Robert Burns

“ Know that the heart-struck awe, the distant humble approach, the delight we should have in gazing upon and listening to a messenger of heaven, appearing in all the unspotted purity of his celestial home, among the coarse, polluted, far inferior sons of men, to deliver to them tidings that make their hearts swim in joy, and their imaginations soar in transport—such, so delighting and so pure, were the emoyions of my soul on meeting the other day with Miss Lesley Baillie, your neighbour. ”

“ Till too, too soon the glowing west
⁠Proclaim'd the speed of winged day.
Still o'er these scenes my memory wakes,
⁠And fondly broods with miser care;
Time but the impression stronger makes,
⁠As streams their channels deeper wear. ”

“ Gay adopts the tune for one of his songs in the Beggar's Opera. From the opening words of the old song,
"Cold and raw the wind does blaw,
Up in the morning early,"
the air is sometimes called "Cold and raw."—We give here two versions of "Up in the morning early," the first by Burns, with the exception of the chorus, which is old; the second by John Hamilton, a musicseller in Edinburgh, who died in 1814. It is a pity that the name of the old poet, who originally had the boldness to avow publicly his dislike of early rising, has not come down to posterity. ”

“ By oppression's woes and pains,
By your sons in servile chains.
We will drain our dearest veins,
⁠But they shall be free.
Lay the proud usurpers low!
Tyrants fall in every foe!
Liberty's in every blow! ”

“ To see her is to love her,
⁠And love but her for ever;
For nature made her what she is,
⁠And never made anither! ”

“ Ayr, gurgling, kiss'd his pebbled shore,
⁠O'erhung with wild woods thickening green;
The fragrant birch, the hawthorn hoar,
⁠Twined amorous round the raptured scene. ”

“ O, wilt thou go wi' me,
⁠Sweet Tibbie Dunbar?
Wilt thou ride on a horse,
⁠Or be drawn in a car,
Or walk by my side,
⁠O sweet Tibbie Dunbar?
I care na thy daddie,
⁠His lands and his money,
I care na thy kin
⁠Sae high and sae lordly ”

“ Had Burns been the sole author of the song, we cannot see how he would have spoken with such raptures regarding it. "Light be the turf," he says, "on the breast of the heaven-inspired poet who composed this glorious fragment!"—The air to which "Auld Lang Syne" is now generally sung is not the original one, which Burns pronounced to be mediocre, but one adopted from an old Lowland melody, called "I fee'd a lad at Michaelmas," and now entitled in Gow's collection of Reels, "Sir Alexander Don's Strathspey." ”

“ After a pretty long trial of the most ardent reciprocal attachment, we met by appointment, on the second Sunday of May, in a sequestered spot on the banks of Ayr, where we spent the day in taking a farewell before she should embark for the West Highlands, to arrange matters among her friends for our projected change of life. ”

“ This simple yet energetic song, to the tune of The Ewe-Bughts, was written by Burns in early life. He afterwards sent it to George Thomson for publication in his collection, and thus wrote of it:—"In my very early years, when I was thinking of going to the West Indies, I took the following farewell of a dear girl: it is quite trifling, and has nothing of the merit of the Ewe-Bughts. You must know that all my earlier love-songs were the breathings of ardent passion ”

“ Sir. Thomson objected to "Hey tuttie taitie," as being an air unworthy of such spirited words, and set the song to the tune of "Lewie Gordon," lengthening the last line of each verse for that purpose. He afterwards, however, changed his mind, and gave the words and the air as Burns originally intended, acknowledging that having examined "Hey, tuttie taitie" with more particular attention, he thought it much better adapted for giving energy to the poetry than "Lewie Gordon." The tune of "Hey, tuttie taitie" is one of unquestionable antiquity. ”

“ The Campbell’s Pibroch.
[The first stanza by Burns, the second and third by an Amateur. The first stanza was originally adapted to the air entitled "Charles Gordon's Welcome Home."]
Out over the Forth I look'd to the north,
⁠But what is the north or its Hielands to me?
The south nor the east bring nae ease to my breast,
⁠The wild rocky mountains, or dark rolling sea.
But I look to the west, when I gae to my rest,
⁠That happy my dreams and my slumbers may be,
For far in the west lives the lad I lo'e best,
⁠The laddie that's dear to my bairnie and me. ”

“ The "Chloris" here celebrated was Jean Lorimer of Craigieburn, in Dumfries-shire, who was also the heroine of "Lassie wi' the Lint-white Locks," and other songs. The description is said to have been true to her appearance. She was unfortunate in life, and died so recently as 1831. The air of the song is Irish, and called Oonagh. ”

“ Dunlop, dated 17th Dec., 1788, Burns quotes this song, and "Should auld acquaintance be forgot," as old compositions, with which he is much pleased. He afterwards, in his Notes on the Museum, says, "The silver Tassie: The air is Oswald's; the first half stanza of the song is old; the rest mine." Mr. Peter Buchan gives the ballad, from which Burns borrowed the first four lines of this charming song. ”

“ The subject of the song was a daughter of the Rev. Mr. Jeffrey of Lochmaben, now Mrs. Renwick of New York. The air was composed by Robert Riddle of Glenriddle, Esq., and called "The blue-eyed lassie." ”

“ There is an old ballad called "Lizzy Lindsay," of which some fragments remain. The first verse of the following words was written by Burns for Johnson's Museum, to an old air, "Will ye gang wi' me, Lizzy Lindsay," which he communicated. ”

“ My Nannie, O.
[This is one of Burns's early songs—and one of his best. The heroine was a servant-girl at Calcothill, near Lochlea, by name Agnes Fleming. The air is very old.]
Behind yon hills, where Lugar flows,
⁠'Mang moors and mosses many, O,
The wintry sun the day has clos'd,
⁠And I'll awa' to Nannie, O.
The westlin wind blaws loud and shrill ”

“ Afton Water is a small stream in Ayrshire, on the banks of which stands Afton Lodge, the residence of Mrs. Stewart, who forms the subject of this song. Currie says, "the song was presented to her in return for her notice, the first he ever received from a person in her rank." Burns, in a single couplet, has left an unfading testimony to the virtues of Mrs. ”

“ Lassie wi’ the lintwhite locks.
[Written by Burns for Thomson's collection, to the tune of "Rothiemurchus' Rant." The heroine was Jean Lorimer, of whom we have had occasion to speak in previous notes.]
⁠Lassie wi' the lint-white locks,
⁠Bonnie lassie, artless lassie,
⁠Wilt thou wi' me tend the flocks ':
⁠Wilt thou be my dearie, O?
Now Nature cleads the flowery lea,
⁠And a' is young and sweet like thee ”

“ Anna.
[This highly impassioned lyric was written by Burns, while resident in Dumfiries. The heroine was Helen Ann Park, sister of Mrs. Hyslop, the landlady of the Globe Tavern, the poet's favourite "howff" there.—Tune "Banks of Banna."] ”

“ The result was, that thousands flocked to obtain a view of this interesting memorial, and the ladies, in particular, displayed an unwonted eagerness regarding it, some of them even crying, on beholding an object which appealed so largely to female sympathies. On the anniversary of the Poet in 1841, the Bible, inclosed in an oaken glass case, was permanently deposited among other relics in the monument at Ayr. ”