The parents, partial, eye their hopeful years; The mother, wi' her needle an' her sheers, Gars auld claes look amaist as weel's the new; The father mixes a' wi' admonition due. VI. Their master's an' their mistress's command, The younkers a' are warned to obey; 'An' mind their labours wi' an eydent hand, 'An' ne'er, tho' out o' sight, to jauk or play: 'An' O! be sure to fear the Lord alway! 'An' mind your duty, duly, morn an' night! 'Lest in temptation's path ye gang astray, 'Implore his counsel and assisting might: 'They never sought in vain that sought the Lord ' aright!' VII. But hark! a rap comes gently to the door; Sparkle in Jenny's e'e, and flush her cheek; With heart-struck anxious care, inquires his name, While Jenny hafflins is afraid to speak; Weel pleas'd the mother hears, it's nae wild, worthless rake. VIII. Wi' kindly welcome Jenny brings him ben; The father cracks of horses, pleughs, and kye The youngster's artless heart o'erflows wi' joy. But blate and laithfu', scarce can weel behave; The mother, wi' a woman's wiles, can spy What makes the youth sae bashfu' an' sae grave; Weel pleas'd to think her bairn's respected like the lave. IX. O happy love! where love like this is found! And sage experience bids me this declare'If Heaven a draught of heavenly pleasure spare, 'One cordial in this melancholy vale, "Tis when a youthful, loving, modest pair, 'In others arms breathe out the tender tale, Beneath the milk-white thorn that scents the ev❜ning gale.' X. Is there, in human form, that bears a heart- That can, with studied, sly, ensnaring art, Betray sweet Jenny's unsuspecting youth? Curse on his perjur'd arts! dissembling smooth! Are honour, virtue, conscience, all exil'd? is there no pity, no relenting ruth, Points to the parents fondling o'er their child! Then paints the ruin'd maid, and their distraction wild? XI. But now the supper crowns their simple board, The halesome parritch, chief o' Scotia's food: The soupe their only Hawkie does afford, That 'yont the hallan snugly chows her cood: The dame brings forth in complimental mood, To grace the lad, her weel-hain'd kebbuck, An' aft he's prest, an' aft he ca's it guid; [fell, The frugal wifie, garrulous, will tell, How 'twas a towmond auld, sin' lint was i' the bell. XII. The cheerfu' supper done, wi' serious face, His lyart haffets wearing thin an' bare; XIII. They chant their artless notes in simple guise; The tickl'd ears no heartfelt raptures raise ; Nae unison hae they with our Creator's praise. XIV. The priestlike father reads the sacred page, How Abram was the friend of God on high; Or, Moses bade eternal warfare wage Beneath the stroke of Heaven's avenging ire; Or, Job's pathetic plaint, and wailing cry; Or rapt Isaiah's wild, seraphic fire; Or other holy seers that tune the sacred lyre. XV. Perhaps the Christian volume is the theme, Saw in the sun a mighty angel stand: And heard great Bab'lon's doom pronounc'd by Heav'n's command. XVI. Then kneeling down, to Heaven's Eternal King, The saint, the father, and the husband prays: Hope 'springs exulting on triumphant wing," That thus they all shall meet in future days: There ever bask in uncreated rays, No more to sigh, or shed the bitter tear, Together hymning their Creator's praise, In such society yet still more dear; [sphere. While circling time moves round in an eternal Pope's Windsor Forest. XVII. Compar'd with this, how poor Religion's pride, In all the pomp of method, and of art, When men display to congregations wide, Devotion's ev'ry grace, except the heart! The Pow'r, incens'd, the pageant will desert, The pompous strain, the sacerdotal stole ; Bat haply, in some cottage far apart, May hear, well pleas'd, the language of the soul; And in this book of life the inmates poor enrol. XVIII. Then homeward all take off their sev'ral way; The youngling cottagers retire to rest: The parent-pair their secret homage pay, And proffer up to Heaven the warm request That He who stills the raven's clam'rous nest, And decks the lily fair in flow'ry pride, Would, in the way his wisdom sees the best, For them and for their little ones provide; But chiefly, in their hearts with grace divine preside. XIX. From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs, That makes her lov'd at home, rever'd abroad: Princes and lords are but the breath of kings, 'An honest man's the noblest work of God:" And certes, in fair virtue's heav'nly road, The cottage leaves the palace far behind; What is a lording's pomp! a cumbrous load, Disguising oft the wretch of human kind, Studied in arts of hell, in wickedness refin'd' |