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Tannakzll's Poems and Songs. 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013557743 
 
^.M 
 
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Poems and Songs 
 
 AND CORRESPONDENCE 
 
 OF 
 
 ROBERT TANNAHILL 
 
 . WITH 
 
 Life and Notes 
 
 BY 
 
 DAVI D SEM PLE F. S. A. 
 
 * I would I were a weaver, I could sing all manner of songs " 
 
 Shakspere 
 
 PAISLEY: ALEX. GARDNER 
 
 1876 
 
A- L+^( 6,2. 
 
TO THE 
 
 SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF PAISLEY, 
 
 BORN AND ADOPTED, 
 
 AT 
 HOME AND ABROAD, 
 
 THIS EDITION 
 
 OF 
 
 TANNAHILl'S POEMS AND SONGS, 
 
 WITH NOTES AND 
 LIFE OF THE AUTHOR, 
 
 IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
 
 BY THE EDITOR, 
 
 DAVID SEMPLE. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Twenty months ago,- I had not the most remote idea 
 of Editing the Works of the gentle lyrist of Paisley, 
 Robert Tannahill. Within the last six years, I have 
 been asked on four different occasions to assist in writing 
 notes to several of the poems and songs of Tannahill 
 for as many Editors or Publishers; but it went no 
 farther with three of them. The fourth was the present 
 PubUsher, who asked me in the middle of April, 1874, 
 to write a few topographical notes for his Centenary 
 Edition, which was announced for publication on the 
 3rd of June following; and I supplied him, then, with a 
 few hurried notes. The Centenary Edition having been 
 eagerly bought up, and a new edition demanded by the 
 public, I became zealous to furnish full notes, and 
 entered on the preparation of this Edition as a labour 
 of love ; and I may say it has afforded me unmixed 
 pleasure. 
 
 During the brief period I was engaged upon the topo- 
 graphical notes, I observed that, even at this distant date, 
 a large amount of information could be gleaned respect- 
 ing the Poet and his family, which, undoubtedly, in the 
 course of a few yea^rs would be lost for ever, and 
 
PREFACK. 
 
 resolved at once to collect everything of interest. I soon 
 discovered that I was not a. day too early in commencing 
 the good work, for in a very short time, a large number 
 of aged persons whom I had seen,, and from whom I 
 obtained information, were cut down by the severe winter 
 • of 1874 — a winter that will long be remembered for its 
 great severity and the excessive increase on the ordinary 
 rate of niortality. 
 
 It was at once apparent that great improvement could 
 be made upon the arrangement of the poems and songs 
 by correcting titles, grouping, numbering, restoring the 
 Scots dialect, and giving the first lines of the pieces in 
 alphabetical order. The Scots dialect had not uniformly 
 been given, — the tendency having rather been in each 
 successive edition to render the Scots dialect as much as 
 possible into English, — similar words in the same piece, 
 even in the same verse, occurred in Scots and English, 
 which grated harshly on the ear. -These have been 
 corrected. 
 
 A great acquisition to the volume is the introduction 
 of a " Map of the Land of Tannahill," with a " Guide 
 to Gleniffer Braes," which will be useful to visitors. 
 
 The manuscript Scottish song of " Cruikston Castle " 
 has been photographed for the admirers of the Poet, who 
 must feel gratified to observe tlie careful manner in 
 which he has both written and punctuated his compo- 
 sitions. In comparing this manuscript song with that 
 in the former printed editions it will be seen that a 
 
PREFACE. Vll. 
 
 number of the Scots words had been altered to and 
 printed in English. 
 
 hi former editions the indices were either given in the 
 order of paging or by a mixture of titles and first lines. 
 To obviate the difficulty of discovering any given piece I 
 have framed an alphabetical index of first lines, not only 
 of this edition, but of all former editions. This has the 
 advantage of shewing the several pieces which have been 
 printed in each edition, and also the page where each 
 piece has occurred in the various editions. 
 
 Having obtained valuable information, and discovered 
 important facts concerning the Poet and his family froni 
 reliable sources and authentic documents, t have writ- 
 ten the full and complete events of his life as they 
 occurred in strict chronological order. These facts have 
 justified me in placing the Bard in the elevated position 
 which he ought always to have occupied. 
 
 The poems and songs have been numbered and col- 
 lected into kindred groups. The Scots words being 
 softer and more phonetically written than the English, 
 the pronounciation and the sense of the subject will 
 assist an English reader in understanding them with- 
 out referring to the Glossary. A few of the titles of the 
 songs have been altered. 
 
 Several missing stanzas, unpublished and unedited 
 pieces have been discovered, and will be found at the 
 end of the songs. 
 
 Having been successful in recovering a large number 
 
VIU. PREFACE. 
 
 of Tannahill's letters, I considered it better that they 
 should form a special department along with the 
 extracts from correspondence published by former 
 Editors. The whole are placed in chronological order. 
 This new and important feature will, I trust, recommend 
 itself to the admirers of the Bard. 
 
 Brief sketches of the Drawer of Tannahill's likeness 
 and former Editors of his works will be found in the Ap- 
 pendix, and also accounts of the institution of tlie 
 Tannahill Club in 1858, the Erection of a Monu- 
 mental Tombstone in 1867, the Fixing of a Tablet of his 
 Birth in 1872, and the proceedings at the Centenary in 
 1874. , A complete Glossary of Scots Words is appended. 
 
 A copious Index is given at the end of the volume, 
 enabling readers at once to put their finger upon any 
 particular place in the volume. 
 
 I have now specially to refer to the note to the song 
 " Thro Cruikston Castle's lanely wa's," page 233, giving 
 the descent of His Royal Highness Prince Leopold from 
 the heroine of the song, the beautiful Marie Queen of 
 Scots. On the occasion 'of His Royal Highness visiting 
 Paisley, when the guest of Colonel Campbell of Blyths- 
 wood, I sent two copies of the page containing the 
 note to the gallant Colonel, who wrote me on 30th 
 September, 1875, as follows: — "His Royal Highness 
 Prince Leopold, desires me to say that he was bom on 
 the 7th, not the 14th April, as in your printed extract." 
 I have now most cordially to tender my best thanks to 
 

PREFACE. IX. 
 
 His Royal Highness for his kindness in directing my 
 attention to the mistake. 
 
 In conclusion, I have sincerely to thank all my in- 
 formants, and to • acknowledge the kindly manner in 
 which I was uniformly received and made welcome by 
 every one for the sake of the good work I had undertaken. 
 I specially thank the ladies and gentlemen who favoured 
 me with letters of the Poet in their possession, and 
 other valuable relics for publication. 
 
 DAVID SEMPLE. 
 
 TOWNHEAD, 
 
 Paisley, ist Decemter, iSjs- 
 
MAP OF THE LAND OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 aUIDK TO aLENIFrER BRAES. 
 
 The foregoing map, embracing portions of Renfrewshire and Ayrshire, was 
 prepared for the benefit of vieitors -visiting the Land of T!&nnahill and 
 the classic Braes of GleuifEer. These braes were the ancient forest of Pais- , 
 ley — the hunting ground of the Stewarts, Barona of the Barony of Renfrew, 
 afterwards called Paisley Braes, and now, in one of the sweetest songs of the 
 lyric poet, '* The Braes o Gleniffer." 
 
 The map extends east and west a length of 17 miles— from " Cruikston 
 Castle's Ismely wa's " in the Abbey Parish of Paisley, to tEe lands of BoghaU 
 in the Parish of Beith, which formerly belonged to the poet's grandfather, 
 and the scene of the song, ".Ohl are ye sleepin, Maggie," and south and 
 north a breadth of 8 miles, from Neilston to Kilbarchan, two viU^ges where 
 the poet had kind and blythe ^ends whom he often visited. 
 
 .Visitors, on arriving at the Cross -or Market Place of Paisley, should 
 proceed down Saint Mirin Street and up to the head of Causeyside where 
 the road divides, — ^the one to the left, marked on the map "So. 1, in ancient 
 times leading to the furyness (Fereneze), and the other to the right, marked 
 No. 2, leading to the louchlyhosyde (Loch Libo side). 
 
 I. They may take the NeiUt<m Road on the Wt, marked No. 1, passing 
 through Neilston Street, Lylesland, Dovesland, Carriagehill, Colinslie, 
 Potterhill, and Thomley, turning to the rights into the Ctlen Road, marked 
 No. 6, and they will soon arrive at Glenfield, belonging to WiUiam Pulton, 
 Esq. of Glen, — one of the loveliest spots a person can visit. A picturesc[ue 
 mth leads to the Well,— which the late Mr. Fulton named " TannahiU 
 Well," after the Poet, — the cascade of Craigie Lmn, and the Braes, on the 
 elevated summit of which a magnificent panoramic view of the country, 
 embracing seven counties, will be obtained. This is where the great 
 demonstration proceedings were held on the Poet's Centennial Birth-Day 
 celebration. Proceeding westward along the road. No.. 6, skirting the Braes 
 of Gleniffer, they will enter the Coraebar Road, marked No, 3, at Nether- 
 craigs, opposite Uie Stanely Road. . 
 
 II. Or they may take the Calaide Road, marked No. 2, at the head of 
 Causeyside, through Calside Street, past Fairhill, until the division oi the 
 road, — the road to the left being a continuation of road No. 2, and the 
 Bast Corsebar Road to the right, marked No. 3. They may either 
 continue along No. 2, passing the Brodie Publjc Park and Blackland Mill, 
 where the road divides again, — the one to the l^t, Braehead Roqd, being 
 still a continuation of No. 2 (which crosses No. 6), thence to Braehead, — or 
 take the West Mackland Road to the right, marked No. 4, which merges 
 in No. 3 at the Corsebar Toll ' 
 
 III. Or they may take the £ast Corsebar Road on the right, marked No. 3, 
 which is better ; through that road, passing Corsebar Curling Pond and the 
 Paisley Water Works direct to the Glen of Gleniffer, which they will see 
 marked on the map. This road, passing *' the bonnie wee well on the 
 breist o the brae," leads to the Peesweep Inn, and goes round by the 
 Graigenfeoch Road to the Thorn, marked No. 11, famed for its varying 
 scenery. 
 
 IV. Or they may proceed from the Cross along High Street to Broomlanda 
 Street, down Maxwelton Street to Maxwelton Road, turn to the left into 
 West Corsebar Road, marked No. 5, passing the Burgh Asylum, till it merges 
 in No. 3, near the Corsebar Toll. 
 
 v.- Or they may take the JBrediland Road, marked No. 7, leading off 
 Maxwelton Road across " TannahiU Bridge," passing Loundsdale, into 
 ZHtchland Roads, marked Nos. 8 and 0, merging in the Alt Patrick Road, 
 No. 10. ^ 
 
 VI. Or they may take the Fulbar or Chain Road, marked No. 9, leading off 
 the.Beith road at the west end of Millarston, which merges in No. 10 at 
 Low Bardrain. 
 
 VII. Or they may take the Alt Patrick Road, marked No. 10, leading off 
 
GUIDE. 
 
 the Beith road at Sclates, near Elderslie. This road leads to the " Dushy 
 Glen" and " Qleinfeoch" and the other scenery of Alt Patrick Bum, — ^the 
 scene of the "Soldier's Return." The road passes Foxbar and Stanely 
 Castle "wi its auld turrets" by the Stanely Road, also marked No. 10, 
 merging in No. 3 opposite the west end Of the Glen Road, No. 6. 
 
 yill. Or they may take the Craigenfeoch Soad, marked No. 11, leading off 
 the Beith road neiu: Thorn, past Craigenfeoch and Craigmuir, merging in 
 No. 3 at the Peesweep Inn. Craigenfeoch,— Gaelic, The Rock of the Raven, — 
 from which a splendid view of Strathgryffe is obtained. 
 
 " Glenkilloch " wOl be found on the south side of the Map among Pereneze 
 Braes. "Fairy Woodside," "Sweet Ferguslic," and "Bonnie Wood o 
 Craigielee," nestling on the north-west side of Paisley ; and " Calderglen,' 
 *' Balgreen " (" The Echoes o Bowgreen "), and "Langcraft" (which belonged 
 to the Poet's granduncle), will be seen in the far west above Lochwinnoch, 
 and " Overton Braes," near Beith, where "Dear "Will" resided. 
 
INDEX 
 
 TO THE 
 
 FIRST LINES OF THE POEMS. 
 
 No. 
 
 8. Again the happy day returns 
 
 1 1 . Almighty pow'r who wings the storm, 
 
 I . A range o hills o'erhung wi waving wuds, 
 
 35. Aa secret's the grave be the man whom I trust, 
 
 36. Barbarous ! cried John in humanising mood, 
 
 51. Come a ye frien'ly social pack, 
 
 17. Come /oTicj/ thou hast ever been 
 
 59. Cried Dick to Bob, ' great news to-day,' 
 23. Dear kindred saul thanks to the cause, 
 22. Dear Will my much respected Men, . . . 
 
 171. Do you see the old beggar who sits at the gate, 
 54. ^noirol'd in a cloud of smoke, 
 
 63. Ever green be the sod o'er kind Tom o the wood, . . . 
 
 60. French threats of invasion let Britons despise, 
 
 20. Gude Pibrocharian jorum jirger, 
 
 175. Ha ! Doctor your powders and potions give o'er, 
 31. He who, unmoved can hear the suppliant cry, 
 
 64. Here lies Jamie Wight wha was wealthy and proud, 
 66. Here Slaethom Mary's huncheon bouck, 
 16. " How seldom 'tis the Poet's liappy lot, 
 34. I hate a flatterer as I hate the devil, ... 
 
 170. I hate that drum's discordant sound, ... 
 45. I scorn the selfish purse proud, 
 
 65. If loss of worth may draw the pitying tear, , 
 48. If thou on earth would live respected, 
 38. In mony an instance without doubt, ... 
 
 5. King Geordie issues out Hs summons, 
 43. Let gang your grip ye auld grim devil! 
 
 4. Let grief for ever cloud the day, 
 53. Let ither bards exhaust their stock, . . . 
 
 21. Let those who never felt its flame, 
 57. Loud souns the deep mouth'd parish bell, "• . 
 33. Mark what demon hither bends, 
 
 174. My colour's brown my shape's uncouth, 
 25. My gude auld frieu on Locher banks, 
 
 61. Nature impartial in her ends, 
 
 3. Now the dark rains of autumn discolour the 1 
 
 9. Death ! it's no thy deed I mourn, . . . 
 
 6. Once on a time Almighty Jove, 
 
 52. Peaceful slumbering in the ale house, . . . 
 
 18. Please accept the thanks and praise, .. 
 
 brook, 
 
 1875. 
 
 Page 
 
 54 
 
 67 
 
 7 
 
 142 
 
 142 
 
 161 
 
 75 
 
 175 
 
 104 
 
 102 
 
 352 
 
 167 
 
 184 
 
 175 
 
 92 
 
 358 
 
 184 
 
 186 
 
 186 
 
 73 
 
 141 
 
 351 
 
 158 
 
 186 
 
 160 
 
 143 
 
 44 
 
 157 
 
 41 
 
 165 
 
 99 
 
 172 
 
 141 
 
 358 
 
 113 
 
 175 
 
 39 
 
 60 
 
 45 
 
 165 
 
 81 
 
PREVIOUS EDITIONS. 
 
 1807. 1815. 1815. 1817. 1819. 1822. 1825. 1833. 1838. 1841. 1846. 
 
 18rs.<No. 1. No, 2. - German. 
 
 Page Page Page Page Page Page Page Page Page Page Page 
 
 237 
 
 75 
 
 82 
 
 114- 
 
 114 
 
 . 55 
 
 49 
 
 9 
 
 • >• 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 107 
 
 138 
 
 97 
 
 300 
 
 300 '. 
 
 . Ill 
 
 51 
 
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 . 109 
 
 92 
 
 80 
 
 ■ ■• 
 
 
 
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 49 
 
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 74 
 
 74 '. 
 
 . 34 
 
 51 
 
 142 
 
 98 
 
 131 
 
 131 . 
 
 . 114 
 
 103 
 
 89 
 
 • *• 
 
 
 ■ ■■ 
 
 . 67 
 
 59 
 
 101 
 
 ... 
 
 
 277 . 
 
 . 77 
 
 77 
 
 70 
 
 188 
 
 253 
 
 253 ' 
 
 ! 52 
 
 45 
 
 143 
 
 100 
 
 132 
 
 132 . 
 
 . 116 
 
 105 
 
 142 
 
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 131 
 
 . 114 
 
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 91 
 
 ■ •• 
 
 
 265 . 
 
 . 69 
 
 66 
 
 136 
 
 96 
 
 128 
 
 ■ 128 '. 
 
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 106 
 
 144 
 
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 133 
 
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 99 
 
 ■ ■■ 
 
 
 276 
 
 . 75 
 
 42 
 
 138 
 
 97 
 
 129 
 
 129 . 
 
 . 110 
 
 9 
 
 140 
 
 
 ;;; 
 
 '.'.'. '. 
 
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 97 
 
 143 
 
 99 
 
 132 
 
 132 . 
 
 . 115 
 
 104 
 
 141 
 
 
 «■• 
 
 ■ •• 
 
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 98 
 
 124 
 
 "3 
 
 35 
 
 35 . 
 
 . 98 
 
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 108 
 
 ■ ■■ 
 
 
 • •• . 
 
 . 84 
 
 106 
 
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 95 
 
 123 
 
 127 . 
 
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 44 
 
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 170 . 
 
 . 29 
 
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 94 
 
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 103 
 
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 131 . 
 
 . 115 
 
 104 
 
 39 
 
 14 
 
 47 
 
 47 . 
 
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 31 
 
 78 
 
 88 
 
 120 
 
 120 . 
 
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 40 
 
 55 
 
 71 
 
 103 
 
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 34 
 
 112 
 
 • •• 
 
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 79 
 
 76 
 
 32 
 
 64 
 
 64 '. 
 
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 75 
 
 159 
 166 
 
 93 175 
 
 136 
 176 
 112 
 111 
 
 71 
 
 177 
 176 
 105 
 
 70 
 
 92 173 
 178 
 178 
 172 
 
 93 174 
 
 177 
 126 
 
 173 
 
 80 24 
 
 109 
 148 
 147 
 
 118 
 176 
 132 
 169 
 153 
 174 
 103 
 
 237 
 
 38 
 
 25 
 13 
 
 40 
 39 
 
 28 
 20 
 40 
 
 27 
 28 
 
 27 
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 41 
 29 
 
 39 
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 40 
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 33 
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 30 
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 19 
 
 si 
 
 41 
 43 
 25 
 21 
 33 
 25 
 
1875. 
 
 No. I'ags . 
 
 14. Pure emanation of the honest aoul 71 
 
 42. Quhy soreim the cro wis owr yonder wud, 155 
 
 37. Quoth iSobbin Tom of Lancashire, 143 
 
 62. Kesponsive to the roaring floods, 176 
 
 24. Retired disgusted from the tavern roar, 106 
 
 44. Rich Gripus pretends he's my patron and friend, ... 158 
 
 40. Some folks there are of such behaviour, 150 
 
 12. Stop passenger, — here muse a while 68 
 
 55. The great the important hour is come, 168 
 
 26. The muse is now a wee at leisure, , 122 
 
 27. The rough hail rattles thro the trees, 131 
 
 15. The sinme's a very useful thing, 72 
 
 41. The western sun shines o'er the loch,.. 152 
 
 56. This warl's a taproom owre an owre, 171 
 
 32. Thou little badge of independence 139 
 
 13. Thro winter's cold and summer's heat, 69 
 
 58. Twas night, the winds thro the dark forest roar'd ... 173 
 
 28. Twas on a sunny Sabbath day, 132 
 
 49. Wee A self sainted wight, 160 
 
 46. What gars yon gentry gang wi Jock, 159 
 
 47. What need'st thou dread the end of sin 159 
 
 39. When hope persuades and fame inspires us, 148 
 
 30. When love proves false and friends betray us, ... 137 
 
 50. When the devil got-notice old Charon was dead, ... 161 
 19. While colleg'd baids bestride Pegasus, 84 
 
 7. While Gallia's chief with cruel conquests vain, . . . ' 50 
 
 10. Why heaves my mother oft the deep drawn sigh, ... 65 
 
 2. Ye patronizers of our little party, 37 
 
 29. Ye votaries of pleasure and ease, 136 
 
 INDEX TO THE FIRST LINES OF THE SONGS, 
 
 77. Accuse me not inconstant fair, 214 
 
 164. Adieu ye cheerful native plains, ... 340 
 
 169. Ah f eechanie they're no for me, 349 
 
 161. Ah ! Sheelah, thou'rt my darling 336 
 
 86. All haU ! ye dear romantic scenes, ' 225 
 
 128. An war ye at Duntocher Bum ? ... 297 
 
 109. Auld Wattle o Kebbuokston brae, 269 
 
 163. Awake my harp the cheerful strain, 339 
 
 15X1. Away gloomy care, there's no place for thee here, ... 325 
 
 82. Blythe was the time when he fee'd wi my faither O, 220 
 
 92. Brave Lewie Roy was the flower of our Highlaudmen, 239 
 
 105. Chill the wintry winds were blowing, 260 
 
 151. Comehametae your lingels ye neer-dae-weel loon, .. 326 
 
 98. Companion of my youthful sports, 252 
 
 139. Davie Tulloch's bonnie Katie, 310 
 
1807. 
 
 1815. 
 
 1815. 1817. 
 
 1819. 
 
 1822. 
 
 1825. 
 
 1833. 1838. 1841. 
 
 ■1846 
 
 isrs. 
 
 No.l. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3rerman. 
 
 Page 
 
 Page 
 
 Pago 
 
 Page 
 
 Page 
 
 Page 
 
 Page 
 
 Page 
 
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 Page 
 
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 90 
 
 93 
 
 125 
 
 125 
 
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 68 
 
 79 
 
 
 172 
 
 
 29 
 
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 100 
 
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 83 
 
 82 
 
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 288 
 
 31 
 
 137 
 
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 280 
 
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 97 
 
 
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 281 
 
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 98 
 
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 PREVIOUS EDITIONS. 
 
 
 
 
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 276 
 
 58 
 
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 219 
 
 219 
 
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 54 
 
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 76 
 
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 260 
 
 52 
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 168 
 
 190 
 
 255 
 
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 ... 
 
 122 
 
 162 
 
 162 
 
 77 
 
 
 ■• 
 
 22 
 89 
 
 19 
 93 
 
 ... 
 
 46 
 63 
 
1875. 
 
 No. Page 
 
 158. Dear Judy, I've taken a thinking, , 333 
 
 157. Dear Judy, when first we got married, 332 
 
 148. Dorothy sits i the caul ingle newk, 323 
 
 87. Far from the giddy oonrt of mirth, 227 
 
 90. Far lane amang the Hielan Hills 234 
 
 149. Fill, fill the merry bowl, 324 
 
 132. Fly we to some desert isle, 303 
 
 118. Fortune frowning moat severe, 286 
 
 100. From hill to hill the bugles sound 254 
 
 85. From the rude bustling camp to the calm rural plain, 224 
 
 120. Full auchteen simmer's up life's brae, 288 
 
 70. Gloomy Winter's now awa, 198 
 
 136. Hark ! 'tis the poor maniac's song 307 
 
 159. How gay rose this morning how cheerful was I, ... 335 
 
 156. How light is my heart as I journey along, 331 
 
 122. I'll hie me tae the Sheelin hill, 289 
 
 135. I'll lay me on the wintry lea, .. ... ... ... 306 
 
 115. I mark'd a gem of pearly dew 280 
 
 69. Keen blaws the win o'er the braes o Gleniffer, ... 195 
 
 83. Langsyne beside the woodlan bum, 222 
 
 93. La wlan lassie wilt thou go, 241 
 
 91. Let us go, lassie go, 237 
 
 78. Lone in yon dark sequestered grove, 217 
 
 142. Louder than the trump of fame, 313 
 
 95. Loudon's bonnie woods and braes, 246 
 
 130. Mary, why thus waste thy youth time in sorrow ? ... 300 
 
 140. Meg the Glen set aflf to the fair, 311 
 
 104. Mongst life's many cares there is none so provoking, 259 
 
 126. My days have flown wi gleesome speed, 295 
 
 138. My faither wad hae me to marry the miller 309 
 
 129. My heart is sair wi heavy care, ... ... ... 299 
 
 117. My Mary is a bonnie lass 284 
 
 101. Now let the procession move solemn and slow, ... 256 
 103. Now Marion dry your tearf u e'e, . 258 
 
 72. Now winter wi his cloudy brow, 204 
 
 116. O are you sleepin Maggie, ... ... ... ... 281 
 
 162. Oh coi}ld I fiy like the green coated fairy, ... ... 338 
 
 134. how can you gang lassie, how can you gang ? ... 305 
 
 79. laddie can you lea me ? 217 
 
 81. lassie will yw tak a man, ... ... 219 
 
 168. Oh ! lassie wilt thou gang, ■ 348 
 
 131. sair I rue the witless wish, 302 
 
 97. O weep not my love though I go to the war, ... 251 
 
 124. Ooh hey ! Johnny lad 291 
 
 155. One night in my youth I rov'd with my merry pipe, 330 
 
 80. Our bonnie Scots lads in their green tartan plaids, ,. 218 
 176. Plunkin kens a queer auld cock they ca Rab, . . . 359 
 114. Responsive ye woods wing your echoes along, ... 279 
 143. Scenes of my childhood your wanderer hails you, ... 314 
 
INDEX. SIX- 
 
 1807 1815. 1815. 1817. 1819. 1822. 1825. 1833. 1838. 1841. 1846. 
 Txn' TSTn 1 No 2 German, 
 
 pie P^e P^e' Page Pago Pa^e Page Page Page Page Page 
 217 217 47 49 ... 06 
 
 ::: ;:: 215 215 50 48 262 52 
 
 172 172 
 
 29 25 ... 47 
 
 157 173 239 239 ... 127 143 78. 62 56 
 
 148 201 141 141 439 118 134 11 7 215 43 
 
 157 157 20 16 228 45 
 
 :;■. 123 163 163 23 20 ... 46 
 
 159 177 243 243 .. 129 145 63 65 ... 58 
 
 ill m 232 232 ... 125 141 51 57 270 56 
 
 33 134 178 178 ... 21 128 27 28 ... 18 
 
 76 87 92 ... 62 
 
 ::; 149 193 193 383 40 35 251 50 
 
 165 182 248 248 ... 135 151 65 67 279 59 
 
 ::: 136 174 174 :;: ::: "' 36 26 239 47 
 
 lEo iK-j 15 14 225 45 
 
 ^„ „. 75 .:: ... 86 92 ... 61 
 
 '.'.'. 195 259 259 66 75 ... 61 
 
 166 203 143 143 398 136 152 12 8 217 44 
 22 110 147 147 ••• 12 118 14 10 ... 15 
 
 163 160 226 226 ... 133 149 54 53 ... 54 
 
 ... 116 154 154 391 18 15 226 45 
 
 160 
 
 98 
 130 146 ... 83 
 
 107 139 139 10 5 213 42 
 
 ... 43 m i87 411 36 32 247 48 
 
 77 93 88 ... 64 
 
 ::: ui i85 m 35 31 ... 49 
 
 78 90 96 ... > 63 
 
 74 85 88 ... 64 
 
 •■■ ly'A 236 236 60 60 212 56 
 
 153 162 228 228 . . 123 139 57 55 268 55 
 
 179 142 158 ... 82 
 
 "^ 77 88 95 ... 63 
 
 151 147 191 191 ... 121 137 39 34 ... 49 
 
 152 158 224 224 ... 122 138 59 52 266 55 
 213 213 28 46 ... 53 
 
 76 88 91 ... 65 
 
 ;;. 261 85 94 ... 61 
 
 19 118 156 156 ... 9 115 19 16 ... 14 
 
 124 164 164 
 
 ... 24 21 ... 46 
 
 97 
 
 161 120 160 160 ... 131 147 21 18 231 46 
 
 209 209 
 
 47 45 ... 47 
 
 i4 119 159 159 ... 5 112 21 17 230 14 
 154 164 230 230 '.'.■. 124 140 58 57 ... 55 
 
1875. 
 
 So. ^^Sa 
 
 121. Sing on, thou sweet Warbler, thy glad ev'ning song, 288 
 154. The breeze of the night fans the dark mountain's 
 
 breast 328 
 
 99. The cold wind blows, 253 
 
 160. The harvest is o'er and the lads are so funny, ... 335 
 
 141. The lasses a leuoh and the carlin flate, 312 
 
 73. The midges dance aboon the bum, 265 
 
 102. The Queeusferry boatie rows light, 257 
 
 111. The sun had kissed green Erin's waves, .'.. ■.• 275 
 
 75. The sun has gane dpun o'er the lofty Beulomond, ... 208 
 167. The sun just glancing thro the trees, 346 
 
 96. The weary sun's gane douh the west, 249 
 
 68. Thou bonnie wood o Craigielee, 192 
 
 '74. Thou cauld gloomy Feberwar, 207 
 
 94 Thou dark winding Carron once pleasing to see, ... 243 
 
 106. Tho' my eyes are grown dim and my looks tum'd grey, 261 
 133. Tho simmer smiles on bank an brae, 304 
 
 89. Thro Cruikston Castle's lanely wa's, 229 
 
 108. Tis haena ye heard man o Barochan Jean, ... ... 266 
 
 si We'll meet beside the dusky glen on yon burnside, 223 
 
 144. Weel wha's in the bouroch am what is your cheer, ... 315 
 
 119. Whan gloamin treads the heels o day, 287 
 
 166. Whan I the dreary mountains pass'd, 345 
 
 127, Whan John and me were married, ... ... ... 296 
 
 14:7. When poortith caul an sour disdain, .. 321 
 
 107. When Eosie was faithfu how happy was I, 263 
 
 125. Where primroses spring on the green tufted brae, ... 294 
 
 67. While the grey pinioned lark early mounts to the skies, 189 
 
 145. Why unite to banish care, ... ... ... ... 318 
 
 113. Wi waefu heart and sorrowing e'e, 278 
 
 112. Wild drives the bitter northern blast, 276 
 
 146. Will you Gome to the board I've prepared for you,... 320 
 
 173. Will you gang tae Inverness, ... 356 
 
 VI2. Win you gang tae Sherramuir,... 354 
 
 76. Ye echoes that ring roun the woods o Bowgreen, ... 213 
 
 153. Ye friendly stars that rule the night 327 
 
 165. Ye maids of green Erin why sigh ye so sad, ... ... 341 
 
 152. Ye may boast of your charms and be proud, to be sure, 327 
 
 71. Ye mind whan the snaw lay sae deep on the hill, ... 202 
 
 88. Ye sunny braes that skirt the Clyde 228 
 
 123. Ye wooer lads wha greet and grane , ... 290 
 
 110. Ye'el a hae heard tell o J5ab Eoryson's bonnet, ... 273 
 
 137. Yon poor Negro girl an exotic plant, 308 
 
 Poems in the several editions, '70 
 
 Songs „ „ 106 
 
 Total number of pieces lyg 
 
INDEX. rsd, 
 
 1807. 1815. 1815. 1817. 1819. 1822. 1825. 1833. 1838. 1841. 1846, 
 
 1873. No. 1. No. 2. Gennan. 
 
 Page Page Page Page Page Page Page Page Page Page Page 
 
 97 
 
 ... 126 166 166 25 21 233 46 
 
 ... 135 179 179 33 28 243 48 
 
 210 210 52 44 ... 52 
 
 77 89 94 ... 65 
 
 ... 153 197 197 53 41 38 256 50 
 
 ... 132 176 176 31 27 241 48 
 
 ...• 128 168 168 23 235 47 
 
 ... 105 137 137 376 9 3 21 41 
 
 '.'.'. ".'. '.'.'. '.'.'. '.'.'. '.'.'. '.'.'. "'. 98 '.'.'. 
 
 158 175 241 241 ... 128 144 62 63 274 57 
 76 88 95 ... 63 
 
 156 163 234 234 302 126 142 61 59 ... 57 
 
 ... 196 260 260 77- 76 ... 61 
 
 78 90 87 286 63 
 
 ... 114 151 151 17 12 223 44 
 
 204 204 ... 37 41 258 51 
 
 26 112 149 149 425 15 121 16 11 221 16 
 73 84 78 282 62 
 
 149 152 196 196 ... 119 135 45 38 ... 50 
 
 150 156 200 200 ... 120 136 42 37 254 51 
 173 198 262 262 ... 143 159 75 77 ... 61 
 
 170 185 250 250 „. 140 156 68 69 280 59 
 
 157 172 238 238 ... 127 143 74 61 ... 56 
 
 ... 150 195 195 38 36 253 50 
 
 ... 155 199 199 74 44 39 ... 50 
 
 164 180 246 246 ... 134 150 64 66 277 58 
 
 147 145 189 189 ... 117 133 81 33 249 49 
 
 220 220 53 55 ... 53 
 
 '.'.'. '.'.'. '.'.'. '.'.'. '.'.'. '.'.'. '.'.'. '.'.'. '.'.'. '.'.'. 63 
 
 167 183 249 249 ... 137 153 67 68 ... 59 
 
 211 211 49 45 ... 5* 
 
 222 222 56 51 ... 54 
 
 78 90 96 ... 63 
 
 312 91 84 284 63 
 
 ... 109 145 145 13 9 219 44 
 
 80 
 
 202 202 43 40 .. 51 
 
 171 187 252 252 ... 141 157 69 70 ... 60 
 
 64 39 40 47 1 64 64 7 51 3 65 
 
 33 54 69 69 29 33 33 88 99 40 88 
 
 97 93 109 116 30 97 97 95 150 43 153 
 
 The pages in the Editioiis of 1807 and 1873 are the same. 
 
INDEX TO COREESPONDENCE. 
 
 Those marked thus * are excerpts. 
 
 Date. Letters. Editors. 
 
 *1802— March 14. Tannahill to Wm Kibble Ramsay 
 
 1804 — Nov. 18. 'Wm. Livingston toTannahiU.. .iSempfe , 
 
 1805— April 9. Jamea Clark to James Barr do. 
 
 — May 8. John Crawford to TannahiU ... do. 
 
 * — Aug. 31. Tannahill to James Clark Ramsay 
 
 *1806— to Smith , 
 
 — ;March 7. Wm. Livingston to Tannahill. ..4'ewipZe . 
 — May 1. Tannahill to James Barr do. 
 
 — „ 23. Do. to do do. . 
 
 * — July 19. Do. to do Ra/msay. 
 
 1807— Feb. 2. Do. to James Clark Semple . 
 
 — April 6. William Kibble to Tannahill... do. 
 
 ' — „ 11. Tannahill to William Kibble. ..i?a?nsas^. 
 
 — May 1. Do. to Wm. Thomson. ...iSempfe . 
 
 — ,, 4. Do. to Eobert Lang do. 
 
 Do. to James Bishop do. 
 
 — June 30. Do. to James Barr do. 
 
 — July 19. James Clark to Tannahill do. 
 
 — Aug. 6. James King to do do. 
 
 — „ 20. Tannahill to Jn. Macfarlane ... do. 
 
 — Sept. 3. Do. to John Crawford.... do. . 
 
 * — ,, 20. Do. to James Clark Ramsay. 
 
 * — Nov. 2. Do. to Jamea King........ do. . 
 
 — „ 16. James Clark to Tannahill do. 
 
 1808 — Jan. 5. TannahiU to Jamea Barr do. 
 
 * —Feb. 14. Do. to Muir 
 
 ,, Wm. Fiolayson to Tannahill... iScmpZe . 
 
 —March 1. William Kibble to do. ... do. .. 
 
 — ,, 5. TannahiU to Wm. Finlayaon... do. 
 —May 3. B,. A. Smith's Concert HandbUl do. ., 
 
 — ,, 12. TannahiU to Jn. Macfarlane... do. .. 
 
 — ), 28. Do. to James Clark. ... 
 
 * —June 6. Do. to Geo. Thomson do. 
 
 * — July 17. Do. to James King do. .. 
 
 — „ 23. WUliam Kibble to TannahiU... Scmpie .' 
 *1808— Aug. 6. Tannahill to Geo. Thomson Ramsay.. 
 
 — II 10. Do. to Jamea Barr Semple .. 
 
 — „ 27. Do. to R. A. Smith do. ., 
 
 — ,, 28. Do. to James Barr Ramsay.. 
 
 —Sept. 3. Do. to Jn. Macfarlane. ;^em»?e .. 
 
 —Nov. 24. Do. to Jamea Clark Ramsay.. 
 
 — Deo. 3. Do. to James Barr Semple .. 
 
 *1809- Do. to Smith ... 
 
 Page 
 .. 365 
 .. 365 
 .. 367 
 .. 368 
 .. 372 
 .. 371 
 .. 372 
 .. 374 
 .. 380 
 .. 381 
 .. 382 
 .. 386 
 .. 387 
 ,. 387 
 .. 388 
 . 389 
 ,. 390 
 . 391 
 , 393 
 . 397 
 . 398 
 . 400 
 . 401 
 . 403 
 . 405 
 . 406 
 . 448 
 . 407 
 . 408 
 . 412 
 . 410 
 . 413 
 . 413 
 . 415 
 . 415 
 . 418 
 . 419 
 . 419 
 . 420 
 , 422 
 , 423 
 . 424 
 , 426 
 
INDEX. XXUl. 
 
 Date. Letters. Editors. Page 
 
 1809— April 4. TaunahiU to Jamea Clark Sew/pU ... 427 
 
 * — May 9. Do. to James King Ramsay... 4ZS 
 
 * — June 4. Do. to do do. ... 429 
 
 * —July 3. Do. to Geo. Thomson.... do. ...430 
 — ,, 9. Do. to Jn. Maofarlaue-.-iSempZe ... 430 
 
 * —Sept. 10. Do. to ...Muir ... 432 
 
 ' — ,, ,, Do. to Jamea King Ramsay... 432 
 
 — Oct. 28. Do. to Jn. Maofarlaue ...jSemjjie ... 432 
 
 * ^Nov. 12. Do. to James King Ramsay... 433 
 
 * — Dec. 17. Do. to James Clark do. ...433 
 
 * — ,, 24. Do. to James Barr do: ... 435 
 
 1810— March 1. Do. to Thos. ^ewavt ....Semple ... 435 
 
 * — ^April 1. Do. to James King Ramsay... 4S1 
 
 * Do. to Alex. Borland.... do. ... 437 
 1859 — June 9. James Barr to Wm. Por'teons... do. ... 443 
 
 —Sept. 28. Do. to do. ...do 445 
 
 1818— July 9. K. A. Smith to Eobert Lang.../S'e»ip?e ... 438 
 
 1848— Oct. 20. J. Crawford to M. Tannahill... do. ...442 
 
Life of Tannahill. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 lANNAHILL is a common surname in Ayrshire; 
 in 1547, there were seven families in Kil- 
 marnock bearing that appellation. We have 
 no intention of tracing them downwards to the present 
 time, but merely remark that the Paisley Poet of that 
 name would be descended from one of these families. 
 The present narrative commences with his paternal 
 grandfather and grandmother. 
 
 Thomas Tannahill, son pf Robert Tannahill, weaver 
 in Kilmarnock, was born in the year 1700, and Mary 
 Bunten, daughter of James Bunten, weaver in Kil- 
 marnock, and Janet Linton, spouses, was- born in 1701. 
 Thomas Tannahill, who had been brought up to the 
 trade of a weaver in Kilmarnock, and Mary Bunten 
 were married in that town on Tuesday, 21st July, 1730. 
 They had a family of seven children, four sons and three 
 daughters, born and baptised as follows : — 
 
 ist, Marion, bom i6th, and baptised i8th July, 1731. 
 
 loth May, 1733. 
 6th March, 1735 
 27th Feb., 1737. 
 nth Feb., 1739. 
 29th Aug., 1742. 
 7th Nov. , 1744. 
 
 d 
 
 2nd, James, 
 
 , 9th, 
 
 3rd, Thomas, 
 
 , 4th, 
 
 4th, Janet, 
 
 , 26th, 
 
 Sth, Mary, 
 
 , nth. 
 
 6th, Robert, 
 
 , 27th, , 
 
 7th, JOHK, 
 
 , 6th, 
 
XXVI. ■ LIFE OF TANNAHIIX. 
 
 Thomas Tannahill brought up his four sons to his own 
 trade of a weaver. 
 
 The four brothers James, Thomas, Robert, and John 
 Tannahill left Kilmarnock and came to Paisley in the 
 year 1756, when the manufacture of textile fabrics was 
 rising into importance and becoming a prosperous trade 
 in the latter town. The population of Paisley at that 
 time did not exceed 4297, so that the town was a very 
 small place indeed. It extended westward from the 
 west side of the Old Bridge spanning the River Cart, 
 to the road formerly leading to the Over-Common, now 
 Lady Lane ; northward, from the market-cross to 
 Srieddon Dyke, now Back Sneddon Street ; and south- 
 ward, from the Cross down the Water Wynd, now Saint 
 Mirin Street, and up to the head of Causeyside. There 
 were then eight old streets as follows : — Main Street, now 
 High Street ; Wangaitend, now Moss Street ; Grammar 
 School House Wynd, now School Wynd, Dyers' Wynd, 
 Water Wynd, Causeyside, Gordon's Lone, and Common 
 Lone, now Canal Street; and other seven modern streets 
 named New Street, Shuttle Street, Orchard Street, Prussia 
 Street, Old Sneddon, New Sneddon, and Back Sneddon. 
 In these days the pathways at the sides of the streets 
 were of raised earth, and the roadways were consider- 
 ably lower and of the roughest description, not paved 
 except at the Cross, which was laid with small boulder 
 stones. In wet weather these roadways were nearly im- 
 passable from mud, as there was no provision for drain- 
 age. The Main street curved round Oakshawhill, there 
 being 114 properties in it, 56 on the south side, and 58 on 
 the north side. The houses were of all ages, and were 
 either one, two or three storeys high, of irregular order, 
 nearly all of ruble construction, built with clay or lime, 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. XXVll. 
 
 and thatched or slated. There were 34 thatched houses 
 on the south side, ^8 on the north side, 22 slated on 
 on the south side, and 20 on the north side of the street* 
 All the houses of two and three storeys high had an 
 outside stair to the front, leading from the street to the 
 second storey. The four most prominent houses in the 
 Main or High Street were. No. 2 5, belonging to Cochran 
 of Ferguslie, built in 1700, No. 29, to Cochran of Craig^ 
 muir, built in 1608, No. 55, called the Bighouse, be- 
 longing to Alexander Wallace, Sheriff-Clerk, occupied 
 by the Rev. John Witherspoon, of the Laigh Church, 
 Paisley, taken down in 1786, and No. 94, built by 
 Andrew Sempill, Master of Sempill, in 1580, and were 
 all originally erected for baronial town residences. The 
 houses, Nos. 6, 7, 8, 9, 24, 35, and 100, were built in 
 the Flemish style of architecture, of three or four storeys 
 high, with craw-stepped twin gables in front, giving them 
 a very antique appearance. The ashlar-built houses, 
 Nos. 40, 66, and 79, still existing, are fine specimens of 
 the mansion houses of the merchant princes of Paisley 
 130 years ago. The houses which were seen by James 
 Tannahill when he arrived in Paisley, and can still be 
 seen at the present time in the Main or High Street, are 
 twenty-two, and are Nos. 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 24, 25, 29, 
 38, 39. 4°, 51, 6i,, 62, 63, 66, 67, 70, 79, 91, 97, and 
 100. t AH the houses of the other numbers have been 
 taken down and rebuilt. The other streets of the town 
 in 1756 were similar in appearance to those in the Main 
 
 * These 72 thatched houses were reduced to 32 in 1820, and to 3 in 
 i87S- 
 
 t The front walls of these houses have undergone many an altera- 
 tion and improvement since the year 1756. 
 
XXVIU. LIFE OF TANNAHILI* 
 
 Street, but rather inferior. The houses in the suburbs 
 of Sandholes, Maxwellton, and Smithhills were also in- 
 ferior ; thatched houses of one storey predominating. 
 ' In noticing the public buildings of the town when the 
 four Kilmarnock weaver brothers arrived in Paisley, we 
 shall commence with becoming respect at the venerable 
 Abbey. The only portion of the building remaining 
 then, and at the present time, is the Nave, now occupied 
 as the Abbey Parish Church. The rebuilding of the 
 Abbey after the destruction of the House of Devotion by 
 fire by the iacendiaries of King Edward I. in 1306, was 
 commenced in 1330, and, correctly speaking, has never 
 yet been finished. Abbot George Schaw, in 1484, 
 founded and erected a high ashlar wall, of a mile in 
 circumference, round the Abbey garden, and, at the 
 north west angle or newk, he placed a stone tablet of 
 five feet three inches in length by two feet six inches 
 in breadth, containing the following poetical inscription, 
 probably written by the Abbot himself : — 
 
 ga tallit gc aiiSot aeorj o( scjahje *»* 
 aiout sis abbas sart ntafie sts teabo § 
 ^ tQousanlre (our tunlrerett iSesr «» 
 aucjts anJre fgtoe tSe Irate but beir 
 IPras for Sis saults salbaftoun -«=!ss- 
 gat tnalre tJiiB nobil {unSariouit. 
 
