in _care_.)

[18.] Ca', follow.

[19.] Some tentie rin a cannie errand to a neebor town, some, heedful,
run on a quiet errand to a neighboring town.

[20.] E'e, eye.

[21.] Braw, fine.

[22.] Sair-won penny-fee, hard-earned wages.

[23.] Spiers, asks.

[24.] Uncos, wonders, news.

[25.] Sheers, scissors.

[26.] Gars auld claes look amaist as weel's the new, makes old cloth
look almost as well as the new.

[27.] Younkers, young people.

[28.] Eydent, diligent.

[29.] Jauk, trifle.

[30.] Gang, go.

[31.] Wha kens, who know