To Miss Ferrier
to miss ferrier enclosing the elegy on sir j. h. blair. nae heathen name shall i prefix, frae pindus or parnassus; auld reekie dings them a' to sticks, for rhyme-inspiring lasses. jove's tunefu' dochters three times three made homer deep their debtor; but, gien the body half an e'e, nine ferriers wad done better! last day my mind was in a bog, down george's street i stoited; a creeping cauld prosaic fog my very sense doited. do what i dought to set her free, my saul lay in the mire; ye turned a neuk—i saw your e'e— she took the wing like fire! the mournfu' sang i here enclose, in gratitude i send you, and pray, in rhyme as weel as prose, a' gude things may attend you!