TO CHLORIS.

'Tis Friendship's pledge, my young, fair friend,

Nor thou the gift refuse,

Nor with unwilling ear attend

The moralizing muse.

Since thou, in all thy youth and charms,

Must bid the world adieu,

(A world 'gainst peace in constant arms) To join the friendly few.

Since thy gay morn of life o'ercast,

Chill came the tempest's lower; (And ne'er misfortune's eastern blast

Did nip a fairer flower.)

Since life's gay scenes must charm no more,

Still much is left behind;

Still nobler wealth hast thou in store

The comforts of the mind!

Thine is the self-approving glow,

On conscious honour's part; And, dearest gift of heaven below,

Thine friendship's truest heart.

The joys refin'd of sense and taste,

With every muse to rove:

And doubly were the poet blest,
These joys could he improve.

Of the lady of these lines we shall have occasion to speak when we come to the lyrical compositions of Burns: her poetic elevation is great, but her real situation calls for our sympathy. These lines were written on the blank leaf of a copy of his poems, and presented to Chloris; she retained the volume long, and prized it much nor was she insensible of the light which the muse shed around her. That she did not seem so lovely in the sight of others as in the eyes of Burns, is well known; but the Poet looked not at bloom alone; he had something of the taste of an artist: he admired the elegance of her form, the harmony of her motion as she danced, and the sweetness of her voice.

POETICAL INSCRIPTION

FOR AN ALTAR TO INDEPENDENCE.

THOU of an independent mind,
With soul resolv'd, with soul resign'd;
Prepar'd Power's proudest frown to brave,
Who wilt not be, nor have a slave;

Virtue alone who dost revere,

Thy own reproach alone dost fear,
Approach this shrine, and worship here.

Heron of Kerroughtree, at whose seat in Galloway the altar stood on which these lines were inscribed, was one of those friends whom the Poet's politics rather than genius procured. It was the fashion of those feverish times to raise altars to Freedom, and plant trees to Liberty : even one of our ablest sculptors audaciously modelled a monarch, offered up as a sacrifice, on the altar of independence. Burns wrote the inscription during the summer of 1795; Hcron was about to engage in an election contest, and these noble verses of the Poet served as an advertisement of the candidate's sentiments concerning freedom-a subject which was then fiercely agitating the earth.

THE

HERON BALLADS.

[BALLAD FIRST.]

I.

WHOM Will you send to London town,
To Parliament and a' that?

Or wha in a' the country round
The best deserves to fa' that?

For a' that, and a' that,

Thro' Galloway and a' that;

Where is the laird or belted knight

That best deserves to fa' that?

II.

Wha sees Kerroughtree's open yett,

And wha is't never saw that?

Wha ever wi' Kerroughtree meets

And has a doubt of a' that?

For a' that, and a' that,
Here's Heron yet for a' that;
The independent patriot,

The honest man, an' a' that.

III.

Tho' wit and worth in either sex,

St. Mary's Isle can shaw that;
Wi' dukes an' lords let Selkirk mix,
And weel does Selkirk fa' that.
For a' that, an' a' that,

Here's Heron yet for a' that!
The independent commoner
Shall be the man for a' that.

IV.

But why should we to nobles jouk,
And its against the law that;
For why, a lord may be a gouk
Wi' ribbon, star, an' a' that.
For a' that, an' a' that,
Here's Heron yet for a' that!
A lord may be a lousy loun,
Wi' ribbon, star, an' a' that.

V.

A beardless boy comes o'er the hills,
Wi' uncle's purse an' a' that;
But we'el hae ane frae 'mang oursels,
A man we ken, an' a' that.

For a' that, an' a' that,

Here's Heron yet for a' that!

For we're not to be bought an' sold

Like naigs, an' nowt, an' a' that.