'Mang men, wae's-heart! we aften find Whan wand wi' glewy birdlime's set, Blyth wad ye change your cleething gay In vain thro' woods you sair may ban In window hung, how aft we see Ah, Liberty! thou bonny dame, 1 Homer: Ody. xi. 582. The gowdspink chatters joyous here, For a' that life ahint can spare. The gowdspink, that sae lang has kend For now we tyne its wonted lay, To wyle us far frae liberty: Then tent her syren smiles wha list, 1 The goldfinch hops from spray to spray, 2 Is not each bush-each spreading tree his own? What then are honours, pomp and gold? Are these a price to purchase Liberty ?-GAY. Life without her's full of trouble, Nothing but a silly bubble. ALEX. PENNICUIK. Song to the tune of Morning o' Geberland. See Note 2, p. 23. THE ELECTION. Nunc est bibendum, et bendere Bickerum magnum; REJOICE, ye Burghers, ane an' a', Lang look't for's come at last ; Now ye may clap your wings an' craw, To rax an' weet your leather Wi' drink thir days. Haste, Epps, quo' John, an' bring my gezz! Last night the barber ga't a friz, An' straikit it wi' ulzie. 1 Ged and Campbell were officers in the town-guard. Kay has preserved the queer physiognomy of the former, of whom many anecdotes still circulate. The Dougal Ged of this macaronic distich appears from Mr. Chambers's Traditions of Edinburgh,' p. 222. Ed: 1847, to have been remarkable, at least, for his family connexions. It was a brother [?] who, under the name of Don Patricio Ged, rendered such kindly and effective service to Commodore Byron, as gratefully recorded in the well-known 'Narrative;' and gracefully touched on by Campbell in the 'Pleasures of Hope' 'He found a warmer world, a milder clime, A home to rest, a shelter to defend, Another member of the family, William Ged, originally a goldsmith in 'Dougal' himself had been a silversmith, but in his own conceit, his red coat as a Town-Guard officer made him completely military. Seeing a lady without a beau at the door of the Assembly Room, he offered his services, if the arm of an old soldier could be of any use.' 'Hoot awa Dougal,' said the lady, accepting, however, his assistance; 'an auld tink ler you mean.' Hae done your paritch lassie Liz, Whan he taks affidavit O' faith the day. Whar's Johnny gaun, cries neebor Bess, Wi' new kam'd wig, weel syndet face, "An' forth to mak a Deacon, lass; "He downa speak to poor fock The coat ben-by i' the kist-nook, Menzies o' moths an' flaes are shook, Till in a birn beneath the croock To death that day. The canty cobler quats his sta', His buik has dree'd a sair, sair fa' An' taunts at soals an' heels; 1 The hotel which was in Prince's Street where the dinner took place after the election of the magistrates, which took place at Michaelmas There whang his creams an' jeels The lads in order tak their seat, (The de'il may claw the clungest) An' eke their craw-black beavers, Fu' lang that day. The dinner done, for brandy strang The grace is said-its nae o'er lang; Quod Deacon let the toast round gang, Come, here's our noble sel's Weel met the day." Weels me o' drink, quo' cooper Will, An' has na gotten sic a fill Sin fu' on handsel Teysday: But makes-na, now its got a sweel, Or else I wish the horned de'il May Will wi' kittle cast dad To hell the day! It was in this hotel that the famous aeronaut Lunardi resided while in Edinburgh. |