Robert Burns: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

A Toast. Given at a meeting of the Dumfriesshire Volunteers

Robert Burns

“A Toast. Given at a meeting of the Dumfriesshire Volunteers” as printed in The Poetical Works of Robert Burns (1887).

Robert Burns: Collected Lyrics Text 93 1887 · historical text
Public domainScottish songSong lyrics
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from The Poetical Works of Robert Burns, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

Instead of a Song, boys, I'll give you a Toast,—

Here's the memory of those on the twelfth that we lost:

That we lost, did I say? nay, by heav'n, that we found,

For their fame it shall last while the world goes round.

The next in succession, I'll give you the King,

Whoe'er would betray him, on high may he swing!

And here's the grand fabric, our free Constitution,

As built on the base of the great Revolution;

And longer with Politics, not to be cramm'd,

Be Anarchy curs'd, and be Tyranny damn'd;

And who would to Liberty e'er prove disloyal,

May his son be a hangman, and he his first trial!

Credits

Written by Robert Burns

Words by Robert Burns. Historical text published in The Poetical Works of Robert Burns (1887); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

The Poetical Works of Robert Burns (1887), “A Toast. Given at a meeting of the Dumfriesshire Volunteers”

Every text in this 1887 collected edition is by Robert Burns (1759-1796), who died more than 230 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide; the edition carries a Wikisource PD-old determination and a pre-1931 United States publication.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Retrieved 2026-10-25. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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