THE MAUCHLINE LADY.

Tune." I had a Horse and I had nae Mair.”

WHEN first I came to Stewart Kyle,

My mind it was nae steady;
Where'er I gaed, where'er I rade,
A mistress still I had ay :

But when I came roun' by Mauchline town,
Not dreadin' any body,

My heart was caught before I thought,
And by a Mauchline lady.

The Mauchline lady who caught the Poet's heart was Jean Armour. The way in which they became acquainted is thus related :-Jean had laid some linen webs down to bleach, and was sprinkling them among the gowans with water, when Luath, the Poet's dog, ran across them with his dirty feet and fawned upon her. She was ill pleased, and

"E'en as he fawned, she strak the poor dumb tyke." Burns reproached her in the words of Ramsay; she smiled, and so a friendship commenced, which was doomed to an early termination, and to give much of joy and woe.

THE HIGHLAND LASSIE.

Tune." The Deuks dang o'er my Daddy!”

NAE gentle dames, tho' e'er sae fair,
Shall ever be my muse's care:
Their titles a' are empty show;
Gie me my highland lassie, O.

Within the glen sae bushy, O,
Aboon the plains sae rushy, O,
I set me down wi' right good will,
To sing my highland lassie, O.

Oh, were yon hills and vallies mine,
Yon palace and yon gardens fine!
The world then the love should know
I bear my highland lassie, O.

But fickle fortune frowns on me,
And I maun cross the raging sea;
But while my crimson currents flow,
I'll love my highland lassie, O.

Altho' thro' foreign climes I range,
I know her heart will never change,
For her bosom burns with honour's glow,
My faithful highland lassie, O.

For her I'll dare the billows' roar,
For her I'll trace a distant shore,
That Indian wealth may lustre throw
Around my highland lassie, O.

She has my heart, she has my hand,
By sacred truth and honour's band!
'Till the mortal stroke shall lay me low,
I'm thine, my highland lassie, O.

Farewell the glen sae bushy, O!
Farewell the plain sae rushy, O!

To other lands I now must go,

To sing my highland lassie, O.

The Highland Lassie of this song, was the Mary Campbell of whose too early death the Poet sung afterwards with such eloquent pathos.—" My Highland Lassie,” observes Burns, "was a warm-hearted, charming young creature, as ever blessed a man with generous love. After a pretty long tract of the most ardent reciprocal attachment, we met by appointment on the second Sunday of May, in a sequestered spot by the banks of the Ayr, where we spent the day in taking a farewell, before she should embark for the West Highlands, to arrange matters among her friends for our projected change of life. At the close of autumn she crossed the sea to meet me at Greenock, where she had scarce landed when she was seized with a malignant fever which hurried my dear girl to the grave, before I could even hear of her illness."

END OF VOL. III.

BAYLIS AND LEIGHTON,

JOHNSON'S-COURT, FLEET-STREET.