UPON

SCOTTISH POETRY,

INCLUDING THE POETRY OF BURNS,

BY DR. CURRIE

turies, were coeval with the fathers of poetry in England; and in the opinion of Mr. Wharton, not inferior to them in genius or in composition. Though the language of the two countries gradually deviated from each other during this period, yet the difference on the whole was not considerable; nor perhaps greater than between the different dialects of the different parts of England in our own time.

THAT Burns had not the advantages of a clas-ed in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth censical education, or of any degree of acquaintance with the Greek or Roman writers in their original dress, has appeared in the history of his life. He acquired indeed some knowledge of the French language, but it does not appear that he was ever much conversant in French literature, nor is there any evidence of his having derived any of his poetical stories from that source. With the English classics he became well acquainted in the course of his life, and the effects of this acquaintance are observable in his latter productions; but the character and style of his poetry were formed very early, and the model which he followed, in as far as he can be said to have had one, is to be sought for in the works of the poets who have written in the Scottish dialect in the works of such of them more especially, as are familiar to the peasantry of Scotland. Some observations on these may form a proper introduction to a more particular examination of the poetry of Burns. The studies of the editor in this direction are indeed very recent and very imperfect. It would have been imprudent for him to have entered on this subject at all, but for the kindness of Mr. Ramsay of Ochtertyre, whose assistance he is proud to acknowledge, and to whom the reader must ascribe whatever is of any value in the following imperfect sketch of literary compositions in the Scottish idiom.

It is a circumstance not a little curious, and which does not seem to be satisfactorily explained, that in the thirteenth century the language of the two British nations, if at all different, differed only in dialect, the Gaelic in the one, like the Welch and Armoric in the other, being confined to the mountainous districts. The English under the Edwards, and the Scots under Wallace and Bruce, spoke the same language. We may observe also, that in Scotland the history ascends to a period nearly as remote as in England. Barbour and Blind Harry, James the First, Dunbar, Douglas, and Lindsay, who liv

• Historical Essays on Scottish Song, p. 20, by Mr. Ritson.

At the death of James the Fifth, in 1542, the language of Scotland was in a flourishing condition, wanting only writers in prose equal to those in verse. Two circumstances, propitious on the whole, operated to prevent this. The first was the passion of the Scots for composition in Latin; and the second, the accession of James the Sixth to the English throne. It may easily be imagined, that if Buchanan had devoted his admirable talents, even in part, to the cultivation of his native tongue, as was done by the revivers of letters in Italy, he would have left compositions in that language which might have excited other men of genius to have followed his example,+ and give duration to the language itself. The union of the two crowns in the person of James, overthrew all reasonable expectation of this kind. That monarch, seated on the English throne, would no longer be addressed in the rude dialect in which the Scottish clergy had so often insulted his dignity. He encouraged Latin or English only, both of which he prided himself on writing with purity, though he himself never could acquire the English pronunciation, but spoke with a Scottish idiom and intonation to the last. Scotsmen of talents declined writing in their native language, which they knew was not acceptable to their learned and pedantic monarch; and at a time when national prejudice and enmity prevailed to a great degree, they disdained to study the nicities of the English tongue, though of so much easier acquisition than a dead language. Lord Stirling and Drummond of Hawthornden, the only Scotsmen who wrote

te.g. The Authors of the Delicia Poetarum Scoto rum, &c.

poetry in those times, were exceptions. Theytish literature. Scotland possessed her four uni studied the language of England, and composed versities before the accession of James to the in it with precision and elegance, They were English throne. Immediately before the union, however the last of their countrymen who deshe acquired her parochial schools. These esserved to be considered as poets in that century. The muses of Scotland sunk into silence, and did not again raise their voices for a period of eighty years.

tablishments combining happily together, made the elements of knowledge of easy acquisition, and presented a direct path, by which the ardent student might be carried along into the recesses of science or learning. As civil broils ceased, and faction and prejudice gradually died away, a wider field was opened to literary ambition, and the influence of the Scottish institutions for instruction, on the productions of the

