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10 Sep 08 - 10:47 PM (#2436953) Subject: Lyr Add: SALE OF STATIONERY WARE...(Gavin Turnbull From: Jim Dixon I ran across this poem while looking for something else, and was quite charmed by it. Burns used the same verse-form, in, for example, To a Mouse. Does anyone know a tune that would fit it? Paterson, James. The Contemporaries of Burns, And the More Recent Poets of Ayrshire. Edinburgh: H. Paton, Carver & Gilder, 1840, page 105f. SALE OF STATIONERY WARE AT BUCHANAN'S HEAD, K*******CK. Gavin Turnbull To a' the warl be it kend, That I by auction do intend Great routh o' goods and gear to vend, At lowest price; Sae, pray, good people, all attend If ye be wise. Imprimis, then, I can content ye, Wi' learned books and Bibles plenty, Gilt on the backs, and bound right dainty, In good calf-sheep: Glow'r at them weel, and Ise indent ye Shall buy them cheap. The rev'rend brethren o' the band May hae whatever they demand, And, they wha like, I winna stand, To sell or niffer; Bring goods or siller i' ye're hand, We winna differ. The wit and scholar here may find, A' that can please a learned mind; As Robin Hood, and Captain Hind, And other sparks; But, what leaves a' the rest behind, My father's warks. The Book of Knowledge, that can tell A' things in heav'n, in earth, and hell, Wi' hocus pocus, magic spell, For greedy rooks; To ragged chapmen, too, I sell Cheap question books. I've wax and wafers, ink, and quills, An' best o' paper frae the mills, For bundles, —— or bills For book or letter, There's nane sae good—cheap, cheap it sells For ready catter. But what's of a' the rarest show, My pictures, ranged in seemly row: Here twelve good rules, which we should know; There Captain Bluff; Here Peeping Tom, and down below Stands Jamie Duff. I've china-ware, baith gilt and plain, Of which the ladies are right fain; And to drink punch, or yet champaign, Weel polish'd glasses; And something else, I'll no explain, For bonnie lasses. I've heucks to shear the harvest corn; Good cudgels, made of varnish'd thorn; Rare spluchans, ance by sea-dogs worn, And wylie foxes; Braw sneeshing-mills, o' brass and horn; And barber's boxes. I hae pomatum for the hair; Good plated buckles, round and square: I hae black-ball, the choicest ware E'er gaed on leather: I've hoops and rings, and ribbons rare, And a' thegither. The chiel that's hardly worth a groat, May be provided wi' a coat At second hand, and no ae jot The waur o' wear; Auld breeks and waistcoats may be got, And bonnets here. I've whips, and spurs, and bits for bridles; Clear plated stirrup-irons for saddles; Therm strings for spinning-wheels and fiddles, And maybe soon I'll hae good pots, and pans, and ladles, Or a' be done. |