Part 31 (1/2)
Ye need na doubt, I held my whisht; The infant aith, half-form'd, was crusht I glowr'd as eerie's I'd been dusht In some wild glen; When sweet, like honest Worth, she blusht, An' stepped ben.
Green, slender, leaf-clad holly-boughs Were twisted, gracefu', round her brows; I took her for some Scottish Muse, By that same token; And come to stop those reckless vows, Would soon been broken.
A ”hair-brain'd, sentimental trace”
Was strongly marked in her face; A wildly-witty, rustic grace Shone full upon her; Her eye, ev'n turn'd on empty s.p.a.ce, Beam'd keen with honour.
Down flow'd her robe, a tartan sheen, Till half a leg was scrimply seen; An' such a leg! my bonie Jean Could only peer it; Sae straught, sae taper, tight an' clean-- Nane else came near it.
Her mantle large, of greenish hue, My gazing wonder chiefly drew: Deep lights and shades, bold-mingling, threw A l.u.s.tre grand; And seem'd, to my astonish'd view, A well-known land.
Here, rivers in the sea were lost; There, mountains to the skies were toss't: Here, tumbling billows mark'd the coast, With surging foam; There, distant shone Art's lofty boast, The lordly dome.
Here, Doon pour'd down his far-fetch'd floods; There, well-fed Irwine stately thuds: Auld hermit Ayr staw thro' his woods, On to the sh.o.r.e; And many a lesser torrent scuds, With seeming roar.
Low, in a sandy valley spread, An ancient borough rear'd her head; Still, as in Scottish story read, She boasts a race To ev'ry n.o.bler virtue bred, And polish'd grace.^2
By stately tow'r, or palace fair, Or ruins pendent in the air, Bold stems of heroes, here and there, I could discern; Some seem'd to muse, some seem'd to dare, With feature stern.
My heart did glowing transport feel, To see a race heroic^3 wheel,
[Footnote 2: The seven stanzas following this were first printed in the Edinburgh edition, 1787. Other stanzas, never published by Burns himself, are given on p. 180.]
[Footnote 3: The Wallaces.--R. B.]
And brandish round the deep-dyed steel, In st.u.r.dy blows; While, back-recoiling, seem'd to reel Their Suthron foes.
His Country's Saviour,^4 mark him well!
Bold Richardton's heroic swell;^5 The chief, on Sark who glorious fell,^6 In high command; And he whom ruthless fates expel His native land.
There, where a sceptr'd Pictish shade Stalk'd round his ashes lowly laid,^7 I mark'd a martial race, pourtray'd In colours strong: Bold, soldier-featur'd, undismay'd, They strode along.
Thro' many a wild, romantic grove,^8 Near many a hermit-fancied cove (Fit haunts for friends.h.i.+p or for love, In musing mood), An aged Judge, I saw him rove, Dispensing good.
With deep-struck, reverential awe, The learned Sire and Son I saw:^9 To Nature's G.o.d, and Nature's law, They gave their lore; This, all its source and end to draw, That, to adore.
[Footnote 4: William Wallace.--R.B.]
[Footnote 5: Adam Wallace of Richardton, cousin to the immortal preserver of Scottish independence.--R.B.]
[Footnote 6: Wallace, laird of Craigie, who was second in command under Douglas, Earl of Ormond, at the famous battle on the banks of Sark, fought anno 1448. That glorious victory was princ.i.p.ally owing to the judicious conduct and intrepid valour of the gallant laird of Craigie, who died of his wounds after the action.--R.B.]
[Footnote 7: Coilus, King of the Picts, from whom the district of Kyle is said to take its name, lies buried, as tradition says, near the family seat of the Montgomeries of Coilsfield, where his burial--place is still shown.--R.B.]
[Footnote 8: Barskimming, the seat of the Lord Justice-- Clerk.--R.B.]
[Footnote 9: Catrine, the seat of the late Doctor and present Professor Stewart.--R.B.]
Brydon's brave ward^10 I well could spy, Beneath old Scotia's smiling eye: Who call'd on Fame, low standing by, To hand him on, Where many a patriot-name on high, And hero shone.