II.

At length his lonely Cot appears in view,
Beneath the shelter of an aged tree;

Th' expectant wee things, toddlan, flacher through
To meet their Dad, with flightering noife and glee.
His wee bit ingle blinking bonilie,

His clean hearth-ftane, his thrifty wife's fmile,
The lifping infant, prattling on his knee,

Does all his weary kiaugh and care beguile,
And makes him quite forget his labour and his toil.
IV.

Belyver, the elder bairns come dropping in,
Át fervice out, among the farmers roun't;
Some ca' the pleugh, fome herd, fome tentie rin
A cannie errand to a neighbour town:
Their eldeft hope, their fenny, woman grown,
In youthful bloom, love fparkling in her e'e,
Comes home perhaps to fhew a braw new gown,
Or depofite her fair-won penny-fee 2,
To help her parents dear, if they in hardship be.

མ.

With joy unfeign'd brothers and fifters meet,
And each for other's welfare kindly fpiers".
The focial hours iwift wing'd unnotic'd fleet;
Each tells the uncos that he fees or hears.
The parents partial, eye their hopeful years;
Anticipation forward points the view;
The Mother, with her needle and her sheers,

Gars auld claes look amaift as well's the new d;
The Father mixes all with admonition due.

VI.

Their master's and their mistress's command
The younkers all are warned to obey;

n

* Wee, a diminutive, little; a fondling expreffion; wee-things, little ones. Toddlan, a word only applied to denote the unfteady trot of children, who are beginning to walk. Stacher, reel, Flightering, uniteady, unequal, joyfully. Wee bit ingle, little fire; a diminutive, which has no iynonym. in English. P Blinking is applied to a fmall light, that does not burn fteadily, but breaks forth by interrupted Alafhes.

a kind of flagger.

a Kiaugh, carking; diftrefs of mind. Belyve, by and by. s Elder bairns, elder children, Roun', round. Frequently the d at the end of a word is not founded in the Scottish dialect; the is alfo changed into e, as in pleugh, plough; elder, older; but more frequently the o into a, as hame, for home; amang, among, &c. y Braw, a phrafe denoting finery, or the fatisfaction finery produces. 2 Sair avon, fore won; won with labour. Penny fee, wages; the word penny is here a diminutive, denoting that it is a fmall matter. Enquires. Uncos, new things that are uncommon.

" Drive.

E'e, eye.

2

* Makes old clothes look almoft as well as new.

And

And mind their labours wi' an eydente hand,
And ne'er, tho' out of fight, to jauk or play:
"And O! be fure to fear the LORD alway!

And mind your duty duely, morn and night!
Left in temptation's path ye gang aftray,
Implore his counfel, and affifting might,

They never fought in vain that fought the LORD aright."

VII.

But, hark! a rap comes gently to the door;
Jenny, wha kens the meaning of the fame,
Tells how a neighbour ladh came o'er the moor,
To do fome errands, and convoy her hame.
The wily mother fees the confcious flame

Sparkle in Jenny's e'e, and flush her cheek,
With heart-ftruck anxious care, enquires his name;
While Jenny, hafflins, is afraid to speak;

Well pleas'd the mother hears, its nae wild worthless rake.
VIII.

With kindly welcome Jenny brings him ben k ;
A frappan youth; he takes the mother's eye;
Blythe Jenny fees the vifit's no ill ta'en;

The father cracks m of horfes, pleughs, and kye ".
The youngster's artlefs heart o'erflows with joy,

But blate and laithfu'o, scarce can well behave;
The mother, with a woman's wiles, can spy

What makes the youth fae bafhfu' and fae grave;
Well pleas'd to think her bairn's refpected like the lave P.
IX..

O happy love! where love like this is found!
O heart-felt raptures! blifs beyond compare!
I've paced much this weary, mortal round,

And fage EXPERIENCE bids me this declare

Eydent, conftant, fteady, uninterrupted diligence. f Jauk, to neglect work; to loiter when unperceived.

