XXXV. Written on a Pane of Glass, in the Inn at Moffat

XXXIV. The League and Covenant.

[In answer to a gentleman, who called the solemn League and Covenant ridiculous and fanatical.]

The solemn League and Covenant
Cost Scotland blood—cost Scotland tears;
But it sealed freedom’s sacred cause—
If thou’rt a slave, indulge thy sneers.

[A friend asked the poet why God made Miss Davies so little, and a lady who was with her, so large: before the ladies, who had just passed the window, were out of sight, the following answer was recorded on a pane of glass.]

Ask why God made the gem so small,
And why so huge the granite?
Because God meant mankind should set
The higher value on it.