VOL. III. POEMS FORMERLY PUBLISHED, WITH SOME ADDITIONS. TO WHICH IS ADDED, A HISTORY OF THESE POEMS, BY GILBERT BURNS. THE WORKS OF ROBERT BURNS; WITH AN ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE, AND A CRITICISM ON HIS WRITINGS. TO WHICH ARE PREFIXED, SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHARACTER AND CONDITION OF THE Scottish Peasantry. AS EDITED BY JAMES CURRIE. M.D. A NEW EDITION, WITH ADDITIONAL PIECES. IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOL. III. MONTROSE: PRINTED BY SMITH & HILL, AND SOLD BY THE BOOK- SELLERS OF LONDON AND EDINBURGH.. Dedication OF THE SECOND EDITION OF THE POEMS FORMERLY PRINTED. TO THE NOBLEMEN AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CALEDONIAN HUNT. MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, A SCOTTISH BARD, proud of the name, and whose highest ambition is to sing in his Country's servicewhere shall he so properly look for patronage as to the illustrious names of his native land; those who bear the honours and inherit the virtues of their ancestors? The Poetic Genius of my Country found me, as the prophetic bard Elijah did Elisha-at the PLOUGH; and threw her inspiring mantle over me. She bade me sing the loves, the joys, the rural scenes and rural pleasures of my native soil, in my native tongue: I |