Robert Burns: How To Know Him Part 44

Scotland, lament frae coast to coast!

Now colic-grips an' barkin' hoast [cough]

May kill us a'; For loyal Forbes' charter'd boast Is ta'en awa!

Thae curst horse-leeches o' th' Excise, [These]

Wha mak the whisky stells their prize-- [stills]

Haud up thy hand, deil! Ance--twice--thrice!

There, seize the blinkers! [spies]

An' bake them up in brunstane pies [brimstone]

For poor d.a.m.n'd drinkers.

Fortune! if thou'll but gie me still Hale breeks, a bannock, and a gill, [Whole breeches, oatmeal cake]

An' rowth o' rhyme to rave at will, [plenty]

Tak' a' the rest, An' deal'd about as thy blind skill Directs thee best.

[25] Forbes of Culloden was given in 1690 liberty to distil grain at Ferintosh without excise. When this privilege was withdrawn in 1785, the price of whisky rose--hence Burns's lament.

TO A HAGGIS

Fair fa' your honest sonsie face, [jolly]

Great chieftain o' the puddin'-race!

Aboon them a' ye tak your place, [Above]

Painch, tripe, or thairm: [Paunch, guts]

Weel are ye wordy o' a grace [worthy]

As lang's my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill, Your hurdies like a distant hill; [b.u.t.tocks]

Your pin wad help to mend a mill [skewer]

In time o' need; While thro' your pores the dews distil Like amber bead.

His knife see rustic Labour dight, [wipe]

An' cut you up wi' ready sleight, [skill]

Trenching your gus.h.i.+ng entrails bright Like ony ditch; And then, O what a glorious sight, Warm-reekin', rich! [-smoking]

Then, horn for horn they stretch an' strive, [spoon]

Deil tak the hindmost! on they drive, Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve [well-swelled bellies soon]

Are bent like drums; Then auld guidman, maist like to rive, [burst]

'Be-thankit!' hums.

Is there that o'er his French _ragout_, Or _olio_ that wad staw a sow, [sicken]

Or _frica.s.see_ wad mak her spew Wi' perfect sconner, Looks down wi' sneering scornfu' view [disgust]

On sic a dinner?

Poor devil! see him owre his trash, As f.e.c.kless as a wither'd rash, [feeble, rush]

His spindle shank a guid whip-lash, His nieve a nit: [fist, nut]

Thro' b.l.o.o.d.y flood or field to dash, O how unfit!

But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed-- The trembling earth resounds his tread!

Clap in his walie nieve a blade, [ample fist]

He'll mak it whissle; An' legs, an' arms, an' heads will sned, [crop]

Like taps o' thrissle. [thistle]

Ye Pow'rs wha mak mankind your care, And dish them out their bill o' fare Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware [watery stuff]

That jaups in luggies; [splashes, porringers]

But, if ye wish her gratefu' prayer, Gie her a Haggis!

A BARD'S EPITAPH

Is there a whim-inspired fool, Owre fast for thought, owre hot for rule, [Too]

Owre blate to seek, owre proud to snool, [bashful, cringe]

Let him draw near; And owre this gra.s.sy heap sing dool, [woe]

And drap a tear.

Is there a bard of rustic song, Who, noteless, steals the crowds among, That weekly this area throng, O, pa.s.s not by!

But, with a frater-feeling strong, Here heave a sigh.

Is there a man whose judgment clear, Can others teach the course to steer.

Yet runs, himself, life's mad career, Wild as the wave; Here pause--and, thro' the starting tear, Survey this grave.

The poor inhabitant below Was quick to learn and wise to know, And keenly felt the friendly glow, And softer flame; But thoughtless follies laid him low, And stain'd his name!

Reader, attend! whether thy soul Soars fancy's flights beyond the pole, Or darkling grubs this earthly hole, In low pursuit; Know prudent, cautious self-control Is wisdom's root.

CHAPTER VI

CONCLUSION

We have now examined in some detail the main facts of Burns's personal life and literary production: it is time to sum these up in order to realize the character of the man and the value of the work.

Certain fundamental qualities are easily traced to his parentage. The Burnses were honest, hard-working people, stubborn fighters for independence, with intellectual tastes above the average of their cla.s.s. These characteristics the poet inherited. With all his failures in worldly affairs, he contrived to pay his debts; however obliged to friends and patrons for occasional aid, he never abated his self-respect or became the hanger-on of any man; and he showed throughout his life an eager, receptive, and ever-expanding mind. The seed sown by his father with so much pains and care in his early training fell on fruitful soil, and in the range of his information, as well as in his critical and reasoning powers, Burns became the equal of educated men. The love of independence, indeed, was less a family than a national pa.s.sion. The salient fact in the history of Scotland is the intensity of the prolonged struggle against the political domination of England; and there developed in the individual life of the Scot a corresponding tendency to value personal freedom as the greatest of treasures. The thrift and economy for which the Scottish people are everywhere notable, and which has its vicious excess in parsimony and nearness, is in its more honorable aspects no end in itself but merely a means to independence. If they are keen to "gather gear,"

It's no to hide it in a hedge, Nor for a train-attendant, But for the glorious privilege Of being independent.

Along with these substantial and admirable qualities of integrity and independence Burns inherited certain limitations. In the peasant cla.s.s in which he was born and reared, the fierceness of the struggle for existence has crowded out some of the more beautiful qualities that need ease and leisure for their development. The virtues of chivalry do indeed at times appear among the very poor, but they are the characteristic product of a cla.s.s in which conditions are more generous, the necessaries of life are taken for granted, and the elemental demands of human nature are satisfied without compet.i.tive striving. When a peasant is chivalrous he is so by virtue of some individual quality, and in spite of rather than because of the spirit of his cla.s.s. Burns was too acute and too observant not to gather much from the social ideals of the ladies and gentlemen with whom he came in contact, and what he gathered affected his conduct profoundly; but at times under stress of frustrated pa.s.sion or mortified vanity he reverted to the ruder manners of the peasantry from which he sprang.

So have to be accounted for certain brutalities in his treatment of the women who loved him or who had been unwise enough to yield to his fascination.

Other characteristics belong to him individually rather than to his family or cla.s.s or nation. He was to an extraordinary degree proud and sensitive. He reacted warmly to kindness, and showed his grat.i.tude without stint; but he allowed no man to presume upon the obligations he had conferred. He was very conscious of difference of rank, and never sought to ignore it, however little he thought it mattered in comparison with intrinsic merit. But the very degree to which he was aware of the social gap between him and many of his acquaintances put him ever on the alert for slights; and when he perceived or imagined that he had received them, his indignation was sometimes less than dignified and often excessive. Though he knew that he possessed uncommon gifts, he was essentially modest in fact as well as in appearance, and on the whole underestimated his genius.

He had a warm heart, and in his relations with his equals he was genial and friendly. His love of his kind manifested itself especially in his delight in company, a delight naturally heightened by the enjoyment of the sense of leaders.h.i.+p which his superior wit and brilliance gave him in almost any society. The customs of the time a.s.sociated to an unfortunate degree hard drinking with social intercourse. But more than the whisky he enjoyed the loosening of self-consciousness and the warmth of conviviality that it brought.

It's no I like to sit an' swallow, [not that]

Then like a swine to puke an' wallow; But gie me just a true guid fellow [give]

Wi' right ingine, [wit]

And s.p.u.n.kie ance to mak us mellow, [liquor enough]

An' then we'll s.h.i.+ne!