 When the wall was taken down, on the Abbey garden 
 being feued in 1777 for building houses, the stone tablet 
 was placed as the lintel of the passage in the house 
 erected on the. same site, the locality continuing to 
 be called the "Waw-Newk," now called Wallneuk 
 Street. The "Waw-Newk'' tablet has now been ex- 
 posed to public view for nearly 400 years, and may have 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. XXIX. 
 
 been the silent inspirer of the Paisley Poets, whose 
 names are now legion. The Place of Paisley, or Man- 
 sion of the Lordship of Paisley, was situated on the 
 south side of the Abbey, and belonged to the Earls of 
 Abercom, afterwards to the Earls of Dundonald, and 
 again to the Earls of Ab^rcorn,* and consisted of four 
 houses, two of them of four storeys, each fronting Bal- 
 gonie Court, and two of them of two storeys each, the 
 one fronting Abbey Street, and the other fronting Abbey 
 Close, t The other features of interest seen by the Kil- 
 marnock weavers were Saint Rocque's Cross, eight feet 
 high, erected about 151 7, at the east end of Broom- 
 lands, in front of Saint Rocque's Chapel and Kirk-yard; 
 the Chapel was taken down in 1617, and the Cross re- 
 moved in 1764. The Meal market, erected in 1665, 
 No. 26 High Street, and taken down in 1799.I The 
 Alms House or Hospital, erected in 1724 (No. 82 High 
 Street), better known by the name of the Wee Steeple, 
 from the stunted appearance of its spire. In the front 
 of that building there was a poetical inscription : — 
 
 " He that hes pitie on the puir, 
 Of grace and mercie sall be suir, 
 
 quha gie the puir till god he lends, 
 And God aganb mair grace him sends." 
 
 * This Earldom was raised to a Dulcedom in 18S8. 
 
 t The Mansion of two storeys fronting Abbey Close, was taken down 
 in 1874, to widen the street from 22 to 50 feet ip breadth. A model of 
 the Abbey, with a monastic building of imaginative architecture on the 
 site of the mansion house, is exhibited in the Paisley Free Museum, 
 but we consider it proper to state that no such building ever existed 
 where it has been placed. 
 
 X The armorial stone built into the front wall of the old meal market 
 can now be seen in the Museum. 
 
XXX. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 The reader will observe this is a paraphrase of the 
 17th verse of the 19th chapter of Proverbs, " He that 
 hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord, and 
 that which he hath given will he pay him again." These 
 stones, with their poetical inscriptions, which had been 
 in the previous Alms House, built in 16 18, may also 
 have had some influence in wakening the muse in the 
 hearts of the Paisley poets. The Steeple and Hospital 
 were both taken down in 1808 ; the clock and weather- 
 cock were transferred to the Steeple of Hope Temple, 
 an edifice built by John Love, in connection with his 
 public garden of six acres ; * the bell was bought at the 
 price of;^i4 by the Linwood Cotton Spinning Company 
 for their Mill. The new or Laigh Church in New Street, 
 founded 13th May, 1736; t the new Hospital, No. 7 
 New Sneddon Street, erected in 1752, and still in use; 
 the Grammar School, No. 4 School Wynd, built in 
 1753, superseded in 1802, and presently used as a 
 candlework, would be seen by the four Kilmarnock 
 weavers. The ancient Pretorhim or Town Hall and 
 Tolbooth or Prison, with spire at the south-west angle 
 of the Wangaitend, now Moss Street, and Main Street, 
 now High Street, Had been taken down in 1756, and a 
 new Town Hall and Jail erected in 1757. The Cross 
 Steeple of 120 feet high was erected at the same time, 
 from designs by BaiHe John Whyte. 
 
 From the suppression of the monastery at the Re- 
 formation in 1560, the staple trade of Paisley had been 
 
 Hope Temple and Steeple were taken down in 1868, and the site 
 and grounds converted into the Fountain Gardens. See page 191. 
 
 t This church now belongs to the EvangeUcal Union. It was im- 
 proved in its architectural appearance in 1873, and the street opposite 
 the Kirk yard widened from 24 feet to 40 feet in breadth in 1875. 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. XXxi. 
 
 weaving, and on the arrival of the four brothers Tanna- 
 hill in 1756 there were 13 11 working looms in town, 
 710 employed in linen cloth, 517 at muslin and 
 silk gauze, 30 miscellaneous, and 54 unoccupied, but 
 which were very quickly filled. The two manufac- 
 turers of importance at the time were Mr. Humphrey 
 Fulton from Beith, in Ayrshire, who commenced busi- 
 ness at Maxwelton, in 1749, and Mr. Andrew Brown 
 from Kilmarnock, who commenced business in New 
 Street, in 1753. Each of these houses carried on 
 business for upwards of a hundred years, in the face of 
 all the fluctuations of the fancy weaving, the changes in 
 business and depressions in trade. The weavers of 
 Paisley were principally located in the Townhead — west 
 end of the main street — Causeyside, and the suburbs. 
 Textile manufactures rapidly increased, and multitudes 
 of weavers flocked into the town from all parts of Scot- 
 land, and particularly from Ayrshire, to participate in the 
 prosperity. 
 
 The TannahiU brothers belonged to the more intelli- 
 gent class, were superior workmen, and industrious at their 
 occupation. Thomas TannahiU was married to Margaret 
 Biggar in 1762, and they had several children. He 
 purchased a house in West Brae, and he died there in 
 1823 at the patriarchal age of eighty-eight. He was an 
 
 * The Town Hall andjail fronting Moss Street were taken down in 
 i8zi, and a handsome new building erected for additional accommod- 
 ation to the Saracen's Head Inn in High Street. The under storey was 
 occupied by two shops, and an entrance to the Inn. The Cross Steeple 
 and the old portions of the Inn in High Street, and the new portion in 
 Moss Street, were taken down in 1870, the High Street widened from 
 28 to 44 feet in breadth, and the City of Glasgow Bank erected on the 
 remainder of the site. 
 
XXXU. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 elder of the High Church, Paisley, for upwards of forty 
 years. In 1763, James Tannahill, the eldest brother, 
 was married to Janet Pollock, eldest daughter of Matthew 
 Pollock, farmer, eldest son of Matthew Pollock of Bog- 
 hall, in the Parish of Beith. At that time, she was 
 domiciled in the house of her uncle, Hugh Brodie, 
 farmer, Langcraft, in the Parish of Lochwinnoch. The 
 banns of the proposed marriage were proclaimed in the 
 Laigh Church of Paisley, and in the Parish Church of 
 Lochwinnoch, on Sundays the 21st and 28th; and the 
 marriage was celebrated at Lochwinnoch on Monday, 
 the 29th August, 1763. The wedding festivities were 
 held at the same place; and, after the conclusiort of the 
 day's enjoyments, the company, according to usual 
 custom, sang the 127th Psalm. Before proceeding 
 further with the Tannahills, we will briefly notice the 
 Pollock and Brodie families with whom James Tannahill 
 had connected himself 
 
 The lands of Boghall were part of the lands of the 
 barony of Braidstanes, in the Parish of Beith, belonging 
 to Sir John Shaw of Greenock, and were feued out by 
 him about the end of the seventeenth century. Boghall 
 contained between forty and fifty acres ; but we are not 
 aware who was the original purchaser, or at what date 
 it was purchased. Matthew Pollock, the grandfather 
 of Mrs. Tannahill, however, aciquired Boghall in the 
 eighteenth century. Matthew Pollock died about the year 
 1770, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Matthew, 
 who had married Janet Brodie, sister of Hugh Brodie of 
 Langcraft. He died about 1789, leaving a family of 
 eight children, one son and seven daughters : — ist, 
 Matthew Tollock^-ierifus, then a farmer at Shawlands, 
 near Pollokshaws, who was twice married; first, to Mary 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILE. . XXXIU. 
 
 Donald, by whom he had three daughters, and second, 
 to Janet Purdon, by whom he had three sons and four 
 daughters; 2iid, Janet Pollock, married to James Tanna- 
 hill, weaver. Paisley; 3rd, Jean Pollock, married to John 
 Craig, cooper, Renfrew ; 4th, Mary Pollock, married to 
 Alexander M'Neil, weaver. Paisley; sth, Agnes Pollock, 
 married to William Orr of Kaim, in the Parish of Loch- 
 win'noch ; 6th, Anaple Pollock, married to James 
 Stevenson, farmer at, Whytehills, afterwards carter at 
 Thorn, both in the Abbey Parish of Paisley ; 7 th, Ann 
 PoUock, married to William Deans, farmer, Dovehill, in 
 the Parish of Cathcart, near Pollokshaws ; and Sth, 
 Margaret Pollock, married to James Gavan, weaver, 
 Millarston, Paisley. Matthew Pollock, tertius, on the 
 death of his father, came to reside at Boghall, and 
 he died there about 1823 — about the same time as 
 his sister, Mrs. Tannahill. Matthew Pollock, quartus, 
 his eldest son, then succeeded to Boghall; and irj 
 ten years thereafter, in 1833, sold the property to 
 Mrs. Margaret Sheddan, wife of James Dqbie, writer 
 and banker, Beith. The lands of Boghall, after re- 
 maining in the family for four generations, then passed 
 quickly through several proprietors, and were acquired 
 in 1858 by William Ross, Esq., Gallowmuir, Perth, 
 the present, proprietor, who has repaired the farm 
 steading of the Pollocks in a substantial manner, and 
 erected a large mansion-house, and otherwise laid off 
 and improved the whole grounds in a very tasteful 
 manner. 
 
 We will now take up the Brodie family. Hugh Brodie, 
 farmer, brother of Janet Brodie, wife of the second 
 Matthew Pollock of that name, was married to Eliza- 
 beth, daughter of Andrew Brodie, Langcraft. In 
 
XXXIV. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 1760, the lands of Larigcraft belonged to three 
 persons, viz., — the said Hugh Brodie, one-third ; 
 Andrew Brodie, one-third ; and Bailie Robert Fulton, 
 merchant. Paisley, the remaining one-third. In 1762, 
 Andrew Brodie conveyed his one-third part to Elizabeth 
 Brodie (his daughter) and Hugh Brodie (her husband) 
 in liferent, and to Andrew Brodie (their eldest son) in 
 fee; and the other one-third was acquired from Bailie 
 Robert Fulton at the same time, and conveyed in the same 
 manner. Hugh Brodie was the poet-laureate of Loch- 
 winnoch, and wrote several songs which were sung, but 
 never published. He was one of the twenty-four founders, 
 in January, 1765, of "The Kilbarchan Farmer Society," 
 for the parish of Kilbarchan and neighbourhood. It 
 was one of the rules of the society that the preses should 
 deliver an address to the members after his election. 
 Hugh Brodie was elected fifth preses, in 1769, and he 
 delivered an excellent poetical address on Husbandry, 
 containing sixty verses, which was printed in William 
 Semple's continuation of George Crawfurd's History of 
 Renfrewshire, published in 1782, page 116. Andrew, 
 his eldest son, a strong-built man, six feet in height, 
 went to Dublin, and commenced business as a manu- 
 facturer. In 1804, he sold the lands of Langcraft. 
 Hugh had another son, Robert Brodie, a little man of 
 about 4 feet 3 inches high. He was sent to Paisley to 
 learn the weaving, and became a frequent visitor at 
 James Tannahill's house, being a cousin of Mrs. Tanna- 
 hill's. He was a poet like his father, and being highly 
 respected, and a thoroughly sterling man, and well 
 gifted, he was frequently invited to weddings and 
 funerals, at which he acted as chaplain. Robert Brodie 
 removed to Saltcoats, and commenced the business of a 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. XXXV. 
 
 linen manufacturer, and made money thereat. He still 
 attended funerals and weddings, and when the Rev., Mr. 
 John Henry was minister of the Parish of Ardrossan, the 
 Kirk Session appointed him one of the elders of the 
 Parish Church in Saltcoats. Robert Brodie took a deep 
 interest in the welfare of the poor, and saw justice dealt 
 out to them. This "Nathaniel without guile" died, 
 esteemed and lamented, in 1823, in the 78th year of his 
 age. This is the individual whom Tannahill refers to 
 in the Kebbuckston Wedding — 
 
 " Wee Patie Brydie's tae say the grace — 
 
 The bodie's aye ready at dredgies an weddin's." 
 
 We will now return to the Tannahills. On 29th 
 November, 1763, Thomas Tannahill entered as master 
 with the Weavers' Society, and on 9th December follow- 
 ing his brother, John Tannahill, entered as journeyman 
 with him. On 2nd March, 1764, James Tannahill 
 entered master with the Weavers' Society, and the same 
 day his brother, Robert Tannahill, entered Journey- 
 man with him. This society had been incorporated by 
 charter from the Bailies and Town Council of Paisley 
 on 20th October, 1702. The other two incorporated 
 trade societies in town at the time were the Taylors, 
 instituted in January, 1658, and the Shoemakers on i6th 
 September, 1701.* It would thus appear from these 
 entries that James Tannahill, the eldest brother, had 
 taken charge of the third brother, Robert ; and Thomas 
 
 * The Taylors' Society was dissolved in 1858, after existing 200 
 years, and the Shoemakers' Society was dissolved in 1859, after existing 
 158 years. The Weavers' Society, now called the Old Weavers' Society, 
 has existed for 173 years, and is at present the oldest trade or friendly 
 society in Paisley. 
 
XXXVl. LIFE OE TANNAHILL. 
 
 Tannahill, the second brother, had taken charge of the 
 fourth brother, John. 
 
 The vacant steadings in the modern streets of Paisley 
 had now been all built up with houses; but these did 
 not accommodate the increasing population. With the 
 view of supplying the demand for houses, the Corpora- 
 tion laid off several streets in the lands of Broomlands, 
 in 1764, containing' hundreds of steadings. These stead- 
 ings were rouped at different times, and purchased by 
 persons for the erection of houses for their own occupa- 
 tion, by builders and joiners on speculation, and by 
 magistrates and councillors, to encourage the sale of the 
 town's steadings. Bailies Andrew Smith and John Slater 
 each purchased, in 1769, two steadings in Castle Street 
 and two steadings in Queen Street, lying together, and 
 formed a street across from Castle Street to Queen 
 Street, which was called Cross Street, — thus increasing 
 their building, stances from eight to sixteen steadings. 
 Bailie Smith sold his steadings lying on the north side, 
 and Bailie Slater his steadings on the south side of Cross 
 Street. 
 
 Printing was commenced in Paisley in 1769, says our 
 namesake, William Semple, the historian of the town, 
 by Messrs. Alexander Weir, bookseller, and Andrew 
 M'Lean, printer. They were burgesses of Paisley, — the 
 former in 1758, and the latter in T771. These printers, 
 and Mr, John Neilson, who commenced business shortly 
 thereafter, printed numerous works of different authors by 
 subscription, which, being circulated among the inhabi- 
 tants of the town, increased the intelligence of the in. 
 habitants of Paisley. These books generally contained 
 a list of the subscribers' names, and it is very interesting 
 at the present time to read the names of our forefathers 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. XXXVU. 
 
 recorded and preserved in these printed volumes. About 
 1770, and for thirty years afterwards, a number of book 
 clubs were instituted in Paisley for mental culture. One 
 club purchased one class of books for circulation among 
 its members, and another club procured another class of 
 books for their members. These several clubs again 
 accommodated each other, and interchanged books until 
 every member had an opportunity of perusing the whole 
 books in the several clubs. The most important of the 
 book clubs was the Encyclopedia Club, which took out the 
 first edition of the work of that name in 3 vols., quarto 
 published in 1771; the second edition of 10 vols., in 
 1778 and 1783; and the third edition of 18 vols., in 
 1797. 
 
 In 1775, James Tannahill acquired Bailie Slater's 
 steading in Queen Street, and erected upon it a one- 
 storey thatched cottage, with a passage through the 
 centre — the north side being occupied as a dwelling- 
 house, and the south side as a four-loom weaving-shop. 
 James Tannahill was a very accurate individual, and 
 he kept an account of the whole cost of the building, 
 which has been preserved in his memorandum or note 
 pocket-book to the present day. The book was origi- 
 nally rather tastefully got up, and this precious relic of 
 the Tannahills is still in existence, — carefully preserved 
 by one of the daughters of James Tannahill, the im- 
 mediate elder brother of the Poet. The handwriting 
 x)f the father is even better than that of any of his sons. 
 The building of the house was one of the important 
 acts in the life of James Tannahill, and to show the cost 
 of a house of a iein weaver in Paisley a hundred years 
 ago, we give it here : — • 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 Account of Erection of James TannahiH's Cottage in Queen Street, 
 Paisley. 
 
 Wood, - 
 
 Windows, 
 
 Wright work, 
 
 Mason work, 
 
 Plastering, 
 
 Roof and safe lintels. 
 
 Thatch, twine, and 
 
 wages. 
 Steading, - 
 
 Carry forward, 
 
 ;^i3 13 o 
 5 4 3 
 3 16 8 
 16 9 9 
 2 10 9 
 306 
 
 2 14 
 6 12 
 
 ;fS4 
 
 Brought forward. 
 
 Nails, 
 
 Sand, 
 
 Bricks, carriage, and tolls. 
 
 Smith work. 
 
 Carters' wages and tolls, 
 
 Rigging, ■ 
 
 Drink, 
 
 1 3 
 I 4 
 I 2 
 o 18 
 
 o S 
 
 6 
 
 1 14 
 
 £fx> 16 4 
 
 Only the last item in the account requires explana- 
 tion. In these days, and for centuries previous, it was 
 the practice to give the masons " founding and finishing 
 pints,'' and a drink every morning of a certain beverage 
 during the progress of the work. The amount of these, it 
 would appear, came to £^1. 14s. sd. There is also another 
 entry in the memorandum note book, "5th June, 1776, 
 Widow Dunn, dinner and drink, £^2 14s. 6d.," which we 
 believe was the sum expended in the "house heating" — 
 the entertainment given to friends on entering upon the 
 occupancy of a newly finished house. At that entertain- 
 ment, we believe the three Bailies of the town were 
 present 
 
 James Tannahill was about five feet four inches in 
 height, and of a slender make. He was of a gentle dis- 
 position, with a considerable amount of pride. Mrs. 
 Tannahill was nearly the same height as her husband. 
 She had a hale constitution, was a strong-minded woman, 
 and well able to manage the affairs of her household. 
 The couple generallyappeared in pubUc on Saturday after- 
 noons to take a walk, as was the custom in those days, 
 the gudeman dressed in blue coat with dollar buttons, 
 silk vest, knee breeches with silver buckles, linen thread 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 xxxix. 
 
 stockings, and silver buckles in his shoes j and his wife in 
 white linen cap, or mutch, and scarlet cloak. They had 
 eight children, seven sons and one daughter, born and 
 baptised, as recorded in the Register of Baptisms for the 
 Burgh of Paisley, as follows : — 
 
 ISt, 
 
 Robert, bori 
 
 1 on 2nd, and baptised 2nd August, 
 
 1764. 
 
 2nd, 
 
 Thomas, 
 
 , 27th Nov., 
 
 , 3rd Dec, 
 
 1766. 
 
 3rd. 
 
 Janet, 
 
 23rd, 
 
 , Z3rd April, 
 
 1769, 
 
 4th, 
 
 James, 
 
 17th, 
 
 19th Sept., 
 
 1771. 
 
 Sth, 
 
 Robert, 
 
 . 3rd. 
 
 Sih June, 
 
 1774- 
 
 6th, 
 
 Matthew, 
 
 14th, 
 
 , 27th July, 
 
 1777. 
 
 7th, 
 
 Hugh, 
 
 2Sth, 
 
 25th Jany., 
 
 1780. 
 
 8th, 
 
 Andrew, 
 
 19th, 
 
 19th March, 
 
 1784. 
 
 As the entries of the births in the handwriting of the 
 father in the memorandum book may be considered in- 
 teresting, we insert them, as follows : — 
 
 "James Tannahill and Janet Polliok was married at Loch- 
 
 winnoch, August 29th, 1763. 
 " Their son Thomas was born August znd, betwixt the hours of 
 
 nine and ten of the clock forenoon, 1764. Died, September 
 
 27. 1765- 
 ".Second son, Thomas, was bom November 27, betwixt the hours 
 
 of four and five afternoon, 1766. . 
 " Our oldest daughter, Janet, was bom April 23, betwixt the 
 
 hours of one and two of the morning, 1769. 
 " Our third son, James, was bom October 17, at seven o'clock 
 
 in the morning, 1771.* 
 " Our fourt son, Robert, was bom June 3, betwixt nine and ten 
 
 of the moming, 1774. 
 " Our fifth son, Matthew, was born July 14, betwixt the hours of 
 
 eight and nine at night, 1777. 
 " Our sixt son, Hugh, was born January 25, betwixt the hours of 
 
 three and fo,ur of the morning, 1780. 
 " Our seventh son, Andrew, was born March 19, at one o'clock 
 
 in the moming, 1784." 
 
 * There is a discrepancy in the name of the month between the 
 Register and the memorandum-book. 
 
Xl. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 The eldest child, named Robert in the Register, is 
 called Thomas in the private memorandum book of the 
 father, and died in infancy at thirteen months ; Thomas, 
 the second son, would be named after his paternal 
 grandfather, Thomas Tannahillj 'yanet, the daughter, 
 after her maternal grandmother, Janet Brodie ; yames, 
 the third son, after his father; Robert, the fourth son, 
 after his paternal uncle, Robert Tannahill ; Matthew, 
 after his maternal grandfather, Matthew PoUock ; Hugh, 
 after his maternal granduncle, Hugh Brodie; and Andrew, 
 after Elizabeth Brodie's father, Andrew Brodie. 
 
 Bailie Slater died before James Tannahill obtained his 
 Feu Disposition, and the granting of it had to be delayed 
 till his only child, Janet Slater, was served heiress to her 
 father. 
 
 On 25th May, 1779, the Bailies and Town Council of 
 Paisley, with consent of Janet Slater, spouse of Robert 
 Orr, manufacturer. Paisley, executed the Feu Disposition 
 to James Tannahill, weaver in Paisley, of "All and Haill, 
 " that steading of ground in Broomlands of Paisley^ with 
 " the house built by him thereon, and yard at the back of 
 " the same ; bounded by Alexander Gibson's house and 
 " yard on the south ; a corner steading,' sold to Thomas 
 " Whyte, on the north ; the highway on the west; and 
 " V/alter Macfarlane's yard on the east parts." James 
 Tannahill and his wife were strongly attached to the 
 cottage belonging to, and erected by themselves. All 
 the children were brought up in that dwelling and their 
 earliest associations were connected with their sweet 
 home, where their happiest days were spent. 
 
 The Hospital, in New Sneddon Street, was managed 
 by 15 Directors, — three from the Town Council, three 
 from the Kirk Session, and nine chosen from the town 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. xlL 
 
 at large. On ist June, 1786, Mr. James Tannahill was 
 chosen one of these nine Directors of the Hospital, and 
 he was re-elected annually for five successive years. In 
 several of these years, he stood at the head of those 
 chosen from the community, which showed the esteem 
 in which he was held by his fellow-townsmen. During 
 his term of office the bell was put into the belfrey of the 
 Hospital, and three times a day called the inmates to 
 their meals. Those acquainted with bell language in- 
 terpreted its voice to ring : 
 
 " Tinklum, tanklum, tinklnm, tankluni, 
 Tak your parritch, or want them ! " 
 
 Porridge in these days was the chief article of food for 
 breakfast and supper. The bell settled all complaints 
 about the food; and those inmates who would not take 
 the diet at one meal, could take it at the next. James 
 Andrew, schoolmaster, an acquaintance of James Tanna- 
 hill, carefully educated the children in the Hospital, and 
 took charge of the Minute Book of the Hospital. The 
 names of James Tannahill and James Andrew wiU be 
 found as subscribers to books published about this period 
 James Tannahill, the respected head of, the family, 
 was chosen Deacon, or Boxmaster, of the Paisley Old 
 Weavers' Society on Monday, the 9th day of October, 
 1786. The Incorporation of Weavers, at that time, 
 were owners of several pews in the Laigh Kirk of 
 Paisley, and one of them was devoted to the use of the 
 Deacon and Managers of the Society. Like theBailies, 
 the Deacons of the weavers in these days wore cocked 
 hats to the Church. On Sunday, the 15th of October, 
 1786, Deacon Tannahill came out of his cottage in 
 Queen Street dressed in his cocked hat, to attend, along 
 / 
 
Xlii. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 with the Managers, the ministrations of the Rev. Colin 
 Gillies in the Laigh Kirk. On the ist of June, 1788, 
 he was further elevated in being elected one of the 
 Directors of the Paisley Dispensary,* instituted on i8th 
 April, 1786. Only the intelligent and respectable in- 
 habitants of Paisley have filled these responsible offices, 
 and these appointments at once establish the position 
 and status in society in which the Poet's father was held 
 by his fellow-townsmen. 
 
 This upright and intelligent tradesman tried the manu- 
 facturing of patent netts (a fancy textile fabric of the 
 period) for a short time, but he had not the dash about 
 him to embark largely and plunge deeply into the busi- 
 ness. He brought up a large family respectably, and 
 being an attentive and industrious weaver, and proprie- 
 tor of the house in which he resided, he was always 
 looked upon as a person in easy circumstances. He 
 followed the even tenor of his way till the day of his 
 death in December, 1801, or January, 1802, in the 69th 
 year of his age. He was interred in the burying-ground 
 attached to the Relief Church, t Canal Street, Paisley. 
 
 Having now spoken of the respectabiUty of the paren- 
 tage of our Author from authentic documents of easy 
 access in a much fuller manner than other biograpers, 
 the atmosphere becomes clearer to enter upon the 
 life of his son. It did not require to be enveloped 
 in the scholastic language and polite literature of one 
 original biographer, or wrapt up in the flowery language 
 of another. It stood out in bold relief among his im- 
 
 * Now the Paisley Infirmary and Dispensary. Tlie 89th Annual 
 Report was issued tliis year, 1875. 
 't Now the United Presbyterian Church. 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. xliii. 
 
 perishable sangs. Subsequent compilers, without mak- 
 ing the smallest enquiry to , glean a little new and true 
 information, attempted to improve the former biogra- 
 phies, either by modifying or exaggerating previous 
 statements, while their emendations or inferences \yere 
 more frequently on the wrong than the right side. 
 
 Memoir of Robert Tannahill. 
 
 BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD. 
 
 Robert Tannahill, according to the memorandum 
 note-book of his father and register of baptisms for the 
 Burgh Parish of Paisley, was the fifth child and fourth 
 son of his parents, and was born between the hours of 
 nine and ten o'clock in the morning of June srd, 1774. 
 A sickly child during his infant years, with a delicate 
 constitution, he endured considerable pain. The careful 
 attention bestowed in the nursing of his tender frame 
 established his health and strengthened his body. A 
 slight bend in the right foot was straightened, and the 
 slender appearance of the leg overcome by the simple 
 contrivance of wearing additional stockings. During 
 his childhood he was shy in the meeting of strangers, and 
 that bashfulness continued more or less during his whole 
 life. 
 
 EDUCATION. 
 
 Both the father and mother had received a liberal 
 education themselves, and they had a strong desire, and 
 were both able and willing, to give all their children a 
 similar advantage. Robert was sent to school when 
 
xliv. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 about six years of age, and he continued for several years 
 to receive the usual instruction taught in English schools 
 to the children of parents moving in their position. All 
 his brothers received a good education, and sorne of 
 them afterwards iilled situations which required a 
 superior knowledge of writing and arithmetic. We have 
 read letters written by several of these brothers, and can 
 testify that they had either received a better education, 
 or had applied the instruction they had obtained with 
 great ability. In support of the education of the Tanna- 
 hiUs, we may refer to the daughter, Miss Tannahill, 
 having been sent to a ladies' school, to learn sewing, a 
 course of instruction in these days only given to the 
 daughters of the upper classes in town. Miss Tannahill 
 sewed a neatly executed sampler having the letters of the 
 alphabet in roman capital and small letters, the initial 
 letters of the names of her parents and brothers, and the 
 front elevation of her father's cottage in Queen Street, all 
 bearing the imprimatur, "Janet Tannahill sewed this sam- 
 pler in 13th year of her age" (1782) closing with the 30th 
 verse of the xxxi. chapter of Proterbs, "Favour is deceitful 
 and beaut).- is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord shall 
 be praised." Robert Tannahill did not distinguish him- 
 self in school from the other boys and girls on the forms, 
 but it has been said that at ten years of age he astonished 
 his schoolmates in attempting impromptu rhyming and 
 making verses on the public characters in town or on a 
 curious boy in school. After he had left the school, he 
 procured a pocket dictionary to obtain the meaning of 
 words, and from a grammar in the volume he instructed 
 himself in the art of speaking and writing correctly. 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. xlv. 
 
 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 After leaving school, he was bound, in 1786, appren- 
 tice to his father at the weaving trade for the space of five 
 years. It was the custom at that time to bind all 
 apprentices whether they learned the trade, with their 
 parents or other parties. In the Minute Book of the 
 Weavers' Society, now called the Old Weavers' Society, 
 the following entry occurs, — " 7th December, 1786, 
 Robert Tannahill, son to James Tannahill, weaver in 
 Queen Street, Paisley, is entered apprentice with his 
 father." 
 
 Muslin, linen, and silk gauze weaving, was a very 
 light employment, and a child could have wrought at it. 
 Robert Tannahill being brought up with his father and 
 two elder brothers who were all weavers before him, and 
 the weaving shop and dwelling house being a but and ben, 
 he would occasionally try his hand at the shuttle, and' 
 very naturally and early took to the weaving. Twelve 
 years of age was then a very common age for boys to be 
 sent to the weaving, and they were not subjected to long 
 confinement. It was neither from necessity nor poverty, 
 as insinuated by some of the Poet's biographers that he 
 was thus early sent to the loom, but from the industrious 
 habits of the family, the lightness of the manual labour, 
 and the high remunerative wages derived from the 
 employment. The Weavers' Society, when they entered 
 Robert Tannahill, then twelve and a-half years of age, 
 an apprentice, must have considered him quite fit to learn 
 the trade at his age, and we think it must be admitted 
 the managers in 1786 would be better judges of the 
 capacities of the young lads engaging in the trade of the 
 period, than the Biographers of Tannahill giving their 
 
xlvi. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 opinions thirty years afterwards, when a generation had 
 passed away, and new kinds of weaving carried on alto- 
 gether. 
 
 RAMBLES IN THE COUNTRY AND SOCIAL PLEASURES. 
 
 During the schoolboy days of Robert Tannahill, he 
 rambled much in the grounds of Fairy Woodside and 
 the lands of Sweet Ferguslie, which were within three 
 minutes' walk from his father's cottage — up Queen Street 
 and down King Street, into the dark waving plantings 
 and green shady bowers of Craigielee. As he grew 
 older he extended his rambles to Meikleriggs Muir, 
 Newton Woods, the Braes of Gleniffer, Stanley Castle, 
 Cruickston Castle, Neilston, Kilbarchan, Lochwinnoch, 
 and Beith. During these delightful excursions he was 
 storing his mind with material, which afterwards broke 
 forth into lyric strains which astonished his companions. 
 These walks would also be taken to strengthen his 
 delicate constitution that it might endure greater fatigue, 
 although in long walks he felt pain in the necessary 
 exertion. 
 
 The five brothers of Robert Tannahill were all 
 brought up to the trade of weaving, as the textile manu- 
 factures of Paisley, whither of linen, silk gauze, or cotton 
 lawn, had maintained their superiority both at home and 
 abroad. With the view of still further encouraging the 
 weavers and manufacturers of the town, the ladies of 
 the Court of Queen Charlotte all appeared in Paisley 
 Silk Gauze on 19th May, 1790, Her Majesty's anniver- 
 sary of her birth - day. From a leaf of the shipping 
 ledger of Messrs Fulton and Pollocks of Maxwelton, 
 Paisley, dated isth October, 1790, and pasted on one 
 of the boards of the Minute Book of the Paisley Bums 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. xlvii. 
 
 Club to form a pocket for pens, pencils, and papers, it 
 appeared that goods of that extensive house had been 
 shipped, per the Mediterranean Packet, of the following 
 patterns : — Spider Nett, Clermont, Corded, Soft Lawn 
 Gauze, Patent Nett, Inkle Spots, Silk Spots, Tiffany, 
 Figure, Italian Tiffany, Chain Figure, Cut Chain Figure, 
 Stripes, Black Soft Turkey Gauze. 
 
 It was customary for the youths of both sexes in 
 Paisley in these days to acquire the art of dancing. 
 The teacher of dancing, during the life of Tannahill, 
 was WiUiam Banks, whose school was situated in the 
 Wangatend (No. 5 Moss- Street). Previous to 1767 the 
 Flesh Market was situated there, when it was removed 
 to the opposite side of the street, on the ground now oc-- 
 cupied by the Exchange Rooms. The under flat of the 
 old Flesh Market was then converted into the Custom- 
 Booth, and, in 1771, the upper flat into an Assembly 
 Hall, and let to William Banks, who continued to occupy 
 it till the building was taken down in 1807, and the 
 present range of four storey houses erected. The young 
 people were afterwards in the habit of attending the 
 dancing halls, of which there were several throughout the 
 town, to enjoy the exhUiarating exercise and practise for 
 the annual ball. It was also a common practice for 
 several companions to unite themselves into convivial 
 parties, and invite their sweethearts to a night's enjoy- 
 ment when the song, innocent conversation, the jest and 
 l^anter served to pass many a tedious winter's evening. 
 
 About this time the Poet's eldest brother, Thomas 
 TannahiU, the tallest in the family, was in the hey day of 
 his youth, and considered one of the greatest beaus 
 among the young Paisley Weavers, whQe his sister Janet 
 Tannahill was looked upon as the chief of belles. They 
 
xlviii. LIFE OF TANNAHIIX. 
 
 dressed each other on the Sundays for the church. The 
 High Church in these days was the most popular place 
 of worship, and the seats were let by public roup. The 
 dress of Thomas on Sundays was a three-cornered cocked 
 hat, powdered hair with a queue tied behind, the coat of 
 blue cloth mounted with yellow gilt buttons. The coat 
 had a low collar, so that the stoned silver buckle which 
 bound his neck-tie behind might be seen. A silk vest 
 with black and yellow stripes across with a row of small 
 buttons on each side; two large flaps were folded over to 
 allow his shirt of 1 700 linen, pure as the snow, to be 
 seen, with large projecting ruffles down its breast. The 
 knee breeches were of nankeen cloth, with silver buckles 
 at the knees. Silk stockings and cordovon leather shoes 
 with large silver buckles. Such was the dress of a 
 Paisley Weaver in those days, and many such were to be 
 seen in the area and front of the gallery of the High 
 Church on Sundays. 
 
 Janet Tannahill dressed equally grandly on Sundays. A 
 satin bonnet gaudily got up, white muslin dress or silk 
 gown according to the state of the weather, red silk 
 quilted petticoat, silk stockings, cloth shoes, and pattens 
 in wet weather. In winter, cloth gown, muff and cloak. 
 In all seasons, an umbrella, an article which had then 
 been recently introduced into Paisley and was sold by 
 Mr. Alexander Weir, cloth merchant, at the Cross. Miss 
 Tannahill, being a dressmaker, came out pretty strong in 
 the fashions of the day to shew her ability for the busi- 
 ness. On the 27 th of January, 1792, Janet Tannahill, 
 then 23 years of age, was married to James Smith, 
 weaver in Paisley, after two days' proclamation of banns, 
 thereby showing that they belonged to the middle class 
 of society. James Smith was a native of the neighbour- 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. . xlix. 
 
 ing parfsh of Inchinnan, and was a very quiet, inoffensive 
 person, respected by all his acquaintances. 
 
 The apprenticeship of Tannahill had expired in 
 1 79 1, and in that year the tale of "Tam o Shanter" was 
 published in " Captain Grose's Antiquities," a very ex- 
 pensive book; but by 1794 it was published in a cheaper 
 form, and could even be bought for a penny. " AUowa/s 
 auld haunted Kirk " was the resort of tourists in those 
 days, and became more interesting to Paisley bodies 
 from Burns introducing the heroine of the tale. Wee 
 Nannie, as dressed in 
 
 " Her cutty sark o Paisley ham." 
 
 Tannahill, with a^few companions, walked from Pais- 
 ley to Alloway Kirk. He remained there six weeks 
 admiring the scenery of the land of Burns, and storing 
 his mind with the beauties of Coila. On reaching Ayr, 
 the Paisley Ijyrist wrote the song of " My ain kind 
 Dearie." 
 
 Persons like Tannahill, desirous of acquiring know- 
 ledge, sought to improve their minds by reading and 
 study. The correspondence at the end of this volume 
 shews the success which attended the Poet's exertions in 
 this direction. The qualifications to which he directed 
 his attention were those treating of poetry and music. 
 The songs of the bards were his delight, and his favourite 
 musical instrument a German flute. He insensibly became 
 an antiquarian in the pursuit of old airs which had been 
 favourites in their day, and by writing appropriate verses 
 to these airs which he hoped would again become as 
 great favourites in their new dress as they had been 
 formerly. He became known among his companions for 
 the gift of song. The old airs which he recovered he 
 g 
 
1. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 hummed over at his loom, and tried to fit them with 
 words. To catch every fugitive thought, he hung an 
 inkbottle to his loompost, and fixed up a coarse shelf 
 which served as a desk that he might jot down his ideas 
 without rising from his seat tree* Thus was his mind 
 elevated above, the commonplace dullness of weaving, 
 although in driving the shuttle forwards from right to left, 
 and backwards from left to right, and knocking up the 
 weft with the layf to form the cloth, he could only 
 produce a whirring, humming sound, like the monotonous 
 ditty of 
 
 Fing at him, 
 Fung at him, 
 
 COURTSHIP. 
 
 Dancing and convivial meetings have generally the 
 effect of brushing up young folks to greater forwardness 
 and self-possession, but they had not this effect upon 
 Tannahill, whose bashfulness and diffidence still con- 
 tinued. In 1795, Tannahill became acquainted with 
 Jenny Tennant, who then resided in the neighbourhood of 
 Queen Street. She was bom in Dunblane in 1770, and 
 came to Paisley with her mother to obtain employment 
 in one or other of the subsidiary operations necessary in 
 finishing the productions of the loom. They kept company 
 for nearly three years, walking out in quiet roads in the 
 vicinity on summer evenings, and extending their walks 
 on Saturday afternoons. In dancing together, parti- 
 cularly in the Mason Lodge, New Street, and meeting 
 
 * The board or seat which the weaver sits upon while weaving. 
 
 t The one-box lay of Tannahill now belongs to John Graham 
 foreman, 49 Storie Street, Paisley, and we saw it working by John 
 Chalmers, weaver there, on the first day of October, 1875, and still 
 humming away at the old air of Fing at him, Fung at him. 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. il- 
 
 occasionally with the members of the core in the evening 
 for a night's enjoyment, the life of the Poet passed 
 quietly and happily on ; but, as of old, the course of true 
 love did not always run smooth. A rupture occurred 
 between the betrothed. Jenny Tennant was married to 
 ' another person in 1 798. Two causes have been assigned 
 for the estrangement between Tannahill and Jenny. 
 The Poet tells his version in the "Fareweel" (No. 
 77). Two versions have been given for, Jenny, — one 
 by herself, and the other by her female companion, Jean 
 Crawford.* These form the feminine side of the story^ 
 and will be found fully detailed in the notes to the song 
 of "Jessie the Flower o' Dunblane" (No. 75) to which 
 our readers are referred. Like other lovers' quarrels, 
 there may have been faults on both sides. The versions 
 of Tannahill and Crawford, when compared with each 
 other, explain the true reason. 
 
 CHANGES — DISTRESS IN PAISLEY. 
 
 Thomas Tannahill, the Poet's eldest brother, died in 
 1795, in the 29th year of his age. His brother, James 
 Tannahill, was married in December, 1796, when in the 
 27th year of his age, to Mary Barr ; and in the same 
 month and year his brother, Matthew Tannahill, in the 
 2ist year of his age, was married to Margaret Cochran. 
 The Poet was bridegroom's man to his cousin and name- 
 sake, Robert Tannahill (born in 1764, son of his uncle, 
 Thomas Tannahill), married to Jean Barclay on i6th 
 April, 1797. 
 
 • Jean Crawford was afterwards married to Andrew Smith, second 
 son of Bailie Andrew Smith, already noticed. Andrew Smith, junior, 
 became proprietor of a mUl in George Street, Paisley, now converted 
 into dwelling houses. 
 
Ki. 
 
 LIFE OF TANNAHILt. 
 
 We have prepared a table of the yearly population of 
 Paisley from the year 1756 (when the Poet^s father arrived 
 in town from Kilmarnock) up to 1800, to show the 
 rapidity of the annual increase. 
 
 Table of the Yearly Population of Paisley for 45 Year's. 
 
 1756, 
 
 4,297 
 
 1771, 
 
 8,872 
 
 1786, 
 
 17,950 
 
 1757, 
 
 4,331 
 
 1772, 
 
 9,584 
 
 1787, 
 
 18,340 
 
 1758, 
 
 4,365 
 
 1773, 
 
 10,296 
 
 1788, 
 
 18,730 
 
 1759, 
 
 4,400 
 
 1774, 
 
 11,009 
 
 1789, 
 
 19,121 
 
 1760, 
 
 4,435 
 
 177s, 
 
 11,722 
 
 1790, 
 
 19,512 
 
 1761, 
 
 4,47° 
 
 1776, 
 
 12,435 
 
 1791, 
 
 19,903 
 
 1762, 
 
 4,S°S 
 
 1777, 
 
 13,148 
 
 1792, 
 
 2o,34S 
 
 1763, 
 
 4,530 
 
 1778, 
 
 13,861 
 
 1793, 
 
 20,789 
 
 1764, 
 
 4,563 
 
 1779, 
 
 14,574 
 
 1794, 
 
 21,229 
 
 1765, 
 
 4,600 
 
 1780, 
 
 15,287 
 
 1795, 
 
 21,679 
 
 1766, 
 
 5,312 
 
 1781, 
 
 16,000 
 
 1796, 
 
 22,113 
 
 1767, 
 
 6,024 
 
 1782, 
 
 16,390 
 
 1797, 
 
 22,555 
 
 1768, 
 
 6,736 
 
 1783, 
 
 16,780 
 
 1798, 
 
 22,997 
 
 1769, 
 
 7,448 
 
 1784, 
 
 17,170 
 
 1799, 
 
 23,439 
 
 1770, 
 
 8,160 
 
 1785, 
 
 17,560 
 
 1800, 
 
 23,881 
 
 During the period embraced in this table, 42 addi- 
 tional streets had been laid off in Paisley, and house 
 after house had been erected to accommodate the in- 
 creasing population. In 1799, the failure of the crops 
 occurred, and that calamity created a stagnation of trade 
 throughout the United Kingdom, and the town of Paisley 
 suffered severely. Provisions rose to famine prices, 
 and the privation of the poor becoming severe, a 
 meeting of the inhabitants of Paisley was called in 
 January, 1800, for devising means to alleviate the dis- 
 tress. At that meeting it was resolved to raise a sub- 
 scription and open soup kitchens. A thousand guineas 
 were collected, and four kitchens for making soup and 
 broth, one in each parish, were put into operation, fur- 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. liii. 
 
 nishing excellent soup and broth, which, on an aver- 
 age, only cost one penny per quart. During the distress 
 one hundred and twenty thousand quarts of soup and 
 broth were supplied to the necessitous poor. Mr. John 
 Love, a philanthropic gentleman, besides his subscrip- 
 tion, delivered the produce of four acres of potatoes, free 
 of expense, in quantities corresponding to the number 
 receiving relief at each kitchen.* 
 
 * John Love was a merchant in New Street, Paisley. He was one 
 of the original chief promoters of the Dispensary, now the Infirmary 
 and Dispensary. In 1808 he built the Hope Temple in the Long 
 Lone, now called in honour of him, Love Street. On the steeple of 
 the Temple there were two poetical inscriptions, the one on the east 
 side being — 
 
 Hope springs eternal 
 
 In the human breast ; 
 Man never is, but 
 Always to be blest. 
 And on the west side, in reference to fleeting time, indicated by the 
 clock — the ancient clock of the Alms House Steeple in High Street, 
 better known as the " Wee Steeple," made in the year 1721, 
 With constant motion as the moments glide, 
 Behold ! in running life the rolMng tide ; 
 For none can stem by art, or stop by power 
 The flowing ocean, or the fleeting hour. 
 But wave by wave pursued arrives on shore. 
 And each impelled behind impels before, — ■ 
 So time, on time revolving we descry ; 
 So moments follow, and so moments fly. 
 
