And death’s approach, is all the gods allow:
And of this little hast thou aught to spare
To sad reflection and corroding care?
The moments past, if thou art wise, retrieve
With pleasant memory of the bliss they give;
The present hour in present mirth employ,
And bribe the future with the hope of joy.’
[464]. Analecta, ii. 261.
[465]. From a private letter, dated Edinburgh, Feb. 20, 1714, Analecta Scotica, i. 14.
[466]. His son Robert, father of Walter Scott, W.S. The youth was designed for the sea, but became disgusted with it in consequence of a shipwreck on the first voyage, and settled as a farmer at Sandyknowe, near Kelso.