VERSICLES PRODUCED PRIOR TO A.D. 1792. THE TOADEATER. (LOCKHART'S LIFE OF BURNS, 1828.) Of lordly acquaintance you boast, And the Dukes that you dined with yestreen ; Why, an insect's an insect at most, Though it crawl on the curl of a Queen! [Allan Cunningham, in his Biography of our Poet, tells us that "at the table of Maxwell of Terraughty, when one of the guests chose to talk of the Dukes and Earls with whom he had drunk or dined, Burns silenced him with an epigram, thus : "What of Earls with whom you have supt? And of Dukes that you dined with yestreen? Lord! an insect's an insect at most, Tho' it crawl on the curls of a Queen." These epigrams are differently quoted by the various editors. Thus Chambers, in 1838, gave the following version of this trifle : [Lamington is the adjoining parish to Covington, in Clydesdale, and the only instance on record of the poet having tarried for a day or two in that neighborhood will be found noted at page 56, Vol. II. He may, nevertheless, have taken opportunity to visit that locality without the world being apprised of it. One of the poet's most cherished acquaintances in Edinburgh was Mr. Robert Cleghorn, at Saughton Mills; and the following note from the Obituary of the Scots Magazine, 1809, seems to refer to a sister or daughter of that friend of Burns:-" Nov. 6th. At the manse of Covington, Euphemia Cleghorn, wife of the Rev. Bryce Little."] THE KEEKIN GLASS. (CHAMBERS, 1852.) Looking How daur ye ca' me "Howlet-face?" dare call owl Ye only spied the keekin-glass, An there ye saw your picture. [The history of this curious epigram is thus given :-Burns one day visited his landlord Mr. Miller, at Dalswinton house; and Miss Miller, in answer to some complimentary remark from the poet about her blooming looks, told him that she had been much less commended on the previous evening. One of the lords of Justiciary from the circuit court at Dumfries happened to be dining with her father, and the gentlemen sat over their cups a considerable time after dinner. When they joined the ladies in the drawing room, his lordship's visual organs were so much affected that, pointing to Miss Miller, he asked her father,-" Wha's yon howletfaced thing i' the corner?" Burns immediately pulled out his pencil and wrote on a slip of paper the above lines, which he handed to Miss Miller, saying—“There is the answer you should send him.”] * Having eyes red, watery, as after drinking.-J. H. A GRACE BEFORE DINNER, EXTEMPORE. (CURRIE, 1800.) O THOU who kindly dost provide For every creature's want! We bless Thee, God of Nature wide, And if it please Thee, heavenly Guide, May never worse be sent; But, whether granted or denied, Lord, bless us with content. Amen! A GRACE AFTER DINNER, EXTEMPORE. (STEWART, 1801.) O THOU, in whom we live and move- Thy goodness constantly we prove, And, grateful, would adore: And, if it please Thee, Power above! Still grant us, with such store, The friend we trust, the fair we love- [Both of these expressions of thankfulness and devotion are happily conceived. The first is entered in the author's hand, in the Glenriddell volume, now at Liverpool, where it immediately follows the "Lines to Sir John Whitefoord," given at page 32, supra, thus indicating that it is a production of the Ellisland period. The Grace after Dinner reads almost like a parody of its predecessor, the construction and style of both being identical. Currie has given us interesting particulars of a visit paid to the poet at his farm in the summer of 1790, by Mr. Ramsay of Ochtertyre, accompanied by Dr. Stuart of Luss. "I was much pleased (related Mr. Ramsay) with his uxor Sabina qualis, and the poet's modest mansion, so unlike the habitation of ordinary rustics. Such was the force and versatility of the bard's genius, that he made the tears run down Dr. Stuart's cheeks, albeit unused to the melting mood. . . From that time we met no more, and I was grieved at the reports of him afterwards: poor Burns! we shall hardly ever see his like again! He was in truth, a sort of comet in literature, irregular in its motion, which did not do good proportioned to the blaze of light it displayed."-Fair and softly, Mr. Ramsay! we shall have to "wait a little longer"—say, a century or two-before philosophers can measure the "good" of such a spirit as that of Burns. "So triumphs the Bard! he hath pass'd from our sight, Shall continue the light of their truth and their might, In the summer of 1791 (that, namely, which we have just been passing through,) he was visited at Ellisland "by two English gentlemen;" Currie gives the account from the information of one of the party: "He received them with great cordiality, and asked them to share his humble dinner-an invitation which they accepted. After dinner, he produced his punch-bowl, made of Inverary marble, and mixing the spirit from the bottle which Mrs. Burns set on the board, with water and sugar, he filled their glasses, and invited them to drink. Burns was in his happiest mood, and the charms of his conversation were altogether fascinating. In the wildest of his strains of mirth he threw in touches of melancholy, and spread around him the electric emotions of his powerful mind. The Highland whisky improved in its flavor: the marble-bowl was again and again emptied and replenished: the guests forgot the flight of time and the dictates of prudence: at the hour of midnight they lost their way in returning to Dumfries, and could scarcely distinguish the town even when assisted by the morning's dawn." Ellisland, with its scaur over the flowing Nith, from the brow of which the poet used to glower and spell, with a westlin look in the direction of Corsincone, must now be abandoned. To Dumfries "with darkening or illusive prospects, and dubious patronage, he must go! Multitudinous temptations, and uncertain footing" await him there: "sycophants, and spies, and tale-bearers to government, and to posterity," shall encompass his path; but his stay shall be brief-not so much as five years in duration. His genius with its elevating instincts shall bear him through the ordeal, and the music of his minstrelsy shall not cease to be heard-even when the Bard seems "to know existence only by the pressure of the heavy hand of sickness, and to count time by the repercussions of pain."] THE DUMFRIES PERIOD. (Nov. 1791, TO JULY 1796.) George the Third is Defender of something we call 'the Faith' in those years; George the Third is head charioteer of the Destinies of England, to guide them through the gulf of French Revolutions, American Independencies, &c. ; and Robert Burns is Gauger of ale in Dumfries. It is an Iliad in a nutshell. We find a Poet, as brave a man as has been made for a hundred years or so, anywhere under the sun; and do we kindle bonfires, or thank the gods? Not at all. We, taking due counsel of it, set the man to gauge ale-barrels in the Burgh of Dumfries; and pique ourselves on our 'patronage of genius.'"-Carlyle's "Past and Present," Book 2, Chap. ix. THE DEAREST O' THE QUORUM. (JOHNSON'S MUSEUM, 1796.) O MAY, thy morn was ne'er sae sweet And dear was she I dare na name, And here's to them that, like oursel, Can push about the jorum! And here's to them that wish us weel, May a' that's gude watch o'er 'em! And here's to them, we dare na tell, |