Mary's Isle, Burns was
requested
by the noble owner
to say grace to dinner; he obeyed in these lines, now known in
Galloway by the name of "The Selkirk Grace.
to say grace to dinner; he obeyed in these lines, now known in
Galloway by the name of "The Selkirk Grace.
Robert Burns
LINES
WRITTEN ON A WINDOW.
[Burns traced these words with a diamond, on the window of the King's
Arms Tavern, Dumfries, as a reply, or reproof, to one who had been
witty on excisemen. ]
Ye men of wit and wealth, why all this sneering
'Gainst poor Excisemen? give the cause a hearing;
What are you, landlords' rent-rolls? teasing ledgers:
What premiers--what? even monarchs' mighty gaugers:
Nay, what are priests, those seeming godly wise men?
What are they, pray, but spiritual Excisemen?
* * * * *
LI.
LINES
WRITTEN ON A WINDOW OF THE GLOBE TAVERN, DUMFRIES.
[The Globe Tavern was Burne's favourite "Howff," as he called it. It
had other attractions than good liquor; there lived "Anna, with the
golden locks. "]
The greybeard, old Wisdom, may boast of his treasures,
Give me with gay Folly to live;
I grant him his calm-blooded, time-settled pleasures,
But Folly has raptures to give.
* * * * *
LII.
THE SELKIRK GRACE.
[On a visit to St.
Mary's Isle, Burns was requested by the noble owner
to say grace to dinner; he obeyed in these lines, now known in
Galloway by the name of "The Selkirk Grace. "]
Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat and we can eat,
And sae the Lord be thanket.
* * * * *
LIII.
TO DR. MAXWELL,
ON JESSIE STAIG'S RECOVERY.
[Maxwell was a skilful physician; and Jessie Staig, the Provost's
oldest daughter, was a young lady of great beauty: she died early. ]
Maxwell, if merit here you crave
That merit I deny,
You save fair Jessie from the grave--
An angel could not die.
* * * * *
LIV.
EPITAPH.
[These lines were traced by the hand of Burns on a goblet belonging to
Gabriel Richardson, brewer, in Dumfries: it is carefully preserved in
the family. ]
Here brewer Gabriel's fire's extinct,
And empty all his barrels:
He's blest--if, as he brew'd, he drink--
In upright virtuous morals.
* * * * *
LV.
EPITAPH
ON WILLIAM NICOL.
[Nicol was a scholar, of ready and rough wit, who loved a joke and a
gill. ]
Ye maggots, feast on Nicol's brain,
For few sic feasts ye've gotten;
And fix your claws in Nicol's heart,
For deil a bit o't's rotten.
* * * * *
LVI.
