Sae blythe, yet sae douce, sae respectfu', sae kind, A' day he stood watching to guess my intent; On him the first glamer o' fondness I cast; At morn he came saftly, and tirled at the pin, He louped the burn and he clamber'd the brae, As I sat at my wark the gay callant was near, Oh! Waly, I'm wae that the laddie is gane; "Now for the Aunty: "Now hush ye, ye silly bit lassie! now hush, For sure the warld's tongue wad hae been crying tush! To view a young creature o' gentle degree Forgath'ring and daundering wi' sic na laddie. It is weel for ye baith he 's off to Dundee ; Beware o' the scaith, and beware o' the scorn Calve luve is a dangerous thing weel I ken, Then haud your tongue, lassie, nae mair let me see Ye are murning for him that 's awa' to Dundee: Be wise, bairn, be wise, glamour o❜ luve mas a vapour frae earth, no' a spark frae above." "And now the Lassie replies:- "O, auntie! nae mair o' your prudence and preaching; The lessons o' age to my youth ye are teaching ; They tell me each season o' life, like the year, First blooms, then decays, and at length becomes sear; wear? Say when would ye gather the fruits o' the year? I heedna the scaith, and I heedna the scorn; To you, like the seer, sae sad and sae wae, But I, with youth's instinct o' joy, still pursue The glamer o' pleasure that blinks in my view; Wha is the maist happy?-be candid; confess, Though your pains may be fewer, your pleasure is less. I pu' at the rose, and I heedna the bryar, ""Tis unco weel, lassie! I canna pretend Wi' the gift o' your gab ony mair to contend. Ye make wrang appear right, and right appear wrang ; Sic fausseties sure to young lassies belang. Oh! wha to the waves o' the ocean can say, Your roarings gie o'er, and expect they'll obey, Or bid the winds bide, when they 're willing to blaw. Gin there be ony sich, let them claver to youth; The circle who had stood around the piano, professed themselves enchanted; and Mrs. Fitzhammond said she "could listen all night." "Did you ever?" said Lady Frances to Lady Arabella, looking with contemptuous astonishment at the party around the singer. "Did you ever ?" Lady Arabella, with an answering expression of horror, replied—“ too!” and Lady Frances rejoined, casting her eyes upwards, “beyond.” It would have been difficult, certainly, for any one uninitiated in the manners and language of the sect to affix a precise meaning to unconnected words like the foregoing; and if indeed any interpretation at all had been attempted, Charity would rather have inclined to the belief that they were sounds falling from the lips of in fants who were as yet ignorant of the use or power of speech. But Charity, though kind, must be just, and the words which, in their insignificance might have challenged untutored Nature, in its first lisping efforts at pronunciation, came accompanied with looks of contempt and arrogance, that left those who caught them in little doubt as to the context, and none at the indecorum and want of breeding of the speakers. Poor Miss Macalpine, who knew enough of the bye-language of the fashionables of her day to interpret Lady Arabella's and Lady Frances's expressions to their utmost extent, felt for her friend, and endeavoured, by talking to her incessantly, to draw off her attention from the attack; but the language of the looks cannot be mistaken, and every one of the party, even Miss Paterson herself, was aware of the ill-suppressed ridicule of these accomplished young women of fashion. Fortunately, at this moment, several of the expected evening guests were announced, more rooms were thrown open, and the saloon where the concert was to take place, was already filling |