 On his tombstone in the Cemetery of the Abbey, Paisley, is engraved 
 the foUpwing inscription : — "John Love, merchant in Paisley, late 
 proprietor and now. occupier of this spot, was born in April, 1747, and 
 died in the 81st year of his age on the ist day of December, 1827. 
 Frail as the leaves which quiver on the sprays. 
 Like them man flourishes, like them decays." 
 Hope Temple and surrounding grounds were purchased by Thomas 
 Coats, Esq., who laid them off by the name of "Fountain Gardens," 
 and presented them to the community of Paisley on 26th May, 1868. 
 
liv. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 RESIDENCE IN ENGLAND RETURN TO PAISLEY DEATH 
 
 OF HIS FATHER. 
 
 The Poet, now in the 26th year of his age, and his 
 brother, Hugh Tannahill, then in the 20th year of his 
 age, left Paisley for England about the end of the year 
 1799. The real cause of his leaving town has not been 
 mentioned ; but Mr. M'Laren, one of the two original 
 biographers of the Bard, merely conjectured two reasons : 
 either on account of slighted love, or the distress in the 
 town at that period. It may have been partly both. 
 The two brothers on their arrival in England found the 
 distress as severe there as in the place of their nativity, 
 and every day matters looked gloomier and darker. 
 They took up their residence in the manufacturing town 
 of Bolton, in Lancashire, and tried to procure employ- 
 ment unsuccessfully. The price of provisions was rising 
 every day, and the small stock of cash they had taken 
 with them diminished rapidly. They resolved to try 
 other places, and even accept a different employment 
 before returning to Paisley. Previous or subsequent to 
 starting, they met a cheerful - looking person, who 
 observed them with sympathy, no doubt, thinking from 
 the appearance of their dress they were Paisley weavers 
 on the tramp. He spoke to them in a friendly manner, 
 inquiring where they had come from, and where they 
 intended going. The new companion, on hearing their 
 pitiful story, stated that he also had been a Paisley 
 weaver, and that his name was WiUiam Kibble. The 
 three became friends at once ; and the Bolton weaver 
 offered the Paisley weavers accommodation for the 
 evening, and promised to find employment for them the 
 following day. . The Tannahills accepted the proferred 
 hospitality of their new friend, enjoyed a good night's 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. Iv. 
 
 rest, partook of an excellent breakfast the following 
 morning, and obtained employment that day. This at 
 once raised their spirits, and drove despondency from 
 their minds. Tannahill remained in Bolton, and his 
 brother Hugh returned to Preston. The Poet, from the 
 simplicity of his manners, modesty of his nature, and 
 sympathetic disposition, became a favourite among his 
 class of society in his adopted town, and was much 
 respected by them. 
 
 In consequence of thesevere indisposition of their father, 
 the two brothers were written to in the latter end of the year, 
 1 80 1, to come home immediately, if they had any desire 
 to see their father in life. In the depth of winter they 
 hurried homewards; and either in the month of Decem- 
 ber, 1 80 1, or the month of January following, they 
 arrived in Paisley, and attended, along with the other 
 members of the family, the bedside of a beloved parent 
 in his last illness. M'Laren in his biography mentions 
 that Tannahill remained two years in England, and, 
 on receiving information of his father's illness, left 
 Bolton, and arrived in Paisley in the middle of 1802; 
 while Ramsay states that Tannahill left Paisley in 
 1800 for England, where he remained for two years. 
 We had great difficulty in fixing the probable date of 
 the time the father died, as no record of the decease 
 existed ; and the interment sheets of the Relief burying- 
 ground of that period had been mislaid or destroyed, 
 and no person had any recollection of the matter. From 
 a circumstance that occurred with the brother, Hugh 
 Tannahill, after his arrival in Paisley, we were enabled 
 to fix the period of the two brothers arriving in town 
 either in the end of the month of December, 1801, or 
 early in January, 1802. 
 
Ivi. LIFK OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 Tannahill, after the decease of his father, and paying 
 the last tribute of respect to his memory, continued in 
 town, apparently satisfied with his two years' residence 
 in Bolton. He settled down contentedly in the house 
 of his mother in Queen Street of Paisley, and resumed 
 his labours at the loom. The loomshop contained steads 
 or spaces for four looms, and the one which the Poet 
 occupied was situated next the gable wall, to the back, 
 near the fire-place. He sat at the loom facing the door 
 of the loomshop, so that he could see every person who 
 entered the shop. 
 
 The first letter in the Correspondence we have been 
 able to give is dated 14th March, 1802, and was written 
 by Tannahill in answer to a letter from his friend, 
 William Kibble, in Bolton, in which he mentioned that 
 " my brother Hugh and I are all that now remain at 
 " home with our old mother, bending under age and 
 " frailty, and but seven years back nine of us used to sit 
 " down at dinner together." The Poet's sister, Janet, 
 was married in 1792; his brother, Thomas, died in 
 179s; his brothers, James and Matthew, were both 
 married in 1796; his brother, Andrew, was married in 
 June, 1801, in his 18th year, to Janet Drummond ; and 
 his father died in 1801 or 1802, — ^leaving the mother, 
 Robert, and Hugh, residing together when the letter was 
 written.* 
 
 * If Ramsay had given this letter in full, we might have obtained 
 the date when William Kibble wrote to the Poet, which may have 
 been in the previous months of February or January. M'Laren, 
 writing from memory, made a mistake when he said the middle of the 
 year. 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. Ivii. 
 
 RESUMING THE MUSE. 
 
 Tannahill had received a Moral Epistle from his old 
 acquaintance, James King, and, in return, had written 
 the Epistle (No. i8) to his friend in May, 1802, which 
 showed that he had again resumed his pen after his 
 return to Paisley from England. It also proved that he 
 had returned from the South before the middle of the 
 year. Some time would be taken up by King writing his 
 Epistle to Tannahill in Paisley. Tannahill must 
 also be allowed some time for the preparation of his 
 poetical Epistle in answer. 
 
 In the same year, and in the month of August, the 
 Poet's brother Hugh, then twenty-two and a-half years 
 of age, was married to Marion Allison, and Tannahill 
 was the only child then remaining with his widowed 
 mother. Silently mourning the death of her son 
 Thomas, and the decease of her husband, she grieved 
 that she might become burdensome to her surviving 
 children, when the Poet, in the fervour of his heart, and 
 to soothe the sorrows of his mother, wrote " The Filial 
 Vow." It was an honourable and honest expression of 
 his unbounded affection, and showed the filial love that 
 adorned his character. Mrs. Tannahill, however, had 
 that strong Scots character of independence about her 
 which enabled her, so long as she was blessed with health, 
 to make every exertion for her own maintenance. It was 
 •not her nature to fold her arms and remain idle. Al- 
 ways commanding light remunerative employment from 
 the manufacturing establishments in town, she main- 
 tained herself respectably. 
 
 RENEWAL OF FRIENDSHIP WITH HIS FORMER ACQUAINTANCES, AND 
 FORMATION OF THE SOCIAL CLUB. 
 
 In the same year, 1802, Tannahill renewed his 
 h 
 
Iviii. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 companionship with his former acquaintances of literary, 
 poetical, and musical tastes, which was further extended 
 by the new intimacies Which had sprung up during the 
 Poet's absence. At that time there were a considerable 
 number of tradesmen's clubs in Paisley for different 
 objects. These met on Saturday evenings to engage in 
 a little innocent convivial enjoyment, or to discuss the 
 stirring events of that martial period. Tannahill's 
 acquaintances had frequently talked of commencing 
 another club. The new Club was accordingly instituted 
 in 1803. It was composed of a select few of the 
 admirers of literature, poetry, and music. The place 
 of meeting was the house of Mr. Allan Stewart, Sun 
 Tavern, 12 High Street, Paisley, — a very respectable 
 house. The object of the meeting was for the reading 
 and discussing of Essays, Songs, and Musical Composi- 
 tions, and any other subjects which might be conipetently 
 brought before the Club. The members numbered from 
 fifteen to twenty, and they considered themselves the 
 cream of the intellectual tradesmen in town. Tannahill 
 was one of the chief promoters of the Club, and was its 
 quietest and most inoffensive member, — never indulging 
 in the bowl, and maintaining his temperate habits at all 
 the meetings he attended in spite of the frequent ridicule 
 of his associates. 
 
 "the soldier's return." 
 In the year 1803, Tannahill was induced by Mr. 
 Archibald Pollock, comedian, to undertake a dramatic 
 piece, and accordingly wrote " The Soldier's Return;" 
 but it was not much more than commenced when 
 Pollock died. In our Notes to that Interlude, we will 
 fully enter into the particulars, and now refer our readers 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. lix. 
 
 to them. We are inclined to think that Tannahill 
 considered " The Soldier's Return " a complete master- 
 piece; and he was not prepared for the coolness with 
 which it was received by his friends. He had spoken 
 and written to his acquaintances much about it, and he 
 evidently looked upon the piece as his darling produc- 
 tion. He pressed his friends for their criticisms ; and 
 when they reluctantly expressed their opiriions, he 
 became sullen and morose. The songs which are 
 interspersed throughout the Interlude are the gems that 
 adorn the piece; and it was the singing of one of these, 
 while in manuscript, that was the means of bringing 
 R. A. Smith and Tannahill together. Mr. John Ross, 
 an eminent composer of music in Aberdeen, had been 
 employed, and set two of these songs — "Our Bonnie 
 Scots Lads" and "The Dusky Glen" — to music* Mr. 
 Ross also set the songs of Thomas Campbell, author of 
 the " Pleasures of Hope," to music, and had composed 
 music for London publishers. 
 
 m'laren and r. a. smith. 
 Tannahill only became intimately acquainted with 
 William M'Laren in 1803, and with R. A. Smith in 
 January, 1804. M'Laren, in his prospectus for publi- 
 cation of " The Life of the Renfrewshire Bard, Robert 
 Tannahill," issued in 1815, stated that he had only 
 . known him intimately for the last seven years of his life. 
 According to that statement he would only know him 
 previously by name or sight. It would also appear from 
 statements made by R. A. Smith in his letters, and com- 
 
 * Our readers will find short biographical notices of Mr. Ross at 
 pages II and 218, to which we refer them. 
 
Ix. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 paring them with other circumstances referred to by 
 him, that he was only introduced to Tannahill for the 
 first time in January, 1804. Like M'Laren, Smith would 
 know nothing of Tannahill's private life previous to that 
 introduction. 
 
 M'Laren would then be 31 years of age. 
 Tannahill „ „ 29 „ 
 
 Smith „ „ 24 „ 
 
 Their acquaintanceship was, therefore, not the friend- 
 ship of youth, but after their characters had been formed. 
 
 personal appearance and dress or THE POET. 
 
 There was nothing very striking in the personal ap- 
 pearance of Tannahill. Altogether, he was a slender, 
 mild-looking man, his features rather inclining to the 
 feminine. He was about five feet four inches high, and, 
 consequently, diminutive looking; his head well pro- 
 portioned ; the hair a fine light brown, and his eyes a 
 soft mild grey ; his nose long and slightly aquiline, the 
 mouth small, lips thin, and the chin round. He had a 
 • halt in his walk, and, in walking, generally preferred the 
 middle of the road. A staid, quiet, inoffensive man, 
 beloved by his townsmen, and frequently visited by 
 strangers. We have seen more of the Tannahill family 
 than any other person presently alive, and have observed 
 the existence of a striking family likeness ; in one in- 
 stance, the resemblance was so perfect that we thought 
 we saw the likeness — the bust — of Tannahill walking 
 into the room in which we were sitting at the time. 
 
 The Poet dressed" appropriately, modest and be- 
 coming, quite a contrast to the display of finery of 
 his deceased brother, Thomas, already noticed. His 
 working clothes were, — a small bonnet, a cravat round his 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. Ixi. 
 
 neck, a blue jacket with metal buttons, a buff waistcoat 
 with small buttons, cashmere breeches buttoned at the 
 knees, worsted stockings, and leather shoes tied with 
 leather thongs, and a white apron in front. His holiday 
 garments were, — a beaver hat, neck tie, light blue coat 
 with silveriSed or gilded buttons, buff vest, clean dressed 
 shirt with ruffles, cashmere breeches buttoned at the 
 knees, linen or cotton thread stockings in summer, 
 and worsted stockings in the winter, and shoes. The 
 Bard expended his spare cash in the purchase of booksi 
 stationery, and postages, and occasionally travelling ex- 
 penses in visiting different places in Scotland for his in- 
 tellectual improvement. 
 
 The Poet, constitutionally, was not a strong man; but 
 he took great care of himself. He seemed to be aware 
 of the nature of the exhausting disease with which he 
 was afflicted, from the dry cough rasping in his breast. 
 In 1804, it would appear to have become so pain- 
 fully severe that, in writing the Second Epistle to his 
 friend, James Scadlock (then in Perth), he informed him 
 of the state of his health in the following verse : — 
 
 " But, ere a few short summers gae, 
 Your friend will mix his kindred clay ; 
 For fell Disease tugs at my breast 
 To hurry me away." 
 
 SMOKING CLUB CRITICISM OF HIS POETRY. 
 
 The Poet, and all the members of the Club with 
 which he was connected, were inveterate smokers, and 
 his own teeth were blackened from the narcotic fumes 
 of tobacco. He has vividly, described the members of 
 the Club enjoying theweed, assembled in their "bourock," 
 in a poem written in 1805 (No, 54) : — 
 
Ixii. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 " Encircled in a cloud of smoke, 
 Sat the convivial core ; 
 Like lightning flash'd the merry joke, 
 The thund'ring laugh did roar." * 
 
 This bacchanalian poem, like others of a similar kind 
 in the volume, was written by desire of some of the 
 members of the Chib, and for which Tannahill would 
 be sure to receive the applause of the members. 
 The Club had a powerful fascination for the Poet that 
 he could not re'sist. His ambition was to please them, 
 as he considered these worthies the ablest of men ; and 
 they were nothing loth to suppose themselves possessed 
 of wonderful ability. When a new song or poem was 
 read before them, it was subjected to the severest 
 criticism ; and not only that, but to captious hyper- 
 criticism. Each stanza, verse, line, and word, was 
 scanned and keenly discussed. The criticism, it may 
 be remarked, was occasionally not very polished, — 
 approaching, on some occasions, to rudeness. This was 
 the kind of criticism that affected the sensibility of 
 Tannahill, and not that of outsiders. 
 
 THE BURNS? CLUB. 
 
 The Burns' Anniversary Society or Club was instituted 
 in 1805, — William M'Laren and Robert Tannahill 
 being its chief promoters. The former was chosen the 
 first President, and the latter elected the first Clerk of 
 the Society ; and they both acted in these capacities on 
 
 * When these teeth were removed by a gravedigger, in opening the 
 Lair where the Poet was buried for another interment, they were 
 found to be pure white. On erection of the monumental tombstone 
 over the remains on 24th October, i866, the teeth were again restored 
 to the grave. 
 
THE LIFE OF TANNAHILL. Ixiii. 
 
 Tuesday, 29th January, 1805, when the First Anniversary 
 of Burns was celebrated in Paisley. The Preamble or 
 Argument (as it was called in those days) for the insti- 
 tution of the Society, is the composition and in the 
 handwriting of Robert Tannahill, and occupies the 
 first page of the Minute-Book of the Club : — 
 
 "That Man is the only creature capable of enjoying an eminent 
 degree of feUcity, is a truth so evident and so generally admitted that 
 it were foolish to labour for its proof. An indulgent Nature, ever 
 attentive to the happiness of her offspring, has enriched the world 
 vrith men of superior intellect, who, by the splendour of their genius, the 
 fascinating charms of their writings, have, like the sun which dissipates 
 the vapours of the night, dispersed the dark clouds of ignorance, have 
 taught the vacant hours of hfe to steal on with uninterrupted feUcity, 
 and thus in an eminent degree contributed to the happiness of man- 
 kind. Shall we, then, suffer such characters to pass unnoticed ? No. 
 Ye illustrious benefactors of the world ! we will cherish, we will 
 celebrate your memories I your virtues are already engraven on our 
 hearts, and the tears of honest gratitude shall bedew your tombs ; 
 posterity will imitate and applaud the deed, and your proud names 
 shall roll through an eternity o. ^ ears." 
 
 "Animated by these reflect' ns, a number of the admirers of Robert 
 Burns met on the zgth of January, 1805, in the Star Inn, Paisley, to 
 celebrate his memory, wt ' a beautiful bust of the bard, painted by 
 an eminent artist,* was exhibited from the window. The company, 
 amounting to near seventy, sat down to supper ; after which, the 
 President (WiUiam Maclaren) addressed the company, as follows." 
 [The address is then copied into the Minute-Book in the handwriting 
 of M'Laren, and concludes by proposing "The Memory of our 
 immortal Bard, Robert Burns."] f 
 
 " The toast was drunk with enthusiasm ; after which, the following 
 
 * The artist was probably either James Tannock or James Muir. 
 See Notes to No. 25 for the former, and "Sketches of Editors" for 
 the latter. 
 
 t The Address was printed by M'Laren at the end of "Life of 
 Tannahill," published in 1815. 
 
Ixiv. THE LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 Ode on the birth of Burns—' Once on a time, almighty Jove,' * &c.— 
 (written for the occasion), was read over to the company." [The 
 remainder of the minute is in the handwriting of Tannahill.] 
 
 "Among the many toasts proposed in the course of the evening 
 were the following—' May the genius of Scotland be as conspicuous 
 as her mountains ; ' ' May Bums be admired while a thistle grows in 
 Caledonia ; ' ' May Scotia never want the sword of a Wallace, nor the 
 pen of a Bums.' The night went off vrith uninterrapted harmony; 
 and the company, resolving to meet annually- on the same occasion, 
 appointed the following gentlemen to conduct the business of the 
 ensuing year : — 
 
 willtam maclaren. william stewart. 
 
 William Anderson. James Tannahill. 
 
 ' Charles Marshall. William Wylie, West Street. 
 
 Patrick M 'Lerie. William Wylie, Abbey Close. 
 
 Robert Morgan. James Scadlock. 
 
 Robert Lang. William Gemmil. 
 
 Robert A. Smith. John King. 
 
 Robert Tannahill. f 
 
 Then follows, in the handwriting of the Clerk, a 
 
 "Song Written for, and Sung at, the Anniversary for 1805."! 
 
 Tannahill duly attended all the meetings of the 
 Society during his lifetime, and also wrote the two Odes 
 for Thursday, 29th January, 1807, and Monday, 29th 
 January, 1810 (Nos. 7 and 8) ; but he did not act as 
 Clerk. We are not surprised at this. More than his leisure 
 hours would be taken up with the composing of his 
 poems and songs, — making several copies for his friends 
 and the press, — correspondence with his acquaintances, — 
 
 * The Ode, which is copied into the Minute-Book by Tannahill, is 
 No. 6 of this volume. 
 
 t The toasts and list of committee are in the handwriting of 
 Tannahill. 
 
 J This song was composed by Mr. John King, and we will give it 
 in a Note to TannahiU's Ode to Bums, No. 6. 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. IxV. 
 
 attending meetings, — preparing for his first edition, and 
 correcting the proofs. That record of the Bums' Anni- 
 versary Society has now become a valuable relic of 
 Tannahill. 
 
 local club meetings. 
 A club had also been instituted in Kilbarchan similar 
 to the Paisley Literary, Poetical, and Musical Club which 
 assembled in Allan Stewart's ; these clubs reciprocated the 
 feelings of each other, and frequently the members of 
 the one club joined those of the other in friendly con- 
 viviality and discussion. In conveying each other to- 
 wards home, they generally made the hostelry of Jean 
 Hattrick, situated at Thorn, two and a half miles from 
 each club-room, the half-way house for parting. The 
 house itself had obtained the distinctive name of "Ham- 
 burgh," from the person who had built it making his 
 money at Hamburgh; and by that name it is known and 
 called at the present time. It was a short distance off 
 the road. Jean Hattrick was remarkable for intelli- 
 gence, and she enjoyed the literary and musical conver- 
 sation of the members of the combined clubs in a high 
 degree, and even joined them in their conversations and 
 discussions. The members were always made welcome by 
 Jean; indeed, 'she would frequently refuse to supply their 
 orders, declaring she had admitted them as friends for 
 their intellectual conversation and not for their money. 
 The Bard was a principal favourite of Jean's. 
 
 APPEARANCE OF HIS SONGS IN PERIODICALS. 
 
 Mr. M'Laren, in his biography, says of the author : — 
 "Such was the extreme modesty of his nature, that 
 though the qualities of his mind had ripened into 
 
Ixvi. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 superior excellence, it was with difficulty that his friends 
 could persuade him to offer any of his early pieces for 
 publication. With doubtful hesitation a copy of his 
 verses were, however, prepared for a periodical work 
 then pubhshed in Edinburgh ; * but whether from that 
 modesty for which he was conspicuous, or from a dread 
 that his. name might swell the list of disgraced corre- 
 spondents, they appeared under a fictitious character. 
 The fears of the Bard were vain. His verses appeared 
 in the first number, accompanied by a flattering compli- 
 ment to the author, and soliciting a continuance of his 
 correspondence.'' 
 
 Laing, in his compilation of the Life of the Author, 
 said: — " To the Poetical Magazine, pubUshed by Vernor 
 and Hood of London, in i8o4-5,'f and to other re- 
 spectable periodicals of the day, he also contributed 
 many poetical and lyric pieces.'' 
 
 Ramsay, in his Memoir of the Author, said : — " The 
 fame of the ' obscure verse-making weaver ' (as he styles 
 himself in a letter to a friend) now reached London, and 
 about the year 1805, having been requested to become 
 a contributor to a leading metropolitan magazine, he 
 ^rote for it " the pieces mentioned in the Note below. % 
 
 * We have madp sevfraj attempts to discover the periodical pub- 
 lished in Edinburgh, referred to by M'Laren, but have been unsuc- 
 cessful in finding ft. His reference is extremely vague, and we have 
 come to the conclusion h,e has made a mistake. 
 
 t Laing is very pointed vifith the names of the periodical and pub- 
 lishers, and its date ; but with all this infpripajion, our enquiries after 
 fhe book have not been rewarded vrith success. 
 
 J Ramsay is rather vague with the names of the peripdical ajid pub- 
 
UFE OF TANNAHILL. Ixvii. 
 
 TaNnahill also contributed to two periodicals pub- 
 lished in Glasgow in the year 1805 and 1806 respec- 
 tively, namely — the Selector, in four volumes, and the 
 Gleaner, in one volume, both edited and published by 
 William Maver, book auctioneer in Glasgow, the latter 
 being a continuation of the former- — a gleanitig of the 
 selections. These works consisted of extracts from publi- 
 cations of merit, with original essays and poems. 
 Tannahill contributed seventeen pieces. The names of 
 Vernor and Hood appear on the title page as one of 
 the four London publishers.* 
 
 Ushers, but he has given the names of the pieces.as follows :— 
 No. 4. " Dirge on Bums' Funeral. " 
 
 ,, 14. "Ode to Sincerity." 
 
 .. S3. "Portrait of Guilt." 
 Ramsay also quoted three words from a letter, but he has neither 
 given the date nor the name of the person to whom addressed. We 
 renewed our enquiries after the metropolitan periodical to discover if 
 possible how the fame of the "obscure verse-making weaver" had 
 reached London, birt still without success. 
 
 * " Selector." Selector's 
 
 No. Vol. I. — Completed 7th September, 1805. Page 
 
 119. Mine ain dear somebody, ... ... ... 194 
 
 S- Invitation to attend a Meeting of Burns Society, 195 
 
 39. The Ambitious Mite, „ 264 
 
 137. The Negro Girl, 266 
 
 2. Prologue to the Gentle Shepherd, 267 
 
 31. Ode to Jealousy, 268 
 
 Vol. II. — Completed 2nd November, 1805. 
 
 6. Ode, Bums Ariniversary Meeting, 1805, ... 54 
 
 54. The Bacchanalians in 
 
 Vol. III. — Completed 28th December, 1805. 
 
 21. Second Epistle to James Scadlock at Perth, 195 
 
 Vol. IV.— Completed 7th March, 1806. 
 
 20. Epistle to James Barr, ... 114 
 
Ixviii. 
 
 LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 The next publication to which Tannahill contributed 
 was the Paisley Repository, edited by John Miller, 
 bookseller, who commenced business in the early part 
 of the present century in the shop, No. 24 Wellmeadow 
 Street (then called Sandholes), at the north-east comer 
 of Castle Street. The periodical was commenced in 
 1805, and continued down till 1811. It was very erratic 
 as to the time of publication of the numbers and its 
 series. Tannahill contributed eight pieces to this local 
 publication.* 
 
 He next sent twenty-five songs to the Nightingale 
 or Songster's Magazine, — a choice selection of Scots, 
 Irish, and English Songs, — sprinted and sold by A. and 
 G. Leslie, Glasgow, 1806. f 
 
 No. 
 
 
 
 Page 
 
 147. 
 
 The Coggie, 
 
 " Gleaner." 
 
 
 264 
 
 62. 
 
 Will M'Neil's Elegy, - 
 
 
 37 
 
 90. 
 
 The Lass o Arranteenie, 
 
 
 131 
 
 63. 
 
 Epitaph on Thomas Bissland, 
 
 
 132 
 
 64. 
 
 Epitaph on a Farthing Gatherer, 
 
 
 132 
 
 23, 
 
 Resolve to give up Rhyming, 
 
 
 IS9 
 
 24. 
 
 Eptstle to Alexander Borland, 
 
 
 273 
 
 
 * "Repository." 
 
 No. 
 
 Year. 
 
 lOI. 
 
 The Soldier's Funeral, - 
 
 I. 
 
 1805. 
 
 170. 
 
 The Recruiting Drum, - 
 
 ,, 
 
 ,, 
 
 171. 
 
 The Old Beggar, 
 
 ,, 
 
 ,, 
 
 16. 
 
 The Pleasures of Hope, 
 
 II. 
 
 ,, 
 
 82. 
 
 Blythe was the Time, 
 
 in. 
 
 „ 
 
 136. 
 
 The Maniac, 
 
 IV. 
 
 1806, 
 
 38. 
 
 Towser ; a Tale, 
 
 VII. 
 
 „ 
 
 98. 
 
 Lament, 
 
 XVI. 
 
 1809. 
 
 
 t "Nightingale." 
 
 
 Page 
 
 lOI. 
 
 The Soldier's Funeral, 
 
 
 19 
 
 69. 
 
 The Braes Gleniffer, 
 
 
 23 
 
 "3- 
 
 Wreck on the Gloomy Isle of May, 
 
 
 35 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. ^ Ixix. 
 
 Two of the pieces, Nos. 113 and 117, which ap- 
 peared in the Nightingale, also appeared in the Cale- 
 donian Musical Repository, a selection of esteemed 
 Scottish songs adapted for the voice, violin, and German 
 flute, published at London in t8o6 by R. Crossby & Co. 
 These may have either been contributed by Tannahill 
 himself, or have been copied from the Nightingale. 
 
 Tannahill sent one piece to the " Goldfinch or New 
 Modern Songster, being a select collection of the most 
 admired and favourite Scots, English, and Irish songs," 
 without date or publishers' names. From the appearance 
 
 No. 
 
 "Nightingale." 
 
 Page 
 
 137- 
 
 The Negro Girl, 
 
 ZS 
 
 114. 
 
 Lone Silent Grave, 
 
 63 
 
 116. 
 
 Oh ! are ye Sleepin, Maggie, 
 
 70 
 
 142. 
 
 Marjorie Miller, 
 
 72 
 
 99- 
 
 The Soldier's Widow, 
 
 73 
 
 124. 
 
 Och, Hey! Johnnie-, Lad, 
 
 .74 
 
 68. 
 
 Bonnie Wood Craigielee, 
 
 75 
 
 90. 
 
 The Lass Arranteenie, 
 
 8S 
 
 93- 
 
 Young Donald and his Lawland Bride, 
 
 89 
 
 94- 
 
 Lament of Wallace, 
 
 148 
 
 117. 
 
 Mary is a Bonnie Lass, 
 
 150 
 
 118. 
 
 Bonnie Winsome Mary, ' 
 
 ISO 
 
 100. 
 
 The Defeat, 
 
 151 
 
 72. 
 
 Early -Spring, 
 
 IS3 
 
 87- 
 
 Ye Dear Romantic Shades, • 
 
 IS4 
 
 97- 
 
 Weep Not, my Love, 
 
 208 
 
 119. 
 
 Mine Ain Dear Somebody, 
 
 209 
 
 147- 
 
 The Coggie, 
 
 210 
 
 83- 
 
 Langsyne beside the Woodlan Burn, 
 
 213 
 
 136. 
 
 The Maniac's Song, 
 
 214 
 
 I2S- 
 
 Contentment, 
 
 216 
 
 13. 
 
 The Bowlman's Remonstrance, 
 
 217 
 
 Nos. 137, 119, and 147, previously appeared in the Selector: No. 
 90 in the Gleaner; and Nos. loi and 136 in the Repository. 
 
IXX. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 of the paper and printing, and the songs inserted, the 
 
 date was probably 1806, 
 
 FORMATION OF THE TRADES LIBRARY. 
 
 In consequence of the difficulty of tradesmen procur- 
 ing books in their small club libraries for reading and 
 reference, Robert Tannahill and Alexander M'Naught, 
 and a number of other persons, opened a subscription 
 in 1805 for the purpose of forming an extensive library 
 to which working men could have access. The Paisley 
 Library for gentlemen had been opened at Whitsunday, 
 1803. The Rev. Robert Boog became a subscriber to 
 the proposed library for the purpose of guiding, by his 
 counsel, a proper selection of books. The new institu- 
 tion was named the Trades' Library, and was opened on 
 ist January, 1806. The subscribers submitted to the 
 judgment of Mr. Boog for a short time, and then asserted 
 their independence. The minister afterwards' withdrew 
 from the library, and became instrumental in forming the 
 Theological Library in 1808. The books in the Trades 
 Library were mostly of a philosophical, scientific, and 
 moral description, t 
 
 IMPROVEMENT OF THE TOWN. 
 
 Since the year 1756, when the Poet's father came from 
 Kilmarnock to Paisley, till 1806, a period of 50 years, 
 forty-five new streets had been opened, and the general 
 appearance of the old streets considerably improved, 
 old thatched houses having been taken down and new 
 
 No. * Goldfinch. Page 
 
 167. The Braes of Yarrow, 296 
 
 t The Trades' Library was broken up in the year 1846. 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. Ixxi. 
 
 buildings erected on their sites ; but it was still deficient 
 in roadways, side pavements, lighting, and cleansing, so 
 essentially necessary for the comfort and health of the 
 inhabitants of a manufacturing town. The manufactures 
 and other trades in the burgh had been in a prosperous 
 state for several years, and there were engaged at this 
 time in the manufacture of muslin 6750 weavers, of silk 
 120 weavers, and of tape 109 weavers. The population 
 of the town increased considerably, as the following 
 table wiU shew, which we give in continuation of the pre- 
 viously inserted table, bringing it down to the year 1810, 
 when Tannahill died — 
 
 I80I 
 
 24,324 
 
 1804 
 
 25,889 
 
 1808 
 
 27,975 
 
 1802 
 
 24,84s 
 
 1805 
 
 26,409 
 
 1809 
 
 28,497 
 
 1803 
 
 25,366 
 
 1806 
 . 1807 
 
 26,931 
 27,453 
 
 I8I0 
 
 29,019 
 
 On 1 2th July, 1806, the local statute 46, George iii., 
 cap. ir6, called the Paisley Police Act, for paving, light- 
 ing, and cleansing the burgh of Paisley and suburbs, was 
 passed. The first section ehacted that proprietors should 
 form pavements of flat hewn stone in front of their 
 houses. The rixth section provided for the Town 
 Council paving and keeping in repair the roadways of 
 the streets. The ninth section ordered the removal of 
 all outside stairs and outshots in the streets. And the 
 seventeenth section directed the houses, buildings, shops, 
 and warehouses to be numbered with figures. The first, 
 sixth, and ninth sections of the new local act were im- 
 mediately carried into execution by the roadways being 
 causeyed, the outside stairs and outshots removed, and 
 freestone pavements laid down on each side of the streets, 
 and the lighting, watching, and cleansing attended to. 
 Although the removal of stairs and laying of pavements 
 
Ixxii. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 were very expensive to proprietors a vast improvement 
 was effected upon the whole town. * 
 
 PUBLICATION OF FIRST EDITION. 
 
 We have already mentioned that Tannahill's pieces 
 were brought before the convivial club with which he 
 was connected, and their merits and demerits freely 
 discussed. He was in the habit of repeating and shew- 
 ing to his neighbours any new pieces he had written, and 
 absent friends were supplied with copies ; by this latter 
 circumstance several of his poems and songs have been 
 preserved from oblivion. A few of his best songs were 
 set to music by these eminent composers, John Ross of 
 Aberdeen, and R. A. Smith of Paisley, and were en- 
 graved and published in sheets. By the publication of 
 his poems and songs in the periodicals referred to, his 
 name was soon brought into notice. His lyrics were 
 easily committed to memory, particularly by the gentler 
 sex, and by that means they quickly obtained a wide 
 spread popularity. In every company where singing de- 
 
 * The numbering of the houses was not commenced till about 1817, 
 and then every entrance or opening was numbered. From the changes 
 that were annually occurring, — from the shutting up of entrances in 
 one house and opening of new entrances in other tenements, — that 
 mode of numbering led to confusion. In 1833, George Fowler (of 
 Directory celebrity) prevailed on the Commissioners of Police to 
 adopt the sensible mode of numbering every tenement, which has 
 continued till the present time ; and it is the latter numbers we have 
 taken for reference and description of a tenement. 
 
 On 24th March, 1864, the above local statute was superseded by 
 the General PoUce and Improvement (Scotland) Act, 1862, being 
 adopted by the inhabitants, and the Town Council being constituted 
 the Commissioners of Police, who introduced Caithness flagstone pave- 
 ments, a greater improvement than the freestone pavements had been 
 on the former earth pathways. — Ed. 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. lixiii. 
 
 lighted the ear, in the cottage, in the hall, at concerts, 
 and in theatres, they were heard. Paisley at that time 
 had a large adopted population from all parts of Scot- 
 land, and these, in revisiting their friends, carried the 
 sweet songs of Tannahill in their memories, and sung 
 them to their acquaintances ; these again and again 
 re-echoed them. At that period Caledonia was the 
 habitation of a loyal and martial people — almost every 
 person capable of carr3dng arms was either a volunteer, 
 a militiaman, or a soldier in the line. Every one of 
 these had their mothers, sisters, wives, or sweet-hearts, 
 and they would be inspired with chivalry when they 
 heard a female voice in sympathy and pathos singing 
 the songs of the "Soldier's Return," — 
 
 "Our Bonnie Scots Lads in their Green Tartan Plaids ;" 
 
 " Langsyne beside, the Woodlan Burn;" or, 
 
 "We'll meet beside the Dusky Glen on yon Burnside." 
 
 Tannahill had now become famous, and he was urgently 
 pressed to publish his songs in a selected volume. He 
 acceded to these repeated demands, and on 19th January, 
 1807, he issued a prospectus of the work, giving a speci- 
 men of the typography from "The Soldier's Return," 
 and containing a sheet for subscribers' names. These 
 sheets were issued to his friends, who promptly returned 
 them filled up ; and the edition, consisting of 900 im- 
 pressions, was issued in May, 1807, — Tannahill sup- 
 plying his own relations with copies.* The " Inter- 
 
 * In the month of August last we called upon and saw a full cousin 
 of the Author's, Mrs. Ann Pollock or Hastie, at Lochridge, near Whit- 
 bum, relict of Mr. James Hastie, farmer, an old lady 77 years of age, 
 the fourth daughter of Matthew Pollock, (3rd) of Boghall by his second 
 marriage. She was very intelligent, and mentioned to us that she re- 
 
 k 
 
Ixxiv. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 lude " was placed first in the volume, his whole heart 
 and soul being absorbed in the dramatic effort. He ex- 
 pected it would raise his name to never-dying fame; but 
 it was unhappily condemned by some critics, while his 
 other commonplace l5frics were lauded to the skies. The 
 snarling critics and treacherous friends, — the prophets 
 who can foretell events after they have happened, — then 
 came forward with their crocodile lamentations on their 
 supposed predictions having been fulfilled, that the pub- 
 lication was premature, and Tannahill should have 
 waited — their time, and their time meant doomsday. 
 They merely wounded the fine feelings and sensibility of 
 the Poet, and caused his songs to be sung by a greater 
 number of vocalists, and more applauded by the people. 
 In looking over the edition, we observed five of the 
 songs had been set to music by John Ross,* and four by 
 R. A. Smith, f 
 
 The publication of the edition must have yielded the 
 
 collected the Poet calling upon her father at Boghall when she was 
 about ten years of age, and giving her father a book, and getting 3s. for 
 it. She knew all the Pollock family, and her memory was quite fresh. 
 We may also mention that, in the month of September following, we 
 called upon another full cousin of the Author's, Mr. Robert Deans, 
 farmer, Dovehill, in the Parish of Cathoart, near PoUokshaws, in the 
 78th year of his age, son of William Deans and Ann Pollock formerly 
 noticed. Robert Deans and his ancestors have been in possession of 
 the farm for hundreds of years. His grounds were in the higTiest state 
 of cultivation ; and on making enquiries concerning such a well-managed 
 farm, we were informed that Mr. Deans was a first-rate agriculturist, 
 and that all his crops were generally a fortnight in advance of the other 
 farmers in Renfrewshire. Theseltwo relatives, on the maternal side, are 
 the only full cousins of the Author, Robert Tannahill, living at the 
 present time. 
 
 * Nos. 80, 84, 90, 93, and 137. t Nos. 76, 83, 107, and 136. 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. Ixxv. 
 
 Author some profit, as he was enabled to deposit, on 
 loth July, 1807, the sum of Twenty Pounds sterling with 
 the Paisley Union Bank, which had been established in 
 Paisley in May, 1788. * 
 
 THE DRAMA. 
 
 Tannahill was an ardent admirer of the Drama, and 
 attended the theatre in Paisley when a company of 
 comedians arrived in town, and occasionally travelled 
 to the theatre in Glasgow when Thespian Stars made 
 their appearance in that city. He was acquainted with 
 several actors, particularly with Messrs. Archibald Pollock 
 and William Livingston, both of them very worthy men. 
 Tannahill stated that the " Interlude" was undertaken 
 by desire of the former, and urged by the latter. PoUock 
 died before the " Interlude " was well commenced, but 
 Livingston lived for 48 years afterwards. Livingston 
 was a correspondent of Tannahill's, and two very 
 interesting letters from him, dated respectively i8th 
 November, 1804, and 7th March, 1806, wiU be found 
 among the correspondence. In the former letter 
 Livingston expressed his impatience to see the 
 " Sodger's Return.'' Mr. James Moss, ■ an Edinburgh 
 comedian, was another of his theatrical acquaintances. 
 
 collection of IRISH AIRS. 
 
 Tannahill soon directed his attention to the collec- 
 tion of old Irish airs, and to the writing of verses to 
 suit, — taking a Paisley maiden for his model of Nancy 
 Vernon, another for poor Sheelah, and a third for Kitty 
 
 * The Paisley Union Bank, after having existed half a century, 
 merged in the Glasgow Union Bank in 1838, now called the Union 
 Bank of Scotland. 
 
Ixxvi. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 Tyrrell. In 1808, he aspired to become a contributor to 
 Mr. George Thomson's work, then piiblishing in Edin- 
 burgh, " A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs 
 for the Voice, with select and characteristic verses by 
 the most admired Scottish Poets." Tannahill opened 
 up a correspondence with Mr. Thomson on the airs and 
 verses of the songs we have noticed; but these not com- 
 ing up to the editor's standard, he did not admit them 
 into that important work, However much Tannahill 
 may have known regarding Scottish airs, it was quite a 
 different matter to enter upon Irish tunes, when he 
 neither sufficiently understood the subject of the ancient 
 song nor the old air to which it should be sung. The 
 fourteen Irish songs (Nos. 151 to r65, both inclusive), 
 it must be admitted, did not please the fine critical 
 acumen of Mr. Thomson ; and, in the circumstances, 
 it was quite out of the question to suppose that a sedate 
 Scotsman like Tannahill was capable of writing verses 
 to suit the wild airs of Hibemia. The letters of Tanna- 
 hill on this subject, so far as recovered, will be found in 
 the Correspondence under the respective dates of 6th 
 June and 6th August, 1 808. Tannahill, nothing daunted 
 with the refusal of Mr. Thomson, continued his search 
 after Irish airs, wrote verses to them, and submitted the 
 pieces to his personal friends, James Clark and James 
 King. 
 
 In the end of the year 1808, Tannahill wrote the 
 humorous song of " Caller Herrin," to the air of 
 " The Cameronian Rant," which, he said had been sug- 
 gested by an observation made by MoUison in an essay 
 on " Melody the Soul of Music." * 
 
 * In 1806, the " Miscellanies in Prose and Verse, by Alexander MoUi- 
 
LIFE- OF TANNAHILL. IxXvii. 
 
 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE " SCOTS MAGAZINE. ' 
 
 This was the last periodical Tannahill patronised, 
 and from 1807 to 1810, both inclusive, he sent the six 
 following pieces : — 
 
 No. 95 Loudon's Bonnie Woods and Braes, October, 1807 
 75 Jessie, the Flower o Dunblane, ... March, 1808 
 
 102 The Worn Soldier, , „ 
 
 89 Cruikston Castle, Sept., ,, 
 
 73 Simmer Gloamin, January, ,, 
 
 8 Ode for Bums' Anniversary, ... February,,, 
 
 SINGING OF THE POET'S SONGS. 
 
 The songs of Tannahill had now obtained great 
 popularity, and young persons both in town and country 
 delighted to lilt them. The singing of an author's songs 
 in his hearing by persons unseen, must be gratifying to 
 the ear ; and the sensitive Tannahill was very much 
 delighted to hear his songs sung by persons whose 
 voices were unknown to him. The pleasant sensation 
 which tickled his ears was communicated in a letter 
 to his friend James King on loth September, 1809, as 
 follows : — " Perhaps the highest pleasure ever I derived 
 from these things has been in hearing, as I walked down 
 the pavement at night, a girl within doors rattling away 
 at some of them." The pavements then recently formed 
 
 son," were published, containing 221 pages. In the essay, the author 
 said "A common Scottish reel (The Cameronian Rant), when played 
 not very quick, always strongly reminded him of the angry tones of two 
 women scoldfng. In the first part of the tune, rude altercation seemed 
 to commence. In the second part, scolding appeared to rage ; and 
 about the close, to come to such a height, that, had it been reality, 
 cuffs, tearing of hair, and other inharmonious accompaniments might 
 have been instantly expected to ensue. " The song of ' ' Caller Herrin," 
 we believe, appears in this edition for the first time. See Notes at 
 pages 349 and 424. 
 
Ixxviii. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 in Paisley became promenades for walking, and were 
 much frequented in the fine autumn evenings before 
 the weavers of Paisley commenced lighting on the i sth 
 of September for the winter.* 
 
 PROPOSED NEW EDITION BY THE AUTHOR." 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1810, the Author resolved 
 to publish a new edition of his poems and songs, and 
 he authorised Mr. R. A. Smith to negotiate with a 
 publisher, who accordingly called upon Mr. Thomas 
 Stewart, bookseller in Greenockj on the subject. On 
 the first of March, Tannahill wrote a letter to Mr. 
 Stewart J (which will be found in the Correspond- 
 ence) regarding the publication of a new edition of his 
 Poems and Songs, and, at the same time, sent Mr. 
 Stewart a copy of the first edition, stating that he had 
 almost re-modelled the Interlude. In the poems he 
 merely intended to suppress several which he had deleted 
 with pencil, and supply their places with as many other 
 pieces, t To the songs he could add sixty or seventy. 
 
 * The isth of September is the festival of Saint Mirin, the tutelar 
 Saint of Paisley ; and in the evening, the tomb and altar of the Saint, 
 where the Abbey was afterwards erected, were lighted up with wax. 
 Since the Reformation in 1560, the isth of September has been the 
 night fixed by the weavers of Paisley for commencing to light their 
 looms for the winter evenings. 
 
 t Former editors and biographers have made vague statements and 
 lamentation over the great loss that had been sustained from the Poet, 
 two days before his death, destroying a great number of his songs, with- 
 out having ascertained the actual number of songs he had really writ- 
 ten. The letter referred to in the text discloses the number to have 
 been between 60 and 70, and it was well knovra that Tannahill sup- 
 plied copies of all the songs he wrote to his acquaintances, and these 
 were not destroyed. Each editor has boasted how many of these he 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. Ixxix. 
 
 and the whole would comprise about 240 pages i2mo, 
 being 65 pages additional to those of the first edition. 
 He also stated that he intended to improve the arrange- 
 ment of the poems and correct some of the faults that 
 were to be found in the first publication. The Author 
 deprecated the idea of again publishing by^subscription 
 from the obligations it laid him under. He desired Mr. 
 Stewart to consider the matter for a month and then give 
 his opinion freely on the business. 
 
 MEETING WITK THE " ETTRICK SHEPHERD." 
 
