VERSES

Written under the Portrait of Fergusson, the Poet, in a copy of that author's works presented to a young Lady in Edinburgh, March 19, 1787.

CURSE on ungrateful man, that can be pleas'd, And yet can starve the author of the pleasure, O thou my elder brother in misfortune, By far my elder brother in the muses, With tears I pity thy unhappy fate! Why is the bard unpitied by the world, Yet has so keen a relish of its pleasures?

SONG.*

Tune I am a Man unmarried.'

O ONCE I lov'd a bonnie lass,

Ay, and I love her still,

And whilst that honour warms my breast
I'll love my handsome Nell.

Fal lal de ral, &c.

This composition was the first of my performances, and done at an early period of life, when my heart glowed with honest warm simplicity; unacquainted, and uncorrupted with the ways of a wicked world. The performance, is, indeed, very peurile and silly; but I am always pleased with it, as it recals to my mind those happy days when my heart was yet honest, and my tongue was sincere. The subject of it was a young girl who

As bonnie lasses I hae seen,
And mony full as braw,

But for a modest gracefu' mien
The like I never saw.

A bonnie lass I will confess,
Is pleasant to the e'e,

But without some better qualities

She's no a lass for me.

But Nelly's looks are blithe and sweet,

And what is best of a',

Her reputation is complete,
And fair without a flaw.

She dresses ay sae clean and neat,
Both decent and genteel:

And then there's something in her gait
Gars ony dress look weel.

A gaudy dress and gentle air
May slightly touch the heart,
But its innocence and modesty
That polishes the dart.

'Tis this in Nelly pleases me, 'Tis this enchants my soul; For absolutely in my breast She reigns without control.

Fal lal de ral, &c.

really deserved all the praises I have bestowed on her. I not only had this opinion of her then-but I actually think so still, now that the spell is long since broken, and the enchantment at Burns' Reliques, p. 318. an end.

SONGS