THE AULD FARMER'S NEW-YEAR MORNING SALUTATION TO HIS AULD MARE MAGGIE, ON GIVING HER THE ACCUSTOMED RIPP OF CORN TO HANSEL IN THE NEW YEAR. A Guid New-year I wish thee, Maggie! Thou could hae gaen like onie staggie Tho' now thou's dowie, stiff, and crazy, He should been tight that daur't to raize thee, Thou ance was i' the foremost rank, An' set weel down a shapely shank An' could hae flown out-owre a stank, It's now some nine-an'-twenty year, Sin' thou was my guid father's meere ; He gied me thee, o' tocher clear, An' fifty mark; Tho' it was sma', 'twas weel-won gear, An' thou was stark. When first I gaed to woo my Jenny, Ye then was trottin' wi' your minnie: Tho' ye was trickie, slee, an' funnie, Ye ne'er was donsie, But hamely, tawie, quiet, an' cannie, An' unco sonsie. That day, ye pranc'd wi' muckle pride, Kyle Stewart I could bragged wide, Tho' now ye dow but hoyte an' hobble, When thou an' I were young and skeigh, Town's bodies ran, an' stood abeigh, An' ca't thee mad. When thou was corn't, an' I was 'mellow, But ev'ry tail thou pay't them hollow, The sma', droop-rumpl't, hunter cattle, Might aiblins waur't thee for a brattle; But sax Scotch miles thou try't their mettle, i An' gar't them whaizle: Nae whip nor spur, but just a wattle O' saugh or hazel. Thou was a noble fittie-lan', As e'er in tug or tow was drawn ; Aft thee an' I, in aught hours gaun, On guid March weather, Hae turn'd sax rood beside our han', For days thegither. Thou never braindg't an' fetch't, an' fliskit, Till spritty knowes wad rair't an' risket, When frosts lay lang, an' snaws were deep, An' threaten'd labour back to keep, I gied my cog a wee bit heap Aboon the timmer: I ken'd my Maggie wadna sleep For that, or simmer. In cart or car thou never reestit; The steyest brae thou wad hae fac't it; Thou never lap, and sten't, and breastit, Then stood to blaw; But just thy step a wee thing hastit, Thou snoov't awa. My pleugh is now thy bairn-time a' : Four gallant brutes as e'er did draw; Forbye sax mae, I've sell't awa, That thou hast nurst. They drew me thretteen pund an' twa, The vera warst. Monie a sair daurk we twa hae wrought, An' wi' the weary warl' fought! An' monie an anxious day, I thought We wad be beat! Yet here to crazy age we're brought, Wi' something yet. And think na, my auld, trusty servan', That now perhaps thou's less deservin', An' thy auld days may end in starvin', For my last fou, A heapit stimpart, I'll reserve ane Laid by for you. We've worn to crazy years thegither; We'll toyte about wi' ane anither; EPISTLE TO DAVIE, Than heaven-illumin'd man on brother man bestows! See stern Oppression's iron grip, Or mad Ambition's gory hand, Sending, like blood-hounds from the slip, Woe, Want, and Murder o'er a land! Even in the peaceful rural vale, Truth weeping, tells the mournful tale, How pampered Luxury, Flatt'ry by her side, The parasite empoisoning her ear, With all the servile wretches in the rear, Whose toil upholds the glitt'ring show, Some courser substance, unrefined, Placed for her lordly use thus far, thus vile, below. Where, where is Love's fond, tender throe, The powers ye proudly own? Is there, beneath Love's noble name, Can harbour, dark, the selfish aim, To bless himself alone! Mark maiden-innocence a prey To love-pretending snares, This boasting Honour turns away, Shunning soft Pity's rising sway, Regardless of the tears, and unavailing pray'rs ! Perhaps, this hour, in Mis'ry's squalid nest, She strains your infant to her joyless breast, And with a mother's fears shrinks at the rocking blast! Oh ye! who, sunk in beds of down, Stretch'd on his straw he lays himself to While thro' the rugged roof and chinky wall, Think on the dungeon's grim confine, I heard nae mair, for Chanticleer And hail'd the morning with a cheer, But deep this truth impressed my mind- The heart benevolent and kind, WHILE winds frae aff Ben-Lomond blaw, I grudge a wee the great folk's gift, II. Its hardly in a body's pow'r To see how things are shar'd; But, Davie, lad, neʼer fash your head, III. To lie in kilns and barus at e'en, Is, doubtless, great distress! Yet then, content could make us blest; The honest heart that's free frae a' IV. What though like commoners of air, But either house or hall? Yet nature's charms, the hills and woods, In days when daisies deck the ground, * David Sillar, one of the club at Tarbolton, aud au. thor of a volume of poems in the Scottish dialect. + Ramsay. With honest joy our hearts will bound, On braes when we please, then, V. It's no in titles nor in rank; Nae treasures, nor pleasures, Think ye that sic as you and I, Wha drudge and drive through wet an' dry, Think ye, are we less blest than they, Baith careless and fearless VII. Then let us cheerfu' acquiesce ; And, even should misfortunes come, They make us see the naked truth, Tho' losses and crosses, Be lessons right severe, There's wit there, ye'll get there, Ye'll find nae other where. VIII. But tent me, Davie, ace o' hearts! Ye have your Meg, your dearest part, |