1 Poverty. • Off-hand. For still the important end of life Though poortith1 hourly stare him; Aye free aff han' 4 your story tell, But keek 10 through every other man The sacred lowe 12 o' weel-placed love, But never tempt the illicit rove, But oh! it hardens a' within, To catch dame Fortune's golden smile, And gather gear by every wile The fear o' hell's a hangman's whip To haud 13 the wretch in order; Its slightest touches-instant pause; The great Creator to revere Must sure become the creature; But still the preaching cant forbear, 8 As well as. 13 Hold. 12 Flame. Yet ne'er with wits profane to range An Atheist's laugh 's a poor exchange When ranting round in pleasure 's ring Or, if she gie a random sting, It may be little minded; But when on life we 're tempest-driven- A correspondence fixed wi' heaven Adieu, dear, amiable youth! Your heart can ne'er be wanting; In ploughman phrase, "God send you speed," And may you better reck the rede 2 Than ever did the adviser. This poem, it will be observed, is for the greater part in English; and it is not throughout written with all the purity of diction which Burns never violates in his native dialect. For instance, in the fourth stanza the word "censure " is used to suit the exigencies of the rhyme, where the sense demands some such term as deplore or regret; for, although we might censure the man himself who fails to succeed in life (which, however, is not the idea here), we do not censure, that is blame or condemn, his fate; we can only lament it; if we censure anything, it is his conduct. In the same stanza, the expression "stare him " is, we apprehend, neither English nor Scotch : usage authorizes us to speak of poverty staring a man in the face, but not of it staring him, absolutely. Again, in the tenth stanza, we have "Religion may be blinded," apparently, for may be blinked, disregarded, or looked at as with shut eyes. We notice these things, to prevent an impression being left with the English reader that they are characteristic of Burns. Νο such vices of style, we repeat, are to be found in his Scotch, where the diction is uniformly as natural and correct as it is appropriate and expressive. * In a far more elevated and impassioned strain is the poem 1 Give. 2 "Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, And recks not his own read."-Shakespeare, Hamlet. * Unless, indeed, we may interpret the word as meaning deprived of the power of seeing. entitled The Vision. It is too long to be quoted entire; but the following extracts will be sufficiently intelliglble : The sun had closed the winter day, While faithless snaws 4 ilk 5 step betray The thresher's weary flingin' tree? 9 And, whan the day had closed his e'e 10 Ben i' the spence," right pensivelie, There, lanely,13 by the ingle-cheek," All in this mottie,20 misty clime, But stringin' blethers 21 up in rhyme, Had I to guid advice but harkit,22 While here, half-mad, half-fed, half-sarkit, I started, muttering Blockhead! Coof! 26 Or some rash aith,28 That I henceforth would be rhyme-proof 2 The hare. 5 Every. 8 Live-long. 11 Within in the sitting apartment. 14 Fireside. 17 The old clay building, or house. 20 Full of motes. 23 By this time. 26 Fool. 25 18 Rats. 27 My palm thickened (with labour). 25 Half-shirted. 28 Oath. But this poem is too long for quotation, and is besides well known to every reader who knows anything of Burns. We will rather present our English readers with one or two shorter pieces that may serve to illustrate another quality of the man and of his poetry-the admirable sagacity and good sense, never separated from manliness and a high spirit, that made so large a part of his large heart and understanding. All the more considerate nature of Burns speaks in the following Epistle to a Young Friend, dated May, 1786: 1 Cliff. I lang hae thought, my youthfu' friend, A something to have sent you, But how the subject-theme may gang 8 And a' your views may come to nought, 2 Small whirlpool. 3 Slily disappeared by dipping down, skulked. [Dr. Currie interprets it. 8 All. 4 Long have. 5 No. 10 Who have no 14 Not "appeared and disappeared by fits."] 1 Poverty. • Off-hand. Frae critical dissection; 6 But keek 10 through every other man The sacred lowe 12 o' weel-placed love, But never tempt the illicit rove, Though naething should divulge it : I wave the quantum o' the sin, To catch dame Fortune's golden smile, And gather gear by every wile The fear o' hell's a hangman's whip And resolutely keep its laws, The great Creator to revere Must sure become the creature ; But still the preaching cant forbear, 2 Take. 3 Neighbour's. 5 Intimate associate. 6 Yourself. 10 Look slily. 7 Any. 11 Sly. 13 Hold. 12 Flame. |