The King’s most humble servant I,
Can scarcely spare a minute;
But I am yours at dinner-time,
Or else the devil’s in it.
XLIII.
THE CREED OF POVERTY.
[When the commissioners of Excise told Burns that he was to act, and not to think; he took out his pencil and wrote “The Creed of Poverty.”]
In politics if thou would’st mix,
And mean thy fortunes be;
Bear this in mind—be deaf and blind;
Let great folks hear and see.
XLIV.
WRITTEN IN A LADY’S POCKET-BOOK.
[That Burns loved liberty and sympathized with those who were warring in its cause, these lines, and hundreds more, sufficiently testify.]