ADDRESS TO THE UNCO GUID Address to the Unco Guid, cleaned. Or the Rigidly Righteous.1 My Son, these maxims make a rule, The Rigid Wise anither: The cleanest corn that ere was dight" SOLOMON.-Eccles. ch. vii. verse 16. O YE wha are sae guid yoursel', Ye've nought to do but mark and tell Hear me, ye venerable core, As counsel for poor mortals I, for their thoughtless, careless sakes, Their donsie tricks, their black mistakes, Ye see your state wi' theirs compared, But cast a moment's fair regard, What maks the mighty differs? • unlucky. b grains of chaff. f exchange. • fun. d foolish. 1 A favourite morality of Burns. The piece first appears in the Edinburgh edition. ADDRESS TO THE UNCO GUID Discount what scant occasion gave, And (what's aft mair than a' the lave*) Think, when your castigated pulse Wi' wind and tide fair i' your tail, Right on ye scud your sea-way; But in the teeth o' baith to sail, See Social Life and Glee sit down, O would they stay to calculate Ye high, exalted, virtuous dames, Then gently scan your brother man, Tho' they may gang a kennin© wrang, • rest. b perhaps. ⚫ little. THE INVENTORY One point must still be greatly dark,- Who made the heart, 'tis He alone He knows each chord, its various tone, We never can adjust it; What's done we partly may compute, The Inventory;1 In Answer to a Mandate by the Surveyor SIR, as your mandate did request, Imprimis, then, for carriage cattle, ⚫ implements. 1 A poem of 1786. Sent by Burns to Aiken, the tax collector, as the verses declare. The various copies show a large number of minute variations. In lines 8 and 10 Stewart has "lan' afore" and "lan' ahin'." Currie omits lines 14-19 b plough-stick, ("But ance.. spavie") as well as 2 The fore-horse on the left-hand in the plough.-R.B. 3 The hindmost on the left-hand in the plough.-R.B. 4 Kilmarnock.-R.B. a behoved. ⚫ colt. wheel. I cattle. THE INVENTORY But ance, when in my wooing pride Gin he be spar'd to be a beast, An' my auld mither brunt the trin'le.1 For men, I've three mischievous boys, I on the "Questions" targem them tightly; I've nane in female servant station, b trick. c worthy. 8 mainly. d stark-mad. h shafts. out-and-out devils.goads-man (for a team of oxen.) • rattle. m examine. 1 The hindmost-horse on the right-hand in the plough.-R.B. n smart. |