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NEW BRIG.
Now hand you there! for faith ye've aid enow,
And muckle mair than ye can mak to through,
And for your Priesthood, I shall say but little,
Corbies and Clergy are a shot right kittle:
But, under favour of your langer beard,
Abuse o' Magistrates might weel be spar'd;
To liken them to your auldwarl's quad,
I must needs say, comparisons are odd.
In Ayr, Wag-wits hae mair can hae a handle
To mouth a Citizen, a term o' scandal;
Nae mair the Council waddles down the street,
In a' the pomp of ignorant conceit;
Men wha grew wise priggin owre hops and raisins,
Or gather'd lib'ral views in bonds and seisins.
If hap'ly Knowledge, on a random tramp,
Had shor'd them with a glimmer o' his lamp,
And wad to Common-sense for once betray'd them,
Plain dull Stupidity stept kindly in to aid them.
. . . . . . . . .
What farther clishimaclaver might have been said
What bloody wars, if Sp'rits had blood to shed,
No man can tell; but all before their sight,
A fairy train appear'd in order bright!
Adown the glittering stream they featly danc'd
Bright to the moon their various dresses glanc'd
While arts of minstrelsy among then rung.
And soul-enobling Bards heroic dirties sung!
O had M'Lauchlan[1], thairm-inspiring Sage,
Been there to hear this heavenly band engage,
When thro' his dear Strathspeys they bore with Highland rage!
Now hand you there! for faith ye've aid enow,
And muckle mair than ye can mak to through,
And for your Priesthood, I shall say but little,
Corbies and Clergy are a shot right kittle:
But, under favour of your langer beard,
Abuse o' Magistrates might weel be spar'd;
To liken them to your auldwarl's quad,
I must needs say, comparisons are odd.
In Ayr, Wag-wits hae mair can hae a handle
To mouth a Citizen, a term o' scandal;
Nae mair the Council waddles down the street,
In a' the pomp of ignorant conceit;
Men wha grew wise priggin owre hops and raisins,
Or gather'd lib'ral views in bonds and seisins.
If hap'ly Knowledge, on a random tramp,
Had shor'd them with a glimmer o' his lamp,
And wad to Common-sense for once betray'd them,
Plain dull Stupidity stept kindly in to aid them.
. . . . . . . . .
What farther clishimaclaver might have been said
What bloody wars, if Sp'rits had blood to shed,
No man can tell; but all before their sight,
A fairy train appear'd in order bright!
Adown the glittering stream they featly danc'd
Bright to the moon their various dresses glanc'd
While arts of minstrelsy among then rung.
And soul-enobling Bards heroic dirties sung!
O had M'Lauchlan[1], thairm-inspiring Sage,
Been there to hear this heavenly band engage,
When thro' his dear Strathspeys they bore with Highland rage!
- ↑ A well-known Professor of Scottish Music.