To what causes are we to attribute this extreme depression among a people comparatively learned, enterprising, and ingenious? Shall we impute it to the fanaticism of the covenanters, or to the tyranny of the house of Stuart after their restoration to the throne? Doubt-press, became more and more apparent. less these causes operated, but they seem unequal to account for the effect. In England similar distractions and oppressions took place, yet poetry flourished there in a remarkable degree. During this period, Cowley, and Waller, and Dryden sung, and Milton raised his strain of unparalleled grandeur. To the causes already mentioned, another must be added, in accounting for the torpor of Scottish literature-the want of a proper vehicle for men of genius to employ. The civil wars had frightened away the Latin muses, and no standard had been established of the Scottish tongue, which was deviating still farther from the pure English idiom. The revival of literature in Scotland may be dated from the establishment of the union, or rather from the extinction of the rebellion in 1715. The nations being finally incorporated, it was clearly seen that their tongues must in the end incorporate also; or rather indeed that the Scottish language must degenerate into a provincial idiom, to be avoided by those who would aim at distinction in letters, or rise to eminence in the united legislature.

It seems indeed probable, that the establishment of the parochial schools produced effects on the rural muse of Scotland also, which have not hitherto been suspected, and which, though less splendid in their nature, are not however to be regarded as trivial, whether we consider the happiness or the morals of the people.

There is some reason to believe, that the original inhabitants of the British isles possessed a peculiar and interesting species of music, which being banished from the plains by the successive invasions of the Saxons, Danes, and Normans, was preserved with the native race, in the wilds of Ireland and in the mountains of Scotland and Wales. The Irish, the Scottish, and the Welsh music, differ indeed from each other, but the difference may be considered as in dialect only, and probably produced by the influence of time, like the different dialects of their common language. If this conjecture be true, the Scottish music must be more immediately of a Highland origin, and the Lowland tunes, though now of a character somewhat distinct, must have descended from the mountains

Soon after this, a band of men of genius ap-in remote ages. Whatever credit may be given peared, who studied the English classics, and to conjectures, evidently involved in great unimitated their beauties in the same manner as certainty, there can be no doubt that the Scotthey studied the classics of Greece and Rome. tish peasantry have been long in possession of a They had admirable models of composition late- number of songs and ballads composed in their ly presented to them by the writers of the reign native dialect, and sung to their native music. of Queen Anne; particularly in the periodical The subjects of these compositions were such as papers published by Steele, Addison, and their most interested the simple inhabitants, and in associated friends, which circulated widely the succession of time varied probably as the through Scotland, and diffused every where a condition of society varied. During the sepataste for purity of style and sentiment, and for ration and the hostility of the two nations, these critical disquisition. At length, the Scottish songs and ballads, as far as our imperfect docuwriters succeeded in English composition, and a ments enable us to judge, were chiefly warlike; uLion was formed of the literary talents, as well such as the Huntis of Cheviot, and the Battle as of the legislatures of the two nations. On of Harlaw. After the union of the two crowns, this occasion the poets took the lead. While when a certain degree of peace and tranquillity Henry Home, Dr. Wallace, and their learned took place, the rural muse of Scotland breathed associates, were only laying in their intellectual stores, and studying to clear themselves of their Scottish idioms, Thomson, Mallet, and Hamiltou of Bangour, had made their appearance before the public, and been enrolled on the list of English poets. The writers in prose followed - numerous and powerful band, and poured their ample stores into the general stream of Bri

Lord Kaims.

in softer accents. "In the want of real evidence respecting the history of our songs," says Ramsay of Ochtertyre,"recourse may be had to conjecture. One would be disposed to think, that the most beautiful of the Scottish tunes were clothed with new words after the union of the crowns. The inhabitants of the borders, who had formerly been warriors from choice, and husbandmen from necessity, either quitted the country, or were transformed into real shep

muse.

their story, and even their very names have been forgotten. When proper models for pastoral songs were produced, there would be no want of imitators. To succeed in this species of composition, soundness of understanding and sensibility of heart were more requisite than flights of imagination or pomp of numbers. Great changes have certainly taken place in Scottish song-writing, though we cannot trace the steps of this change; and few of the pieces admired in Queen Mary's time are now to be discovered in modern collections. It is possible, though not probable, that the music may have remained nearly the same, though the words to the tunes were entirely new-modelled."

