Yet green the juicy hawthorn grows,
Adown the glade.

"Then never murmur nor repine;
Strive in thy humble sphere to shine;
And trust me, not Potosi's mine,

66

Nor king's regard,

Can give a bliss o'ermatching thine,

A rustic bard.

To give my counsels all in one,

Thy tuneful flame still careful fan:
Preserve the dignity of Man,

With soul erect;

And trust the Universal Plan

Will all protect.

"And wear thou this "-she solemn said,
And bound the holly round my head:
The polish'd leaves and berries red

Did rustling play;

And, like a passing thought, she fled

In light away.

[To Mrs. Stewart of Stair Burns presented a manuscript copy of the Vision. That copy embraces about twenty stanzas at the end of Duan First, which he cancelled when he came to print the piece in his Kilmarnock volume. Seven of these he restored in printing his second edition, as noted on p. 182. The following are the verses which he left unpublished.]

SUPPRESSED STANZAS OF "THE VISION "

After 18th stanza of the text (at "His native land") :—

With secret throes I marked that earth,

That cottage, witness of my birth;

And near I saw, bold issuing forth

In youthful pride,

A Lindsay race of noble worth,

Famed far and wide.

Where, hid behind a spreading wood,
An ancient Pict-built mansion stood,
I spied, among an angel brood,

A female pair;

Sweet shone their high maternal blood,
And father's air.

An ancient tower to memory brought
How Dettingen's bold hero fought;
Still, far from sinking into nought,
It owns a lord

Who far in western climates fought,
With trusty sword.

Among the rest I well could spy
One gallant, graceful, martial boy,
The soldier sparkled in his eye,

A diamond water.

I blest that noble badge with joy,

That owned me frater.

After 20th stanza of the text (at "Dispensing good"):—

Near by arose a mansion fine

The seat of many a muse divine;
Not rustic muses such as mine,

With holly crown'd,

But th' ancient, tuneful, laurell'd Nine,
From classic ground.

I mourn'd the card that Fortune dealt,
To see where bonie Whitefoords dwelt;"
But other prospects made me melt,

That village near;"

There Nature, Friendship, Love, I felt,

Fond-mingling, dear!

Hail! Nature's pang, more strong than death!
Warm Friendship's glow, like kindling wrath!
Love, dearer than the parting breath

Of dying friend!

Not ev'n with life's wild devious path,

Your force shall end!

The Power that gave the soft alarms

In blooming Whitefoord's rosy charms,

1 Sundrum.-R. B. 2 Stair.-R. B.

3 Captain James Montgomerie, Master of St. James' Lodge, Tarbolton, to

which the author has the honour to belong.-R. B.

4 Auchinleck.-R. B.

Ballochmyle. • Mauchline.

Still threats the tiny, feather'd arms,

The barbed dart,

While lovely Wilhelmina warms

The coldest heart."

After 21st stanza of the text (at "That, to adore "):—

Where Lugar leaves his moorland plaid,
Where lately Want was idly laid,

I marked busy, bustling Trade,

In fervid flame,

Beneath a Patroness's aid,

Of noble name.

Wild, countless hills I could survey,
And countless flocks as wild as they;
But other scenes did charms display,
That better please,

Where polish'd manners dwell with Gray,
In rural ease."

Where Cessnock pours with gurgling sound;10
And Irwine, marking out the bound,
Enamour'd of the scenes around,

Slow runs his race,

A name I doubly honour'd found,"

With knightly grace.

Brydon's brave ward," I saw him stand,
Fame humbly offering her hand,

And near, his kinsman's rustic band,

13

With one accord,

Lamenting their late blessed land

Must change its lord.

The owner of a pleasant spot,
Near sandy wilds, I last did note;"
A heart too warm, a pulse too hot

At times, o'erran:

But large in ev'ry feature wrote,

Miss Wilhelmina Alexander. Mr. Farquhar Gray.-R. B. 12 Colonel Fullerton.-R. B.

Appear'd the Man.

8 Cumnock.-R. B.

10 Auchinskieth.-R. B. 11 Caprington.-R. B. 13 Dr. Fullerton.-R. B. 14 Orangefield.-R. B.

THE RANTIN DOG, THE DADDIE O'T
Tune-" Whare'll our guidman lie."

O WHA my babie-clouts will buy?
O wha will tent me when I cry?
Wha will kiss me where I lie?

The rantin dog, the daddie o't.

O wha will own he did the faut?
O wha will buy the groanin maut?
O wha will tell me how to ca't?

The rantin dog, the daddie o't.

When I mount the creepie-chair,
Wha will sit beside me there?
Gie me Rob, I'll seek nae mair,
The rantin dog, the daddie o't.

Wha will crack to me my lane?
Wha will mak me fidgin fain?
Wha will kiss me o'er again?

The rantin dog, the daddie o't.

HERE'S HIS HEALTH IN WATER
Tune "The Job of Journey-work."

ALTHO' my back be at the wa',
And tho' he be the fauter;
Altho' my back be at the wa',

Yet, here's his health in water.
O wae gae by his wanton sides,

Sae brawlie's he could flatter;
Till for his sake I'm slighted sair,
And dree the kintra clatter:
But tho' my back be at the wa',

Yet here's his health in water!

ADDRESS TO THE UNCO GUID

Or the Rigidly Righteous.

My Son, these maxims make a rule,
An' lump them aye thegither;
The Rigid Righteous is a fool,

The Rigid Wise anither:

The cleanest corn that ere was dight
May hae some pyles o' caff in;
So ne'er a fellow-creature slight

For random fits o' daffin.

SOLOMON.-Eccles. ch. vii. verse 16.

O YE wha are sae guid yoursel',
Sae pious and sae holy,

Ye've nought to do but mark and tell
Your neibours' fauts and folly!
Whase life is like a weel-gaun mill,
Supplied wi' store o' water;

The heaped happer's ebbing still,
An' still the clap plays clatter.

Hear me, ye venerable core,

As counsel for poor mortals
That frequent pass douce Wisdom's door
For glaikit Folly's portals:

I, for their thoughtless, careless sakes,
Would here propone defences-
Their donsie tricks, their black mistakes,
Their failings and mischances.

Ye see your state wi' theirs compared,
And shudder at the niffer;

But cast a moment's fair regard,
What maks the mighty differ;
Discount what scant occasion gave,
That purity ye pride in;

And (what's aft mair than a' the lave)

Your better art o' hidin.