Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

60

THE SHEPHERD IN THE PARK.

Shepherd. O man! wheesht. The centre-the navel o' the great wheel that keepit circumvolvin round, while rays, like spokes, innumerable frae leddies' een shot towards me frae the circumference, and hadna my heart been pierced, it wad hae been no o' wudd, but o' stane.

North. O thou Sabbath-breaker!

Shepherd. That thocht saddened me, but I shook it aff, and I howp I may be forgiven, for it wasna my ain faut, but the faut o' that Lord that munted me on his ain charger, and would show me whether I would or no-in the Dress-Rings.

Tickler. And how were you dressed, James?

Shepherd. Wiser-like than you in your ordinar—just in the Sabbath claes I gang in to Yarrow kirk.

North. Simple son of genius! Buller, is he not a jewel? Buller. He is.

Shepherd. Fie lads-think shame o' yoursels-for I ken that ahint ma back you ca' me a rouch diamond.

North. But the setting, my dear James! How farther were you set?

Shepherd. I hadna on the blue bannet-for I had nae wush to be singular, sir-but the plaid was atower ma shouthers

North. And across your manly breast, my Shepherd, which must have felt then and there, as here and now, entitled to beat with the pride of conscious genius and worth.

Shepherd. I shanna say that I wasna proud, but I shall say that I was happy; for the Englishers I hae ever held to be the noblest race o' leevin men except the Scotch-and forby that, sirs, a poet is nae mair a poet in his ain kintra than a prophet a prophet; but yonner my inspiration was acknowledged, and I thocht mair o' mysel as the owther o' the Queen's Wake, five hunder miles awa frae the Forest, than I ever had ony visible reason to do sae, in the city ower which Mary Stuart ance rang,1 and in the very shadow o' Holyrood. Tickler. How you must have eclipsed Count d'Orsay !2 Shepherd. I eclipsed nane. There's nae eclipsin yonnerfor the heaven was a' shinin wi' mony thousan' stars. But the sugh went that the Ettrick Shepherd was in the Park-the Shepherd o' the Wake, and The Pilgrims, and Kilmeny—

1 Rang-reigned.

2 This accomplished gentleman, and leader of the fashion in his day, died in 1852.

THE LADIES IN THE PARK.

North. And the Noctes

61

Shepherd. Ay, o' the Noctes and what were they ever, or wad they ever again hae been, withouten your ain auld Shepherd ?

North. Dark-dark-irrecoverable dark!

Shepherd. Your haun. Thousands o' trees were there-but a' I kent o' them, as they gaed gliding greenly by, was that they were beautifu'; as for the equipages, they seemed a' ae equipage

Tickler. Your cortège.

Shepherd. Wheesht-wheesht-O man, wunna ye wheesht! -Representin-containin-a' the wealth, health, rank, beauty, grace, genius, virtue o' England

Tickler. Virtue !

Shepherd. Yes-Virtue.

Their een were like the een o'

angels, and if virtue wasna smiling yonner, then 'twould be vain to look for her on this side o' heaven.

North. I fear, my dearest Shepherd, that you forgot the Flowers of the Forest.

Shepherd. Clean. And what for no? And what for no? Wasna I a stranger in Lunnon? and would I alloo fancy to flee awa wi' me out the gates o' Paradise? Na-she couldna hae dune that, had she striven to harl me by the hair o' the head. Oh, sir! sufficient for the hour was the beauty thereof-sowl and senses were a' absorbed in what I saw-and I became

Tickler. The Paragon of the Park.

Shepherd. Wull you no fine him, sir, in saut and water? North. Silence, Tim!

Shepherd. He disturbs ane like the Death-Tick.

North. Well, James?

Shepherd. Oh, sir! the leddies yonner-it maun be confessed-stoop their heads mair elegantly-mair gracefully— mair royally far-than the leddies in Embro'!

Tickler. Indeed! I should have thought that impossible. Shepherd. Wi' a mair enchantin wave o' their arms do they bless ye, as they pass by, wi' a kiss o' licht frae the white saft paums o' their hauns, that micht amaist mak the sad lily herself begin to grow ashamed o' her leaves !—Can it be possible, sir, think ye, that yon gleams are a' o' the real bare skin, and no kid gloves? Yet kids they couldna be — for I observed them drawin them off, as I came near and snawy

62

THE SHEPHERD IS SATISFIED WITH HIS LOT.

as they were, the slichtest tinge o' pink served to shaw what pure bluid was in their veins; but 'twas on their faces you could see the circulation frae their hearts, for there danced the sunshine on roses, and Beauty in its perfection was Joy and Love.

North. Twenty years ago, my dear Shepherd, and what would have become of your heart?

Shepherd. Mr North, you dinna need to be tauld that the heart o' every human-ay, o' every leevin thing's a mystery —and a great and afttimes a sair mystery to me has been mine; but at nae time o' life would I hae felt muckle itherwise amang a' that fascination than I did then-for the sense o' my ain condition, o' my ain lot, has aye lain upon me, and held ma speerit doun, true to the cares and duties o' the sphere in which it pleased Providence that I should be born.

