SWEET AFTON Thus seasons dancing, life advancing, Sweet Afton.1 FLOW gently, sweet Afton! among thy green braes, Thou stock dove whose echo resounds thro' the glen, How lofty, sweet Afton, thy neighbouring hills, How pleasant thy banks and green valleys below, Thy crystal stream, Afton, how lovely it glides, Flow gently, sweet Afton, amang thy green braes, 1 There is a great deal of learning about this poem and its origin, which means that, in fact, nothing is certainly known. Mary may, or may not, be Highland Mary. ADDRESS TO THOMSON Address to the Shade of Thomson,1 On Crowning His Bust at Ednam, Roxburghshire, with a Wreath of Bays. WHILE virgin Spring by Eden's flood, While Summer, with a matron grace, Yet oft, delighted, stops to trace While Autumn, benefactor kind, While maniac Winter rages o'er The hills whence classic Yarrow flows, Rousing the turbid torrent's roar, Or sweeping, wild, a waste of snows. So long, sweet Poet of the year! Shall bloom that wreath thou well hast won; While Scotia, with exulting tear, Proclaims that THOMSON was her son. 1 An imitation of Collins. The piece was written for Lord Buchan, who patronised poetry in a very ludicrous manner. The text is that of the edition of 1793, differing much from the earlier sketch extant in MS., and showing that the verses cost Burns some trouble. FRAE THE FRIENDS I LOVE Nithsdale's welcome Hame.1 THE noble Maxwells and their powers And they'll gae big Terreagles' towers, Tho' stars in skies may disappear, Frae the Friends and Land I love.2 Tune-"Carron Side." FRAE the friends and land I love, Frae my best belov'd I rove, ⚫ build. 1 Written for Lady Winifred Constable, whom Sir Walter Scott, in a letter to Lockhart, speaks of with scanty respect. Lady Winifred was descended from the Nithsdale of 1715, and of the romantic escape from prison. Lady Winifred rebuilt Terreagles House. 2 Another Jacobite ditty: Burns only claimed the four last lines. SUCH A PARCEL OF ROGUES Brightest climes shall mirk appear, Cross the seas, and win his ain. Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation.1 FAREWEEL to a' our Scottish fame, To mark where England's province stands- What force or guile could not subdue, Is wrought now by a coward few, But English gold has been our bane- O would, or I had seen the day But pith and power, till my last hour, We're bought and sold for English gold— Such a parcel of rogues in a nation! 1 Based on an old and well known song against the Union, and the poli ticians who procured it. I HAE BEEN AT CROOKIEDEN Ye Jacobites by name.1 YE Jacobites by name, give an ear, give an ear, Ye Jacobites by name, give an ear, Ye Jacobites by name, Your fauts I will proclaim, Your doctrines I maun blame, you shall hear. What is Right, and what is Wrang, by the law, by the law? What is Right, and what is Wrang, by the law? What is Right, and what is Wrang? A short sword, and a lang, A weak arm and a strang, for to draw. What makes heroic strife, famed afar, famed afar? What makes heroic strife? To whet th' assassin's knife, Or hunt a Parent's life, wi' bluidy war? Then let your schemes alone, in the state, in the state, Then let your schemes alone, in the state. Then let you schemes alone, Adore the rising sun, And leave a man undone, to his fate. I hae been at Crookieden.2 I HAE been at Crookieden, My bonie laddie, Highland laddie, My bonie laddie, Highland laddie. 1 If a reference to the French Revolution is meant, it is extremely obscure. The " man undone," if Henry, Cardinal Duke of York, is intended, had, of course, no party, except the Laird of Gask, in 1792, when the song was published. 2 The den of Crookie is hell, of course. The reference to the Duke of Cumberland in the Scottish Inferno, is older than Burns, as in Baith Scott and Lockhart's sent to hell For to acquaint mama, Willie, That sune ye will be there yoursel' To roast ayont them a', Willie. |