THE UNPUBLISHED BURNS POEM,

IN MACMILLAN'S MAGAZINE.

BY

Y express permission of the Publishers, courteously granted to us in the freest and fullest manner, we are enabled to place before our readers "An Unpublished Poem by Robert Burns," exactly as it appears in Macmillan's Magazine, No. 505, November, 1901.

AN UNPUBLISHED POEM BY ROBERT BURNS.

[The following verses were recently found among some papers belonging to the late Mrs. Berrington, who died in 1885. During a great part of her life Mrs. Berrington lived in Monmouthshire, at no great distance from Itton Court, the home of Mrs. Curre, to whom, according to the endorsement on the manuscript, the verses were addressed by Burns. Mrs. Curre, who died in 1823, was the daughter of John Bushby, Esq., of Tinwald Downs in Dumfriesshire. The copy from which the verses are printed is in the early handwriting of the late Miss Eliza Waddington, whose family also lived in Monmouthshire. It is hoped that the present publication may lead to the discovery of the original manuscript.]

OH look na, young Lassie, sae softly and sweetly!
Oh smile na, young Lassie, sae sweetly on me!
Ther's nought waur to bear than the mild glance of pity,
When grief swells the heart and the tear blins the e'e.

Just such was the glance of my bonnie lost Nancy,
Just such was the glance that once brightened her e'e;
But lost is the smile sae impressed on my fancy,
And cauld is the heart that sae dear was to me.

Ilka wee flow'ret we grieve to see blighted,

Cow'ring and with'ring in frost nippet plain;
The naist turn of Spring shall awauken their beauty,
But ne'er can Spring wauken my Nancy again.

And was she less fair than the flow'rs of the garden?
Was she less sweet than the blossoms of May?
Oh, was na her cheek like the rose and the lily,
Like the Sun's waving glance at the closing o' day?

And oh sic a heart, sae gude and sae tender!

Weel was it fitted for beauty sae leal: 'Twas as pure as the drop in the bell o' the lily, A wee glinting gem wi' nought to conceal.

But the blush and the smile and the dark e'es mild glances,
I prized them the maist, they were love's kind return,
Yet far less the loss of sic beauty lamented,

'Twas the love that she bore me that gaes me to mourn.

Though it may appear somewhat ungracious to look our gift-horse in the mouth, still, we consider the Federation would be guilty of a dereliction of duty were no indication given of the prevailing opinion as to the genuineness of the production amongst its membership. Passing such obvious mistakes in transcription or printing as "naist" for "neist," and "gaes" for "gars," the whole weight of internal evidence is dead against the authenticity of the piece. Its conception, or "argument" (to speak in critical phrase)-a snivelling grasswidower warning off all approaches on the part of designing femininities in his neighbourhood-is not exactly in the Burns vein, to say the least of it. Burns exhausted the cognate theme in My Nannie's awa, which he forwarded to Thomson in 1794. Before 1796, John Bushbie was one of his "favourite aversions," as Robert Chambers puts it, a statement which the Heron ballads place beyond doubt. There cannot, therefore, be much of an interval between the dates of the two compositions; how miraculously they differ in their methods of treatment will best be realised by a parallel reading, The execution of the Bushby lyric is verbose, halting, and flabby in the extreme, nowhere rising above the level of second-rate doggerel. Compared with the exquisite rhythm and beautiful imagery of the Clarinda lyric, it is the bleat of a billy-goat over the carcase of his favourite nannie. There is not a pennyweight of passion in the whole composition, nor, indeed, any apparent effort in the way of simulation. To particularise

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were to confess that Burns's admirers are impervious to the magic charm of the Burns style, which permeates his veriest trifle. But if the Philistine demand satisfaction, we might ask him to make "plain" the exigencies of rhyme in the third stanza, which deals, not with a mouse, but a botanical curiosity in the shape of a wee cow'rin' flow'ret;" ditto in the fifth, where the "leal beauty" of the defunct maiden is deftly "fitted" into the "wee glinting gem" of her heart so as to leave "nought to conceal;" or, what we would certainly "prize the maist," to write down in plain prose what we are to understand by the conflicting losses detailed in the concluding quatrain. The evidence of authenticity is nothing but circumstantiality of the flimsiest texture. The handwriting is that of "the late Miss Eliza Waddington," a Monmouthshire lady, who presumably copied the verses from a copy or the original, presumably once in the possession of "Mrs. Curre, the daughter of John Bushby, Esq., of Tinwald Downs, who died in 1823," and who claimed to be the heroine of the piece. Its attribution to Burns rests solely on an "endorsement on Miss Waddington's manuscript," by whom is not condescended upon. It is not altogether improbable that Nancy Bushby, if such a person ever existed, was the recipient of laudatory verses from Burns, but it is not within the bounds of possibility that he addressed her after the manner of the weak, fusionless lines of the composition in question. The recovery of the manuscript—a remote contingency-would not alter our opinion. Burns had a trick of writing out poetical pieces by other hands to please his own fancy or oblige his friends (vide the Thomson correspondence), hence a Burns holograph is not per se conclusive evidence that it is the poet's own composition. If speculation be allowable, we consider it extremely likely that the wish was father to the thought that some literary relic of the poet existed amongst the possessions of the Bushby family; that this "unpublished poem" was the nearest approach to such a thing obtainable; and that oral tradition and Monmouthshire gossip account for the rest of the tale.

