with critical observations and biographical notices, by Robert Burns

17^
But when I speak to them that's stately,
I find them ay ta'en with the gee,
An' get the denial right flatly ;
What, think ye, can ail them at me ?
I have yet but ae offer to make them,
If they wad but hearken to me,
And that is, I'm willing to tak them,
If they their consent wad but gee ;
Let her that's content write a billet,
An' get it transmitted to me,
I hereby engage to fulfil it,
The' cripple, tho' bhnd she sud be.
BILLET BY JEAN GRADDEN.
Dear batchelour, Fve read your billet.
Your strait an' your hardships I see.
An' tell you it shall be fulfilled,
Tho* it were by none other but me.
These forty years I've been neglected,
An' nene has had pity on me
Such offers should not be rejected.
Whoever the offerer be.