DEDICATION. TÓ THE NOBLEMEN AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CALEDONIAN HUNT, MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, A SCOTTISH Bard, proud of the name, and whofe highest ambition is to fing in his Country's fervice, where shall he fo properly look for patronage as to the illuftrious Names of his Native Land; thofe who bear the honours and inherit the virtues of their Ancestors? A 2 Ancestors?The Poetic Genius of my Country found me as the prophetic bard Elijah did Elifha-at the plough; and threw her infpiring mantle over me. She bade me fing the loves, the joys, the rural Scenes and rural pleafures of my natal Soil, in my native tongue I tuned my wild, artless notes, as fhe infpiredShe whispered me, to come to this ancient metropolis of Caledonia, and lay my Songs under your honoured pro tection: I now obey her dictates. Though much indebted to your goodness, I do not approach you, my Lords and Gentlemen, in the ufual file of dedication, to thank you for past favours; that path is fo hackneyed by profituted Learning, that honeft Rufticity is afhamed of it. Nor do I prefent this Addrefs with the venal foul of a fervile Author, looking for a continuation of thofe favours: I was bred to the Plough, and am independent. I come to claim the common |