herds, easy in their circumstances, and satisfied with their lot. Some sparks of that spirit of chivalry for which they are celebrated by Froisbart, remained sufficient to inspire elevation of sentiment and gallantry towards the fair sex. The familiarity and kindness which had long subsisted between the gentry and the peasantry, could not all at once be obliterated, and this connexion tended to sweeten rural life. In this state of innocence, ease, and tranquillity of mind, the love of poetry and music would still maintain its ground, though it would naturally assume a form congenial to the more peaceful state of society. The minstrels, whose metrical tales used once to rouse the borderers like the trumpet's sound, had been, by an order of the These conjectures are highly ingenious. It Legislature (1579), classed with rogues and va- cannot, however, be presumed, that the state of gabonds, and attempted to be suppressed. Knox ease and tranquillity described by Mr. Ramsay and his disciples influenced the Scottish parlia- took place among the Scottish peasantry immement, but contended in vain with her rural diately on the union of the crowns, or indeed Amidst our Arcadian vales, probably during the greater part of the seventeenth cenon the banks of the Tweed, or some of its tri- tury. The Scottish nation, through all ranks, butary streams, one or more original geniuses was deeply agitated by the civil wars, and the may have arisen who were destined to give a religious persecutions which succeeded each new turn to the taste of their countrymen. other in that disastrous period; it was not till They would see that the events and pursuits after the revolution in 1688, and the subsequent which chequer private life were the proper sub-establishment of their beloved form of church jects for popular poetry. Love, which had for- government, that the peasantry of the Lowlands merly held a divided sway with glory and am- enjoyed comparative repose; and it is since that bition, became now the master-passion of the period that a great number of the most admired soul. To portray in lively and delicate colours, Scottish songs have been produced, though the though with a hasty hand, the hopes and fears tunes to which they are sung, are in general of that agitate the breast of the love-sick swain, much greater antiquity. It is not unreasonable or forlorn maiden, afford ample scope to the to suppose, that the peace and security derived rural poet. Love-songs, of which Tibullus from the Revolution, and the Union, produced himself would not have been ashamed, might a favourable change on the rustic poetry of be composed by an uneducated rustic with a Scotland; and it can scarcely be doubted, that slight tincture of letters; or if in these songs the institution of parish schools in 1696, by the character of the rustic be sometimes assum- which a certain degree of instruction was difed, the truth of character, and the language of fused universally among the peasantry, contrinature, are preserved. With unaffected sim-buted to this happy effect. plicity and tenderness, topics are urged, most Soon after this appeared Allan Rainsay, the likely to soften the heart of a cruel and coy Scottish Theocritus. He was born on the high mistress, or to regain a fickle lover. Even in mountains that divide Clydesdale and Annansuch as are of a melancholy cast, a ray of hope dale, in a small hamlet by the banks of Glengobreaks through, and dispels the deep and settled nar, a stream which descends into the Clyde. gloom which characterizes the sweetest of the The ruins of this hamlet are still shown to the Highland luinags, or vocal airs. Nor are these inquiring traveller. He was the son of a peasongs all plaintive; many of them are lively sant, and probably received such instruction as and humorous, and some appear to us coarse his parish-school bestowed, and the poverty of and indelicate. They seem, however, genuine his parents admitted. Ramsay made his apdescriptions of the manners of an energetic and sequestered people in their hours of mirth and festivity, though in their portraits some objects are brought into open view, which more fastidious painters would have thrown into shade.

"As those rural poets sung for amusement, not for gain, their effusions seldom exceeded a love-song, or a ballad of satire or humour, which, like the words of the elder minstrels, were seldom committed to writing, but treasured up in the memory of their friends and neighbours. Neither known to the learned nor patronized by the great, these rustic bards lived and died in obscurity; and by a strange fatality,

pearance in Edinburgh, in the beginning of the present century, in the humble character of an apprentice to a barber; he was then fourteen or fifteen years of age. By degrees he acquired notice for his social disposition, and his talent for the composition of verses in the Scottish idiom; and, changing his profession for that of a bookseller, he became intimate with many of the literary, as well as the gay and fashionable characters of his time. Having published a

"He was coeval with Joseph Mitchell, and his club of small wits, who, about 17 9, published a very poor miscellany, to which Dr. Young, the author of

