Ufa 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 BEQUEST 
 OF 
 
 LOUISIANA SCOTT SHUMAN 
 

 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2008 with funding from 
 
 IVIicrosoft Corporation 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cotterssaturdaynOOburnrich 
 
THE COTTER'S SATURDAY NIGHT. 
 
^^"l:!^. {^J ROBERT^BURNS.^ \ 
 -^'' " - ^ilh illustrations 
 
 DRAWN BY F.A.CHAPMAN. ENGRAVED BY J. FILMER. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 PORTER & COATES 
 
PUBLISHERS' PREFACE, 
 
 In once more sending forth to the world of liappy homes, this 
 noblest Poem of " the greatest Poet that ever sprang from the 
 bosom of the people," the Publishers find their occasion and 
 excuse — if such could be ever needed — partly in the fact, that it 
 has never before been detached from tlie collected Works of Burns 
 to receive those adornments of Art which have been so bounti- 
 fully and lovingly bestowed on Gray's " Elegy," Goldsmith's 
 "Deserted Village," Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner," Thomson's 
 "Seasons," and other kindred treasures of our English verse ; but 
 chiefly in the cordial enthusiasm with which artist, engraver, 
 printer, and binder have lent their happiest skill to present it in 
 attire harmonious with its spiritual beauty, and worthy of its 
 essential preciousness. 
 
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 ,^ T' -^-flisc Jil)( (I J K \1KI \ 1 I ~^-^^ 
 
 V^Wa-' "^ I-itni>t ^inl HI .11 iii.uk tin 11 usuul toil ^ife 
 
 ^^■Oi^/M'^ "'*" Ik'IihIv io\s iiuliUstirn obscun , \fea 
 
 ^ .. :>.»■. 1^"» triamltjur hfiir. wuh a aisuainfiii smile, l^§ 
 
 V ^ The short bat siini>le annals of the Poor. I&S 
 
 '^" • •' ^, ■X'^-.^Xi' Gray. ^^^^ 
 
 All! 
 
 j Y loved, my honoured, mucli-respected 
 friend ! 
 No mercenar}" bard his homage pays ; 
 With honest pride, 1 scorn each selfish end ; 
 My dearest meed, a friend's esteem and 
 praise : 
 
 To yon I sing, in simple Scottish lays, 
 The lowly train in life's sequestered scene ; 
 The native feelings strong, the guileless ways; 
 What Aiken in a cottage would have been ; 
 though his worth unknown, far happier there, I ween! 
 
November chill blaws loud wi' angiy sugli ; 
 
 The short'ning winter-daj is near a close ; 
 The miiy beasts retreating frae the plough ; 
 
 The black'ning trains o' craws to their repose: 
 The toil-worn Cotter frae his labour goes, 
 
 This night his weekly moil is at an end, 
 Collects his spades, his mattocks, and his hoes, 
 
 Hoping the morn in ease and rest to spend, 
 And weary, o'er the moor, his course does hameward bend. 
 
Th" expectant wee-things, toddlin, »tacher through 
 To meet their dad, wi^ tlichterin noise an' glee. 
 
At length liis lonely cot appears in view, 
 
 Beneath the shelter of an aged tree ; 
 Th' expectant wee-things, toddlin, stacher through 
 
 To meet their dad, wi' flichterin noise an' glee. 
 His wee bit ingle, blinkin bonnily, 
 
 His clean hearth-stane, his thriftie wifie's smile, 
 The lisping infant prattling on his knee, 
 
 Does a' his weary carking cares beguile. 
 An' makes him quite forget his labour an' his toil. 
 
Belyve, tlie elder bairns come drapping in, 
 
 At service out, amang tlie farmers roun" ; 
 Some ca' the pleugh, some herd, some tentie rin 
 
 A cannie errand to a neebour town : 
 Their eldest hope, their Jenny, woman grown, 
 
 In youth fu' bloom, love sparkling in her e'e, 
 Comes hanie, perhaps, to show a braw new gown, 
 
 Or deposit her sair-won penny-fee, 
 To help her parents dear, if they in hardship be. 
 
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Wi' joy unfeigned, brothers and sisters meet, 
 
 An' each for other's weelfare kindly spiers : 
 The social hours, swift- winged, unnoticed fleet; 
 
 Each tells the uncos that he sees or hears ; 
 The parents, partial, eye their hopeful years ; 
 
 Anticipation forward points the view. 
 The mother, wi' her needle an' her shears. 
 
