I DREAM'D I LAY, &c. [The poet has noted that he composed these verses when he was 17 years old. This takes us back to the period when his father was struggling to get rid of the unprofitable farm of Mount Oliphant, where the future poet was reared from the age of seven to that of eighteen. He describes this period thus in his autobiography::-"My father, worn out by early hardships, was unfit for labour: his spirit was soon irritated, but not easily broken. There was a freedom in his lease in two years more; and to weather these two years, we retrenched our expenses and lived very poorly. A novel-writer might perhaps have viewed these scenes with satisfaction, but so did not I: my indignation yet boils at the recollection of the scoundrel factor's insolent threatening letters, which used to set us all in tears.' Gilbert adds:-"I doubt not but the hard labour and sorrow of this period of his life was, in a great measure, the cause of that depression of spirit with which Robert was so often afflicted through his whole life afterwards." These were the circumstances under which the crushed spirit of the youthful Burns was prompted to express itself in the language of the following effort. But let not the reader imagine that the lyric art can be acquired by intuition, without patient culture and close study of earlier models. The poet mentions his obligations to a collection of songs, chiefly English, which had early fallen into his hands, and was his vade mecum wherever he went: this may have been either that called The Blackbird, 1764,-The Lark, 1765,-or The Charmer, 1765; for in each of these will be found a copy of the first set of Mrs. Cockburn's beautiful song,-The Flowers of the Forest, which undoubtedly was the model that Burns had in his eye when he penned the present verses. The following note, comparing parallel passages in each of the pieces, was supplied by the writer hereof to Mr. R. Chambers in 1850, who used it to illustrate the present production of Burns in his edition of the poet's Life and Works, then in the press: "Glittering in the sunny beams."-Mrs. C. Gaily in the sunny beam.-BURNS. "Grow drumly and dark."-Mrs. C. Swelling, drumlie wave.-Burns. "Loud tempests storming before the mid-day.”—Mrs. C. Lang or noon loud tempests storming.-BURNS. "O fickle Fortune, why this cruel sporting."-Mrs. C. Tho' fickle Fortune has deceived me.—BURNS. "Thy frowns cannot fear me, thy smiles cannot cheer me."-Mrs. C. I bear a heart will support me still.-BURNS.] I DREAM'D I lay where flowers were springing, List'ning to the wild birds singing, By a falling, crystal stream: Straight the sky grew black and daring; Thro' the woods the whirlwinds rave; Trees with aged arms were warring, O'er the swelling, drumlie wave. Such was my life's deceitful morning, But lang or noon, loud tempests storming— Tho' fickle Fortune has deceiv'd me, DUNCAN DAVISON. [This piece bears the mark "Z"-indicating "old song with corrections or additions;" but Stenhouse assures us that it is the composition of Burns, although he did not openly choose to avow it.] THERE was a lass, they ca'd her Meg, The moor was driegh, and Meg was skiegh, As o'er the moor they lightly foor, That Meg should be a bride the morn, We will big a wee, wee house, And we will live like king and queen; When ye set by the wheel at e'en. And ay be welcome back again. THENIEL MENZIES' BONIE MARY. TUNE-Ruffian's Rant. [This air, otherwise called Roy's Wife, was a special favourite with Burns; and in the course of his northern tour, he composed the present song, as well as that which immediately follows, to suit that tune. Theniel, or Nathaniel Menzies, we have no account of; but we find the poet passed by Castle Menzies on Thursday, 30th August, and next day he visited Neil Gow at Inver, when, no doubt. the present subject would be suggested.] IN coming by the brig o' Dye, At Darlet we a blink did tarry; CHORUS. Theniel Menzies' bonie Mary, Her een sae bright, her brow sae white, And ay they dimpl't wi' a smile, We lap and danc'd the lee-lang day, A' THE LADS O' THORNIE-BANK. TUNE-Ruffian's Rant.