 Between the 18th and 25 th March, 18 10, James Barr, 
 (" blythe Jamie,") who was then in the employment of 
 James Steven, music pubhsher, 35 Wilson Street, Glas- 
 gow, came to Paisley, and spent an evening with 
 Tannahill. The night being very dark, he would not 
 allow Barr to take the road to Glasgow, but insisted on 
 his remaining, and going early on the following day. 
 Barr remained ; and after getting breakfast the following 
 morning, the Poet accompanied him to the head of 
 
 had recovered. The following calculation shows the loss to be very- 
 small indeed : — 
 
 The Songs in the first edition of 1807 were 33 
 
 Recovered and added in edition of 1815 
 
 — — — 1815 
 
 — — — 1817 
 
 — — — 1819 
 
 — — - 1833 
 
 — - — 1838 
 
 — — - 1875 
 
 69 
 Deduct Scadlock's song " Killochburn," No, 89 1 
 
 — 68 
 
 101 
 
 were 
 
 
 No. 1 
 
 20 
 
 „ 2 
 
 12 
 
 — 
 
 3 
 
 — 
 
 20 
 
 — 
 
 1 
 
 — 
 
 6 
 
 — 
 
 7 
 
IXXX. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 Queen Street, but on parting, Tannahill saw in the 
 distance R. A. Smith and William Stuart, with tliree 
 strangers, coming westward by Sandholes and Well- 
 meadow Streets. Tannahill remarked — "There is 
 something in the win," and requested Barr to wait' and 
 see. The Wo kept out of sight ; and the five went into 
 a public-house, and, in a short time, Tannahill was 
 sent for. Tannahill desired Barr still to wait ; and in 
 a short time he returned, took Barr into the house, and 
 introduced him to James Hogg, the "Ettrick Shepherd." 
 Hogg had been in the Highlands on business, the 
 other two gentlemen were on a tour in the same district; 
 and Paisley not being far off their way, Hogg expressed 
 a desire to see Tannahill, the Weaver Poet of Paisley, 
 and they all came together. Smith's music school was 
 near the Cross at that time. Hogg had either known 
 Smith or been directed to call on him, and Stuart would 
 be there when the three gentlemen called. The two 
 stranger gentlemen having business to transact in Glas- 
 gow, left the company, promising to take out a ticket 
 for him by the evening coach to Edinburgh. Hogg, 
 who had been acquainted with Andrew Blaikie, engraver, 
 whose place of business was then at the Cross, wished 
 to see his old friend Andrew ; and the whole five then 
 went down the town. The forces being now collected, 
 they, adjourned to the " Bourock," — the club room of 
 the Sun Tavern. Barr has said Hogg was enraptured 
 with their company, and it was a treat to see the friend- 
 ship of the two bards. The contrast was striking, — the 
 one healthy, lively, and off-hand; the other delicate, 
 quiet, and unassuming. Hogg and Barr were convoyed 
 along the Glasgow Road to the three-mile house, where 
 they parted. Soon thereafter, Hogg saw an empty coal 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. Ixxxi. 
 
 cart lolling on the road, and he called out — " My lad, 
 are you going to Glasgow?" "Ay, man." "Will you 
 gie us a smart drive in, and we'll pay you for't?" " O 
 ay, man." In then (Jiey went; and at the half-way 
 house, they primed the lad with half-a-mutchkin, and 
 galloped to the keystane of the Broomielaw Bridge, 
 where they came off, Hogg saying it would not do to be 
 seen galloping through the streets of Glasgow, They 
 hurried on to the Tontine ; the coach had waited five 
 minutes, and was just starting. When they observed 
 him running, it stopped. Hogg and Barr shook hands, 
 and in an instant the coach disappeared in the hollow of 
 the Gallowgate. That is the version of James Barr, 
 who was present all the time. We shall now give the 
 exaggerated statement of Motherwell, who was not there 
 at all. " They " (Hogg and Tannahill) " spent only 
 one night in each other's company. Tannahill, Mr. 
 Hogg informed us, convoyed him half way to Glasgow 
 on the following morning, where they parted. It was a 
 melancholy adieu Tannahill gave him. He grasped 
 his hands, tears gathering in his eyes the while, and 
 said — ' Farewell, we shall never meet again. Farewell, 
 I shall never see you more.' " * 
 
 On the first of April, 1810, Tannahill wrote his 
 special friend, James King, informing him of the meet- 
 ingwith Hogg, the "EttrickShepherd." Tannahill stated 
 that they had a good deal of conversation about the 
 Poets of the day, and in particular, that Hogg had men- 
 tioned he had been in the company of Walter Scott, 
 
 * This meeting with Tannahill has not been referred to in any 
 of the biographies of James Hogg. 
 
 / 
 
Ixxxii. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 Hector M'Neil, Thomas Campbell, and others of our 
 Scottish worthies. 
 
 APPLICATION TO MR, CONSTABLE. 
 
 Thomas Stewart returned the volume to Tannahill, 
 declining the publication of his works. The Poet trans- 
 mitted his corrected volume and his new songs to Mr. 
 Archibald Constable of Edinburgh, but that enterprising 
 publisher was in London at the time. On his return he 
 wrote, saying that he had more new works on hand 
 than he could print that season, and accordingly re- 
 turned the parcel, apparently without examination of its 
 contents. 
 
 LAST LETTER OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 The last letter supposed to have been written by 
 Tannahill was to his acquaintance, Alexander Borland, 
 weaver in Glasgow, to whom he addressed the Epistle 
 No. 24, in 1806, an excerpt from which has been given 
 by Mr. Ramsay in his Memoir, page xxxv., and which 
 will be found among the Correspondence, after the letter 
 dated ist April, 1810. The concluding portion of the 
 excerpt, " What has the world to do with, or who cares 
 (take the mass of mankind) for the feelings of others ? 
 ■Am I right? Happiness attend you, R. Tannahill," 
 evidently shews the wandering spirit and approaching 
 mental calamity. * 
 
 WAS THE POET A FREEMASON ? 
 
 M'Laren, in his biography of the Poet, mentions a 
 circumstance respecting the Poet's desire of becoming a 
 Member of some one of the Masonic Lodges, and of col- 
 
 * It is most amazing that Ramsay did not give the last letter of 
 Tannahill verbatim. 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. ixxxiii. 
 
 lecting a number of his friends together for that purpose; 
 that he (M'Laren) was from home that day, but on his 
 return he found a messenger had "been, by the Bard's 
 desire, sent for him. He then proceeds with his 
 narrative, and abruptly remarks — " When admitted into 
 the lodge, Robert was in the act of being initiated into 
 the sacred order of Masonry;" he next relates the strange 
 aft)earance of Tannahill, and his incoherent language, 
 and closes with the climax — " The company gazed, . his 
 friends blushed ; but the unhappy Bard . was insensible 
 to either." It will be observed that M'Laren neither 
 gives the name of the lodge nor the date or place of 
 initiation, or the name of any person present but 
 himself. According to the context, however, it would 
 seem to have occurred on the Saturday or Monday 
 before the death. We have made very particular 
 enquiry for authentic information regarding this pre- 
 tended initiation ; but nothing of the kind can be found 
 in the books of any Masonic Lodge in Paisley or Kil- 
 barchan, arrd we are inclined to believe it was either a 
 dream of M'Laren's, or a piece of mockery practised by 
 him and some of his acquaintances upon a person who 
 was then insane. 
 
 CASH IN THE BANK. 
 
 The money which the Poet had deposited in bank 
 was allowed to remain nearly three years, merely drawing 
 the yearly interest accruing on the amount. This fact 
 indicates that he did not require to uplift any portion 
 of the principal sum to meet pressing demands, and 
 proves undoubtedly that he was iiL easy circumstances. 
 Every person who is able to allow his savings to remain 
 in bank is considered to be of an industrious disposi- 
 tion, and not, given to spendthrift or dissipated habits. 
 
Ixxxiv. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 Looking at the amount at the credit of Tannahill, we 
 must say he was both temperate and industrious. The 
 deposit receipt was an excellent certificate of good con- 
 . duct, and completely refutes the unfounded allegation of 
 penury which has been brought against him. The 
 principal sum was not uphfted till May 14, 18 10. 
 
 LAST VISIT. 9 
 
 On i6thof May, 1810, Tannahill walked to Glasgow 
 and called on his friend, Alexander Borland, with whom 
 he had a long conversation; but the speech of Tannahill 
 was so incoherent, that Borland deemed it prudent to 
 accompany him to Paisley. On approaching the road 
 leading to Crocston Castle, — the place where the 
 "Ettrick Shepherd" and the Poet parted in the month 
 of March previous, — Tannahill endeavoured to elude 
 him ; but Borland prevented his doing so, and brought 
 him to the head of Queen Street, and, after seeing him 
 enter his dwelling, returned to Glasgow. 
 
 death. 
 We have heard and read so many different accounts 
 of the melancholy death of the Poet, that it will be a 
 difficult matter to relate the event without contradict- 
 ing one biographer or other, r^, We shall condense all 
 the statements as truthfully as possible. Our whole 
 aim in connection with the present edition is to 
 relate facts. The Poet, it will be observed from our 
 preceding remarks, was sinking under constitutional 
 disease, and the symptoms of aberration of mind were 
 developing. His mental strength had been overworked, 
 and his mind, like a musical chord brought to its fullest 
 tension, was ready to snap. His fine feelings were over- 
 come by unjust criticism, and the sensibility of his 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. IxXXV. 
 
 nature overwhelmed with captious remarks. Both dis- 
 eases were rapidly increasing, and his reason hung like 
 the beam trembling in the balance. His relations 
 observed the progress of the physical disease, but they 
 were loth to believe he was suffering from a disorder 
 the most calamitous that can afflict the human race. 
 Either shortly before or after the arrival of the Poet 
 frCm Glasgow, his two brothers, James and Matthew, 
 called at their mother's house in Queen Street to enquire 
 for their brother, who in the meantime had retired to rest. 
 The eldest son of his youngest brother Andrew, a boy 
 about nine years of age, had been the Poet's bedfellow 
 for some time. The brothers remained two or three 
 hours ; and Mrs. Tannahill, after listening at Robert's 
 bed, and hearing him breathing as in a sound sleep, ad- 
 vised her two sons to go home to their families, and she 
 would attend to him herself They acted on her advice, 
 and she lay down on her bed, as she required a little 
 rest, and unconsciously fell into a drowsy state. Hearing 
 a little noise, she immediately arose and went to the Poet's 
 bed; and discovering it to be empty, she instantly sent for 
 her two sons, James and Matthew, and also for Peter 
 Burnet, a familiar friend and attendant on all occasions. * 
 The three met and resolved that each of them should 
 
 * Peter Burnet, — or Black Peter, as he was called, —was a negro, bom 
 in Virginia in America about 1761. His grandfather was an African 
 negro. He was brought to Scotland in his youth ; and, about 1780, 
 was sent to George Tannahill in Kilmarnock to learn the trade 
 of a millwright. The weaving in Paisley being in a prosperous con- 
 dition, he despatched Black Peter to his cousin, James Tannahill, 
 weaver in Queen Street, Paisley. The first day the negro arrived in 
 Paisley, he made himself as familiar in the Queen Street house as if 
 he had been brought up all his days with the Tannahills ; and 
 he then formed a strong attachment to the family, which continued 
 
IxXXVi. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 take different courses to find the Poet. Burnet went down 
 Queen Street into George Street, where the police night- 
 watchman informed him he had seen a small-sized man 
 hurrying from Queen Street, crossing George Street going 
 westward. Burnet then made for BredUand Road, and 
 soon found the Poet's coat and silver watch on the south 
 side of the culvert of Candren Bum, an inverted stone 
 syphon under the Canal. The instruments of the 
 Humane Society were procured, and the body was lifted 
 therefrom.* The Poet left his mother's house about 
 3 o'clock, and his remains were lying on the bier in the 
 same house by s o'clock in the morning of Thursday, 
 17th May^ 1 8 10. Before eight o'clock the sad 
 intelligence had spread over the whole town, and in 
 every street small groups were congregated talking over 
 the melancholy occurrence. The Poet being so well 
 known and esteemed by his fellow townsmen, his death 
 caused an unusually sad impression on the inhabitants. In 
 
 till his death. He was a well-built man, five feet eight inches high, of 
 great muscular power, and possessed of considerable ability. His dress 
 was something similar to that of Thomas Tannahill, the Poet's eldest 
 brother (already described), with this difference that his coat was 
 brown cloth, and his vest black velvet, covered with gold spangles. 
 Peter bore a respectable character, and was married three times into 
 respectable families. He commenced weaving in Paisley when the trad^e 
 was in its palmiest state, and ended with its worst days in the same town ; 
 and, consequently, tasted both of its prosperity and adversity. After 
 spending upwards of half-a-century in honest industry, he fell into 
 bad health, and his declining years were closed in penury and want. 
 John Parkhill wrote a sketch of Peter's Ufe, — consisting of 24 pages, 
 i2mo, — and Peter, who had a spirit of independence about him, 
 went about the town and sold it himself to obtain his subsistence. 
 He died on 1st August, 1847, aged eighty-six years. 
 
 * The Humane Society was instituted in 1806 ; and William Burns, 
 Esq., to whom the Poet's brother (James) was foreman, was President 
 of the Society in 1810. 
 
LIFE OF TANNAHILL. Ixxxvii. 
 
 the Glasgow Cpw^Vit of Saturday the 19th, and Glasgow 
 Herald of Monday, 21st May, 18 10, the following para- 
 graph appeared : — " Thursday morning a young man was 
 found in a linn in the Cart a little above Paisley. Some 
 of his clothes were found near the spot, which led to the 
 discovery of the melancholy circumstance." This para- 
 graph is a mistake so far as a linn in the Cart is 
 concerned, and the misstatement has led to many 
 mistakes and acrimonious discussions. 
 
 The day after the Poet's decease, John Morton, an 
 acquaintance of the Tannahills, made a sketch of the 
 features of the deceased, which we will notice in a short 
 biography of that individual. 
 
 THE FUNERAL. 
 
 In these days, before Science had spread among the 
 people, they drew no distinction between bodily and 
 mental disease, and applied one inflexible rule of 
 judgment upon the acts of the sane and insane. 
 Mr. James Tannahill, * the eldest brother then 
 living, a very sensible person, resolved, in the circum- 
 
 * John Parkhill, already alluded to, published in i860 "The Life 
 and Opinions of Arthur Sneddon, an Autobiography, " in which he, at 
 page 36, gave by way of illustration, the following character of this 
 esteemed gentleman, — "James Tannahill, the brother of the Poet, a 
 man of sterling ability and integrity, had, during the ferment, been 
 blamed for holding French principles. In the course of time, he 
 became a manufacturer and merchant, attained wealth, and retired 
 from business. For many years, he resided at one of the watering- 
 places on the Clyde. In this beautiful retreat, he enjoyed excellent 
 health ; and for a long period, it was his amusement to write sermons 
 and lectures upon particular portions of the Scriptures. This he con- 
 tinued till the period of his death, enjoying thereby much composure 
 and pleasure. He lived to a good old age, and died with great peace 
 in his own mind as well as with the world, and left, as was to be 
 expected, an extensive circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances. 
 
Ixxxviii. LIFE OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 Stances of the case, to have the funeral as privately as 
 possible, and invited only near relatives to attend, — 
 no invitations being sent to any of the deceased's ac- 
 quaintances. The funeral took place on Monday, 21st 
 May, 1810, — the Rev. John M'Dermid, minister of the 
 West Relief Church, Paisley, officiating as chaplain. 
 The acquaintances of Tannahill, however, met in the 
 house of William Stuart, No. 7 Cross Street, in the 
 neighbourhood of No. 6 Queen Street, and when the 
 mourning relatives moved in the funeral procession the 
 acquaintances fell in behind. The interment took place 
 in the lair, No. 366 of the West Relief (now the United 
 Presbyterian Church) burying ground. Canal Street. 
 
 We conclude the biography with the following natal, 
 nuptial, and obituary table of the Tannahill Family : — 
 
 PARENTS. 
 Names. Births. Mabriages. Deaths. Ages. 
 
 James Tannahill, 9tll May, 1733. )„„,.■.„„ ,,,„5 f 1801 or 1802. 69 
 
 Janet Pollock, 1738. 1 29tliAug.,1763. ^ igti^ Aug., 1822. 84 
 
 CHILDREN. 
 
 Thomas Tannahill, - 2nd Aug., 1764. .. 27th Sept., 1765. 1 
 
 Thomas Tannahill, - 27th Nov. , 1766. .. 1796. 29 
 
 Janet TannahiU, - 23rd Apr., 1769. 27th Jan., 1792. 1803. 34 
 
 James Tannahill, - 17th Sept., 1771. Deo., 1796. 20th Mar., 1843. 72 
 
 Egbert Tannahill, - Srd June, 1774. .. 17th May, 1810. 36 
 
 Matthew Tannahill, - 14th July, 1777. Dec, 1796. 29th June, 1867. 80 
 
 Hugh TannahUl, - 28th Jan., 1780. Aug., 1802. 15th Jan., 1811. 31 
 
 Andrew Tannahill, - 19th Mar., 1784. June, 1801. 25th May, 1811. 27 
 
 His case is but one from numbers I could give, and has been selected 
 on account of the talents and character of the man. " John Parkhill 
 was long well known as the correspondent of the Glasgow newspapers 
 under the signature " Arthur Sneddon. " The origin of his assum- 
 ing this name is accounted for by his being a tenant of a property in 
 Maxwellton belonging to Mr. Arthur Smith, resident in New Sneddon 
 Street. Parkhill, sitting at his loom, could see the laird pass the 
 window ; and he was in the habit of calling out to his shopmates — 
 "There comes 'Arthur Sneddon' again for his rent," until' it 
 was so frequently repeated that the tenant had to assume the 
 sobriquet, instead of the landlord. ParkKill also published a small 
 history of Paisley in 1857. 
 
The gentle Tannahill, the sweet lyrist of Paisley, in his preface to the 
 " Soldier's Return, with other Poems and Songs," published in 1807, 
 modestly stated that the Interlude was undertaken by desire of the late Mr. 
 Archibald Pollock, comedian. After publication, it was very severely 
 criticised and condemned, without taking into consideration that the path 
 of the author was lyrical writing, and not dramatic composition; and ere 
 it was well commenced, Mr. Pollock, for whom it was undertaken, had 
 gone to "that bourne from whence no traveller returns." The author was 
 thus, in his fii-st dramatic attempt, early deprived of the assistance of the 
 gentleman for whom it was to be composed, and the voice that would 
 have infused a spirit into the piece on the stage had become sUent for ever. 
 In these painful circumstances, the author solicited indulgence ; and we 
 are inclined to entertain it favourably, and judge charitably. The six 
 beautiful songs in the first class of lyric poetry introduced by the author 
 into the dialogue, were of such a redeeming quality that they should have 
 saved the whole from the unjust condemnation. At this time, we read 
 the Interlude once, and were well pleased with it ; we read it a second 
 time, and were better pleased with it : and we read it a third time, Mid, 
 looking to the misty horizon, we saw the memorable date mentioned by 
 the Laird— tlie only date given in the piece — 
 
 March tlie EigMh, 
 
 1801, 
 
 and, in the hazy distance, the pictures of the battles of Aboukir and 
 Alexandria, at the last of which Sir Ralph Abercromby was killed. The 
 mist rolled up Uke a curtain, and we then beheld the places described, the 
 scenery painted, and the persons pourtrayed in the pages of the " Soldier's 
 Return," by the pen of the Poet of Nature.— J?(£. 
 
THE PERSONS. 
 
 MEN. 
 The Laird, Colonel of a Scots Regiment. 
 Gaffer, the Laird's Tenant. 
 MuiRLAN Willie, an auld rich dotard. 
 Harry, in love wi Jean. 
 
 WOMEN. 
 MiRREN, Gaffer's Wife, a foolish auld Woman. 
 Jean, Daughter of Gaffer and Mirren, beloved 
 by Willie but in love wi Harry. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 Tannahill generally wrote from real scenery or actual models before 
 him, and did not indulge much in fancy, or fiction. He wf^s a true poet, — 
 free from mercenary motives ; and his love of Nature and the beautiful 
 impelled him to put upon paper hie thoughts, irrespective of pay or patron. 
 The scenery painted in the "Soldier's Return" at once pointed out the 
 place where the plot was laid ; the portraiture of the Laird, Colonel of a 
 Scots Regiment, indicated Robert Pulton, Esq., younger, of Hartfield and 
 Craigmuir, Captain in the 79th Regiment or Cameron Highlanders ; and the 
 description of the other dramatis pers&ius were evidently residents near 
 the Alt Patrick Bum, and were said to have been a bleacher at Foxbar, and 
 the tenant of the mailing of High Dykes, his wife, daughter, and herd. 
 
 Robert Pulton, the eldest son of Robert Fulton, Esq., of Hartfield, one of 
 the partners of the eminent firm of ■ Messrs. Pultons and Pollock, the 
 extensive manufacturers of silk gauze and other valuable textile fabrics at 
 Maxwelton of Paisley, was bom in 1776. His father purchased the estate 
 of Hartfield, including Craigmuir, in 1789 ; and he assumed the title of 
 Robert Pulton, Esq., of Hartfield,' and the son was called ''younger of 
 Hartfield," and popularly by the tenants of the estate, and by the weavers of 
 Paisley, *'The young Laird." Robert Fulton, younger of Hartfield, on his 
 arriving at majority, in 1797, was appointed one of the first Lieutenants of 
 the Renfrewshire Volunteers, raised after the outbre^ of the French 
 Revolution. In 1798, he obtained a commission, and entered as junior 
 Lieutenant of the first class of Lieutenants in the 2lBt Regiment of Foot, 
 or North British Pusiliers. In the year 1799, a failure of the harvest 
 occurred, and that sad calamity affected the trade of the town considerably. 
 The British Army, at that distressing period, required to be strengthened to 
 meet the menaces of the French Republic ; and it was considered a proper 
 time to send recruiting parties to Paisley to enlist the young men in 
 depressed circumstances. Party after party came to Paisley, tmtil there 
 were as many as twenty different recruiting parties in the town at one 
 time. The burgh was kept in a continual state of excitement by 
 these parties constantly parading the streets, gaudily decorated vrith 
 ribbons and feathers, preceded by hands of martial music, to entice 
 young men into their ranks. Sir AIati Cameron, the Commander of the 
 79th Regiment, paraded with his party, and made himself very familiar 
 with the young men, and it became the popular regiment with the Paisley 
 lads. In that year. Lieutenant Fulton of the Fusiliers was promoted to 
 a Captaincy in the 79th,- which increased the popularity of that corps, 
 from the influence of the young Laird among the operatives of Paisley, and 
 farmers' sons and servants on Gleniffer Braes and Hartfield estate, and 
 their acquaintances. Persons who did not incline for the army, or were 
 unfit for soldiers, removed out of town, and Tannahill and his brother Hugh 
 went to England, where they remained nearly two years. The following 
 year — 1800, the last year of the eighteenth century, was a dark black year ; 
 food riots occurred, so that it was called the year of tho great dearth. Recruit- 
 ing was still continued. The British Fleet, with troops on board, sailed 
 from Southampton on 16th August, 1800, and arrived at Ferrol on the 26th 
 of the same month. The fleet, after cruising on the Spanish coast, put to 
 
THE SOLDIER S RETURN. 
 
 sea on 23rd February, and arrived in Aboukir Bay, Egypt, on 1st March, 
 1801 ; but fronuthe tempestuous state of the weather, landing was prevented 
 till "March the eighth, that memorable day/' The 79th was brigaded with 
 the 2nd and 50th regiments, and were engaged in the battles of the 16th 
 and 21st March, 1801. The British were, on both occasions, victorious ; but 
 in the latter battle the British Army sustained an irreparable loss in the 
 death of their disUnguished Commander, Sir Ralph Abercromby. The 
 Eoyid authority was granted to the 79th to bear the figure of the Sphinx, 
 with the word Egypt, on their colours ; and Captain Robert Fulton received 
 the decoration of a gold medal, from the Sultan Selim III., for that 
 campaign. The regiment returned to Scotland, and landed at Kirkcaldy on 
 2nd August, 1802. Captain Fulton married his cousin, Miss Jane M'KerreH, 
 daughter of John M'Kerrell, Esq., of Hihhouse, Ayrshire, in November, 1803, 
 
 Captain Fulton was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the 
 2nd Battalion on 28th May, 1807. The 79th was engaged at the bombardment 
 of Copenhagen on 2nd September, 1807, accomplished their object, and 
 returned to Scotland in November following. On X3th May, 1811, Lieutenant 
 Colonel Fulton was transferred to the 1st Battalion, and took the command 
 of the regiment at Vellades in Spain. The regiment was engaged at the 
 Battle of Salamanca on 22nd July, 1812, and they obtained the Royal 
 authority for the word " Salamanca " on their colours ; and the Prince 
 Regent's gold medal was conferred upon the commanding of&cer, Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Fulton. The Colonel retired from the regiment on 3rd December, 
 1812, returned to Scotland, resided at Maxwelton House, Paisley, and 
 looked after the improvement of Hartfield estate. His portly form and 
 stiff military w^lk was" long known in Paisley streets passing between his 
 residence and the Reading-Room. He was a Freeholder, Commissioner of 
 Supply, and Justice of the Peace for the County of Renfrew. He died on 
 2nd July, 1851, in the 75th year of his age. 
 
 The tenant of the mailing of High Dykes in 1803 was Robert Dewar, who 
 came from Kinloch Rannoch, and Jean Burton, his wife, from Aberfeldy ; 
 but when they arrived in this district of country, cannot be ascertained. 
 In 1795, Robert Dewar became tenant on a nineteen years' tack of High 
 Dykes mailing, lying on the east and south sides of the Aid Patrick Bum 
 on the Newton estate, belonging to Archibald Speirs, Esq., of Elderslie. 
 The landlord of Newton estate neither held a commission in a, Scots 
 regiment nor was he at the Battle of Aboukir in 1801. Robert Dewar was 
 a very clannish person, and partial to Highlanders ; and Mrs. Dewar was a 
 worldly-minded woman, bent on making riches. At the time of entering 
 upon the lease their daughter Isobel, popularly calJed Bell Dewar, was about 
 tiiirteen years of age, and she became a very smart, active, tidy dairymaid, 
 and drove the milk cart into Paisley, as was the custom with farmer's 
 daughters in those days, to dispose of the dairy produce to the weavers* 
 wives ij> the west end of that town. She was naturally clever, and could 
 converse fluently both in the Gaelic and English languages. Robert Dewar 
 and his family attended the Gaelic Church, Paisley, during'the incumbency 
 of Rev. Walter Blair. Bell Dewar, whose highland airs had been considerably 
 mollified by Lowland manners, came to church on Sundays dressed in the 
 
NOTES. 
 
 prevailing fashions of the period, and from her handsome appearance and 
 rural beauty she was called by farmers* sons " The Queen of the Gaelic Kirk." 
 She had wooers nine or ten, and her father favoured those with youth and 
 Highland blood, and the worldly mother encouraged those with money^ 
 however aged. The beautiful rustic maid, as a matter of course, preferred 
 young yellow-haired Highland laddies to the bachelors of middle age, with 
 lyart locks. Mrs. Dewar died at High Dykes, and Robert Dewar removed at 
 the expiry of his lease to the village of Sclates, on the road between Paisley 
 and Johnstone, and died there in 1817 in the 72nd year of his age. Isobel 
 Dewar was married, and she and her husband removed to Nova Scotia, where 
 they both died. The portraiture of the bleacher is so well drawn by the 
 poet throughout the Interlude that there can be no mistake he intended to 
 represent Mr, William Bobertson. He died a bachelor on 6th March, 
 1831, in the 73rd year of his age. 
 
 AH these places and persons on Newton estate would be well known to 
 Tannahill, as he frequently travelled by Aid Patrick Burn, past High 
 Dykes, across the stream at Qlmfeoch to the road, either at Craigmuir or 
 Craigenfeoch. These remarks respecting the residents on Newton estate 
 are supported by the rental books, which are still preserved, and confirmed 
 by the son of the former tenant of Craigmuir, now 87 years of age, who was 
 well acquainted with them in his youth.— ^d. 
 
1. 
 THE SOLDIER'S RETURN. 
 
 ACT I. 
 
 SCENE I. 
 
 A range o hills''' , oerhung wi waving wuds. 
 That spread their dark gree?i bosoms tae the duds, 
 An seem tae crave the tribute of a showr, 
 Gratefu taewooAlan plant and mountain flow'r ;— 
 A glen beneath, frae whilk a bickrin burn 
 Strays roun the knowes, wi bonnie wimplin turn. 
 Syne trottin dounwards thro the cultured lans, 
 Runs by whar Gaffer's humble biggin stans ; 
 His wife an him are at some family plea, 
 Tae hear what ails them, just step in an see. 
 
 * This range of hills is the western portion of Paisley Braes^ comprising 
 Bardrain Muir on the east side of Aid Patrick Bum, and Craigmuir on the 
 west side of the stream, then covered with plantations. The glen beneath, 
 is the very deep ravine of the bum between Bardrain Muir and Craigmuir, 
 immediately below the fall of twenty-five feet in the bum. The bum on 
 emerging from the glen makes several graceful serpentine curves in flowing 
 downwards past the mailings of High Dykes and Low Bardrain. Gaffer's 
 humble houses have been taken down, and the materials used in building 
 dry stone dykes, while the mailings of High Dykes and Low Bardrain are 
 now merged into one farm. 
 
 Hauld, Alt, or Aid Patrick Bum, is the western boundary of the extensive 
 grant of "all the land between Hauld Patrick and Espedare,— as Hauld 
 Patrick falls into Eert Lochwinnoc, and the Espedare falls towards the 
 land of the Monks lying between the Black Lynn and the Kirk of Pasle," 
 contained in a Charter executed about 1208 by Walter Stewart III, High 
 Steward of Scotland (nineteenth grandfather, in lineal ascent, \o Queen 
 Victoria), to the Abbot and Monks of Paisley. The bum musb have borne 
 that ancient name of Patrick before 1208, nearly 700 years ago ; and we may 
 be permitted to conjecture it was called after the individual who sub- 
 sequently became the patron saint of Ireland. That large tract of land 
 would be nearly five miles in length from south to north, and two and a-half 
 
POEMS. 
 
 Gaffer and Mirren. 
 
 Mirren. 
 
 " Love shoud be free !" — My trouth, but ye craw crouse, 
 
 You a gudeman, an canna rule your house ! 
 
 Had I a faither's power, I'd let her see, 
 
 Wi vengeance, whether or no that luve be free. 
 
 She kens richt weel Muirlan has ilk thing ready, 
 
 An fit tae keep her buskit like a leddie : 
 
 Yet sunes she hears me mention Muirlan WiUie, 
 
 She skits an flings like ony towmont fiUie 
 
 Deil, nor ye'd broke your leg, gaun cross the hallan, 
 That day ye fee'd the skelpor Hielan callan ; 
 Weve fed him, cled him — whats oiu- mense fort a ? 
 Base wretch, tae steal our dochter's heart awa ! 
 "Love shoud be free !" gude trouth, a bonnie story ! 
 That Muirlan maun be lost for Hielan Harry. 
 Muirlan comes doun this nicht — tae tauk's nae use. 
 For she shall gie consent or lea the hoose. 
 Oddsaffs ! my heart near did wallop cadgier 
 Than whan the Laird took Harry for a sodger ; 
 An noo she sits a day, sae dowf an blearie. 
 An sings luve sangs about her Hielan Harry. 
 
 Gaf. Indeed, gudewife, the lad did weel eneuch, 
 Was eident ay, an deftly hel the pleuch ; 
 
 miles in breadth from east to west. In 1488, the Burgh of Paisley was 
 erected out of that large tract of land : and in 1545, and subsequent years. 
 Abbot Hamilton and the Monks of Paisley feued the remainder named 
 Weodside, Ferguslie, Newton, Brediland, Meikleriggs, Carriagehills, Black- 
 land, and Lylesland.— ^)i. 
 
THE SOLDIER S RETURN. 
 
 But Muirlan's up in years, an shame tae tell, 
 Has ne'er been marrit, tho as auld's mysel ; 
 His locks are lyart, an his joints are stiff, 
 A staff wad set him better than a wife. 
 Suner shall roses in December blaw, 
 Suner shall tulips flourish in the snaw, 
 Suner the wuds shall bud wi winter's cauld 
 Than lasses quit a young man for an auld : 
 Yet, she may tak him gin she likes, for me, 
 My say shall never mak them disagree. 
 
 Mir. Ye hinna the ambition o a moose ; 
 She'll gie consent this nicht, or lea the hoose. 
 
 Enter Jean in haste. 
 
 'yean. Faither, the sheep are nibblin in the corn. 
 Wee Sandy's chaint auld Bawtie tae the thorn, 
 An bawsond Crummock's broken frae the staw ; 
 Och ! a's gane wrang since Harry gaed awa. \Aside. 
 
 Gaf. A hoose divided, a gangs tae the deil. — Exit. 
 
 Mir. Dochter, come here; — noo, let us reason ceevil. 
 Isnt siller maks oor leddies gang sae braw ? 
 Isnt siller buys their cleuks an bonnets a ? 
 Isnt siller busks them up wi silks an satins, 
 Wi' umbrellas,* muffs, claith shune, an pattens ? 
 
 * Umbrellas were Introduced into Paisley in 1788 by Mr. Alexander Weir, 
 merchant at the Cross of Paisley ; and the first or original one, which he 
 brought from Edinburgh, is still in existence, and In possession of his 
 
 B 
 
12 POEMS. 
 
 My heart sank wi wa? on the wearifu day, 
 
 When torn frae my bosom they march'd him awa, 
 He bade me fareweel, he cried " O be leel," 
 
 An his red cheeks war wet wi the tears that did fa. 
 Ah ! Harry, my love, tho thou ne'er shouldst return. 
 
 Till hfe's latest hour I thy absence will mourn. 
 An memory shall fade, like the leaf on the tree. 
 
 E'er my heart spare ae thocht on anither but thee. 
 
 [Exit. 
 
 ACT I. 
 
 SCENE IJ. 
 
 Harry returned, as servant tae the Laird. 
 Finds, for a whyle, his presence may be spar'd, 
 An here, his lane, he wanders o'er each scene, 
 Whar first he lov'd and fondly woo'd his Jean ; 
 He sees her cot, and fain wad venture in. 
 But weel he minds her mithers no hisfrien. 
 
 Harry. 
 
 Tir'd with the painful sight of human ills, 
 Hail Caledonia 1 hail my native hills ! 
 
THE soldier's RETURN. 13 
 
 Here exil'd Virtue rears her humble cell, 
 With Nature's jocund, honest sons to dwell ; 
 And Hospitality, with open door, 
 Invites the stranger and the wand'ring poor ; 
 Tho winter scowls along our northern sky. 
 In hardships rear'd we learn humanity : * 
 Nor dare deceit here point her rankling dart, 
 A.Scotsman's eye's the window of his heart.— 
 When fate and adverse fortune bore me far, 
 O'er field and flood to join the din of war, 
 
 My young heart sickened, gloomy was my mind, 
 My love, my friends, my country all behind. 
 But whether tost upon the briny flood. 
 Or dragged to combat in the scene of blood, 
 Hope, like an angel, charmed my cares away, 
 And pointed forward to this happy day. 
 Full well I mind the breckan skirted thorn, 
 That sheds its milk white blossoms by the burn. 
 There first my heart life's highest bliss did prove, 
 Twas there my Jeanie, blushing, owned her love. 
 The dark green plantin on the mountain's brow. 
 The yellow whins an broomy knowes below, 
 Bring to my mind the happy, happy days, 
 
 I spent with her upon these rural braes 
 
 But while remembrance thus my bosom warms, 
 
 I long to clasp my charmer in my arms. [£!xtf. 
 
14 POEMS. 
 
 ACT I. 
 
 SCENE III. 
 
 Noo Mirren's tae the burn tae sine ker Mm, 
 Here Jeanie, wae/u, sits an reels herfirn. 
 While honest Gaffer, ay for peace inclin'd, 
 Is haflins vext, an freely speaks his mind. 
 
 Gaffer. 
 
 Thy mither's gair an set upon the warl, 
 Its Muirlan's gear that gars her Hke the carl, 
 But Nature bids thee spurn the silly tyke, 
 An wha woud wed wi ane they canna lyke ; 
 Just speak thy mind an tell him ance for a, 
 That auchteen neer can gree wi saxty-iwa ; * 
 A mair disgustin sicht I never knew, 
 Thzxi youthfu folly neath an' auld grey pow. 
 
 Enter Mirren, blythely. 
 
 Mir. Here comes oor neibour hurryin frae the muir, 
 Mak a things snod, fey haste, redd up the flure ; 
 The hke o him tae veesit you an me. 
 Reflects an honour on oor family ; 
 
 '•The poet has apparently used his poetic Uoence in making the maid too 
 young and the bachelor too old.— ^ci. 
 
THE soldier's RETURN. 15 
 
 Noo lassie, min my hie command in this, 
 Whate'er Muirlan says, ye'U answer Yes. 
 
 yean. Whatever Muirlan says ! it shall be So, 
 But sune as mornin comes I'll answer No. [Aside. 
 
 Enter Muirlan. 
 
 Muir. Peace to this biggin— he ! he ! he ! (Giggles.) 
 
 Hoo's a ? 
 
 Mir. Gaily, a-thank ye — William, come awa, 
 An tell us hoo ye fen this nicht yoursel ? 
 
 Muir. He ! he ! His name be praised ! feth, unco weel, 
 I ne'er was hauf sae Strang in a my days ; 
 I'm grown sae fat, I'm like tae burst my claise ! 
 Nae wonner o't ! I'm just noo at my prime ; 
 I'm just woo five and thretty* come the time ! 
 Ho ! ho ! ho ! ho ! (coughs) I pity them wha's auld ! 
 Yestreen I catcht a wee bit croichle o cauld. 
 
 Gaf. (disgusted). I micht excuse a foolish, untaucht 
 
 (bairn ; 
 But second childhood, sure will never learn. \Aside. 
 
 \Exit. 
 
 MuiRLAND, half-blind with age, slips on his Spectacles 
 secretly, recognises Jean, advances to her, and sings. 
 
 * The poet, of course, makes the bachelor say he is youuger than he is. — Ed. 
 
1 6 POEMS. 
 
 SONG. 
 
 Air — " Whistle owre the lave o't." 
 
 O lassie will ye tak a man, 
 
 Rich in hoosin, geir, an Ian. 
 
 Deil tak the cash ! that I soud ban, 
 
 Nae mair 111 be the slave o't ; 
 111 buy you claise tae busk ye braw, 
 A ridin pownie, pad an a,* 
 On fashions tap weel drive awa, 
 
 Whip, spur, an a the lave o't. 
 
 O poortith is a winter day, 
 Cheerless, blirtie, caul an blae, 
 But baskin under Fortune's ray. 
 
 There's joy whate'er ye'd have o't ; 
 Then gies your han, ye'll be my wife, 
 111 mak you happy a your life, 
 We'll row in luve an siller rife, 
 
 Till death win up the lave o't. 
 
 Mir. Nae toilin there tae raise a heavy rent, 
 Oor fortune's made — O lassie gie consent ! [Aside to yean. 
 
 ■^ William Kobei-tson was an excellent equestrian, and always kept a pony 
 for riding ; and many persons will yet recollect Moi coming into Paisley 
 on his pony on the market days — Thursday — and the Abbey Church on 
 Sundays. In 1819, when he was sixty years of age, he joined the Renfrew- 
 shire Yeomanry Cavalry, raised that year to suppress the Radical risings of 
 that period. His age and wilzart appearance were very offensive to the 
 regiment ; but he could sit on the saddle, and go through the exercise as 
 actively as the youngest trooper. It may be stated that Bell Dewar was 
 also an able equestrian, and "a ridin pony, pad, an a," would be a proper 
 presentation to her. -Ed. 
 
THE soldier's RETURN. 1 7 , 
 
 Mtiir. Ye'll get a gouden ring an siller broach, 
 An noo an then we'll hurl in a coach ; 
 Tae shew we're gentle, whan we wauk on fit, 
 In passin puir fouk hoo we'll flucht an skit ! 
 
 jfean. An tho ye're rather auld, I'm rather young; 
 Oor ages mixt will stap the warl's tongue. 
 
 Muir. Auld, say ye ! Na. Ye surely speak in jest. 
 Your mither kens I'm just noo at my best ! "* 
 
 Mir. The lass is blunt ; she means na as she says : 
 Ye ne'er leuk't hauf sae weel in a your days ! ! ! 
 Wi cannie care I've spun a pickle yairn. 
 That, honest like, we micht set aff oor bairn ; 
 If gang wi me, we'll o'er tae Wabster Pate's,* 
 And see him weavin at the bridal sheets. 
 
 Muir. The bridal sheets ! he ! he ! he ! he ! what bliss ! 
 The bridal sheets ! O, gies an erl kiss 1 
 
 Mir. Fey ! come awa, and dinna think o kissiii 
 Till ance Mess John hae gien you'baith his blessin. 
 
 \Exeunt. 
 
 Jean, solus. 
 
 Alas ! my mither's just like Whang the Miller, t 
 O'ertums her hoose in hopes o finnin siller ! 
 
 * This weaver is the same person mentioned In tlie Kebbuokston Wedding 
 (No. 109) as "WeePatieBrydie."— ^A 
 
 t Oliver Goldsmith, historian, poet and essayist, who was born on 10th 
 November, 1728, and died 4th April, 1774, wrote, in his Citizen of the World, 
 
 G 
 
1 8 POEMS. 
 
 For sune's I see the mornin's first faint gleam, 
 She waukens sorrowin ffae her gouden dream. 
 
 SONG. 
 
 Air. — " Morn ecu I Gahcrland,"* • 
 
 Blythe was the time when he fee'd wi my faither, O, 
 Happy war the days when we herded thegither, O, 
 Sweet war the hours when he rowed me in his plaidie. C 
 An vow'd tae be mine, my dear Hielan laddie, O ; 
 
 But ah ! vvaes me ! wi their sodg'rin sae gaudie, O, 
 The Laird's wyst awa my braw Hielan laddie, O, 
 Misty are the glens, an the dark hills sae cludie, O, 
 That ay seemt sae blythe wi my dear Hielan laddie, O. 
 
 The blaeberry banks, noo, are lanesome an dreary, O, 
 Muddy are the streams that gusht doun sae clearly, O, 
 Silent are the rocfes that echoed sae gladly, O, 
 The wild meltin strains o my dear Hielan laddie, O. 
 
 the dream of Whang the Miller. He represented the Chinese Whang, as 
 naturally an avaricious man, and, with all his eagerness for riches, was al- 
 ways poor. The Miller heard of a neighbour finding a pan of money after 
 dreaming for thi'ee nights running. Wliang commenced dreaming, and for 
 three nights successively, dreamed that a monstrous pan filled with gold and 
 diamonds was concealed under the principal foundation of the mill. He 
 commenced digging under the wall, and latterly came upon a broad flat 
 stone, but could not remove it. He ran for the assistance of his wife, and 
 divulged the great secret to her. She flew into a rapture of joy, and both 
 rmming to remove the flat stone to hug the gold and diamonds, they found 
 the mill had fallen from being undermined, instead of finding the treasure. 
 —:E(1. 
 
 * Wofe hy Lamb. —" &. A. Smith, in his ' Scottish Minstrel,' calls the air 
 to which this song is sung, ' Mor nian a Gaberland.' These verses are those 
 of the Interlude, a fourth verse appearing in the 1816 edition." 
 
 Umitem I eaSerJanc!— Tannahill ; Mor nian a Qaierhmd— Smith, is Irish. 
 
THE soldier's RETURN. 19 
 
 Fareweel my ewes ! an fareweel my doggie, O, 
 Fareweel ye knowes ! noo sae cheerless an scroggie, O, 
 Fareweel Glenfeooh ! * ray mammie an my daddie, O, 
 I will lea ye a for my dear Hielan laddie, O. f 
 
 Thro distant touns I'll stray a hapless stranger, 
 In thochts o him I'll brave pale want an danger, 
 An as I go, puir, weepin, mournfu pond'rer. 
 Still some kind heart will cheer the weary wand'rer. 
 
 [Exit. 
 
 Both seem to be phonetically written, and mean " Sarah, the daughter 
 from Gaberland." — £d. 
 
 * Glen-Ieoch. This name was made by the Poet adding to the word Glen, 
 the syllable /eoc/t, borrowed from the word " CraigeiV'eocA," the name of the 
 farm on the north-west side of Alt Patrick burn, opposite Highdykes. It has 
 the ring of a true Gaelic name, and if it had not been called Glen-feoch before, 
 it should have been. Tannahill uses his new name of Glen-feoch both for 
 the glen and the farm of Highdykes. And how sweetly would Jean, otherwise 
 Bell Dewar, pronounce the new Gaehc name of Glenfeoch, and translate it 
 "The Raven's Glen."— Sd. 
 
 t This song was first printed (1806) in No. III. of a local periodical,— 
 the Paisley JJepository,— published by John Miller, bookseller, Sandholes, 
 Paisley. The song contained Ave verses, and the fourth verse was as 
 follows :— 
 
 " He pu'd me the orawberry, ripe frae the boggy ien, 
 He pu'd me the strawberry, red fi'ae the foggy glen. 
 He pu'd me the row'n frae the wild steep sae giddy, 0, 
 Sae lovin an kind was my dear Hielan laddie, 0." 
 
