Robert Burns: How To Know Him Part 21

CHAPTER IV

SATIRES AND EPISTLES

Fame first came to Burns through his satires. Before he had been recognized by the Edinburgh litterateurs, before he had written more than a handful of songs, he was known and feared on his own countryside as a formidable critic of ecclesiastical tyranny. It was this reputation that made possible the success of the subscription to the Kilmarnock volume, and so saved Burns to Scotland.

Two characteristics of the Kirk of Scotland had tended to prepare the people to welcome an attack on its authority: the severity with which the clergy administered discipline, and the extremes to which they had pushed their Calvinism.

In spite of the existence of dissenting bodies, the great ma.s.s of the population belonged to the established church, and both their spiritual privileges and their social standing were at the mercy of the Kirk session and the presiding minister. It is difficult for a Protestant community to-day to realize the extent to which the conduct of the individual and the family were controlled by the ecclesiastical authorities. Offenses which now would at most be the subject of private remonstrance were treated as public crimes and expiated in church before the whole parish. Gavin Hamilton, Burns's friend and landlord at Mossgiel, a liberal gentleman of means and standing, was prosecuted in the church courts for lax attendance at divine service, for traveling on Sabbath, for neglecting family wors.h.i.+p, and for having had one of his servants dig new potatoes on the Lord's day. Burns's irregular relations with Jean Armour led to successive appearances by both him and Jean before the congregation, to receive open rebuke and to profess repentance. Further expiation was demanded in the form of a contribution for the poor.

Against the discipline which he himself had to suffer Burns seems to have made no protest, and probably thought it just enough; but what he considered the persecution of his friend roused his indignation. This was all the fiercer as he regarded some of the members of the session as hypocrites, whose own private morals would not stand examination.

Chief among these was a certain William Fisher, immortalized in a satire the application of which was meant to extend to the whole cla.s.s which he represented.

HOLY WILLIE'S PRAYER

Thou, that in the Heavens does dwell, Wha, as it pleases best Thysel', Sends ane to heaven and ten to h.e.l.l, A' for thy glory, And no for ony guid or ill They've done before thee!

I bless and praise thy matchless might, Whan thousands thou hast left in night, That I am here before thy sight, For gifts an' grace A burning and a s.h.i.+ning light, To a' this place.

What was I, or my generation, That I should get sic exaltation? [such]

I, wha deserv'd most just d.a.m.nation, For broken laws, Sax thousand years ere my creation, [Six]

Thro' Adam's cause.

When from my mither's womb I fell, Thou might have plung'd me deep in h.e.l.l, To gnash my gooms, and weep and wail, [gums]

In burning lakes, Where d.a.m.ned devils roar and yell, Chain'd to their stakes;

Yet I am here a chosen sample, To show Thy grace is great and ample; I'm here a pillar o' Thy temple, Strong as a rock, A guide, a buckler, an example To a' Thy flock.

But yet, O Lord! confess I must At times I'm fash'd wi' fleshly l.u.s.t; [troubled]

An' sometimes too, in warldly trust, Vile self gets in; But Thou remembers we are dust, Defil'd wi' sin.

O Lord! yestreen, Thou kens, wi' Meg-- Thy pardon I sincerely beg-- O! may't ne'er be a living plague To my dishonour, An' I'll ne'er lift a lawless leg Again upon her.

Besides I farther maun avow-- [must]

Wi' Leezie's la.s.s, three times, I trow-- But, Lord, that Friday I was fou, [drunk]

When I cam near her, Or else, Thou kens, thy servant true Wad never steer her. [meddle with]

May be Thou lets this fleshly thorn Beset Thy servant e'en and morn Lest he owre high and proud should turn, [too]

That he's sae gifted; If sae, Thy hand maun e'en be borne, Until thou lift it.

Lord, bless Thy chosen in this place, For here thou hast a chosen race; But G.o.d confound their stubborn face, And blast their name, Wha' bring Thy elders to disgrace An' public shame.