volume of poems of his own in 1721, which shepherds, caught the language of the characters was favourably received, he undertook to make they assumed. Thus, about the year 1731, a collection of ancient Scottish poems, under the Robert Crawfurd of Auchinames, wrote the title of the Ever-Green, and was afterwards modern song of Tweedside, which has been encouraged to present to the world a collection so much admired. In 1743, Sir Gilbert Elliot, of Scottish songs. "From what sources he the first of our lawyers who both spoke and procured them," says Ramsay of Ochtertyre, wrote English elegantly, composed, in the cha"whether from tradition or manuscript, is un-racter of a love-sick swain, a beautiful song, certain. As in the Ever- Green he made some beginning, My sheep I neglected, I lost my rash attempts to improve on the originals of his sheep-hook, on the marriage of his mistress, ancient poems, he probably used still greater Miss Forbes, with Ronald Crawfurd. And freedom with the songs and ballads. The truth about twelve years afterwards, the sister of Sir cannot, however, be known on this point, till Gilbert wrote the ancient words to the tune of manuscripts of the songs printed by him, more the Flowers of the Forest,† and supposed to alancient than the present century, shall be pro-lude to the battle of Flowden. In spite of the duced, or access be obtained to his own papers, double rhyme, it is a sweet, and though in some if they are still in existence. To several tunes parts allegorical, a natural expression of national which either wanted words, or had words that sorrow. The more modern words to the same were improper or imperfect, he or his friends tune, beginning, I have seen the smiling of foradapted verses worthy of the melodies they ac-tune beguiling, were written long before by Mrs. companied, worthy indeed of the golden age. Cockburn, a woman of great wit, who outlived These verses were perfectly intelligible to every all the first group of literati of the present cenrustic, yet justly admired by persons of taste, tury, all of whom were very fond of her. I was who regarded them as the genuine offspring of delighted with her company, though when I saw the pastoral muse. In some respects Ramsay her, she was very old. Much did she know had advantages not possessed by poets writing that is now lost. in the Scottish dialect in our days. Songs in In addition to these instances of Scottish the dialect of Cumberland or Lancashire, could songs, produced in the earlier part of the prenever be popular, because these dialects have sent century, may be mentioned the ballad of never been spoken by persons of fashion. But Hardiknute, by Lady Wardlaw; the ballad of till the middle of the present century, every William and Margaret; and the song entitled Scotsman, from the peer to the peasant, spoke a truly Doric language. It is true the English moralists and poets were by this time read by every person of condition, and considered as the standards for polite composition. But, as national prejudices were still strong, the busy, the learned, the gay, and the fair continued to speak their native dialect, and that with an elegance and poignancy of which Scotsmen of the present day can have no just notion. I am old enough to have conversed with Mr. Spittal, of Leuchat, a scholar and a man of fashion, who survived all the members of the Union Parliament, in which he had a seat. His pronunciation and phraseology differed as much from the common dialect, as the language of St. James's from that of Thames Street. Had we retained a court and parliament of our own, the tongues of the two sister kingdoms would indeed have differed like the Castilian and Portuguese; but each would have its own classics, not in a single branch, but in the whole circle of literature.

the Birks of Invermay, by Mallet; the lovesong, beginning, For ever, Fortune, wilt thou prove, produced by the youthful muse of Thomsou; and the exquisite pathetic ballad, the Braes of Yarrow, by Hamilton of Bangour. On the revival of letters in Scotland, subsequent to the Union, a very general taste seems to have prevailed for the national songs and music. "For many years," says Mr. Ramsay, "the singing of songs was the great delight of the higher and middle order of the people, as well as of the peasantry; and though a taste for Italian music has interfered with this amusement, it is still very prevalent. Between forty and fifty years ago, the common people were not only exceedingly fond of songs and ballads, but of metrical history. Often have I, in my cheerful morn of youth, listened to them with delight, when reading or reciting the exploits of Wallace and Bruce against the Southrons. Lord Hailes was wont to call Blind Harry their Bible, he being their great fav urite next the Scriptures. "Ramsay associated with the men of wit When, therefore, one in the vale of life felt the and fashion of his day, and several of them at first emotion of genius, he wanted not models tempted to write poetry in his manner. Per- sui generis. But though the seeds of poetry sons too idle or too dissipated to think of com- were scattered with a plentiful hand among the positions that required much exertion, succeeded Scottish peasantry, the product was probably very happily in making tender sonnets to fa-like that of pears and apples-of a thousand vourite tunes in compliment to their mistresses, that sprung up, nine hundred and fifty are so and transforming themselves into impassioned bad as to set the teeth on edge; forty-five or

he Night Thoughts, prefixed a copy of verses." Extract of a letter from Mr Ramsay of Ochtertyre to the Editor.

Beginning, What beauties does Flora disclose! + Beginning, I have heard a lilting at our ewes milking

more are passable and useful; and the rest of der each of these points of view, and close our an exquisite flavour. Allan Ramsay and Burns examination with a few general observations. are wildings of this last description. They had the example of the elder Scottish poets; they were not without the aid of the best English writers; and, what was of still more importance, they were no strangers to the book of nature, and to the book of God."

