The Banfters are lyart *, and runkled, and grey; binders hoary At fairs nor at preaching, Nae wooing, nae fleeching ', wrinkled Since our bra foresters are a' wed away. is begun. The reapers are called bearers, and the operation fbearing. The practice here alluded to, is thus beautifully defcribed by Thomfon, who was born in the near neighbourhood of the field of Flodden. At once they stoop, and fwell the lufty fheaves; Fly harmless, to deceive the tedious time, i Banflers, Bandfers, i. e. Binders, men who bind up the fheaves behind the reapers. k Lyart, a term appropriated to denote a peculiarity which is often feen to affect aged perfons, when fome of the locks become grey fooner than others. Where the mixture of black and white hairs is pretty uniform, the hair is faid to be grey. 1 Fleeching means nearly the fame thing with coaxing; properly, it is a kind of earnestly intreating, with a defire to gain any one over to the purpose wanted, by artfully drawing them to form a good opinion of the fleecher. Fairs and public preachings in the fields, at that time begining to be common in Scotland, were places of public refort, at which young perfons of both fexes had occafion to meet and as these were often at a great distance from home, it gave the young men opportunities of performing obliging offices of gallantry to their mistreffes, which was, no doubt, one cause of their being fo well attended: They were as the balls and affemblies of the country belles and beaux. V. O dule for the order! alas Sent our lads to the border ! The English for anes, by guile wan the day. once The flow'rs of the foreft Wha aye fhone the foremost, who always The prime of the land lie cauld in the clay". cold The poet has, with great art and pathos, made allufions in these few lines, to many circumftances, the recollection of which, and the changes he pathetically describes, that had happened by that fatal battle, muit have impreffed the minds of those who lived at that time with the most tender emotions. No wonder that it has been preferved, when fo many others have entirely perished. The fecond letter is in a file extremely different from the former, which, on account of the strict impartiality that is meant invariably to be purfued in this performance, shall also obtain a place. The letter · is as follows: 66 SIR, "I happened lately to fee your Prospectus of the "Bee. This paper I read with great attention and pleasure, fhewed and recommended it to a numerous "circle of my friends, whom I found willing to pa"tronize the work, upon its anfwering the high expectations which your zeal and industry have excit m The laft verfe is a natural national apology for the defeat. The expreffion in the first line is common in Scotland Dule (prob dolor! The Scotch were fond of Latin phrases) fignifies grief or forrow, as if he had faid, Alas, for the order! 66 66 "ed. Among others, I fhewed your propofals to an ingenious friend, who feemed much pleafed with "the scheme, and who, at my request, promised his "affiftance moft readily. But I fuggefted to him that you appeared to do no great honour to his favourite "art, Poetry, which is alfo mine; and that he was "called upon to defend it by a fpirited remonftrance, "and with all the enthusiasm of the irritabile genus. "He told me he would think of it; and though he is as great an enemy to the mere rhyming race as you can be, and does not wish to fee them encouraged, 46 a few days after he sent me the inclofed ode, which "I have transcribed. In my opinion it will do no "difcredit to your work, nor to any publication what 66 ever. And I think you, as a profeffed patron of the "mufes, are in juftice and generofity called upon to "let THE MUSE be heard in defending her honour at 66 your bar. "MECENAS." The ode alluded to in this epiftle follows. What merit it poffeffes, the reader is left to decide. As to the editor, he would have been well pleafed if the irritated mufe had defended her rights with a ftill greater degree of energy and ardour. A ftrict attention to nature, he thinks he has obferved, has much more power over the human heart, than the most studied ornaments of art, or the niceft allufions to heathen mythology, which, he is afraid, too often leads the imagination aftray in purfuit of ideal phantoms instead of real objects. The imprecation of the Mufe on a periodical paper, intituled THE BEE, by which a prize of five guineas is offered for the best profe essay, and one of two guineas for the best poetical piece. ODE-Irritabile Genus. Nemo me impunè laceffet. Roufe, Hecate, regard my spell, Where'er the BEE explores the bloom, Hafte, with a fifter's powerful prayer, Ye fouls fublim'd, ye favour'd few, That finks you with the vulgar crew Of dung-hill breed, the greedy, grovelling tribe, Ne'er let a H-me or M-f-n deign To grace th' untun'd, unhallow'd band; Lord of the foul expanding lyre, Shall these presume to fhare thy fmile, To fcourge their impious crime through Albion's isle, The Home-bred Linnet. THE home-bred linnet never knew Content within his narrow cage, But hails the beam of winter's day, Release him from his blifsful bonds, Accuftom'd not to feek his food |