[ { "title": "88. The Author’s Earnest Cry and Prayer", "author": "Robert Burns", "lines": [ "YE Irish lords, ye knights an’ squires,", "Wha represent our brughs an’ shires,", "An’ doucely manage our affairs", " In parliament,", "To you a simple poet’s pray’rs", " Are humbly sent.", "", "", "Alas! my roupit Muse is hearse!", "Your Honours’ hearts wi’ grief ’twad pierce,", "To see her sittin on her arse", " Low i’ the dust,", "And scriechinh out prosaic verse,", " An like to brust!", "", "", "Tell them wha hae the chief direction,", "Scotland an’ me’s in great affliction,", "E’er sin’ they laid that curst restriction", " On aqua-vit&æ;", "An’ rouse them up to strong conviction,", " An’ move their pity.", "", "", "Stand forth an’ tell yon Premier youth", "The honest, open, naked truth:", "Tell him o’ mine an’ Scotland’s drouth,", " His servants humble:", "The muckle deevil blaw you south", " If ye dissemble!", "", "", "Does ony great man glunch an’ gloom?", "Speak out, an’ never fash your thumb!", "Let posts an’ pensions sink or soom", " Wi’ them wha grant them;", "If honestly they canna come,", " Far better want them.", "", "", "In gath’rin votes you were na slack;", "Now stand as tightly by your tack:", "Ne’er claw your lug, an’ fidge your back,", " An’ hum an’ haw;", "But raise your arm, an’ tell your crack", " Before them a’.", "", "", "Paint Scotland greetin owre her thrissle;", "Her mutchkin stowp as toom’s a whissle;", "An’ d—mn’d excisemen in a bussle,", " Seizin a stell,", "Triumphant crushin’t like a mussel,", " Or limpet shell!", "", "", "Then, on the tither hand present her—", "A blackguard smuggler right behint her,", "An’ cheek-for-chow, a chuffie vintner", " Colleaguing join,", "Picking her pouch as bare as winter", " Of a’ kind coin.", "", "", "Is there, that bears the name o’ Scot,", "But feels his heart’s bluid rising hot,", "To see his poor auld mither’s pot", " Thus dung in staves,", "An’ plunder’d o’ her hindmost groat", " By gallows knaves?", "", "", "Alas! I’m but a nameless wight,", "Trode i’ the mire out o’ sight?", "But could I like Montgomeries fight,", " Or gab like Boswell, 2", "There’s some sark-necks I wad draw tight,", " An’ tie some hose well.", "", "", "God bless your Honours! can ye see’t—", "The kind, auld cantie carlin greet,", "An’ no get warmly to your feet,", " An’ gar them hear it,", "An’ tell them wi’a patriot-heat", " Ye winna bear it?", "", "", "Some o’ you nicely ken the laws,", "To round the period an’ pause,", "An’ with rhetoric clause on clause", " To mak harangues;", "Then echo thro’ Saint Stephen’s wa’s", " Auld Scotland’s wrangs.", "", "", "Dempster, 3 a true blue Scot I’se warran’;", "Thee, aith-detesting, chaste Kilkerran; 4", "An’ that glib-gabbit Highland baron,", " The Laird o’ Graham; 5", "An’ ane, a chap that’s damn’d aulfarran’,", " Dundas his name: 6", "", "", "Erskine, a spunkie Norland billie; 7", "True Campbells, Frederick and Ilay; 8", "An’ Livistone, the bauld Sir Willie; 9", " An’ mony ithers,", "Whom auld Demosthenes or Tully", " Might own for brithers.", "", "", "See sodger Hugh, 10 my watchman stented,", "If poets e’er are represented;", "I ken if that your sword were wanted,", " Ye’d lend a hand;", "But when there’s ought to say anent it,", " Ye’re at a stand.", "", "", "Arouse, my boys! exert your mettle,", "To get auld Scotland back her kettle;", "Or faith! I’ll wad my new pleugh-pettle,", " Ye’ll see’t or lang,", "She’ll teach you, wi’ a reekin whittle,", " Anither sang.", "", "", "This while she’s been in crankous mood,", "Her lost Militia fir’d her bluid;", "(Deil na they never mair do guid,", " Play’d her that pliskie!)", "An’ now she’s like to rin red-wud", " About her whisky.", "", "", "An’ Lord! if ance they pit her till’t,", "Her tartan petticoat she’ll kilt,", "An’durk an’ pistol at her belt,", " She’ll tak the streets,", "An’ rin her whittle to the hilt,", " I’ the first she meets!", "", "", "For God sake, sirs! then speak her fair,", "An’ straik her cannie wi’ the hair,", "An’ to the muckle