Come, mourn wi' me! Our billie's gien' us a' the jink," Lament him, a' ye rantin' core, For now he's taen anither shore, The bonnie lasses weel may wiss1 him, For weel I wat they 'll sairly miss him, O Fortune! they hae room to grumble But he was gleg as onie wumble, That's owre the sea. Auld cantie Kyle' may weepers wear, He was her laureate monie a year, He saw misfortune's cauld nor❜west So, took a berth afore the mast, An' owre the sea. To tremble under Fortune's cummock,' 13 1 Given.--2 A dodge.-3 A frolic.-4 Wish.-5 A blunderer.-6 Trifle.Sharp, ready.-8 Wimble.-9 A district in Ayrshire.-10 Salt-11 Broken pieces.-12 Jilt.-13 Rod, or staff.-14 Raw meal and water. So, row'd' his hurdies' in a hammock, He ne'er was gien to great misguidin', The Muse was a' that he took pride in, Jamaica bodies, use him weel, He wad na wrang'd the vera Deil, Fareweel, my rhyme-composing billie! Now bonniely! I'll toast ye in my hindmost gillie," ELEGY ON THE YEAR 1788. FOR lords or kings I dinna mourn, JANUARY 1, 1782. E'en let them die-for that they're born! The Spanish empire 's tint a head, 1 Rolled, wrapped.-2 Loins, or backside.—3 Pockets.-4 To wrap, to cover, Snug shelter. • Ill-natured, malicious.-7 Diminutive of Gill. • Twelvemonth.-9 Lost. -10 Name for a dog.-11 Quarrol.-12 Obstinate. The tane is game, a bluidy devil, Ye ministers, come mount the pulpit, Ye bonnie lasses, dight your een, Observe the very nowt' an' sheep, O Eighty-nine, thou 's but a bairn, Nae hand-cuff'd, muzzled, half-shackled regent, Be sure to follow out the plan Nae waur" than he did, honest man, As muckle better as you can. ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF ROBERT RUISSEAUX." Now Robin lies in his last lair,16 He'll gabble rhyme, nor sing nae mair, Cauld poverty, wi' hungry stare, Nae mair shall fear him; 1 Inflexible, unbending.-2 Dunghill.-3 Hoarse.-4 Gave.-5 Goods, effects. - An old coin, the third part of a Scotch penny.-7 Value, or consideration. - Wipe.— Black cattle.-10 Pithless.-11 Worn with grief-12 Earth.13 Wept.-14 Worse.-15 Ruisseaux, a play on his own name.-16 A place for lying down. Nor anxious fear, nor cankert1 care, E'er mair come near him. To tell the truth, they seldom fasht' him; Then wi' a rhyme or song he lasht 'em, Though he was bred to kintra3 wark, To mak a man; But tell him he was learn'd and clark," ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF PEG NICHOLSON, A favorite mare belonging to Mr. W. Nicol, of the High School, Edinburghthe "Willie that brew'd a peck o' maut." PEG NICHOLSON was a gude bay mare, But now she's floating down the Nith, Peg Nicholson was a gude bay mare, Peg Nicholson was a gude bay mare, But now she's floating down the Nith, Peg Nicholson was a gude bay mare, An' meikle oppress'd an' bruised she was, 1 Cross, ill-conditioned.-2 Troubled.-3 Country.-4 Strong, powerful.5 Learned and clever.- Iron.-7 A tributary stream of the Nith.-8 Did bear.-9 Much. EPIGRAMS, ETC. EPIGRAM On Elphinstone's translation of Martial's Epigrams. O THOU Whom Poetry abhors, Whom Prose has turnéd out of doors, Heard'st thou that groan?-proceed no further, WRITTEN IN A LADY'S POCKET-BOOK. GRANT me, indulgent Heaven, that I may live VERSES Written on the windows of the Globe Tavern, Dumfries. THE gray-beard, old Wisdom, may boast of his treasures, I grant him his calm-blooded, time-settled pleasures, I MURDER hate by field or flood, Tho' glory's name may screen us; The deities that I adore, Are social Peace and Plenty; I'm better pleased to make one more, |