Tho' losses, and crosses,

Be lessons right severe,
There's wit there, ye'll get there,

Ye'll find nae other where.

VIII.
But tent me, Davie, ace o' hearts !
(To say aught less wad wrang the cartes

And flatt'ry I detest),
This life bas joys for you and I;
And joys that riches ne'er could buy;

And joys the very best.
There's a' the pleasures o' the heart,

The lover an' the frien';
e hae your Meg, your dearest part,
And I my darling Jean !
It warms me, it charms me,

To mention but her name :
It heats me, it beets me,

And sets me a' on flame!

H

IX.
O' all ye pow'rs who rule above !
O Thou, whose very self art love!

Thou know'st my words sincere !
The life-blood streaming thro' my heart,
Or my more dear immortal part,

Is not more fondly dear!
When heart-corroding care and grief

Deprive my soul of rest,
Her dear idea brings relief
And solace to my breast.
Thou Being, all-seeing,

O hear my fervent pray'r;
Still take her, and make her

Thy most peculiar care !

X.
All hail, ye tender feelings dear!
The smile of love, the friendly tear,

The sympathetic glow ;
Long since this world's thorny ways
Had number'd out my weary days,

Had it not been for you!
Fate still has blest me with a friend

In every care and ill;
And oft a more endearing band,
A tie more tender still.
It lightens, it brightens

The tenebrific scene,
To meet with, and greet with
My Dadie or my Jean.

XI.
0, how that name inspires my style !
The words come skelpin rank and file,

Amaist before I ken !
The ready measure rins as fine,
As Phoebus and the famous Nine

Were glowrin owre my pen.
My spaviet Pegasus will limp,

'Till ance he's fairly het;
And then he'll hilch, and stilt, and jimp
And rin an unco fit:
But lest then, the beast then,

Should rue this hasty ride,
I'll light now, and dight now

His sweaty wizen'd hide.

THE LAMENT,

Occasioned by the unfortunate issue

OF A FRIEND'S AMOUR.

Alas! how oft does goodness wound itself! And sweet Affection prove the spring of woe!

Home.

I.
O thou pale orb, that silent shines,

While care-untroubled mortals sleep!
Thou seest a wretch that inly pines,

And wanders here to wail and weep!

With woe I nightly vigils keep,

Beneath thy wan unwarming beam ; And mourn in lamentation deep,

How life and love are all a dream.

JI.
I joyless view thy rays adorn

The faintly-marked distant hill :
I joyless view thy trembling horn,

Reflected in the gurgling rill: My fondly-fluttering heart, be still!

Thou busy pow'r, Remembrance, cease! Ah! must the agonizing thrill

For ever bar returning peace!

III. No idly-feign'd poetic pains,

My sad, love-lorn lamentings claim; No shepherd's pipe-Arcadian strains ;

No fabled tortures, quaint and tame: The plighted faith ; the mutual flame 3

The oft-attested pow'rs above; The promis'd father's tender name ;

These were the pledges of my love !

IV. Encircled in her clasping arms,

How have the raptur'd moments flown! How have I wish'd for fortune's charms,

For her dear sake, and her's alone! And must I think it! is she gone,

My secret heart's exulting boast ? And does she heedless hear my groan?

And is she ever, ever lost?

V.
Oh! can she bear go base a heart,

So lost to honour, lost to truth,
As from the fondest lover part,
The plighted husband of her youth !

Alas ! life's path may be unsmooth!

Her way may lie thro' rough distress! Then, who her pangs and pains will soothe,

Her sorrows share, and make them less ?

VI.
Ye winged hours that o'er us past,

Enraptur'd more, the more enjoy'd,
Your dear remembrance in my breast,

My fondly-treasur'd thoughts employ'd. That breast how dreary now, and void,

For her too scanty once of room ! Evn ev'ry ray of hope destroy'd,

And not a wish to gild the gloom !

VII.
The morn that warns th' approaching day,

Awakes me up to toil and woe:
I see the hours in long array,

That I must suffer, lingering, slow. Full many a pang, and many a throe,

Keen Recollection's direful train, Must wring my soul, ere Phæbus, low,

Shall kiss the distant, western main.

VIII.
And when my nightly couch I try,

Sore-harass'd out with care and grief,
My toil-beat nerves, and tear-worn eye,

Keep watchings with the nightly thief: Or if I slumber, Fancy, chief,

Reigns haggard-wild, in sore affright: Ev'n day all-bitter brings relief,

From such a horror-breathing night.

IX. 0! thou bright queen, who o'er th' expanse,

Now highest reign'st, with boundless sway! Oft has thy silent-marking glance

Observ'd us fondly-wand'ring, stray!

The time, unheeded, sped away,

While love's luxurious pulse beat high, Beneath thy silver-gleaming ray

To mark the mutual kindling eye.

X. Oh! scenes in strong remembrance set !

Scenes, never, never, to return! Scenes, if in stupor I forget,

Again I feel, again I burn! From ev'ry joy and pleasure torn,

Life's weary vale I'll wander thro'; And hopeless, comfortless, I'll mourn

A faithless woman's broken Vow.

DESPONDENCY.

AN ODE.

I.
Oppress’d with grief, oppress'd with care,
A burden more than I can bear,

I sit me down and sigh :
O life! thou art a galling load,
Along a rough, a weary road,

To wretches such as I !
Dim backward as I cast my view,

What sick’ning scenes appear !
What sorrows yet may pierce me thro',
Too justly I may fear !
Still caring, despairing,

Must be my bitter doom;
My woes here shall close ne'er,

But with the closing tomb!

II.
Happy, ye sons of busy life,
Who, equal to the bustling strife,

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