WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
Poems and Songs of Robert Burns cover

Poems and Songs of Robert Burns

Chapter 163: Extempore In The Court Of Session
Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

About This Book

The collection assembles lyrical songs, narrative poems, satirical pieces, epistles, epitaphs, and fragments that shift between convivial drinking verses, tender laments, and comic storytelling. Many lyrics were shaped to traditional airs and preserve vernacular speech, while longer works portray rural labor, domestic scenes, and compassionate encounters with animals. Satire targets religious hypocrisy and social pretension, and several poems take a direct, personal tone of moral reflection or affectionate address. The selections alternate moods and forms, emphasizing melodic phrasing and a versatile technical range.

Extempore In The Court Of Session

Tune—“Killiercrankie.”
Lord Advocate He clenched his pamphlet in his fist, He quoted and he hinted, Till, in a declamation-mist, His argument he tint it: He gaped for’t, he graped for’t, He fand it was awa, man; But what his common sense came short, He eked out wi’ law, man.
Mr. Erskine Collected, Harry stood awee, Then open’d out his arm, man; [Footnote 1: William Dunbar, W. S., of the Crochallan Fencibles, a convivial club.] His Lordship sat wi’ ruefu’ e’e, And ey’d the gathering storm, man: Like wind-driven hail it did assail’ Or torrents owre a lin, man: The Bench sae wise, lift up their eyes, Half-wauken’d wi’ the din, man.