All in this motty, mifty clime How I had spent my youthfu' prime, An' done nae-thing. But ftringin blethers up in rhyme For fools to fing? Had I to guid advice but harkit,. I might, by this, hae led a market, Or ftrutted in a Bank, and clarkit My cash account: While here, half-mad, half-fed, half-farkit,, Is a' th' amount. I started, mutt'ring, blockhead! coof!: Or fome rafh aith That I henceforth would be rhyme-proof Till my laft breath When click! the ftring the fnick did draw, And jee! the door gaed to the wa' And by my ingle-lowe I faw, Now bleezin bright, A tight outlandish Hizzie, braw, Come full in fight. Ye needna doubt, I held my whisht zone kis The infant aith, half-form'd was crufhtin bowload K I glowr'd as eerie's I'd been dusht ineer In fome wild glen, When fweet, like modest Worth, fhe bluft, bat And ftepped ben. Green, flender, leaf-clad Holly boughs Were twisted gracefu', round her brows, I took her for fome Scottish Mufe, And come to ftop thofe reckless vows, Would foon been broken. A "hair-brained, fentimental trace" Was ftrongly marked in her face; A wildly-witty, ruftic grace Shone full upon her 3 Her eye, ev'n turn'd on empty space, Beam'd keen with honour. Down flow'd her robe, a tartan fheen, Till half a leg was ferimply feen; Could only peer it; Sae ftraught, fae taper, tight and clean, Nane elfe came near. Her Mantle large of greenish hue, My gazing wonder chiefly drew; Deep lights and Shades, bold-mingling threw A luftre grand; And feem'd to my astonish'd view, A well-known Land. Here, rivers in the fea were-loft; There mountains to the fkies were toft; Here, tumbling billows mark'd the coaft With furging foam; There, diftant fhone Art's lofty boaft, The lordly dome. Here, Doon pour'd down his far-fetch'd floods; There, well-fed Irwine ftately thuds; Auld hermit Ayr ftaw thro' his woods, On to the fhore; And many a leffer torrent fcuds, With feeming roar. Low in a fandy valley fpread, Still as in Scottish story read, She boafts a race, To every nobler virtue bred, And polifh'd grace. By flately tow'r, or palace fair, Or ruins pendent in the air, Bold ftems of Heroes, here and there, I could difcern; Some feem'd to mufe, fome feem'd to dare, With feature ftern. My heart did glowing transport feel, To fee a Race* heroic wheel, And brandish round the deep dy'd steel In sturdy blows. ;. While back recoiling feemed to reel. Their Suthron foes. His COUNTRY'S SAVIOURT, mark him well! Bold Richardton's heroic fwell; The Chief on Sark§ who glorious, fell,. In high command; His native land.. And He whom ruthlefs Fates expell *The Wallaces. William Wallace. Adam Wallace of Richardton, coufin to the immortal preferver of Scottish Indepe: dence. SWallace Laird, of Craigie, who was fecond in command under Douglas Earl of Ormond, at the famous battle on the banks of Sark, fought ANNO 1448. That glorious victory was principally owing to the judicious conduct and intrepid valour of the gallant Laird of Craigie, who died of his wounds after the action. There, where a feeptr'd Pidib* fhade In colours ftrong; Bold, foldier featur'd, undismay'd, They ftrode along. + Thro' many a wild, romantic grove, Near many a hermit-fancy'd cove, (Fit haunts for friendship or for Love,› In mufing mood}· An aged Judge, I faw him rove, Difpenfing good. With deep fruck, reverential awe, The learned Sire and Son I faw,. To Nature's God and Nature's law. They gave their lore, This, all its fource and end to draw, That, to adore. Brydon's brave Ward f I well could spy, Beneath old Scotia's fmiling eye; *Coilus King of the Picts, from whom the diftrict of Kyle is faid to take its name, lies buried, as tradition fays, near the family feat of the Montgomeries of Coils-feld, where his bu rial place is fill shown. †Barkskimming, the feat of the Lord Juftice Clerk. Catrine, the feat of the late Doctor, and present Profeffor Stewart. § Colonel Fullarton. |