The lee-lang night we watch'd the fauld, But the houlet cried frae the castle wa' When day did daw, and cocks did craw. An unco tyke lap o'er the dike, UP IN THE MORNING EARLY. THE chorus of this song is old; but the two stanzas are Burns's. I'm o'er young to marry yet; My mammy coft1 me a new gown, I'm fear'd ye'd spoil the lacing o't. Hallowmas is come and gane, The nights are lang in winter, sir; In trouth I dare na venture, sir. Fu' loud and shrill the frosty wind Blaws through the leafless timmer, sir; But if ye come this gate3 again, I'll aulder be gin simmer, sir. THE WINTER IS PAST. THE winter it is past, and the summer's come at last, Now everything is glad, while I am very sad, The rose upon the brier, by the waters running clear, May have charms for the linnet or the bee; Their little loves are blest, and their little hearts at rest, But my true love is parted from me. My love is like the sun, in the firmament does run, For ever is constant and true; But his is like the moon, that wanders up and down, And is every month changing anew. All you that are in love, and cannot it remove, I pity the pains you endure: For experience makes me know that your hearts are full o' woe, A woe that no mortal can cure. 1 Bought. 3 Way. 2 Trees. OH, WILLIE BREW'D A PECK O' MAUT. Tune-" Willie brew'd a peck o' mant." SPEAKING of this famous song the poet says:-"The air is Allan Masterton's, the song mine. The occasion of it was this-Mr. William Nicol of the High School, Edinburgh, being at Moffat during the autumn vacation, honest Allan -who was at that time on a visit to Dalswinton-and I went to pay Nicol a visit. We had such a joyous meeting that Masterton and I agreed, each in our own way, that we should celebrate the business." MARY Campbell, the heroine of this and several of his finest songs, belonged to the neighbourhood of Dunoon, a village on the Frith of Clyde. She was in. the service of Montgomery of Coilsfield, when Burns first became acquainted with her. She was a beautiful girl, the beau ideal of a "Scotch lassie," who was as good as she was beautiful. There had been some love passages, though 1 Taste. Ꮓ not on his part of a serious nature, between them, and when the rupture with the Armour family took place his thoughts strayed towards Mary Campbell. There can be no doubt that very soon a deep and sincere attachment sprung up between them. It was arranged that Mary should leave her place in May, to prepare for her change of condition. Before she went to her father's house they met and parted, when the following ceremony was enacted between them :Taking up their postures on the opposite sides of a small brook, and holding a Bible between them, they exchanged vows of fidelity towards each other. They then exchanged Bibles. The copy given to Mary has been preserved; it is in two volumes. On a blank leaf of the first volume is inscribed, in the poet's hand-writing, "And ye shall not swear by my name falsely: I am the Lord," (Lev. xix. 12.) In the second volume, "Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oath," (Matt. v. 33.) Another blank leaf in this volume bears his name and his masonic-mark. The lovers never met again. A few weeks after, Mary Campbell died suddenly at Greenock. Recently a monument was erected over her grave by several admirers of the poet. On the third anniversary of the death of Highland Mary, Jean Armour, by that time his wife, tells us that, towards the evening, "he grew sad about something, went into the barn-yard, where he strode restlessly up and down for some time, although repeatedly asked to come in. Immediately on entering the house he sat down and wrote 'To Mary in Heaven," an outpouring of passion, which Lockhart characterises as "the noblest of all his ballads. THOU ling'ring star, with less'ning ray, Again thou usher'st in the day My Mary from my soul was torn. O Mary! dear departed shade! Where is thy place of blissful rest? See'st thou thy lover lowly laid? Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast? That sacred hour can I forget, Can I forget the hallow'd grove, Those records dear of transports past; Ah! little thought we 'twas our last! Ayr, gurgling, kiss'd his pebbled shore, O'erhung with wild woods, thick'ning green ; The fragrant birch, and hawthorn hoar, Still o'er these scenes my memory wakes, My Mary! dear departed shade! Where is thy place of blissful rest? See'st thou thy lover lowly laid? Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast? THE LADDIES BY THE BANKS O' NITH. Tune-"Up and waur them a'." We owe the following song to a contested election for the representation of the Dumfries burghs in 1789, between Sir James Johnston of Westerhall, the former member, and Captain Miller of Dalswinton. As Burns had friends on both sides, he took no very strong interest in either, taking care however not to miss a chance of recording his detestation of the Duke of Queensberry, who was the local head of the Tory faction who supported Captain Miller. THE laddies by the banks o' Nith * Alexander Birtwhistle, Esq., provost of Kirkcudbright. |