RAMSAY'S ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF, IN A POEM ADDRESSED TO MR. JAMES ARBUCKLE.
Imprimis, then, for tallness, I
Am five feet four inches high;
A black-a-vic'd, snod, dapper fallow,
Nor lean, nor overlaid wi' tallow;
Wi' phiz of a Morocco cut,
Resembling a late man of wit,
Auld gabbet Spec, wha was sae cunning,
To be a dummie ten years running.
Then for the fabric of my mind,
'Tis mair to mirth than grief inclin'd:
I rather choose to laugh at folly,
Than shew dislike by melancholy;
Weel judging a sour heavy face
Is not the truest mark of grace.
I hate a drunkard or a glutton,
Yet I'm nae fae to wine and mutton:
Great tables ne'er engaged my wishes
When crowded with o'er mony dishes;
A healthfu' stomach sharply set
Prefers a back-sey pipin het.
I never could imagine 't vicious
Of a fair fame to be ambitious:
Proud to be thought a comic poet, }
And let a judge of numbers know it, }
I court occasion thus to show it. }
Second of thirdly—Pray take heed,
Ye's get a short swatch of my creed.
To follow method negatively,
Ye ken takes place of positively:
Weel then, I'm neither Whig nor Tory,
Nor credit give to purgatory.
Frae twenty-four to five-and-forty,
My muse was neither sweer nor dorty,
My Pegasus would break his tether,
E'en at the shagging of a feather,
And through ideas scour like drift,
Streaking his wings up to the lift;
Then, then my soul was in a low,
That gart my members safely row;
But eild and judgment 'gin to say,
Let be your sangs, and learn to pray.