Tells how a neebor lad cam o'er the moor, To do some errands, and convoy her hame. The wily mother sees the conscious flame Sparkle in Jenny's e'e, and flush her cheek; Wi' heart-struck anxious care inquires his name, While Jenny hafflins* is afraid to speak; Weel pleased the mother hears it 's nae wild, worthless rake. Wi' kindly welcome Jenny brings him ben†; A strappan youth; he takes the mother's eye; Blythe Jenny sees the visit 's no ill ta'en; The father cracks of horses, pleughs, and kyet. The youngster's artless heart o'erflows wi' joy, But, blate § and laithfu'||, scarce can weel behave; The mother, wi' a woman's wiles, can spy What makes the youth so bashfu' an' sae grave; O happy love! where love like this is found! And sage experience bids me this declare- Tis when a youthful, loving, modest pair, In other's arms breathe out the tender tale, Is there, in human form, that bears a heart- That can, with studied, sly, ensnaring art, Is there no pity, no relenting ruth, Points to the parents fondling o'er their child? + Into the spence, or parlour. * Partly. II Sheepish. Cows. The rest, the remainder. But now the supper crowns their simple board, That 'yont the hallan snugly chows her cood §; To grace the lad, her weel-hain'd || kebbuck ¶, fell, The frugal wifie, garrulous, will tell, How 'twas a towmond ** auld, sin' lint was i' the bell f. The cheerfu' supper done, wi' serious face, ++ The big ha' Bible ‡‡, ance his father's pride: His lyart haffets SS, wearing thin an' bare; And "Let us worship God!" he says, with solemn air. They chant their artless notes in simple guise, The tickled ears no heartfelt raptures raise; The priest-like father reads the sacred page, With Amalek's ungracious progeny ; * Healthful, wholesome. + Cow. § Cud. || Spared. ++ The flax was in flower. A particular partition-wall in a cottage. Chooses. Or how the royal Bard did groaning lie Or rapt Isaiah's wild, seraphic fire; How guiltless blood for guilty man was shed; Saw in the sun a mighty angel stand; And heard great Babylon's doom pronounced by Heav'n's command. Then kneeling down, to Heaven's Eternal King, No more to sigh, or shed the bitter tear, While circling time moves round in an eternal sphere. Compared with this, how poor Religion's pride, In all the pomp of method, and of art, When men display to congregations wide Devotion's ev'ry grace, except the heart! The pow'r, incensed, the pageant will desert, The pompous strain, the sacerdotal stole ; But haply, in some cottage far apart, May hear, well pleased, the language of the soul; Then homeward all take off their sev'ral way; And proffer up to Heav'n the warm request, That He who stills the raven's clam'rous nest, For them and for their little ones provide; But chiefly, in their hearts with grace divine preside. From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs, The cottage leaves the palace far behind; For whom my warmest wish to Heaven is sent! Long may thy hardy sons of rustic soil Be blest with health, and peace, and sweet content! And, oh, may Heav'n their simple lives prevent From luxury's contagion, weak and vile! Then, howe'er crowns and coronets be rent, A virtuous populace may rise the while, And stand a wall of fire around their much-loved Isle. O Thou! who pour'd the patriotic tide That stream'd thro' Wallace's undaunted heart; Who dared to nobly stem tyrannic pride, Or nobly die, the second glorious part, (The patriot's God, peculiarly thou art, But still the patriot, and the patriot-bard, In bright succession raise, her ornament and guard! 137.-ENGLAND IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. PERLIN. [DESCRIPTIONS of our own country by foreigners have always something of instruction in them. They generally mortify our vanity, which is good; they sometimes show us in what our real merit consists, which is equally good. They are seldom unprejudiced, they are occasionally ridiculous; and these circumstances ought to show us the difficulty of judging correctly of foreign habits and manners. One of the earliest of these descriptions of England is that of Master Stephen Perlin, a French physician, who was in Great Britain in the last two years of King Edward VI., and saw some of the remarkable events that marked the commencement of the reign of Queen Mary. His 'Description of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland' was published at Paris in 1558. The original tract is of great rarity; but it was reprinted with another Frenchman's account of England, by Gough, the antiquary, in 1775. There are few more odd books in any language; but there can be little doubt of the fidelity of his notices of what he His hatred of the English seems to have been a genuine sentiment of revenge for the hatred which he saw bestowed by our people upon his own countrymen. The French reality, or affectation, of dislike to us at the present day has no such excuse. saw. We translate a few passages: THE PERFIDIOUS ENGLISH.-Young France uses no novel term when she calls us Les Perfides Anglais." The wars of the Edwards and Henries earned us this. But they might have saved us from the reproach of cowardice. Master Perlin starts with this general summary of our national character:-" It may be said of the English, neither in war are they brave, nor in peace are they faithful; and, as the Spaniard says, England is a good land with bad people." NATIONAL HATREDS. - Master Stephen Perlin interlards his book with English phrases, which are not very easy to interpret. We might hope that his acquaintance with our manners was as limited as his knowledge of our language, if we had not other evidence that our excellent forefathers of the sixteenth century had some tolerably strong antipathies. "The people of this nation mortally hate the French, as their old enemies, and always call us France chenesve, France dogue, and, besides, they call us or son." We should scarcely guess, without an interpretation, that chenesve meant knaves. Again: |