page line of an hour's meditation in my elbow chair, ought to have some merit.' 89 7 This, and the following line, were taken from a song to the same air, written by John Mayne, afterwards author of the Siller Gun, and published in the Star newspaper in 1789. Ye mind na, 'mid your cruel joys The widow's tears, the orphan's cries. 90 5 In July, 1793, Burns wrote Mr. Thomson:-'I have just finished the following ballad, and, as I do think it in my best style, I send it to you. Mr. Clarke, who wrote down the air from Mrs. Burns' wood-note wild, is very fond of it, and has given it a celebrity by teaching it to some young ladies of the first fashion here. The heroine of the foregoing is a Miss M'Murdo, daughter to Mr. M'Murdo of Drumlanrig, one of your subscribers. I have not painted her in the rank which she holds in life, but in the dress and character of a cottager.' 91 92 93 I In the original MS. Burns asks Mr. Thomson if this stanza is not original. 21 Var. Thy handsome foot thou shalt not set In burn or byre to trouble thee. MS. copy. I In August, 1793, Burns wrote Mr. Thomson :'I have tried my hand on Robin Adair, and you will probably think with little success; but it is such a cursed, cramp, out of-the-way measure, that I despair of doing anything better to it. So much for namby-pamby. I may, after all, try my hand on it in Scots verse. There I always find myself most at home.' Phillis the Fair, is said to have been Miss M'Murdo,-sister of the heroine of There was a Lass,-and with whom the musician, Clarke (who gave lessons to the young ladies) was in love. Phillis afterwards became Mrs. Norman Lockhart of Carnwath. 1 In August, 1793, Burns wrote Mr. Thomson :- page line 93 94 'I walked out yesterday evening with a volume of the Museum in my hand; when, turning up Allan Water, What numbers shall the muse repeat, &c., as the words appeared to me rather unworthy of so fine an air, and recollecting that it is on your list, I sat and raved, under the shade of an old thorn, till I wrote one to suit the measure. I may be wrong, but I think it not in my worst style.... Bravo! say I, it is a good song. Should you think so too (not else), you can set the music to it, and let the other follow as English verses. Autumn is my propitious season. I make more verses in it than in all the year else.' 2 A mountain west of Strathallan, 3009 feet high. I Burns wrote Mr. Thomson, in August, 1793- richer lover. 94 13 In August, 1793, Burns wrote Mr. Thomson :Is Whistle, and I'll come to you, my lad, one of your airs? I admire it much; and yesterday I set the following verses to it.' In some of the MSS. the first four lines run thus : O whistle, and I'll come to thee, my jo, O whistle, and I'll come to thee, my jo, In 1795, Burns wrote to Johnson :-'In Whistle, page line line is tiresome to my ear. Here goes what I O whistle, and I'll come to ye, my lad; 96 21 In September, 1793, Burns wrote to Mr. Thomson: I have been turning over some volumes of songs, to find verses whose measures would suit the airs for which you have allotted me to find English songs. For Muirland Willie, you have in Ramsay's Tea-table, an excellent song, beginning, Ah, why those tears in Willie's eyes? As for the Collier's Dochter, take the following old bacchanal.' 97 13 In a letter to Clarinda (supposed to be written about February, 1790), Burns writes:- 'The following song is one of my latest productions, and I send it to you, as I should do anything else, because it pleases myself.' It has been conjectured that Mrs. M'Lehose was the heroine. 98 5 In March, 1792, Burns wrote to Mr. Cunningham:- Apropos, do you know the much-admired old Highland air called The Sutor's Dochter? It is a first-rate favourite of mine, and I have written what I reckon one of my best songs to it. I will send it to you as it was sung with great applause in some fashionable circles by Major Robertson, of Lude, who was here with his corps.' Allan Cunningham states that Wilt thou be my Dearie? was said 'to have been composed in honour of Janet Miller of Dalswinton, mother of the present Earl of Mar, one of the most beautiful women of her time.' 99 I In May, 1794, Burns wrote to Mr. Thomson :— 'Now, for six or seven months, I shall be quite in song, as you shall see by and by. I know you value a composition because it is made by one of the great ones, as little as I do. How page line 99 17 Burns wrote Mr. Thomson in 1794 :—′ ΙΟΙ ever, I got an air, pretty enough, composed by Lady Elizabeth Heron, of Heron, which she calls The Banks of Cree. Cree is a beautiful romantic stream; and as her ladyship is a particular friend of mine, I have written the following song to it.' -'The last evening, as I was straying out, and thinking of O'er the Hills and far away, I spun the following stanzas for it; but whether my spinning will deserve to be laid up in store, like the precious thread of the silkworm, or brushed to the devil, like the vile manufacture of the spider, I leave, my dear sir, to your usual candid criticism. I was pleased with several lines in it at first, but I own that now it appears rather a flimsy business.' 6 In September, 1794, Burns wrote Mr. Thomson : 'I am flattered at your adopting Ca' the Yowes to the Knowes, as it was owing to me that ever it saw the light. About seven years ago, I was acquainted with a worthy little fellow of a clergyman, a Mr. Clunie, who sang it charmingly; and, at my request, Mr. Clarke took it down from his singing. When I gave it to Johnson, I added some stanzas to the song, and mended others, but still it will not do for you. In a solitary stroll which I took to-day, I tried my hand on a few pastoral lines, following up the idea of the chorus, which I would preserve. Here it is, with all its crudities and imperfections on its head.' The copy published in Johnson's 'Museum,' is much inferior to the text. 102 16 In September, 1794, Burns wrote to Mr. Thomson :-' 'Do you know a blackguard Irish song, called Onagh's Waterfall? The air is charming, and I have often regretted the want of decent verses on it. It is too much, at least for my humble rustic muse, to expect that every effort of hers shall have merit; still I think that it is better to have mediocre verses to a favourite air than none at all. page line 103 25 In sending this song to Mr. Thomson, 19th October, 1794, Burns writes:-'I met with some such words in a collection of songs somewhere, which I altered and enlarged: and to please you, and to suit your favourite air, I have taken a stride or two across my room, and have arranged it anew, as you will find on the other page.' 104 15 The heroine of this song was Miss Lorimer, of Craigieburn, Dr. Currie prints the following variation : Now to the streaming fountain, Or up the heathy mountain, The hart, hind, and roe, freely, wildly-wanton, stray; In twining hazel bowers While the sun and thou arise to bless the day. When frae my Chloris parted, Sad, cheerless, broken-hearted, The night's gloomy shades, cloudy, dark, o'ercast my sky. But when she charms my sight In pride of beauty's light, When through my very heart Her beaming glories dart, 'Tis then, 'tis then, I wake to life and joy. 105 13 In sending this song to Mr. Thomson, November, 1794, Burns says:-'This piece has at least the merit of being a regular pastoral: the vernal morn, the summer noon, the autumnal evening, and the winter night, are regularly rounded.' And should the howling wintry blast Disturb my lassie's midnight rest, I'll fauld thee to my faithfu' breast 106 6 Var. And comfort thee, my dearie O. 106 14 With reference to this song Burns wrote Mr. Thomson, 19th October, 1794 :-'I enclose you |