• gill. But may ye flourish like a lily, I'll toast you in my hindmost gillie," Song.-Farewell to Eliza.1 Tune-" Gilderoy." FROM thee, Eliza, I must go, Farewell, farewell, Eliza dear, But the latest throb that leaves my heart, That throb, Eliza, is thy part, And thine that latest sigh! A Bard's Epitaph.2 Is there a whim-inspired fool, Owre fast for thought, owre hot for rule, And owre this grassy heap sing dool,a b bashful. 1He had a good many farewells to utter, to a variety of jillets. This one was perhaps a "Mauchline belle," Miss Millar. There is also rumour of a A BARD'S EPITAPH Is there a bard of rustic song, Who, noteless, steals the crowds among, O, pass not by ! But, with a frater-feeling strong, Here heave a sigh. Is there a man, whose judgment clear Here pause-and, thro' the starting tear, The poor inhabitant below Was quick to learn and wise to know, And softer flame; But thoughtless follies laid him low, And stain'd his name! Reader, attend! whether thy soul Epitaph for Robert Aiken, Esq.1 KNOW thou, O stranger to the fame 1 To whom the Cotter's Saturday Night is dedicated. Epitaph for Gavin Hamilton, Esq.1 THE poor man weeps-here Gavin sleeps, Epitaph on "Wee Johnie." 2 Hic Jacet wee Johnie. WHOE'ER thou art, O, reader, know That Death has murder'd Johnie ; An' here his body lies fu' low; The Lass o' Ballochmyle. Tune-"Ettrick Banks." "TWAS even-the dewy fields were green, All nature list'ning seem'd the while, With careless step I onward stray'd, A maiden fair I chanc'd to spy: 1 Who never was so berhymed since he was a rat in Pythagoras' time, like Rosalind. 2 Said to be the poet's Kilmarnock printer. There is another claimant. 8 Sent to Miss Wilhelmina Alexander of Ballochmyle, who did not reply, though, when old, she was proud of the tribute. "You will easily see," wrote Burns to Mrs Stewart of Stair, "the impropriety of exposing the song much, even in manuscript." THE LASS O' BALLOCHMYLE Her look was like the morning's eye, Fair is the morn in flowery May, O had she been a country maid, That ever rose on Scotland's plain! Then pride might climb the slipp'ry steep, 1 In the copy sent to Miss Alexander, these lines read : "The lily's hue, and rose's dye, Bespoke the lass of Ballochmyle." The improvement is one of Burns's happiest in some opinions. Motto Prefixed to the Author's First THE simple Bard, unbroke by rules of art, Her's all the melting thrill, and her's the kindling fire. Lines to Mr John Kennedy.2 FAREWELL, dear friend! may guid luck hit you, And ony deil that thinks to get you, Lines to an Old Sweetheart.3 ONCE fondly lov'd, and still remember'd dear, And when you read the simple artless rhymes, a threaten. 1 The motto on the Kilmarnock title page: published July 30, 1786. Kennedy, as has been stated, was Lord Dumfries's factor. 8 Peggy Thomson. One of the many farewells. |