taste, and he will give the palm to her who ex- | earning his subsistence by daily labour, has cels in the lineaments of nature. It written verses which have attracted and re- Burns wrote professedly for the peasantry of his country, and by them their native dialect is universally relished. To a numerous class of the natives of Scotland of another description, it may also be considered as attractive in a different point of view. Estranged from their native soil, and spread over foreign lands, the idiom of their country unites with the sentiments and the descriptions on which it is employed, to recall to their minds the interesting scenes of infancy and youth-to awaken many pleasing, many tender recollections. Literary men, residing at Edinburgh or Aberdeen, cannot judge on this point for one hundred and fifty thousand of their expatriated countrymen. To the use of the Scottish dialect in one species of poetry, the composition of songs, the taste of the public has been for some time reconciled. The dialect in question excels, as has already been observed, in the copiousness and exactness of its terms for natural objects; and in pastoral or rural songs, it gives a Doric simplicity, which is very generally approved. Neither does the regret seem well founded which some persons of taste have expressed, that Burns used this dialect in so many other of his compositions. His declared purpose was to paint the manners of rustic life among his "humble compeers," and it is not easy to conceive, that this could have been done with equal humour and effect, if he had not adopted their idiom. There are some, indeed, who will think the subject too low for poetry. Persons of this sickly taste will find their delicacies consulted in many a polite and learned author; let them not seek for gratifica-ed them by proper culture, with lengthened tion in the rough and vigorous lines, in the un- years, and under happier auspices, it is not for bridled humour, or in the overpowering sensi-us to calculate. But while we run over the bility of this bard of nature. To determine the comparative merit of Burns would be no easy task. Many persons afterwards distinguished in literature, have been born in as humble a situation of life; but it would be difficult to find any other who while The force of Burns lay in the powers of his understanding, and in the sensibility of his heart; and these will be found to infuse the living principle into all the works of genius which seem destined to immortality. His sensibility had an uncommon range. He was alive to every species of emotion. He is one of the few poets that can be mentioned, who have at once excelled in humour, in tenderness, and in sublimity; a praise unknown to the ancients, and which in modern times is only due to Ariosto, to Shakspeare, and perhaps to Voltaire. To compare the writings of the Scottish peasant with the works of these giants in literature, might appear presumptuous; yet it may be asserted that he has displayed the foot of Hercules. How near he might have approach melancholy story of his life, it is impossible not to heave a sigh at the asperity of his fortune; and as we survey the records of his mind, it is easy to see, that out of such materials have been reared the fairest and the most durable of the monuments of genius. THE SONGS. THE poetry of Burns has been referred to as one of the causes which prevented the Scottish language from falling into disuse. It was beginning ⚫ to be discontinued as vulgar, even as the medium of oral communication; and an obvious consequence of that state of the public taste was, that the Scottish songs, sweetly pathetic and expressive as many of them are, were not fashionable, but rather studiously avoided. The publication of his poetry changed this taste. Burns, followed by Scott, not merely revived the use of their native tongue in their own country, but gave it a currency in the polite world generally; an effect which was greatly assisted by Burns's songs, and not a little by what he did for the songs of his predecessors. He was a most devoted admirer of the lyrical effusions of the olden time, and became a diligent collector of the ancient words, as well as of the sets of the music. His remarks, historical and anecdotic, upon the several songs, are amusing and instructive; and where there were blanks to be supplied, he was ready as powerful at a refit. To do all this, and at same time to double the stock of Scottish songs, was no small task; and so well has it been executed, that in place of forming the amusement and delight of the Scots only, they have become a part, nay, have taken the lead, of the lyrical compositions used, and in fashion, throughout the British dominions. It is because of their intrinsic worth, as a branch of elegant amusement, that we have given the whole here, presented in two distinct parts:The first part contains the songs before Burns, with the remarks, by which he has so felicitously illustrated them.-The second part is formed of his own songs, and which are now brought together, in place of being scattered over, and mixed with the prose pieces, as heretofore. The whole forming a complete collection of select Scottish Songs, such as cannot fail to be acceptable to the lovers of good taste, and innocent amusement in every country. 