Mind your duty, forget not your duty; that is, your prayers: a very common expreffion in Scotland. The whole of this ftanza contains advice very ftrongly inculcated, with great feriousness, in the manner here done by parents in that country. The tranfition to the firft perfon is beautifully poetical; but it was naturally fuggefted by what the Author muft have often seen in real life.

h Lad, a young man; applied only to thofe in a low ftation, Haflins, hefitatingly; in fome measure afraid; tinfidly.

* Ben-the inner part of the houfe is called ben, the outer part of it but to bring one ben then, is to bring them from the door towards the place where the family fit.

1 Strappan youth, well-grown, well-fhaped youth; promifing strength. Cracks, talks; generally means with glee, or cheerfulness. n Kye, cows. • Blate and laithfu', bafhful and backward, Like the lave, like the reft; like other people; like her neighbours.

་ ་

!

"If Heaven a draught of heavenly pleasure spare,
One cordial in this melancholly vale,
'Tis when a youthful, loving, modeft pair,

In other's arms breathe out the tender tale,
Beneath the milk-white thorn that scents the ev'ning gale.'
XI.

But now the fupper crowns their fimple board,

The healthfome porritch, chief of Scotia's food :
The foupe their only Hawkier does afford,

That 'yont the hallans fnugly chews her cood t:
The Dame brings forth, in complimental mood,
To grace the lad, her well hain'd kebbuc, fell ",
And aft he's preft, and aft he ca's it good;

The frugal Wife garrulous, will tell,

How 'twas a towmond auld, fin' lint was i' the bell*.
XII.

The chearfu' fupper done, with ferious face,
They round the ingle form a circle wide;
The Sire turns o'er, with patriarchal grace,
The big ba' Bible, ance his father's pride":

His

Porritch, a mess, made of oatmeal and water, boiled to the confiftence of a pudding, seasoned with a little falt. This homely difh, eat with a little milk, is the common food of moft of the labouring people in Scotland, both at fupper and breakfast.

Hawkie, a common name of a cow. Their only hawkie, is their only cow. The foupe here mentioned is that to be eat, by way of fauce, along with the porritch.

That sont the ballan-beyond the hallan. Hallan is the name of a kind of fixed partition, or screen, which, without being clofed by a door, feparates the part of the house where the fire-place is, from another part, which is ufually without light. In this dark corner, behind the hallan, the cow, in poor people's houses, is ufually kept. Cud.

Her well bain'd kebbuc, fell.—To hain, is to preferve with care for fome particular occafion; ufually applied to the abftaining from fome favourite kind of food, that it may be ready for any particular purpose. Kebbuc, a cheese,—fell, fharp, acrid, piquant-Her wellpreferved, piquant cheese.

* How 'twas a towmend auld when lint was i' the bell-how it was a twelvemonth old when flax was in the bloom. This way of fixing dates from the ftate of vegetation of different plants is common in Scotland; it forms the natural rural kalendar.

y Fire.

Family worship, in these feats of innocence and peace, is ftill univerfally practifed; and after fupper, that worship is as naturally expected, as the bottle and glaffes after dinner at the tables of the Great. If any one of a family has been able to purchase a folio, or a quarto bible, it is carefully covered with leather, and reverently preferved from father to fon, for feveral generations, and is deemed a most honourable mark of diftinétion. It is here called the ha'-ball

Bibis,

His bonnet rev'rently is laid afide,

His lyart baffets wearing thin and bare:
Thofe trains that once did fweet in Zion glide,
He wales a portion with judicious care,
And let us worship GoD !" he fays with folemn air.
XIII.

They chaunt their artless notes in fimple guife;
They tune their hearts, by far the nobleft aim:
Perhaps Dundee's wid warbling measures rife,
Or plaintive Martyr's, worthy of that name,
Or noble Elgin beets & the heav'n-ward flame,
The sweetest far of Scotia's holy lays :
Compar'd with these, Italian trills are tame;
The tickled ears no heartfelt raptures raife;
Nae unifon hae they with our CREATOR's praise.
XVI.