Lord, mind Gau'n Hamilton's deserts, He drinks, an' swears, an' plays at cartes, [cards]

Yet has sae mony takin' arts Wi' great an' sma', Frae G.o.d's ain priest the people's hearts He steals awa'.

An' when we chasten'd him therefor, Thou kens how he bred sic a splore [raised such a row]

As set the warld in a roar O' laughin' at us; Curse thou his basket and his store, Kail and potatoes!

Lord hear my earnest cry an' pray'r, Against that presbyt'ry o' Ayr; Thy strong right hand, Lord, make it bare Upo' their heads; Lord, visit them, and dinna spare, [do not]

For their misdeeds.

O Lord my G.o.d, that glib-tongu'd Aiken, My very heart and soul are quakin', To think how we stood sweatin', shakin', An' pish'd wi' dread, While he, wi' hingin' lips and snakin', [sneering]

Held up his head.

Lord, in Thy day of vengeance try him; Lord, visit him wha did employ him, And pa.s.s not in Thy mercy by them, Nor hear their pray'r: But, for Thy people's sake, destroy them, And dinna spare.

But, Lord, remember me and mine Wi' mercies temporal and divine, That I for grace and gear may s.h.i.+ne [wealth]

Excell'd by nane, And a' the glory shall be thine, Amen, Amen!

Still more highly generalized is his _Address to the Unco Guid_, a plea for charity in judgment, kept from sentimentalism by its gleam of humor. It has perhaps the widest appeal of any of his poems of this cla.s.s. One may note that as Burns pa.s.ses from the satirical and humorous tone to the directly didactic, the dialect disappears, and the last two stanzas are practically pure English.

ADDRESS TO THE UNCO GUID, OR THE RIGIDLY RIGHTEOUS

_My son, these maxims make a rule, And lump them aye thegither; [together]

The rigid righteous is a fool, The rigid wise anither; The cleanest corn that e'er was dight, [sifted]

May hae some pyles o' caff in [grains, chaff]

So ne'er a fellow-creature slight For random fits o' daffin._ [larking]

SOLOMON (_Eccles._ vii. 16).

O ye wha are sae guid yoursel, [so good]

Sae pious and sae holy, Ye've nought to do but mark and tell Your neibour's fauts and folly! [faults]

Whase life is like a weel-gaun mill, [well-going]

Supplied wi' store o' water: The heapet happer's ebbing still, [hopper]

An' still the clap plays clatter! [clapper]

Hear me, ye venerable core, [company]

As counsel for poor mortals That frequent pa.s.s douce Wisdom's door, [sedate]

For glaikit Folly's portals; [giddy]

I, for their thoughtless, careless sakes, Would here propone defences,-- [put forth]

Their donsie tricks, their black mistakes, [restive]

Their failings and mischances.

Ye see your state wi' theirs compar'd, And shudder at the niffer; [exchange]

But cast a moment's fair regard-- What makes the mighty differ? [difference]

Discount what scant occasion gave, That purity ye pride in, And (what's aft mair than a' the lave) [rest]

Your better art o' hidin'.

Think, when your castigated pulse Gies now and then a wallop, [Gives]

What ragings must his veins convulse, That still eternal gallop!

Wi' wind and tide fair i' your tail, Right on ye scud your sea-way; But in the teeth o' baith to sail, It makes an unco leeway. [uncommon]

See Social life and Glee sit down, All joyous and unthinking, Till, quite transmogrified, they're grown Debauchery and Drinking: O would they stay to calculate Th' eternal consequences; Or--your more dreaded h.e.l.l to state-- d.a.m.nation of expenses!

Ye high, exalted virtuous Dames, Tied up in G.o.dly laces, Before ye gie poor Frailty names, Suppose a change o' cases; A dear lov'd lad, convenience snug, A treacherous inclination-- But, let me whisper i' your lug, [ear]

Ye're aiblins nae temptation. [perhaps]