With a' your pith, the like of

Superior to what 's mean,

you,

Shou'd gar the trockling rogues look blue, And cow them laigh and clean.

Down with them,-down with a' that dare
Oppose the nation's right;
Sae may your fame, like a fair ftar,
Throu' future times fhine bright.

Sae may kind heaven propitious prove,
And grant whate❜er ye crave;

And him a corner in your love,

Wha is your humble flave.

TO MR. DAVID MALLOCH,

ON HIS DEPARTURE FROM SCOTLAND.

SINCE fate, with honour, bids thee leave
Thy country for a while,
It is nae friendly part to grieve,
When powers propitious fmile."

The task affign'd thee 's great and good,
To cultivate two Grahams,

Wha from bauld heroes draw their blood,
Of brave immortal names.

Like wax, the dawning genius takes
Impreffions thraw'n or even ;
Then he wha fair the moulding makes,
Does journey-work for heaven.

The four weak pedants fpoil the mind
Of thofe beneath their care,

Who think instruction is confin'd

To

poor grammatic ware.

But

But better kens my friend, and can
Far nobler plans defign,

To lead the boy up to a man

That 's fit in courts to fhine.

Frae Grampian heights (fome may object)
Can you fic knowledge bring?
But those laigh tinkers ne'er reflect,
Some fauls ken ilka thing,

With vaster ease, at the first glance,
Than mifty minds that plod
And thresh for thought, but ne'er advance
Their ftawk aboon their clod.

But he that could, in tender ftrains,

Raife Margaret's plaining fhade *, And paint distress that chills the veins, While William's crimes are red;

Shaws to the world, cou'd they obferve,
A clear deferving flame :-

Thus I can reefe without referve,

When truth supports my theme.

Gae,

* "William and Margaret," a ballad, in imitation of the old manner, wherein the ftrength of thought and paffion is more observed than a rant of unmeaning words.

Gae, lad, and win a nation's love,
By making those in trust,

Like Wallace's Achates *, prove
Wife, generous, brave, and just.

Sae

may his Grace th' illuftrious fire
With joy paternal fee

Their rifing blaze of manly fire,

*The heroic Sir John Graham, the glory of his name, the dearest friend of the renowned Sir William Wallace, and the anceftor of his Grace the duke of Montrose.

1728.

TO WILLIAM SOMERVILLE OF WAR WICKSHIRE.

SIR, I have read, and much admire
Your mufe's gay and easy flow,
Warm'd with that true Idalian fire,
That gives the bright and cheerful glow.

I con'd each line with joyous care,
As I can fuch from fun to fun;
And, like the glutton o'er his fare,
Delicious, thought them too foon done.

The witty smile, nature, and art,
In all your numbers fo combine,

As to complete their juft defert,

And grace them with uncommon fhine.

Delighted we your muse regard,

When she, like Pindar's, spreads her wings,

And virtue being its own reward,

Expreffes by "The Sifter Springs."