CLII.
Reading edition
TO
MISS JESSY LEWARS,
DUMFRIES.
WITH JOHNSON’S ‘MUSICAL MUSEUM.’
[Miss Jessy Lewars watched over the declining days of the poet, with the affectionate reverence of a daughter: for this she has the silent gratitude of all who admire the genius of Burns; she has received more, the thanks of the poet himself, expressed in verses not destined soon to die.]
Thine be the volumes, Jessy fair, And with them take the Poet’s prayer; That fate may in her fairest page, With every kindliest, best presage Of future bliss, enrol thy name: With native worth and spotless fame, And wakeful caution still aware Of ill—but chief, man’s felon snare; All blameless joys on earth we find, And all the treasures of the mind— These be thy guardian and reward; So prays thy faithful friend, The Bard.
June 26, 1796.