Is there, for honest poverty, That hings his head, an' a' that? Our toils obscure, an' a' that; What tho' on hamely fare we dine, Wear hodden-gray,' an' a' that; Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine, A man's a man for a' that. 15 20 ΙΟ For a' that, an' a' that, It's coming yet, for a' that, That man to man, the warld o'er, Shall brothers be for a' that. JOANNA BAILLIE (1762-1851) WOO'D AND MARRIED AND A' 3 The bride she is winsome and bonny, Is na' she very weel aff 4 To be woo'd and married at a'? Her mither then hastily spak, "The lassie is glaikit wi' pride; In my pouch I had never a plack On the day when I was a bride. E'en tak to your wheel and be clever, And draw out your thread in the sun; The gear that is gifted it never Will last like the gear that is won. Woo'd and married and a'! Wi' havins and tocher sae sma'! 12 18 gold 2 coarse grey cloth 3 young fellow fool linen 4 furnishings $ befooled finery, laces, • small coin 7 given 8 goods and dowry 9 colt 10 fellow 40 SAMUEL ROGERS I'm baith like to laugh and to greet When I think of her married at a'!" Then out spak the wily bridegroom, Though thy ruffles or ribbons be few, Dear and dearest of ony! Ye're woo'd and buikit and a'! And do ye think scorn o' your Johnny, She turn'd, and she blush'd, and she smiled, 36 42 48 A hat of ceremony? On he glides, At length arrived, and with a shrug that pleads The splendour of thy name has gone before 327 him? Such questions hourly do I ask myself; O Italy, how beautiful thou art! Yet I could weep for thou art lying, alas, Low in the dust; and we admire thee now 10 As we admire the beautiful in death. born, The gift of Beauty. Would thou hadst it not; Or wert as once, awing the caitiffs vile That now beset thee, making thee their slave! Would they had loved thee less, or feared thee more! But why despair? Twice hast thou lived already; Twice shone among the nations of the world, come, 20 When they who think to bind the ethereal spirit, Who, like the eagle cowering o'er his prey, Watch with quick eye, and strike and strike again If but a sinew vibrate, shall confess Their wisdom folly. Even now the flame Bursts forth where once it burnt so gloriously, death, God-like example. Echoes that have slept Since Athens, Lacedæmon were themselves, Since men invoked "By those in Marathon!" |