The nappie reeks wi' mantling ream,1
And sheds a heart-inspiring steam;
The luntin" pipe, and sneeshin' mill,'
Are handed round wi' right guid will;
The cantie1 auld folks cracking crouse,
The young anes ranting thro' the house-
My heart has been sae fain to see them,
That I for joy hae barkit' wi' them.
Still it's owres true that ye hae said,
Sic game is now owre aften play'd.
There's monie a creditable stock
O' decent, honest, fawsont folk,
Are riven out baith root and branch,
Some rascal's pridefu' greed" to quench,
Wha thinks to knit himsel the faster
In favor wi' some gentle master,
Wha, aiblins," thrang a-parliamentin',
For Britain's guid" his saul indentin"
Haith," lad, ye little ken about it;
For Britain's guid! guid faith I doubt it:
Say rather, gaun' as Premiers lead him,
An' saying aye or no's they bid him:
At operas an' plays parading,
Mortgaging, gambling, masquerading;
Or maybe, in a frolic daft,16
To Hague or Calais takes a waft,
To make a tour, and tak a whirl,
To learn bon ton, an' see the worl'.
There at Vienna or Versailles,
He rives" his father's auld entails;
Or by Madrid he takes the rout,
To thrum guitars, an' fecht" wi' nowt;"
Or down Italian vista startles,
Wh-re-hunting among groves o' myrtles:
Then bouses drumly20 German water,
To mak himsel look fair and fatter,
To foam, or froth.-2 Smoking.-3 Snuff-box.-4 Cheerful.-5 Conversing merrily. Glad, happy.-7 Shouted, hallooed.-8 Over.-9 Respectable.10 Avarice, selfishness.-11 Perhaps.-12 Good.-13 Making a bargain, or sell. ing his vote for seven years.-14 A petty oath.-15 Going.-16 Mad, foolish.— 17 Divides and squanders.—18 Fight.-19 Black cattle; in allusion to the Spanish bull-fights.—20 Muddy.
An' clear the consequential sorrows,
Love-gifts of carnival signoras.
For Britain's guid! for her destruction!
Wi' dissipation, feud, an' faction.
Hech' man! dear sirs! is that the gate'
They waste sae monie a braw estate!
Are we sae foughten an' harass'd
For gear to gang that gate at last!
O, would they stay aback frae courts,
An' please themselves wi' countra sports,
It wad for ev'ry ane be better,
The laird, the tenant, an' the cotter!"
For thae frank, rantin', ramblin' billies,*
Fient haet' o' them 's ill-hearted fellows:
Except for breakin' o' their timmer,'
Or speakin' lightly o' their limmer,'
Or shootin' o' a hare or moor-cock,
The ne'er a bit they 're ill to poor folk.
But will you tell me, master Cæsar,
Sure great folk's life 's a life o' pleasure?
Nae cauld or hunger e'er can steer them,
The very thought o't need na fear them.
L―d, man, were ye but whyles1 whare I am,
The gentles ye wad ne'er envy 'em.
It's true they need na starve or sweat,
Thro' winter's cauld, or simmer's heat;
They've nae sair wark to craze their banes,
An' fill auld age wi' gripes an' granes:
But human bodies are sic fools,
For a' their colleges and schools,
That when nae real ills perplex them,
They make enow themsels to vex them;
An' ay the less they hae to sturt's them,
In like proportion less will hurt them.
A country fellow at the pleugh,
His acre's till'd, he's right eneugh;
A country-girl at her wheel,
1 Oh! strange.-2 The way.- Large.- Troubled.- Country.- Cottager.-7 These.-8 Young men.-9 A petty oath of negation.-10 Timber.— 1 A strumpet, or kept mistress.-12 Sometimes.-13 To trouble or molest,
Her dizzen 's' done, she 's unco weel:"
But gentlemen, an' ladies warst,
Wi' ev'ndown want o' wark are curst;
They loiter, lounging, lank, an' lazy;
Tho' deil haet ails them, yet uneasy;
Their days insipid, dull, an' tasteless;
Their nights unquiet, lang, an' restless:
An' e'en their sports, their balls, an' races,
Their galloping thro' public places;
There's sic1 parade, sic pomp an' art,
The joy can scarcely reach the heart.
The men cast out in party matches,
Then souther" a' in deep debauches;
Ae night they 're mad wi' drink an' wh-ring,
Niest day their life is past enduring.
