wii^son's IvITeirary writings 139 



verses. It has caught the wild, fearless spirit of 

 the day, which laughs ''down the priest and the 

 devil by turns." It was set to music for Wilson 

 by a local ''Bacchanalian Club," and though we 

 know nothing about the occasion for which it was 

 written we may well believe that Burns himself 

 was present when it was first sung. Nothing 

 could better represent the daring expression of 

 jubilant unrestraint which was characteristic of 

 the younger men in Scotland at this period than 

 this song which "mixes a damn" with "O rare 

 Robin Burns." 



Of the other four pieces which were added in 

 the 1791 edition, one is an ode on "Despondence," 

 closely modeled after Shenstone, another is an 

 epigram, a third is a eulogistic address to a gen- 

 tleman of local prominence, and the other is a 

 very unsatisfactory attempt to put "Ossian's La- 

 ment" into rhyming iambic couplets. 



Of the poem which was next published — 

 "Watty and Meg" — we have already spoken, and 

 we shall now mention an interesting group of 

 verses, separately printed. These verses were 

 born of the spirit of revolutionary unrest which 

 was moving over the troubled waters of Scotch 

 life, and though there is no poetry in any piece 

 of the group, yet they are interesting as an ex- 

 pression of the feelings of the day. Only one of 

 these verses, the "Address to the Synod of Glas- 

 gow and Ayr," deals with political and religious 

 matters, and bitterly and severely does it lash 

 the existing conditions. The others, of which 

 "The Shark," "Hab's Door," and the "Hoi- 



