Here, Doon pour’d down his far-fetch’d floods;
     There, well-fed Irwine stately thuds: 
     Auld hermit Ayr staw thro’ his woods,
     On to the shore;
     And many a lesser torrent scuds,
     With seeming roar.

     Low, in a sandy valley spread,
     An ancient borough rear’d her head;
     Still, as in Scottish story read,
     She boasts a race
     To ev’ry nobler virtue bred,
     And polish’d grace.^2

     By stately tow’r, or palace fair,
     Or ruins pendent in the air,
     Bold stems of heroes, here and there,
     I could discern;
     Some seem’d to muse, some seem’d to dare,
     With feature stern.

     My heart did glowing transport feel,
     To see a race heroic^3 wheel,

     [Footnote 2:  The seven stanzas following this were first
     printed in the Edinburgh edition, 1787.  Other stanzas, never
     published by Burns himself, are given on p. 180.]

     [Footnote 3:  The Wallaces.—­R.  B.]

     And brandish round the deep-dyed steel,
     In sturdy blows;
     While, back-recoiling, seem’d to reel
     Their Suthron foes.

     His Country’s Saviour,^4 mark him well! 
     Bold Richardton’s heroic swell;^5
     The chief, on Sark who glorious fell,^6
     In high command;
     And he whom ruthless fates expel
     His native land.

     There, where a sceptr’d Pictish shade
     Stalk’d round his ashes lowly laid,^7
     I mark’d a martial race, pourtray’d
     In colours strong: 
     Bold, soldier-featur’d, undismay’d,
     They strode along.

     Thro’ many a wild, romantic grove,^8
     Near many a hermit-fancied cove
     (Fit haunts for friendship or for love,
     In musing mood),
     An aged Judge, I saw him rove,
     Dispensing good.

     With deep-struck, reverential awe,
     The learned Sire and Son I saw:^9
     To Nature’s God, and Nature’s law,
     They gave their lore;
     This, all its source and end to draw,
     That, to adore.

     [Footnote 4:  William Wallace.—­R.B.]

     [Footnote 5:  Adam Wallace of Richardton, cousin to the
     immortal preserver of Scottish independence.—­R.B.]

[Footnote 6:  Wallace, laird of Craigie, who was second in command under Douglas, Earl of Ormond, at the famous battle on the banks of Sark, fought anno 1448.  That glorious victory was principally owing to the judicious conduct and intrepid valour of the gallant laird of Craigie, who died of his wounds after the action.—­R.B.]

[Footnote 7:  Coilus, King of the Picts, from whom the district of Kyle is said to take its name, lies buried, as tradition says, near the family seat of the Montgomeries of Coilsfield, where his burial—­place is still shown.—­R.B.]

     [Footnote 8:  Barskimming, the seat of the Lord Justice—­
     Clerk.—­R.B.]