180
O Thou! who poured the patriotic tide
That streamed thro' Wallace's undaunted heart,[74]
Who dared to nobly stem tyrannic pride,
Or nobly die, the second glorious part,
(The patriot's God peculiarly Thou art, 185
His friend, inspirer, guardian, and reward!)
O never, never, Scotia's realm desert,
But still the patriot and the patriot-bard
In bright succession raise, her ornament and guard!
[*]In printing this poem, it has seemed best to follow the text as
given in the scholarly _Centenary Burns_ (1896), edited by Messrs.
Henley and Henderson.
NOTE.--_The Cotter's Saturday Night_ was written in 1785 or the
beginning of 1786. In all English poetry there are few pictures of
home life so charming as that portrayed in this poem. The stanza
employed is the Spenserian stanza, named for Edmund Spenser, who first
used it. The first eight lines have five feet each, while the last has
six feet.
Cotter, as used by Burns, means _peasant farmer_.
[1.] Much respected friend, Robert Aiken, an early friend of the
poet's, to whom the poem was inscribed.
[2.] Ween, think, fancy.
[3.] Sugh (pronounced much like sook, with the _k_ softened; _i.
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