 It did not appear in the 1807, 1822, 1825, and 1846 editions, but in the 
 other editions, and also in this volume (No. 82.) The Sepositmi/ consisted of 
 24 Nob. at a Id. each, and was published without dates, between 1804 and 1812. 
 It is very difficult to procure a complete set of the numbers. The Scottish 
 Minstrel consisted of 6 vols., published between 1821 and lS2i.— Ed. 
 
20 POEMS. 
 
 ACT 11. 
 
 SCENE I. 
 
 Gaffer's House. 
 
 Jean J her la?ie. 
 
 SONG. 
 
 Set to Music by Mr. R. A. Smith.* 
 Also by Mr. John Ross, Aberdeen, 
 
 Lang syne, beside the woodlan.bum, 
 
 Amang the brume sae yellow, 
 I leant me neath the milkwhite thorn^ 
 
 O nature's mossy pillow ; 
 
 * R. A. Smith (Robert Archibald Smith) was bom on 16th November, 
 1780, at Reading, in Berkshire, and consequently was six and a-half years 
 younger than Tannahill. He was the son of Robert Smith, weaver, a native 
 of Kilbride, who had been for some time a sUk weaver in Paisley. His 
 father had left Paisley for better trade, and settled in Reading, where he 
 married Ann Whitcher. The boy Robert gave early indications of musical 
 genius. He was, however, brought up to the trade of a weaver, for which 
 he had no aptitude, — music and musical instruments being his ruling 
 passion. He became a member of a church choir, and also joined the band 
 of a volunteer regiment. The family came to Paisley in 1800, when Robert 
 was twenty years of a^e. If Robert hated the loom in Reading, he detested 
 the loom in the weaver-town of Paisley. The manners of the young English 
 weaver were so different from the Scottish, particularly the Paisley youths, 
 that a short time elapsed before advances were made on either side towards 
 fellowship. He married in 1802. In 1303, he joined the Baud of the Second 
 Regiment of Volunteers, called the "Gentle Corps," and also commenced 
 the teaching of music. At this period, Tannahill was engaged upon the 
 Interlude of the Soldier's Return, and composing the songs which sparkle 
 with such brilliaucy through its pages. These songs have been sung while 
 
THE soldier's RETURN. 
 
 A roun my seat the flowers were strewed, 
 That frae the wild wood I had pued, 
 Tae weave mysel a simmer snood, * 
 Tae pleasure my dear fellow. 
 
 I twined the woodbine roun the rose, 
 
 Its richer hues tae mellow. 
 Green sprigs o fragrant birk I chose, 
 
 Tae busk the segg sae yellow. 
 
 they were in manuscript ; and the singing of the immediately preceding 
 one, 
 
 " Blythe was the time when he fee'd wi my Faither, O," 
 
 had a certain effect upon Mr. Smith, who happened to have been present and 
 heard it. In writing a letter to a friend, he related the circumstance, — an 
 extract from which will be found in the " Essay" in the Harp of MenfreiO' 
 shire of 1819 ; but, unfortunately, the editor neither gives the date of the 
 letter, nor the person to whom it was addressed. Mr. Smith said — "My 
 first introduction to Tannabill was in consequence of hearing his song, 
 " Blythe was the time" sung while it was yet in manuscript. I was much 
 struck with the beauty and natural simplicity of the language, that I found 
 means shortly afterwards of being introduced to its author. The acquain- 
 tance thus formed between us gradually ripened into a warm and steady 
 friendship that was never inten-upted in a single instance till his lamented 
 death." This introduction probably occurred in the begiiming of the year 
 1804. Mr. Smith was appointed Precentor of the Abbey Church of Paisley in 
 1807 through the influence of Eev. Robert Boog, D.D., minister of the first 
 charge, and he formed a band, which soon became one of the best choirs in any 
 Presbyterian Church. . Dr. Boog himself was passionately fond of music ; 
 and with the view of assisting Smith's studies, the doctor introduced >iiTTn 
 to Walter Young, D.D., minister of Erskine, who was distinguished for his 
 profound and scientific knowledge of harmony. Tannabill, in a letter to 
 James Barr, dated 5th January, 1808 (which will be found in the Corres- 
 pondence), in reference to Smith, says — " He has been down, on invitation, 
 spending two days of the New Year with the doctor at Erskine." We have 
 given a copy of the handbill issued by Smith, informing the ladies and 
 gentlemen of Paisley that he would give a concert on Tuesday, 3rd May, 
 1808. It vrill be found among the Correspondence. During 1821-24, Smith 
 published his Scottish Minstrel in 6 vols. In August, 1823, he was 
 appointed Precentor of Saint George's Church, Edinburgh. In 1827, 
 his Select Melodies appeared. Mr. Smith was also a poet, and six of his 
 songs have been printed. He died at Edinburgh on 3rd January, 1829, 
 in the 49th year of his age. — Ed. 
 
 » ^iqblematic of a mijid.— JfcZ, 
 
22 POEMS. 
 
 The crawflower blue, an meadow pink, 
 I wove in primrose-braided link, 
 But little, little did I think 
 I shoud hae wove the willow. 
 
 My bohnie lad was forct afar, 
 
 Tost on the raging billow. 
 Perhaps he's faun in bludie war. 
 
 Or wreckt on rocky shallow. 
 Yet, ay I hope for his return. 
 As roun oor wonted haunts I mourn. 
 And aften by the woodlan burn 
 
 I pu the weepin willow.* 
 
 Enter Muirlan. 
 
 Muir. Feth! Patie's spool jinks thro wi wondrous 
 An ay it minds me o " the bridal nicht !" (micht, 
 
 I've rowth o sheets, sae ne'er fash your thumb — 
 O ! gie's ae kiss before your minnie come. 
 
 Harry enters — Jeanie kens him — 
 
 Past he grips her till his breast — 
 Willie gapes, anglowrs, an sanes him. 
 
 Sins an roars like ane possest; 
 Wild, wilyart fancies revel in his brain — 
 They baith rin affan lea him a his lane. 
 
 Muir. O, murder, murder ! — O ! — I'll dee wi fear ! 
 O Gaffer ! Mirren ! — 0, come here, come here ! 
 
 * To puU the mllow.—la go into mourning for a sweetheart.— £«. 
 
THE soldier's RETURN. 23 
 
 E7tter MiRREN, in haste. 
 
 Mir. The peesweep's scraichin owre the sfimkie cairn 1 
 My heart bodes ill— O, William, whar's my bairn i 
 
 Muir. A- great red dragon, wi a warlock claw, 
 Has come, and wi your dochter flown awa ! ! I 
 
 Enter Gaffer, /« haste. 
 
 Gaf. What awfu cry was that I heard within ? 
 What maks you glowr, an what caus't a yon din ? 
 
 Mir. A great big dragon, wi a red airn claw, 
 Has come, an wi oor dochter flown awa ! {Crying.) 
 
 Muir. Its head was covered wi a black airn ladle ! 
 Black legs it had, an tail as sharp's a needle ! 
 A great red ee stood stairin in its breast ! * 
 I'm like to swarf — O, twas a fearfu beast ! 
 
 Mir. The craw that biggit in the stackyaird thorn, 
 Scraicht an forsook its nest when she was born ; 
 Three pyats t crost the kirk when she was christen'd, 
 I've heard it tauld, an trembl'd while I listen'd. 
 O, dule an wae ! My dream's been redd richt sune ! 
 Yestreen I dreamt twa mice had hol'd the mune. 
 
 Gaf. The swurd o Justice ne'er fa's unwrocht for ! 
 But come, — alive or deid, let's seek oor dochter. 
 
 * The brass breastplate of the 70th had the figure of the Sphinx, aiid the 
 words " Bgmont-op-Zee " and "Egypt" upon it. The Egyptian Sphinx 
 .was the representation of half a woman and half a lion. — J?cZ. 
 
 t Magpies — Birds of ill-omen. 
 
2i^ POEMS. 
 
 Muir. I'll no be weel this month— O, what a fricht ! 
 I'll no gang owre the Muir, my lane, this nicht. [Exeunt. 
 
 ACT II. 
 
 SCENE II. 
 
 A briery bank, ahint a hrumy knonae, 
 Oor youthfu loving couple hid frae view, 
 Their vows renew, an here wi leuks sae sweet. 
 They set their tryst whar neist again tae meet. 
 
 yean. 
 
 My heart shall, ever gratefu, bless the Laird, 
 Wha shew'd my dearest Harry such regaird, 
 Restored you tae oor hills an rural plain, 
 Frae wars fatigues safe tae my airms again. 
 
 Harry. Remote from bustling camps and war's alarms, 
 Thus, let me ever clasp thee in my arms. 
 
 yean. But here, my lad, we dauma weel be seen ; 
 Dear Harry ! say, whar will we meet at een ? 
 
THE soldier's RETURN. 25 
 
 SONG. 
 
 Set to Music by Mr. John Ross, Aberdeen* 
 Harry. 
 
 We'll meet beside the dusky glen, on yon burn side, 
 Whar the bushes form a cozie den, on yon burn side, 
 
 Tho the bruiny knowes be green, 
 
 Yet, there we may be seen, 
 But we'll meet — ^we'll meet at een, doun by yon burn side. 
 
 I'll lead thee to the birken bow'r, on yon burn side, 
 Sae sweetly wove wi woodbine flow'r, on yon bum side, 
 There the busy prying eye. 
 Ne'er disturbs the lovers' joy, 
 While in ithers' arms they lie, doun by yon bum side, 
 
 Awa, ye rude unfeeling crew, frae yon burn side. 
 Those fairy scenes are no for you, by yon burn side, — 
 There Fancy smooths her theme. 
 By the sweetly murm'ring'stream, 
 An the rock-lodg'd echoes skim, doun by yon burn side. 
 
 * ^oU by Lamb.— "For this fine scng, R. A. Smith arranged the air of 
 
 * There grows a bonule brier bush,' or, as he has it in his Scottish Minstrel, 
 ' The Brier Bush,' second set. This is the song which Tannahill heard a 
 couDtry lass lilting in a field when he was taking a lonely walk one evening. 
 The incident was one of the happiest the poet ever experienced. Two 
 localities in the neighbourhood of Paisley are named as the scene of this 
 Bong. One — the lower portion of Gleniffer ; the other— a beautiful spot on 
 the Alt-Patrick Bum, near Elderslie. Mr. Matthew Tannahill, the poet's 
 brother, held to the former locaUty, and he gave aa his reason, as Mr. Hugh 
 Macdonald reports, that Robert and he were walking along the Braes of 
 Gleniffer on a summer evening, when the valley of the Clyde was filled with 
 the radiance of the setting sun. On gazing on the plivy of the sunbeams 
 upon certain trees in the landscape, 'Look here, Matthew,' said Robert, 
 
 * did you ever see apything so exquisitely beautiful 1 Why, the very leaves 
 glimmer as gin they were tinged wi goud.' Soon after this song appeared, 
 with its beautiful bit of imagery— 'Noo the plantin taps are tinged wi 
 goud.' This fixed Gleniffer as the 'dusky glen' in Matthew's mind. Most 
 of the local admirers of Tannahill, however, beheve in the Alt-Patrick 
 picturesque ravine as tho ' dusky glen.' " 
 
2 6 POEMS. 
 
 Noo the plantin taps are ting'd \vi goud, on yon burn side, 
 An gloamin draws lier fuggy shroud o'er yon burn side, 
 
 Far frae the noisy scene, 
 
 I'll thro the fiel's alane. 
 There we'll meet — my ain dear Jean ! doun by yon burn side. 
 
 yean. I'll jeer my ancient wooer hame, an then 
 I'll meet you at the op'ning o the glen.* \Exit, separately. 
 
 ACT II. 
 
 SCENE III. 
 Gaffer's House. 
 
 Wi uusuccessfu search the ghaist-rid three, 
 Hae socht the boortree bank, an hemlock lee. 
 The nettle corner, an the rowntree brae. 
 Sue here they come, a' sunk in deepest wae. 
 
 Gaffer, 
 
 Alas ! Gudewife, oor search has been in vain, 
 Come o't what will, my bosom's wrung wi pain ; 
 I hafiins think his ee?t hae him mislippen'd. 
 But, Oh ! it's hard to say what may hae happen' d. 
 
 * The scene of tliis song is unquestionably Alt-Patrick Bum. The now 
 classic name of " The Dusky Glen " was very appropriately hestowed by the 
 jjoet on the deep, dark, wild cavernous ravine on the burn, formerly 
 called Leitchland Glen, now Glenpatrick. Jean and Harry had hurriedly 
 met on her father's farm of Highdykes, and she asked him where they would 
 " meet at een," and he answered by singing "The Dusky Glen" "down by 
 yon bum side," evidently pointing further down, on the banks of the Alt- 
 Patrick stream; and Jean replied,— " I'll meet you at the op'ning o the 
 glen," and not across the country, and up to GlcnifEer Bum. The tinging . 
 with gold can be seen every clear afternoon at the setting of the sun.— ^ti. 
 
THE SOLDIER'S RETURN. 27 
 
 Enter Muirlan, runnm. 
 
 Muh: Preserve's! O, haste ye ! rin, — mak mettle heels ! 
 I saw the dragon spankin owre the fiels ! 
 
 {They stop from going out oti seeing Jean enter. 
 
 J^eatt. What maks you stare sae strange! what's wrang 
 He roars as loud's a horn, tho auld an silly. (wi Willy? 
 
 Muir. I'm no sae auld ! — my pith ye yet may brag on ! 
 But Jeanie, luve ! hoo did ye match the dragon ? 
 
 yean. Auld blethrin wicht! the gock's possest I ween. — 
 
 Gqf. Come, dochter, clear this riddle, whar hae ye laeen ? 
 
 yean. Faither, rare news; oor Laird's cam hame this 
 His man ca'ed in to tell us by the way, (day. 
 
 Drest in his sodger's claise, wi scarlet coat, 
 He is a bonnie lad fu weel I wot ! 
 
 Muir. The dragon! he! he! he! — I've been deliered, 
 I'll wear a scarlet coat, too, when we're married. 
 
 Gaf. Oor Laird cam hame ! an safe but skaith or 
 rU owre an hear the history o the war, (scar ? 
 
 Us kintra fouk are bun like in a cage up, 
 I'll owre an hear about that place ca'ed Egypt. 
 I lang tae hear him tell a what he's seen. 
 For four lang winters he awa has been — 
 Wife — ^fetch my bonnet that I caft last owk. 
 Here, brush my coat, — fey, Jean tak aff that pook. 
 
 Mir. Toot, snuff ! bout news ye needna be sae thrang. 
 Let's set the bridal nicht afore ye gang. 
 
28 POEMS. 
 
 Muir. The bridal nicht ! he ! he ! he ! he ! — that's richt ! 
 The bridal nicht ! he ! he ! ! — the bridal nicht ! 
 
 yean. I'll hing as heich's the steeple,* in a wuddie, t 
 Before I wed wi that auld kecklin bodie. 
 
 Mir. Was mither eer sae plagued wi a dochter ! 
 O that's her thank for a the length I've brocht her ! ( Crying. 
 
 Gaf. This racket in a house ! — it is a shame, 
 I'll thank you, Muirlan, to be steppin hame. 
 
 yean. Auld, swirlon, slaethorn, camsheugh, cruiked 
 Gae wa, an ne'er again come in my sicht. (wicht, 
 
 Muir. That e'er my lugs were doom'd to hear sic words ! 
 WhUk rush into my heart like pointed swurds — 
 Frae me let youiikers warnin tak in time, 
 An wed, ere dozened doun ayont their prime ! 
 O, me ! I canna gang, — twill break my heart, — 
 Let's hae ae fareweel peep afore we part. 
 
 (He puts on his Spectacles, stares at Jean, 
 roars ludicrously. Exit crying. 
 
 Enter the Laird, attended by Harry. 
 
 Laird. Well — how d'ye do, my worthy tenants ; pray, 
 How fares good Gaffer since I went away ? 
 
 * Tho,High Churcli Steeple, Paisley, erected in 1769, 161 feet in height', in 
 the Italian style of architecture on the highest eminence of Oakshaw Hill. 
 It is a prominent landmark in the surrounding country, and could he seen 
 by Jiaii every time she came into Paisley. 
 
 t A rope made of osier twigs.— J?<i, 
 
THE SOLDIERS RETURN. 29 
 
 Gaf. My noble Laird ! thanks to the lucky star, 
 That steer'd you hame, safe thro the storms o war. 
 
 Laird. Thanks, honest friend — I know your heart of 
 But for my safety, thank this gallant youth : (truth. 
 
 He saved my life — to him I owe my fame, 
 And gratitude shall still revere his. name. 
 
 Gaf. May heav'n's post angel swift my blessin's carry ! 
 He saved your life ! — ^preserve me, it is Harry ! 
 Thrice welcome, lad, here — gie's a shake o your paw ! 
 Ye've mended hugely since ye gaed awa. 
 
 Harry. Yes, soldiering brushes up a person's frame ; 
 But, at the heart, I hope I'm still the same. 
 
 Gaf. Your promise tae dae weel,T see ye've keepent. 
 He saved your life ! O tell me how it happent ? 
 
 Laird. 'Twos March the eighth, that memorable day, 
 Our sea-worn troops all weary with delay, 
 For six long days storm rock'd we lay off shore, 
 And heard the enemies' guns menacing roar. 
 At length the wish'd for orders came to land, 
 And drive the foe back from the mounded strand ; 
 Then, each a hero, on the decks we stood, 
 Launeh'd out our boats and speeded all we could ; 
 While clouds of sulph'rous smoke obscur'd the view, 
 And show'rs of grape-shot from their batt'ries flew — * 
 
 * The first account that arrived in Britain of the landing of British troops 
 at Ahoukir on the coast of Egypt came from France, and we shall qwote 
 
30 POEMS. 
 
 A brother Captain, seated by my side, 
 Receiv'd a shot — he sunk — he quiver'd — died ; 
 With friendly hand I closed his life gone eyes, 
 Our sighs, our tears, were all his obsequies. 
 Then, as our rowers strove with lengthen'd sweep. 
 Back from the stem I tumbl'd in the deep, 
 And sure had perish'd, for each pressing wave 
 Seem'd emulous to be a soldier's grave ; 
 Had not this gallant youth, at danger's shrine, 
 Offring his life a sacrifice for mine, 
 Leap'd from the boat and beat his billowy way, 
 To where I belch'd and struggl'd in the sea ; 
 With god-like arm sustain'd life's sinking hope, 
 Till the succeeding rowers pick'd us up. 
 
 Gaf. Fair fa your worth, my brave young sodger lad, 
 Tae see you safe re/um'd my heart is glad ; 
 Ilk cottar roun will lang your name regaird. 
 An bless you for your kindness tae the Laird. 
 
 the news which would then be of such vast interest to the nation, in the 
 brief narrative given in the Scots Magazine for April, 1801, vol. 63, p. 296, — 
 " The Paris journals of the 16th April contain very Important accounts from 
 Egypt. Sir Balph Abercromby appeared off that place on the first day of 
 March, and sailed for Aboukir, where he lay for several days on the account 
 of bad weather ; but on the Sth, at si^ in the morning, the weather being 
 favourable, he began landing his troops. The French followed him from 
 Alexandria, and posted themselves on the heights of Aboukir to oppose the 
 debarkation. A battle took place from seven till nine in the morning, which 
 must have been very bloody. The English troops were covered by gunboats 
 and other vessels, and the French employed fifteen pieces of cannon on 
 them. After two hours' fighting, the number of the English continually 
 Increasing, the French found it necessary to retreat." In mentioning in a 
 previous note that Sir Balph Abercromby was killed at the Battle of 
 Alexandria, we should have said he there received his death-wound, and that 
 he died seven days thereafter. — Md. 
 
 The account of the landing and Battle of Aboukir arrived in Paisley on 
 83vd April, 1801.— .Bci, 
 
THE soldier's RETURN. 31 
 
 Laird. And when the day's hot work of war was done, 
 Each fight-tir'd soldier leaning on his gun, 
 I sought my brave deliverer, and made 
 An offer, with what influence I had, 
 To raise his fortune ; but he shunned reward : 
 Yet warmly thank'd me for my kind regard ; 
 Then, as in warmth I prais'd his good behaviour. 
 He modestly besought me this one favour, 
 That, if surviving when the war was o'er, 
 And safe return'd to Scotia once more, 
 I'd ask your will for him to wed your daughter ; 
 A manly, virtuous heart he home hath brought her. 
 
 Gaf. Wi a my heart, he has my free consent, 
 Wife, what say ye ? I hope ye're weel content. 
 
 Mir. A mithefs word Stan's neither here nor there ; 
 Tak him or no, I'm sure I dinna care. 
 
 Laird. Accept this trifle as young Harry's wife. 
 
 (Gives his purse to Jean. 
 Money is no equivalent for life; 
 And take this ring, — good mistress, here's another. 
 With this I 'nlist you for young Harry's mother. 
 
 yean. Excuse me, sir, — my lips cannot impart 
 The warm emotions of my gratefu heart. 
 
 Mil: It's goud, it's goud ! O yes, sir — I agree. 
 Gaffer, it's goud ! Yes, " Luve shotid aye be free ! " * 
 
 * This quotation is also used in the 1st and 13th lines of th6 Interlude. 
 The parallel passage on the volatility of lore are the celebrated lines from 
 Pope's "Heloise to Abelard," — 
 
 " Zove, free as air. at sight of human ties 
 Spreads his light wings, and in a moment flies." 
 
32 POEMS. 
 
 Gaf. Daft woman, cease. 
 
 Laird. And as for you, good Gaffer, 
 
 My steward will inform what's in your favour. 
 Meantime, prepare the Wedding to your wills. 
 Invite my tenants from the neighb'ring hills,* 
 Then feast, drink, danp e till each ane tjTies his senses. 
 And spare no cost, for I shall pay the expenses. 
 
 Harry. Most gen'rous sir ! to tell how much I owe, 
 I'm weak in words — let time and actions show. 
 
 Laird. My dearest friend — I pray, no more of this, 
 Woidd I could make you happy as I wish ; 
 From him most benefited most is due. 
 And sure the debt belongs from me to you. — 
 Attend the mansion, soon as morning's light — 
 And now my friends, I wish you all good night. {Exit. 
 
 Harry. Great is his soul ! soft be his bed of rest, 
 Whose only zvish is to make others blest ! 
 
 Mir. I'll gang to kirk neist Sunday, odd's my life ! 
 This gouden ring will vex Glen Craigie's wife.f 
 
 Gaf. Wife — ^fy ! let pride an envy gang thegither, 
 This house, I hope, will ne'er be fasht wi either ; 
 
 * Hai-tfield estate and Craigmuir. — Ed. 
 
 t TTiis was Mrs. Mary Gardner, wife of John Lochliead, fanner, tenant in 
 Craigmuir. Lady Craigmuir dressed very gay in the fashionable female attire 
 of the period. She wore a.heavy plain ^old ring and a gold stoned ring, and 
 was envied by all the other farmers' wives in the neighbourhood. John 
 Lochhead was proprietor of "Craigmuir Town House," 29 High Street, 
 Paisley. He died on 26th July, 182S, aged sixty-six ; and his wife died in 
 June, 1836, also aged sixty-six. 
 
THE SOLDIERS RETURN. 33 
 
 Ay be content wi what ye hae yoursel, 
 An never grudge tae see a neibour weel — 
 But Harry, man, I lang tae hear you sing, 
 Ye wont tae mak oor glens an plantin's ring. 
 
 Harry. My heart was never on a cantier key, 
 I'll sing you one with true spontaneous glee. 
 
 SONG. 
 
 Air, — "My laddie is gane.'' 
 
 From the rude bustling camp to the calm rural plain, 
 I've come, my dear Jeanie, to bless thee again ; 
 Still burning for honour our warriors may roam, 
 But the laurel I wished for I've won it at home : 
 All the glories of conquest no joy could impart. 
 When far from the kind little girl of my heart ; 
 Now, safely returned, I will leave thee no more, 
 But love my dear Jeanie till Ufe's latest hour. 
 
 The sweets of retirement, how pleasing to me ! 
 Possessing all worth, my dear Jeanie, in thee ! 
 Our flocks early bleating will wake us to joy. 
 And our raptures exceed the warm tints in the sky ! 
 In sweet rural pastimes our days still will glide, 
 Till time looking back will admire at his speed, 
 Still blooming in Virtue, tho youth then be o'er, 
 I'll love my dear Jeanie till life's latest hour. 
 
 Enter Muirland. 
 
 Muir. That's nobly sung, my hearty sodger callan! 
 I've heard you a, ahint the byre door hallan ; 
 I see my fauts, I've chang'd my foolish views. 
 An now I'm come to beg for your excuse, 
 
 E 
 
34 POEMS. 
 
 The sang sings true, I own't without a swither, 
 
 " Auld age an young can n^er gree thegither." * 
 
 I think, thro life I'll mak a canny fen 
 
 Wi hurcheon Nancy o the Hazel-glen; 
 
 She has my vows, but ay I lat her stan. 
 
 In hopes to won that bonnie lassie's han ; 
 
 O foolish thocht ! I maist coud greet wi spite, 
 
 But it was sleeky luve had a the wyte : 
 
 Nae mair let fortune pride in her deserts, 
 
 Her goud rasy purchase han's, but ne'er can sowther hearts. 
 
 Gaf. The man wha sees his fauts an strives to men' 'em. 
 Does mair for virtue than he ne'er had haen 'em ; 
 An he wha deals in scandal, only gains 
 A rich repay of scandal for his pains : 
 Ye hae our free excuse, ye needna doot it, 
 Ye'll ne'er, for us, mair hear a word about it. 
 
 Muir. That's a I wish't, — I coudna bide the thocht, 
 To live on earth an bear your scorn in oucht ; 
 My heart's now hale — ye sune shall hear the banns 
 Proclaim'd in the Parish Kirk 'tween me an Nans ; 
 I'm no the first auld chiel wha's gotten a slicht, — 
 I'll owre the muir, — sae, fareweel a this nicht ! [Exit. 
 
 Gaf. Of a experience, that bears aff the bell, 
 Whilk lets a body richtly ken himsel. 
 
 yean. May lasses, when their joes are far frae hame. 
 Bid stragglin wooers gang the gates they came. 
 
 * "Crabbed age and youth cannot live together." — ^uxki^^ei'e, "The 
 Passionate Pilgrim," stanza 10. 
 
THE SOLDIERS RETURN. 35 
 
 Else, aiblins, when their muneshine courtship's past, 
 They'll hae to wed aiild dotards at the last. 
 
 Mir. - Gudewives shoud ay be subject to their men ; 
 I'll ne'er speak contrar to your will again. 
 
 Gaf. That's richt, gudewife, — I'm sure I weel may say, 
 Gleti-feoch never saw sae blest a day. 
 Young fouks, — we'll set the bridal day the mom, — 
 But, Lucky, haste ! bring ben the Christmas horn,* 
 Let's pour ae sacred bumper to the Laird ; 
 A glass, to croun a wish, was never better wair'd. 
 
 Harr^. While I was yet a boy, my parents died. 
 And left me poor and friendless, wand'ring wide. 
 Your goodness found me, neath your fost'ring care 
 I leam'd those precepts which I'll still revere, 
 And now, to Heav'n, for length of life I pray, 
 With filial love your goodness to repay. 
 
 Gaf. This sacred maxim let us still regard, 
 That " Virtue ever is its own reward.^'' 
 
 The drinking cup. — Ed, 
 
3^ POEMS. 
 
 And what we give to succour the distrest, 
 
 Calls down from Heav'n a blessing on the rest. * 
 
 * Note by Lamb. — "In writing The Soldier's Return, Tannahill had evidently 
 Bamsajr's Gentle Shepherd closely in Ma eye,— the construction of the one 
 poem being quite like the other. Even the manner is closely observed in 
 the way the Dratnatis Personce are stated, in the description of the scenes, 
 and so on. Motherwell says of this dramatic composition that it was un- 
 successful, and that it was wisely omitted in editions subsequent to the 
 first. We do not leave it out in this edition* — first, because we wish to make 
 this a complete one ; and, second, because in The Soldier's JJeium some of 
 the poet's finest songs, including the delightful lyric ' We'll meet beside the 
 dusky glen' appeared, and we do not desire to take them out of his own 
 setting. As the volume containing The Soldier's Return is the only volume 
 of his writings which was printed in his lifetime, and the proof sheets of 
 which, indeed, he doubtless revised. The Soldier's Retui'n is printed now 
 exactly as he printed it then, with capitals, italics, contractions, &c,, save 
 in a few trifling exceptions, where the speUing was evidently wrong. Mr. 
 Hugh Macdonald, who is a good authority, thinks— or, as he says, suspects — 
 that the vicinity of the Alt-Patrick Burn is the scene of The Soldier's Return, 
 in one of the songs of which he makes his persona allude to natural beauties, 
 including wild fruits similar to those of this locality." 
 
 * Lamb's edition of 1873.— JJcZ. 
 
PROLOGUE. 37 
 
 2. 
 
 PROLOGUE * 
 
 To The Gentle Shepherd, spoken in a Provincial 
 l^heatre. t 
 
 Ye patronisers of our little party, 
 My heart's e'en licht to see you a sae hearty \ 
 I'm fain, indeed, an trouth ! IVe meikle cause, 
 Since your blythe faces hauf insure applause. 
 We come this nicht wi nae new fangFd story 
 O' knave's deceit, or fop's vain blust'ring glory, 
 
 * This prologue first appeared in the first volume of the Selector, a 
 periodical published in Glasgow in 1805, and edited by "William Maver, 
 auctioneer ih Glasgow. He also edited an edition of Johnson's Dictionary, 
 and a periodical called the Qlearm', published in ISOQ.Sd. 
 
 t Tannahill, in modestly saying the Prologue was spoken in a Provincial 
 Theatre, must have meant Paisley Theatre, at that time situated in Bridge 
 Street, and under the management of Mr. Archibald Pollock, comedian. 
 The poet having written such an excellent Prologue for the manager on the 
 fame of Allan Ramsay and his "Gentle Shepherd," it is very probable that 
 the worthy and respected manager prevailed on Tannahill to try his hand 
 at dramatic compositidn. Tannahill in his Preface to the first edition (1807) 
 of his Poems and Songs, informed the public that the Interlude of " The 
 Soldier's Return " was undertaken by desire of tlie late Mr. Pollock. The 
 manager must have been far advanced in years, when he was made to say that/ 
 when a boy, the country rang in praise of Allan Ramsay. Ramsay was one 
 of our most distinguished Scottish poets born in 1686. Between 1716 and 
 1724, he issued several poems and songs ; and, in 1725, published the 
 "Gentle Shepherd," a pastoral comedy, which at once established his 
 poetical fame. Edition after edition rapidly succeeded each other, until It 
 had ^een read in almost every cottage and hall in the kingdom. It still 
 retains its pre-eminence in pastoral comedy, and is acted at the present 
 day. Ramsay's "Tea Table Miscellany" and his "Evergreen" are standard 
 collections. Tannahill was an ardent admirer of Pope, Ramaay, and Bums, 
 and he finishes the Prologue with one line from the-tformer, and two lines 
 from the latter. Ramsay died on 7th January, 1758, aged 12.— Ed. 
 
38 POEMS. 
 
 Nor harlequin's wild pranks, wi skin like leopard, — 
 
 We're come to gie your ain auld " Gentle Shepherd ;" 
 
 Whilk ay will charm, an will be read, an acket, 
 
 Till Time himsel turn auld, an kick the bucket. 
 
 I mind, langsyne, when I was just a callan. 
 
 That a the kintra raiig in praise o Allan ; 
 
 Ilk rising generation toots his fame. 
 
 And, hunner years to come, 'twill be the same : 
 
 For wha has read, tho e'er sae lang sinsyne. 
 
 But keeps the living picture on his min ; 
 
 Approves bauld Fatie's clever, manly turn. 
 
 An maist thinks Roger cheap o' Jejmfs scorn ; 
 
 His douless gait, the cause o a his care. 
 
 For " Nane, except the brave, deserve the fair." * 
 
 Hence sweet young Peggy lo'ed her manly Pate, 
 
 An yefiny geck't at Roger, dowf an blate. 
 
 Our gude Sir William stands a lesson leel 
 To lairds wha'd hae their vassals lo'e them weel ; 
 To prince an peer this maxim it imparts. 
 Their greatest treasures are the people's hearts. 
 
 Frae Glaud an Symon woud we draw a moral. 
 The virtuous youthtime mak's the canty carle; 
 The twa auld birkies caper blythe an bauld. 
 Nor shaw the least regret that they're turn'd auld. 
 
 Poor Bauldy ! O,' it's like to split my jaws ! 
 I think I see him under Madgis claws : 
 Sae may Misfortune tear him spawl and plack, 
 Wha'd wrang a bonnie lass, an syne draw back. 
 
 * "Alexander's Feast," by Dryden. — Bd, 
 
PROLOGUE. 39 
 
 But, Sirs, to you I maist forgat my mission, 
 I'm sent to beg a truce to criticism ; 
 We dont pretend to speak by square and rule, 
 Like yon wise chaps bred up in Thespian school ; 
 An to your wishes shoud we not succeed, 
 Pray be sae kind as tak the will for deed ; 
 
 (An as our immortal Robin Burns says), 
 
 " And aiblins tho they winna stan the test, 
 "Wink hard an say, the folks hae done their best."* 
 An keep this gen'rous maxim still in min', 
 " To err is human, to forgive divine !" \ 
 
 3. 
 
 THE STORM. 
 
 WRITTEN IN OCTOBER. 
 
 Now the dark rains of Autumn discolour the brook, 
 And the rough winds of Winter the woodlands deform; 
 
 Here, lonely, I lean by the sheltering rock. 
 
 Listening to the voice of the loud howling storm. 
 
 * These are the 39th and 40th lines of the Prologue for Mr. Sutherland's 
 benefit night in Dumfries Theatre, written by Bums in 1790. Mr. Suther- 
 land had previously opened a theatre in Paisley, on Wednesday, the 20th 
 May, 1789 : and from his advertisement to the Paisley public, lying before 
 us, we observo-he called himself Manager of the Company of Comedians of 
 the Northern Circuit. On Wednesday, 16th July following, the company 
 gave a benefit night for the Poor of the Town, as the playbill of that day 
 stated. — Ed, 
 
 t This is the 525th line of Part II. of Pope's Essay on Criticism.— jFii. 
 
40 POEMS. 
 
 Now dreadfully furious it roars on the hill, 
 •* The deep groaning oaks seem all writhing with pain. 
 Now awfully calm, for a moment 'tis still. 
 Then bursting it howls and it thunders again. 
 
 How cheerless and desert the fields now appear, 
 
 Which so lately in Summer's rich verdure were seen, 
 
 And each sad drooping spray from its heart drops a tear. 
 As seeming to weep its lost mantle of green. 
 
 See, beneath the rude wall of yon ruinous pile,* 
 From the merciless tempest the cattle have fled, 
 
 And yon poor patient horse, at the gate by the stile. 
 Looks wistfully home for his sheltering shed. 
 
 Ah ! who would not feel for yon poor gipsy race, 
 Peeping out from the door of an old roofless barn ; 
 
 There my wandering fancy her fortunes might trace. 
 And sour discontent there a lesson might learn. 
 
 Yet oft in my bosom arises the sigh. 
 
 That prompts the warm wish distant scenes to explore ; 
 Hope gilds the fair prospect with visions of joy, 
 
 That happiness reigns on some far distant shore. 
 
 But the grey hermit tree which stood lone on the moor, 
 By the fierce driving blast to the earth is blown down ; 
 
 So the lone houseless wanderer, unheeded and poor. 
 May fall unprotected, unpitied, unknown. 
 
 Stauely Castle.— se. 
 
DIRGE. 41 
 
 See! o'er the grey steep, down the deep craggy glen,* [rain; 
 
 Pours the brown foaming torrent, swell'd big with the 
 It roars thro' the caves of its dark wizard den, 
 
 Then headlong, impetuous it sweeps thro' the plain. 
 
 Now the dark heavy clouds have unbosomed their stores, 
 And far to the westward the welkin is blue. 
 
 The sullen winds hiss as they die on the moors. 
 
 And the sun faintly shines on the bleak mountain's brow. 
 
 4. 
 
 DIRGE, t 
 
 Written on reading an Account of Robert Burns' 
 
 Funeral.X 
 
 Let grief for ever cloud the day 
 That saw our Bard borne to the clay ; 
 Let joy be banish'd every eye, 
 And Nature, weeping, seem to cry — 
 
 " He's gone, he's gone ! he's frae us torn ! 
 
 "The ae best fellow e'er was born !" 
 
 * Glunmar.— Ed. 
 
 t This Dirge first appeared in Vemor and Hood's Poetical London 
 MagazvM for 1803, along with other three pieces hy TannahiU. — Ed. - 
 Note by Ramsay. — " Reprinted from the first edition." 
 
 t Robert Bums, the distinguished poet of Scotland, was bom at AUoway, 
 near Ayr, on Thursday, 25th January, 1769. The peasant boy devoted himself 
 early to the Muses, and commenced writing verses which attracted the 
 attention of his neighbours, and shortly afterwards his talents burst forth 
 
 F 
 
42 POEMS. 
 
 * Let Sol resign his wonted powers, 
 Let chilling north winds blast the flowers ; 
 That each may droop its withering head, 
 And seem tae mourn our Poet dead. 
 
 " He's gone, he's gone ! he's frae us torn ! 
 
 " The ae best fellow e'er was born !" 
 
 Let shepherds from the mountains steep, 
 Look down on widow'd Nith, and weep. 
 Let rustic swains their labours leave, 
 And sighing murmur o'er his grave, 
 
 " He's gone, he's gone ! he's frae us torn ! 
 
 "The ae best fellow e'er was bom !" 
 
 Let bonny Doon and winding Ayr 
 Their bushy banks in anguish tear. 
 
 with, such remarkable splendour that the whole country was electrified with 
 his mighty genius. The vigour of his understanding, the manner in which 
 he grasped a subject with his masculine mind, the universality of his poetry, 
 and the keenness of his wit, won for him, with universal acclaim, the 
 title of "The National Bard of Scotland." His first volume of poems was 
 published in 1786 ; and edition after edition of his poems and songs in 
 every shape and form, with correspondence, lives, notes, and annotations 
 have appeared, — the last in 1874. In that latter year. The JBivrns' Calendar 
 was published in Kilmarnock, giving a list of 403 editions so far as known ; 
 and since that publication, a great number more have been discovered. His 
 works are read wherever the English tongue is spoken, and have been 
 translated into almost every European language. Robert Bums died at Dum- 
 fries on Thursday, 21st, and his funeral took place on Monday, 25th July, 1796. 
 Our own gifted lyrist contributed his quota to the name and fam,e of Bums in 
 writing the Dirge on his funeral, and being the chief promoter of the 
 Paisley Bums' Club, and by composing Odes for Three Anniversaries of the 
 immortal Bard. See Notes to Nos, 6, 7, and S.—£d, 
 
 * Note hy Ramsay,—-" This verse, which has not been inserted in any 
 former edition, is copied from the Author's Manuscript. " 
 
SUMMONS. 43 
 
 While many a tributary stream 
 
 Pours down its griefs to swell the theme — 
 
 " He's gone, he*s gone ! he's frae us torn ! 
 
 " The ae best fellow e'er was born !" 
 
 All dismal let the nicht descend, 
 Let whirling storms the forest rend, 
 Let furious tempests sweep the sky, 
 And dreary, howling caverns cry — 
 
 " He's gone, he's gone ! he's frae us torn ! 
 
 " The ae best fellow e'er was born !" * 
 
 * Note hy iJamsay.— "Writing, to Clark about this Dirge on 31st August, 
 1805, the author says — * I am. much obliged to you for fitting me with an air 
 suitable to the stanza I formerly sent you ; and, though it answers the 
 words as well as ever tune did any, I am doubtful that the verses will not 
 do to sing at all, owing to the repetition of the same two lines at the 
 hinder end of every stanza, which two lines being repeated twice (to the 
 music) will be intolerably insipid. However, I will give you the whole of 
 it, so that you may judge.' " 
 
 The refrain is the first two lines of the second verse of Bums' Elegy on 
 Captain Matthew Henderson, a retired military gentleman, who resided in 
 Carrubber's Close, Edinburgh, and kept company with the best society of 
 that city. The Elegy was written in 1790, and Bums says it was a tribute 
 to the memory of a man he loved much. In a few short years thereafter, 
 Tannahill appropriately used the quotation for the author himself ; and in 
 quoting these lines, he might more justly have altered the word "fellow" 
 into poet than the Scotch word gane into the English gone, and made the 
 refrain read thus — 
 
 " He's gone, he's gone ! he's frae us tom ! 
 The ae best poet e'er was bom ! " — Ed, 
 
44 POEMS. 
 
 5. 
 
 SUMMONS TO ATTEND A MEETING OF THE 
 BURNS' ANNIVERSARY SOCIETY.* 
 
 To WILLIAM M'LAREN. 
 1805. 
 
 King Geordie t issues out his summons, 
 Tae ca his bairns, the Lairds an Commons, % 
 Tae creesh the nation's moolie-heels, 
 An butter Commerce' rusty wheels, 
 An see what new, what untried tax, 
 Will lie the easiest on oor backs. 
 
 The priest convenes his scandal court, 
 Tae ken what houghmagandie sport 
 
 * This poetical invitation from the Clerk of the Bums' Anniversary Society 
 convening a jneeting, first appeared in the Glasgow periodical called the 
 Selector, Vol. I., page 195, with the signature Modestus. William Maver, ttie 
 editor,- was bom in Banff in 1775. He was a scholar, and a man of consider- 
 ' able talent. He commenced business as a bookseller in_ Glasgow ; afterwards 
 became a book auctioneer in that city ; and was engaged in the latter business 
 when he edited the Selector. The book was issued in' numbers, 18mo size, 
 and Tannahill took the periodical out in that way. Vols. I., II., and III., 
 were completed respectively on 7th September, 2nd November, and 28th 
 December, 1805, and Vol. IV. on 7th March, 1806,— each containing 284 
 pa^es. The GUayier, of similar size, by the same editor, was completed in 
 one volume on 1st July, 1806. The Selector and Gleaner contained seventeen 
 pieces by Tannahill. In 1809, Mr. Maver edited an edition of Johnson's 
 Dictionary, 8vo, giving several thousands of additional words. This was a 
 first-class work, and highly prized throughout Scotland, and was well known 
 as "Haver's Johnson's Dictionary." He afterwards became a teacher of 
 Mathematics and the higher rales of Arithmetic, aud published a supplement 
 to Morrison's Arithmetic. Mr. Maver died in 1830, aged 55. Tannahill was 
 rather hurt at seeing the signature Modestits added by the edltorj as he said 
 "affected modesty was the silliest of all affectations," and which was 
 explained on the cover of the following number. The poet and editor 
 became personal acquaintances and coiTespondents ; but not a vestige of a 
 letter that passed between them can now be found.— ^d. 
 
 t King George III. — Ed. t The two Houses of Parliament. — Ed. 
 
BURNS ANNIVERSARY MEETING. 45 
 
 Has be'en gavin on within the parish 
 
 Since last they met, — their funds tae cherish. 
 
 But I, the servant o Apollo, * 
 
 Whase mandates I am proud tae follow, — 
 
 He bids me warn you as the friend 
 
 Of Burns's fame, that ye'U attend ' 
 
 Neist Friday e'en, in Luckie Wricht's,t 
 
 Tae spend the best — the wale o nichts ; 
 
 Sae, under pain o ha'f-a-merk 
 
 Ye'U come, as signed' by me, the Clerk. 
 
 6. 
 
 BURNS' ANNIVERSARY MEETING. 
 
 Written for,and read at the Celebration of , Robert Burns' 
 Birth-Day, Paisley, 2gth Jan., 1803. % 
 
 Once on a time, almighty Jove § - 
 Invited all the minor gods above 
 To spend one day in social festive pleasure ; 
 His regal robes were laid aside, 
 His crovim, his sceptre,' and his pride ; 
 And, wing'd with joy, 
 • The hours did fly. 
 The happiest ever Time did measure. 
 
 * In Heathen Mythology, the inventor of Poetry and Music. — Bd, 
 
 t A house noted for " cauldron yill." — Ed. 
 
 X This Ode iirat appeared in Mayor's Glasgow periodical, the Selectm', vol. 2, 
 p. 64. See Note to No. 5.— Ed. 
 
 § One of the names of Jupiter, the supreme deity in Heathen Mythology 
 son of Saturn and Ops.— £d. 
 
