JOHN TAMSON'S ADDRESS TO THE CLERGY IN SCOTLAND. Attend ye reverend gentlemen, Of a' denominations, For as ye are so guid yoursels, Ye'll surely hear me for a wee, To twa three things nane but a frien I would be very loath indeed, And christian men among you; But he's the man who speaks the truth, And shames the I'll tell you without mincing much, The things which have incensed me, And ye wha' fin the bonnet fit, Will first cry out against me ; Now if the church we've loved so long, Is falling into ruin, Then let me whisper in your ear, 'Tis mostly your own doing. Just let me tell ye as a frien, And the mouths o' scorners, ope And make your faithful brethren weep Like Zion's waefu' mourners. The Devil's taken now-a-days, To selling and to buying, In little legal lying ; He's pleading now in a' our courts, He's in amang the jury, And even 'neath the judge's wig, He's no afraid to courie. Lang, lang in councils o' the state, And turns the flattering sentence, Fat sinners to repentance. should ca' He makes you turn in twenty ways, Whase purses are the longest ; Upon the poor transgressor, wrath But daurna for your souls attack, Ye needna preach to weary toil, N Ye canna get us to believe, That poverty's nae evil, And so ye say it's sent by God, There witty Will, he slyly asks, Of heathens and their horrid works, And nae word o' the heathendom Beneath your very noses; Why prose about the slaves abroad, Bought, sold, and scourged to labour, And ne'er a word o' sympathy, About the slave-your neighbour. 'Bout evils that are far awa, We canna bide your prattle, Unless ye'll help our home-bred slaves, To fight their weary battle; I wadna hae you fill your veins Wi' the blood o' the Howards, But that's nae reason why ye should Be arrant, moral cowards. Awake, if ye would longer be Be up, be moral heroes! Against them for their clearing.* And dinna let Breadalbane slip, Loch and his tribe beset them, The cruelties inflicted by the Duke of Sutherland, Atholl, and Breadalbane on their poor clansmen were so revolting, that the massacre of Glencoe appears merciful in comparison. For a full account of these barbarities, perpetrated under the eye of the British Government, in the 19th century, see Gloomy Memories, by Donald M'Leod a book without literary pretension, but which reveals a tale of horror, at which Scotchmen may well blush. |