FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165  
166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   >>   >|  
in, A Lord--a Peer--an Earl's son! Up higher yet, my bonnet An' sic a Lord!--lang Scoth ells twa, Our Peerage he o'erlooks them a', As I look o'er my sonnet. But O for Hogarth's magic pow'r! To show Sir Bardie's willyart glow'r, An' how he star'd and stammer'd, When, goavin, as if led wi' branks, An' stumpin on his ploughman shanks, He in the parlour hammer'd. I sidying shelter'd in a nook, An' at his Lordship steal't a look, Like some portentous omen; Except good sense and social glee, An' (what surpris'd me) modesty, I marked nought uncommon. I watch'd the symptoms o' the Great, The gentle pride, the lordly state, The arrogant assuming; The fient a pride, nae pride had he, Nor sauce, nor state, that I could see, Mair than an honest ploughman. Then from his Lordship I shall learn, Henceforth to meet with unconcern One rank as weel's another; Nae honest, worthy man need care To meet with noble youthful Daer, For he but meets a brother. Masonic Song Tune--"Shawn-boy," or "Over the water to Charlie." Ye sons of old Killie, assembled by Willie, To follow the noble vocation; Your thrifty old mother has scarce such another To sit in that honoured station. I've little to say, but only to pray, As praying's the ton of your fashion; A prayer from thee Muse you well may excuse 'Tis seldom her favourite passion. Ye powers who preside o'er the wind, and the tide, Who marked each element's border; Who formed this frame with beneficent aim, Whose sovereign statute is order:-- Within this dear mansion, may wayward Contention Or withered Envy ne'er enter; May secrecy round be the mystical bound, And brotherly Love be the centre! Tam Samson's Elegy An honest man's the noblest work of God--Pope. When this worthy old sportman went out, last muirfowl season, he supposed it was to be, in Ossian's phrase, "the last of his fields," and expressed an ardent wish to die and be buried in the muirs. On this hint the author composed his elegy and epitaph.--R.B., 1787. Has auld Kilmarnock seen the deil? Or great Mackinlay^1 thrawn his heel? Or Robertson^2 again grown weel, To preach an' read? "Na' waur than a'!" cries ilka chiel,
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165  
166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
honest
 

Lordship

 

ploughman

 
worthy
 

marked

 

Contention

 

beneficent

 

withered

 

wayward

 

mansion


statute

 
Within
 

sovereign

 
fashion
 
prayer
 

praying

 

station

 

excuse

 

preside

 

border


element

 

powers

 

seldom

 

favourite

 

passion

 
formed
 

Kilmarnock

 

epitaph

 

author

 

composed


Mackinlay

 

preach

 
thrawn
 

Robertson

 

buried

 

honoured

 

centre

 

Samson

 

noblest

 

brotherly


secrecy
 
mystical
 

phrase

 

Ossian

 

fields

 
expressed
 

ardent

 
sportman
 
muirfowl
 

supposed