VIII.

But tent me, Davie, Ace o' Hearts;

(To fay aught lefs wad wrang the cartes, And flatt'ry I deteft)

This life has joys for you and I,

And joys that riches ne'er could buy,

And joys the very best.

There's a' the Pleafures o' the Heart,
The Lover an' the Frien';
Ye hae your Meg, your dearest part,
And I my darling Jean!

O all

It warms me, it charms me,
To mention but her name;
It heats me, it beets me,

And fets me a' on flame!

you

IX.

Pow'rs who rule above!

O Thou, whofe very felf art Love!

Thou know't my words fincere! The life-blood ftreaming thro' my heart, Or my more dear Immortal part,

Is

s not more fondly dear!

When heart-corroding care and grief
Deprive my foul of reft,

Her dear idea brings relief,
And Solace to my breaft:
Thou Being, All-feeing,

O hear my fervent pray'r!
Still take her, and make her
Thy moft peculiar care?

X.

All hail ye tender-feeling dear!
The fmile of love, the friendly tear,
The fympathetick glow!

Long fince, this world's thorny ways

Had number'd out my weary days,
Had it not been for you!

Fate ftill has bleft me with a friend,
In ev'ry care and ill,

And oft a more endearing band,

A tie more tender ftill:

It lightens, it brightens,

The tenebrific fcene,

To meet with, and greet with
My Davie, or my Jean!

XI.

O, how that name infpires my ftyle!
The words come skelpin, rank and file,
Amaift before I ken!

The ready meafure rins as fine,
As Phoebus and the famous Nine

Were glowrin owre my pen.
My fpaviet Pegafus will limp,
Till ance he's fairly het;

And then he'll hilch, and ftilt, and jimp,

And rin an unco fit:

But leaft then, the beaft then,

Should rue this hafty ride,

I'll light now, and dight now

His fweaty, wizen'd hide.

THE LAMENT

OCCASIONED BY

THE UNFORTUNATE ISSUE

OF A

FRIEND'S AMOUR.

Alas! how oft does Goodness wound itself!
And fweet Affection prove the Spring of Wosenleide

HOML

THOU pale Orb, that filent shines, While care-untroubled mortals fleep!

Thou feeeft a Wretch, who inly pines,

And wanders here to wail and weep fo

With Woe I nightly vigils keep,

Beneath thy wan, unwarming beam go sob but

And mourn, in lamentation deep, to all

How life and love are all a dream!

II.

I joyless view thy rays adorn

The faintly marked, distant hill; I joyless view thy trembling horn, Reflected in the gurgling rill. My fondly fluttering heart, be ftill! Thou bufy pow'r, Remembrance, ceafe! Ah! muft the agonizing thrill

For ever bar returning Peace!

III.

No idly feign'd, poetic pains,

My fad, love-lorn lamentings claim: No fhepherd's pipe-Arcadian strains; No fabled tortures, quaint and tame; The plighted faith; the mutual flame; The oft-attefted Pow'rs above; ene The promis'd Father's tender name » Thefe were the pledges of my love.

IV.

Encircled in her clafping arms,

How have the raptur'd moments flown! How have I wish'd for Fortune's charm

For her dear fake, and her's alone ! And, muft I think it! is fhe gone? gjor My fecret heart's exulting boaft? And does the heedlefs hear my groan?

And is the ever, ever loft ?

V.

Oh! can fhe bear so base a heart,
So loft to Honour, loft to Truth,
As from the fondeft lover part,

The plighted husband of her youth?
Alas! Life's path may be unfmooth!
Her way may lie thro' rough diftress!
Then who her pangs and pains will foothe,
Her forrows fhare and make them lefs?

VI..

Ye winged Hours that o'er us paft,.
Enraptur'd more, the more enjoy'd,.
Your dear remembrance in my breast,
My fondly treafur'd thoughts employ'd;
That breaft, how dreary now, and void,
For her too fcanty once of room!
Ev'n ev'ry ray of hope deftroy'd,

And not a Wish to gild the gloom!

VII.

The morn that warns th' approaching day, Awakes me up to toil and woe;

I fee the hours, in long array,

That 1 muft fuffer, ling'ring, flow. Full many a pang, and many a throe, Keen Recollection's direful train, Muft wring my foul, ere Phoebus, low, Shall kifs the diftant, western main...

VIH.

And when my nightly couch I try,

Sore harass'd out with care and grief,