46 POEMS. 
 
 Of love and social harmony they sung, 
 
 Till Heav'n's high golden arches echoing rung ; 
 
 And as they quaffed the nectar-flowing can, 
 
 Their toast was — 
 " Universal peace 'twixt man and man." 
 Their godships' eyes beam'd gladness with the wish. 
 And Mars * half-reddened with a guilty blush ; 
 Jove swore he'd hurl each rascal to perdition. 
 Who'd dare deface his works with wild ambition ; 
 But pour'd encomiums on each patriot band 
 Who, hating conquest, guard their native land. 
 Loud, thund'ring plaudits shook the bright abodes, 
 
 Till Merc'ry,t solemn voic'd, assail'd their ears. 
 
 Informing that a stranger, all in tears. 
 Weeping, implored an audience of the gods. 
 
 Jove, ever prone to succour the distrest, 
 A swell redressive glow'd within his breast. 
 He pitied much the stranger's sad condition, 
 And order'd his immediate admission. 
 
 The stranger enter'd, bowed respect to all ; 
 Respectful silence reign'd throughout the hall. 
 His chequer'd robes excited their surprise. 
 Richly transvers'd with various glowing dyes ; 
 A target on his strong left arm he bore, 
 Broad as the shield the mighty Fingal wore; $ 
 
 * In Heathen Mythology, the god of War. — Ed. 
 
 t The god of Eloquence, and herald or messenger of the gods. — Sd. 
 
 X Ossian, in his poem of Fingal, Book I., said — "His spear is a blasted 
 pine, his shield the rising moon;" and in that of Carthona — "The varied 
 face of the moon is not broader than thy shield."— .2'c^. 
 
burns' anniversary meeting. 47 
 
 The glowing landscape on its centre shin'd, 
 And massy thistles * round the borders twin'd ; 
 His brows were bound with yellow blossom'd brume, 
 Green birch and roses blending in perfume ; t 
 His eyes beam'd honour, tho all red with grief. 
 And thus Heav'n's King spake comfort to the Chief. 
 " My son, let speech unfold thy cause of woe. 
 Say, why does Melancholy cloud thy brow ? 
 Tis mine the wrongs of Virtue to redress ; 
 Speak, for tis mine to succour deep distress." 
 Then thus he spake : " O King ! by thy command, 
 I am the guardian of that far fam'd land 
 Nam'd Caledonia, J great in arts and arms. 
 And every worth that social fondness charms. 
 With every virtue that the heart approves, 
 Warm in their friendships, rapt'rous in their loves. 
 Profusely generous, obstinately just, 
 Inflexible as death their vows of trust : 
 Forindependence fires their noble minds. 
 Scorning deceit, as gods do scorn the fiends. 
 But what avail the virtues of the north,- 
 No Patriot Bard to celebrate their worth. 
 
 * Cotton thistle, Orwpordum Acanthium flowers in August. Stem from 4 
 to 5 feet high, winged, edges of the wings spinous. Leaves woolly on both 
 sides. Flowers large, purple. The whole plant is covered with a white 
 woolly down, which is easily rubbed off. This is the Scotg Thutle of our 
 gardens. — Bd. 
 
 t Compare these 36th and SMh lines with the 9th, iqth, 11th, and 12th 
 lines of " Langsyne beside the woodlan bum," No. 83. — Ed. 
 
 t In ancient geography, the name of that part of Great Britain called 
 Scotland. — Bd. 
 
48 POEMS. 
 
 No heav'n taught Minstrel, with the voice of song, 
 To hymn their deeds, and make their names live long ! 
 And ah ! should Luxury, with soft winning wiles. 
 Spread her contagion o'er my subject isles, 
 My hardy sons, no longer Valour's boast. 
 Would sink, despis'd, — their wonted greatness lost 
 Forgive my wish, O King ! I speak with awe. 
 Thy will is fate, thy word is sovereign law ! 
 O, wouldst thou deign thy suppliant to regard. 
 And grant my country one true Patriot Bard, 
 My sons would glory in the blessing given. 
 And virtuous deeds spring from the gift of heaven !" 
 To which the god^" My son, cease to deplore ; 
 Thy name in song shall sound the world all o'er ; 
 Thy Bard shall rise foil fraught with all the fire 
 That Heav'n and free born Nature can inspire. 
 Ye sacred Nine,* your golden harps prepare 
 T' instruct the fav'rite of my special care, 
 That, whether the song be rais'd to war or love. 
 His soul-wing'd strains may equal those above. 
 Now, faithful to thy trust, from sorrow free, 
 Go, wait the issue of our high decree." — 
 
 * The Nine Muses, imaginary deities, daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne, 
 accounted goddesses of music and poetry, and of other liberal arts and 
 sciences, residing on the lofty mountain of Parnassus, and named — 
 
 Calliope, Patroness of Harmony and Heroic Poetry. 
 
 Clio, 
 
 ,, History and Heroic Poets. 
 
 Erato, 
 
 Amorous Poetry. 
 
 Euterpe, 
 
 Mathematics and Flute Playing. 
 
 Melpomene, 
 
 Tragedies, Odes, and Songs. 
 
 Polyhymnia, .. 
 
 Hymns and Songs played on the Lute 
 
 Terpsichore, . . 
 
 Dancing and Balls. 
 
 Thalia, 
 
 Geometry and Husbandi-y. 
 
 Urania, 
 
 Astronomy and Astrology.— ^d. 
 
burns' anniversary meeting. 49 
 
 Speechless the Genius stood, in glad surprise, 
 Adoring gratitude beam'd in his eyes ; 
 The promis'd Bard his soul with transport fills. 
 And, light with joy, he sought his native hills. 
 
 Twas in regard of Wallace * and his worth, 
 Jove honour'd Coilaf with his birth, 
 
 And on that mom, 
 
 When Bums was born. 
 
 Each Muse with joy 
 
 Did hail the boy ; 
 And Fame, on tiptoe, fain would blown her horn, 
 But Fate forbade the blast, too premature, 
 Till Worth should sanction it beyond the critic's pow'r. 
 
 His merits proven — Fame her blast hath blown. 
 Now Scotia's Bard o'er all the world is known ; — 
 But trembling doubts here check my unpolished lays. 
 What can they add to a whole world's praise ; 
 Yet, while revolving Time this day returns, 
 Let Scotsmen glory in the name of Burns. { 
 
 * See the Notes to the '* Ijament of Wallace after the Battle of Falkirk," 
 No. 94. 
 
 t One of the three diTisions of Ayrshire, where Burns was bom, named 
 after King Ooilus, described by the historian Boece — " Kyle namit fra Coyl, 
 kyng of the Britons : " and by Bums himself — 
 
 " Coila my name, 
 And this district as mine I claim." 
 
 The " Vision," 
 X At the First Anniversary Meeting of the Paisley Bums' Society, held in 
 1805, John King, weaver. Paisley, one of the original members of the 
 Society, proposed the second toast — "May the genius of Scotland be as 
 conspicuous as her mountains." He delivered an address on the subject, 
 which has been preserved : and referring to other poets, he said — "We have 
 the correct and elegant versification of Campbell, the pleasant legendary 
 tales of Scott, the grave and sententious couplets of Pope, the brilliant 
 flashes of Moore, the energetic diction of Thomson, the tenific bursts of 
 Shakespeare, &c." After the address, he sung a song written by himself fur 
 
 G 
 
50 POEMS. 
 
 7. 
 
 BURNS' ANNIVERSARY MEETING. 
 
 Written for, and Performed at the Celebration of Robert 
 Burns' Birth-Day, Paisley, 2gth yan.^ 180'/.* 
 
 RECITATIVE. 
 Mr. William M'Lare>^. 
 
 While Gallia's chief, with cruel conquests vain, 
 Bids clanging trumpets rend the skies, 
 
 the occasion. The song was copied into the Society's Minute-Book by 
 Tannahill, the clerk. It is now transferred into this Note to show that 
 another weaver could both compose and sing "all manner of songs" : — 
 
 " When to honour the birth of our favourite Bard, 
 
 The lovers of Genius join. 
 The angels approve with a rapt'rous regard. 
 
 And acknowledge the meeting divine. 
 Let the proud hero boast of his muscular arm. 
 
 Of wielding the ponderous steel ; 
 But Bums hath bequeath'd a superior charm 
 
 For souls that exaltedly feel. 
 
 Our glorious Bard, from a village obscure, 
 
 Bushed forth like the comet's bright blaze ; 
 The world of Taste saw his genius pure. 
 
 And pour'd to his merits their praise. 
 Tho' the Bard be no more, yet he lives in our love ; — 
 
 O cherish the rapturous glow ! 
 For his fame the gods have imprinted above. 
 
 And with time it will journey below. 
 
 John King." 
 
 John King wrote several other songs, one of which— "The Deil's Address 
 to the Plunkin Corks " — appeared in the Gdb&rlunzie, a local publication of 
 1825, and the others still remain in manuscript. He was bom 1st Augiist, 
 1779, and died unmarried in 1836, aged 57. See Notes to No. 73. — Ed. 
 
 * This Ode was written for the occasion, and performed with great effect 
 and feeling by Messrs. Robert Archibald Smith, William Stuart, and 
 Andrew Blaikie. 
 
BURNS ANNIVERSARY MEETING. 5 1 
 
 The widow's, orphan's, and the father's sighs. 
 Breathe hissing through the guilty strain ; 
 Mild Pity hears the harrowing tones, 
 Mixed with shrieks and dying groans ; 
 While warm Humanity, afar. 
 Weeps o'er the ravages of war. 
 And, shudd'ring, hears Ambition's servile train 
 Rejoicing o'er their thousands slain. 
 
 But when the song to worth is given. 
 The grateful anthem wings its way to heaven. 
 Rings through the mansions of the bright abodes, 
 And melts to ecstasy the list'ning gods ; 
 
 Apollo, on fire. 
 
 Strikes with rapture the lyre, 
 And the Muses the summons obey ; 
 
 Joy wings the glad sound. 
 
 To the worlds around, 
 Till all Nature re-echoes the lay ! 
 Then raise the song ye vocal few, 
 Give the praise to merit due. 
 
 SONG. ♦ 
 Set to Musk by Mr. R. A. Smith ; 
 
 And Sung ty Messrs. SMITH, Stuaet, and Blaikie. 
 
 Tho' dark scowling Winter, in dismal array, 
 Re-marshals his storms on the bleak hoary hill, 
 
 With joy we assemble to hail the great day 
 That gave birth to the Bard who ennobles our isle. 
 
 * This song first appeared alone in the Glaigtm Nightingale of 1806, page 
 95, with the title "Bums' Anniversary." This song would have heen 
 written in 1806, or even earlier, to be incorporated with an Ode to Bums' 
 memory, when Smith had set it to music, for the Anniversary to be held ou 
 S9th January, 1807. See first Note to No. 13. 
 
52 POEMS. 
 
 Then loud to his merits the song let us raise. 
 Let each true Caledonian exult in his praise ; 
 For the glory of genius, its dearest reward, 
 Is the laurel entwin'd by his country's regard. 
 
 Let the Muse bring fresh hoiiours his name to adorn. 
 
 Let the voice of glad melody pride in the theme, 
 For the genius of Scotia, in ages unborn, 
 
 Will light up her torch at the blaze of his fame. 
 When the dark mist of ages lies turbid between. 
 Still his star of renown through the gloom shall be seeii, 
 And his rich blooming laurels, so dear to the Bard, 
 Will be cherish'd for ay by his country's regard. 
 
 RECITATIVE. 
 By Mr. William M'Laren. 
 
 Yes, Bums, thou " dear departed shade \" 
 When rolling centuries have fled. 
 Thy name shall still survive the wreck of time, 
 Shall rouse the genius of thy native clime ; 
 Bards, yet unborn, and patriots shall come. 
 And catch fresh ardour at thy hallow'd tomb — ' 
 There's not a cairn-built cottage on our hills. 
 Nor rural hamlet on our fertile plains. 
 But echoes to the magic of thy strains, ~~ 
 While every heart with highest transport thrills : 
 Our country's melodies shall perish never. 
 For Bums, thy songs shall live for ever. 
 Then, once again, ye vocal few. 
 Give the song to merit due. 
 
BVRNS ANNIVERSARY MEETING. 53 
 
 SONG. 
 
 Written to yiA'RSli^ National Air, "Britons who for freedom died,' 
 
 Harmonised as a Glee by Mr. R. A. Smith ; 
 
 And Sung by Messrs. Smith, Stuart, and Blaikie. 
 
 Hail, ye glorious sons of song, 
 
 Who wrote to humanise the soul ! 
 To you our highest strains belong, 
 Your names shall crown our friendly bowl ; 
 But chiefly. Burns, above the rest 
 We dedicate this night to thee ; 
 Engrav'd in every Scotsman's breast 
 Thy name, thy worth, shall ever be ! 
 
 Fathers of our country's weal. 
 
 Sternly virtuous, bold and free ! 
 Ye. taught your sons to fight, yet feel 
 The dictates of humanity. 
 
 But chiefly. Burns, above the rest 
 We dedicate this night to thee ; 
 Engrav'd in every Scotsman's breast 
 Thy name, thy worth, shall ever be ! 
 
 Haughty GalUa threats our coast. 
 
 We hear their vaunts vi^ith disregard, 
 Secure in valour, still we boast 
 
 "The Patriot and the Patriot Bard." * 
 But chiefly. Bums, above the rest 
 We dedicate this night to thee ; 
 Engrav'd in every Scotsman's breast 
 Thy name, thy worth, shall ever be ! 
 
 Yes, Caledonians ! to our country true, 
 
 Which Romans nor Danes never could subdue, t 
 
 * '* The Patriot and the Patriot Bard" is a quotation from the penult line 
 of Bums' "Cottar's Saturday Night." Bums himself quoted frequently 
 from other poets ; and in the 116th line of the ** Cottar's Saturday Night," he 
 has quoted "Hope springs exulting on triumphant wing" from Pope's 
 " Windsor Forest," and the 166th line " An honest Man's the noblest work 
 of God" from Pope's "Essay on Han," Epistle L—Bd. 
 
 t Mter the Royal arbiter. King Edward I. of England, had delivered his 
 
54 POEMS. 
 
 Firmly resolved our native rights to guard 
 
 Let's toast— "The Patriot and the Patriot Bard." 
 
 8. 
 
 BURNS' ANNIVERSARY MEETING.* 
 2gth January ^ 1810, t 
 
 Again the happy day returns, — 
 A day to Scotsmen ever dear, — 
 Tho bleakest of the changeful year, 
 
 It blest us with a Burns. 
 
 address, on lOth. May, 1291, in the contention between Bruce and Baliol for 
 the crown of Scotland, Bishop Robert Wiahart of Glasgow, one of the com- 
 ■missioners for Bruce, with a noble and independent spirit, rose, and "gave 
 him hearty thanks, in name of the rest, for his great condescension in ac- 
 cepting the office of arbiter ; but when it had pleased his Grace to speak of 
 a right of superiority over the kingdom, it was suflaciently known that 
 Scotland from the foundation of the state was a free and independent king- 
 dom, and not subject to any power whatever ; that their ancestors had 
 valiantly defended themselves against the Romans, Ficts, Saxons, and 
 Danes, and all others who sought to usurp upon them, and although the 
 present occasion had bred some distraction in men's minds, all true hearted 
 Scotsmen will stand for the liberty of their country till their death, for they 
 esteem their liberty to be more precious than their lives, and in that quairel 
 will neither separate nor divide." Bishop Wishart is twice represented on the 
 Altar Tomb in Saint Mirin's Aisle of Paisley Abbey in the attitudes of solemn 
 prayer and pronouncing benediction.— J?d. 
 * Bums wrote a song on the birth of himself, which he called 
 
 " ROBIN. 
 
 Our monarch's hindmost year but ane 
 
 Was five-and-twenty days begun, 
 
 Twas then a blast o Januar win* 
 Blew hansel in on Robin." 
 King George II. died 25th October, 1760, in the 34th year of his re^n, and 
 the 25th day of January, 1759, had begun when the birth of Bums occurred, 
 in the 33rd year of the king's reign. — Ed. 
 
 t Note hy Mothei'welL — " This is the last Ode that was written by Robert 
 
BURNS ANNIVERSARY MEETING. 55 
 
 Fierce the whirling blast may blow, 
 Drifting wide the crispy snow ; 
 Rude the ruthless storms may sweep, 
 Howling round our mountain's steep ; 
 
 TaBnahill for tlie Paisley Bums Club, who held their Sixth Anniversary 
 Meeting to celebrate the Birth of their favourite Biird in January, 1801. 
 It was recited, on that occasion by the President, and was received by the 
 company with every mark of satisfaction and applause. It appeared in the 
 Scots Magazine the next month ; but, owing to some unaccountable neglect, it 
 was omitted in the edition of Ms works published after his lamented death. 
 We certainly think it no way inferior to his other productions on the same 
 subject, and flatter ourselves that the majority of our readers will be of the 
 same opinion. Indeed, it affords a striking proof of the rich stores of his 
 mind, when he could thus continue a subject he had so completely exhausted 
 on former occasions. We are informed by a particular friend of his that, 
 on being strongly solicited to, write an Ode for the occasion, it was with 
 considerable reluctance he complied with their request, afl&rming that it 
 was tasking himself something like the Poet Laureate to write an Annual 
 Birth-Day Ode, and that he had nothing whatever to say on the subject. 
 He was prevailed on, however, to make the attempt ; and the present Ode, 
 we are persuaded, will not sully his fame, or tarnish one leaf of the Ivy 
 Chaplet that adorns his honoured brow." 
 
 Note by Ramsay. — "The above Ode appeared in the Scots Magazine for 
 February, 1810, but has not till now been inserted in any edition of our 
 author's works. It was with considerable reluctance that he complied with 
 the request of the Club to compose this — his third effusion — for one of their 
 Anniversary Meetings, He thought it was tasking himself like the Poet 
 Laureate of the time to indite an Annual Ode for the King's Birth-Day." 
 
 The minute of the meeting of the Burns Society, held on this occasion, 
 was expressed as follows :—•' Paisley, 29th Jan., 1810.— This evening the 
 admirers of Scottish Poesy met to celebrate the birth of their favourite 
 Bard A most appropriate address was delivered by the President, Mr. 
 William Wylie, who fiUed the chair with distinguished ability. The 
 following (now the foregoing) Ode, written for the occasion by Mr. Robert 
 Tannahill, highly gratified the company when recited by the President."— £d. 
 
 The anniversaries of Burns were then held in Paisley on the 29th of 
 January, which was supposed to be the true date of his birth, and continued 
 to be held on that date tiU 1813. In the summer of that year, R. A. 
 Smith had gone to Ayr, and opened Music classes in that town which were 
 very successful,— a circumstance not noticed by his biographer, P. A. 
 Eamsay. Mr. Smith, during his residence in Ayr, wrote a long letter to 
 
$6 POEMS. , 
 
 While the heavy lashing rains, 
 
 Swell our rivers, drench our plains, 
 
 And the angry ocean roars 
 
 Round our broken craggy shores ; 
 
 But, mindful of our Poet's worth, 
 
 We hail the honour'd day that gave him birth. 
 
 his valued friend Mr. Roliert Lang, manufacturer, Causeyside, Paisley, on 
 9tli July, 1818, mentioning— among other matters — that he had discovered 
 the real birthday of the Bard to have been on the 25th of January, and 
 that he believed the 29th to have been a mistake committed by Bums 
 himself. Smith also mentioned that the 29th was still on the cottage wall 
 where the poet was bom, and likewise on the painting of his likeness kept 
 inside of the house ; but it would now be altered soon. Smith likewise 
 stated that he had become acquainted with the Session-C31erk, who had 
 shown him the Register of Births for the Parish of Ayr^ read the orig^al 
 entry of the birth, and had obtained an extract, which he enclosed for the 
 Bums Club. In the minute of the meeting of that club held on 3rd 
 September, 1818, the extract before-mentioned is copied into it, and is as 
 foUows :— 
 
 " * Robert Bums, lawful son of 'William Bums in AUoway, and 
 Agnes Brown, his spouse, was horn on the 25th of Januai-y, 1759, and 
 baptised the 26th, by the Rev. Dr. William Dalrymple. Witnesses — 
 Jno. Tennant and James Young.* 
 
 *' Extracted from the Register of Births and Baptisms in the 
 Parish of Ayr for the Paisley Bums Club, — R. A. Smith 
 being present,— at Ayr, this 19th day of Aug., 1813. 
 
 "(Signed) Wm. M'DERMAiiT, Sess.-Clk." 
 
 Votes of thanks were given to Mr. M'Dermant for his authentic certificate, 
 and to Mr. Smith for procuring it. Mr. Smith, in correcting a mistake iu 
 the date of the Bard's birth, seems to have com,mitted an apparent error 
 himself. His letter is dated 9th July enclosing the extract, and the extract 
 itself is dated 19th August — forty-one days afterwards. It may, however, 
 be explained that the long letter was probably commenced at its date, and 
 not finished till the extract was received. 
 
 Mr. Robert Lang was bom in Paisley in 1774, and brought up in his 
 native town. He was one of the fifteen founders of the Paisley Bums Club 
 in 1805. He was also on intimate terms with Tannahill, and obtained 
 subscribers to tlie first .edition of the Poems and Songs in 1807, and was 
 presented with a copy by the author. Mr. Lang was honoured five times 
 with the office of President at the Anniversaries of Bums' birth held in 
 
burns' anniversary meeting. 57 
 
 Come, ye vot'ries of the lyre, 
 Trim the torch of heavenly fire, 
 Raise the song in Scotia's praise, 
 Sing anew her bonnie braes, 
 Sing her thousand siller streams, 
 Bickering to the sunny beams ; 
 Sing her sons beyond compare, 
 Sing her daughters, peerless, fair ; 
 Sing, till Winter's storms be o'er. 
 The matchless bards that sung before ; 
 And I, the meanest of the Muse's train, 
 Shall join my feeble aid to swell the strain. 
 
 Dear Scotia, though thy clime be cauld. 
 Thy sons were ever brave and bauld. 
 
 1811, 12, 13, 14, and 15. Mr. Lang, we may state, stood in tlie foremost 
 ranks of genuine patriotism and faithful loyalty. He was esteemed and 
 respected by a large circle of sincere friends. His warm and kind heart, 
 tenderness of feelings, urbanity of manners, sociability in company, 
 disinterested friendship, and humanity of disposition, secured for him 
 from his fellow-townsmen the well-merited title of " The Man of Feeling." 
 His love of mankind, and admiration of the greatest philanthropist that 
 ever lived, John Howard (see one of the Notes to No. 24), induced him to 
 name his son Robert Howard Lang. Mr. Lang, In closing his addresses at 
 meetings, was accustomed to express a desire that he might " live beloved, 
 and die regretted ; " and these wishes were fully realised, both in letter and 
 spirit, when ho departed this life on 5th March, 1838, in the 64th year of his 
 age. 
 
 It is also worthy of remark that Mr. Lang was well acquainted 
 with Alexander Wilson, another eminent Paisley poet, and celebiuted 
 American Ornithologist, and corresponded with him. Mr. Lang had an 
 original painting of this poet, which was framed in oak from the -vyood of 
 the poet's bedstead, and the gun which the Ornithologist used in bringing 
 down the feathered species was bequeathed to Mr. Lang, and sent home to 
 him. These two interesting and valuable relics of the poet and omithologast 
 are now in possession of his son, Mr. Robert Howard Lang, Espedair Street, 
 Taisley.—JBd. 
 
 H 
 
5 8 POEMS. 
 
 Thy daughters modest, kind, and leel, — 
 The fairest in creation's fiel' ; 
 Alike inur'd to every toil, 
 Thou'rt foremost in the battle broil ; 
 Prepar'd alike in peace and weir, 
 To guide the plough or wield the speir. 
 As the mountain torrent raves, 
 Dashing through its rugged caves, 
 So the Scottish legions pour 
 Dreadful in the avenging hour ; 
 But when Peace, with kind accord. 
 Bids them sheath the sated sword. 
 See them, in their native vales. 
 Jocund as the Summer gales. 
 Cheering Labour all the day 
 With some merry roundelay. 
 
 Dear Scotia, tho thy nights be drear 
 When surly Winter rules the year. 
 Around thy cottage hearths are seen 
 The glow of health, the cheerful mien ; 
 The mutual glance, that fondly shares 
 A neighbour's joys, a neighbour's cares : 
 Here aft, while raves the wind and weet, 
 The canty lads and lasses meet 
 Sae light of heart, sae full of glee. 
 Their gaits sae artless and sae free. 
 The hours of joy come dancing on 
 To share their frolic and their fun. 
 Here many a song and jest goes round. 
 With tales of ghosts and rites profound, 
 Perform'd in dreary wizard glen 
 By wrinkled hags and warlike men, 
 
burns' anniversary meeting. 59 
 
 Or of the hell fee'd crew combin'd — 
 
 Carousing on the midnight wind 
 
 On some infernal errand bent, 
 
 While darkness shrouds their black intent. 
 
 But chiefly, Burns, thy songs delight 
 
 To charm the weary winter night, 
 
 And bid the lingering moments flee 
 
 Without a care, unless for thee, 
 
 Wha sang sae sweet, and dee't sae soon, 
 
 And soucht the native sphere aboon. 
 
 Thy « Lovely Jean," thy "Nannie, O," 
 
 Thy much loVd " Caledonia," 
 
 Thy " Wat ye wha's in yonder toun," 
 
 Thy " Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon," 
 
 Thy "Shepherdess on Afton Braes,'' 
 
 Thy " Logan Lassie's " bitter waes. 
 
 Are a gane o'er, sae sweetly tun'd, 
 
 That e'en the storm, pleased with the sound, 
 
 Fa's lown, and sings with eerie slight, 
 
 " O let me in this ae, ae night." 
 
 Alas! our best, our dearest Bard, 
 How poor, how great was his reward ; 
 Unaided, he has fix'd his name 
 Immortal, in the rolls of fame. , 
 
 Yet who can hear, without a tear. 
 
 What sorrows wrung his manly breast. 
 To see his little, helpless, filial band 
 Imploring succour from a father's hand. 
 
 And there no succour near ? 
 Himself the while with sick'ning woes opprest. 
 
 Fast hast'ning on to where the weary rest — 
 For this let Scotia's bitter tears atone. 
 She reck'd not half his worth till he was gone. 
 
6o POEMS. 
 
 9. 
 
 EMIGRATION OF ALEXANDER WILSON 
 TO AMERICA.* 
 
 O Death ! it's no thy deed I mourn, 
 Tho aft my heart strings thou hast torn, 
 Tis worth an merit left forlorn 
 
 Life's ills tae dree, 
 Gars now the pearly, brakish burn 
 
 Gush frae my ee. 
 
 * M'Laren, in his life of TannaMll, says— "If memoiy is to be trusted, 
 the first of his poetical productions that occupied the hands of a printer 
 were his verses on the emigration of a brother bai'd to America. Alexander 
 Wilson, the gentleman on whom they were written, was a native of Paisley, 
 and author of a volume of Poetry containing many things worthy of the 
 Scottish Muse in the brightest days of her fame. Sent by folly or misfortune 
 to the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, he soon distinguished himself as a 
 man of genius and observation. Among other things which gained >Tim the 
 approbation of the inhabitants of that country, was an elegant work on 
 American Ornithology, which, for accuracy of observation and splendour of 
 execution, has never been equalled by any publication in that quarter of 
 the world. He has since paid the debt of Kature, and, Uke the bard who 
 sung his praise, lives only in the memory of his friends." 
 
 Motherwell, in his Essay in tho Harp of Renfrewshire, says — "Alexander 
 Wilson was bom at Paisley on the 6th of July, 1766 ; he landed in America 
 on the 14th July, 1794, and died at Philadelphia on the 23rd of August, 
 1813, while on the very eve of completing one of the most splendid under- 
 takings that hath ever been projected, perhaps, by a single, solitary, 
 friendless, poor, and almost destitute individual. The edition of his poems 
 published at Paisley in 1816 is prefaced with a weU-written, though diffuse 
 life of the author, interspersed with critical strictures on some pieces there 
 inserted." 
 
EMIGRATION OF ALEXANDER WILSON. 6 1 
 
 Is there wha feel the meltin glow 
 O sympathy for ithers woe ? 
 Come, let our tears thegither flow ; 
 
 O join my mane ! 
 For Wilson, worthiest of us a, 
 
 For ay is gane. 
 
 Note by Rarnsai/, — " Alexander Wilson was bom in Paisley in-l766, where 
 he followed the trade of a weaver, and acquired considerable celebrity for 
 his poetical productions. As a graphic description of low life, his * Watty 
 and Meg ' has rarely been equalled. Wilson emigrated to the United States 
 in 1794, and died at Philadelphia, in 1S13, the victim of intense application 
 to the study of the natural history of the birds of that country. His great 
 work on American Orhithology,^the fruit of ten years spent in unparalleled 
 activity, romantic adventure, and daring research, — ^forms an imperishable 
 monument to the memory of this extraordinary man." 
 
 The whole of the legal and criminal proceedings, instituted before the 
 Sheriff of Renfrewshire, in 1792, at the instance of William Sharp, manu- 
 facturer. Paisley, against Alexander Wilson, weaver in SeedhiUs, Paisley 
 were printed in the Scottish Journal, published in 1848, Vol. U., page 228 and 
 I)age 245. These legal proceedings were the true cause of the Poef s emigra- 
 tion, and we shall as briefly as possible give a narrative of the actions. 
 
 In 1792, a dispute between the manufacturers and weavers of Paisley arose ; 
 and somehow or other satirical poetasters are generally found on the side 
 of the operatives, who, instead of attacking tiie real cause of dispute, very 
 improperly consider it necessary to assail private character. On Tuesday, 
 22nd May, 1792, Alexander Wilson, a poet of considerable ability, espoused 
 the popular side, and wrote satirical verses upon a leading manufacturer on 
 the opposite "side, then town treasurer, chiefly on his private character. 
 Wilson then wrote a letter, enclosing the satirical verses, and sent it to Mr. 
 Sharp, offering it for £5 5s. The gentleman, instead, of parleying with the 
 imprudent satirist, instituted legal proceedings the following day against 
 Wilson to discover the author. Wilson was examined and admitted the 
 letter, but declined to say who had written the verses— although the letter 
 and the verses were in the same handwriting. From what transpired, the 
 Sheriflf considered it proper to interdict the publication or circulation of the 
 poem; but Wilson and his advisers set the interdict at defiance, and the 
 poem was published, and freely circulated. Criminal proceedings at the 
 
62 POEMS. 
 
 He bravely strave gainst Fortune*s stream 
 While Hope held forth ae distant gleam, 
 Till dasht and dasht, time after time, 
 
 On Life's rough sea, 
 He weep'd his thankless native clime, 
 
 And saird away. 
 
 instance of Mr, Sharp and the fiscal were then instituted apfalnst 'Wilson on 
 27th June, 1792, for breach of interdict. The defender lodged defences 
 expressing half penitence, instead of making a clean breast of the whole 
 affair. On 22nd July, 1792, Sheriff Orr found the defender guilty of con- 
 tempt of Court, and granted warrant for hia Imprisonment for fourteen 
 days, or imtil he found security for his good behaviour ; ordained him to 
 deliver up aU copies of the poem in his possession, and to be examined about 
 said copies ; and, also, to be conducted to the market place of Paisley, and 
 there, with his own hands, commit to the flames the whole copies delivered. 
 'Wilson was examined, and admitted the poem was printed at his expense, 
 and sold by James Sclater, stationer ; but all the other questions put to Mm 
 he declined to answer. On 5th February, 1793, Wilson lodged two copies of 
 the poem, and the Sheriff ordained the defender to be taken to the head of 
 the outer stair of the Tolbooth of Paisley, the following day at 11 o clock 
 forenoon, and "there, with his own hands, to commit to the flames the 
 said two copies of the poem ; " and on the . 6th February, the Clork of Court 
 certified he had handed the two copies to the defender, who, with his own 
 hands, committed them to iAie flames. On 14th May, 1793, the final inter- 
 locutor 'was pronounced. Finding the defender had committed the wrongs 
 charged, fines him in £^5s. to the private prosecutor, and £2 12s. 6d. to the 
 Fiscal, aiid £3 10s. to be paid of expenses ; and granted warrant for imprison- 
 ing the defender till these sums were paid. 
 
 No man of sensibility, particularly such a rising genius as "Wilson, could 
 remain in his native town after having been found guilty of a satirical libel, 
 and compelled to bum his poem at the market place. But at this time, the 
 French Revolution had broken out ; and Wilson, being looked upon with 
 suspicion by the authorities, left Paisley for the United States. This 
 unfortunate son of song in the new country of his adoption tried weaving, 
 teaching, and peddling, to gain a subsistence ; but all these he abandoned, 
 and plunged into the depths of the wUd recesses of the American forest, 
 and commenced his distinguished career of ornithologist. We may here 
 remark that Wilson, when a boy, residing in the Seedhills, Paisley, had u. 
 taste for drawing and painting domestic fowls and the wild birds in the 
 
THE FILIAL VOW. 63 
 
 The patriot bauld, the social brither, 
 In him war sweetly join'd thegither ; 
 He knaves reprov'd, without a swither, 
 
 In keenest satire ; 
 And taught what mankind owe each ither 
 
 As sons of Nature. 
 
 neighbourhood, and presenting them to hla boy companions. We saw 
 several of these juvenile performances lately, and they seemed artistically 
 executed. The genius for drawing and painting was in the boy, and 
 developed in the man. The poverty and privations which he suffered were 
 dreadful ; but he surmounted them with indomitable perseverance. He 
 frequently regretted the effusions of which he had been found guilty, not 
 with a half penitence, for we have seen some of his letters expressing a 
 true and full repentance. 
 
 In the year 1841, Mr. David Anderson, sculptor, Perth, was exhibiting in 
 Paisley his statuary group of "Tam 0' Shanter and Souter Johnnie" and of 
 " Watty and Meg." Mr. Anderson expressed his surprise there was nothing 
 indicating the birthplace of Alexander Wilson, the author of " Watty and 
 Meg,'' and resolved to erect a marble tablet. The erection having been 
 ilxed for 17th August, 1841, the Saint Mirin Lodge, Paisley, and the Alex- 
 ander Wilson Lodge of Oddfellows of the Manchester Unity, agreed to 
 patronise the fixing of the tablet with a procession of their societies through 
 the town. The procession was joined by the Greenock Lodge, and an 
 immense number of the inhabitants. The Marble Tablet, containing the 
 following inscription, was then duly fixed in the wall with all Masonic 
 honours; — "This Tablet was erected in 1841 by David Anderson, Perth, 
 " to mark out the Birthplace of Alexander Wilson, Paisley, Poet and 
 " Ornithologist." 
 
 The success attending the erection of the Tablet, emboldened the Alex- 
 ander Wilson Lodge to proceed with the erection of a Monument. The 
 Coromittee held a meeting on 28th June, 1844, and extended the Committee 
 for the purpose of collecting Subscriptions. The Conunittee had year after 
 year, both here and in America, wrought with the same indomitable 
 perseverance as the Ornithologist himself in his favourite pursuit. The 
 execution of the Monument, a bronze bust of Wilson, was gained by Mr. 
 John Mossman, sculptor, Glasgow, in a competition. A desirable site, 
 however, could not be obtained until all the houses on the east side of 
 Abbey Close were finally removed in 1874 for the amenity of the Abbey. 
 The north-east comer of Abbey Close and Smithhills Street presented the 
 
64 POEMS. 
 
 If thou hast heard his wee bit wren * 
 Wail forth its sorrows through the glen, 
 Tell how his warm, descriptive pen 
 
 Has thrill'd thy saul ; 
 His sensibility sae keen, — 
 
 He felt for all. 
 
 Since now he's gane, an Burns is deid. 
 Ah ! wha will tune the Scottish reed ? 
 Her thistle, dowie, hings its heid, — 
 
 Her harp's unstrung, — 
 While mountain, river, loch, an mead. 
 
 Remain unsung. 
 
 best site to be obtained in Paisley. It was secured, and tlie Monument 
 erected ; and Thursday, 8tli October, 1874, fixed for its inauguration. The 
 Monument Committee, with their friends, met that day ; and in presence of 
 William Holms, Esq., M.P. for the Burgh, and a large concourse of the 
 inhabitants, handed over to the Provost, Magistrates, and Town Council of 
 Paisley, who accepted, the Monument, consisting of a bronze statue of 
 Wilson seven feet six inches high, standing on a pedestal of gray granite of 
 ten feet in height. Wilson is represented leaning against the stump of a 
 tree ; behind him is a gun ; at his feet ard a hat and portfolio, on which 
 is resting the little favourite blue parrot that accompanied him in many of 
 his wanderings through the pathless forests of America. In his right hand, 
 he holds a pencil ; and in his left, a bird that he has recently shot, — the 
 beautiful plumage of which he is earnestly admiring. The ceremony having 
 been concluded, the Provost and Council, the Membera of the Wilson 
 Committee, and their friends, afterwards met in the County Hall, and 
 partook of cake and wine, — Provost David Murray in the chair, supported 
 by William Holms, Esq., M.P., and Sir Peter Coats. 
 
 The statue of Wilson has been admitted to be one of the finest statues 
 erected in Scotland, and the following inscription is engraven on a tablet in 
 the pedestal,—" Alexander Wilson, ornithologist and poet, bom at Paisley 
 6th July, 1766 ; died at Philadelphia 13th August, 1813.- Jd. 
 
 • Referring to the poem of "The Disconsolate Wren" wailing the 
 destruction of her sixteen bonnie chicks by the fall of a craig.— £rf. 
 
THE FILIAL VOW. 65 
 
 Fareweel, thou much neglected Bard ! 
 These lines will speak my warm regard, 
 While strangers on a foreign sward 
 
 Thy worth hold dear, 
 Still some kind heart thy name shall guard 
 
 Unsullied here. 
 
 10. 
 
 THE FILIAL VOW.* 
 1802. 
 
 Why heaves my mother oft the deep drawn sigh ? 
 Why starts the big tear glist'ning in her eye ? 
 Why oft retire to hide her bursting grief ? 
 Why seeks she not, 'nor seems to wish, relief ? 
 Tis for my. Father, mould'ring with the dead, 
 My Brother, in bold manhood lowly laid. 
 
 * M'larm, In his Life, says— "While Tannahai's heart was bent to sorrowful 
 reflection by the death of his father, he turned with anxious solicitude to 
 the fate of his widowed mother, and, in the tenderness of his soul, wrote 
 " The Klial Vow," which was kept, with the sacredness of truth, to the last 
 hour of his life. It speaks the filial aflfections of his heart, and will long re- 
 main an honourable testimony of his worth." 
 
 Rammy, in his Memoir of the Author, says—" Hugh having married, 
 Robert alone was left with his widowed mother, and, in the fulness of his 
 heart, wrote the "Filial Vow," which he faithfully kept. No trait in our 
 author's character is more calculated to interest the reader in his favour, 
 than the unwearied regard which he displayed for the welfare of his sur- 
 viving parent. She outlived him thirteen years, having died in 1823 at an 
 advanced aged. It is gratifying to know, that the attentions of which she 
 was deprived by his death were amply supplied by her surviving children." 
 
 Note in ISIS Bdition.—" This Poem was written shortly after the death of 
 the Poet's father, and speaks the filial affections of his heart " 
 
 I 
 
66 POEMS. 
 
 And for the pains which age is doom'd to bear, 
 
 She heaves the deep drawn sigh, and drops the silent tear. 
 
 Yes, partly these her gloomy thoughts employ ; 
 
 But mostly this o'erclouds her ev'ry joy, — 
 
 She grieves to think she may be burthensome. 
 
 Now feeble, old, and tottering to the tomb. 
 
 Oh, hear me, Heav'n, and record my Vow, 
 Its non-performance let Thy wrath pursue ! 
 I swear — Of what Thy providence may give. 
 My Mother shall her due maintenance have. 
 Twas hers to guide me thro Life's early day. 
 To point out Virtue's path, and lead the way ; 
 Now, while her poVrs in frigid langour sleep, 
 Tis mine, to hand her down Life's rugged steep. 
 With all. her little weaknesses to bear, 
 Attentive, kind, to sooth her ev'ry care. — 
 Tis Nature bids, and truest pleasure flows 
 From lessening an aged parent's woes. * 
 
 * The Poet's eldest brother, Thomas, died in 1795, in the 29th year of his 
 age, azid hia Father in December, 1801, or January, 1802, in the 69th year of 
 his age, when hies Mother was in her 64th year. In these days Muslin flower- 
 ing. Tambouring, Clipping, Fringing, and other light work, were given out by 
 manufacturers to be executed at home, and thrifty wives and widows wrought 
 at these employments, but principally young females. We concur with Mr. 
 Ramsay and the other Editor in the strong filial afiection of the Bard for 
 his Mother and her maintainance ; but, she having a hale constitution and 
 a spirit of independence, could not allow herself to remain idle, and she 
 obtained as much employment as she required from the warehouse of Mr. 
 William Bums, 98 Causeyside, foot of Brown's Lane, where her son James 
 was foreman. After the death of the Poet, she was well attended to by her 
 two sons, James and Matthew. Mrs. Tannahill lived to the venerable age of 
 84 years, and died on 19th/August, 1822. — Ed. 
 
PRAYER UNDER AFFLICTION. 67 
 
 11. 
 
 PRAYER UNDER AFFLICTION. 
 1802. 
 
 Almighty Pow'r, who wings the storm, 
 And calms the raging wind, 
 
 Restore health to my wasted form. 
 And tranquilize my mind. 
 
 For ah ! how poignant is the grief 
 Which self misconduct brings, 
 
 When racking pains find no relief. 
 And injur'd conscience stings. 
 
 Let penitence forgiveness plead. 
 Hear lenient Mercy's claims ; 
 
 Thy justice let be satisfied, 
 And blotted out my crimes. 
 
 But should thy sacred law of Right, 
 
 Seek life, a sacrifice, 
 O ! haste that awful, solemn night. 
 
 When death shall veil mine eyes. 
 
68 POEMS. 
 
 12. 
 
 A DEPARTED FRIEND. 
 
 Written with a pencil on the Grave-stone of a Departed 
 Friend. 
 
 Stop, passenger, — here muse awhile : 
 Think on his darksome, lone abode, 
 
 Who late, like thee, did jocund smile. 
 Now lies beneath this cold green sod. 
 
 Art thou to vicious ways inclin'd. 
 Pursuing pleasure's flow'ry road ? 
 
 Know — ^fell remorse shall rack thy mind, 
 When tott'ring to thy cold green sod. 
 
 If thou a friend to Virtue art. 
 Oft pitying burthen'd Mis'ry's load ; 
 
 Like thee, he had a feeling heart 
 Who lies beneath this cold green sod. 
 
 With studious, philosophic eye, 
 
 He look'd thro Nature up to God, — 
 
 His future hope, his greatest joy, 
 Who lies beneath this cold green sod. 
 
 Go, passenger— revere this truth : 
 A life well spent in doing good 
 
 Soothes joyless age, and sprightly youth. 
 When drooping o'er the cold green sod. 
 
THE BOWLMAN'S REMONSTRANCE. 69 
 
 13. 
 
 THE BOWLMAN'S REMONSTRANCE. * 
 
 Thro' Winter's cold and Summer's heat, 
 
 I earn my scanty fare ; 
 From morn till night, along the street 
 
 I cry my earthen ware. 
 Then, O let pity sway your souls ! 
 
 And mock not that decrepitude 
 
 Which draws me from my solitude ' 
 To cry my plates and bowls ! 
 
 From thoughtless youth, I often brook 
 
 The trick and taunt of scorn. 
 And, though indifif'rence marks my look, 
 
 My heart with grief is torn. 
 Then, O let pity sway your souls ! 
 
 Nor sneer contempt in passing by ; 
 
 Nor mock derisive while I cry — 
 " Come, buy my plates and bowls." 
 
 * This song appeared in 1806 in the Glasgow Nightitlffale. This was a 
 collection of songs called the Nightingale or SongsUr's Magazin\£, — a choice 
 collection of Scots, Irish, and English songs, — published at Glasgow by A. 
 & J. JLeslie, booksellers, 58 Gallowgate, in 1806. The 18mo. volume con- 
 sisted of 224 pages, and contained 198 songs. Tannahill contributed 
 twenty-seven of these, — being 13 per cent, or nearly one-fifth of the whole 
 collection. Of these, six had previously appeared in either Maver's Slasgom 
 Selector and Sleaner, or Miller's Paisley JRepositoiy.—Sd. 
 
70 POEMS. 
 
 The potter moulds the passive clay- 
 To all the forms you see, 
 
 And that same Pow'r that formed you 
 Hath likewise fashion'd me. 
 
 Then, O let pity sway your souls ! — 
 Though needy, poor as poor can be, 
 I stoop not to your charity, 
 
 But cry my plates and bowls.* 
 
 * Note by tlie Author. — "When decrepitude incapacitates a brother of 
 humanity from gaining a subsistence by any of the leas dishonourable 
 callings, and when he possesses that independency of soul which disdains 
 living on charity, it is certainly refinement in barbarity to hurt the feelings 
 of such a one. The above was written on seeing the boys plaguing little 
 Johnnie the Bowlman, while some who thought themselves men were 
 reckoning it excellent sport." 
 
