PREFACE.

"And so did our Peasant shew himself among us; a soul like an Eolian harp, in whose strings the vulgar wind, as it passed through them, changed itself into articulate melody!'"-CARLYLE.

EACH and all of the Poems and Songs that compose the text of the preceding volume underwent the revising care, and were published under the eye of their author. On the other hand, not one of the productions in the volume now laid before the reader, obtained that advantage,hence the difficulty and increased responsibility of its editorship.

Mrs. Maria Riddell, the accomplished and very talented friend of the poet during his latter years, forgetting the unhappy lampoons, which had been produced against her by the Bard under temporary irritation, came generously forward immediately after his death, and published anoble tribute to his memory and his genius. That testimony, from one who had known him so intimately, and could so well appreciate his rare gifts, whether it be considered as a truthful estimate of his personal and mental qualities, or as an earnest vindication of his real worth against the misrepresentation and calumny that shrouded his departing brilliance-the trails of which are even yet visible—

has never, in convincing force, been surpassed by the most eloquent of his eulogists. Incidentally, this lady has recorded that, during her parting interview with the dying Poet at Brow, "he expressed much concern regarding the posthumous publication of his writings: his literary and poetical fame he knew was already secured by the productions he had given to the world; he, however, deeply regretted having deferred to put his papers in a state of arrangement, as he was then incapable of the exertion. He was well aware that the intelligence of his death would occasion some noise, and that every scrap of his writing would be revived against him, many of those to the injury of his future reputation--that many indifferent poetical pieces would then, with all their imperfections on their head, be thrust upon the world— that letters and verses, written with unguarded and improper freedom, and which he earnestly wished to have buried in oblivion, would be handed about by idle vanity or malevolence, unrestrained by any dread of his resentment, and unchecked by inward consciousness of the injustice thereby done to the deceased."

Luckily, by the plan of arrangement adopted in this edition, we are free from the charge of having mixed up the minor and off-hand effusions of the Poet with those finished efforts of his Muse which commanded the world's admiration while he was yet alive, and still bear the stamp of his editorial sanction. Neither shall we be held responsible for reproducing in this volume, all and sundry verses by Burns that, from time to time have

been, fortunately or otherwise, brought to light during the last seventy years; because a partial public, contrary to his own opinion and desire, have decided that he wrote nothing which "the world can willingly let die."

Thus we have it not in our power, even if we deemed it judicious, to suppress any one of his known effusions that can possibly bear the light of print. These twinvolumes, therefore, contain every hitherto published poem song, or versicle attributable to Burns, and several of them we are privileged to present in a more complete form than can be found in any other edition extant. We have even given in our text many pieces hitherto imputed to Burns, which are now ascertained to have been the work of others. Such, however, are carefully marked, in order to guard against their being confounded with the authentic productions of the Bard.*

The leading plan of this publication is to arrange in groups the whole poetical works of the author, in the order of their earliest appearance in a collected form.

* We have purposely omitted a song of apparent merit given first by Allan Cunningham, and recently reproduced in Nimmo's "Crown Edition" of Burns' works, beginning-"Here around the ingle bleezing." It has found its way into some standard Collections of Song, and, through its happy chorus and the sprightly melody that has been selected for it, the song is frequently sung in convivial parties. We have not a shadow of doubt that the production is entirely the manufacture of honest Allan himself, whose account of its pedigree is very suspicious. His words are-"We are indebted for this interesting relic of the immortal bard to Mr. J. Burden, junr., of Camden Town, who supplied the printer of this edition with a copy while the work was passing through the press." The third verse of the song betrays Allan's unmistakeable hand, for it is as unlike Burns' as "I to Hercules." We here record it that the reader may justify us in rejecting the song as a "relic of Burns."

"Can the peer in silk and ermine,

Ca' his conscience half his own;

His claes are spun and edged wi' vermin,
Tho' he stand before a throne."

In this volume the items of each group are placed according to their ascertained or assumed date of composition. Each subdivision is introduced by a preliminary notice, and the attempt is made, as in vol. i., to illustrate each piece by a head-note in small type, more or less copious, in proportion to the supposed importance of the text to which it is attached. These the reader may pass over if so disposed, or he may pause and peruse them if his interest in the relative text awakens a desire for remarks concerning it. To some readers, such annotations must be superfluous, as Burns' lyrics carry their own light along with them, and are often independent of external elucidation.

Only a very few of the Poems in the following pages are of that high class which have helped Burns to his immortality, and these were comparatively juvenile efforts, never intended to receive the honours of typography. On the other hand, in that region of Song where the name of Burns must ever be supreme, the contents of this Posthumous Volume evince more of the fertility, strength, and tenderness of his mind, than the world could ever have conceived, had not the Bard's unpublished musings, like fine gold, been gathered together by reverent hands, from time to time, after his death, and conserved for food to the souls, medicine to the hearts, and productive impulse to the brains, of successive generations of human beings.