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HAME CONTENT.

Unyoke, then, man! and binna sweer

To ding a hole in ill-hain'd gear.
O think that eild, wi' wylie fit,
Is wearing nearer, bit by bit!

Gin aince he claws you wi' his paw,
What's siller for? fient hae't,ava!

But gowden playfair, that may please
The second sharger till he dies,

Some daft chiel reads, and taks advice;

The chaise is yokit in a trice;

Awa' drives he, like huntit deil,

And scarce tholes time to cool his wheel,

Till he's-Lord kens how far awa'!

At Italy, or Well o' Spa;

Or to Montpelier's safter air:

For far aff fowls hae feathers fair.

There rest him weel:-for eith can we

Spare mony glaikit gowks like he.

་་་་་་་་

HAME CONTENT.

They'll tell whare Tiber's waters rise;
What sea receives the drumly prize ;

That never wi' their feet hae met
The marches o' their ain estate.

The Arno and the Tiber lang
Hae run fell clear in Roman sang ;
But, save the reverence of schools!
They're baith but lifeless, dowie pools.
Dought they compare wi' bonny Tweed,
As clear as ony lammer-bead?

Or, are their shores mair sweet and gay
Than Fortha's haughs' or banks o' Tay?
Tho' there the herds can jink the showers
'Mang thrivin vines and myrtle bowers,
And blaw the reed to kittle strains,

While Echo's tongue commends their pains;
Like ours, they canna warm the heart

Wi' simple, saft, bewitchin art,

On Leader haughs, and Yarrow braes,

Arcadian herds wad tine their lays,

HAME CONTENT.

To hear the mair melodious sounds,
That live on our poetic grounds.

Come, Fancy! come, and let us tread
The Simmer's flowery velvet bed,
And a' your springs delightfu' lowse

On Tweeda's banks, or Cowdenknowes;
That, taen wi' thy enchantin sang,
Our Scottish lads may round ye thrang:
Sae pleas'd, they'll never fash again
To court you on Italian plain.

Soon will they guess, ye only wear
The simple garb o' Nature here ;
Mair comely far, and fair to sight,
Whan in her easy cleedin dight,

Than, in disguise, ye was before

On Tiber's, or on Arno's shore.

O Banguor (15)! now the hills and dales

Nae mair gie back thy tender tales.

HAME CONTENT.

The birks on Yarrow now deplore,
Thy mournfu' Muse has left the shore.
Near what bright burn, or crystal spring,
Did you your winsome whistle hing?
The Muse shall there, wi' watery e'e
Gie the dunk swaird a tear for thee;
And Yarrow's genius, dowie dame!
Shall there forget her blude-stain'd stream,
On thy sad grave to seek repose,

Who mourn'd her fate, condol'd her woes.

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POSTHUMOUS PIECES.

JOB, CHAP. III. PARAPHRASED.

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PERISH the fatal day when I was born,
The night with dreary darkness be forlorn ;
The loathed, hateful, and lamented night
When Job, 'twas told, had first perceiv'd the light;
Let it be dark, nor let the God on high

Regard it with the favour of his eye;

Let blackest darkness and death's awful shade
Stain it, and make the trembling earth afraid;
Be it, not join'd unto the varying year,,
Nor to the fleeting months in swift career.
Lo! let the night in solitude's dismay

Be dumb to joy, and waste in gloom away;

On it may twilight stars be never known;

Light let it wish for, Lord! but give it none;

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