LXV.
ON A SUICIDE.
[Burns was observed by my friend, Dr. Copland Hutchinson, to fix, one morning, a bit of paper on the grave of a person who had committed suicide: on the paper these lines were pencilled.]
Earth’d up here lies an imp o’ hell,
Planted by Satan’s dibble—
Poor silly wretch, he’s damn’d himsel’
To save the Lord the trouble.
LXVI.
EXTEMPORE
PINNED ON A LADY’S COUCH.
[“Printed,” says Sir Harris Nicolas, “from a copy in Burns’s handwriting,” a slight alteration in the last line is made from an oral version.]