page line be a superior grace, it is equally sincere and fervent. ; 'The scenery was nearly taken from real life, though I dare say, madam, you do not recollect it, as I believe you scarcely noticed the poetic rêveur as he wandered by you. I had roved out as chance directed, in the favourite haunts of my muse, on the banks of the Ayr, to view nature in all the gaiety of the vernal year. The evening sun was flaming over the distant western hills not a breath stirred the crimson opening blossom, or the verdant spreading leaf. It was a golden moment for a poetic heart. I listened to the feathered warblers, pouring their harmony on every hand, with a congenial kindred regard, and frequently turned out of my path lest I should disturb their little songs, or frighten them to another station. Surely, said I to myself, he must be a wretch indeed, who, regardless of your harmonious efforts to please him, can eye your elusive flights to discover your secret recesses, and to rob you of all the property nature gives you your dearest comforts, your helpless nestlings. Even the hoary hawthorn twig that shot across the way, what heart at such a time but must have been interested in its welfare, and wished it preserved from the rudely-browsing cattle, or the withering eastern blast? Such was the scene, and such the hour, when, in a corner of my prospect, I spied one of the fairest pieces of nature's workmanship that ever crowned a poetic landscape, or met a poet's eye; those visionary bards excepted who hold commerce with aërial beings. Had Calumny and Villany taken my walk, they had at that moment sworn eternal peace with such an object. What an hour of inspiration for a poet! It would have raised dull historic prose into metaphor and measure. enclosed song was the work of my return home ; and perhaps it but poorly answers what might have been expected from such a scene. I have The page line the honour to be, madam, your most obedient and very humble servant,-R. B.' Miss Alexander, to Burns' chagrin, did not acknowledge either song or letter. The family may boast now of what, in all probability, it formerly resented as impertinence. 77 15 Var. 78 3 Var. The lilly-hue, and rose's dye And all her other charms are foil'd. 21 Burns wrote to Mr. Dunlop, December, 1791 :-- 78 22 Var. Now gay with the broad setting sun. 'Let me tell you that you are too fastidious in your ideas of songs and ballads. I own that your criticisms are just the songs you specify in your list have, all but one, the faults you remark in them; but who shall mend the matter? Who shall rise up and say, "Go to! I will make a better." For instance, on reading over The LeaRig, I immediately set about trying my hand on it, and, after all, I could make nothing more of it than the following, which, Heaven knows, is poor enough.' 79 17 Var. Down by the burn, where birken buds. 25 Var. Altho' the night were ne'er sae wet. - page line 80 9 The two first lines of this song are taken from an old Scotch ballad, printed in Johnson's Museum. Mr. Chambers states that the second stanza was designed as a description of Charlotte Hamilton. I This song was written when Burns brought his wife home to Ellisland. 17 In November, 1792, Burns wrote to Mr. Thom son: 'If you mean, my dear sir, that all the songs in your collection shall be poetry of the first merit, I am afraid you will find more difficulty in the undertaking than you are aware of. There is a peculiar rhythmus in many of our airs, and a necessity of adapting syllables, to the emphasis, or what I would call the feature-notes of the tune, that cramp the poet, and lay him under almost insuperable difficulties. For instance, in the air, My wife's a wanton wee thing, if a few lines smooth and pretty can be adapted to it, it is all you can expect. The following were made extempore to it; and though, on further study, I might give you something more profound, yet it might not suit the light-horse-gallop of the air so well as this random clink.' 81 19 In Burns' MS. this line stood— 'She is a winsome wee thing.' It was altered, as in the text, by Mr. Thomson. 82 9 Duncan Gray was suggested by a 'somewhat licentious ditty published in 'Johnson's Museum :' the first and part of the third line being retained. With reference to this song, Burns wrote to Mr. Thomson, December, 1792 :-"The foregoing I submit to your better judgment; acquit them or condemn them as seemeth good in your sight. Duncan Gray is that kind of horse-gallop of an air which precludes sentiment. The ludicrous is its ruling feature.' page line 85 13 About this song Burns wrote to Mr. Thomson, January, 1793 : The very name of Peter Pindar is an acquisition to your work. His "Gregory" is beautiful. I have tried to give you a set of stanzas in Scots on the same subject, which are at your service. Not that I intend to enter the lists with Peter; that would be presumption indeed. My song, though much inferior in poetic merit, has, I think, more of the ballad simplicity in it.' Dr. Wolcot's song (Peter Pindar) may be inserted here for purposes of comparison. 6 'Ah ope, Lord Gregory, thy door! A midnight wanderer sighs; Hard rush the rains, the tempests roar, Who comes with wo at this drear night,-- If she whose love did once delight, My cot shall yield her room. 'Alas! thou heard'st a pilgrim mourn, 'But should'st thou not poor Marion know, And think the storms that round me blow 86 14 This line originally stood, 'If love it may nae be, oh!' 87 5 A song under this title appeared in Johnson's 'Museum' in 1788, which is said to have been written by Burns. 'It is so rude and wretched a production,' says Mr. Chambers, that we cannot believe many words of it to have been supplied by so masterly a pen.' 87 21 The heroine of this song was Miss Jessie Staig. 88 13 Burns sent this song to Mr. Thomson in March, page line 1793, saying:-'I leave it to you, my dear sir, to determine whether the above, or the old Thro' the lang Muir be the best.' Thomson replied in April: Your Here awa, Willie, must undergo alterations to suit the air. Mr. Erskine and I have been conning it over; he will suggest what is necessary to make them a fit match.' Some of these alterations Burns adopted. Allan Cunningham remarks that Mrs. Riddel was the heroine of the song; Mr. Chambers, with more probability, thinks it was written on Mrs. M'Lehose, who was then in the West Indies, seeking a reunion with her husband. 88 20 Var. As simmer to nature, so Willie to me. Erskine. 23 Var. Blow soft, ye breezes, blow gently, ye billows. 26 Var. Flow still between us, thou dark-heaving main. 89 Erskine. While dying, I think that my Willie's my ain. I Burns wrote to Mr. Thomson, June, 1793- |