 Gars auld claes look amaist as weel's the new ; 
 The father mixes a' wi' admonition due. 
 
 
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 i 
 
 
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Their master's an' their mistress's command, 
 
 The younkers a' are warned to obey ; 
 An' mind their Labours wi' an eydent hand, 
 
 An' ne'er, though out o' sight, to jauk or play: 
 " An' oh ! be sure to fear the Lord alway. 
 
 An' mind your duty, duly, morn an' night ! 
 Lest in temptation's path ye gang astray, 
 
 Implore His counsel and assisting might : 
 They never sought in vain that sought the Lord aright !" 
 
\J 
 
 ;^^-^ 
 
 But hark ! a rap comes gently to tlie door ; 
 
 Jenn}^, wlia kens the meaning o' the same, 
 Tells how a neebour lad cam o'er the moor, 
 
 To do some errands, and convoy her hame. 
 The wily mother sees the conscious flame 
 
 Sparkle in Jenny's e'e, and flush her cheek ; 
 Wi' heart-struck anxious care, inquires his name, 
 
 While Jenny hafflins is afraid to speak ; 
 Weel pleased the mother hears its nae wild, worthless rake. 
 
Wi' kindly welcome Jenny brings him ben ; 
 
 A strappan youth ; he takes the mother's eye ; 
 Blythe Jenny sees the visit's no ill ta'en ; 
 
 The father cracks of horses, pleughs, and kye. 
 The youngster's artless heart o'erflows wi' joy, 
 
 But blate an' laithfu', scarce can weel behave ; 
 The mother, wi' a woman's wiles, can spy 
 
 What makes the youth sae bashfu' an' sae grave ; 
 Weel pleased to think her bairn's respected like the lave. 
 
'Tis when a youlliful. loviiir;, modest p;iir. 
 
 In otherV arms t)reathe out the tender tale. 
 Beneath the milk-while thorn that scents the ev'uini; 
 
O bappy love ! where love like this is found ! 
 
 O heart-felt raptures ! bliss beyond compare ! 
 I've paced much this weary, mortal refund, 
 
 And sage experience bids me this declare — 
 " If Ileav'n a draught of heav'nly pleasure spare, 
 
 One cordial in this melancholy vale, 
 'Tis when a youthful, loving, modest pair. 
 
 In other's arms breathe out the tender tale. 
 Beneath the milk-white thorn that scents the evening gale." 
 
 ^ « 
 
 } I ^ :> 
 
 
Is there, in human form, that bears a heart — 
 
 A wretch ! a villain ! lost to love and truth ! 
 That can, with studied, slj, ensnaring art, 
 
 Betray sweet Jenny's unsuspecting youth ? 
 Curse on his joerjured arts ! dissembling smooth I 
 
 Are honour, virtue, conscience, all exiled? 
 Is there no pity, no relenting ruth, 
 
 Points to the parents fondling o'er their child ? 
 Then paints the ruined maid, and their distraction wild' 
 
But now the supper crowns their simple hoard, 
 
 The liealsome parritch, chief o' Scotia's food : 
 The soupe their only hawkie does afford, 
 
 Tliat 'yont the hallan snugly chows her cood ; 
 The dame brings forth in complimental mood. 
 
 To grace the lad, her weel-hain'd kebbuck, fell, 
 An' aft he's prest, an' aft he ca's it guid ; 
 
 The frugal wifie, garrulous, will tell, 
 How ' twas a towmond auld, sin' lint was i' the bell. 
 
The clieerfu' supper done, wi' serious face, 
 
 They, round the ingle, form a circle wide ; 
 The sire turns o'er, wi' patriarchal grace. 
 
 The big ha' Bible, ance his father's pride . 
 His bonnet rev'rentlj is laid aside. 
 
 His 1 yart haffets wearing thin an' bare ; 
 Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide, 
 
 He wales a portion with judicious care ; 
 And "Let us worship God !" he says, with solemii air. 
 
r-^ 
 
 
 They chant their artless notes in simple guise ; 
 
 Thej tune their hearts, hy far the noblest aim : 
 Perhaps Dundee's wild warbling measures rise, 
 
 Or jjlaintive Martyz's, worthy of the name ; 
 Or noble Elgin beets the heav'nward flame, 
 
 The sweetest far of Scotia's holy lays ; 
 Compared with these, Italian trills are tame ; 
 
 The tickled ears no heart-felt ra})tures raise* 
 Nae unison hae they with our Creator's praise. 
 
 ir':iiH'ii'ii"^ii 
 
 
 TA 
 
The priest-like father reads the sacred page. 
 

