Robert Burns: How To Know Him

by William Allan Neilson

And dinna spare.

But, Lord, remember me and mine

Wi' mercies temporal and divine,

That I for grace and gear may shine wealth

Excell'd by nane,

And a' the glory shall be thine,

Amen, Amen!

Still more highly generalized is his [Address to the Unco Guid], a plea for charity in judgment, kept from sentimentalism by its gleam of humor. It has perhaps the widest appeal of any of his poems of this class. One may note that as Burns passes from the satirical and humorous tone to the directly didactic, the dialect disappears, and the last two stanzas are practically pure English.

ADDRESS TO THE UNCO GUID, OR THE RIGIDLY RIGHTEOUS

My son, these maxims make a rule,