Still more highly generalized is his _Address to the Unco Guid_, a
plea for charity in judgment, kept from sentimentalism by its gleam of
humor. It has perhaps the widest appeal of any of his poems of this
class. One may note that as Burns passes from the satirical and
humorous tone to the directly didactic, the dialect disappears, and
the last two stanzas are practically pure English.


ADDRESS TO THE UNCO GUID, OR THE RIGIDLY RIGHTEOUS

_My son, these maxims make a rule,
And lump them aye thegither; [together]
The rigid righteous is a fool,
The rigid wise anither;
The cleanest corn that e'er was dight, [sifted]
May hae some pyles o' caff in [grains, chaff]
So ne'er a fellow-creature slight
For random fits o' daffin._ [larking]
SOLOMON (_Eccles._ vii. 16).

O ye wha are sae guid yoursel, [so good]
Sae pious and sae holy,
Ye've nought to do but mark and tell
Your neibour's fauts and folly! [faults]
Whase life is like a weel-gaun mill, [well-going]
Supplied wi' store o' water:
The heapet happer's ebbing still, [hopper]
An' still the clap plays clatter! [clapper]

Hear me, ye venerable core, [company]