70 75 80 85 Blithe Jenny sees the visit 's no ill-ta'en; The father cracks of horses, pleughs, and kye. The youngster's artless heart o'erflows wi' joy, But blate and laithfu', scarce can weel behave; The mother, wi' a woman's wiles, can spy What makes the youth sae bashfu' and sae grave; Weel pleased to think her bairn 's respected like the lave. Oh, happy love! where love like this is found! And sage experience bids me this declare:- 'Tis when a youthful, loving, modest pair In other's arms breathe out the tender tale, Beneath the milk-white thorn that scents the evening gale. Is there, in human form, that bears a heart, Betray sweet Jenny's unsuspecting youth? Are honor, virtue, conscience, all exiled? Is there no pity, no relenting ruth, 67. cracks, talks; kye, cows. 69. blate, shamefaced; laithfu', bashful. 71. sae, so. 72. lave, rest. 80, 81. Compare with the lines from Milton's L'Allegro :· "And every shepherd tells his tale Under the hawthorn in the dale." Points to the parents fondling o'er their child? 90 Then paints the ruined maid, and their distraction 95 100 105 wild! But now the supper crowns their simple board, — That 'yont the hallan snugly chows her cood: How 't was a towmont auld, sin' lint was i' the bell. The cheerfu' supper done, wi' serious face, His lyart haffets wearing thin and bare; Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide, And "Let us worship GOD!" he says, with solemn air. 92. healsome, wholesome; parritch, porridge. 93. soupe, limited supply; hawkie, cow. 94. 'yont, beyond; hallan, partition wall; chows, chews: cood, cud. 96. well-hain'd kebbuck, carefully saved cheese; fell, biting. 97. aft, often; guid, good. 99. towmont, twelvemonth; sin' lint was i' the bell, since flax I was in the flower. 103. ha', hall; ance, once. 105. lyart haffets, gray temples. 107. wales, chooses. 110 115 120 125 130 They chant their artless notes in simple guise; Perhaps Dundee's wild-warbling measures rise, Compared with these, Italian trills are tame; The priest-like father reads the sacred page - With Amalek's ungracious progeny; Or Job's pathetic plaint, and wailing cry ; Perhaps the Christian volume is the theme How guiltless blood for guilty man was shed: 111-113. Dundee, Martyrs, and Elgin are the names of old hymn-tunes found in many books. The adjectives applied to each are peculiarly fitting. 113. beets, feeds, adds fuel to. 117. hae, have. 133. Saint John. Saw in the sun a mighty angel stand, 135 And heard great Bab'lon's doom pronounced by Heaven's command. 140 145 150 155 160 Then kneeling down, to HEAVEN'S ETERNAL The saint, the father, and the husband prays: No more to sigh, or shed the bitter tear, Together hymning their Creator's praise, While circling Time moves round in an eternal sphere. Compared with this, how poor Religion's pride, But haply, in some cottage far apart, May hear, well pleased, the language of the soul; And in His book of life the inmates poor enrol. Then homeward all take off their several way; And proffer up to Heaven the warm request, And decks the lily fair in flowery pride, Would, in the way His wisdom sees the best, 138. Quoted from Pope's Windsor Forest. 165 170 175 For them and for their little ones provide; But chiefly, in their hearts with grace divine preside. From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur That makes her loved at home, revered abroad: What is a lordling's pomp? - a cumbrous Disguising oft the wretch of human kind, Studied in arts of hell, in wickedness refined! O Scotia! my dear, my native soil! For whom my warmest wish to Heaven is sent, Long may thy hardy sons of rustic toil Be blest with health, and peace, and sweet content! And oh! may Heaven their simple lives prevent Then, howe'er crowns and coronets be rent, 180 And stand a wall of fire around their much-loved isle. O Thou! who poured the patriotic tide, That streamed through Wallace's undaunted heart, 166. Quoted from Pope's Essay on Man. 182. William Wallace, the peer of Robert Bruce among Scottish heroes. |