hang on my trembling flesh;
My blood grows chilly, and I freeze with horror,

Richard the Third.

The Fire-king one day rather amorous felt;
  He mounted his hot copper filly;
His breeches and boots were of tin, and the belt
Was made of cast-iron, for fear it should melt
  With the heat of the copper colt’s belly.

Oh! then there was glitter and fire in each eye,
  For two living coals were the symbols;
His teeth were calcined, and his tongue was so dry,
It rattled against them as though you should try
  To play the piano on thimbles.

Rejected Addresses.

XX.  Adventures in the Sporting Line,

A fig for them by law protected,
  Liberty’s glorious feast;
Courts for cowards were erected,
  Churches built to please the priest.

Jolly Beggars.

Wi’ cauk and keel I’ll win your bread,
And spindles and whorles for them wha need,
Whilk is a gentle trade indeed,
  To carry the Gaberlunzie on.
I’ll bow my leg and crook my knee,
And draw a black clout owre my ee,
A cripple or blind they will ca’ me,
While we shall be merry and sing.

King James V.

XXI.  Anent Mungo Glen,

“Earth to earth,” and “dust to dust,”
  The solemn priest hath said,
So we lay the turf above thee now,
  And we seal thy narrow bed;
But thy spirit, brother, soars away
  Among the faithful blest,
Where the wicked cease from troubling,
  And the weary are at rest.

Milman.

XXII.  The June Jaunt,

The lapwing lilteth o’er the lea,
  With nimble wing she sporteth;
By vows she’ll flee from tree to tree
  Where Philomel resorteth:
By break of day, the lark can say,
  I’ll bid you a good-morrow,
I’ll streik my wing, and mounting sing,
  O’er Leader hauchs and Yarrow.

Nicol Burn, the Minstrel.

XXIII.  Catching a Tartar,

Fr. Sol.  O, prennez miséricorde! ayez pitié de moy!

Pist.  Moy shall not serve, I will have forty moys!
For I will fetch my rim out at thy throat,
In drops of crimson blood.

Henry V.

XXIV.  James Batter and the Maid of Damascus,

He chose a mournful muse
Soft pity to infuse;
He sung the Weaver wise and good,
  By too severe a fate,
Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen,
  Fallen from his high estate,
And weltering in his blood.

Dryden Revised.

All close they met, all eves, before the dusk
  Had taken from the stars its pleasant veil,
Close in a bower of hyacinth and musk,
  Unknown of any, free from whispering tale.

Keats.

XXV.  A Philistine in the Coal-Hole,

They steeked doors, they steeked yetts,
  Close to the cheek and chin;
They steeked them a’ but a wee wicket,
  And Lammikin crapt in.

Ballad of the Lammikin.

Hame cam our gudeman at een,
  And hame cam he;
And there he spied a man
  Where a man shouldna be.
Hoo cam this man kimmer,
  And who can it be;
Hoo cam this carle here,
  Without the leave o’ me?

Old Song.

XXVI.  Benjie on the Carpet,

It’s no in titles, nor in rank—
It’s no in wealth, like Lon’on bank,
  To purchase peace and rest;
It’s no in making muckle mair—
It’s no in books—it’s no in lear,
  To make us truly blest.

Burns.

XXVII.  “Puggie, Puggie,”

Saw ye Johnie coming? quo’ she,
  Saw ye Johnie coming?
Wi’ his blue bonnet on his head,
  And his doggie running?

Old Ballad.

XXVIII.  Serious Musings,

My eyes are dim with childish tears,
  My heart is idly stirr’d,
For the same sound is in mine ears,
  Which in those days I heard.
Thus fares it still in our decay;
  And yet the wiser mind
Mourns less for what age takes away,
  Than what it leaves behind.

Wordsworth.

XXIX.  Conclusion,

He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man, and bird, and beast—
He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.

Coleridge.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

from oil paintings by
CHARLES MARTIN HARDIE, R.S.A.

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