ADDRESS

TO THE

UNCO GUID,

OR THE

RIGIDLY RIGHTEOUS.

My son, these maxims make a rule,
And lump them ay thegither;
The Rigid Righteous is a fool,
The Rigid Wise anither;
The cleanest corn that e'er was dight
May hae some pyles o' caff in ;

So ne'er a fellow-creature slight

For random fits o' daffin.

SOLOMON.-Eccles. ch. vii. ver. 16.

I.

VE wha are sae guid yoursel,

Sae pious and sae holy,

Ye've nought to do but mark and tell

Your neebour's fauts and folly!

VOL. III.

I

Whase

Whase life is like a weel-gaun mill,
Supply'd wi' store o' water,

The heapet happer's ebbing still,
And still the clap plays clatter.

II.

Hear me, ye venerable core,

As counsel for poor mortals, That frequent pass douce Wisdom's door For glaikit Folly's portals;

1, for their thoughtless, careless sakes, Would here propone defences,

Their donsie tricks, their black mistakes, Their failings and mischances.

III.

Ye see your state wi' theirs compar'd,

And shudder at the niffer,

But cast a moment's fair regard,
What maks the mighty differ;
Discount what scant occasion gave,
That purity ye pride in,

And (what's aft mair than a' the lave)
Your better art o' hiding.

Think, when your castigated pulse

Gies now and then a wallop,

What ragings must his veins convulse,

That still eternal gallop:

Wi' wind and tide fair i' your tail,
Right on ye scud your sea-way;
But in the teeth o' baith to sail,
It maks an unco lee-way.

V.

See social life and glee sit down,
All joyous and unthinking,
"Till, quite transmugrify'd, they're grown
Debauchery and drinking:

O would they stay to calculate

Th' eternal consequences;

Or your more dreaded hell to state,
D-mnation of expenses !

VI.

Ye high, exalted, virtuous dames,
Ty'd up in godly laces,

Before ye gie poor frailty names,
Suppose a change o' cases;
A dear lov'd lad, convenience snug,
A treacherous inclination-
But, let me whisper i' your lug,
Ye're aiblins nae temptation.

VII.

Then gently scan your brother man,
Still gentler sister woman;

Tho' they may gang a kennin wrang,
To step aside is human:

One point must still be greatly dark,
The moving why they do it:
And just as lamely can ye mark,
How far perhaps they rue it.

VIII.

Who made the heart, 'tis He alone

Decidedly can try us,

He knows each chord-its various tone,
Each spring-its various bias:
Then at the balance let's be mute,

We never can adjust it;

What's done we partly may compute,
But know not what's resisted.

TAM

TAM SAMSON'S*

ELEGY.

An honest man's the noblest work of God.

HAS auld Kilmarnock seen the Deil?
Or great M*******† thrawn his heel!
Or R*******+ again grow weel,

To preach an' read?

Na, waur than a'!' cries ilka chiel,

Tam Samson's dead!

POPE.

Kilmarnock

* When this worthy old sportsman went out last muirfowl season, he supposed it was to be, in Ossian's phrase, the last of his fields;' and expressed an ardent wish to die and be buried in the muirs. On this hint the author composed his elegy and epitaph.

† A certain preacher, a great favourite with the million. Vide the Ordination, stanza II.

Another preacher, an equal favourite with the few, who was at that time ailing. For him also see the Ordination, stanza IX.