LINES ADDRESSED TO MR. JOHN RANKEN. AE day, as death, that grousome carl, “L—d G—d!” quoth he, "I have it now; LINES WRITTEN BY BURNS, WHILE ON HIS DEATH-BED, TO HE who of Ranken sang, lies stiff and dead, EXTEMPORE. [At a meeting of the Dumfriesshire Volunteers, held to commemorate the anniversary of Rodney's victory, April 12th, 1782, Burns was called upon for a song, instead of which he delivered the following lines extempore.] INSTEAD of a song, boys, I'll give you a toast, Here's the memory of those on the twelfth that we lost, That we lost, did I say? nay, by Heaven! that we found, For their fame it shall last while the world goes round. The next in succession, I'll give you the king, EXTEMPORE, ON THE LATE MR. WILLIAM SMELLIE To Crochallan came * The old cock'd hat, the gray surtout, the same; TO MR. S**E, ON REFUSING TO DINE WITH HIM, AFTER HAVING BEEN PROMISED THE FIRST OF COMPANY, and THE FIRST COOKERY. No more of your guests, be they titled or not, Who is proof to thy personal converse and wit, December, 17, 1795. * Mr. Smellie and Burns were both members of a club in Edinburgh, called the Crochallan Fencibles. TO MR. S**E, WITH A PRESENT OF A DOZEN OF PORTER, O HAD the malt thy strength of mind, EXTEMPORE, WRITTEN IN ANSWER TO A CARD FROM AN INTIMATE OF BURNS'S, INVITING HIM TO SPEND AN HOUR AT A TAVERN. THE king's most humble servant, But I'll be wi' ye, by-an'-by, Or else the Deil's be in it. EXTEMPORE, WRITTEN IN A LADY'S POCKET-BOOK. GRANT me, indulgent Heav'n! that I may live LINES ON MISS J. SCOTT, OF AYR. OH! had each Scot of ancient times, |