THE COMPLETE WORKS OF ROBERT BURNS 21

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF ROBERT BURNS 21

DUAN SECOND

 

With musing-deep, astonish'd stare,

I view'd the heavenly-seeming fair;

A whisp'ring throb did witness bear

Of kindred sweet,

When with an elder sister's air

She did me greet.

 

"All hail! My own inspired bard!

In me thy native Muse regard!

Nor longer mourn thy fate is hard,

Thus poorly low!

I come to give thee such reward

As we bestow.

 

"Know, the great genius of this land,

Has many a light aërial band,

Who, all beneath his high command,

Harmoniously,

As arts or arms they understand,

Their labours ply.

 

"They Scotia's race among them share;

Some fire the soldier on to dare;

Some rouse the patriot up to bare

Corruption's heart.

Some teach the bard, a darling care,

The tuneful art.

 

"'Mong swelling floods of reeking gore,

They, ardent, kindling spirits, pour;

Or 'mid the venal senate's roar,

They, sightless, stand,

To mend the honest patriot-lore,

And grace the hand.

 

"And when the bard, or hoary sage,

Charm or instruct the future age,

They bind the wild, poetic rage

In energy,

Or point the inconclusive page

Full on the eye.

 

"Hence Fullarton, the brave and young;

Hence Dempster's zeal-inspired tongue;

Hence sweet harmonious Beattie sung

His 'Minstrel' lays;

Or tore, with noble ardour stung,

The sceptic's bays.

 

"To lower orders are assign'd

The humbler ranks of human-kind,

The rustic bard, the lab'ring hind,

The artisan;

All choose, as various they're inclin'd

The various man.

 

"When yellow waves the heavy grain,

The threat'ning storm some, strongly, rein;

Some teach to meliorate the plain,

With tillage-skill;

And some instruct the shepherd-train,

Blythe o'er the hill.

 

"Some hint the lover's harmless wile;

Some grace the maiden's artless smile;

Some soothe the lab'rer's weary toil,

For humble gains,

And make his cottage-scenes beguile

His cares and pains.

 

"Some, bounded to a district-space,

Explore at large man's infant race,

To mark the embryotic trace

Of rustic bard:

And careful note each op'ning grace,

A guide and guard.

 

"Of these am I--Coila my name;

And this district as mine I claim,

Where once the Campbells, chiefs of fame,

Held ruling pow'r:

I mark'd thy embryo-tuneful flame,

Thy natal hour.

 

"With future hope, I oft would gaze,

Fond, on thy little early ways,

Thy rudely carroll'd, chiming phrase,

In uncouth rhymes,

Fir'd at the simple, artless lays

Of other times.

 

"I saw thee seek the sounding shore,

Delighted with the dashing roar;

Or when the north his fleecy store

Drove through the sky,

I saw grim Nature's visage hoar

Struck thy young eye.

 

"Or when the deep green-mantled earth

Warm cherish'd ev'ry flow'ret's birth,

And joy and music pouring forth

In ev'ry grove,

I saw thee eye the general mirth

With boundless love.

 

"When ripen'd fields, and azure skies,

Called forth the reaper's rustling noise,

I saw thee leave their evening joys,

And lonely stalk,

To vent thy bosom's swelling rise

In pensive walk.

 

"When youthful love, warm-blushing, strong,

Keen-shivering shot thy nerves along,

Those accents, grateful to thy tongue,

Th' adored Name

I taught thee how to pour in song,

To soothe thy flame.

 

"I saw thy pulse's maddening play,

Wild send thee pleasure's devious way,

Misled by Fancy's meteor-ray,

By passion driven;

But yet the light that led astray

Was light from Heaven.

 

"I taught thy manners-painting strains,

The loves, the ways of simple swains,

Till now, o'er all my wide domains

Thy fame extends;

And some, the pride of Coila's plains,

Become thy friends.

 

"Thou canst not learn, nor can I show,

To paint with Thomson's landscape glow;

Or wake the bosom-melting throe,

With Shenstone's art;

Or pour, with Gray, the moving flow,

Warm on the heart.

 

"Yet, all beneath the unrivall'd rose,

The lowly daisy sweetly blows;

Tho' large the forest's monarch throws

His army shade,

Yet green the juicy hawthorn grows,

Adown the glade.