The ladies arm-in-arm in clusters,
As great and gracious a' as sisters;
But hear their absent thoughts o' ither,
They're a' run deils" an' jades thegither.
Whyles o'er the wee bit cup an' platie,"
They sip the scandal potion pretty:
Or lee-lang nights, wi' crabbit leuks,
Pore owre the devil's pictur'd beuks;"
Stake on a chance a farmer's stack-yard,
An' cheat like onie unhang'd blackguard.
There's some exception, man an' woman;
But this is gentry's life in common.
By this, the sun was out o' sight,
An' darker gloaming" brought the night;
The bum-clock" humm'd wi' lazy drone;
The kye" stood routin' i' the loan;15
When up they gat, and shook their lugs,
Rejoiced they were na men but dogs;
An' each took aff his several way,
Resolved to meet some ither day.
1 A dozen.-2 Very happy.-3 The deuce of any thing.-4 Such.- Solder, cement.- One.-7 Next.-8 Right-down devils.- Cup and saucer.10 Live-long.-11 Playing cards.-12 Twilight.-13 A humming beetle that flies in the summer evenings.-14 Cows.-15 Lowing in the place of milking.— 16 Ears.
Of Brownyis and of Bogilis full is this Buke.-Gawin Douglas.
WHEN chapman billies' leave the street,
And drouthy neebors neebors meet,
As market-days are wearing late,
An' folk begin to tak the gate;2
While we sit bousing at the nappy,
An' getting fou and unco happy,
We think na on the lang Scots miles,
The mosses, waters, slaps, and styles,
That lie between us and our hame,
Whare sits our sulky, sullen dame,
Gath'ring her brows like gath'ring storm,
Nursing her wrath to keep it warm.
This truth fand' honest Tam o' Shanter,
As he, frae Ayr, ae night did canter,
(Auld Ayr, wham ne'er a town surpasses,
For honest men and bonnie lasses.)
O Tam! hadst thou but been sae wise,
As taen thy ain wife Kate's advice!
She tauld thee weel thou was a skellum,"
A bleth'ring, blust'ring, drunken blellum;"
That frae November till October,
Ae market-day thou was na sober,
That ilka melder,' wi' the miller,
Thou sat as lang as thou had siller:
That every naig was ca'd a shoe on,
The smith and thee gat roaring fou1o on:
That at the L-d's house, ev'n on Sunday,
Thou drank wi' Kirton Jean till Monday.
She prophesied, that, late or soon,
Thou would be found deep drown'd in Doon;
Or catch'd wi' warlocks" in the mirk,"
By Alloway's auld haunted kirk.
1 Hawkers, or peddlers-2 To gc their way.-3 Gates.-4 Found.- One.— A worthless fellow.- A nonsensical, idle-talking fellow.-8 Every.—9 A grist, or small quantity of corn taken to the mill to be ground.-10 Drunk.— 11 Wizards.-12 Dark.
Ah, gentle dames! it gars me greet,1
To think how monie counsels sweet,
How monie lengthen'd sage advices,
The husband frae the wife despises !
But to our tale: Ae' market night,
Tam had got planted unco right,
Fast by an ingle, bleezing finely,
Wi' reaming swats, that drank divinely;
And at his elbow souter" Johnny,
His ancient, trusty, drouthy crony;
Tam lo'ed him like a vera brither;
They had been fou for weeks thegither.
The night drave on wi' sangs and clatter;
And ay the ale was growing better:
The landlady and Tam grew gracious,
Wi' favors secret, sweet, and precious;
The souter tauld his queerest stories;
The landlord's laugh was ready chorus;
The storm without might rair and rustle,
Tam did na mind the storm a whistle.
Care, mad to see a man sae happy,
E'en drown'd himself amang the nappy;
As bees flee hame wi' lades' o' treasure,
The minutes wing'd their way wi' pleasure;
Kings may be blest, but Tam was glorious,
O'er a' the ills o' life victorious.
But pleasures are like poppies spread,
You seize the flow'r, its bloom is shed;
Or like the snow-falls in the river,
A moment white-then melts forever;
Or like the borealis race,
That flit ere you can point their place;
Or like the rainbow's lovely form,
Evanishing amid the storm-
Nae man can tether time or tide;
The hour approaches Tam maun ride;
That hour of night's black arch the key-stane,
That dreary hour he mounts his beast in;
And sic a night he takes the road in,
As ne'er poor sinner was abroad in.
Makes me ween-2 One.-3 Fireplace.-4 Frothing ale.- A shoemaker. Roar.- Loads,
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