Then kneeling down to HEAVEN'S ETERNAL KING,
The Saint, the Father, and the Hufband prays;
Hope fprings exulting on triumphant wing,
That thus they all frall meet in future days:
There ever bak in uncreated rays,

No more to figh, or shed the bitter tear,
Together hymning their CREATOR's praife,

In fuch fociety, yet ftill more dear;

While circling time moves round in an eternal sphere.
XVII.

Compar'd with this, how poor religion's pride,
In all the pomp of method and of art,
When men difplay to congregations wide,
Devotion's ev'ry grace-except the heart!
The POWER, incens'd, the pageant will defert,.
The pompous train, the facerdotal stole;
But haply in fome cottage far apart,

May hear, well pleas'd, the language of the foul;

And in his book of life the inmates poor inrol.

XVIII.

Then homeward all take off their fev'ral way;
The youngling cottagers retire to rest:
The parent-pair their fecret homage pay,

And proffer up to Heaven their warm request,

Bible, because it cannot be carried out of the house; and was ufually preferved in a particular fhelf, in the common-hall, in families of distinction, who had fuch an apartment. Family worship is univerfally thus performed: firft, a portion of the Pfalms is fung by the whole family; then the mafter of the family devoutly reads a chapter of the Bible; and laftly they all kneel down, and he prays extempore.

a

Lyart, ftreaked white, with other colours.. Haffets, temples. c Names of different church tunes.

b Selects.

Beets, furnishes fewel to, feeds, keeps alive.

That

1

1

That He who fills the raven's clam'rous neft,
And decks the lily fair in flow'ry pride,
Would, in the way His Wifdom fees the beft,

For them and for their little ones provide ;

But chiefly, in their hearts with grace divine prefide.

XIX.

From fcenes like thefe, old SCOTIA's grandeur fprings,
That makes her lov'd at home, rever'd abroad:
Princes and Lords are but the breath of Kings;
"An honest man 's the nobleft work of GOD:"
And certes, in fair Virtue's heavenly road,

The cottage leaves the palace far behind:
What is a lordling's pomp? A cumbrous load,
Difguifing oft the wreich of human kind,
Studied in arts of hell, in wickedness refin'd!.
XX.

SCOTIA! my dear, my native foil!

For whom my warmell wish to heaven is fent!
Long may thy hardy fons of ruftic toil,

Be bleft with health, and peace, and sweet content!

And O! may heaven their fimple lives prevent
From luxury's contagion, weak and vile!
Then howe'er crowns and coronets be rent,

A virtuous populace may rife the while,

And land a wall of fire around their much lov'd ifle.

These ftanzas are SERIOUS. But our Author feems to be moft in his own element when in the fportive, humorous ftrain. The poems of this caft, as hath been already hinted, fo much abound with provincial phrafes, and allufions to local circumftances, that no extract from them would be fufficiently intelli-i gible to our English readers.

The modern ear will be fomewhat difgufted with the measure of many of thefe pieces, which is faithfully copied from that which was moft in fashion among the ancient Scottish Bards; but hath been, we think with good reafon, laid afide by Jater Poets. The verfification is in general eafy; and it feems to have been a matter of indifference to our Author in what' measure he wrote. But if ever he should think of offering: any thing more to the Public, we are of opinion his performances: would be more highly valued were they written in measures lefs antiquated. The few Songs, Odes, Dirges, &c. in this collec-. tion, are very poor in comparison of the other pieces. The Author's mind is not fufficiently ftored with brilliant ideas to fucceed in that line.

In juftice to the Reader, however, as well as the Author, we muft obferve that this collection may be compared to a heap of wheat carelessly winnowed. Some grain of a moft excellent quality is mixed with a little chaff, and half ripened corn. How many fplendid volumes of poems come under our review,