Delighted doubly then, my Lord, The sober lav'rock' warbling wild, The gowdspink," music's gayest child, The blackbird strong, the lintwhite clear, This, too, a covert shall ensure, Here shall the shepherd make his seat, And here, by sweet, endearing stealth, Despising worlds with all their wealth, The flow'rs shall vie in all their charme, And birks extend their fragrant arms, Here haply too, at vernal dawn, Lark. & Thrush. " Goldfinch. w Linnet. y The hare. Birch trees. Or, by the reaper's nightly beam, My lowly banks o'erspread, The close embow'ring thorn. So may old Scotia's darling hope, Spring, like their fathers, up to prop The grace be-Athole's honest men, THE BRIGS* OF AYR. Inscribed to J. Ballantyne, Esq. Ayr. THE simple Bard, rough at the rustic plough, Shall he, nurst in the peasant's lowly shed,, And train'd to arms in stern Misfortune's field; Or labour hard the panegyric close, With all the venal soul of dedicating Prose? 'Twas when the stacks get on their winter-hap, And thack and raped secure the toil-won crap; Potatoe-bings are snugged up frae skaithe Of coming Winter's biting, frosty breath; The bees, rejoicing o'er their summer toils, Unnumber'd buds, an' flowers' delicious spoils, Seal'd up with frugal care in massive waxen piles. Are doom'd by man, that tyrant o'er the weak, The death o' devils-smoor'df wi' brimstone reek;8 The thundering guns are heard on ev'ry side, The wounded coveys, reeling, scatter wide; The feather'd field-mates, bound by Nature's tie, Sires, mothers, children, in one carnage lie: What warm poetic heart, but inly bleeds, And execrates man's savage, ruthless deeds!) Nae mair the flow'r in field or meadow springs; Nae mair the grove with airy concert rings, Except perhaps the robin's whistling glee, Proud of the height o' some bit half-lang tree. The hoary morns precede the sunny days, Mild, calm, serene, wide spreads the noon-tide blaze, While thick the gossamour waves wanton in the rays. b John Ballantyne, Esq. Banker, Ayr, one of our Poet's earliest d Thatch secured with ropes of straw, &c. • Damage. f Smothered. F 'Twas in that season, when a simple Bard, When, lo! on either hand the list'ning Bard, h A noted tavern at the Anld Brig end. i Dungeon-clock and Wallace Tower, the two steeples. k The continued rushing noise of wind. The gos-hawk, or falcon. m Wizard. • Toughly durable. n Wrestled. p Did bide, sustain, or endure. 9 Sustained the repeated sliocks of the floods and currents. New Brig was buskit" in a braw new coat, AULD BRIG. I doubt na', frien', ye'll think ye 're nae sheepshank,x Ance ye were streekity o'er frae bank to bank! Tho' faith that day, I doubt, ye 'll never see; NEW BRIG. Auld Vandal, ye but show your little mense,b Just much about it wi' your scanty sense; Will your poor, narrow foot-path of a street, Where twa wheel-barrows tremble when they meet, Your ruin'd, formless bulk o' stane an' lime, Compare wi' bonnie brigs o' modern time? There 's men o' taste would take the Duckat stream,c Tho' they should cast the very sarkd and ..., Ere they would grate their feelings wi' the view Of sic an ugly Gothic hulk as you. r Dressed. s A ring which surrounds a column, &c. u Cold, dry-spoken of a person's demeanour. w Salutation, or good evening. y Stretched. a Whims, fancies. No can personage 2 Bet a bodle; i. e. A small coin. Good-breeding. e A noted ford just above Avid Brig. |