THE VISION

Where once the Campbells, chiefs of fame,

Held ruling pow'r :

I mark'd thy embryo-tuneful flame,

Thy natal hour.

"With future hope I oft would gaze
Fond, on thy little early ways,
Thy rudely caroll'd, chiming phrase,
In uncouth rhymes;

Fir'd at the simple, artless lays

Of other times.

"I saw thee seek the sounding shore,
Delighted with the dashing roar;
Or when the North his fleecy store

Drove thro' the sky,

I saw grim Nature's visage hoar

Struck thy young eye.

"Or when the deep green-mantled earth Warm cherish'd ev'ry floweret's birth, And joy and music pouring forth

In ev'ry grove;

I saw thee eye the general mirth

With boundless love.

"When ripen'd fields and azure skies
Call'd forth the reapers' rustling noise,
I saw thee leave their ev'ning joys,
And lonely stalk,

To vent thy bosom's swelling rise,
In pensive walk.

"When youthful love, warm-blushing, strong,
Keen-shivering, shot thy nerves along,
Those accents grateful to thy tongue,
Th' adored Name,

I taught thee how to pour in song,

To soothe thy flame.

THE VISION

"I saw thy pulse's maddening play,
Wild send thee Pleasure's devious way,
Misled by Fancy's meteor-ray,

By passion driven;

But yet the light that led astray

Was light from Heaven.

"I taught thy manners-painting strains, The loves, the ways of simple swains, Till now, o'er all my wide domains

Thy fame extends;

And some, the pride of Coila's plains,
Become thy friends.

"Thou canst not learn, nor I can show, To paint with Thomson's landscape glow; Or wake the bosom-melting throe,

With Shenstone's art;

Or pour, with Gray, the moving flow
Warm on the heart.

"Yet, all beneath th' unrivall'd rose,
The lowly daisy sweetly blows;
Tho' large the forest's monarch throws
His army shade,

Yet green the juicy hawthorn grows,
Adown the glade.

"Then never murmur nor repine; Strive in thy humble sphere to shine;

And trust me, not Potosi's mine,

Nor king's regard,

Can give a bliss o'ermatching thine,

A rustic bard.

"To give my counsels all in one, Thy tuneful flame still careful fan:

THE VISION

Preserve the dignity of Man,

With soul erect;

And trust the Universal Plan

Will all protect.

"And wear thou this "-she solemn said,
And bound the holly round my head:
The polish'd leaves and berries red

Did rustling play;

And, like a passing thought, she fled

In light away.

[To Mrs Stewart of Stair Burns presented a manuscript copy of the Vision. That copy embraces about twenty stanzas at the end of Duan First, which he cancelled when he came to print the piece in his Kilmarnock volume. Seven of these he restored in printing his second edition, as noted on p. 187. The following are the verses which he left unpublished.]

SUPPRESSED STANZAS OF "THE VISION."

After 18th stanza of the text (at "His native land"):

With secret throes I marked that earth,
That cottage, witness of my birth;

And near I saw, bold issuing forth

In youthful pride,

A Lindsay race of noble worth,

Famed far and wide.

Where, hid behind a spreading wood,
An ancient Pict-built mansion stood,
I spied, among an angel brood,

A female pair;

Sweet shone their high maternal blood,
And father's air.1

An ancient tower to memory brought
How Dettingen's bold hero fought;
Still, far from sinking into nought,
It owns a lord

Who far in western climates fought,

1 Sundrum.-R.B.

With trusty sword.

2 Stair.-R R.

THE VISION

Among the rest I well could spy
One gallant, graceful, martial boy,
The soldier sparkled in his eye,

A diamond water.

I blest that noble badge with joy,

That owned me frater.1

After 20th stanza of the text (at 'Dispensing good'):~

Near by arose a mansion fine,"
The seat of many a muse divine;
Not rustic muses such as mine,

With holly crown'd,

But th' ancient, tuneful, laurell'd Nine,
From classic ground.

I mourn'd the card that Fortune dealt,
To see where bonie Whitefoords dwelt;
But other prospects made me melt,

That village near;

There Nature, Friendship, Love, I felt,

Fond-mingling, dear!

Hail! Nature's pang, more strong than death!
Warm Friendship's glow, like kindling wrath!
Love, dearer than the parting breath

Of dying friend!

Not ev❜n with life's wild devious path,
Your force shall end!

The Power that gave the soft alarms
In blooming Whitefoord's rosy charms,
Still threats the tiny, feather'd arms,
The barbed dart,

While lovely Wilhelmina warms

The coldest heart."

After 21st stanza of the text (at "That, to adore"):-
Where Lugar leaves his moorland plaid,"
Where lately Want was idly laid,

I marked busy, bustling Trade,

In fervid flame,

Beneath a Patroness's aid,

Of noble name.

1Captain James Montgomerie, Master of St James' Lodge, Tarbolton, to which the author has the honour to belong.R.B.

2 Auchinleck.-R. B. 3 Ballochmyle.

4 Mauchline.

5 A compliment to Miss Wilhelmina Alexander as successor, in that locality to Miss Maria Whitefoord.-S. D. 6 Cumnock.-R.B.

THE RANTIN DOG

Wild, countless hills I could survey,
And countless flocks as wild as they;
But other scenes did charms display,
That better please,

Where polish'd manners dwell with Gray,
In rural ease.1

Where Cessnock pours with gurgling sound;"
And Irwine, marking out the bound,
Enamour'd of the scenes around,

Slow runs his race,

A name I doubly honour'd found,

With knightly grace.

Brydon's brave ward,' I saw him stand,
Fame humbly offering her hand,

And near, his kinsman's rustic band,"
With one accord,

Lamenting their late blessed land

Must change its lord.

The owner of a pleasant spot,
Near sandy wilds, I last did note;"
A heart too warm, a pulse too hot

At times, o'erran :

But large in ev'ry feature wrote,

Appear'd the Man.

The Rantin Dog, the Daddie o't."

⚫ attend.

Tune-"Whare'll our guidman lie."

O WHA my babie-clouts will buy?
O wha will tenta me when I cry?
Wha will kiss me where I lie?

The rantin dog, the daddie o't.

O wha will own he did the faut ?
O wha will buy the groanin maut b
tb8
O wha will tell me how to ca't?
The rantin dog, the daddie o't.

1 Mr Farquhar Gray.-R.B. 2 Auchinskieth.-R.B. Caprington.-R.B.

• Colonel Fullerton.-R. B.

b malt for ale to the nurse and neighbours.
5 Dr Fullerton.-R.B.

6 Orangefield.-R. B.

7 The lady may be Miss Armour, but there were plenty of possible heroines.