TO DR. BLACKLOCK.* Ellisland, 21st Oct. 1789. Wow, but Lord send you aye as weel's I want ye, The ill-thief blaw the Heron † south! He'd tak my letter; * In answer to the following Poetical Epistle from Dr. Blacklock. Edinburgh, 24th August, 1789. "Dear Burns, thou brother of my heart, If art it may be call'd in thee, Which Nature's bounty, large and free, I lippen'd to the chiel in trouth, And bade nae better. But aiblins honest Master Heron, And holy study; And tir'd o' sauls to waste his lear on, But what d'ye think, my trusty fier, Ye'll now disdain me! And then my fifty pounds a year Ye glaiket, gleesome, dainty damies, Whether bright fancy keeps alive? "THO. BLACKLOCK." It was through Dr. Blacklock's exertions that the Poet was induced to abandon his intention of going to Jamaica, in 1786. Robert Heron, author of a History of Scotland, and of a Life of Burns. Lowp, sing, and lave your pretty limbies, That strang necessity supreme is ’Mang sons o men. I hae a wife and twa wee laddies, They maun hae brose and brats o' duddies; But I'll sned besoms-thraw saugh woodies, Lord help me thro' this warld o' care! Not but I hae a richer share Than monie ithers; But why should ae man better fare, And a' men brithers? Come, Firm Resolve, take thou the van, And let us mind, faint heart ne'er wan Wha does the utmost that he can, Will whyles do mair. But to conclude my silly rhyme, (I'm scant o' verse, and scant o' time), To make a happy fire-side clime To weans and wife, That's the true pathos and sublime My compliments to sister Beckie; I wat she is a daintie chuckie, As e'er tread clay! And gratefully, my guid auld cockie, ROBERT BURNS. PROLOGUE, SPOKEN AT THE THEATRE, No song nor dance I bring from yon great city I come to wish you all a good new-year! But 'twould be rude, you know, to ask the question; He bade me on you press says, In a letter from Ellisland, 11th January, 1790, Burns "We have gotten a set of very decent players here just now. I have seen them an evening or two. David Campbell, in Ayr, wrote to me by the manager of the company, a Mr. Sutherland, who is a man of apparent worth. On Newyear-day evening I gave him the following Prologue, which he spouted to his audience with applause;" and on the 9th of the next month he said, "I have given Mr. Sutherland two Prologues, one of which was delivered last week." Ye sprightly youths, quite flushed with hope and spirit, Who think to storm the world by dint of merit, In his sly, dry, sententious, proverb way; That tho' some by the skirt may try to snatch him, Last, tho' not least in love, ye youthful fair, For our sincere, tho' haply weak endeavours, With grateful pride we own your many favours; And howsoe'er our tongues may ill reveal it, Believe our glowing bosoms truly feel it. ELEGY ON THE LATE MISS BURNET, LIFE ne'er exulted in so rich a prize * Burns' admiration of Miss Burnet was very great. He not only celebrated her charms in his Address to Edin |