EPIGRAM TO MISS AINSLIE Epigram to Miss Ainslie in Church.1 FAIR maid, you need not take the hint, Nor idle texts pursue: 'Twas guilty sinners that he meant, Burlesque Lament for the Absence of 3 AULD chuckie Reekie's sair distrest, Her darling bird that she lo'es best- O Willie was a witty wight, And had o' things an unco' sleight, But now they'll busk her like a fright,— The stiffest o' them a' he bow'd, a mother hen. 1 Written in the church at Dunse, while on his Border tour with Robert Ainslie. 2 Sent to Creech from Selkirk, May 13. Burns was making a tour through the Border. A memorial stone, with an inscription, now marks the site of the old inn where Burns wrote. Dr Clarkson, (an ancestor of Scott's Gideon Gray in The Surgeon's Daughter) and Bailie Anderson were drinking with friends, when two drenched horsemen asked leave to join them. "Ane o' b adorned. them's gey like a drover," said the servant, and the t'other's mair like a gentleman, may be." "Then," said Dr Clarkson, 'just give them our compliments, and say that ours is a private party." The travellers were Burns and Ainslie, and Dr Clarkson was much vexed when he heard what angel he had failed to entertain. (T. Craig Brown's History of Selkirkshire, ii. 124.) 8 Auld Reekie is the city of Edinburgh. BURLESQUE LAMENT They durst nae mair than he allow'd, We've lost a birkie weel worth gowd; Now gawkies, tawpies, gowks and fools, He wha could brush them down to mools®— The brethren o' the Commerce-chaumer Among them a'; I fear they'll now mak mony a stammer; Nae mair we see his levee door The adjutant o' a' the core Willie, 's awa! Now worthy Gregory's latin face, As Rome ne'er saw; They a' maun meet some ither place, Poor Burns ev'n Scotch Drink canna quicken, By hoodie-craw; Grief's gien his heart an unco kickin, NOTE TO MR RENTON Now ev'ry sour-mou'd girnin blellum," His quill may draw ; He wha could brawlie ward their bellum- Up wimpling stately Tweed I've sped, But every joy and pleasure's fled, May I be Slander's common speech; When I forget thee, WILLIE CREECH, May never wicked Fortune touzle him! Then to the blessed new Jerusalem, Note to Mr Renton of Lamerton.2 • blockhead. YOUR billet, Sir, I grant receipt; b wretch. R. BURNS. c ward off their attack. d stretched. 1 This verse is a later addition. 2 A relic of the Border tour. ⚫ head. ELEGY ON "STELLA" Elegy on "Stella."1 The following poem is the work of some hapless son of the Muses who deserved a better fate. There is a great deal of "The voice of Cona' in his solitary, mournful notes; and had the sentiments been clothed in Shenstone's language, they would have been no discredit even to that elegant poet.-R. B. STRAIT is the spot and green the sod From whence my sorrows flow; Pardon my transport, gentle shade, Not one poor stone to tell thy name, I'll sit me down upon this turf, Dark is the dwelling of the dead, I saw the grim Avenger stand 1 From a note-book given by Burns to Mrs Dunlop. Conceivably the piece may have been inspired by a memory of Highland Mary. Burns visited the West Highlands, alone, in June 1787. Mary was his Phantôme d'Occident. The authorship is dubious; the present editor is inclined to regard the piece as Burns's own. ELEGY ON "STELLA" Pale grew the roses on thy cheek, Thus wasted are the ranks of men- Behold where, round thy narrow house, Some, with the tottering steps of age, And some, in youth's lamented prime, Yet these, however hard their fate, Amid their weeping friends they died, From thy lov'd friends, when first thy heart At the last limits of our isle, Wash'd by the western wave, Touch'd by thy fate, a thoughtful bard Sits lonely by thy grave. Pensive he eyes, before him spread |