house repair,", " Wi’ instant speed,", "An’ strive, wi’ a’ your wit an’ lear,", " To get remead.", "", "", "Yon ill-tongu’d tinkler, Charlie Fox,", "May taunt you wi’ his jeers and mocks;", "But gie him’t het, my hearty cocks!", " E’en cowe the cadie!", "An’ send him to his dicing box", " An’ sportin’ lady.", "", "", "Tell you guid bluid o’ auld Boconnock’s, 11", "I’ll be his debt twa mashlum bonnocks,", "An’ drink his health in auld Nance Tinnock’s 12", " Nine times a-week,", "If he some scheme, like tea an’ winnocks,", " Was kindly seek.", "", "", "Could he some commutation broach,", "I’ll pledge my aith in guid braid Scotch,", "He needna fear their foul reproach", " Nor erudition,", "Yon mixtie-maxtie, queer hotch-potch,", " The Coalition.", "", "", "Auld Scotland has a raucle tongue;", "She’s just a devil wi’ a rung;", "An’ if she promise auld or young", " To tak their part,", "Tho’ by the neck she should be strung,", " She’ll no desert.", "", "", "And now, ye chosen Five-and-Forty,", "May still you mither’s heart support ye;", "Then, tho’a minister grow dorty,", " An’ kick your place,", "Ye’ll snap your gingers, poor an’ hearty,", " Before his face.", "", "", "God bless your Honours, a’ your days,", "Wi’ sowps o’ kail and brats o’ claise,", "In spite o’ a’ the thievish kaes,", " That haunt St. Jamie’s!", "Your humble poet sings an’ prays,", " While Rab his name is.", "", "", "POSTSCRIPTLET half-starv’d slaves in warmer skies", "See future wines, rich-clust’ring, rise;", "Their lot auld Scotland ne’re envies,", " But, blythe and frisky,", "She eyes her freeborn, martial boys", " Tak aff their whisky.", "", "", "What tho’ their Phoebus kinder warms,", "While fragrance blooms and beauty charms,", "When wretches range, in famish’d swarms,", " The scented groves;", "Or, hounded forth, dishonour arms", " In hungry droves!", "", "", "Their gun’s a burden on their shouther;", "They downa bide the stink o’ powther;", "Their bauldest thought’s a hank’ring swither", " To stan’ or rin,", "Till skelp—a shot—they’re aff, a’throw’ther,", " To save their skin.", "", "", "But bring a Scotchman frae his hill,", "Clap in his cheek a Highland gill,", "Say, such is royal George’s will,", " An’ there’s the foe!", "He has nae thought but how to kill", " Twa at a blow.", "", "", "Nae cauld, faint-hearted doubtings tease him;", "Death comes, wi’ fearless eye he sees him;", "Wi’bluidy hand a welcome gies him;", " An’ when he fa’s,", "His latest draught o’ breathin lea’es him", " In faint huzzas.", "", "", "Sages their solemn een may steek,", "An’ raise a philosophic reek,", "An’ physically causes seek,", " In clime an’ season;", "But tell me whisky’s name in Greek", " I’ll tell the reason.", "", "", "Scotland, my auld, respected mither!", "Tho’ whiles ye moistify your leather,", "Till, whare ye sit on craps o’ heather,", " Ye tine your dam;", "Freedom an’ whisky gang thegither!", " Take aff your dram!", "", "", " Note 1. This was written before the Act anent the Scotch distilleries, of session 1786, for which Scotland and the author return their most grateful thanks.—R. B. [back]", "Note 2. James Boswell of Auchinleck, the biographer of Johnson. [back]", "Note 3. George Dempster of Dunnichen. [back]", "Note 4. Sir Adam Ferguson of Kilkerran, Bart. [back]", "Note 5. The Marquis of Graham, eldest son of the Duke of Montrose. [back]", "Note 6. Right Hon. Henry Dundas, M. P. [back]", "Note 7. Probably Thomas, afterward Lord Erskine. [back]", "Note 8. Lord Frederick Campbell, second brother of the Duke of Argyll, and Ilay Campbell, Lord Advocate for Scotland, afterward President of the Court of Session. [back]", "Note 9. Sir Wm. Augustus Cunningham, Baronet, of Livingstone. [back]", "Note 10. Col. Hugh Montgomery, afterward Earl of Eglinton. [back]", "Note 11. Pitt, whose grandfather was of Boconnock in Cornwall. [back]", "Note 12. A worthy old hostess of the author’s in Mauchline, where he sometimes studies politics over a glass of gude auld Scotch Drink.—R. B. [back]" ], "linecount": "204" } ]