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AULD BRIG.
I doubtra' frien', ye'll think ye're nae sheep-shank,
Ance ye were streakit out frae bank to bank;
But gin ye be a brig as lang as me,
Tho' faith that day, I doubt, we'll never see,
There'll be, if that date come, I'll wad a boddle,
Some fewer whigmelceries in your noddle.
I doubtra' frien', ye'll think ye're nae sheep-shank,
Ance ye were streakit out frae bank to bank;
But gin ye be a brig as lang as me,
Tho' faith that day, I doubt, we'll never see,
There'll be, if that date come, I'll wad a boddle,
Some fewer whigmelceries in your noddle.
NEW BRIG.
Auld Vendal, ye but shew your little mense,
Just much about it wi' your anty sense;
Will your poor narrow foot-path o' a street,
Where twa-wheel-barrows tremble when they meet,
Your ruin'd formless bulk ostane and lime,
Compare wi' bonny Brigs o' modern time?
There's men o' taste wad tal the Ducat stream[1],
Tho' they should cast the very sark and swim,
Ere they wad grate their feelings wi' the view
O' sic an ugly Gothic bulk as you,
Auld Vendal, ye but shew your little mense,
Just much about it wi' your anty sense;
Will your poor narrow foot-path o' a street,
Where twa-wheel-barrows tremble when they meet,
Your ruin'd formless bulk ostane and lime,
Compare wi' bonny Brigs o' modern time?
There's men o' taste wad tal the Ducat stream[1],
Tho' they should cast the very sark and swim,
Ere they wad grate their feelings wi' the view
O' sic an ugly Gothic bulk as you,
AULD BRIG.
Conceited gowk! puff'd up wi' windy pride!
This mony a year I've stood the flood and tide;
And tho' wi' crazy cild I'm sair for fairn,
I'll be a brig when ye're a shapeless cairn!
As yet ye little ken about the matter,
But twa-three winters will inform you better,
When heavy, dark, continued a'-day rains,
Wi' deepening deluges o'erflow the plains;
When from the hills whare springs the brawling Coll
Or stately Lugar's mossy fountains boil,
Conceited gowk! puff'd up wi' windy pride!
This mony a year I've stood the flood and tide;
And tho' wi' crazy cild I'm sair for fairn,
I'll be a brig when ye're a shapeless cairn!
As yet ye little ken about the matter,
But twa-three winters will inform you better,
When heavy, dark, continued a'-day rains,
Wi' deepening deluges o'erflow the plains;
When from the hills whare springs the brawling Coll
Or stately Lugar's mossy fountains boil,
- ↑ A noted ford, just above the Auld Brig.
