.. "Of these am I Cořla mý name; / C And this district as mine I claim, "Where once the Campbells, chiefs of fame, • Held ruling pow'r.: "I mark'd thy embryo tuneful flame, With future hope, I oft would gaze · Fond, an thy little early ways, 'Thy rudely-caroll'd, chiming phrase, In uncouth rhymes, Fir'd at the simple, artless lays Of other times.. I saw thee seek the sounding shore, Delighted with the dashing roar; 'Or when the north his fleecy store • Drove thro' the sky, "I saw grim Nature's visage hoar Struck thy young eye. 'Or when the deep green mantl'd earth. 'Warm cherish'd ev'ry flow'ret's birth, 'And joy and music pouring forth "I saw thee eye In ev'ry grove, the gen'ral mirtha • With boundless love. 'When ripen'd fields, and azure skies, 'Call'd forth the reaper's rustling noise, I saw thee leave their ev'ning joys, • And lonely stalk, O YE wha are sae guid yoursel, Sae pious and sae holy, Ye've nought to do but mark and tell II. Hear me, ye venerable core, As counsel for poor mortals, That frequent pass douce Wisdom's door I, for their thoughtless, careless sakes, Would here propone defences, Their donsie tricks, their black mistakes, Their failings and mischances. III. Ye see your state wi' theirs compar'd, But cast a moment's fair regard, And (what's aft mair than a' the lave) IV. Think, when your castigated pulse Wi' wind and tide fair i' your tail, Right on ye scud your sea-way; But in the teeth o' baith to sail, V. See social life and glee sit down, O would they stay to calculate Th' eternal consequences: Or your more dreaded hell to state, VI. : Ye high, exalted, virtuous dames, VII. Then gently scan your brother man, Tho' they may gang a kennin wrang, One point must still be greatly dark, VIII. Who made the heart, 'tis He alone Decidedly can try us. He knows each chord-its various tone, Each spring-its various bias: Then at the balance let's be mute, We never can adjust it; What's done we partly may compute, But know not what's resisted. TAM SAMSON'S✶ ELEGY. An honest man's the noblest work of God. POPE. HAS auld K* seen the Deil? Or great M*******+ thrawn his heel? Or R*******‡ again grown weel, To preach an' read ? Na, waur than a'!' cries ilka chiel, Tam Samson's dead!' K********* lang may grunt an' grane, To death, she's dearly paid the kane, Tam Samson's dead! The brethren of the mystic level, May hing their head in woefu' bevel, * When this worthy old sportsman went out last muirfowl season, he supposed it was to be, în Ossian's phrase, the last of his fields;' and expressed an ardent wish to die and be buried in the muirs. On this hint the author composed his elegy and epitaph. A certain preacher, a great favourite with the million. Vide the Ordination, stanza II. Another preacher, an equal favourite with the few, who was at that time ailing. For him see also the Ordination, stanza IX. |