Come to my bosom, my ain only dearie, Tell me thou bring'st me my Willie the same. Winter winds blew loud and cauld at our parting, Rest, ye wild storms, in the cave of your slumbers, And waft my dear laddie ance mair to my arms! But oh, if he's faithless, and minds na his Nannie, But, dying, believe that my Willie's my ain. "From the original song of Here awa', Willie, Burns bas borrowed nothing but the second line and part of the first. The superior excellence of this beautiful poem will, it is hoped, justify the different editions of it which we have given."-CURRIE. OPEN THE DOOR TO ME, OH! "O OPEN the door, some pity to shew, 0 open the door to me, oh! Though thou hast been false, I'll ever prove true, O open the door to me, oh! "Cauld is the blast upon my pale cheek, "The wan moon is setting behind the white wave, And time is setting with me, oh! False friends, false love, farewell! for mair She has opened the door, she has opened it wide: She sees his pale corse on the plain, oh ! "My true love!" she cried, and sank down by his side, Never to rise again, oh! YOUNG JESSIE. TUNK - Bonny Dundee. In this song, Burns meant a compliment to Miss Janet Staig, second daughter of the Provost of Dumfries, and subsequently the wife of Major William Miller, one of the sons of the poet's former landlord. Mrs. Miller must have now been a very young lady, for her monument in Dumfries church-yard states that she died in March 1801, at the early age cf twenty-six. TRUE-HEARTED was he, the sad swain o' the Yarrow, And fair are the maids on the banks o' the Ayr; But by the sweet side o' the Nith's winding river, Are lovers as faithful, and maidens as fair. To equal young Jessie seek Scotland1 all over; To equal young Jessie you seek it in vain: Grace, beauty, and elegance fetter her lover, And maidenly modesty fixes the chain. 1 Burns had written "Scotia," which Mr. Thomson altered 10" Scotland.” O fresh is the rose in the gay dewy morning, Enthroned in her een he delivers his law; And still to her charms she alone is a stranger Her modest demeanour's the jewel of a'! - THE SOLDIER'S RETURN.1 TUNE- The Mill, Mill O! WHEN wild War's deadly blast was blawn, 1 "Burns, I have beer. informed, was one summer evening at the inn at Brownhill with a couple of friends, when a poor wayworn soldier passed the window: of a sudden, it struck the poet to call him in, and get the story of his adventures; after listening to which, he all at once fell into one of those fits of abstraction not unusual with him. He was lifted to the region where he had his garland and singing robes about him and the result was the admirable song which he sent you for The Mill, Mill O!” — Correspondent of Mr. George Thomson. Mill-Mannoch, a sweet pastoral scene on the Coyl, near Coylton Kirk, is supposed to have been the spot where the poet imagined the rencontre of the soldier and his mistress to have taken place. Wi' monie a sweet babe fatherless, And monie a widow mourning, I left the lines and tented field, Where lang I'd been a lodger, My humble knapsack a' my wealthA poor but honest sodger. A leal, light heart was in my breast, I thought upon the banks o' Coyl, At length I reached the bonny glen Wi' altered voice, quoth I, "Sweet lass, 1 Variation "And eyes again with pleasure beamed, That had been bleared with mourning." |