Thus bold, independent, unconquer’d, and free,
     Her bright course of glory for ever shall run: 
     For brave Caledonia immortal must be;
     I’ll prove it from Euclid as clear as the sun: 
     Rectangle—­triangle, the figure we’ll chuse: 
     The upright is Chance, and old Time is the base;
     But brave Caledonia’s the hypothenuse;
     Then, ergo, she’ll match them, and match them always.

To Miss Cruickshank

     A very Young Lady

Written on the Blank Leaf of a Book, presented to her by the Author.

     Beauteous Rosebud, young and gay,
     Blooming in thy early May,
     Never may’st thou, lovely flower,
     Chilly shrink in sleety shower! 
     Never Boreas’ hoary path,
     Never Eurus’ pois’nous breath,
     Never baleful stellar lights,
     Taint thee with untimely blights! 
     Never, never reptile thief
     Riot on thy virgin leaf! 
     Nor even Sol too fiercely view
     Thy bosom blushing still with dew!

     May’st thou long, sweet crimson gem,
     Richly deck thy native stem;
     Till some ev’ning, sober, calm,
     Dropping dews, and breathing balm,
     While all around the woodland rings,
     And ev’ry bird thy requiem sings;
     Thou, amid the dirgeful sound,
     Shed thy dying honours round,
     And resign to parent Earth
     The loveliest form she e’er gave birth.

Beware O’ Bonie Ann

     Ye gallants bright, I rede you right,
     Beware o’ bonie Ann;
     Her comely face sae fu’ o’ grace,
     Your heart she will trepan: 
     Her een sae bright, like stars by night,
     Her skin sae like the swan;
     Sae jimply lac’d her genty waist,
     That sweetly ye might span.

     Youth, Grace, and Love attendant move,
     And pleasure leads the van: 
     In a’ their charms, and conquering arms,
     They wait on bonie Ann. 
     The captive bands may chain the hands,
     But love enslaves the man: 
     Ye gallants braw, I rede you a’,
     Beware o’ bonie Ann!

Ode On The Departed Regency Bill

     (March, 1789)

     Daughter of Chaos’ doting years,
     Nurse of ten thousand hopes and fears,
     Whether thy airy, insubstantial shade
     (The rights of sepulture now duly paid)
     Spread abroad its hideous form
     On the roaring civil storm,
     Deafening din and warring rage
     Factions wild with factions wage;
     Or under-ground, deep-sunk, profound,
     Among the demons of the earth,
     With groans that make the mountains shake,
     Thou mourn thy ill-starr’d, blighted birth;
     Or in the uncreated Void,
     Where seeds of future being fight,
     With lessen’d step thou wander wide,