O Pope, had I thy satire's darts An' tell aloud Their jugglin' hocus-pocus arts To cheat the crowd. God knows, I'm no the thing I shou'd be, But twenty times, I rather wou'd be Than under gospel colors hid be An honest man may like a glass, An' then cry zeal for gospel laws, Like some we ken. They take religion in their mouth; An' hunt him down, o'er right an' ruth, All All hail, religion! maid divine! Thus daurs to name thee; To stigmatize false friends of thine Can ne'er defame thee. Tho' blotch't an' foul wi' mony a stain, With trembling voice I tune my strain To join with those, Who boldly dare thy cause maintain In spite of foes: In spite o' crowds, in spite o' mobs, In spite o' dark banditti stabs At worth an' merit, By scoundrels, even wi' holy robes, But hellish spirit. O Ayr, my dear, my native ground, A candid lib'ral band is found Of public teachers, As men, as christians too, renown'd, An' manly preachers. Sir, in that circle you are nam'd; An' some, by whom your doctrine's blam'd (Which gies you honor) Even Sir, by them your heart's esteem'd, Pardon this freedom I have ta'en, Whase heart ne'er wrang'd ye, But to his utmost would befriend Ought that belang'd ye. To To GAVIN HAMILTON, Esq. MAUCHLINE. (RECOMMENDING A BOY.) Mosgaville, May 3, 1786. I HOLD it, Sir, my bounden duty Was here to hire yon lad away 'Bout whom ye spak the tither day, An' wad hae don't aff han': But lest he learn the callan tricks, As faith I muckle doubt him, Like scrapin' out auld Crummie's nicks, An' tellin' lies about them; As lieve then I'd have then, Your clerkship he should sair, If sae be, ye may be Not fitted otherwhere. Altho❜ * Master Tootie then lived in Mauchline; a dealer in Cows. It was his common practice to cut the nicks or markings from the horns of cattle, to disguise their age.He was an artful trick-contriving character; hence he is called a Snick-drawer. In the Poet's "Address to the Deil," he styles that august personage an auld, snickdrawing dog! E. Altho' I say't, he's gleg enough, An' bout a house that's rude an' rough, Ye'll catechize him every quirk, An' If ye then, maun be then Frae hame this comin Friday; Then please sir, to lea'e sir, My word of honor I hae gien, In Paisley John's, that night at e'en, To try to get the twa to gree, An' name the airles* an' the fee, In legal mode an' form: I ken he weel a Snick can draw, An' if a Devil be at a', In faith he's sure to get him. *The Airles-Earnest Money. Το |