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Horace in Homespun by Hugh Haliburton [i.e. J. L. Robertson]

A New Edition with Illustrations by A. S. Boyd
  

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Hughie on War and Sport.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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57

Hughie on War and Sport.

“Quem tu, Melpomene,” &c.
Car. iv. 3.

Wham at his birth wi' mournfu' smile
The Muse has ance regairdet,
Shall ne'er in field o' battle toil
To be with bays rewairdet.
Yet shall he haunt, a lanely ghost,
The placid battle plain—
To mourn the lives that there were lost,
The loves that there were slain.
Hoo caulder for thae stricken lives
Maun mony a hearth hae been;
Hoo blank to mony bairns an' wives
The social hoor at e'en!

58

Nae hunter on the heather hills
Bird-slaughterin' shall he be,
Nor fisher rivin' fra the gills
O' some puir troot his flee.
Yet shall he love the dusky pools
And speel the mountain stairs,
Unburdened wi' the murderin' tools
O' guns an' gauds an' snares,—
O'erjoy'd to find attractions rife
In Nature's ilka feature,
And share the brotherhood of life
With every happy creature.
Oh, what avails a victor's name
At close of battle clangour?
This warld is far owre sma' for fame,
And life owre short for anger.