82900 SELECT SCOTTISH SONGS. SCOTTISH [THE poet thus writes to Mrs. Dunlop :- I| had an old grand-uncle, with whom my mother lived awhile in her girlish years; the good old man, for such he was, was long blind ere he died; during which time, his highest enjoyment was to sit down and cry, while my mother would sing the simple old song of The Life and Age of Man.' The song, as here given, was taken down from the recitation of the poet's mother, who had never seen a printed copy of it, and had learned it from her mother in early youth.] THE LIFE AND AGE OF MAN: OR, A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF HIS NATURE, RISE AND FALL, ACCORDING TO THE TWELVE MONTHS OF THE YEAR. Tune-"Isle of Kell." UPON the sixteen hunder year, of God and fifty three, Frae Christ was born, that bought us dear, as writings testifie; On January the sixteenth day, as I did ly alone, With many a sigh and sob did say, Ah! Man is made to moan. Dame Natur, that excellent bride, did stand up me before, And said to me, thou must provide this life for to abhor: Thou seest what things are gone before, experience teaches thee; Yet do not miss to remember this, that one day thou must die. Of all the creatures bearing life recall back to thy mind, Consider how they ebb and flow, each thing in their own kind; Yet few of them have such a strain, as God hath given to thee; Therefore this lesson keep in mind,— remember man to die. Man's course on earth I will report, as God hath giv'n him grace. His natur to the herbs compare, that in the ground ly dead; And to each month add five year, and so we will procede. The first five years then of man's life compare to Januar; In all that time but sturt and strife, he can but greet and roar. So is the fields of flowers all bare, by reason of the frost ; Kept in the ground both safe and sound, not one of thein is lost. So to years ten I shall speak then of Februar but lack; The child is meek and weak of spir't, nothing can undertake: So all the flow'rs, for lack of show'rs, no springing up can make, Yet birds do sing and praise their king, and each one choose their mate. Then in comes March, that noble arch, with wholesome spring and air, The child doth spring to years fifteen, with visage fine and fair; So do the flow'rs with softening show're ay spring up as we see ; Yet nevertheless remember this, that one day we must die. Then brave April doth sweetly smi.e the flow'rs do fair appear, The child is then become a man, to the age of twenty year; If he be kind and well inclin'd, and brought up at the school, Then men may know if he foreshow a wise man or a fool. Then cometh May, gallant and gay, when fra ant flow'rs do thrive. The child is then become a man, of age twenty and five : And for his life doth seek a wife, his life and years to spend ; Christ from above send peace and love, and grace unto the end! Then cometh June with pleasant tune, when fields with flow'rs are clad, And Phoebus bright is at his height, all creatures then are glad : Then he appears of thretty years, with courage bold and stout; His nature so makes him to go, of death he hath no doubt. Then July comes with his hot climes, and constant in his kind, The man doth thrive to thirty-five, and sober grows in mind; His children small do on him call, and breed him sturt and strife; | His ears and e'en, and teeth of bane, all these now do him fail; Then may he say, both night and day, that death shall him assail. And if there be, thro' natur stout, some that live ten years more; Or if he creepeth up and down, till he comes to fourscore; Yet all this time is but a line, no pleasure can he see: Then may he say, both night and day, have mercy, Lord, on me! Thus have I shown you as I can, the course of all mens' life; We will return where we began, but either sturt or strife: Dame Memorie doth take her leave, she'll last no more, we see ; God grant that I may not you grieve, Ye'll get nae mair of me. Then August old, both stout and bold, when flow'rs do stoutly stand; So man appears to forty years, with wisdom and command; And doth provide his house to guide, children and familie; Yet do not miss t' remember this, that one day thou must die. September then comes with his train, and makes the flow'rs to fade; Then man belyve is forty-five, grave, constant, wise, and staid. When he looks on, how youth is gone, and shall it no more see; Then may he say, both night and day, have mercy, Lord, on me! October's blast comes in with boast, The almond tree doth flourish hie, November air maketh fields bare of flow'rs, of grass, and corn; Then man arrives to fifty-five, and sick both e'en and morn: Loins, legs, and thighs, without disease, makes him to sigh and say, Ah! Christ on high have mind on me, and learn me for to die! December fell baith sharp and snell, makes flow'rs creep in the ground; Then man's threescore, both sick and sore, no soundness in him found. BESS THE GAWKIE. THIS song shews that the Scottish Muses did not all leave us when we lost Ramsay and Oswald, as I have good reason to believe that the verses and music are both posterior to the days of these two gentlemen.-It is a beautiful song, and in the genuine Scots taste. We have few pastoral compositions, I mean the pastoral of nature, that are equal to this.-BURNS. BLYTHE young Bess to Jean did say, And sport awhile wi' Jamie? For he's taen up wi' Maggy! For hark, and I will tell you, lass, Did I not see your Jamie pass, Wi' meikle gladness in his face, Out o'er the muir to Maggy. I wat he gae her mony a kiss, And Maggy took them ne'er amiss; 'Tween ilka smack, pleas'd her with this, That Bess was but a gawkie. For when a civil kiss I seek, • Oswald was a music-seller in London, about the year 1750. He published a large collection of Scottish tunes, which he called The Caledonian Pocket Companion. Mr. Tytler observes, that his genius in compo sition, joined to his taste in the performance of Scottish musie, was natural and pathetic. This song has been imputed to a clergyman-Mr. Morehead of Urr In Galloway. |