with critical observations and biographical notices, by Robert Burns

xu
Then may he say, both night and day,
have mercy. Lord, on me !
Thus have I shown you as I can,
the course of all mens' hfe ;
We will return where we began,
but* either sturt or strife :
Dame Memorie doth take her leave^
she'll last no more, we see
God grant that I may not you grieve,
Ye'll get nae mair of me.
It appears from the first verse of this ballad^ that
it was written about the year 1653. It is not un-
reasonable to suppose, that it was the production of
some pedantic country schoolmaster, who would
naturally write in a stately, stilted style, different
from the common people, his neighbours. Mrs.
Burns says, that it was one of the many nursery songs
of her mother ; and that she first heard and learned
it from her seventy years ago. Neither she nor her
son Gilbert had ever seen a printed copy of it. It
is no bad specimen of the quaint, moralizing manner
that obtained soon after the Reformation. This
* Without.