1 847 LECTURE PREPARATIONS 115 



I am a geologic tramp 



(Beef and greens make very good cheer), 

 Over the country I rove and ramp 



(And a pewter quart is the dish for beer). 



I run and I ride, I ride and I drive 



(Capon and sausage are good i' the mouth), 

 Come home to dinner at half-past five 



(And a glass of stiff grog will quench the drouth). , 



I live in an inn by the turnpike road 



(Ginger and pepper will tickle the chops), 

 In rainy weather a queer abode 



(When ye brew, i' the brewst put plenty of hops). 



You've got a wife and I've got a hammer 



(Brose and butter and porridge and ale) ; 

 Both at a time can kick up a clamour 



(And a joke's a joke, though never so stale). 



A wife is better in palace or hovel 



(O but a blushing maid looks winsome !) 

 Than a poke in the eye with a dirty shovel 



(But a maid looks best when her pocket is tinsome). 



I'm unco vexed that I canna gang down 



(Up frae the Broomilaw up in a noddy), 

 But I maun prepare for the U.C. gown 



(Breakfasts and dinner, and O ! the toddy). 



But besides an increasing, though often amusing and 

 interesting correspondence, there were now looming 

 grimly in front of him the lectures which in a few 

 brief weeks he would have to begin in London. It is 

 not easy after eight or ten hours of active pedes- 

 trianism, followed by a good dinner, to sit down 

 calmly to serious literary exertion. Ramsay records 

 now and then with remorse that sleep got the better 

 of him, and he made no progress with those lectures. 

 Nevertheless he set himself resolutely to face the 

 task, and seems to have finished a number of lectures, 

 or at least the detailed notes from which they would 



