XX.
Reading edition
THE REPLY.
[The minister of Gladsmuir wrote a censure on the Stirling lines, intimating, as a priest, that Burns’s race was nigh run, and as a prophet, that oblivion awaited his muse. The poet replied to the expostulation.]
Like Esop’s lion, Burns says, sore I feel All others’ scorn—but damn that ass’s heel.