IV. Their hope their stay-their darling youth, In manhood's dawning blush Bless him, thou God of love and truth, V. The beauteous, seraph sister-band, With earnest tears I pray, Thou know'st the snares on ev'ry hand Guide Thou their steps alway. VI. When soon or late they reach that coast, Of the origin of these verses, Gilbert Burns gives the following account :-" The first time Robert heard the spinnet played upon was at the house of Dr. Lawrie, then minister of Loudon, now in Glasgow, having given up the parish in favour of his son. Dr. Lawrie has several daughters-one of them played; the father and the mother led down the dance; the rest of the sisters, the brother, the Poet, and the other guests mixed in it. It was a delightful family-scene for our Poet, then lately introduced to the world. His mind was roused to a poetic enthusiasm, and the stanzas were left in the room where he slept. It was to Dr. Lawrie that Dr. Blacklock's letter was addressed; which my brother, in his letter to Dr. Moore, mentions as a reason for his going to Edinburgh." The compliment which the bard paid to the minister of Loudon might have been extended to others of his reverend friends. Not only did those who loved the New Light receive him with kindness, but when his poems were published, sundry of the Old Light pastors smiled, and forgot how roughly he had handled them in his lampoons. From the letters before me, I have every reason to believe that even "Daddie Auld" felt the merits of the Poet, and grew less stern. It is a fact, that in the matter of church censure, he was at last tolerant to his tuneful parishioner. The minister of the parish is the natural judge of the merits of his flock; and when a young man manifests any powers, he looks up to his pastor as a patron. Many instances might be given ; one is known to the world :-the eminent oriental scholar, Professor Murray, found his first friend in the minister of his native parish. TO GAVIN HAMILTON, Esq., MAUCHLINE. (RECOMMENDING A BOY.) I. Mosgaville, May 3, 1786. I HOLD it, Sir, my bounden duty, To warn you how that Master Tootie, Alias, Laird M'Gaun, Was here to hire yon lad away 'Bout whom ye spak the tither day, But lest he learn the callan tricks, As lieve then, I'd have then, Your clerkship he should sair, If sae be, ye may be Not fitted otherwhere. II. Altho' I say't, he's gleg enough, An' bout a house that's rude an' rough, But then wi' you, he'll be sae taught, Ye'll catechize him every quirk, Frae hame this comin' Friday; The orders wi' your lady. III. My word of honor I hae gien, In Paisley John's, that night at e'en, To try to get the twa to gree, In legal mode an' form: I ken he weel a snick can draw, When simple bodies let him; An' if a Devil be at a', In faith he's sure to get him. The airles-earnest money. To phrase you, an' praise you, Verse seems to have been the natural speech of Burns; even in this hasty epistle how easily and concisely he tells all he has to say! Common country matters could not have been more clearly related, or with less waste of words in prose. This Master Tootie, Cromek informs us, lived in Mauchline and dealt in cows. It was his common practice to cut the nicks or markings from the horns of cattle to disguise their age and so bring a higher price. He was an artful, contriving person: hence he is called a 66 snick-drawer," an epithet which the bard had already applied to a more august personage-the devil. The Poet, it would appear, had read the fine old ballad of "Leader Haughs and Yarrow," when he signed himself "" Minstrel Burns."— "But Minstrel Burns cannot assuage His grief, while life endureth, To see the changes of this age, For mony a place, stands in hard case, With Homes that dwalt on Leader Side, And Scotts that dwalt on Yarrow." The Minstrel of the Border sings of the mutability of family greatness; while the Minstrel of Ayrshire, who seems to have cared little about old descents, speaks of the dubious morality of one neighbour, and the disregard of another for the ordinances of the Old Light :— |
