But if the lover's raptured hour You e'er should be a stot! Though, when some kind, connubial dear, Your but-and-ben adorns, kitchen and parlor The like has been that you may wear A noble head of horns. ear bellow And in your lug, most reverend James, And when ye're numbered wi' the dead, Wi' justice they may mark your head- cattle WILLIE CHALMERS. Mr. William Chalmers, writer in Ayr, who had drawn up an assignation of the bard's property, was in love, and it occurred to him to ask Burns to address the admired object in his behalf. The poet, who had seen the lady, but was scarcely acquainted with her, readily complied by producing the following specimen of vicarious courtship. Wr' braw new branks in mickle pride, bride And eke a braw new brechan, collar My Pegasus I'm got astride, And up Parnassus pechin'; panting Whiles owre a bush wi' downward crush, stupid The doited beastie stammers; Then up he gets, and off he sets, For sake o' Willie Chalmers. I doubt na, lass, that weel-kenned name I am nae stranger to your fame, And faith ye'll no be lost a whit, spent Auld Truth hersel' might swear ye're fair, And Modesty assume your air, I doubt na fortune may you shore Fu' lifted up wi' Hebrew lore, And band upon his breastie: Some gapin' glowrin' country laird May claw his lug, and straik his beard, And hoast up some palaver. My bonny maid, before ye wed Sic clumsy-witted hammers, Seek Heaven for help, and barefit skelp Awa' wi' Willie Chalmers. Forgive the Bard! my fond regard For ane that shares my bosom, Inspires my Muse to gie'm his dues, For deil a hair I roose him. And fructify your amours, To you and Willie Chalmers. promise prim staring wrestle ear cough iy flatter TAM SAMSON'S ELEGY.1 'An honest man's the noblest work of God." - POPE. HAS auld Kilmarnock seen the deil? 8 To preach and read? "Na, waur than a'!" cries ilka chiel Tam Samson's dead! Kilmarnock lang may grunt and grane, wean, In mourning weed; To Death she's dearly paid the kane The brethren o' the mystic level alone clothe tribute crook Thomas Samson was one of the poet's Kilmarnock friends a nursery and seedsman of good credit, a zealous sportsman, and a good fellow. A preacher, a great favourite with the million. See The Ordination, stanza ii. — B. Another preacher, an equal favourite with the few, who was at that time ailing. For him also see The Ordination, stanza ix. B. For a minister to read his sermons, as is often done by those of moderate denomination, is often a cause of great unpopularity in Scotland. While by their nose the tears will revel, Death's gien the lodge an unco devel blow Tam Samson's dead! When Winter muffles up his cloak, Wha will they station at the cock?— He was the king o' a' the core, To guard, or draw,2 or wick a bore, Or up the rink like Jehu roar In time o' need; mark proper line But now he lags on Death's hog-score- Now safe the stately sawmont sail, And trouts be-dropped wi' crimson hail, salmon 1 Curling is a game played on the ice with large round stones. The object of the player is to lay his stone as near the mark as possible, to guard that of his partner, if well laid before, and to strike off that of his antagonist; and the great art in the game is to make the stones bend in towards the mark, when it is so blocked up that they cannot be directed n a straight line. See Jamieson's Dict. 2 Go straight to the mark. 8 Strike a stone in an oblique direction. 4 The hog-score is a line crossing the course (rink), near its extremity: a stone which does not pass it is set aside. |