HER ANSWER. O TELL nae me of wind and rain, I tell you now this ae night, The snellest blast, at mirkest hours, The sweetest flower that deck'd the mead, Let simple maid the lesson read, The bird that charm'd his summer-day, * Let me in this ae night was one of the many airs for which Mr. THOMPSON, when carrying on his Musical Work, wished to receive words from BURNS, the old ones being considered so indifferent as to be utterly unworthy of a place. Accordingly the song here given was produced; but it would appear that it gave the Poet much more trouble than many of his other pieces, as he began it over and over again, at long intervals, before he accomplished the task to his own satisfaction. At one period of his DAINTIE DAVIE. THE lasses fain wad hae frae me, 0, Daintie Davie is the thing; I never kent a cantie spring, When friends an' fo'k at bridals meet, Without they've Daintie Davie. There's nae strathspey nor highland reel, 0, Daintie Davie, &c. correspondence with Mr. THOMPSON, he thus writes:-"I have begun anew, Let me in this ae night. Do you think that we ought to retain the old chorus? I think we must retain both the old chorus and the first stanza of the old song. I do not al together like the third line of the first stanza, but cannot alter it to please myself. I am just three stanzas deep in it. Would you have the denouement to be successful or otherwise? should she let him in,' or not?" The last query Mr. THOMPSON seems to have answered in the negative, as the lassie continues unrelenting to the end. Mr. THOMPSON's approbation was afterwards expressed to the Bard in the following manner: "You have displayed great address in this song. Her answer is excellent, and at the same time takes away the indelicacy that other wise would have attached to his intreaties. I like the it now stands, very much." songs as Tho' bardies a', in former times, Hae stain'd my sang, wae-worth their rhymes! To blast my Daintie Davie. The rankest weeds the garden spoil, O, Daintie Davie, &c. There's ne'er a bar but what's complete, When they hear Daintie Davie. Until the latest hour of time, When music a' her pow'r shall tine, 0, Daintie Davie, &c. MY HEART'S IN THE HIGHLANDS. My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here, The hills of the Highlands for ever I love. Farewell to the mountains high cover'd with snow, Farewell to the straths and green vallies below, Farewell to the forests and wild hanging woods, Farewell to the torrents and loud pouring floods. My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here, HEY FOR A LASS WI' A TOCHER. TUNE-"Balinamona Ora." AWA wi' your witchcraft o' beauty's alarms, Your beauty's a flower, in the morning that blows, But the rapturous charm o' the bonnie green knowes, And e'en when this beauty your bosom has blest, * * This is one of the few songs written by our Bard during the last six months of his short, but distinguished, appearance on the stage of life. When he agreed to furnish Mr. THOMPSON with verses for several Scottish airs, it appears he at the same time undertook to supply words for a certain number of Irish tunes. In the letter which accompanied this song, he says,—“ The Irish airs I shall cheerfully undertake the task of finding verses for. 163 NEIL GOW'S FAREWEEL. YOU'VE surely heard o' famous Neil, And dearly loo'd the whisky, O. Alake, quoth Neil, I'm frail and auld, Tho' I can get baith wine and ale, To play fareweel to whisky, O. Forbid, like Highland whisky, O. I have already, you know, equipt three of them with words, and the other day I strung up a kind of rhapsody to another Hibernian melody, which I admire much. If this will do, you have now four of my Irish engagement." In his reply, Mr. THOMPSON observes,-" Your Hey for a lass wi' a tocher is a most excellent song, and with you the subject is something new indeed. It is the first time I have seen you debasing the god of soft desire, into an amateur of acres and guineas." |