* [In about a week after his interview with Neil Gow, the poet passed along "the shore o' Bucky" on his return-route. No doubt the echo of the Ruffian's Rant from Neil's fiddle-strings would accompany him when he "step'd in to take a pint wi' Lady Onlie, honest Lucky," and the following sketch would be the product. Stenhouse assures us that both of these songs are by Burns, although the poet has not noted them as such.] A' THE lads o' Thornie-bank When they gae to the shore o' Bucky, Wi' Lady Onlie, honest lucky. CHORUS. Lady Onlie, honest lucky, Brews gude ale at shore o' Bucky; Her house sae bien, her curch sae clean, *The air of Roy's Wife is one of the most popular of all the Scotch melodies. Mrs. Grant's words have been so much admired, that they have had the effect of changing the name of the air, which, instead of being now considered "a rant," is usually performed in slow time-producing a most pathetic effect. Most of our readers will have been entranced with the pathos of the duet in "Rob Roy," sung to this air: "Though you leave me now in sorrow;" words, by the way, borrowed from Burns. THE BANKS OF THE DEVON. TUNE-Bhannerach dhon na chri. [This highly polished, but somewhat artificial song is the only poetical effusion of Burns that was prompted by the charms of Charlotte Hamilton, in so far as we are aware. It is further singular as a compliment to female beauty, in which he did not assume the character of a lover. It has been imagined that the poet was seriously in love with her; but if so, the sequel showed that she did not return his passion. No letters addressed to her appear in his correspondence, for the very good reason stated by Allan Cunningham, that in an evil hour she threw into the fire some twelve or fourteen of his most carefully written and gently expressed letters addressed to her in the progress of his passion. Reckoning himself released from his vows to Jean Armour by the certificate of bachelorship granted to him by the Kirk-Session of Mauchline, in July, 1786, and death having, before the close of that year, severed the mortal bonds of affection between him and his "Highland Mary," it is not unlikely that the poet now cherished the idea of forming a conjugal alliance with some fair one moving in a sphere of life rather higher than that which hitherto he had considered to be his proper element. Burns had been introduced in Edinburgh to Mrs. Chalmers and her daughters, Peggy Chalmers" and Lady Mackenzie, the aunt and cousins of his Mauchline friend and patron, Gavin Hamilton; and that gentleman's own mother and younger brothers and sisters, although originally from Ayrshire, now resided at Harvieston on the Devon, in Clackmannan, keeping house for Mr. Tait of Harvieston, a widower, left by the decease of his wife-another sister of Hamilton's mother, with a son and daughter still too young to act for themselves. Accordingly, about the commencement of his northern tour with Nicol, we find the poet starts from Stirling by himself, leaving Nicol for a day, and makes his way up the Devon,-arriving at Harvieston in time for breakfast, on Monday, 27th August, 1787, and there he sees Charlotte for the first time. Next day he wrote from Stirling to her brother at Mauchline, informing him that he and "the Ayrshire folks" there formed a happy party, and visited the Cauldron Linn and Rumbling Brig, about five miles from the house. He finishes his description of Gavin's relatives thus:-"Of Charlotte I cannot speak in common terms of admiration: she is not only beautiful, but lovely. After the exercise of our riding to the Falls, Charlotte was exactly Dr. Donne's mistress: In October following, the poet paid a second visit to Harvieston, of some ten days duration. On this occasion he was accompanied by an Edinburgh acquaintance, Dr. Adair, whom he introduced to the Hamilton and Chalmers families; and ultimately, at no very distant date, Charlotte Hamilton, "Fairest maid on Devon banks," became the Doctor's wife. From the following passage in a letter of the poet to Miss Chalmers, dated September 23, 1787, it appears that the present song was at least in progress at that date:-"I am determined to pay Charlotte a poetic compliment in the second part of the Museum, if I could hit on some glorious Scotch air. You will see a small attempt on a shred of paper enclosed; but although Dr. Blacklock commended it very highly, I am not just satisfied with it myself."] How pleasant the banks of the clear-winding Devon, Was once a sweet bud on the braes of the Ayr. |