It's no in makin muckle mair; Nae treasures, nor pleasures, Think That makes us right or wrang. ye, that sic as you and I, Wha drudge and drive thro' wet an' dry, Wi' never-ceasing toil; Think ye, are we less blest than they, God's creatures they oppress They riot in excess ! Baith careless and fearless It's a' an idle tale! Then let us cheerfu' acquiesce; And, even should misfortunes come, They let us ken oursel'; They make us see the naked truth, The real guid and ill. Tho' losses, and crosses, Be lessons right severe, Ye'll find nae other where. But tent me, Davie, ace o' hearts! (To say aught less wad wrang the cartes, And flatt'ry I detest,) This life has joys for you and. I; And joys that riches ne'er could buy: And joys the very best. There's a' the pleasures o' the heart, The lover an' the frien'; Ye hae your Meg your dearest part, It warms me, it charms me, It heats me, it beets me, And sets me a' on flame! O, all ye pow'rs who rule above! Deprive my soul of rest, Her dear idea brings relief And solace to my breast. All hail, ye tender feelings dear! The sympathetic glow! Long since, this world's thorny ways Had it not been for you! Fate still has blest me with a friend, In every care and ill; And oft a more endearing band, A tie more tender still. It lightens, it brightens To meet with, and greet with My Davie or my Jean! O, how that name inspires my style! Amaist before I ken! The ready measure rins as fine, As Phoebus and the famous Nine And then he'll hilch, and stilt, and jimp, An' rin an unco fit: But least then, the beast then Should rue this hasty ride, I'll light now, and dight now SECOND EPISTLE TO DAVIE, A BROTHER POET. [David Sillar, to whom these epistles are addressed, was at that time master of a country school, and was welcome to Burns both as a scholar and a writer of verse. This epistle he prefixed to his poems printed at Kilmarnock in the year 1789: he loved to speak of his early comrade, and supplied Walker with some very valuable anecdotes: he died one of the magistrates of Irvine, on the 2d of May, 1830, at the age of seventy.] AULD NIBOR, I'm three times doubly o'er your debtor, For your auld-farrent, frien'ly letter; Tho' I maun say't, I doubt ye flatter, Ye speak sae fair. For my puir, silly, rhymin clatter Some less maun sair. e; Hale be your heart, hale be your fiddle you thro' the weary widdle O' war❜ly cares, Till bairn's bairns kindly cuddle Your auld, gray hairs. But DAVIE, lad, I'm red ye're glaikit; Until ye fyke; Sic hauns as you sud ne'er be faiket, Be hain't wha like. For me, I'm on Parnassus' brink, Rivin' the words to gar them clink; Whyles daez't wi' love, whyles daez't wi' drink, Wi' jads or masons; An' whyles, but ay owre late, I think Braw sober lessons. Of a' the thoughtless sons o' man, Commen' me to the Bardie clan ; Except it be some idle plan O' rhymin' clink, The devil-haet, that I sud ban, They ever think. Nae thought, nae view, nae scheme o' livin', Nae cares to gie us joy or grievin'; But just the pouchie put the nieve in, An' while ought's there, Then hiltie skiltie, we gae scrievin', An' fash nae mair. Leeze me on rhyme! it's aye a treasure, The Muse, poor hizzie ! Tho' rough an' raploch be her measure, Haud to the Muse, my dainty Davie : Tho' e'er so puir, Na, even tho' limpin' wi' the spavie Frae door to door. ADDRESS TO THE DEIL. "O Prince! O Chief of many throned Pow'rs, That led th' embattled Seraphim to war."-MILTON. [The beautiful and relenting spirit in which this fine poem finishes moved the heart of one of the coldest of our critics. "It was, I think," says Gilbert Burns, "in the winter of 1784, as we were going with carts for coals to the family fire, and I could yet point out the particular spot, that Robert first repeated to me the Address to the Deil.' The idea of the address was suggested to him by running over in his mind the many ludicrous accounts we have of that august personage."] O THOU! whatever title suit thee, Closed under hatches, Spairges about the brunstane cootie, To scaud poor wretches! Hear me, auld Hangie, for a wee, To skelp an' scaud poor dogs like me, Great is thy pow'r, an' great thy fame; An', faith thou's neither lag nor lame, Whyles, ranging like a roaring lion, Whiles, in the human bosom pryin, Unseen thou lurks. I've heard my reverend Graunie say, |