Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation

Written in 1791, Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation is Robert Burns' famous poem on the 1707 Acts of Union, which joined the parliaments of England and Scotland to create the nation of Great Britain. It contains the lines 'We're bought and sold for English gold' -- \ Such a parcel of rogues in a nation! echoing the sentiment that Scottish landowners, bankrupted in part by the disastrous Darien Scheme, sold out the Scottish nation for their own financial gain.

Fareweel to a' our Scottish fame,
Fareweel our ancient glory!
Fareweel ev'n to the Scottish name.
Sae famed in martial story!
Now Sark rins over Salway sands,
An' Tweed rins to the ocean,
To mark where England's province stands --
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

What force or guile could not subdue
Thro' many warlike ages
Is wrought now by a coward few
For hireling traitor's wages.
The English steel we could disdain,
Secure in valour's station;
But English gold has been our bane --
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

O, would, or I had seen the day
That Treason thus could sell us,
My auld grey head had lien in clay
Wi' Bruce and loyal Wallace!
But pith and power, till my last hour
I'll mak this declaration :-
'We're bought and sold for English gold'--
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!