I came a piece frae west o' Currie ; As speak a word for ane Will Murray,' Plays are auld-fashion'd things, in truth, Or want of dramock, Although they speak but wi' their mouth, But ye take care of a' folk's pantry; Ower this big house, (that's far frae rent-free,) For a lone sister, Is claims as gude's to be a ventri How'st ca'd-loquister. Weel, sirs, gude'en, and have a care, And without failzie, She'll tell the Bailie. As sure as ever ye sit there, '[Mr. Wm. Murray became manager of the Edinburgh Theatre in 1815.] 33* EPILOGUE.' THE sages-for authority, pray, look But, like the violet, when decay'd in bloom, 1 ["I recovered the above with some difficulty. I believe it was never spoken, but written for some play, afterwards withdrawn, in which Mrs. H. Siddons was to have spoken it in the character of Queen Mary."-Extract from a Letter of Sir Walter Scott to Mr. Constable, 22d October, 1824.1 In vain did fate bestow a double dower Of ev'ry ill that waits on rank and pow'r, False ministers, false lovers, and false friends. It charms alike the castle and the hovel, INSCRIPTION FOR THE MONUMENT OF THE REV. GEORGE SCOTT! To youth, to age, alike, this tablet pale '[This young gentleman, a son of the Author's friend and relation, Hugh Scott of Harden, Esq., became Rector of Kentisbeare, in Devonshire, in 1828, and died there the 9th June, 1830. This epitaph appears on his tomb in the chancel there.] Art thou a youth, prepared on life to start, But let submission tame each sorrowing thought, THE BANNATYNE CLUB. I. ASSIST me, ye friends of Old Books and Old Wine, Who left such a treasure of old Scottish lore One volume more, my friends, one volume more, II. And first, Allan Ramsay, was eager to glean III. His ways were not ours, for he cared not a pin 1 1 [Sir Walter Scott was the first President of the Club, and wrote these verses for the anniversary dinner of March, 1823.] The truth of the reading he thought was a bore, IV. Correct and sagacious, then came my Lord Hailes, But left out some brief words, which the prudish abhor, One volume more, my friends, one volume more; more. V. John Pinkerton next, and I'm truly concern'd One volume more, my friends, one volume more, more. VI. As bitter as gall, and as sharp as a razor, And feeding on herbs as a Nebuchadnezzar ;1 Little Ritson came out with his two volumes more. But one volume, my friends, one volume more, more. 1 1 [In accordance with his own regimen, Mr. Ritson published a volume entitled, "An Essay on Abstinence from Animal Food as a Moral Duty. 1802."] 2 [See an account of the Metrical Antiquarian Researches of Pinkerton, Ritson, and Herd, &c. in the introductory Remarks |