IT WAS THE CHARMING MONTH OF MAY. TUNE - Dainty Davie. "Despairing of my own powers to give you variety enough in English songs, I have been turning over old collections, to pick out songs of which the measure is something similar to what I want; and, with a little alteration, so as to suit the rhythm of the air exactly, to give you them for your work. Where the songs have hitherto been but little noticed, nor have ever been set to music, I think the shift a fair one. A song which, under the same first verse, you will find in Ramsay's Tea-table Miscellany, I have cut down for an English dress to your Dainty Davie, as follows" - Burns to Mr. Thomson, Nov., 1794. IT was the charming month of May, CHORUS. Lovely was she by the dawn, The feathered people, you might see They hail the charming Chloe; LASSIE WI' THE LINT-WHITE LOCKS. TUNE-Rothemurchie's Rant. CHORUS. LASSIE wi' the lint-white locks, Bonny lassie, artless lassie, flaxen 1 "You may think meanly of this, but take a look at the bombast original, and you will be surprised that I have made so much of it." — Burns. Wilt thou wi' me tent the flocks, Now Nature cleeds the flowery lea, clothe And when the welcome simmer-shower When Cynthia lights, wi' silver ray, And when the howling wintry blast Nov., 1794. FAREWELL, THOU STREAM THAT WINDING FLOWS. It will be observed that this is a new and improved version of the song sent in April of the preceding year, beginning, The last Time I came o'er the Moor. The change most remarkable is the substitution of Eliza for Maria. The alienation of Mrs. Riddel, and Burns's resentment against her, must have rendered the latter name no longer tolerable to him. One only can wonder that, with his new and painful associations regarding that lady, he could endure the song it elf, or propose laying it before the world. FAREWELL, thou stream that winding flows O mem'ry! spare the cruel throes And yet in secret languish, To feel a fire in every vein, Love's veriest wretch, unseen, unknown, I know thou doom'st me to despair, Nor wilt, nor canst relieve me; But, oh! Eliza, hear one prayer — For pity's sake forgive me! The music of thy voice I heard, Nor wist, while it enslaved me; I saw thine eyes, yet nothing feared, Till fears no more had saved me. Th' unwary sailor thus aghast, The wheeling torrent viewing, 'Mid circling horrors sinks at last In overwhelming ruin. PHILLY AND WILLY. TUNE-The Sow's Tail. Nov., 1794. HE. O PHILLY, happy be that day, |