Works

So I sit and write and ponder, while the house is deaf and dumb,
Seeing visions "over yonder" of the war I know must come.
In the corner, not a vision, but a sign for coming days...

There was a maiden all forlorn,
She loved a youth, his name was Thorn,
But he was shy for to disclose
How he loved dear the sweet May Rose.

Lustre sweet it would give to Thorn,...

Except the heaven had come so near,
So seemed to choose my door,
The distance would not haunt me so;
I had not hoped before.

But just to hear the grace depart
I never thought to see,...

Except to heaven, she is nought;
Except for angels, lone;
Except to some wide-wandering bee,
A flower superfluous blown;

Except for winds, provincial;
Except by butterflies,...

Farewell to the feast-day! the pray'r book is stained
With tears; of the booth scarce a trace has remained;
The lime branch is withered, the osiers are dying,
And pale as a corpse the fair palm-frond is lying;...

Early within his workshop here,
On Sundays stands our master dear;
His dirty apron he puts away,
And wears a cleanly doublet to-day;
Lets wax'd thread, hammer, and pincers rest,...

When first, descending from the moorlands,
I saw the Stream of Yarrow glide
Along a bare and open valley,
The Ettrick Shepherd was my guide.

When last along its banks I wandered,...

Hear, Lord, the song of praise and prayer,
In heaven thy dwelling-place,
From infants, made the public care,
And taught to seek thy face!


Thanks for thy Word, and for thy day,...

I.


The shadow of the houses leave behind,
In the cool boscage of the grove reclined,
The wine of friendship from love's goblet drink,
And entertain with cheerful speech the mind.

...

Somewhere in the realms supernal
Is a home prepared for me,
Where my joys shall be eternal,
And my spirit ever free;
Mortal vision helps not here,
God conceals it from my sight,...

I saw it all in Fancy's glass--
Herself, the fair, the wild magician,
Who bade this splendid day-dream pass,
And named each gliding apparition.

'Twas like a torch-race--such as they...

PROEM.

Where Kings have been by mob-elections
Raised to the throne, 'tis strange to see
What different and what odd perfections
Men have required in Royalty....

I've had a dream that bodes no good
Unto the Holy Brotherhood.
I may be wrong, but I confess--
As far as it is right or lawful
For one, no conjurer, to guess--
It seems to me extremely awful.
...

PROEM.

Of all that, to the sage's survey,
This world presents of topsy-turvy,
There's naught so much disturbs one's patience,
As little minds in lofty stations....

PROEM

...

The money raised--the army ready--
Drums beating, and the Royal Neddy
Valiantly braying in the van,
To the old tune ""Eh, eh, Sire 'ne!"[1]--
Naught wanting, but some coup dramatic,...

PROEM.

Tho' soldiers are the true supports,
The natural allies of Courts,
Woe to the Monarch, who depends
Too much on his red-coated friends;
For even soldiers sometimes think--...

PROEM.

Novella, a young Bolognese,
The daughter of a learned Law Doctor,[1]
Who had with all the subtleties
Of old and modern jurists stockt her,
Was so exceeding fair, 'tis said,...

The Text is taken from Scott's Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802), vol. i. pp. 72-79, omitting the tedious Part I. Another of many versions may be found in Sir John Sinclair's Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. xiii. p...

Fair Susan did her wif-hede well menteine,
Algates assaulted sore by letchours tweine;
Now, and I read aright that auncient song,
Olde were the paramours, the dame full yong.
...