And there was Balmaghie, I ween, In front rank he wad shine; Frae the1 Glenkens came to our aid, In case that worth should wanted be, And by our banners marched Muirhead, And there sae grave Squire Cardoness, Sae, in the tower o' Cardoness, A howlet sits at noon. And there led I the Bushby clan, My gamesome billie Will; And my son Maitland, wise as brave, The Douglas and the Heron's name owl brother 2 Variation: Might. But Douglasses o' weight had we, And there Redcastle drew his sword, And last came creeping C Was mair in fear than wrath; -n, Ae knave was constant in his mind, THE DUMFRIES VOLUNTEERS. TUNE-Push about the Jorum. In the early part of 1795, two companies of volunteers were raised by Dumfries, as its quota towards the stationary troops which were found necessary at that crisis, when the regular army was chiefly engaged in maintaining external warfare against France. Many a liberal who had incurred the wrath or sus picion of the government and its friends, was glad to enroll himself in these corps, in order to prove that he bore a sound heart towards his country. Syme, Dr. Maxwell, and others of the Dumfries Whigs, took this step, and Burns also joined the corps, though, according to Allan Cunningham, not without opposition from some of the haughty Tories, who demurred about his political opinions. The poet made a further and more public demonstration of his sentiments about Gallic propagandism, by penning this well-known song. DOES haughty Gaul invasion threat? Oh, let us not like snarling tykes 1 A high hill at the source of the Nith. B. dogs stranger bludgeon 2 A well-known mountain near the mouth of the Nith. For never but by British hands The kettle o' the Kirk and State, Shall ever ca' a nail in't. Our fathers' bluid the kettle bought, Fall de rall, etc. patch drive The wretch that wad a tyrant own, But while we sing "God save the King," TOAST FOR THE 12TH OF APRIL. In the same spirit, and in much the same phraseology, was an epigram which Burns is said to have given forth at a festive meeting to celebrate Rodney's victory of the 12th of April. INSTEAD of a song, boys, I'll give you a toast Here's the memory of those on the twelfth that we lost! That we lost, did I say? nay, by Heaven, that we found; For their fame it shall last while the world goes round. The next in succession, I'll give you the King! Whoe'er would betray him, on high may he swing; And here's the grand fabric, our free Constitu tion, As built on the base of the great Revolution! |