From thy lov'd friends, when first thy heart
Was taught by Heav'n to glow,
Far, far remov'd, the ruthless stroke
Surpris'd, and laid thee low.

At the last limits of our isle,
Wash'd by the western wave,
Touch'd by thy fate, a thoughtful bard
Sits lonely by thy grave.

Pensive he eyes, before him spread
The deep, outstretch'd and vast;
His mourning notes are borne away
Along the rapid blast.

And while, amid the silent dead
Thy hapless fate I mourn,
My own long sorrows freshly bleed,
And all my griefs return:

Like thee, cut off in early youth,
And flower of beauty's pride,
My friend, my first and only joy,
My much lov'd Stella died.

Him too the stern impulse of Fate
Resistless bears along;

And the same rapid tide shall whelm
The Poet and the Song.

The tear of pity which he sheds,
He asks not to receive;
Let but his poor remains be laid
Obscurely in the grave.

His grief-worn heart,[with truest joy,
Shall meet the welcome shock:
His airy harp shall lie unstrung,

And silent as the rock.

O my dear maid, my Stella, when
Shall this sick period close,
And lead the solitary bard
To his belov'd repose?

THE POET AT INVERARY.'

WHOE'ER he be that sojourns here,
I pity much his case,

Unless he come to wait upon

The Lord their God, "His Grace."

There's naething here but Highland pride,
And Highland scab and hunger:
If Providence has sent me here,
'Twas surely in an anger.

TO MISS JEAN SCOTT.2

O HAD each Scot of ancient times
Been Jeanie Scott, as thou art;
The bravest heart on English ground
Had yielded like a coward.

1 The poet's anger was roused at Inverary because, in consequence of the superabundance of visitors at the Castle, several of these had to be accommodated at the inn, and the landlord had no consideration to bestow on passing travellers like Burns. Burns wrote to Ainslie from Arrochar on June 27th, 1787 :—“I write you this on my tour thro' a country where savage streams tumble over savage mountains, thinly overspread with savage flocks, which starvingly support as savage inhabitants. My last stage was Inverary; to-morrow night's stage will be Dumbarton." Nothing is known of her, except that she was "of

2

Ayr."

ON THE DEATH OF JOHN M'LEOD,

ESQ.,

BROTHER TO A YOUNG LADY, A PARTICULAR
FRIEND OF THE AUTHOR.1

SAD thy tale, thou idle page,

And rueful thy alarms:

Death tears the brother of her love

From Isabella's arms.

Sweetly deckt with pearly dew
The morning rose may blow;
But cold successive noontide blasts
May lay its beauties low.

Fair on Isabella's morn

The sun propitious smil'd;

But, long ere noon, succeeding clouds
Succeeding hopes beguil❜d.

1 Burns was on intimate terms with Miss Isabella M'Leod during his first winter in Edinburgh. An elder sister of hers, Miss Flora M'Leod, had, in 1779, married Colonel James Mure-Campbell, of Rowallan, who, in 1782, succeeded to the Earldom of Loudoun. That lady, however, died on the 3rd of September, 1780, a few hours after giving birth to her only child, Flora, who became Countess of Loudoun at the age of only six years, when her father died, in 1786. Through Mr. Gavin Hamilton, who was factor for the unfortunate Earl and the young Countess, Burns had been introduced to the M'Leod family. Dr. Johnson, in his tour in the Hebrides (1773), says of that household:-" More gentleness of manners, or a more pleasing appearance of domestic society, is not to be found in the most polished countries."

Burns afterwards composed a song, "Raving winds around her blowing,” referring to Isabella M'Leod's grief for the loss of family ties by death. Her brother John's death occurred on July 20th, 1787, while the poet was at Mossgiel. (See page 183.)

Fate oft tears the bosom chords
That Nature finest strung;
So Isabella's heart was form'd,
And so that heart was wrung.

Dread Omnipotence alone

Can heal the wound he gave—
Can point the brimful care-worn eyes
To scenes beyond the grave.

Virtue's blossoms there shall blow,
And fear no withering blast;
There Isabella's spotless worth
Shall happy be at least.

ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF SIR JAMES HUNTER BLAIR.'

THE lamp of day with ill-presaging glare,
Dim, cloudy, sank beneath the western wave;
Th' inconstant blast howl'd thro' the darkening
air,

And hollow whistled in the rocky cave.

1 "This performance is but mediocre, but my grief was sincere. The last time I saw the worthy, publicspirited man-a man he was! how few of the twolegged breed that pass for such, deserve the designation!-he pressed my hand, and asked me with the most friendly warmth if it was in his power to serve me; and if so, that I would oblige him by telling him how. I had nothing to ask of him; but if ever a child of his should be so unfortunate as to be under the necessity of asking anything of so poor a man as I am, it may not be in my power to grant it, but, by G— I shall try ! "—Burns, in Glenriddell MSS.

Sir James Hunter Blair, an Ayrshire laird, was M.P. for Edinburgh, and Lord Provost from October, 1784, to October, 1786, and "old Provost " in 1786-87.

Lone as I wander'd by each cliff and dell,
Once the lov'd haunts of Scotia's royal train;1
Or mus'd where limpid streams, once hallow'd,'
well,"

Or mould'ring ruins mark the sacred fane.*

Th' increasing blast roared round the beetling rocks,

The clouds, swift-wing'd, flew o'er the starry sky,

The groaning trees untimely shed their locks, And shooting meteors caught the startled eye.

The paly moon rose in the livid east,

And 'mong the cliffs disclos'd a stately form In weeds of woe, that frantic beat her breast, And mix'd her wailings with the raving storm.

Wild to my heart the filial pulses glow,

'Twas Caledonia's trophied shield I view'd: Her form majestic droop'd in pensive woe, The lightning of her eye in tears imbued. Revers'd that spear, redoubtable in war,

Reclined that banner, erst in fields unfurl'd,

He was made a baronet in June, 1786, and died on July 1st, 1787, at the age of forty-seven. Burns forwarded a copy of this poem to Robert Aiken, adding, "My honored friend, the melancholy occasion of the foregoing poem affects not only individuals, but a country. That I have lost a friend is but repeating after Caledonia."

The King's Park, at Holyrood House.-R. B. 2 VAR. "where erst reverèd waters well" (MS.). "Where erst the Saint's reverèd waters well, And mouldering," etc. (MS.).

3 St. Anthony's well.-R. B. St. Anthony's Chapel.-R. B.