D. M'NAUGHT.

THE ALLOWAY MONUMENT.

IN my Burns's collection are some interesting documents relating to this Memorial which do not appear to have been published hitherto.

The first is a "Sketch of the Ground on which it is proposed to Build a Monument in Memory of the late Robert Burns, the Airshire Bard, by James Milligan, Surveyor, Air." This was to be placed about 20 yards to the west of the house in which Burns was born-29th Jany. [sic], 1759. This document was franked by A. Boswell (of Auchinleck) on November 5, 1817, to Mr. Hamilton, Architect, Glasgow, and bears the Glasgow post mark of "6 Nov., 1817.”

The second is a printed circular :

“AIR, 26th January, 1818.

“Convened the following members of the Committee appointed to carry into effect the wishes of those who have subscribed to erect a Monument to the memory of R. B., the Airshire Bard, at the place of his birth, in order to examine such Plans or Designs of the proposed Monument as were lodged with the Secretary, by those Artists who chose to contribute their efforts to forward the Building, and who inclined to appear as Candidates for the premium of Twenty Guineas offered by the Committee, or an appropriate Piece of Plate of that value, at the option of the successful Candidate, for the most approved Plan of the Monument proposed, pursuant to advt. in the Edinr., Glasgow, and Air newspapers, viz. :—

"Sir David Hunter Blair, of Blairquhan, Bart.

"John Hamilton, Esq. of Sundrum.

"Alexander Boswell, Esq. of Auchinleck.

"The Secretary laid before the Committee, Sealed Packets, ten in number, transmitted from London, Edinr., Glasgow, and other places, which, having been opened in presence of the Committee, were found to contain Plans and Designs of the proposed Monument.

"The Committee accordingly proceeded to a minute and careful examination, and were unanimously of opinion that the Design No. 8 should be the plan adopted, and the Sealed Letter accompanying it having been opened, it appeared that that plan was the production of Mr. Thomas Hamilton, junior, Architect, No. 1 James St., Edinr.; and in his letter he very handsomely stated that, in the event of his Design

being thought worthy of adoption, he wishes to decline any mark of approbation from the Committee, which would tend to lessen the Funds already so limited, as the honour of being the successful Competitor would be to him a circumstance of the most gratifying nature, and a recompense more than adequate to his humble exertions."

The circular proceeds to notify thanks to the other competitors, whose plans will be returned free of expense, and to state that they decided merely according to fancy, so that "they trusted no man of genius would feel hurt at not succeeding in a competition of this nature." They further assured the candidates of the absence of bias or of any previous knowledge of plans or competitors.

The third is a holograph letter of the same date to Coila," the motto adopted by Mr. David Hamilton, Architect, Glasgow:

"SIR,

"AUCHINLECK, Jany. 26th, 1818.

"Not knowing whom I have the honour to address, I can only direct what I have now to offer to him who did the Committee for Burns' Monument the very great service of producing two such admirable designs as you did in the Doric Building, and Gothic Tower. It is impossible to enter on all the reasons which operated to determine our choice of another, but I do assure you that we were so pleased and so bewildered, that we would gladly have built ten of those delivered in; we chose that which we considered most appropriate, most suitable to the situation, and most likely to come within the compass of our funds; we were not scientific men,-fancy, not knowledge, guided us, and I trust you will not feel any cause to be hurt or offended that our choice fell on another. One we must chuse, and it was with regret that we could not adopt your Gothic Building, although not deemed strictly applicable to the character of the Poet. This you may rely on, that your designs had, as they deserved, our admiration, and one and all felt gratified to the unknown Artist who had devoted so much of his time and the exertions of his genius in the cause.

Accept, therefore, of our very best thanks, which I offer in name of the Committee.

"I am, SIR,

"To COILA.”

"Your obliged and rt. humble St.,
"ALEXANDER BOSWELL.

Mr. (afterwards Sir) Alexander Boswell is also notable as the man who fought the last duel in Scotland, with Mr. James Stuart, on 26th March, 1822, on the sands of Auchtertool, near Kirkcaldy.

PHILIP SULLEY, F.S.A.