 

"Then never murmur nor repine;

Strive in thy humble sphere to shine;

And, trust me, not Potosi's mine,

Nor king's regard,

Can give a bliss o'ermatching thine,

A rustic bard.

 

"To give my counsels all in one,

Thy tuneful flame still careful fan;

Preserve the dignity of man,

With soul erect;

And trust, the universal plan

Will all protect.

 

"And wear thou this,"--she solemn said,

And bound the holly round my head:

The polish'd leaves and berries red

Did rustling play;

And like a passing thought, she fled

In light away.

 

FOOTNOTES:

 

[Footnote 19: Duan, a term of Ossian's for the different divisions of a

digressive poem. See his "Cath-Loda," vol. ii. of Macpherson's

translation.]

 

[Footnote 20: The Wallaces.]

 

[Footnote 21: Sir William Wallace.]

 

[Footnote 22: Adam Wallace, of Richardton, cousin to the immortal

preserver of Scottish independence.]

 

[Footnote 23: Wallace, Laird of Craigie, who was second 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.]

 

[Footnote 24: 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 seat of the Montgomeries of Coilsfield, where his burial-place

is still shown.]

 

[Footnote 25: Barskimming, the seat of the late Lord Justice-Clerk (Sir

Thomas Miller of Glenlee, afterwards President of the Court of

Session.)]

 

[Footnote 26: Catrine, the seat of Professor Dugald Steward.]

 

[Footnote 27: Colonel Fullarton.]

 

* * * * *

 

 

 

 

XXV.

 

HALLOWEEN.[28]

 

"Yes! let the rich deride, the proud disdain,

The simple pleasures of the lowly train;

To me more dear, congenial to my heart,

One native charm, than all the gloss of art."

 

GOLDSMITH.

 

[This Poem contains a lively and striking picture of some of the

superstitious observances of old Scotland: on Halloween the desire to

look into futurity was once all but universal in the north; and the

charms and spells which Burns describes, form but a portion of those

employed to enable the peasantry to have a peep up the dark vista of

the future. The scene is laid on the romantic shores of Ayr, at a

farmer's fireside, and the actors in the rustic drama are the whole

household, including supernumerary reapers and bandsmen about to be

discharged from the engagements of harvest. "I never can help

regarding this," says James Hogg, "as rather a trivial poem!"]

 

 

Upon that night, when fairies light

On Cassilis Downans[29] dance,

Or owre the lays, in splendid blaze,

On sprightly coursers prance;

Or for Colean the rout is ta'en,

Beneath the moon's pale beams;

There, up the Cove,[30] to stray an' rove

Amang the rocks an' streams

To sport that night.

 

Amang the bonnie winding banks

Where Doon rins, wimplin', clear,

Where Bruce[31] ance rul'd the martial ranks,

An' shook his Carrick spear,

Some merry, friendly, countra folks,

Together did convene,

To burn their nits, an' pou their stocks,

An' haud their Halloween

Fu' blythe that night.

 

The lasses feat, an' cleanly neat,

Mair braw than when they're fine;

Their faces blythe, fu' sweetly kythe,

Hearts leal, an' warm, an' kin';

The lads sae trig, wi' wooer babs,

Weel knotted on their garten,

Some unco blate, an' some wi' gabs,

Gar lasses' hearts gang startin'

Whiles fast at night.

 

Then, first and foremost, thro' the kail,

Their stocks[32] maun a' be sought ance;

They steek their een, an' graip an' wale,

For muckle anes an' straught anes.

Poor hav'rel Will fell aff the drift,

An' wander'd through the bow-kail,

An' pou't, for want o' better shift,

A runt was like a sow-tail,

Sae bow't that night.

 

Then, straught or crooked, yird or nane,

They roar an' cry a' throu'ther;

The vera wee-things, todlin', rin

Wi' stocks out-owre their shouther;

An' gif the custoc's sweet or sour,

Wi' joctelegs they taste them;

Syne coziely, aboon the door,

Wi' cannie care, they've placed them

To lie that night.

 

The lasses staw frae mang them a'

To pou their stalks o' corn;[33]

But Rab slips out, an' jinks about,

Behint the muckle thorn:

He grippet Nelly hard an' fast;

Loud skirl'd a' the lasses;

But her tap-pickle maist was lost,

When kiuttlin' in the fause-house[34]

Wi' him that night.

