r.

I've seen's hae days to fricht us a',
The Pentlands poothered weel wi' snaw,
The ways half-smoored wi' liquid thaw,
An' half-congealin',
The snell an' scowtherin' norther blaw
Frae blae Brunteelan'.

I've seen's been unco sweir to sally,
And at the door-cheeks daff an' dally,
Seen's daidle thus an' shilly-shally
For near a minute--
Sae cauld the wind blew up the valley,
The deil was in it!--

Syne spread the silk an' tak the gate
In blast an' blaudin' rain, deil hae't!
The hale toon glintin', stane an' slate,
Wi' cauld an' weet,
An' to the Court, gin we'se be late,
Bicker oor feet.

And at the Court, tae, aft I saw
Whaur Advocates by twa an' twa
Gang gesterin' end to end the ha'
In weeg an' goon,
To crack o' what ye wull but Law
The hale forenoon.

That muckle ha', maist like a kirk,
I've kent at braid mid-day sae mirk
Ye'd seen white weegs an' faces lurk
Like ghaists frae Hell,
But whether Christian ghaists or Turk
Deil ane could tell.

The three fires lunted in the gloom,
The wind blew like the blast o' doom,
The rain upo' the roof abune
Played Peter Dick----
Ye wad nae'd licht enough i' the room
Your teeth to pick!

But, freend, ye ken how me an' you,
The ling-lang lanely winter through,
Keep'd a guid speerit up, an' true
To lore Horatian,
We aye the ither bottle drew
To inclination.

Sae let us in the comin' days
Stand sicker on our auncient ways--
The strauchtest road in a' the maze
Since Eve ate apples;
An' let the winter weet our cla'es--
We'll weet our thrapples.

TO SIDNEY COLVIN

The two following letters refer to the essay on the Spirit of Spring
which I was careless enough to lose in the process of a change of
rooms at Cambridge. _The Petits Poemes en Prose_ were attempts, not
altogether successful, in the form though not in the spirit of
Baudelaire.

_Swanston [Autumn 1875]._

MY DEAR COLVIN,--Thanks. Only why don't you tell me if I can get my
_Spring_ printed? I want to print it; because it's nice, and genuine to
boot, and has got less side on than my other game. Besides I want coin
badly.

I am writing _Petits Poemes en Prose_. Their principal resemblance to
Baudelaire's is that they are rather longer and not quite so good. They
are ve-ry cle-ver (words of two syllables), O so aw