wanderâd mony a weary fitt,
Sin auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.
We twa hae paidlâd in the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roarâd,
Sin auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.
And thereâs a hand, my trusty fiere!
And gieâs a hand oâ thine!
And weâll tak a right gude-willie-waught,
For auld lang syne.
For auld, &c.
I f nobody restrains us, we will drink ourselves to destruction. Apart from the Russians and Scandinavians, I know of no people so dedicated as the British to stupefying themselves with alcohol.
Hogarthâs biting depiction of Gin Lane and Cruickshankâs great anti-alcohol paintings are there to remind us of the hoggish, violent and self-destructive state we get into when we can, and the trail of wreckage we leave in broken marriages, neglected children and destroyed lives.
Peter Hitchins, Daily Mail , April 2004
Address to the Unco Guid, or the Rigidly Righteous
My Son, these maxims make a rule ,
And lump them ay thegither;
The Rigid Righteous is a fool ,
The Rigid Wise anither :
The cleanest corn that eâer was dight
May hae some pyles oâ caff in;
So neâer a fellow-creature slight
For random fits oâ daffin.
SolomonâEccles., vii:16
O ye wha are sae guid yoursel,
Sae pious and sae holy,
Yeâve nought to do but mark and tell
Your Neeboursâ fauts and folly!
Whase life is like a weel-gaun mill,
Supplyâd wiâ store oâ water,
The heaped happerâs ebbing still,
And still the clap plays clatter.
Hear me, ye venerable Core,
As counsel for poor mortals,
That frequent pass douce Wisdomâs door
For glaikit Follyâs portals;
I, for their thoughtless, careless sakes
Would here propone defences,
Their donsie tricks, their black mistakes,
Their failings and mischances.
Ye see your state wiâ theirs comparâd,
And shudder at the niffer,
But cast a momentâs fair regard
What maks the mighty differ;
Discount what scant occasion gave,
That purity ye pride in,
And (whatâs aft mair than aâ the lave)
Your better art oâ hiding.
Think, when your castigated pulse
Gies now and then a wallop,
What ragings must his veins convulse,
That still eternal gallop:
Wiâ wind and tide fair iâ your tail,
Right on ye scud your sea-way;
But, in the teeth oâ baith to sail,
It maks an unco leeway.
See Social-life and Glee sit down,
All joyous and unthinking,
Till, quite transmugrifyâd, theyâre grown
Debauchery and Drinking:
O would they stay to calculate
Thâ eternal consequences;
Or your more dreaded hell to state,
Damnation of expences!
Ye high, exalted, virtuous Dames,
Tyâd up in godly laces,
Before ye gie poor Frailty names,
Suppose a change oâ cases;
A dear-lovâd lad, convenience snug,
A treacherous inclinationâ
But, let me whisper iâ your lug,
Yeâre aiblins nae temptation.
Then gently scan your brother Man,
Still gentler sister Woman;
Thoâ they may gang a kennin wrang,
To step aside is human:
One point must still be greatly dark,
The moving Why they do it;
And just as lamely can ye mark,
How far perhaps they rue it.
Who made the heart,â tis He alone
Decidedly can try us,
He knows each chord its various tone,
Each spring its various bias:
Then at the balance letâs be mute,
We never can adjust it;
Whatâs done we partly may compute,
But know not whatâs resisted .
1 It is a well known fact that witches, or any evil spirits, have no power to follow a poor wight any farther than the middle of the next running stream.âIt may be proper likewise to mention to the benighted traveller, that when he falls in with bogles , whatever danger may be in his going forward, there is much more hazard in turning back.
1 This was wrote before the Act anent the Scotch Distilleries, of session 1786; for which Scotland and the Author return their