AULD ROB MORRIS

Extempore on some Commemorations

of Thomson.1

Dost thou not rise, indignant shade,
And smile wi' spurning scorn,
When they wha wad hae starved thy life,
Thy senseless turf adorn?

Helpless, alane, thou clamb the brae,
Wi' meikle honest toil,

And claught th' unfading garland there—
Thy sair-worn, rightful spoil.

And wear it there! and call aloud
This axiom undoubted-

Would thou hae Nobles' patronage?
First learn to live without it!

To whom hae much, more shall be given,
Is every Great man's faith;

But he, the helpless, needful wretch,
Shall lose the mite he hath.

Auld Rob Morris.2

THERE'S Auld Rob Morris that wons in yon glen,
He's the King o' gude fellows, and wale o' auld men;
He has gowd in his coffers, he has owsen and kine,
And ae bonie lass, his dautie and mine.

་་

DUNCAN GRAY

She's fresh as the morning, the fairest in May;
She's sweet as the ev'ning amang the new hay;
As blythe and as artless as the lambs on the lea,
And dear to my heart as the light to my e'e.

But oh! she's an Heiress, auld Robin's a laird,
And my daddie has nought but a cot-house and yard;
A wooer like me maunna hope to come speed,
The wounds I must hide that will soon be my dead.

The day comes to me, but delight brings me nane;
The night comes to me, but my rest it is gane;
I wander my lane like a night-troubled ghaist,
And I sigh as my heart it wad burst in my breast.

O had she but been of a lower degree,
I then might hae hop'd she wad smil'd upon me!
O how past descriving had then been my bliss,
As now my distraction nae words can express.

• tossed.

Duncan Gray.1

DUNCAN GRAY cam' here to woo,
Ha, ha, the wooing o't,

On blythe Yule-night when we were fou,
Ha, ha, the wooing o't,
Maggie coost her head fu' heigh,
Look'd asklent and unco skeigh,
Gart poor Duncan stand abeigh";
Ha, ha, the wooing o't.

Duncan fleech'dd and Duncan pray'd;

Ha, ha, the wooing o't,

Meg was deaf as Ailsa craig,

Ha, ha, the wooing o't:

d flattered.

baskance and very distant.

⚫ aloof.

• in the Firth of Clyde.

1"On the basis and to the tune of a rude old song,” but essentially original.

HEALTH TO THEM THAT'S AWA

Duncan sigh'd baith out and in,
Grata his e'en baith blear't an' blin'
Spak o' lowpin' o'er a linn;

Ha, ha, the wooing o't.

Time and Chance are but a tide,
Ha, ha, the wooing o't,
Slighted love is sair to bide,

Ha, ha, the wooing o't:
Shall I like a fool, quoth he,
For a haughty hizzie die?
She may gae to-France for me!
Ha, ha, the wooing o't.

How it comes let doctors tell,
Ha, ha, the wooing o't;
Meg grew sick, as he grew hale,
Ha, ha, the wooing o't.
Something in her bosom wrings,
For relief a sigh she brings:
And oh! her een they spak sic things!
Ha, ha, the wooing o't.

Duncan was a lad o' grace,

Ha, ha, the wooing o't:

Maggie's was a piteous case,
Ha, ha, the wooing o't:

Duncan could na be her death,
Swelling Pity smoor'd his wrath;
Now they're crouse and canty baith,
Ha, ha, the wooing o't.

Here's a Health to Them that's Awa.1

HERE'S a health to them that's awa,

Here's a health to them that's awa;

And wha winna wish gude luck to our cause,
May never gude luck be their fa'!

wept.

b springing.

There is a suggestion of the idea in a Jacobite song. The Whigs and Liberals of 1791 are commemorated.

• lot.

The text is that given by the Scots Magazine for January 1818. Cromek's version is imperfect.

HEALTH TO THEM THAT'S AWA

It's gude to be merry and wise,

It's gude to be honest and true; It's gude to support Caledonia's cause, And bide by the buff and the blue.1

Here's a health to them that's awa,

Here's a health to them that's awa, Here's a health to Charlie the chief o' the clan, Altho' that his band be but sma'!

May Liberty meet wi' success!

May Prudence protect her frae evil! May tyrants and tyranny tine i' the mist, And wander their way to the devil!

Here's a health to them that's awa,

Here's a health to them that's awa;
Here's a health to Tammie, the Norlan' laddie,
That lives at the lug o' the law!
Here's freedom to them that wad read,

Here's freedom to them that wad write,
There's nane ever fear'd that the truth should be heard,
But they whom the truth would indite.b

Here's a health to them that's awa,

An' here's to them that's awa!

Here's to Maitland and Wycombe, let wha doesna like 'em Be built in a hole in the wa';

Here's timmer that's red at the heart,

And

Here's fruit that is sound at the core;

may he that wad turn the buff and blue coat
Be turn'd to the back o' the door."

Here's a health to them that's awa,

Here's a health to them that's awa;

Here's chieftain M'Leod," a chieftain worth gowd,
Tho' bred amang mountains o' snaw;

lose their way.

1 The Whig livery.

2 Charles James Fox.

3 Hon. Thos. Erskine, afterwards Lord Erskine.

4 Two noted Liberals of the day.

bindict, prosecute.

5 This verse was first included in the Kilmarnock edition of 1871.

6 M'Leod of Dunvegan, a prominent Reformer.

A TIPPLING BALLAD

Here's friends on baith sides o' the firth,
And friends on baith sides o' the Tweed;
And wha wad betray old Albion's right,
May they never eat of her bread!

A Tippling Ballad

On the Duke of Brunswick's Breaking up his Camp, and the Defeat of the Austrians, by Dumourier, November 1792.1

WHEN Princes and Prelates,

And hot-headed zealots,

A' Europe had set in a low," a low,

The poor man lies down,

Nor envies a crown,

b

And comforts himself as he dow, as he dow,

And comforts himself as he dow.

The black-headed eagle,

As keen as a beagle,

He hunted o'er height and o'er howe,"

In the braes o' Gemappe,

He fell in a trap,

E'en let him come out as he dow, dow, dow,

E'en let him come out as he dow.

But truce with commotions,
And new-fangled notions,
A bumper, I trust you'll allow;
Here's George our good king,
And Charlotte his queen,

And lang may they ring as they dow, dow, dow,
And lang may they ring as they dow.

⚫ flame.

b

can.

⚫ hollow.

The title explains the occasion: Burns's political sentiments supply the rest.