The Norton Anthology of English literature. Volume 2

10 For gifts and grace, A burning and a shining light To a' this place.

1. This satire, in the form of a dramatic stanza form known as the "standard Habbie" monologue, was inspired by William Fisher, a self-(named for "The Life and Death of Habbie Simp- righteous elder in the same Ayrshire parish that in son" a ballad in this form by Robert Sempill, a 1785 had forced Burns and Betty Paton to do pub-17th-century poet who, also hailing from the west lic penance in church for "fornication," and is of Scotland, was a countryman of Burns's). In each directed against a basic Calvinist tenet of the old sestet three lines of iambic tetrameter that rhyme Scottish kirk. Holy Willie assumes that he is one aaa are followed by a dimeter rhyming h, another of a small minority, God's "elect"�in other words line of tetrameter rhyming a, and a final dimeter that he has been predestined for grace, no matter rhyming h. Associated at its origins with the trouwhat deeds he does in this world. The sessional badour poetry of Europe, the form came to Scot- processes were court proceedings carried on under land during the Renaissance and had been revived the auspices of the Kirk. The epigraph is from The in the 18th century by Ramsay and Fergusson as Rape of the Lock. a distinctively national Scots measure. 2. Here as elsewhere Burns use the virtuosic

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HOLY WILLIE'S PRAYER / 133

What was I, or my generation, That I should get such exaltation? 15 I, wha deserv'd most just damnation, For broken laws Sax� thousand years ere my creation, six Thro' Adam's cause!

When from my mother's womb I fell, 20 Thou might hae plunged me deep in hell, To gnash my gooms, and weep, and wail,3 In burning lakes, Where damned devils roar and yell Chain'd to their stakes.

25 Yet I am here, a chosen sample, To shew thy grace is great and ample: I'm here, a pillar o' thy temple

Strong as a rock, A guide, a ruler and example 30 To a' thy flock.

O Lord thou kens what zeal I bear, When drinkers drink, and swearers swear, And singin' there, and dancin' here,

Wi' great an' sma'; 35 For I am keepet by thy fear, Free frae them a'.

But yet�O Lord-�confess I must� At times I'm fash'd0 wi' fleshly lust; troubled And sometimes too, in warldly trust

40 Vile Self gets in; But thou remembers we are dust, Defil'd wi' sin.

O Lord�yestreen0�thou kens��wi' Meg� yesterday / knoivest Thy pardon I sincerely beg! 45 O may't ne'er be a living plague, To my dishonor! And I'll ne'er lift a lawless leg Again upon her.

Besides, I farther maun0 avow, must 50 Wi' Leezie's lass, three times�I trow� believe But Lord, that Friday I was fou� drunk

When I cam near her; Or else, thou kens, thy servant true Wad never steer0 her. molest

3. An echo of Matthew 8.12, "the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

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13 4 / ROBER T BURN S 5560 Maybe thou lets this fleshly thorn Buffet thy servant e'en and morn,4 Lest he o'er proud and high should turn, That he's sae gifted; If sae, thy hand maun e'en be borne Untill thou lift it. Lord bless thy Chosen in this place, For here thou has a chosen race: 65But God, confound their stubborn face, And blast their name, Wha bring thy rulers to disgrace And open shame. Lord mind Gaun Hamilton's' deserts! 70He drinks, and swears, and plays at cartes,0Yet has sae mony taking arts Wi' Great and Sma', Frae God's ain priest the people's hearts He steals awa. cards 75And when we chasten'd him therefore, Thou kens how he bred sic a splore,0 And set the warld in a roar disturbance O' laughin at us: Curse thou his basket and his store, Kail� and potatoes. broth soLord hear my earnest cry and prayer Against that Presbytry of Ayr! Thy strong right hand, Lord, make it bare Upon their heads! Lord visit them, and dinna spare, For their misdeeds! 8590 O Lord my God, that glib-tongu'd Aiken! My very heart and flesh are quaking To think how I sat, sweating, shaking, And piss'd wi' dread, While Auld wi' hingin0 lip gaed sneaking And hid his head! hanging 95Lord, in thy day o'vengeance try him! Lord visit him that did employ him! And pass not in thy mercy by them, Nor hear their prayer; But for thy people's sake destroy them, And dinna spare!

4. An echo of 2 Corinthians 12.7, "there was given Willie had brought up on moral charges before the to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan Kirk Session of the Presbytery of Ayr. As Burns to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above mea-explains in the Argument, Hamilton was success- sure." fully defended by his counsel, Robert Aiken 5. Burns's friend Gavin Hamilton, whom Holy (referred to in line 85).

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To A MOUSE / 135

But Lord, remember me and mine Wi' mercies temporal and divine! That I for grace and gear0 may shine, wealth

Excell'd by nane! And a' the glory shall be thine! Amen! Amen!

1789 1789

To a Mouse

On Turning Her up in Her Nest with the Plough, November, 1785'

Wee, sleeket,� cowran, tim'rous beastie, sleek O, what a panic's in thy breastie! Thou need na start awa sae hasty,