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Aught they to either do or say,
Or walk, or write, or read, or pray!
When money, their Factotum, 's able
To furnish them a num'rous rabble,
Who will, for daily drink and wages,
Be chairmen, chaplains, clerks, and pages:
Could they, like you, employ their hours
In planting these delightful flow'rs
Which carpet the poetic fields,

And lasting funds of pleasure yields,
Nae mair they'd gaunt and gove away,
Or sleep or loiter out the day,

Or waste the night damning their sauls
In deep debauch, and bawdy brawls,
Whence pox and poverty proceed,
An early eild, and spirits dead.
Reverse of you---and him you love,
Whose brighter spirit tow'rs above
The mob of thoughtless lords and beaus,
Who in his ilka actions shows
"True friendship, love, benevolence,
"Unstudy'd wit, and manly sense."
Allow here what you've said yoursell,
Nought can b'express'd so just and well:
To him, and her worthy his love,
And ev'ry blessing from above,

Volume I.

B

A son is giv'n; God save the boy!
For theirs and ev'ry Somer'ile's joy.
Ye wardins round him take your place,
And raise him with each manly grace;
Make his meridian virtues shine,
To add fresh lustres to his line;
And many may the mother see
Of such a lovely progeny!

Now, Sir, when Boreas nae mair thuds Hail, snaw, and sleet, frae blacken'd cluds; While Caledonia's hills are green,

And a' her straths delight the een;
While ilka flow'r with fragrance blows,
And a' the year its beauty shows;
Before again the winter low'r,

What hinders then your northern tour?
Be sure of welcome; nor believe
Those wha an ill report will give
To Edinburg and the land of Cakes,
That nought what's necessary lacks.
Here Plenty's goddess frae her horn
Pours fish and cattle, claith and corn,
In blithe abundance---and yet mair,
Our men are brave, our ladies fair.
Nor will North Britain yield for fouth
Of ilka thing, and fellows couth,
To any but her sister South.-

True, rugged roads are cursed dreigh,
And speats aft roar frae mountains high:
The body tires---poor tott'ring clay !
And likes with ease at hame to stay;
While sauls stride warlds at ilka stend,
And can their wid'ning views extend.
Mine sees you while you cheerfu' roam
On sweet Avona's flow'ry howm,
There r. collecting with full view
Those follies which mankind pursue,
While, conscious of superior merit,
You rise with a correcting spirit,
And, as an agent of the Gods,
Lash them with sharp satiric rods:
Labour divine !---Next, for a change,
O'er hill and dale I see you range
After the fox or whidding hare,
Confirming health in purest air,

While joy frae heights and dales resounds,
Rais'd by the hola, horn and hounds:
Fatigu'd yet pleas'd, the chase outrun,
I see the friend and setting sun
Invite you to the temp'rate bicker,

Which makes the blood and wit flow quicker.
The clock strikes twelve, to rest you bound,
To save your health by sleeping sound.
Thus with cool head and healsome breast
You see new day stream frae the east;

Then all the Muses round you shine,

Inspiring ev'ry thought divine;

Be long their aid---your years and blesses, Your servant Allan Ramsay wishes.

THE CHASE.

PREFACE.

THE old and infirm have at least this privilege, that they can recall to their minds those scenes of joy in which they once delighted, and ruminate over their past pleasures with a satisfaction almost equal to the first enjoyment; for those ideas to which any agreeble sensation is annexed are easily excited, as leaving behind them the most strong and permanent impressions. The amusements of our youth are the boast and comfort of our declining years. The ancients carried this notion even yet further, and supposed their heroes in the Elysian Fields were fond of the very same diversions they exercised on earth. Death itself could not wean them from the accustomed sports and gaieties of life.

Pars in gramineis exercent membra palaestris;
Contendunt ludo, et fulva luctantur arena :

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