King Louis thought to cut it down, A wicked crew syne,3 on a time, It ne'er should flourish to its prime, Like beagles hunting game, man, For Freedom, standing by the tree, Her sons did loudly ca', man; She sang a sang o' liberty, Which pleased them ane and a', man. By her inspired, the new-born race f Soon drew the avenging steel, man; The hirelings ran-her foes gied chase, And bang'd the despot weel, man. Let Britain boast her hardy oak, Her poplar and her pine, man, Without this tree, alake, this life Is but a vale o' woe, man; To feed the titled knave, man; Wi' plenty o' sic trees, I trow, The warld would leeve in peace, man; Wae worth the loon 4 wha wadna eat Sure plant this far-famed tree, man; And blithe we'll sing, and hail the day That gives us liberty, man. 266 Here's the memory of those on the twelfth that we lost That we lost, did I say? nay, by Heav'n, that we found; For their fame it shall last while the world goes round. The next in succession, I'll give you the King! Whoe'er would betray him, on high may he swing! And here's the grand fabric, our free Constitution, As built on the base of the great Revolution; And longer with politics not to be cramm'd, Be Anarchy curs'd, and be Tyranny damn'd; And who would to Liberty e'er prove disloyal, May his son be a hangman, and he his first trial! ADDRESS TO THE DEIL ROBERT BURNS O Prince! O Chief of many throned pow'rs! That led th'embattled seraphim to war. 1 MILTON. O thou! whatever title suit thee,Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, or Clootie! Wha in yon cavern, grim an' sootie, Clos'd under hatches, 1 Spairges about the brunstane cootie 2 To scaud 3 poor wretches! feeling the passion that is traced before us has glowed in a living heart; the opinion he utters has risen in his own understanding, and been a light to his own steps. He does not write from hearsay, but from sight and experience; it is the scenes that he has lived and labored amidst, that he describes; those scenes, rude and humble as they are, have kindled beautiful emotions in his soul, noble thoughts, and definite resolves; and he speaks forth what is in him, not from any outward call of vanity or interest, but because his heart is too full to be silent. He speaks it with such melody and modulation as he can; "in homely rustic jingle"; but it is his own, and genuine. This is the grand secret for finding readers and retaining them: let him who would move and convince others, be first moved and convinced himself. Horace's rule, Si vis me flere, is applicable in a wider sense than the literal one. To every poet, to every writer, we might say: Be true, if you would be believed. Let a man but speak forth with genuine earnestness the thought, the emotion, the actual condition of his own heart; and other men, so strangely are we all knit together by the tie of sympathy, must and will give heed to him. In culture, in extent of view, we may stand above the speaker, or below him; but in either case, his words, if they are earnest and sincere, will find some response within us; for in spite of all casual varieties in outward rank or inward, as face answers to face, so does the heart of man to man. Byron and Burns were sent forth as missionaries to their generation, to teach it a higher Doctrine, a purer Truth; they had a message to deliver, which left them no rest till it was accomplished; in dim throes of pain, this divine behest lay smouldering within them, for they knew not what it meant, and felt it only in mysterious anticipation, and they had to die without articulately uttering it. They are in the camp of the Unconverted; yet not as high messengers of rigorous though benignant Truth, but as soft flattering singers, and in pleasant fellowship will they live there; they are first adulated, then persecuted; they accomplish little for others; they find no peace for themselves, but only death and the peace of the grave. We confess it is not without a certain mournful awe that we view the fate of these noble souls, so richly gifted, yet ruined to so little purpose with all their |