HE. As songsters of the early year SHE. As on the brier the budding rose So in my tender bosom grows The love I bear my Willy. HE. The milder sun and bluer sky That crown my harvest cares wi' joy, Were ne'er sae welcome to my eye As is a sight o' Philly. SHE. The little swallow's wanton wing, HE. The bee that thro' the sunny hour SHE. The woodbine in the dewy weet HE. Let fortune's wheel at random rin, And fools may tyne, and knaves may win; My thoughts are a' bound up in ane, And that's my ain dear Philly. SHE. What's a' the joys that gowd can gie! I care na wealth a single flie; And that's my ain dear Willy. Tell me, honestly, how you like it; and point out whatever you think faulty. I am much pleased with your idea of singing our songs in alternate stanzas, and regret that you did not hint it to me sooner. In those that remain I shall have it in my eye. I remember your objections to the name, Philly; but it is the common abbreviation of Phillis. Sally, the only other name that suits, has, to my ear, a vulgarity about it, which unfits it for any thing except burlesque. The legion of Scottish poetasters of the day, whom your brother editor, Mr. Ritson, ranks with me, as my coevals, have always mistaken vulgarity for simplicity whereas, simplicity is as much eloignée from vulgarity, on the one hand, as from affected point and puerile conceit on the other. I agree with you, as to the air "Craigie-burn Wood," that a chorus would, in some degree, spoil the effect; and shall certainly have none in my projected song to it. It is not, however, a case in point with "Rothemurche;" there, as in "Roy's Wife of Aldivalloch," a chorus goes, to my taste, well enough. As to the chorus going first, that is the case with " Roy's Wife" as well as "Rothemurche." In fact, in the first part of both tunes, the rhythm is so peculiar and irregular, and on that irregularity depends so much of their beauty, that we must e'en take them with all their wildness, and humour the verse accordingly. Leaving out the starting-note in both tunes has, I think, an effect that no regularity could counterbalance the want of: Try, and compare with O Roy's Wife of Aldivalloch. Roy's Wife of Aldivalloch. Does not the tameness of the prefixed syllable strike you? In the last case, with the true furor of genius, you strike at once into the wild originality of the air; whereas in the first insipid method, it is like the grating screw of the pins before the fiddle is brought into tune. This is my taste; if I am wrong I beg pardon of the cognoscenti. "The Caledonian Hunt" is so charming, that it would make any subject in a song go down; but pathos is certainly its native tongue. Scottish Bacchanalians we certainly want, though the few we have are excellent. For instance, "Todlin Hame” is, for wit and humour, an unparalleled composition; and "Andrew and his cutty Gun" is the work of a master. By the way, are you not quite vexed to think that those men of geuius, for such they cer-. tainly were, who composed our fine Scottish lyrics, should be unknown? It has given me many a heart-ache. Apropos to Bacchanalian songs in Scottish; I composed one yesterday, for an air I like much-"Lumps o' pudding.". CONTENTED WI' LITTLE. Tune-" Lumps o' Pudding." I. Contented wi' little, and cantie wi' mair, II. I whyles claw the elbow o' troublesome thought; But man is a sodger, and life is a faught: My mirth and guid humour are coin in my pouch, And my freedom's my lairdship nae monarch dare touch. III. A towmond o' trouble, should that be my fa', IV. Blind chance, let her snapper and stoyte on her way; Be't to me, be't frae me, e'en let the jade gae : Come ease, or come travail; come pleasure or pain ; My warst word is—" Welcome, and welcome again!” If you do not relish the air, I will send it to Johnson. [Pastoral verse exhibits many examples of the dramatic mode of composition: compliments and scorn, praise and censure, are bandied about by shepherds and shepherdesses, till the subject-matter is exhausted. In like manner, Willy and Philly in this lyric carry on the pleasant strife of compliment, till flowery comparisons grow scant and the lovers are reduced to silence. Phillis is a favourite in northern song: in the present instance it is the true name of the heroine. Some of our dramatic songs are humorous and full of life : "Gude'en to you, kimmer, And how do you fare? A pint o' the best o't, And twa pints mair. Gude'en to you, kimmer, Hic, hiccup, quo' the kimmer, One of the happiest examples of free wit and humour, may be found in the "Auld Gudeman :" |