North. You know, my dear James, that I was not serious. Shepherd. I kent that, my dear sir-for ye hae the insicht. No that seldom the sense o' what I said the noo, has been sae heavy that I was like to fent in the weary wilderness; at ither times, and aftener far, though it was like a pack on my shouthers on a hilly road, I hae carried it not only without complainin, but contented, and wi' a supportin gratitude; while aftenest o' a'. and you'll, sir, no think that strange - it has been to me even like wings on which I walked alang the green braes in the dewy mornin, wi' steps o' air, and envied not leevin cretur in a' the wide warld. And when something within me whuspered that I had genie, then the wings o' themsels unfaulded, and I thocht, without leavin or losin sicht a'thegither o' the Forest, that I sailed awa into still lovelier laun's-intil Fairylaun' itsel, sir-for 'twas there I met Kilmeny-and asked the bonny doo where she had come frae, and where she was gaun-and if she were to return evermair, and she confided a' her secrets to the Shepherdand

North. The Shepherd sung of her "one song that will not die."

Shepherd. That was kind in you, my revered sir, to help me out. Gin conversation had nae ither interruptions than o' that sort, freens micht keep talkin on a' nicht without ever noticin the sinkin o' the cawnles or the risin o' the stars. Tickler. Hem!

THE SHEPHERD AT THE PLAY.

63

Shepherd. The Forest for me, after a'! Sae would it hae been, sir, even had I been ca'd up to Lunnon in my youth or prime. Out o' utter but no lang forgetfulness it would hae risen up, stretchin itsel out in a' its length and breadth, wi' a' its lochs and mountains, and hills and streams- St Mary's and the Yarrow, the dearest o' them a'—and wafted me alang wi't, far aff and awa frae Lunnon, like a man in a warld o' his ain, swoomin northward through the air, wi' motion true to that ae airt, and no deviatin for sake o' the brichtest southern star.

Buller. Most beautiful.

Shepherd. If it would hae been sae even then, Mr Buller, hoo much mair maun it hae been sae but some three simmers back, when my hair, though a gey dour broon, was yieldin to the grey ? You was never at Mount Benger, sir, nor Altrive, and the mair's the pity, for happy should we a' be to see sic a fine, free, freenly fallow-and o' sic bricht pairts—though the weans michtna just at first follow your English

Buller. For their sakes, my dear Shepherd-forgive my familiarity-I should learn their own Doric in a day.

Shepherd. That you wad, my dear Mr Buller; and thinkna ye, gin if I ever, for a flaff,' in the Park, forgot my ain cosy bield, that the thocht on't cam na back on my heart—ay, the verra sicht o't afore my een-dearer than ever for sake o' the wee bodies speerin at their mother when faither was comin hame-and for sake o' her, who, for my sake, micht at that moment be lettin drap a kiss on their heads.

Tickler. Now that we have seen the Shepherd in the Park, pray, James, exhibit yourself at the Play.

Shepherd. The last exhibition you made o' yoursel, Mr Tickler, at the Play, as you ca't-meanin, I presume, in the Playhouse wasna quite sae creditable as your freens wad hae wished-sittin in ane o' the upper boxes wi' a pented waxdoll-no to ca' them waur-on ilka haun

North. Is that a true bill, Tickler?

Tickler. A lie.

Shepherd. I never answer that monosyllable—but canna help followin't up, on the present occasion, wi' an apothegm; to wit, that a man's morals may be judged by his mainners. But I tell you, Mr North, and you, Mr Buller, that I was in 1 Flaff-instant.

64

AN OCTOGENARIAN SATYR.

ane of the houses-ance, and but ance; I gaed there out o' regard to some freens, and I ever after staid awa out o' regard to mysel—for o' a' the sichts that ever met my een, there never was the like o' yon; and I wonder hoo men-folk and women-folk, sittin side by side, could thole't in a public theatre. The performance was queer by name, and queer by nature—the first I wasna able to remember, and the second I shall never be able to forget. But will ye believe me when I tell you, that on the verra middle o' the stage, geyan weel back to be sure, but only sae as to saften them in the distance, visible to the haill audience were a bevy o' naked lassies, a' plowterin in a bath, wi' the water no up to their waists!

Omnes. Shocking! shocking! shocking!

2

Shepherd. Dinna ye believe't? I grant it's a gey lee-like story, but it's as sure's death. They micht hae some sort o' cleedin on, but gin they had, it wasna visible to the naked ee, and I couldna for shame ask the len1 o' an opera-glass frae an auld gentleman ahint me, who was kecklin like a gouty gander across a burn to a gang o' goslins. I perceived mysel getting red in the face-for though no blate, I howp I hae a' life lang had a sense o' decency; and the young leddy at my side began fannin me wi' her fan. But I pretended to be readin the bill o' the play-only noo and then takin a peep wi' the tail o' my ee-but oh, sirs! yon was a great shame; and though I'm again' a' sorts o' tyranny, or intermeddling wi' the liberty o' the subjeck, I am clear for mainteening, were it even by force o' law, the decency o' a' public entertainments. I couldna help lookin roun' for some member o' the Society for the Suppression o' Vice.

Tickler. Some folks are so very inflammable.

Shepherd. I turned roun' upon the fourscore-and-twa fule ahint me, and askt the odious dotard if it wasna maist laithsome to see him hotchin on his seat, and to hear him mumplin in the mouth at sic a sicht, in the same box wi' a grown lassie that maun hae been at least his great-granddaughter? But the auld toothless satyr was ower deaf to hear me, although wi' help o' ever so mony lenses, baith clarifiers and multipliers, he had sic vision o' the hawrem as made a monster o'him, sufficient -but for the perversion o' public taste and feeling—to hae brocht on his bald head the derision, disgust, and horror o' a full house.

1 Len-loan.

2 Blate-bashful.

« ПредишнаНапред »