It has frequently been observed, that Scotland has produced, comparatively speaking, few writers who have excelled in humour. But this observation is true only when applied to those who have continued to reside in their own country, and have confined themselves to composition in pure English; and in these circumstances it admits of an easy explanation. The Scottish poets, who have written in the dialect of Scotland, have been at all times remarkable for dwelling on subjects of humour, in which indeed some of them have excelled. It would be easy to show, that the dialect of Scotland having become provincial, is now scarcely suit

From this general view, it is apparent that Allan Ramsay may be considered as in a great measure the reviver of the rural poetry of his country. His collection of ancient Scottish poems under the name of The Ever-green, his collection of Scottish songs, and his own poems, the principal of which is the Gentle Shepherd, have been universally read among the peasantry of his country, and have in some degree super-ed to the more elevated kinds of poetry. If we seded the adventures of Bruce and Wallace, as recorded by Barbour and Blind Harry. Burns was well acquainted with all of these. He had also before him the poems of Fergusson in the Scottish dialect, which have been produced in our own times, and of which it will be necessary to give a short account.

may believe that the poem of Christis Kirk of the Grene was written by James the First of Scotland, this accomplished monarch, who had received an English education under Henry the Fourth, and who bore arms under his gallant successor, gave the model on which the greater part of the humorous productions of the rustic Fergusson was born of parents who had it in muse of Scotland had been formed. Christis their power to procure him a liberal education, Kirk of the Grene was reprinted by Ramsay, a circumstance, however, which in Scotland, somewhat modernized in the orthography, and implies no very high rank in society. From a two cantos were added by him, in which he atwell written and apparently authentic account tempts to carry on the design. Hence the poem of his life, we learn that he spent six years at of King James is usually printed in Ramsay's the schools of Edinburgh and Dundee, and se- works. The royal bard describes, in the first veral years at the universities of Edinburgh and canto, a rustic dance, and afterwards a contenSt. Andrew's. It appears that he was at one tion in archery, ending in an affray. Ramsay time destined for the Scottish church; but as relates the restoration of concord, and the rehe advanced towards manhood, he renounced newal of the rural sports with the humours of that intention, and at Edinburgh entered the country wedding. Though each of the poets office of an attorney. Fergusson had sensibility describes the manners of his respective age, yet of mind, a warm and generous heart, and ta- in the whole piece there is a very sufficient unilents for society, of the most attractive kind. formity; a striking proof of the identity of chaTo such a man no situation could be more dan-racter in the Scottish peasantry at the two pegerous than that in which he was placed. The riods, distant from each other three hundred excesses into which he was led, impaired his years. It is an honourable distinction to this feeble constitution, and he sunk under them in body of men, that their character and manners, the month of October, 1774, in his 23d or 24th very little embellished, have been found to be year. Burns was not acquainted with the susceptible of an amusing and interesting spepoems of this youthful genius when he himself cies of poetry; and it must appear not a little began to write poetry; and when he first saw curious, that the single nation of modern Euthem, he had renounced the muses. But while rope which possesses an original poetry, should he resided in the town of Irvine, meeting with have received the model, followed by their rusFergusson's Scottish Poems, he informs us that tic bards, from the monarch on the throne. he "strung his lyre anew with emulating vi- The two additional cantos to Christis Kirk gour." Touched by the sympathy originating of the Grene, written by Ramsay, though obin kindred genius, and in the forebodings of si-jectionable in point of delicacy, are among the milar fortune, Burns regarded Fergusson with happiest of his productions. His chief excela partial and an affectionate admiration. Over lence indeed, lay in the description of rural chahis grave he erected a monument, as has al-racters, incidents, and scenery; for he did not ready been mentioned; and his poems he has in several instances made the subjects of his imitation.

possess any very high powers either of imagination or of understanding. He was well acquainted with the peasantry of Scotland, their From this account of the Scottish poems lives and opinions. The subject was in a great known to Burns, those who are acquainted measure new; his talents were equal to the with them will see they are chiefly humorous subject, and he has shown that it may be hapor pathetic; and under one or other of these pily adapted to pastoral poetry. In his Gentle descriptions most of his own poems will class. Shepherd, the characters are delineations from Let us comvare him with his predecessors un-nature, the descriptive parts are in the genuine