All in this motty, misty clime I backward mused on wastet time, How I had spent my youthfu' prime,. An' done nae-thing. But ftringin blethers up in rhyme For fools to fing? Had I to guid advice but harkit, My cash account: While here, half-mad, half-fed, half-farkit, Is a' th' amount. Iftarted, mutt'ring, blockhead! coof! And heav'd on high my waukit loof, To fwear by a yon ftarry roof, Or fome rash aith, That I henceforth would be rhyme-proof Till my laft breath When click the ftring the fnick did draw, And jee! the door gaed to the wa'; And by my ingle-lowe I faw, Now bleezin bright, Come full in fight, A tight outlandish Hizzie, braw, 'The infant aith, half-form'd was crusht; I glowr'd as eerie's I'd been dusht In fome wild glen When fweet, like modeft Worth, she blusht, And stepped ben. Green, flender, leaf-clad Holly-boug's Were twisted gracefu', round her brows, I took her for fome Scottish Mufe, By that fame token; And come to stop those reckless vows, Would foon been broken. Ahair-brained, fentimental trace" Was ftrongly marked in her face; A wildly witty, ruftic grace Shone full upon her Beam'd keen with honour. Her eye, ev'n turn'd on empty space, Down flow'd her robe, a tartan fheen, Till half a leg was ferimply feen ;. And fuch a leg! my bonny Jean Could only peer it ; Sae ftraught, fae taper, tight and clean, Nane elfe came near Her Mantle large of greenish hue, My gazing wonder chiefly drew; Deep lights and bades, bold-mingling threw A luftre grand; And feem'd to my altonifh'd view, A well-known Land.. Here, rivers in the fea were loft; There mountains to the fkies were toft; Here, tumbling billows mark'd the coaft. With furging foam;. There, diftant fhone Art's lofty boat, The lordly dome, Here, Doon pour'd down his far-fetch'd floods;; There, well-fed Irwine ftately thuds; Auld hermit Ayr staw thro' his woods, On to the fhore; And many a leffer torrent feuds, With feeming roar. Low in a fandy valley spread, Still as in Scottish ftory read,. She boats a race, To every nobler virtue bred, And polish'd grace. By ftately tow'r, or palace fair, Or ruins pendent in the air, Bold flems of Heroes, here and there, I could difcern; Some feem'd to mufe, fome feem'd to dare, With feature stern. My heart did glowing transport feel, To fee a Race heroic wheel, And brandish round the decp-dy'd fteel His COUNTRY'S SAVIOURT, mark him well! Bold Richardton's heroic fwell; The Chief on Sark § who glorious fell, And He whom ruthlefs Fates expell In high command; His native land. The Wallaces, William Wallace. Adam Wallace of Richardton, coufin to the immortal preferver of Scottish Independence. § Wallace Laird of Craigie, who was fecond in command under Douglas Earl of Ormond at the famous battle on the banks of Sark, fought ANNO 1448. That glorious victory was principally owing to the judicious conduct and intrepid valour of the gallant Laird of Craigie, who died of his wounds after the action. There, where a feeptr'd Pidib* fhade In colours ftrong; Bold, foldier-featur'd, undifmay'd, They frode along. Thro' many a wild, romantic grove, Near many a hermit-fancy'd cove, In muling mood) An aged Judge, I faw him rove, Difpenfing good. With deep ftruck, reverential awe, The learned Sire and Son I faw, To Nature's God and Nature's law They gave their lore, This, all its fource and end to draw, That, to adore. Brydon's brave Ward f I well could fpy, Beneath old Scotia's fmiling eye; * Coilus King of the Picts, from whom the district of Kyle is said to take its name, lies buried, as tradition says, near the family feat of the Montgomeries of Coils-field, where his burial place is ftill fhown. † Barkskimming, the feat of the Lord Justice Clerk. Catrine, the feat of the late Doctor, and prefent Profeffor Stewart. § Colonel Fullarton, |