Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

Adown winding Nith I did wander,

To mark the sweet flowers as they spring;
Adown winding Nith I did wander,
Of Phillis to muse and to sing.

CHORUS.

Awa wi' your belles and your beauties,
They never wi' her can compare:
Whaever bas met wi' my Phillis,
Has met wi' the queen o' the fair.

The daisy amus'd my fond fancy,
So artless, so simple, so wild ;
Thou emblem, said I, o' my Phillis,
For she is simplicity's child.
Awa, &c.

The rose-bud's the blush o' my charmer,

Her sweet balmy lip when 'tis prest:

How fair and how pure is the lily,

But fairer and purer her breast.
Awa, &c.

Yon knot of gay flowers in the arbour,
They ne'er wi' my Phillis can vie:

Her breath, is the breath o' the woodbine,
Its dew-drop o' diamond, her eye.

Awa, &c.

H 2

Her

Her voice is the song of the morning
That wakes thro' the green-spreading grove,
When Phoebus peeps over the mountains,
On music, and pleasure, and love.
Awa, &c.

But beauty how frail and how fleeting,
The bloom of a fine summer's day!
While worth in the mind o' my Phillis
Will flourish without a decay.*
Awa, &c.

Mr. Clarke begs you to give Miss Phillis a corner in your book, as she is a particular flame of his. She is a Miss P. M. sister to Bonie Jean. They are both pupils of his. You shall hear from me, the very first grist I get from my rhyming mill.

*This song, certainly beautiful, would appear to more advantage without the chorus; as is indeed the case with several other songs of our author.

E.

No. XXXVI.

MR. BURNS TO MR. THOMSON.

August, 1793.

THAT tune, Cauld kail, is such a favorite of yours, that I once more roved out yesterday for a gloamin-shot at the muses;* when the muse that presides o'er the shores of Nith, or rather my old inspiring dearest nymph, Coila, whispered me the following. I have two reasons for thinking that it was my early, sweet simple inspirer that was by my elbow, "smooth gliding without step," and pouring the song on my glowing fancy. In the first place, since I left Coila's native haunts, not a fragment of a poet has arisen to cheer her solitary musings, by catching inspiration from her; so I more than suspect that she has followed me hither, or at least makes me occasional visits: secondly, the last stanza of this song

I

* Gloamin-twilight, probably from glooming. A beautiful poetical word which ought to be adopted in England. A gloamin-shot, a twilight-interview.

E.

I send you, is the very words that Coila taught me many years ago, and which I set to an old Scots reel in Johnson's Museum.

Air-"CAULD KAIL".

COME let me take thee to my breast,
And pledge we ne'er shall sunder;

And I shall spurn as vilest dust

The warld's wealth and grandeur:
And do I hear my
Jeanie own,

That equal transports move her?
I ask for dearest life alone

That I may live to love her.

Thus in my arms, wi' a' thy charms,
I clasp my countless treasure ;
I'll seek nae mair o' heaven to share,

Than sic a moment's pleasure:

And by thy een, sae bonie blue,
I swear I'm thine for ever!
And on thy lips I seal my vow,
And break it shall I never.

If you think the above will suit your idea of your favourite air, I shall be highly pleased. The last

time 1 came o'er the Moor, I cannot meddle with, as to mending it; and the musical world have been so long accustomed to Ramsay's words, that a different song, though positively superior, would not be so well received. I am not fond of chorusses to songs, so I have not made one for the foregoing.

No. XXXVII.

MR. BURNS TO MR. THOMSON.

DAINTY DAVIE.

August, 1793.

Now rosy May comes in wi' flowers,
To deck her gay, green spreading bowers;
And now comes in my happy hours,

To wander wi' my Davie,

CHORUS.

Meet me on the warlock know,

e,

Dainty Davie, dainty Davie,
There I'll spend the day wi' you,
My ain dear dainty Davie.

The

« ForrigeFortsæt »