 

The auld guidwife's weel hoordet nits[35]

Are round an' round divided;

An' monie lads' an' lasses' fates

Are there that night decided:

Some kindle, couthie, side by side,

An' burn thegither trimly;

Some start awa' wi' saucy pride,

And jump out-owre the chimlie

Fu' high that night.

 

Jean slips in twa wi' tentie e'e;

Wha 'twas, she wadna tell;

But this is Jock, an' this is me,

She says in to hersel':

He bleez'd owre her, an' she owre him,

As they wad never mair part;

'Till, fuff! he started up the lum,

An' Jean had e'en a sair heart

To see't that night.

 

Poor Willie, wi' his bow-kail runt,

Was brunt wi' primsie Mallie;

An' Mallie, nae doubt, took the drunt,

To be compar'd to Willie;

Mall's nit lap out wi' pridefu' fling,

An' her ain fit it brunt it;

While Willie lap, and swoor, by jing,

'Twas just the way he wanted

To be that night.

 

Nell had the fause-house in her min',

She pits hersel an' Rob in;

In loving bleeze they sweetly join,

'Till white in ase they're sobbin';

Nell's heart, was dancin' at the view,

She whisper'd Rob to leuk for't:

Rob, stowlins, prie'd her bonie mou',

Fu' cozie in the neuk for't,

Unseen that night.

 

But Merran sat behint their backs,

Her thoughts on Andrew Bell;

She lea'es them gashin' at their cracks,

And slips out by hersel':

She through the yard the nearest taks,

An' to the kiln she goes then,

An' darklins graipit for the bauks,

And in the blue-clue[36] throws then,

Right fear't that night.

 

An' ay she win't, an' ay she swat,

I wat she made nae jaukin';

'Till something held within the pat,

Guid L--d! but she was quaukin'!

But whether 'twas the Deil himsel',

Or whether 'twas a bauk-en',

Or whether it was Andrew Bell,

She did na wait on talkin'

To spier that night.

 

Wee Jenny to her graunie says,

"Will ye go wi' me, graunie?

I'll eat the apple[37] at the glass,

I gat frae uncle Johnnie:"

She fuff't her pipe wi' sic a lunt,

In wrath she was sae vap'rin',

She notic't na, an aizle brunt

Her braw new worset apron

Out thro' that night.

 

"Ye little skelpie-limmer's face!

I daur you try sic sportin',

As seek the foul Thief onie place,

For him to spae your fortune:

Nae doubt but ye may get a sight!

Great cause ye hae to fear it;

For monie a ane has gotten a fright,

An' liv'd an' died deleeret

On sic a night.

 

"Ae hairst afore the Sherra-moor,

I mind't as weel's yestreen,

I was a gilpey then, I'm sure

I was na past fifteen:

The simmer had been cauld an' wat,

An' stuff was unco green;

An' ay a rantin' kirn we gat,

An' just on Halloween

It fell that night.

 

"Our stibble-rig was Rab M'Graen,

A clever, sturdy fellow:

He's sin gat Eppie Sim wi' wean,

That liv'd in Achmacalla:

He gat hemp-seed,[38] I mind it weel,

And he made unco light o't;

But monie a day was by himsel',

He was sae sairly frighted

That vera night."

 

Then up gat fechtin' Jamie Fleck,

An' he swoor by his conscience,

That he could saw hemp-seed a peck;

For it was a' but nonsense;

The auld guidman raught down the pock,

An' out a' handfu' gied him;

Syne bad him slip frae 'mang the folk,

Sometime when nae ane see'd him,

An' try't that night.

 

He marches thro' amang the stacks,

Tho' he was something sturtin;

The graip he for a harrow taks,

An' haurls at his curpin;

An' ev'ry now an' then he says,

"Hemp-seed, I saw thee,

An' her that is to be my lass,

Come after me, an' draw thee

As fast that night."

 

He whistl'd up Lord Lennox' march,

To keep his courage cheery;

Altho' his hair began to arch,

He was sae fley'd an' eerie;

'Till presently he hears a squeak,

An' then a grane an' gruntle;

He by his shouther gae a keek,

An' tumbl'd wi' a wintle

Out-owre that night.