 The priest-like father reads the sacred pa.sre, 
 
 How Abram was the friend of God on high; 
 Or, Moses bade eternal warfare wage 
 
 With Amalek's ungracious progeny ; 
 Or how the royal Bard did groaning lie 
 
 Beneath the stroke of Heaven's avenging ire ; 
 Or Job's pathetic plaint, and wailing cry ; 
 
 Or rapt Isai;di"s wild, seraphic fire ; 
 Or other holy seers that tune the sacred lyre. 
 
Perhaps the Christian volume is the theme. 
 
 How guiltless blood for guilty man was shed ; 
 How He, who bore in Heaven the second name, 
 
 Had not on earth whereon to lay His head : 
 How His first followers and servants sped ; 
 
 The precepts sage they wrote to many a land . 
 How he, who lone in Patraos banished, 
 
 Saw in the sun a mighty angel stand ; 
 And heard great Bab'lon's doom pronounced by Heaven's 
 command. 
 
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 Then kneeling down, to Heaven's Eternal King, 
 
 The saint, the fatlier, and the husband prays : 
 Hope "springs exulting on triumphant wing,"'* 
 
 That thus they all shall meet in future days ; 
 There ever bask in uncreated rays, 
 
 No more to sigh, or shed the bitter tear, 
 Together hymning their Creator's praise. 
 
 In such society, yet still more dear ; 
 While circling Time moves round in an eternal sphere. 
 * Pope's Windsor Forest. R. B. 
 
Compared witli tins, how poor Religion's ]n'ide, 
 
 111 all the pomp of method, and of art, 
 "When men display to congregations wide 
 
 Devotion's ev'ry grace, except the heart ! 
 The Power, incensed, the pageant will desert, 
 
 The pompons strain, the sacei'dotal stole ; 
 Bat haply, in some cottage for apart, 
 
 May hear, well pleased, the language of the soul 
 A.nd in His hook of life the inmates poor enroll. 
 
 e/-- 
 
 m. 
 
a lip parcnt-ixiir tliuir secret homa-ic pay, 
 Aud proffer up to Heaven the warm request. 
 
Then homeward all take off their sevral way; 
 
 The youngling cottagers retire to rest : 
 The parent-pair their secret homage pay, 
 
 And proffer up to Heaven the warm request, 
 That He who stills the raven's clam'rous nest, 
 
 And decks the lily fair in flow'ry pride, 
 Would, in the way His wisdom sees the best, 
 
 For them and for their little ones provide ; 
 But chiefly, in their hearts with grace divine jireside. 
 
 V^^'-^i^ 
 
From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs, 
 
 That makes lier loved at home, revered abroad : 
 Princes and lords are but the breath of kings, 
 
 " An honest man's the noblest work of God :" 
 And certes, in fair Virtue's heav'nly road, 
 
 The cottage leaves the palace far behind ; 
 What is a lordling's pomp ? a cumbrous load. 
 
 Disguising oft the wretch of human kind, 
 Studied in arts of hell, in wickedness refined ! 
 
O Thou ! who poured the patriotic tide 
 
 That streamed through Wallace's undaunted heart ; 
 Who dared to nobly stem tyrannic pride, 
 
 Or nobly die, the second glorious part, 
 (The patriot's God, peculiarly, Thou art. 
 
 His Friend, Inspirer, Guardian, and Reward !) 
 O never, never, Scotia's realm desert ; 
 
 But still the patriot, and the patriot-bard. 
 In bright succession raise, her ornament and guard ! 
 
O Scotia ! my dear, my native soil ! 
 
 For whom my warmest wisli to Heaven is sent ! 
 Long may thy hardy sons of rustic toil 
 
 Be blest with health, and peace, and sweet content 
 And, oh, may Heaven their simple lives prevent 
 
 From luxury's contagion, weak and vile ! 
 Then, howe'er crowns and coronets be rent, 
 
 A virtuous populace may rise the while. 
 And stand a wall of fire around their much-loved Isle. 
 
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