Waly, Waly Waukin o' the Fauld We ran, and they ran Were na my Heart light I wad die When I upon thy bosom lean Where braving angry Winter's Storms 164 Where wad bonnie Annie lie? 206 Wilie brew'd a peck o' Maut 198 Ye Gods, was Strephon's picture blest 158 208 Young Damon 158 "In the changes of language, these songs may no doubt suffer change; but the associated strain of sentiment and of music will perhaps survive, while the clear stream sweeps down the Vale of Yarrow, or the yellow broom waves on the Cowden Knowes." Dr. CURRIE. ROBERT BURNS'S COMMON PLACE, OR SCRAP BOOK, Begun in April, 1783*. "Observations, Hints, Songs, Scraps of Poetry, c. by Robert Burness; a man who had little art in making money, and still less in keeping it; but was, however, a man of some sense, a great deal of honesty, and unbounded good-will to every creature, rational and irrational. As he was but little indebted to scholastic education, and bred at a plough-tail, his performances must be strongly tinctured with his unpolished, rustic way of life; but as I believe they are really his own, it may be some entertainment to a curious observer of human nature, to see how a plough-man thinks, and feels, under the pressure of love, ambition, anxiety, grief, with the like cares and passions, which, however diversified by the modes and manners of life, operate pretty much alike, I believe, on all the species. *It has been the chief object in making this collection, not to omit any thing which might illustrate the character and feelings of the bard at different periods of his life. Hence these "Observations" are given entire from his manuscript. A small portion appears in Dr. Currie's edition, but the reader will pardon the repetition of it here when he considers how much so valuable a paper would lose by being given in fragments, and when he recollects that this volume may fall into the hands of those who have not the opportunity of referring to the large edition of the works. This remark will apply equally to the Journals and other pieces, of which parts have before been published. E. |