"It warms me, it charms me,
To mention but her name;
It heats me, it beets me,
And sets me a' on flame."
—Burns's Epistle to Davie, a brother poet.
The word is probably from A.-S. betan, to better, to mend; from which, also, we have the words beat, to excel, better, best, etc.
[22.] Burns refers the reader to Pope's "Windsor Forest" for this quotation. He probably had in mind the line in the "Essay on Man":
"Hope springs eternal in the human breast."
[23.] sacerdotal stole. A long, narrow scarf with fringed ends, and richly embroidered, worn by the clergy upon special occasions. Sacerdotal, from Lat. sacerdos, a priest. Stole, from Lat. stola, a long dress worn by Roman women over their tunic and fastened with a girdle.
[24.] Pope's "Essay on Man," Epistle iv, line 247.
[25.] William Wallace (1270-1305), the Scotch national hero was, like Burns, a native of Ayrshire.
| VOCABULARY. | |
| aft, often. | ingle, fire. |
| amaist, almost. | jauk, trifle. |
| amang, among. | kebbuck, cheese. |
| ance, once. | kens, understands. |
| auld, old. | lathefu', shy. |
| belyve, by and by. | lave, the rest. |
| blate, bashful. | lyart, gray. |
| blinkin, gleaming. | miry, muddy, dusty. |
| blythe, happy. | moil, labor. |
| braw, brave, fine. | nae, no. |
| cannie, easy. | parritch, porridge. |
| carking, fretting. | pleugh, plough. |
| certes, certain. | rin, run. |
| chows, chews. | sair-won, hard-earned. |
| claes, clothes. | sowpe, milk. |
| convoy, accompany. | spiers, inquires. |
| cracks, talks. | stacher, stagger. |
| craws, crows. | strappin', strapping, stout. |
| drapping, dropping. | tentie, attentively. |
| eydent, diligent. | towmond, twelvemonth. |
| fell, tasty. | uncos, unknown things, new. |
| flichterin, fluttering. | wales, chooses. |
| frae, from. | wee bit, little. |
| gang, go. | weel, well. |
| gars, makes. | wee things, little folks. |
| guid, good. | weel-hained, well-kept. |
| hae, have. | wiles, knowledge. |
| haffets, temples. | wily, knowing. |
| hafflins, half. | youngling, youthful. |
| halesome, wholesome. | younkers, youngsters, children. |
| hallan, partition wall. | 'yont, on the other side of. |
| hameward, homeward. | |