X.

Is there, in human form that bears a heart-
A wretch a villain! lost to love and truth!
That can, with studied, sly, ensnaring art,

Betray sweet Jenny's unsuspecting youth?
Curse on his perjur darts! difsemblnig smooth!
Ale honour, virtue, conscience, all exil'd?
I's 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 healsome porridge, chier of 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, fell,
And aft he's prest, and aft e ca's it gude;

The frugal wifie, garrulous, will tell,

How t'was a towmond auld sin lint was i' the bell.

XII.

The cheerfu' supper done, wi' serious 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 bonnet rev'rently is laid aside,

His lyart haffets wearing thin and bare ;
Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide,

He wales a portion with judicious care;

And let us worship God! he sayswith solemn air.

XIII

They chant their artless notes in simple guise;
They tune their hearts, by far the noblest aim:
Perhaps Dundee's wild-warbling measures rise,
Or plaintif martyrs, worthy of the name;
Or noble Elgin beets the Heaven-ward flame,
The sweetest far of Scotia's holy lays:
Compard with these, Italian trills are tame;

The tickl'd ears no heart-felt raptures raise;
Nae unison hae they with our Creator's praise.

XIV.

The priest-like father reads the sacred page,
How Abram was the friend of GOD on high;
Or, Moses bade eternal warfare wage

With Amalek's ungracious progeny;

Or how the royal bard did groaning lye,
Beneath the stroke of Heaven's avenging ire;
Or Job's pathetic plaint, and wailing cry;
Ör rapt Isaiah's wild, seraphic are;

Or other holy seers that tune the sacred lyre.

XV.

Perhaps the Christian volume is the theme,
How guiltless blood for guilty man was shed;
How He, who ore in Heaven the second name,
Had not on earth whereon to lay his head:
How his first followers and servants sped;
The precepts sage they wrote, to many a land:
How He, who lone in Patmos banished,

Saw in the sun a mighty angel stand,

And heard great Bab'lon's doom pronounc'd by Heav'n's com

XVI.

Then kneeling down to HEAV'N'S ETERNAL KING,

The Saint, the Father, and the Husband prays:

Hope springs, exulting on triumphant wing

That thus they all fhall meet in future days:

There ever baik in uncreated rays,

No more to sigh or fhed the bitter tear,
Together hymning their Creator s praise,
In such society, yet still more dear;

While circling time moves round in an eternal sphere.

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 eve'ry grace, except the heart!
The power, incens d, the pageant will desert,
The pompous strain, the sacerdotal stole;
But haply in some cottage far a-part,

May hear, well pleas d, the language of the soul
And in his Book of Life, the inmates poor enroll.

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 noble 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,
Essay on Man.

* Pope's Windsor Forest.

VOL. Xviii.

(mand.

Disguising oft the wretch of human kind,
Studied in arts of Hell, in wickedness refin`d!

xx.

O! Scotia! my dear, my native soil!

For whom my warmest wifh to Heaven is sent!
Long may thy hardy sons of rustic toil,

Be blest with health, and peace, and sweet contents!
And, O may Heaven their simple lives prevent
From luxury's contagion, weak and vile!

Then, however crowns and coronets be sent,

A virtuous populace may rise the while,

And stand a wall of fire around their much lov'd isle.

XXI

O Thou who pour'd the patriotic tide,

That stream d thro' great, unhappy Wallace' heart;
Who dar'd to, nobly, stem tyrannic pride,
Or nobly die, the second glorious part:
(The patriot's God peculiarly thou art,
His friend, inspirer, guardian, and reward!)
O never, never Scotia's realm desert,

But still the patriot and the patriot bard,

In bright succeision raise, her ornament and guard!

As I have appropriated a considerable portion of this and the preceding number to the purpose of giving foreigners some idea of the internal state of this country, in as far as respects the lower ranks of the people, I fhall, I hope, be pardoned for transgrefsing a little farther on the patience of other readers, by inserting, with the same view, the following addrefs, which was transmitted to me some time ago. It gives a just representation of the means employed by the clergy in Scotland, for filling the minds of their people with pious and benevolent impressions; and may be accounted a very good specimen of that kind of pulpit oratory that is the most common, and the most generally approved in this country.

SIR,

To the Editor of the Bee.

BEING in a country kirk last Sunday, where the clergyman was more studious of promoting the real interest of his hearers, than of amusing them with flourishes of thetoric, I

187 was much pleased with his plainnefs and simplicity. As an addrefs of that sort loses lefs, than a fine oration, in being repeated again, I shall jot down what I can recollect; and if you think it worth printing, you can give it a place for the benefit of those that had not an opportunity of hearing it. It was delivered after the ordinary service of the day, nearly as follows:

MY DEAR FRIENDS,

"I HOPE you are fully sensible of it, and will readily join me in acknowledging, that we lie under infinite obligations to the bounteous Giver of all good. The gifts of his bounty, far beyond number, call for our most grateful acknowledgements. It were in vain should I attempt to reckon them up; they are more than can be numbered: yet suffer me to remind you of a few, which I hope you know how to value. Our lives are prolonged in comfortable circumstances while war and bloodshed rage abroad, we enjoy liberty, sacred and civil, at home. We worship the God of our fathers, as we have done this day, according to the dictates of our conscience, and the rules of his word we lie down in peace, and arise in safety, without any to make us afraid. These are valuable blefsings, and demand our most grateful acknowledgements; but what I wilhed more particularly to mention, at this time, was the plenteous and good harvest which you have now seen concluded. I am persuaded, you have been before hand with me, to think of a day of thanksgiving to Him, who, according to his gracious promise, sends us the appointed weeks of • the harvest, and hath abundantly crowned this year with his goodness. Heartfelt gratitude naturally leads to outward exprefsions of it: but fhould we be forward to appoint a day of public thanksgiving, we might find ourselves too much so, if afterwards we be called to join with other

Christian congregations, by public authority. In this dilemma, I have thought of an expedient, in which I hope you will readily join: You well know that the prophets of old upbraided the Jews with their fasts and their festivals, declaring that the Lord was displeased with them; that they were an abomination in his sight; that he chose much rather the works of justice, of mercy, and of benevolence. What I would recommend, therefore, is that in your hearts you cherish sentiments of the most lively gratitude; that instead of interrupting your ordinary and necefsary occupations, you continue them; but that you bestow the gain of one day's tabour, (and those among you who are not obliged to work, may in like manner bestow one day's income), suppose that of Thursday next, upon the virtuous and indigent poor. "Blefsed is he that considers the poor man's condition." Consider the situation of such; how you can most effectually serve their interest and promote their happiness. Many a family struggles hard with want, without uttering a complaint. Prevent their necefsity. Cause the widow's heart to sing for joy; and gain the blessing of the orphan. Provide for their shelter, and their comfort against the inclemency of winter. Consider how you can employ them, to make them useful to themselves and to you. Much good may be done without even seeming to confer a favour. He that seeth in secret will reward openly such as approve themselves to him in well-doing. God hath made the rich, and those in easy circumstances, the stewards of his bounty: he hath entrusted his property in your hands, and blessed you with the opportunity and the pleasure of doing good. Your own prudence will direct you to the proper objects of your benevolence and charity.

"I would not wish to be tedious :-Permit me to speak a word or two to the labouring poor, and I have done.