That fate is thine—no distant date;

Stern ruin’s plowshare drives, elate,

Full on thy bloom,

Till, crush’d beneath the furious weight,

Shall be thy doom!

Robert Burns, 1750–1796.

MOSSGIEL.

“There,” said a stripling, pointing with much pride

Toward a low roof, with green trees half conceal’d,

“Is Mossgiel farm; and that’s the very field