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The origin of these lines is related by Cromek. When politics ran high, the Poet happened to be in a tavern, and the following lines-the production of one of True Loyal Natives" were handed over the table to Burns :

"Ye sons of sedition give ear to my song,

Let Syme, Burns, and Maxwell pervade every throng;
With Craken th' attorny, and Mundell the quack,

Send Willie the monger to hell with a smack."

The Poet took out a pencil, and instantly wrote his reply to "The True Loyal Natives."

LX.

ON A SUICIDE.

EARTH'D up here lies an imp o'hell,
Planted by Satan's dibble-
Poor silly wretch, he's damn'd himsel'
To save the Lord the trouble.

A melancholy person of the name of Glendinning having taken away his own life, was interred at a place called "The Old Chapel," close beside Dumfries. My friend, Dr. Copland Hutchison, happened to be walking out that way: he saw Burns with his foot on the grave, his hat on his knee, and paper laid on his hat, on which he was writing. He then took the paper, thrust it with his finger into the red mould of the grave, and went away. This was the above epigram, and such was the Poet's mode of publishing it.

LXI.

LINES TO JOHN RANKINE.

He who of Rankine sang lies stiff and dead,
And a green grassy hillock haps his head;
Alas! alas! a devilish change indeed.

These lines, it is said, were written to Rankine and forwarded to Adamhill immediately after the Poet's death. Inquiries into the accuracy of this account have been made in vain. The statement was made in a thin octavo volume, published at Glasgow in 1801, which contained the "Jolly Beggars" and other posthumous poems.

LXII.

JESSY LEWARS.

TALK not to me of savages

From Afric's burning sun,
No savage e'er could rend my heart
As, Jessy, thou hast done.

But Jessy's lovely hand in mine,
A mutual faith to plight,

Not even to view the heavenly choir

Would be so blest a sight.

During the last illness of the Poet, Mr. Brown, the surgeon who attended him, came in, and stated that he had been looking at a collection of wild beasts just arrived, and pulling out the list of the animals, held it out to Jessy Lewars. The Poet snatched it from him, took up a pen, and with red ink wrote these verses on the back of the advertizement, saying, "Now it is fit to be presented to a lady." This precious relique is still in her possession.

LXIII.

THE TOAST.

FILL me with the rosy wine,
Call a toast-a toast divine e;
Give the Poet's darling flame,
Lovely Jessy be the name;
Then thou mayest freely boast,

Thou hast given a peerless toast.

One day while the Poet was much indisposed, he observed Jessy Lewars moving, with a light foot, about the house, lest she should disturb him. He took up a crystal goblet containing wine and water for moistening his lips, wrote "The Toast" upon it with a diamond, and presented it to her." She was," says Gilbert Burns, a deservedly great favourite of the Poet's, and a soothing friend to Mrs. Burns at the time of his death."

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LXIV.

ON MISS JESSY LEWARS.

SAY, sages, what's the charm on earth

Can turn Death's dart aside?

It is not purity and worth,

Else Jessy had not died.

R. B.

The constancy of her attendance and the anxiety of her mind, made Jessy Lewars suffer a slight indisposition. -"You must not die yet," said the Poet with a smile; "however, I shall provide for the worst. Give me that goblet, and I'll write your epitaph." He wrote these four lines with his diamond, and, presenting the goblet, said, "That will be a companion to The Toast.'"

LXV.

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THE RECOVERY OF JESSY LEWARS.

BUT rarely seen since Nature's birth,

The natives of the sky;

Yet still one seraph's left on earth,

For Jessy did not die.

R. B.

A little repose brought health back to the young lady. On this Burns said, smiling, “I knew you would get better; you have much to do before you die, believe me. Besides, there is a poetic reason for your recovery." So saying, he took up a pen and wrote the above.

SONGS

AND

BALLAD S.

THE Songs and Ballads of Burns are now gathered together for the first time. They have been much scattered: some continued in manuscript; others, printed with his initials, escaped the notice of the public; while a number, published anonymously, became popular without being known as his compositions. The Poet inserted very few of his lyrics in his works: it is believed that he contemplated their publication separately: he wrote carefully and corrected anxiously many fine songs for the national work of Thomson, and he supplied Johnson's Musical Museum with a fourth and more of the songs which compose the six volumes of that equally curious and valuable work. The commu

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