Time cannot aid me, my griefs are immortal, Come then, enamour'd and fond of my anguish, Adieu, my dear Sir! The post goes, so I shall defer some other remarks until more leisure. No. XLVI. MR. BURNS TO MR. THOMSON. September, 1793. I HAVE been turning over some volumes of songs, to find verses whose measures would suit the airs for which you have allotted me to find English songs. For Muirland Willie you have, in Ramsay's Teatable, an excellent song, beginning "Ah, why those tears tears in Nelly's eyes." As for The Collier's dochter, take the following old Bacchanal. DELUDED Swain, the pleasure Is but a fairy treasure, Thy hopes will soon deceive thee. The billows on the ocean, O! art thou not ashamed, Go find an honest fellow; The The faulty line in Logan-water, I mend thus; "How can your flinty hearts enjoy, The song, otherwise will pass. As to M'Gregoira Rua-Ruth, you will see a song of mine to it, with a set of the air superior to yours in the Museum, vol. II. p. 181. The song begins; "Raving winds around her blowing." Your Irish airs are pretty, but they are downright Irish. If they were like the Banks of Banna for instance, though really Irish, yet in the Scottish taste, you might adopt them. Since you are so fond of Irish music, what say you to twenty-five of them in an additional number? We could easily find this quantity of charming airs; I will take care that you shall not want songs; and I assure you that you would find it the most saleable of the whole. If you do not approve of Roy's wife, for the music's sake, we shall not insert it. Deil tak the wars, is a charming song; so is, Saw ye my Peggy. There's nae luck about the house, well deserves a place. I cannot say that, O'er the hills and far awa, strikes me, as equal to your * This will be found in the latter part of this volume. E. your selection. This is no my ain house, is a great favorite air of mine; and if you will send me your set of it, I will task my muse to her highest effort. What is your opinion of, I bae laid a herrin in sawt. I like it much. Your Jacobite airs are pretty; and there are many others of the same kind, pretty; but you have not room for them. You cannot I think, insert, Fye let us a' to the bridal, to any other words than its own. What pleases me, as simple and naive, disgusts you as ludicrous and low. For this reason, Fye gie me my coggie Sirs, Fye let us a' to the bridal, with several others of that cast, are, to me, highly pleasing; while, Saw ye my father or saw ye my mother, delights me with its descriptive simple pathos. Thus my song, Ken ye what Meg o' the mill has gotten? pleases myself so much, that I cannot try my hand at another song to the air; so I shall not attempt it. I I know you will laugh at all this; but, "Ilka man wears his belt his ain gait." No. XLVII. MR. BURNS TO MR. THOMSON. October, 1793. YOUR last letter, my dear Thomson, was indeed laden with heavy news. Alas, poor Erskine !* The recollection that he was a coadjutor in your publication, has 'till now, scared me from writing to you, or turning my thoughts on composing for you. I am pleased that you are reconciled to the air of the Quaker's Wife, though by the by, an old highland gentleman and a deep antiquarian, tells me it is a Gaelic air, and known by the name of Leiger m choss. The following verses, I hope will please you, as an English song to the air. THINE am I, my faithful fair, Thine, my lovely Nancy; Ev'ry roving fancy. To * The honourable A. Erskine, brother to Lord Kelly, whose melancholy death Mr. Thomson had communicated in an excellent letter, which he has suppressed. E. |