 Note hy ^»way.—" Another proof of the humane disposition of TannahilL " 
 
 The bowhnan referred to by the feeling Tannahill was Johnnie Flint, who 
 lived in the old building No. 36 High Street, Paisley, — where Barney Keir, 
 the sweep, resided, — and sold beat sand, and went about the streets with a 
 one-wheeled barrow containing his stock in trade, crying plates and bowls 
 for old rags. From his dwarfish appearance, uncouth look, wriggling walk, 
 and difficulty of utterance, he was frequently teased by thoughtless boys 
 imitating his cries. — Ed. 
 
SINCERITY. 7 1 
 
 14. 
 
 SINCERITY.* 
 1804. , 
 
 Pure emanation of the honest soul, 
 
 Dear to my heart, manly Sincerity ! 
 Dissimulation shrinks, — a coward foul, — 
 
 Before thy noble art detesting eye. 
 
 Thou scom'st the wretch who acts a double part. 
 Obsequious, servile, flatt'ring to betray, 
 
 With smiling face that veils a ranc'rous heart. 
 Like sunny morning of tempestuous day. 
 
 Thou spum'st the sophist, with his guilty lore. 
 
 Whom int'rest prompts to weave the specious snare; 
 
 In independence rich, thou own'st a store 
 
 Of conscious worth, which changelings never share. 
 
 Then come, bright Virtue, with thy dauntless brow. 
 And crush Deceit, vile monster, reptile low. 
 
 ** This Ode first appeared in the Foetkal Magazine of Vernor and Hood, 
 London, published in 1804.— ja. 
 
7 2 POEMS. 
 
 15. 
 
 SELF-SUFFICIENCY— AN ODE. 
 In imitation of Pijidar* 
 
 The simile's a very useful thing, 
 
 This, priests and poets needs must own ; 
 
 For when the clock-work of their brain runs down, 
 A simile winds up the mental spring. 
 
 For instance, when a priest does scan 
 The Fall of Man 
 
 And all its consequences dire, 
 He makes him first a little sportive pig, — 
 So clean, so innocent, so trig, — 
 And then an aged sow, deep wallowing in the mire ! 
 
 Yes, sure the simile's a useful thing ; 
 Another instance I will bring. 
 
 Thou'st seen a cork tost on the rain-sweli'd stream, 
 Now up, now down, now whirl'd round and round. 
 
 Yet still 'twould swim. 
 And all the torrent's fury could not drown't : 
 
 * Note by Bamsay.—" In Imitation of Peter Pindar (Dr. Wolcot)." 
 Pindar, bom 618 B.C. A Tlieban. The Prince of Lyric Poets.— SiZ. 
 John Wolcot, M.D., the patronymic of Peter Pindar, a satirical poet, born 
 in 1738, published his works between 1794 and 1807, and were very popular 
 when the above Ode was written. He died 14th January, 1819. — Ed. 
 
LINES. 73 
 
 So have I seen a forward, empty fop, 
 Tost in Wit's blanket, ridicul'd, et cetera. 
 Yet, after all the banter, off he'd hop. 
 Quite confident in self-sufficiency. 
 Ah ! had kind heaven. 
 For a defence, 
 AUovsr'd me half the brazen confidence 
 That she to many a cork-brained fool hath given ! 
 
 16. 
 
 LINES 
 
 Writteti on reading Campbeirs ^^ Pleasures of Hope."'- 
 
 1805. 
 
 How seldom 'tis the Poet's happy lot 
 T' inspire his readers with the fire he wrote ; 
 To strike those chords that wake the latent thrill. 
 And wind the willing passions to his will. 
 
 * These lines were first printed in 1805 in the Paisley Repositm"^, No. II., 
 edited by John Millar. The editor was horn in the Towjihead of Paisley. 
 He was a bookbinder, bookseller, librarian, publisher, land measurer, teacher, 
 and occasionally preacher to the Anabaptists. The Repository was com- 
 menced in 1803, and completed in 1811, in 24 Nos. without dates. It was 
 most erratic in its appearance in Nos. and editions of its Nos. In 1809, he 
 published a Histtyry of the Witches of Renfrewshi/te and a Sotigster. In 1812, 
 he published TJie Paisley Annual Miscellany: and, in 1814, he left Paisley and 
 became teacher of Giffen School, near Beith. By indomitable perseverance, 
 he acquired a smattering of the ancient languages of Latin, Greek, and 
 Hebrew, and the German modem language. In 1844, he published a 
 new system of Arithmetic. He died at Greeuhill, Giffen, on 25th November, 
 1864.— jsa. 
 
 K 
 
74 POEMS. 
 
 Yes, Campbell, * sure that happy lot is thine. 
 With fit expression, — rich from Nature's mine,— 
 Like old Timotheus, f skilful plac'd on high, 
 To rouse revenge, or soothe to sympathy. 
 Blest Bard ! who chose no paltry, local theme. 
 Kind Hope through wide creation is the same. 
 
 * Thomas Campbell was bom in the neighbouring city of Glasgow on 27th 
 July, 1777. He was a distinguished poet and the most perfect lyrical 
 writer of his time. His poem, "The Pleasures of Hope," was published 
 first in 1799, and reached the 7th edition in 1804. The piece contains 
 a number of images full of force and interest, and breathes throughout the 
 enthusiasm of the moat generous sentiment. On Monday, 21st September, 
 1874, we met Mr. John Crawford, author of the "Philosophy of Wealth," 
 In GUmour Street, Paisley, when he enquired how TannahUl was getting on 
 (alluding to this present edition of the Poet's works), and we remarked, 
 "exceedingly well," and that we intended that evening writing the note to 
 the "Ode to the 'Pleasures of Hope.'" He observed it was.a very pleasant 
 subject ; and the next moment, with an impulsive outburst of indignation, 
 exclaimed that it was an eternal disgrace to the Liberal Town Council of 
 Paisley to refuse the Freedom of the Burgh to Thomas Campbell. We concurred 
 with Mr. Crawford in the "everlasting disgrace, "and Instantly reminded him 
 that the same Thomas Campbell, with all his generous sentiments, at 
 Professor Wilson's dinner, never referred to the lyric poet of Paisley, and that 
 neither the Dinner Committee, their Secretary (Mr. Crawford himself), nor 
 their guest. Professor Wilson, deigned to mention the name of Tannahill. 
 Mr. Crawford's remark referred to the motion of Provost Farquharson, 
 seconded by Bailie Drummond, at a meeting of the Town Council held on 
 9th August, 1836, that the ' ' Freedom of the Town be conferred upon Thomas 
 Campbell, Esquire, author of * The Pleasures of Hope, ' a poem, who was to 
 visit this place in a few days," which, after a vote, was negatived ; and we 
 referred to the Public Dinner to Professor Wilson on 11th August, 1836. 
 Thomas CampbeU died on 15th June, 1844, in the 67th year of his age ; 
 Professor Wilson was bom on 18th May, 1785, and died 4th April, 1854, in his 
 69th year ; and John Crawford, born on 10th May, 1802, died on 26th 
 September, 1874, in the 73rd year of his age, — five days after our meet- 
 ing. — Ed. 
 
 t Timotheus was one of the celebrated poet-musicians of antiquity, bom 
 at Miletus, 446 B.C. He added four additional strings to the Lyre, for 
 which he was tried and sentenced to cut them off, and then to be banished ; 
 but before executing the first part of the sentence, he noticed an old statue 
 with a Lyre of eleven strings, whicli was shown to the judges, and they 
 recalled their sentence.— 5rf. 
 
THE PARNASSIAD.. 75 
 
 Yes, Afric's sons shall one day burst their chains, * 
 Will read thy lines, and bless thee for thy pains ; 
 Fame yet shall waft thy name to India's shore, 
 Where, next to Brahma, t thee they will adore ; 
 And Hist'ry's page, exulting in thy praise, 
 Will proudly hand thee down to future days : 
 Detraction foil'd, reluctant quits her grip, 
 And carping Envy silent bites her lip. 
 
 17. 
 
 THE PARNASSIAD. 
 
 A VISION ARr VIEW. 
 
 Come, Fancy, thou hast ever been, 
 In life's low vale, my ready friend 
 
 To cheer the clouded hour ; 
 Tho unfledg'd with scholastic law. 
 Some visionary picture draw • 
 
 With all thy magic pow'r. 
 Now to the intellectual eye 
 
 The glowing prospects rise. 
 
 * Slavery waa abolished in the British Colonies on 28th August, 1833, and 
 in the United States of America on 1st January, 1863, when Afric'a sons 
 became freemen. — Ed. 
 
 t Brahma in Hindoo Mythology is the principal Deity, — the supposed 
 creator of the world, the great father and ruler. — Ed. 
 
76 POEMS. 
 
 Parnassus' * lofty summits high, 
 Far tow'ring mid the skies, 
 Where vernally, eternally, 
 Rich leafy laurels grow, 
 With bloomy bays, thro endless days, 
 To crown the Poet's brow. 
 
 Sure, bold is he who dares to climb 
 Yon awful jutting rock sublime, 
 
 Who dares Pegasus t sit ; 
 For should brain ballast prove too light. 
 He'll spurn him from his airy height 
 
 Down to Oblivion's pit. 
 There to disgrace for ever doom'd 
 
 To mourn his sick'ning woes. 
 And weep, that ever he presum'd 
 Above the vale of Prose. 
 
 Then, O beware ! with prudent care. 
 
 Nor tempt the steeps of fame, 
 And leave behind thy peace of mind. 
 To gain a sounding name. | 
 
 * Famassus, a mountain in Phocia, near Delphi, and tlie , highest in 
 ancient Greece, sacred to Apollo, the god o( Poetry.— Jd. 
 
 t A winged horse, on which the Poets are supposed to ride. — Ed. 
 
 X Note by Tannahill. — "The career of genius is rarely that of fortune, and 
 often that of contempt ; even in its most flattering aspect, what is it hut 
 plucking a few brilliant flowers from precipices, while the reward terminates 
 in the honour. " — D'Israeli. 
 
 Isaac D'Israeli was bom at Enfield in May, 1766. At twenty-four years of 
 age, in 1790, he published Curiosities of Literature, and afterwards rose 
 to considerable eminence in the literary world. He died 19th January, 
 1848, aged S2.—Bd. 
 
THE PARNASSIAD, 77 
 
 Behold ! — yon ready rhyming carl, 
 With flatt'ry fir'd, attracts the warl' 
 
 By canker'd, pers'nal satire; 
 He takes th' unthinking crowds acclaim 
 For sterling proofs of lasting fame, 
 
 And deals his inky spatter. 
 Now, see ! he on Pegasus flies 
 
 With bluff, important straddle ! 
 He bears him midway iip the skies, — 
 See ! see ! he's off the saddle ! 
 
 He headlong tumbles, growls and grumbles, 
 
 Down the dark abyss ; 
 The noisy core, that prais'd before. 
 Now join the gen'ral hiss. 
 
 Now, see another vent'rer rise 
 Deep fraught with fulsome eulogies 
 
 To win his patron's favour, — 
 One of those adulating things 
 That, dangling in the train of kings, 
 
 Give guilt a splendid cover. 
 He mounts, well prefac'd by "my Lord," 
 
 Inflicts the spur's sharp wound ; 
 Pegasus spurns the great man's word. 
 And won't move from the ground. 
 
 Now, mark his face flush'd with disgrace, 
 
 Thro future life to grieve on ; 
 His wishes cross'd, his hopes all lost. 
 He sinks into oblivion. 
 
 Yon city scribbler thinks to scale 
 The cliffs of fame with Pastoral, 
 In worth thinks none e'er richer. 
 
78 POEMS. 
 
 Yet never cHmb'd the upland steep, 
 Nor e'er beheld a flock of sheep, 
 
 Save those driv'n by the butcher ; 
 Nor ever mark'd the gurgling stream. 
 
 Except the common sew'r 
 On rainy days, when dirt and slime 
 Pour'd turbid past his door. 
 
 Choice epithets in store he gets 
 
 From Virgil,* Shenstone,t Pope, J 
 With tailor art tacks part to part, 
 And makes his Past'ral up. 
 
 But see, rich clad in native worth, 
 Yon Bard of Nature ventures forth. 
 
 In simple modest tale ; 
 Applauding millions catch the song. 
 The raptur'd rocks the notes prolong, 
 
 And hand them to the gale. 
 
 * Publius VirgiliuB Maro, bom at Andes, near Mantua, B.C. 70, and died 
 B.C. 19, in the 51st year of his age. He was the Prince of Latin Poets, and 
 his works are written in an elegant and majestic style. John Dryden, a 
 highly distinguished English poet and dramatic writer, wrote a translation 
 of Virgil in 1694, — a difBcult and most laborious work, — published in 1697. 
 He was born at Aldwinkle, near Oundle, on 9th August, 1631, and died 1st 
 May, 1700.— .Bd. 
 
 t William Shenstone was an admired English poet, bom at Lessowes, 
 Shropshire, in November, 1714, and died 11th Noveinber, 1763. That author 
 seems to have been a favourite with Tannahill, as he has also noticed him 
 in the " Choice," No. 29, and.it is very evident that Tannahill derived much 
 benefit from studying the lyrics of Shenstone. — Ed. 
 
 t Alexander Pope was bom at London on 22nd May, 1638. He was an 
 English Poet of great elegance and popularity, and his works were well 
 studied both by the Ayrshire baid and our own lyric poet, both of them 
 occasionally borrowing a line from him. This voluminous author died 30th 
 May, 1744.— .Sd. 
 
THE PARNASSIAD. 79 
 
 Pegasus kneels — he takes his seat — 
 
 Now, see ! aloft he towers 
 To place him, 'bove the reach of fate, 
 In Fame's ambrosial bowers : 
 
 To be enroU'd with bards of old 
 
 In ever honour'd station, — 
 The gods, well pleas'd, see mortals rais'd 
 Worthy of their creation ! 
 
 Now, mark what> crowds of hackney scribblers, 
 Imitators, rhyming dabblers. 
 
 Follow in the rear ! 
 Pegasus spurns us one by one, 
 Yet, still fame-struck, we follow on. 
 
 And tempt our fate severe : 
 In many a dogg'rel Epitaph, 
 
 And short-lined, mournful Ditty, 
 Our " Ahs !— Alases !" raise the laugh, 
 Revere the tide of pity. 
 
 Yet still we write in Nature's spite, 
 
 Our last piece aye the best ; 
 Arraigning still, complaining still, 
 The world for want of taste ! * 
 
 Observe yon poor deluded man, 
 With threadbare coat and visage wan 
 Ambitious, of a name ; 
 
 * The Author noted the following triplet :— 
 
 " Still restless Fancy drives us headlong on, 
 With dreams of wealth, and friends, and laurels won ; 
 On ruin's brink we sleep, and wake undone. " 
 
8o POEMS. 
 
 The nat'ral claims of meat and deeding, 
 He reckons these not worth the heeding, 
 
 But, presses on for fame ! 
 The public voice, touchstone of worth, 
 
 Anon)mious he cries ; 
 But draw the critic's vengeance forth, — 
 His fancied glory dies. 
 
 Neglected now, -dejected now, 
 
 He gives his spleen full scope ; 
 In solitude he chews his cud — 
 A downright Misanthrope. 
 
 Then, brother rhymsters, O beware, ! 
 Nor tempt unscar'd the specious snare 
 
 Which Self-Love often weaves ; 
 Nor dote with a fond father's pains. 
 Upon the offspring of your brains. 
 
 For fancy oft deceives. 
 To lighten life, a wee bit sang 
 
 Is sure a sweet illusion ! 
 But ne'er provoke the critic's stang 
 By premature intrusion. 
 
 Lock up your piece, let fondness cease. 
 
 Till mem'ry fail to bear it. 
 With critic lore then read it o'er. 
 Yourself may judge its merit. 
 
EP ISTLE. 
 
 18. 
 
 EPISTLE TO JAMES KING. 
 
 On receiving a Moral Epistle from him. 
 
 May, 1802.* 
 
 Please accept the thanks and praise 
 Due to your poetic lays, 
 Wisdom ay should be rever'd, 
 Sense to wit be ay prefer'd. 
 
 * NoU hy Ramsay. — " This old friend and correspondent of tlie author 
 still survives " (1837). 
 
 James King, weaver, soldier, and poet, was bom at the head of Causcy- 
 side Street, Paisley, in 1776. He was brought up' to the trade of a weaver, 
 and enhsted into one of the. Fencible Eegiments raised after the outbreak 
 of the French Revolution. After five years' service, the Fencible Regiments 
 were disbanded. In 1803, when the Militia Regiments were re-embodied, 
 James King enlisted in the Renfrewshire Militia ; and several letters from 
 him to Robert Tannahill, when serving in that corps while in England, 
 appear among the Correspondence. During his service, an overt act of 
 insubordination occurred in the regiment about the end of 1811, and James 
 King was suspected of being the ringleader, while the usual unsatisfactory 
 defence that he was not to blame was set up. He was not hstened to, but 
 allowed to leave the regiment. He, however, obtained his discharge in 
 1815, when the regiment was disbanded. The disbanding of Militia and 
 Local Militia Regiments, after the Battle of Waterloo, created a great 
 sensation in the streets of Paisley, and we recollect the occurrence well. 
 In 1826, James Bang returned to Paisley, and took up his residence in the 
 house where he was bom, and remained a year ; after which, he removed to 
 Charleston, and resided there several years. He wrote the "Battle of 
 Talavera," which appeared in the 8eot& Magazine, and ihe "Battle of 
 Busaco," which appeared in the Harp of Rmfrewshire. Motherwell, the 
 editor, added a note ascribing the latter song to James Hogg, the Ettrick 
 Shephercl ; but he was mistaken. We recoUect Mr. King well, and he 
 called upon us frequently. He contributed, "A Legend of Stanely 
 Castle" to the Rmfrm&ldre Arniual for 1841; and, in 1842, he com- 
 menced the publication of his Poems and Songs, which only reached 
 the third number. From first to last. King lias vnitten a large quantity of 
 Poetry ; and If his poems an(^ songs could now be collected together, they 
 would form a handsome volume. He died 28th September, 1849, in the 
 73rd year of his age.— ^rf. 
 
 L 
 
82 POEMS. 
 
 — Just your thoughts, in simple guise, 
 
 Fit to make frail mortals wise ; 
 
 Every period, every line, 
 
 With some moral truth doth shine. 
 
 — Like the rocks, which storms divide, 
 
 Thund'ring down the mountain's side. 
 
 So strides Time, with rapid force, ' 
 
 Round his unobstructed course ; 
 
 Like a flood upon its way. 
 
 Sweeping downward to the sea : 
 
 But what figure so sublime 
 
 As describe the flight of time ? 
 
 Yesterday is past an gane. 
 
 Just as it had never been. 
 
 — Life's a dream, and man's a bubble, 
 
 'Compass'd round with care and trouble. 
 
 Like a ship in tempest tost ; 
 
 Soon o'erwhelm'd, for ever lost ; 
 
 Like the short-Iiv'd passion-flow'r,* 
 
 Blooming, dying, in an hour ; 
 
 Like the tuneful bird that sings, 
 
 Flutt'ring high on sportive wings. 
 
 Till the fowler's subtle art. 
 
 Drives Death's message to its heart. 
 
 * PassiJUnu ; Passion Flower, — ^from passio, suffering, and Jhs, a flower. 
 This plant was discovered in Soutti America in 1629, and much interest is 
 attached to it from the description given by Romish missionaries. They 
 declared that the part of the flower like a pillar, bearing the three stigmas^ 
 represented the Cross on which" the Saviour suffered : the five aMliers, tlie 
 hammer and the nails with which he was fastened to the Cross ; and the 
 rays figured the crown of thorns. The petals represented the ten apostles, — 
 the other two being left out because the one had betrayed, and the other 
 denied his Master. The Saviour having lain t^jree days in the tomb, — that 
 the flower opens and closes in three days in commemoration of that event. 
 
EPISTLE. 83 
 
 While, perhaps, Death aims his blow 
 
 For to lay the wretch as low. 
 
 — Now since life is but a day, 
 
 Make the most of it we may ; 
 
 Not in drinking to excess — 
 
 Drink the spirits will depress : 
 
 Calm and tranquil let us be. 
 
 Still resign'd to Fate's decree : 
 
 Let not poortith sink us low, 
 
 Let not wealth exalt our brow, ^ 
 
 Let's be grateful, virtuous, wise — 
 
 There's where all our greatness lies ; 
 
 Doing all the good we can. 
 
 Is all that Heaven requires of man. 
 
 — Wherefore should we grieve and sigh, 
 
 'Cause we know that he must die ? 
 
 Death's a debt requir'd by nature. 
 
 To be paid by every creature; 
 
 Rich and poor, and high and low. 
 
 Fall by Death's impartial blow — 
 
 God, perhaps, in kindness, will 
 
 Snatch us from some coming ill ; 
 
 Death may kindly waft us o'er 
 
 To a milder, happier shore. 
 
 — But, Dear Jamie ! after a'. 
 
 What I've said's not worth a straw ; 
 
 What is't worth to moralize 
 
 What we never can practise ? 
 
 As for me, wi a my skill. 
 
 Passion leads me as she will : 
 
 But resolves, laid down to-day. 
 
 Ere to-morrow 're done away. — 
 
 — Then let's ever cheery live. 
 
84 POEMS. 
 
 Do our best an never grieve ; 
 Still let Friendship's warmest tie 
 A' deficiencies supply, 
 And, while favour'd by the Nine, 
 I your laurels will entwine. 
 
 19. 
 
 EPISTLE TO JAMES SCADLOGK* 
 
 On receiving from him a small MS. volume of Original 
 Scottish Poems. 
 
 April, 1803. 
 
 While colleg'd Bards bestride Pegasus, 
 An try to gallop up Parnassus, 
 
 By dint o meikle lear. 
 The lowe o friendstiip fires my saul, 
 Tae write you this poetic ^crawl, — 
 
 Prosaic dull, I fear ! 
 
 * NoU m 18^5 Bditwn. — " James Scadlock, by business an engraver, was 
 bom at Paisley In 1775, died 1818. His posttiumous works, consisting of 
 Poems, Odes, and Songs, &c., have since been published, along with a short 
 sketch of his life." 
 
 James Soadlock was born on 7th October, 1775, and brought up in Abbey 
 Close of Paisley. His father, a weaver, gave him the usual education 
 imparted to children in his class of society, and he was sent to the school 
 taught by William Adie, Session-Clerk. The father, being an intelligent 
 person himself, his chil4ren derived considerable knowledge from their 
 parent. James Scadlock exhibited a taste for drawing, which latterly 
 became a favourite pursuit with him, and afterwards an accessory to the 
 business he was ultimately taught. Almost every youth in Paisley was sent 
 to the loom at an early age, whether they had an inclination for the weav- 
 
EPISTLE. * 85 
 
 But, weel I ken, your gen'rous heart 
 
 Will overloqk its failings^ 
 And whar the poet has come short, 
 Let friendship cure his filings j 
 Tiii kind, man, divine, man, 
 Tae h}d^ ^ijp faut we spe, 
 Or try tae men't, as far's v^e jcep't, 
 Wi true sinceri|:y. 
 
 ing trade or not,— silk wea-ving being light \5j0rk, and the wagea high. 
 James Scadlock's father accordingly set his son to that trade to earn his 
 maintenance. From some cause or other, he felt disinclined to follow that 
 trade, and relinquished it before a twelvemonth. He was next sent to the 
 service of a bookseller and stationer ; but the business being in a decline, 
 and the master becoming insolvent, young Scadlock was discharged. James 
 Scadlock formed an early 'attachment to books from the well-furnished 
 library of his father, and that inclination was extended and, gratified by 
 his attendance in the bookseller's shop, He likewise, from that opportunity, 
 became acquainted with several authors ; but he indulged more particularly 
 In poetical writings. He recited to his juvenile acquaintances passages 
 he had read, and occasionally added poetry from his own pen. Drawing, 
 however, was his favourite pursuit ; and his father, now anxious to place 
 his son at a business congenial to Ms tastes, apprenticed him, in his 19th 
 year, for seven years as a copperplate engraver to the firm of Findlay, Ure, 
 Bryce, & Co., printers at Fereneze, near Neilston, where he had considerable 
 opportunities for .cultivating his taste for the fine arts. In writing 
 poetry, and associating with Intelligent companions, the time whirled 
 insensibly past, and, on 11th June, 1801, he received his Indenture with a 
 certificate of faithful service. He was an acquaintance of TannahiU 
 for several years. Both Scadlock and Tannahill became members of 
 the Paisley Croft Friendly Society,— a society for supporting its members 
 in sickness. The society was formed in 1761 by the weaver feuars 
 of the Croft land of Paisley, from William, seventh Earl of Dundonald. 
 Scadlock, wishing to perpetuate his skill in drawing and engraving, designed 
 and engraved a ticket of admission to the society, which is a work of art. 
 We tried to discover the original plate to give a copy of it as an illustration 
 to this volume ; but were unsuccessful. The ticket which Tannahill received 
 on his admission into the Society is still in existence. It is headed — 
 
 *'£n ^nitg toe all aqree." 
 
 Then follows a Coat of Arms,— the armorial bearings of the weavers. A 
 shield with a cheveron argmt, charged wi^ three cinquefoils and three cats' 
 
85 POEMS. 
 
 This last observe, bring'st in my head, 
 Tae tell you here my social creed — 
 
 Let's use a mankind weel, 
 An ony sumph wha'd use us ill, 
 Wi dry contempt lef s treat him still, 
 He'll feel it warst himsel : 
 
 I never flatter — praise but rare, 
 
 I scorn a double pairt ; 
 An when I speak, I speak sincere. 
 The dictates o my heart ; 
 I truly hate the dirty gait 
 
 That mony a bodie tak's, 
 Wha fraise ane, syne blaze ane 
 As soon's they turn their backs. 
 
 heads, — each with a shuttle in the mouth, in dexter and sinister chief, and 
 base azure. The a-est, a cat's head with a shuttle in the mouth, and a cap 
 made of coops or pirns. There are also two oval pictures on the ticket, — one 
 with a widow and three orphan children, and the other containing the 
 figure of Justice, with sword and balance. There is also inscribed on the 
 ticket, — 
 
 ERECTED, IN 1761, 
 
 THE PAISLEY CROFT SOCIETY. 
 
 HERE POVERTY AND SICKNESS 
 
 CAN CLAIM RELIEF. 
 
 NO. . 30. 
 
 A general stagnation of trade had affected the firm with whom Scadlock was 
 engaged, by which he and a great number of others were thrown out of 
 employment. It was a difficult matter for him to obtain employment, and 
 he had almost given up all hope, when he received an offer from a fii"m in 
 Perth, which he accepted. Tannahlll, in June, 1804, addressed a second 
 Epistle (No. 21) to his' friend iu that town ; but before a year passed away, 
 Scadlock returned to the service of his former employers. WhUe resident in 
 Perth, he wrote the song of "The Scottish Exile," which was first printed 
 in Maver's Gleaner, 1806 (See Note to No. 5), and signed with his name. 
 This brought him into notice as a poet. In April, 1808, he married Mary 
 Bwing, the daughter of a respectable feUow-workman. This turned out a 
 happy union. James Scadlock died from an attack of typhus fever on 4th 
 
EPISTLE. 87 
 
 In judging, let us be richt hooly ; 
 
 I've heard some fouks discant sae freely, 
 
 On ither people's matters, 
 As if theirsel's war real perfection, 
 Whan, had they stood a fair inspection, 
 The abus'd war far their betters : 
 But gossips ay maun hae their crack, 
 
 Though moralists shoud rail. 
 Let's end the matter wi this fac'. 
 That, " Goodness pays itsel." 
 The joys, man, that rise, man. 
 
 To ane frae daeing weel. 
 Are siccan joys that harden'd vice 
 Can seldom ever feel. 
 
 O Jamie, man ! I'm proud to see't. 
 Our ain auld muse yet keeps her feet, 
 
 Maist healthy as before ; 
 For sad predicting fears foretauld. 
 When Robin's* glowing heart turn'd cauld. 
 Then a our joys war o'er, 
 
 (Ilk future Bard revere his name. 
 
 Through- thousan years to come, 
 And though we cannot reach his fame, 
 Busk laurels roun his tomb :) 
 
 July, 1818, in the 43rd year of liis age, leaving a widow and four children 
 to lament his loss. 
 
 The same year, 1818, "The Posthumous Works of James Scadlock, con- 
 taining Poems, Songs, Odes, and other poetical pieces, with a Sketch of the 
 Author's liife," was published at Paisley iu an 8vo, of 96 pages, Including the 
 Life. See Notes to Nos. 21 and 8S.—Bd. 
 
 * Robert Bums.— .Bd. 
 
88 POEMS. 
 
 Yet, though he's dead, the Scottish reed, 
 
 This mony a day may ring, 
 In Livingston,* in Anderson, | 
 
 In Scadlock, $ and in King. § 
 
 * William Livingston, weaver, poet, and comedian, was bom in 1776. He 
 was an early and intimate acquaintance and correspondent of TannaMH. 
 Two of his letters to Tannahill will be found in the Correspondence, an d 
 are dated Kirkcudbright, 18th November, 1804, and KiUyleagh, March 7th, 
 1806. He was in the company of Mr. Archibald PoUock, manager of the 
 Paisley Theatre ; ajid he, along with Pollock, urged Tannahill to write the 
 dramatic piece of " The Soldier's Return." He was also in the company of 
 Mr. Harry Johnston when he had his Theatre in the Saracen's Head Inn, 
 Paisley; and in referring to a handbill of Mr. Johnston's intimating the 
 performance for Wednesday evening, 17th July, 1822, of the celebrated new 
 tragedy of "Bertram, or the Castle of Saint Aldobrand," we observed the 
 name of Mr. Livingston put down for the character of Hugo. In the 
 melodrama, the same evening,, of " Ella Rosenberg," his name is put down 
 for the character of Flutter-man. Livingston, "OldLivy" as he was called 
 in his latter days, trod the boards of theatres for upwards of fifty years both 
 in Scotland and Ireland, but more particularly m the West of Scotland, 
 chiefly Paisley and Glasgow. In the prime of hfe, he enjoyed a respectable 
 share of popularity in his sphere ; but he did not Uke the life of a strolling 
 player, and frequently left the buskin for his trade of a weaver, or a small 
 stationery business. He must be well remembered by a large number of those 
 gentlemen, both in Glasgow and Paisley, who attended the theatre in their 
 youth. He wrote the "Weaver's Lament," "The Gloamin'," and anumber 
 of other poems and songs. His health declined in 1845, and he removed 
 to Greenock to recruit his strength. On the 10th of June, 1849, when taking 
 a walk on the quay at low water, and in stepping along the steamboat 
 wharf, his foot slipped, he stumbled and fen over, struck the breastwork 
 In falling, and was thus deprived of life in the 73rd year of his age.— Ed. 
 
 t William Anderson, clockmaker, precentor, teacher of music, and poet. 
 He was a shrewd and talented member of the social club with which 
 Tannahill was connected and was one of the founders of the Paisley Bums' 
 Club in 1805. He was so well informed on different subjects that he was 
 always ready to discuss any question on any side that might arise in either 
 of these clubs ; but he loved a liquor which destroyed his company. — Ed. 
 
 X The subject of this Epistle. See Notes to No.,86.^5cZ. 
 § John King. See Notes to Nos, 6 and 73.-5!^. 
 
EPISTLE. 
 
 89 
 
 " The Tap-room," — what a glorious treat ! 
 
 " Complaint and wish " — how plaintive sweet ! 
 
 " The Weaver's " just " Lament." 
 " The Gloamin' Fragment "* — how divine ! 
 There Nature speaks in every line, 
 
 The Bard's immortal in't I 
 
 * " The Gloamin ; a Fragment " (by the author of " The Weaver's Lament, " 
 " Complaint and Wish," &c.,' transiyiiited by a Correspondent) appeared in the 
 Qlasgoio Selector of 1805, Vol. III., page 199. The correspondent would be 
 Tannahlll ; and from respect for that guileless old man, William Livingston, 
 we here insert it : — 
 
 "See how bricht wi goud a bleezin, 
 Purple-shaded alnnes the wast ; 
 
 Cool the air, an sweet an pleasln. 
 Now the bumin day is past. 
 
 Now, while the sun, fast sinkin. 
 Yellow tints yon eastern braes. 
 
 And the clachan bell is clinkin. 
 Let me sit, an— list'ning — gaze. 
 
 Seated on this verdant knowie, 
 Whar the curlin foggagegrows 
 
 An the sunbeams faintly glow, ay, 
 An the burnie quietly rows ; 
 
 Frae the. hedge, by yonder plantin. 
 Sweeter far than notes airt 
 
 Hark ! the blackbird, how he's chantin 
 Loud an clear,— it thrills the heart. 
 
 Saft I hear the lammies bleatin. 
 Distant kye rowt a aroun ; 
 
 Echo frae the hichts repeatin, 
 Ijengthens out the varied soun. 
 
 Fresh the zephyrs, gently breathin, 
 Sleekly bend the noddin here ; 
 
 Carryin scented fragrance wi them 
 Frae tha clover an the brier. 
 
 See the cottar, pacin slowly 
 To his hut below the hill ; 
 
 Hame's ay hame, tho e'er sae lowly. 
 There, tho puir, he's welcome still. 
 
 Blythe the wee bit whistlin herdie 
 Drives his charge out owre the lee, 
 
 Wi the neat o some sweet birdie, 
 Herried frae its chosen tree ; 
 
 While he bauds secure his plunder, 
 Tentless that he's doin wrang. 
 
 Fancy hears the mither, yonder. 
 Wail her loss in plaintive sang. 
 
 Stop !— forbear your wanton thievin ! 
 
 Little robber, hear yon tune ! 
 Kent ye how the mither's grievin. 
 
 Sure ye'd rue the deed ye've dune. 
 
 Now, the baukie-bird attendin 
 Minds me that it's wearin late, 
 
 An the moistening dews descendin 
 'G-ui to weet my grassy seat. " — Sd. 
 
 M 
 
go POEMS. 
 
 Yon '' Epigram on Jeanie Lang," 
 
 Is pointed as the steel, 
 An " Hoot ! ye ken yoursel's," — a sang 
 Would pleas'd e'en Bums himsel ! 
 Let snarling, mean quarr'ling, 
 
 Be doubly damn'd henceforth, 
 And let us raise the voice of praise, 
 To hearten modest worth. 
 
 And you, my dear respectit frien. 
 Your " Spring's " a precious evergreen, 
 
 Fresh beauties budding still. 
 Your " Levern Banks," an " KiUoch Burn," * 
 Ye sing them wi sae sweet a turn, 
 
 Ye gar the heart-strings thrill. 
 
 ^ ThQ following tliree verses were written by Scadlock in three separate 
 songs on the romantic scenery of Killoch Burn : — 
 
 " The Bun's now setting in the west, 
 
 And mild's his beam on hill and plain, 
 No sound is heard, save Killoch Bum 
 Wild murmuring down its woody glen." 
 
 " Will you gae to Glen Killoch, my Mary, 
 Whar the bumie fa's owre the hnn ; 
 Its murmurs arc dear to me, Mary, 
 When borne on the saft-breathin win." 
 
 ' Hark ! the winds around us swell. 
 Raving doun Glen Killoch dell. 
 Where aft wi thee, my bonnie Bell, 
 I've wander'd blythe and cheery." 
 
 See No. 86, and Note on that song. — Sd. 
 
EPISTLE. 91 
 
 " October Winds " — e'en let them rave, 
 
 Wi Nature-blasting howl, 
 
 If, in return, kind heaven gi'e 
 
 The sunshine Of the soul : 
 
 The feeling heart that bears a part, 
 
 In ithers' joys and woes, 
 May still depend to find a frien 
 Howe'er the tempest blows. 
 
 Yet, lang I've thocht, and think it yet, 
 True frien's are rarely to be met, 
 Wha share in ithers' troubles, 
 Wha jointly joy, or drap the tear 
 Reciprocal — and kindly bear 
 Wi ane anithers' foibles ; 
 
 Ev'n such a frien I ance could boast. 
 
 Ah ! now in death he's low — 
 But fond anticipation hopes 
 For such a frien in you. 
 Dear Jamie, forgi'e me. 
 
 That last presumptive line ; 
 See — here's my han at your comman — 
 Ye hae my heart langsyne. 
 
92 POEMS. 
 
 20. 
 
 EPISTLE TO JAMES BARR,* 
 
 Wherever he may be found. 
 
 March, 1804. 
 
 GuDE Pibrocharian, jorum jirger, 
 Say, hae ye turned an Antiburgher ? 
 Or lang-fac'd Presbyterian El'er ? 
 Deep read in wiles o gath'rin siller ? 
 
 * This Epistle first appeared in Ma-ver's Glasgow Selector, 1806, Vol. IV., 
 page 114. See Note to No. b.~-Ed. 
 
 James Barr, weaver and musician, Kilharchan, was bom at Tarbolton, 
 Ayrshire, in 17S1. In his childhood, his parents came to Kilbarchan to 
 reside there, and he was brought up in that town. He was apprenticed to 
 the trade of a weaver with Mr. James Buchanan, Kilbarchan, mentioned in 
 the Epistle No. 25.* He cultivated music in his leisure hours, and became 
 an accomphsiied player of the viobn and flute, and latterly taught insti-u- 
 mental music bands. Tannahill and Barr formed an early acquaintance, 
 which ripened into bosom-friendship. They frequently corresponded with 
 each other ; and a few of the letters that passed between them, which have 
 been preserved, are printed among the Correspondence. "Blythe Jamie Barr" 
 is one of the parties mentioned in the song of " The Five Friends," No. 144. 
 In 181^, James Ban' was in the employment of Mr. J. Steven, music 
 publisher, Wilson Street, Glasgow ; and, in 1818, he commenced the teaching 
 of music opposite the Star Inn, Glasgow. From Glasgow, he went with his 
 family, in 1832, to Saint John's, New Brunswick, and there followed the occu- 
 pation of farming for upwards of 20 years. He returned to Glasgow, and after- 
 wards removed to Govan, where he died. On Halloween, 1874, we made a 
 pilgrimage to Kilbarchan, and visited the cemetery- of the U.P. Church 
 there, and saw a tombstone with the following inscription : — " In Memory 
 of James Barr, who died 24th February, 1860, aged 79 years, and his wife. 
 Margaret Love, who died 11th August, 1859, aged 75 years. 
 
 Shortly after the death of Mr, Barr, his eldest daughter. Miss Janet Barr, 
 distributed among the friends and acquaintances of her late father several 
 
EPISTLE. 93 
 
 Or cauld, splenetic solitair, 
 Resolv'd to herd wi man nae mair ? 
 
 As to the second I've nae fear for't ; 
 For siller, feth ! ye ne'er did care for't, 
 Unless to help a needfu bedy. 
 An get an antrin glass o toddy. 
 But what the black mischief's cam owre ye ? 
 These three months I've been speirin for you, 
 Till e'en the Muse, wi downricht grievin. 
 Has worn her chafts as thin's a shavin. 
 Say, hae ye ta'en a tramp to Lon'an, 
 In Co. wi worthv auld Buchanan,* 
 
 of the letters and songs of Tannahill that he had received, retaining six in 
 her possession. In making inctuiries for information to frame the notes to 
 this edition, we were shown the list of those retained by Miss Barr, in her 
 own handwriting, as follows : — 
 
 List of Pieces retained by Miss Barr. 
 
 1. Poetical Epistle to J. Barr for negligence in writing. 
 
 2. Song to time " Three Carles," alluded to in remarks by J. B. in Saturday 
 
 Evening Post on "Burns and TannahiU's Style." 
 
 3. The " Five Prien's,"— J. B. one. 
 
 4. Reply to Invitation to Bums' Anniversary in Kilbarchan, pleading some 
 
 engagements in Paisley ; and "Clean PeaStrae." 
 
 5. Thanks and Presentation of a Volume of the Poems to J. B., and to each 
 
 of the brothers Matthew and Walter, and copies of some formerly given 
 away. 
 
 6. " Kebbuckston Wedding," and Letter on the subject. 
 
 We made inquiries at the friends and acquaintances of the late Miss Barr, 
 (she having died on 25th December, 1873, aged 68), and also wrote her sister, 
 Mrs. Bannerman, Liverpool, on the subject ; but, unfortunately, none of the 
 pieces in the list could be found after Miss Barr's decease. — Ed. 
 
 ' Note ij/ the Author.— "A much-respected naturalist in the westeountry." 
 This is the old friend of TAnnahill in Kilbarchan, to whom he addressed 
 
 the Epistle (No. 25) in August, 1806, and the reader is directed to the Notes 
 
 upon it— Ed. 
 
94 • . POEMS. 
 
 Wha mony a mile wad streek his shanks, 
 To hae a crack wi Josie Banks t 
 Concerning " Shells, an birds, an metals, 
 Moths, spiders, butterflies, an beetles." 
 For 5'ou, I think you'll cut a figure, 
 Wi king o pipers, Male. M'Gregor, | 
 An wi your clarion, flute, an fiddle, 
 Will gar their southron heart-strings diddle. 
 
 Or are ye thro' the kintra whiskin, 
 Accoutr'd wi the sock an buskin, 
 Thinkin to' climb to wealth an fame, 
 By adding Roscius § to your name ? 
 Frae thochts o that, pray keep abeich ! 
 Ye're far ow're auld, an far owre heich ; 
 Since in thir novel-hunting days 
 There's nane but bairns can act our plays. 
 
 t Sir Joseph Banks, an accomplished and laborious naturalist. He accom- 
 panied Captain CooTs in his first voyage round the world in 1768. An island 
 in the North Pacific Ocean was named after him, and his name was also 
 conferred on a genus of plants found in the islands of the South Sea. Sir 
 Joseph was President of the Royal Society forty-two years. He was bom 
 in 1743, and died 19th March, 1820, aged 77 years.— Ji*. 
 
 t At the annual competition of the Highland Society of Scotland held on 
 21st August, 1803, for playing on the bagpipes, the second prize was awarded 
 to Malcom M'Gregor, piper from Glasgow, the king of pipers in the West of 
 Scotland. — Ed. 
 
 § A celebrated comedian and famous elocutionist in Borne, born B.C. 106, 
 and died B.C. 61. He was a contemporary and companion of Cicero, the 
 eloquent Boman orator ; Cicero defended and pled a cause for the actor. 
 His daily pay for acting was £30 sterling. Pliny said Boscius made £4000 
 sterling annually ; and Cicero, his advocate, alleged it was £5000. Every 
 actor of excellence on the stage has had the name of Roscius bestowed on 
 him. — Ed. 
 
EPISTLE, 95 
 
 At twal year auld, * if ye had tried it, 
 I doubtna but ye micht succeedit ; 
 But full-grown buirdly chiels like you — 
 Quite monstrous, man, 'twill never do ! 
 
 Or are ye gane, as there are few sic, 
 For teachin o a band o music ? 
 O, hear auld Scotland's fervent pra/rs, 
 And teach her genuine native airs ! 
 Whilk simply play'd, devoid o airt, 
 Thrill thro the senses to the heart. 
 
 Play, when ye'd rouse the patriot's saul* 
 True valour's tune, "The Garb of Gaul." 
 An when laid low in glory's bed, 
 Let " Roslin Castle " soothe his shade. 
 
 " The Bonnie Bush aboon Traquair," 
 Its every accent breathes dispair ; 
 An " Ettrick's Banks, " celestial strain ! 
 
 * Note by Ramsay. — "The allusion here is to the young Roscius, Master 
 Betty, whose juvenile performances for a time threw even first-rate actors 
 into the shade. " 
 
 William Henry West Betty, called "The Young Roscius," was boni on 
 13th September, 1791, near Shrewsbury in England, but brought up in 
 Ireland. When near twelve years of age, hemadehisfirstappearanceatBelfast 
 on 16th August, 1803. The manager of the Glasgow Theatre engaged him 
 for ten nights ; and he made his first appearance in that city on Monday. 
 21st May, 1804, taking the chief characters of Osman, Hamlet, Romeo, Douglas, 
 Rollo, and others. Tannahill walked into Glasgow one of these evenings, 
 and saw and heard "The Young Boscius " fascinating a Gl;isgow audience, 
 He acted twenty-eight nights in each of Drury T^ane and Covent Garden 
 Theatres, London, which brought to the managers £34,000, or upwards of 
 £600 per night. This Note wa s written thus far on Friday, 28th "August, 
 1874 ; and in an hour thereafter, we read the following paragraph in the 
 Glasgow Daily Mail newspaper of that date, — "Mr. W. H. W. Betty, who 
 "was formerly known as 'The Young Roscius,' died at his residetice in 
 "London on Monday night, in the 83rd year of his age. He first appeared 
 "on the stage when about twelve years old in August, 1803, and he retired 
 " from professional life in August, 1842. " — £d. 
 
g6 POEMS. 
 
 Mak's simmer's gloamin mair serene ; 
 An, O how sweet the plaintive muse, 
 Amang " The broom o Cowdenknowes !" 
 
