James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902.
October 23A Dinner at the House of Dugal Stewart
By Robert Burns (17591796)
T
I Rhymer Robin, alias Burns,
October twenty-third,
A ne’er to be forgotten day,
Sae far I sprackled up the brae,
I dinnered wi’ a Lord.
Nay, been bitch-fou ’mang godly priests,
Wi’ reverence be it spoken;
I’ve even joined the honoured jorum,
When mighty Squireships of the quorum,
Their hydra drouth did sloken.
A Lord—a Peer—an Earl’s son,
Up higher yet my bonnet;
An sic a Lord—lang Scotch ells twa,
Our Peerage he o’erlooks them a’
As I look o’er my sonnet.
I watched the symptoms o’ the Great,
The gentle pride, the lordly state,
The arrogant assuming;
The feint a pride, nae pride had he,
Nor sauce, nor state that I could see,
Mair than an honest ploughman.
Henceforth to meet with unconcern,
One rank as well’s another;
Nae honest worthy man need care,
To meet with noble youthful Daer,
For he but meets a brother.