Masonic Poets Of Scotland—No. I.

Till fate shall snap the brittle thread . Then , all unknown , I'll lay me with the inglorious dead , Forgot and gone ! But why o' death begin a tale ? Just now we're living sound and hale ,

Then top and maintop crowd the sail , Heave care o'er side ! And large , before enjoyment ' s gale , Let ' s tak the tide .

The contrast follows : — Ance that five-and-forty's speel'd , See , crazy , weary , joyless eild , AVi' wrinkled face , Comes hostin ' , hirplin' , owre the field , AVi' creepin' pace .

When ance life's day draws near the gloamiu , Then fareweel vacant careless roamin '; And fareweel cheerfu' tankards foamin ' , And social noise . O life ! how pleasant is thy morning , Young fancy ' s rays the hills adorning !

Cold-pausing caution's lesson scorning , We frisk away , Like schoolboys , at the expected warning , To joy and play .

We wander there , we wander here , We eye the rose upon the brier , Unmindful that tbe thorn is near , Among the leaves ; And though the puny wound appear , Short while it grieves

The poem of " Tam o' Shanter we have not space to analyse , yet cannot help observing the fine descriptive touches throughout . Every word < e tells . " What might Burns not have done with fuller opportunities and ampler scope for cultivating

the gifts Avith which he Avas endowed ! With high purposes once formed , ancl looking to the concentrated power of this one tale , it is not matter of regret he did not embody other tales founded on traditionary lore , in Avhich national customs might have been as graphically depicted as in the " HalloAve'en ?"

Another poem , of a different nature , we may refer to ; those exquisitively beautiful stanzas in which the form of his buried love , of his first and fairest— " Hig hland Mary "—is recalled . It was composed under the following circumstances : —

Burns had been all day with the shearers in the field , and much of the crop being likely to be soon got in , was in good spirits . But , at gloaming , he greAV sad , restless , Avandering first up the waterside , then turning to the barnyard . His wife folloAved , begging that he would come in , as he had beenpreviouslyunwell , andtheairwas coldandsharp .

"He always promised , " said Mrs . Burns , "but still remained where he was , striding up and down , and looking at the clear sky , and particularly at one star , which shone with peculiar brightness . " He threw himself down on some loose sheaves ,

still continuing to gaze at the star . The fruit ; of that hour of thoughtfulness was the pathetic poem , " Mary in Heaven "—

Thou lingering star , with lessening ray , That lov ' st to greet the early morn , Again thou usher ' st in the day My Mary from my soul was torn . That sacred hour can I forget ?

Can I forget the hallow'd grove , Where by tbe winding Ayr we met , To live one day of parting love ? Eternity will not efface Those records dear of transports past ; Thy image at our last embrace ; Ah ! little thought I 'twas our last ! Ayr , gurgling , kiss'd his pebbled shore ,

O ' erhung with wild woods , thickening green ; The fragrant brier , and hawthorn hoar , Twined amorous round the raptured scene j The flowers sprang wanton to be prest , The birds sang love on every spray—Till too , too soon , the glowing west Proclaim'd the speed of winged day .

Still o'er these scenes my memory wakes , And fondly broods with miser care ! Time but the impression stronger makes , As streams their channels deeper wear . My Mary ! dear departed shade ! AVhere is thy place of blissful rest ? See'st thou , thy lover lowly laid ?

Hear ' st thou the groans that rend his breast ? Many other passages might be quoted , but we forbear , referring merely , in illustration of the intense severity of Burns' sarcasm , to one or two of his epigrams or epitaphs , some of which are , however , far from decorous . Thus— " On a Schoolmaster "—

"Here lies Willie Michie's banes ; 0 Satan , when ye tak him , Gie him the schooling o' your weans , For clever deils he'll mak them . " The other I introduce for the sake of the anecdote of a Mason with whom Burns frequently had

a polemical argument *—" Below tbir stanes lie Jamie's banes ; 0 Death , it ' s my opinion ,

Thou ne'er took such a bleth ' rin bitch , Into thy dark dominion 1 " On the songs of Burns we shall briefly touch