IN politics if thou would'st mix, Bear this in mind, "Be deaf and blind; EPIGRAM ON CAPTAIN GROSE. THE Devil got notice that Grose was a-dying, And saw each bed-post with its burden a-groaning, EXTEMPORE, In answer to an invitation to spend an hour at a tavern. THE King's most humble servant, I Can scarcely spare a minute; But I'll be wi' you by and by; EPIGRAM. [Burns, accompanied by a friend, having gone to Inverary at a time when some company were there on a visit to the Duke of Argyll, finding himself entirely neglected by the innkeeper, whose attention was occupied by the visitors of his Grace, expressed his disapprobation of the incivility with which they were treated in the following lines.] WHOE'ER he be that sojourns here, The Lord, their God, his Grace. 1 Mr. Grose was exceedingly corpulent, and used to rally himself, with the greatest good humor, on the singular rotundity of his figure. This Epigram, written by Burns in a moment of festivity, was so much relished by the antiquarian, that he made it serve as an excuse for prolonging the convivial occasion that gave it birth to a very late hour. There's naething here but Highland pride, A VERSE, Presented, by the Author, on taking leave, to the master of a house in the THE TOAST. [Written with a diamond pencil on a glass tumbler, and presented to Miss Jessy Lewars, now Mrs. Thomson, Dumfries; a deservedly great favorite of the Poet's, and a kind and soothing friend to Mrs. Burns at the time of his death.] FILL me with the rosy wine, EPITAPH ON MISS JESSY LEWARS: [The same lady complaining of some slight indisposition, Burns told her he should take care to have an epitaph ready for her in case of the worst, which he likewise wrote on a glass tumbler, to make a pair with the other as follows:] SAY, sages, what's the charm on earth, Can turn Death's dart aside? It is not purity and worth, Else Jessy had not died. ON HER RECOVERY. BUT rarely seen since Nature's birth, Yet still one Seraph 's left on earth, TO THE SAME. [About the end of May, 1796, the surgeon who attended Burns in his last illness, happened to call on him at the same time with Miss Jessy Lewars. In the course of conversation Mr. Brown mentioned that he had been to see a collection of wild beasts just arrived in Dumfries. By way of aiding his description, he took the advertisement (containing a list of the animals to be exhibited) from his pocket. As he was about to hand it to Miss Lewars, the Poet took it out of his hand, and with some red ink standing beside him, wrote on the back of the advertisement the following lines.] TALK not to me of savages From Afric's burning sun, No savage e'er could rend my heart, But Jessy's lovely hand in mine, Not even to view the heavenly choir LINES WRITTEN ON THE BACK OF A BANK NOTE. WAE worth thy power, thou curséd leaf, And for thy potence vainly wish'd, To crush the villain in the dust. For lack o' thee I leave this much-loved shore, Never, perhaps, to greet old Scotland more. KYLE. R. B. LINES ON MISS J. SCOTT, OF AYR. LINES On being asked, why God had made Miss Davies so little, and WRITTEN ON A PANE OF GLASS IN THE INN AT MOFFAT. ASK why God made the gem so small, Because God meant mankind should set LINES Written under the picture of the celebrated Miss Burns. CEASE, ye prudes, your envious railing, Had a woman ever less. LINES Written and presented to Mrs. Kemble, on seeing her in the character of Yarico. KEMBLE, thou cur'st my unbelief Of Moses and his rod; At Yarico's sweet notes of grief LINES Written on a window at the King's Arms Tavern, Dumfries. YE men of wit and wealth, why all this sneering VERSES Written on a window of the inn at Carron. WE Cam na here to view your warks But when we tirl'd' at your door, Your porter dought na3 hear us; TO DR. MAXWELL. On Miss Jessy Staig's recovery. MAXWELL, if merit here you crave, You save fair Jessy from the grave! Go.-2 Knocked.-3 Was unable to.-4 Gates.-5 Brother.- Serva |