 To hear the love-lorn swain complain. 
 Lane, on "The Braes o Ballendine j" 
 It e'en micht melt the dortiest she, 
 That ever sklinted scornfu e'e. 
 
 When Beauty tries her vocal pow'rs 
 Amang the greenwood's echoing bow'rs, 
 " The bonnie birks of Invermay " 
 Might mend a seraph's sweetest lay. 
 
 Then, shoud grim Care invest your castle, 
 Just knock him down wi " Willie Wastle," 
 An rant blythe "Lumps o' Puddin" owre him ; 
 An for his dirge sing " TuUochgorum." 
 
 Whan Orpheus charm'd his wife frae hell, 
 Twas nae Scotch tune he play'd sae well ; 
 Else had the worthy auld wire scraper 
 Been keepit for his deilship's piper. 
 
 Or if ye're turn'd a feather'd fop, 
 Licht dancing upon fashion's top, 
 Wi lofty brow an selfish e'e. 
 Despising low clad dogs like me ; 
 Uncaring your contempt or favour. 
 Sweet butterfly adieu for ever ! 
 But, hold — I'm wrong tae doubt your sense. 
 For pride proceeds from ignorance. 
 
 If peace of mind lay in fine clothes, 
 I'd be the first of flutt'ring beaux. 
 An strut as proud as ony peacock. 
 That ever craw'd on tap o haycock ; 
 
EPISTLE. 97 
 
 And ere I'd know ane vexing thocht, 
 Get dollar buttons * on my coat, 
 Wi a the lave o fulsome trash on, 
 That constitutes a man o fashion. 
 O, grant me this, kind Providence, 
 A moderate, deceilt competence ; 
 Thou'lt see me smile in independence, 
 Above weak-saul'd pride born ascendence. 
 
 But whether ye're gane to teach the Whistle, 
 Midst noise an rough regimental bustle ; 
 Or gane to strut upon the stage, 
 Smit wi the mania o the age ; 
 Or Scotsman like, hae trampt abreed, 
 To yon big town far south the Tweed ; 
 Or dourin in the hermit's cell, 
 Unblessiiig an unblest yoursel — 
 In gude's name, write ! — tak up your pen. 
 An how ye're daein let me ken. 
 Sae, hoping quickly your epistle. 
 Adieu ! thou genuine son of song an whistle. 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 We had a concert here short syne ; f • 
 Oh, man ! the music was divine, 
 Baith plaintive sang and merry glee. 
 In a the soul o harmony. 
 
 * Silverised buttons as large as dollars. 
 
 t This concert probably took place in tlio previous month of February, 
 lSQi.—M. 
 
gS POEMS. 
 
 When Smith and Stuart* lea this earth, 
 The gods, in token o their worth, 
 Will welcome them at heaven's portals 
 The ^brich test, truest, best o mortals ; 
 Apollo, proud, as weel he may, 
 Will walk on tip toe a that day ; 
 While a the Muses kindred claim, 
 Remembering what they've done for them. 
 
 '* E. A. Smith (so frequently noticed as the composer of the music for the 
 Author's soQgs), and William Stuart, weaver in Well Street, Paisley, were 
 frequently vocalists at concerts. Stuart was horn 12th November, 1779 ; 
 married in 1799 ; and his eldest son, James Stewart, bom 20th September, 
 1802. The father and the son spelled their surnames differently. James 
 Barr, to whom this Epistle was addressed, and Smith and Stuart, 
 were three of the "Five Frien's " mentioned in No. 144, as **blythe 
 Jamie Barr," "Rab frae the south," and "Will, the guid fallow." William 
 Stuart was one of the founders of the Bums' Club in 1805, and a very 
 intimate acquaintance of Tannahill's. On 1st July, 1814, the Town Council 
 of Paisley, of their ovTn accord, appointed Stuart Precentor of the Laigh 
 Kirk in New Street, Paisley ; and, in 1822, he removed to the Relief Church 
 in Anderston of Glasgow, We iiave lying before us a handbill of a grand 
 concert of vocal and instrumental music for the benefit of Mr, Thomas 
 Boyd, a comic singer in Paisley, then in the 82nd year of his age, to take 
 place in the Assembly Room of the Renfrewshire Tontine, Paisley, on 
 Monday, 30th July, 1827." Two of the seven iiistinguished performers from 
 Glasgow were the "Guid fallow" and "Blythe Jamie." "Wee Tammie 
 Boyd" was born in the '45, and became 'a warper to Messrs. Brown, Sharp, 
 & Co., muslin manufacturers in Shuttle Street. In 1818, he was elected 
 an honorary member of the Bums' Club. Tammie enlivened the festivities 
 of many public and private parties in Paisley upwards of half a century ; 
 and we recollect him singing at the election dinner of the Paisley Faculty ' 
 of Procurators in 1834, in the 90th year of his age (shortly after he had 
 married his third vrife), the fine old songs of "The golden days of good 
 Queen Bess," and "Twa-score twa" (the 42nd). He died on 20th January, 
 1836, in the 91st year of his age . William Stuart and James Clark, two of the 
 ' ' Five Frien's, " were schoolfellows in Paisley ; and William Stuart aucj his son, 
 James Stewart, were in the habit of visiting Clark in Campbelton. William 
 Stuart died at London in 1862, aged 83 years ; and his son, James Stewart, 
 who had been Precentor to Saint David's Church, popularly called "The 
 Bamshom," Glasgow, died on 7th August, 1864, aged Q2.—JSd. 
 
EPISTLE. 99 
 
 21. 
 
 SECOND EPISTLE TO JAMES SCADLQCK. 
 Then at Perth. 
 . June, 1804.* 
 
 Let those who never felt its flame, 
 Say Friendship is an empty name ; 
 
 Such selfish, cold philosophy 
 
 For ever I disclaim : 
 
 It soothes the soul with grief opprest. 
 Half cures the care distemper'd breast, 
 
 And in the jocund happy hour, 
 
 Gives joy a higher zest. 
 
 All nature sadden'd at our parting hour, 
 
 Winds plaintive howl'd, clouds, weeping, dropt a show'r. 
 
 Our fields look'd dead — as if they'd said, 
 
 " We ne'er shall see him more." f 
 
 • This Epistle first appeared in Haver's Selectm-, 1806, Vol. III., page 159. 
 See Note to No. &.—M. 
 
 NoUhy Ramaay. — "James Scadlock, a copperplate engraver, wrote 'Tlie 
 Scottish Kdle,' and other poems that have been published. In the words of 
 John Struthers, in his 'Essay on Scottish Song Writers,' 'he died, July the 
 4th, 1818, lamented by his friends, respected by his neighbours, and probably 
 without an enemy in the world. ' " 
 
 See Notes to No. 19. 
 
 t This line occurs in an old English Epitaph :— 
 
 " Old Grimes is dead, that good old man. 
 We ■M'er shall see him irtxyre. 
 He used to wear a long brown coat 
 All buttoned down before."— &i. 
 
lOO POEMS. 
 
 Tho fate an fortune threw their darts, 
 Envying us your high deserts, 
 
 They well might tear you from our arms. 
 
 But never from our hearts. 
 
 When spring buds forth in vema,l show'rs, 
 When summer comes array'd in flow'rs, 
 
 Or autumn kind, from Ceres' horn, * 
 
 Her grateful bounty pours j 
 
 Or bearded winter curls his brow — 
 I'll often fondly think on you, 
 
 And on our happy days and nights 
 
 With pleasing backcast yiew. 
 
 If e'er in musing mood ye stray 
 Alang the banks of classic Tay, f_ 
 
 Think on the walks by Stanely Tower, 
 
 And sage Gleniffer brae ; 
 
 Think on our langsyne happy hours. 
 Spent where the bum wild, rapid, pours, 
 And o'er the horrid dizzy steep 
 Dashes her mountain stores ; | 
 
 » Cera— in mythology, the goddess of agriculture. Ceres' hom, Cbmu- 
 copia. The Horn of Plenty, an emblem of abundance ot cereal crops and all 
 other fruits of bountiful autumn.— Sd. 
 
 t The classic Tay is one of the principal rivers in Scotland, and Tannaliill 
 reminded Ms friend, then residing in the fair town of Perth, in musing on 
 its banks, to remember their walks of solitude in places around ancient 
 Paisley, endeared to them from their youth.— Bd. 
 
 } The cascade, or fall of water in Gleniffer, or western branch of the 
 streamlet of Espcdalr. The best time for enjoying the scene is after a 
 heavy shower of rain.— £ii. 
 
EPISTLE. 10 1 
 
 Think on our walks by sweet Greenlaw, * 
 By woody hill and birken shaw, 
 
 Where nature strews her choicest sweets 
 
 To make the landscape braw. 
 
 And think on rural Ferguslie, 
 
 Its plantin's green, and flow'ry lee ; 
 
 Such fairy scenes, tho distant far. 
 
 May please the mental e'e. 
 
 Yon mentor, Geordie Zimmerman, t 
 Agrees exactly with our plan. 
 
 That partial hours of solitude 
 
 Exalt the soul of man. 
 
 So, oft retir'd from strife and din. 
 Let's shun the jarring ways of men, 
 
 And seek serenity arid peace 
 
 By stream and woody glen 
 
 * Scadlock was brought up in tlie Abbey Close of Paisley, and of course 
 his walks were on the east or Newton side of the River Cart. Greenlaw 
 path and Arkleston road would be the walks of solitude in that district, 
 Bahter Gremlaw belonged to Mr. Charles Eoss, surveyor, who, in 1760, built 
 a house thereon in the Ionic order of architecture. He made a nursery on 
 his lands for fruit and forest trees, and for evergreen and flowering shrubs. 
 He published a map of the county of Renfrew, besides other county maps, 
 and " The Traveller's Guide to Lochlomond, in 1792." Wester Cfreenlaw he- 
 longed to Robert Corse, Esq., merchant. In 1780 he built a splendid mansion 
 on Greenlawhill, after the Corinthian order, and its elevation was given in 
 William Semple's plan of Paisley, published in 1782, and is now possessed 
 by John Morgan, Esq.— Bd. 
 
 t The familiar Scots orthography of one of the christian names of this 
 foreign author is characteristic of u Paisley weaver. Johann Gorg von 
 Zimmerman, the celebrated author of "Solitude," was born at Brug, in 
 Switzerland, in 1728, and died at Hanover, in 177S, aged &!.—Sd. 
 
102 POEMS. 
 
 But ere a few short summers gae 
 Your friend will mix his kindred clay, . 
 
 For fell disease tugs at my breast, 
 
 To hurry me away. 
 
 Yet while life's bellows bear to blaw. 
 Till life's last lang-fetch'd breath I draw, 
 
 I'll often fondly think on you. 
 
 And. mind your kindness a. 
 
 Now, fare-ye-weel ! still may ye find 
 
 A friend congenial to your mind. 
 
 To share your joys, and half your woes- 
 Warm, sympathising, kind. 
 
 22. 
 
 EPISTLE TO WILLIAM THOMSON. 
 
 June, 1805. * 
 
 Dear Will, my much respected frien, 
 
 I send you this to let you ken, 
 
 That, the at distance fate hath set you, 
 
 * William Thomson was a weaver in Ferguslie of Paisley, and a member 
 of the same club Tannahill attended, 'and which met in the Sun Tavern, 
 12 High Street, Paisley, kept by Mr. Allan Stewart, a very respectable 
 individual. Thomson was a much-respected member of the club when he 
 left Paisley for Overton. The Epistle states that his friends had not 
 forgotten him, but had kept his chair vacant in case he should come back 
 again. Places with the name of Overton will be found almost in every 
 landward parish in Scotland ; and it was difficult to find out the one 
 referred to. Persons supposed to have correct knowledge were applied to 
 on the subject, and each of them gave a different Overton, in different 
 
EPISTLE. 103 
 
 Your frien's in Paisley don't forget you ; 
 But aften think on you, far lone, 
 Amang the braes of Overton. 
 
 Our social club continues yet, 
 Perpetual source of mirth an wit ; 
 Our rigid rules admit but few. 
 Yet still we'll keep a chair for you. 
 
 A kintra life I've aft envied, 
 Whar love, an truth, an peace preside ; 
 Without temptations tae allure. 
 Your days glide on, unstaiii'd an pure ; 
 Nae midnicht revels waste your health, 
 Nor greedy landlord drains your wealth, 
 Ye're never fasht wi whisky fever. 
 Nor dizzy pow, nor dulness ever. 
 But breathe the halesome caller air, 
 Remote from aucht that genders care. 
 
 I needna tell how much I lang 
 Tae hear your rural- Scottish sang ; 
 Tae hear you sing your heath-clad braes. 
 Your jocund nichts, an happy days ; 
 An lilt with glee the blythsome mom. 
 Whan dew draps pearl every thorn ; 
 Whan larks pour, forth the early sang, 
 
 counties. - With these several conflicting statements as to places called 
 Overton, the inquiry was about to be given up in despair, when Mr. 
 John Harkness, town officer, handed us an envelope containing a 
 letter. On taking it out, the well-known handwriting of Tannahill was at 
 once observed in the address, "Mr. Thomson, Overton, near Beith." That 
 letter, dated 1st May, 1807, at once settled the right Overton, and it was 
 neither of those supposed by the others. The letter is copied into the Corres- 
 _ pondence. Mr. Thomson had procured subscribers for twenty-nine volumes 
 of the first edition, and Tannahill wan sending them to him for distri- 
 bution.— Sd. 
 
104 POEMS. 
 
 An Unties chant the whins amang, 
 An pyats hap frae tree tae tree, 
 Teachin their young anes how tae flee, 
 While frae the mavis tae the wren, 
 A' warble sweet in bush or glen. 
 
 In town we scarce can fin occasion, 
 Tae note the beauties o creation. 
 But study mankind's diff'r'ent dealings. 
 Their virtues, vices, merits, failings, 
 Unpleasing task, compar'd wi yours ; 
 Ye range the hills 'mang mountain flow'rs. 
 An view, afar, the smoking town. 
 More blest than all its riches were your own. 
 
 A lang epistle I might scribble, 
 But aiblins ye will grudge the trouble 
 Of readin sic low, hamert rhyme, 
 An sae it's best to quat in time ; 
 Sae I, with soul sincere an fervent, 
 Am stiU your trusty frien an servant. 
 
 23. 
 
 EPISTLE TO WILLIAM WYLIK* 
 
 January, 1806. 
 
 Dear kindred saul, thanks to the cause 
 First made us ken each ither. 
 
 * William Wylie, weaver, Abbey Close. He was a good tradesman, and 
 always employed on the best of textile fabrics. H6 was au acquaintance of 
 James Soadlook mentioned in the Epistles addressed to that individual 
 (Nos. 19 and 21), and Soadlock and TannaMll were chief acquaintances. Wylie 
 -was afterwards married to deadlock's sister, Elizabeth. Wylie and TannahUl 
 
EPISTLE. 105 
 
 Ca't fate or chance, I carena whHk, 
 Tae me it brocht a brithet. 
 
 Thy furthy, kindly, takin gait; — 
 
 Sure every gude chiel likes thee. 
 And bad luck wring his thrawart heart 
 
 Wha snarling e'er would vex thee. 
 
 Tho mole-ee't Fortune's partial hand 
 
 O clink may keep thee bare o't ; 
 O what thou hast, pale Misery 
 
 Receives, unask'd, a share o't. 
 
 Thou gi'est without ae hank'rin thocht. 
 
 Or cauld, self-stintit wish ; 
 E'en winter-finger'd Avarice 
 
 Approves thee with a blush. 
 
 If Grief e'er mak thee her pack horse. 
 
 Her leaden load tae carry't, 
 Shuve half the burthen oh my back, 
 
 I'll dae my best tae bear it. 
 
 Gude kens we a hae fauts enew, 
 Tis Friendship's task tae cure em. 
 
 But still she spurns the critic view, 
 An bids us tae look o'er 'em. 
 
 were kindred spirits, and the friendship thus commenced ripened into that 
 of the affection of brothers. Wylie, being a good elocutionist, became an 
 accomplished reciter. He was one of the founders of the Bums' Club in 
 1805, and he was chosen the President for 1810. In that year, the Ode No. 
 8, prepared by Tannahill for the Anniversary, was recited by the President, 
 William Wylie. Wylie afterwards became foreman to Mr. Roherb Lockhart, 
 manufacturer, Gauseyside. This bosom friend of the Poet died on 27th 
 November, 1840, aged G6 years. — Bd. 
 
 O 
 
io6 
 
 POEMS. 
 
 When Death performs his beadle part, 
 An summons thee tae heaven, 
 
 By virtue of thy warm, kind heart. 
 Thy fauts will be forgiven. 
 
 And shoudst thou live tae see thy frien, 
 
 Borne lifeless on the bier, 
 I ask of thee, for epitaph, 
 
 One kind, elegiac tear. 
 
 24. 
 
 EPISTLE.* 
 
 TO ALEXANDER BORLAND.^ 
 February, 1806. 
 
 Retired, disgusted, from the tavern roar. 
 Where strong-lung'd Ignorance does highest soar ; 
 
 *^ This Epistle first appeared in 1806 in Maver's Qlasgovi Gleaner, page 273. 
 See first Note on No. 5.—Sd. 
 
 t Note by jRamsay. — "He died some years ago." 
 
 Alexander Borland, a native of Paisley, was bom at the head of Causey- 
 side Street, in the year 1773, and brought up to the trade of. a weaver. He 
 was a chief acquaintance of James King, to whom the Epistle No. 18 is 
 addressed, and through that connection he became acquainted with Tanna- 
 hill. In these days of soldiering, Alexander Borland joined the Lanarkshire 
 Militia, and the Eegiment was sent to England. On his term of service ex- 
 piring, he took up his residence in Glasgow, and was residing there when 
 this Epistle was sent to him, and also in 1810, when Tannahill called on him, 
 in the afternoon of 16th May of that year. Tannahill, on the occasion of the 
 latter visit, made use of such incoherent language, that Borland suspected 
 
EPISTLE. 107 
 
 Where silly ridicule is passed for wit; 
 And shallow laughter takes her gaping fit; 
 Where selfish sophistry out-brothers seme, 
 And lords it high at modesty's expense-^ * 
 Here lone I sit, in musing melancholy, 
 Resolv'd for aye to shun the court of Folly; 
 For, from whole years' experience in her train, 
 One hour of joy brings twenty hours of pain. 
 Now, since I'm on the would-be-better key. 
 The muse soft whispers me to write to thee. 
 Not that she means a self-debasing letter ; 
 But merely show there's hopes I may turn better ; 
 That what stands bad to my account of ill. 
 You may set down to passion, not to wUl. 
 
 his friend had become deranged, and proposed, as it was a fine summer 
 evening, to take a walk out to Paisley with him. In walking along the turn- 
 pike road, and on approaching the road leading to Crocston Castle, the 
 place where Tannahill and Hogg the Ettriok Shepherd had parted in March 
 previously, Tannahill said he would recLuire to retire a short time, but, 
 waiting rather long, Borland followed after, and was in time to prevent him 
 slipping away. Borland, after that, did not lose sight of Tannahill until he 
 saw him home. The following morning, the melancholy and lamented oc- 
 currence of Tannahill's death happened. Alexander Borland afterwards 
 wrote an Ode on the death of his friend Tannahil, the manuscript of which 
 is still in existence, and in possession of Mrs. Wright, Kirkcaldy. We do not 
 think the Ode was printed before, and have therefore inserted it in the 
 Appendix. It is an excellent tribute of respect to the memory of the de- 
 parted. Borland resided in Lochwiunoch, in 1819, for a year, came to 
 Paisley, where he resided several years, and afterwards returned to Glasgow, 
 where he died in 1828, aged 65.— Ed. 
 
 * The couplet printed in italic appeared in the Qleaner, but had been sup- 
 pressed in the Edition of 1807, and all the subsequent editions of the Poet's 
 worl^. We thought these lines amongst the truest the author penned, 
 and have accordingly restored them. The truth contained in them must 
 have stung some of the Poet's companions, and this would lead to their subse- 
 quent suppression.— ^£j. 
 
^ 1 08 POEMS. 
 
 The fate-scourg'd exile, destip'd still to roam, 
 Thro desert wilds, far from his early home. 
 If some fair prospect meet his sorrowing eyes. 
 Like that he owned beneath his native skies, 
 Sad recollection, murdering relief. 
 He bursts in all the agonies of grief; 
 Memory presents the volume of his care, 
 And "harrows up his soul " with " such things were." 
 Tis so in life, when Youth foMs up his page, 
 And turns the leaf to dark, blank, joyless Age, 
 Where sad Experience speaks in language plain. 
 Her thought of bliss, and highest hopes were vain ; 
 O'er present ills I think I see her mourn, 
 And, " weep past joys that never will return." 
 
 Then, come, my friend, while yet in life's gay noon, 
 Ere griefs darjc clouds obscure our summer sun. 
 Ere Winter's sleety blasts around us howl. 
 And chill our every energy* of soul — 
 Let us look back, retrace the ways we've trod, 
 Mark virtue's paths from guilty pleasure's road. 
 And, 'stead of wandering in a devious maze, 
 Mark some few precepts for our future days. 
 I mind, still well, when but a trifling boy, 
 My young heart fluttered with a savage joy, 
 As with my sire I warider'd thro the wood. 
 And found the mavis' clump-lodg'd callow brood. 
 I tore them thence, exulting o'er my prize. 
 My father bade me list the mother's cries : 
 " So thine would wail," he said, "if reft of thee." — 
 It was a lesson of humanity. 
 Humanity ! thou'rf glory's brightest star. 
 Outshining all the conqueror's trophies far ! 
 One individual act of generous pity 
 
EPISTLE. 109 
 
 Is nobler far than ravaging ^ city. 
 
 Ev'n let the blood-stain'd ruffians call me coward, 
 
 An Alexander* sinks beside a Howar(;i.f 
 
 Not to recount our every early joy, 
 When all was happiness without; alloy ; 
 Nor tread again each floiy'ry field we trac'd? 
 Light as the silk-wing'd butterflies we chas'd ; 
 Ere villain falsehood ,taught the glowing mind, 
 To look with cold suspicion on mankind — 
 Let's pass the valley of pur younger years, 
 Arid further up hill mark what now appears. 
 
 * Alexander III., King of Macedonia, called Alexander the Great, from Iub 
 extraordinary achievements. He was the son of King Philip and Olympias, 
 bom 356 B.C. He ascended the throne at fifteen years of age, and died at 
 Babylon at the early age of thirty-tlu'ee in a drunken debauch. In that 
 short period, he conquered nearly the whole known world, and included the 
 several countries which he had subjugated into one vast empire. — Sd. 
 
 t John Howard, bom at Hackney near London, on 2nd September, 1726, 
 became the foremost in the first classof philanthropists. He was induced 
 to visit the Jails of England, and afterwards the Prisons of the Continent. 
 The results of these enquiries he published in 1789. Edmund Burke, the 
 distinguished statesman and greatest ornament of the House of Commons, 
 in his address in Parliament recognising the extensive and arduous labours 
 of the great philanthropist, concluded his speech with the following exquisite 
 peroration :— " He has visited all Europe, not to survey the sumptuousnesa 
 of palaces or the istateliness of temples, — not to make acciurate measure- 
 ments of the remains of ancient grandeur, — not to form a scale of the 
 curiosities of modem art,— not to collect metals or to collate manuscripts, — 
 but to dive into the depths of dungeons ; to plunge into the infection of 
 hospitals ; to survey the mansions of sorrow and' pain ; to take the gauge and 
 dimensions of misery, depression, and contempt ; to remember the forgotten ; 
 to attend to the neglected ; to visit the forsaken ; and to compare and 
 collate the distresses of all men in all countries. His plan is original : it is 
 as full of genius as of humanity. It was a voyage of discovery ; a circum- 
 navigation of charity." The foregoing quotation appeared in the Scots 
 Magazine, a periodical which several of the JPaisley Book Clubs took in ; and 
 we have referred to it, as we have no doubt that TannahiU read It, and then 
 wrote the line — 
 
 "An Alexander sinks beside a Howard." 
 JohD Howard, in prosecuting his cause, died at Kherson, in South Russia, 
 on the 20th of January, 1790.— £(?. 
 
no POEMS. 
 
 We see the Sensualist, fell vice's slave, 
 Fatigu'd, worn out, sink to an early grave ; 
 We see the slave of av'rice grind the poor. 
 His thirst for gold increasing with his store ; 
 Packhorse of Fortune, all his days are care, 
 Her burthens bearing to his spendthrift heir. 
 
 Next view the Spendthrift, joyous o'er his purse, 
 ■Exchanging all his guineas for remorse ; 
 On Pleasure's flow'r-deck'd barge away he's borne. 
 Supine, till ev'ry flow'r starts up a thorn. 
 Then all his pleasures fly, like air-blown bubbles : 
 He ruin'd sinks, amidst a sea of troubles. 
 
 Hail, Temperance ! thou'rt wisdom's first, best lore. 
 The sage in ev'ry age does thee adore ; 
 Within thy pale we taste of ev'ry joy, 
 O'erstepping that, our highest pleasures cloy : 
 The heart-enlivening, friendly, social bowl. 
 To rapturous ecstasy exalts the soul; 
 But when to midnight hour we keep it up, 
 Next morning feels the poison of the cup. 
 
 Though fate forbade the gifts of schoolmen mine. 
 With classic art to write the polished line. 
 Yet miners oft must gather earth with gold, 
 And truth may strike, though e'er so roughly told. 
 
 If thou in ought would rise to eminence, 
 Show not the faintest shadow of pretence. 
 Else busy Scandal, with her thousand tongues. 
 Will quickly find thee in ten thousand wrongs, 
 Each strives to tear his neighbour's honour down, 
 As if detracting something from his own. 
 Of all the ills with which mankind is curst. 
 An envious, discontented mind's the worst ; 
 There muddy spleen exalts her gloomy throne, 
 
EPISTLE. Ill 
 
 Marks all conditions better than her own : 
 
 Hence Defamation spreads her ant-bear tongue, 
 
 And grimly pleas'd, feeds on another's wrong. 
 
 Curse on the wretch, who, when his neighbour's blest, 
 
 Erects his peace-destroying, snaky crest ! 
 
 And he who sits in surly, sullen mood. 
 
 Repining at a fellow-mortal's good ! 
 
 Man owns so little of true happiness, 
 
 That curst be he who makes that little less ! 
 
 Vice to reclaim join not the old cant cry. 
 Of "-Son of Sathan, guilt, and misery," 
 One good example, more the point will carry, 
 Than all th' abuse in Scandal's dictionary. 
 
 The Zealot thinks he'll go to heaven direct. 
 Adhering to the tenets of his sect, 
 E'en tho' his practice lie in this alone. 
 To rail at all persuasions but his own. 
 
 In judging, still let Moderation guide ; 
 O'er-heated Zeal is certain to mislead. 
 First bow to God in heart-warm gratitude. 
 Next do your utmost for the general good. 
 In spite of all the forms which men devise, 
 'Tis there where real solid wisdom lies; 
 And impious is the man who claims dominion. 
 To damn his neighbour difiPring in opinion. 
 
 When suppliant Misery greets thy wand'ring eye, 
 Altho in public, pass not heedless by ; 
 Distress impels her to implore the crowd, 
 For that denied within her lone abode. 
 Give thou the trifling pittance which she craves, 
 Tho ostentation called by prudent knaves ; 
 So conscience will a rich reward impart, 
 And finer feelings play around thy heart 
 
112 POEMS. 
 
 When Wealth with arrogance exalts his brow, 
 And reckons Poverty a wretch most low, 
 Let good intentions dignify thy soul. 
 And conscious rectitude will crown the whole. 
 Hence indigence will independence own, 
 And soar above the haughty despot's fro\<^n. 
 
 Still to thy lot be virtuously resign'd ; 
 Above all treasures prize thy peace of mind ; 
 Then let not envy fob thy soul of rest. 
 Nor discontent e'er harbour in thy breast. 
 Be not too fond of popular applause. 
 Which often echoes in a villain's caluse. 
 Whose specious sophistry gilds his deceit, 
 Till pow'r abus'd, in time *hows forth the cheat ; 
 Yet be't thy pride to bear an honest fame ; 
 More dear than life watch over thy good name; 
 For he, poor man ! who has ho wish to gain it, 
 Despises all the virtues which attain it. 
 
 Of friendship, still .be secrecy the test. 
 This maxim let be 'graven in my breast — 
 Whate'er a friend enjoins me to conceal, 
 I'm weak, I'm base, if I the same reveal; 
 Let honour, acting as a pOw'rful spell. 
 Suppress that itching fondness still to tell ; 
 Else, unthank'd chronicle, the cunning's tool. 
 The world will stamp me for a gossip fool. 
 Yet let us act an honest open part. 
 Nor curb the warm effusions of the heart. 
 Which, naturally virtuous, discommends, 
 Aught mean or base, e'en in our dearest friends. 
 
 But why this long unjointed scrawl to thee. 
 Whose every action is a law to me. 
 Whose every deed proclaims thy noble mind ; 
 
EPISTLE. 
 
 "3 
 
 Industrious, independent, just, and kind. 
 Methinks I hear thee say, " Each fool may teach. 
 Since now my whim-led friend's begun to preach ! ' 
 But this first essay of my preaching strain. 
 Hear, and accept for friendship's sake. Amen. 
 
 25. 
 
 EPISTLE 
 
 TO JAMES BUCHANAN. 
 August, 1806. * 
 
 My gude auld frien on Locher banks, 
 Your kindness claims my warmest thanks : 
 Yet, thanks is but a draff-cheap phrase 
 O little value now-a-days ; 
 
 * ^oU by Ramsay. — " This is the ' worthy auld Buchanan ' celebrated as a 
 natunilist in the Epistle to Barr (No. 20.) He was also something of an 
 antiquary : and like Bums' friend. Captain Grose, was possessed of * a routh 
 o auld nick-nack ets.' He died lately at an advanced age," 
 
 James Buchanan, weaver in Kilbarchan, was born in that village in 1756, — 
 the year Tannahill's father camo from Kilmarnock and settled in Paisley. 
 He was an intelligent and independent person, and a very worthy and 
 respected villager. He tanght apprentices the weaving trade ; and two of 
 these were James Barr, mentioned in Notes to Nos. 20 and 144, and William 
 M'Neil, referred to in the Notes of No. 62. James Buchanan devoted his 
 leisure hours to antiquarian researches, botanical rambles, and study of the 
 fine arts, music, and poetry. He became such an enthusiast in 
 the prosecution of these several objects, that he formed a museum with his 
 antiquarian relics, botanical specimens, and paintings ; and while visitora 
 were examining the collection, he entertained them with mi;slc on the 
 dulcimer. One of his paintings, which was much admired, was the " Banks 
 and Falls of Locherwater." The pencil and not the pen could do jastice to 
 the beautiful scenery on the banks of the rivulet, and the silvery cascades 
 of the stream. Locher, Welsh, the stream of linns and pools. Tanna- 
 hill, in the first line of the Epistle, refers to his friend " on Locher banks." 
 
 P 
 
114 POEMS. 
 
 Indeed, it's hardly worth the heeding. 
 Unless to show a body's breeding. 
 Yet mony a puir, doilt, servile bodie 
 Will scrimp his stomach o its crowdie, 
 An pride to rin a great man's erran's, 
 An feed on smiles an sour cheese parin's, 
 
 James Buchanan was appointed to the ofl&ce of Grand Master of Saint 
 Barchan's (156) Masonic Lodge, instituted in 1784 ; and he was chosen the 
 first chairman of the Kilbarchan Bums' Anniversary Club, in 1S04. His 
 grandson, James Buchanan, 81 years of age, and, like his grandsire, a re- 
 spectable weaver in Kilbarchan, mentioned to us that he had on two occa- 
 sions gone with his grandsire to see Paisley, and on one of these occasions 
 he was in a public-house in the main street, near the Cross of Paisley, nearly 
 opposite the Saracen's Head Inn, and there were present, Smith, Stuart, 
 Tolmie, Tannahill, James Buchanan, and the boy himself. Smith sang 
 "Jessie, the Flower o Dunblane." John Tolmie was a Paisley weaver, and 
 afterwards became precentor in the Laigh Kii-k of Paisley, before Stuart. 
 The other parties are mentioned in other notes. The public-house 'was 
 evidently Allan Stewart's Sun Tavern, 12 High Street, Paisley, and the party 
 had met in the club room. James Buchanan, tertius, stated that his grand- 
 father burned all his poetical pieces before his death, and he only recollected " 
 one couplet— an impromptu. He also mentioned thjxt his grandmother, Mary 
 Amott, was a great smoker, but George How, an acquaintance, was a greater, 
 and one day when his grandfather came in from the garden to the 
 house, the two smokers had their black cutties in, their mouths, puffing 
 dreadful blasts, when his grandfather at once repeated the following 
 couplet : — 
 
 " Tobacco reek, in misty columns ilew, 
 Frae Mary first, and syne frae Geordie Hoo." 
 
 John Buchanan, weaver in Paisley, another grandson, stated that he was 
 now 79 years of age, and when he was ten, in 1806, he accompanied his 
 grandfather to Paisley to see the town. On returning, and coming to Queen 
 Street, they went down to see Tannahill, and after a short conversation, he 
 invited them into the house of his mother, where they were entertained to 
 tea. She was a quiet old woman. Tannahill's face was sharp or thin, and 
 his nose was long. His working dress was a bonnet, blue jacket, and knee 
 breeches, and in that dress he convoyed them to the east end of Elderslie 
 near a road leading down to Bum Brae. There were neither Canal nor Rail- 
 way then. Old James Buchanan died in 1829, aged 73 years, and his anti- 
 quarian relics, botanical specimens, paintings, and musical instruments 
 that he had so much pleasure in collecting, were all dispersed..— 5d. 
 
EPISTLE. 115 
 
 An think himsel nae sma sheepshank, 
 Rich laden wi his lordship's thank. 
 The sodger, too, for a his troubles. 
 His hungry wames, and bluidy hubbies, 
 His agues, rheumatisms, cramps. 
 Received in plashy winter camps, 
 O blest reward ! at last he gains 
 His sov'reign's thanks for a his pains. 
 
 * 'Twas wisely said by •" Queer Sir John," 
 That "Honour wudna buy a scone." 
 Sae ane, of thanks, may get a million. 
 Yet Ijve as puir's a porter's scullion : 
 Indeed, they're just (but, beg your pardon,) 
 Priest-blessing like, no worth a fardin. f 
 
 Thus, tho 'mang first o friens I rank you, 
 'Twere but sma compliment to thank you ; 
 Yet, lest you think me here ungratefu, 
 Of hatefu names, a name most hatefu. 
 The neist time that ye come to toun, 
 By a the pow'rs beneath the moon ! 
 I'll treat you wi a Hieland gill, J 
 
 * This paragraph was suppressed in the Editions of 1815 and 1817. 
 
 t Note ty the Author.— " Alluding to the anecdote of the sailor who would 
 not accept of the priest's blessing, alleging that if it was worth one farthing 
 he would not part with it. " 
 
 X Note by RcmMy.—" A Hielan' gill— a phrase jocularly used in the Low- 
 lands of Scotland to mean double quantity of a common gill— half a mutchkin. 
 Thus Bums says— 
 
 ' But bring a Scotsman frae his hill, 
 Clap in his cheek a Highland gill, 
 Say, such is royal George's will. 
 
 And there's the foe. 
 He has nae thought but how to kill 
 
 Twa at a blow.' " 
 
Il6 POEMS. 
 
 Tho it shou'd be my hindmaist fill. 
 
 Tho in the bustling toun, the Muse 
 Has gather'd little feck o news, 
 'Tis said, the Court of Antiquarians, 
 Has split on some great point o variance, 
 For ane has got, in gouden box. 
 The spectacles of auld John Knox ; 
 A second proudly thanks his fate wi' 
 The hindmaist pen that Nelson wrate wi', 
 A third ane owns an antique rare, 
 A saip brush made o mermaid's hair ! 
 But, niggard wichts ! they a refuse 'emT— 
 These precious relics, to the museum, 
 Whilk selfish, mean, illegal deeds, 
 Hae set them a at loggerheads. 
 
 * 'Tis also said, our noble Prince, t 
 Has play'd the wee saut loon for ance. 
 Has gien his bonnie wife the fling. 
 Yet gars her wear Hans Carvel's ring ; 
 But a sic clish clash cracks I'll lea 
 Tae yon sculdudry committee. 
 
 Sure, taste refin'd and public spirit 
 Stan next to genius in merit ; 
 I'm proud to see your warm regard 
 For Caledonia's dearest bard. 
 
 * This paragrapli was omitted in the Editions of 1816, 1817, and 1838.— Bii. 
 
 t George Augustus Frederick, Prince oi Wales, born 12th August, 1762, 
 married Stli April, 1795, his cousin. Princess Caroline Amelia, sister of the 
 Duke of Brunswick, bom 17th May, 1768 : issue. Princess Charlotte Augusta, 
 bom 7th January, me.—Sd. 
 
EPISTLE. 1 1 7 
 
 Of him yeVe got sae guid a painting,* 
 That nocht but real life is awanting. 
 I think yon rising genius, Tannock,t 
 May gain a niche in Fame's heich winnock ; 
 There, with auld Rubens, J placed sublime, 
 Look doun upon the wreck o time. 
 
 I ne'er, as yet, hae found a patron, 
 For, scorn be till't ! I hate a flatt'rin'. 
 Besides, I never had an itchin 
 Tae slake about a great man's kitchen. 
 
 * Note by the Author. — "Poi-trait of Bums, painted by Mr. J. Tannock for 
 the Kilbarchan Bums Anniversary Society." 
 
 This portrait is now in the possession of Mr. Archibald Crawford, Kil- 
 barchan, one of the two surviving members of the original Society. — Ed. 
 
 t Note in the 1825 Edition.— " Mr. Tannock belongs originally to Kilmar- 
 nock, and has for many years prosecuted his profession of portrait painting 
 in London with a success certainly deserving the poetical compliment here 
 paid him." 
 
 James Tannock, a distinguished artist, was bom in Kihnamock in 1784. 
 In 1803, he became a student with Alexander Naysmith, Edinburgh, a cele- 
 brated artist, to whom Bums sat for his portrait. Tannock afterwards came 
 to Paisley,. £md practised for two years ; and, during that period, painted 
 the Kilbarchan portrait of Bums, — the first he executed. After visiting 
 several provincial towns in Scotland, he went to London, and became a 
 student of the Rqf al Academy, and next in the British Gallery, where he 
 was introduced to several persons of eminence and distinction, and entnisted 
 with the execution of majiy fine ^vorks of art. He was also much employed in 
 painting portraits of Bums. The eminent painter, Benjamin West, President 
 of the Royal Society, on seeing one of Tannock's portraits, and foUowing up 
 the opinion expressed by Tannahill, wrote thus :— " It is Nature itself ; it is 
 the man sitting before you. Tannock is a man of genius." James Tannock 
 died at Kilmarnock in 1863, aged 79.— Ed. 
 
 X Peter Paul Rubens, bom 29th June, 1577, the great Flemish historical 
 painter, whose eJi^s-d'auvre are "The Descent from the Cross," "The 
 Elevation of the Cross," and " Last Judgment." He died 30th May, 1640. 
 
Il8 POEMS. 
 
 An, like a spaniel, lick his dishes. 
 An come an gang just tae his wishes ; 
 Yet, studious tae give worth its due, 
 I pride tae praise the like o you ; 
 Gude chiels, replete wi sterling sense, 
 Wha wi their worth mak nae pretence. 
 Ay — there's my worthy frien, M'Math, * 
 I'll lo'e him till my latest breath. 
 An like a traitor wretch be hang'd, 
 Before I'd hear that fallow wrang'd ; 
 His every action shows his mind. 
 Humanely noble, bricht, an kind. 
 An here's the worth o't, doubly rooted, 
 He never speaks ae word about it ! 
 — My compliments and warm gudewill, 
 Tae Maisters Semple,t Barr,$ and Lyle. i 
 
 * In the original edition, this name was printed M'M * * * In subsequent 
 editions, it was sometimes printed McNeil and sometimes M'Math. The 
 latter is coiTect ; and that worthy friend of the Author, John M'Math, was 
 a weaver, who wrought in the same loomshop with him. Like the Poet, he 
 lived and died a bachelor. — Ed. 
 
 t James Semple, manufacturer, Kilbarchan, bom in 1775. He was an 
 acquaintance of the Author and B. A. Smith, and they frequently met him 
 In Kilbarchan. James Semple was twice elected President of the Kilbarchan 
 Bums' Club. He was an extreme Royalist, and was the junior Lieutenant 
 in the Renfrewshire Yeomanry Infantry when the above Epistle was written, 
 and afterwards an officer in the Renfrewshire Militia, and, latterly, in the 
 Bifles of 1S19. He died in 1833, aged 68. Mr. Semple was not related to the 
 Editor.—*?. 
 
 } James Barr,— "blythe Jamie." Sec Notes to Nos. 20 and \ii.—Bd. 
 
 § William Lyle, weaver, Kilbarchan. He was Precentor in the Parish Kirk, 
 Kilbarchan, and obtained some celebrity as a vocalist. He died in 1822, aged 
 a.— Ed. 
 
EPISTLE. 119 
 
 Wad rav'ning Time but spare my pages, 
 They'd tell the warl in after ages, 
 That it, tae me, was wealth an fame, 
 Tae be esteem'd by chiels like them. 
 
 Time, thou all devouring bear ! 
 Hear — List, O list my ardent pray'r ! 
 
 1 crave thee here, on bended knee, 
 Tae let my dear-lov'd pages be ! 
 
 O tak thy sharp-nail'd nibbling elves, 
 Tae musty scrolls on college shelves ! 
 There, wi dry treatises on law, 
 Feast, cram, and gorge thy greedy maw ; 
 But grant, amidst thy thin-sown mercies, 
 Tae spare, spare, my darling verses ! 
 
 Could I but up thro hist'ry wimple, 
 Wi Robertson,* or sage Dalrymple ; t 
 Or had I hauf the pith an lear 
 
 * William Robertson, D.D., bom at Borthwick in Midlothian, 1721 ; died 
 11th June, 1793. He was a difitlnguished historian, and wrote the history 
 of Scotland in 1759, besides several other histories and literary works. He 
 was Principal of the Edinburgh University. — Ed. 
 
 t Sir David Dalrymple of Hailes, Baronet, admitted a Lord of Session 6th 
 March, 1766, under the title of " Lord Hailes." He was the author of the 
 erudite work "Annals of Scotland," which Is a standing monument of 
 accurate and faithful research, and is a most reliable history of our ancient 
 kingdom. He also wrote some minor historical works. He was bom in 1726, 
 and died 29th November, mi.— Ed. 
 
120 POEMS. 
 
 Of a Mackenzie,* or a Blair If 
 
 I aiblins then micht tell some story, 
 
 Wad show the Muse in bleezin glory ; 
 
 But scrimpt o time J and lear scholastic. 
 
 My lines limp on in Hudibrastic, § 
 
 Till Hope, grown sick, flings down her claim, 
 
 An draps her dreams o future fame. 
 
 — Yes, Oh waesuck ! should I be vaunty ? 
 
 My Muse is just a Rosinante, || 
 
 * Henry Mackenzie, bom in Edinburgh in August, 1745. He was educated 
 for the legal profession, but became more distinguished in literary work. 
 He was the author of "The Man of Feeling," published in 1771, and "Man 
 of the World," 1773, and "Enquiry into the Nature and Authenticity of the 
 Poems of Ossian," 1805. He, along with iother friends, projected tlie 
 "British Essayists." Died 14th June, 1831. — Ed. 
 
 t Hugh Blair, D.D.,RR.S.E., bom 7th April, 1718, minister in Edinburgh, 
 and first Professor of Belles Lettres in the University there. He wrote a 
 DLssertation conceming the Antiquity of the Poems of Ossian in 1762, and 
 his Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres were published in 1783. He died 
 27th December, 1810.— Jcf. 
 
 t Note hy the AvjOwr* — ** Time "—Scottish idiom for leisure. 
 
 § Doggerel verse, like that in which Butler's ** Hudibras " was composed. 
 Samuel Butler was born in 1612; and wrote the poem of "Hudibras," 
 attacking the cant and fanaticism of the period, and gained the approbation 
 of Charles II. He died in 1680. 
 
 II The name the erratic Spanish knight, Don Quixote, gave to hfe steed 
 when he set out on his strange adventures. Though the bones of the old horse 
 jutted out, he fancied that neither the horse Bucephalus of Alexander the Great, 
 nor the horse JBabieca of Cid, the Spanish hero, were equal to the new-named 
 Rosirirante. JtoHn (Spanish), a common drudge horse ; ante, before. Michael 
 de Cervantes Saavedra, author of **Don Quixote," poet, novelist, and 
 dramatist, was boi*n 1549; and died 1616, aged 69. "Don Quixote" was 
 published in 1605, and 1615 at Madrid. 
 
EPISTLE. 121 
 
 She stammers forth, wi hilchin canter, 
 Sagely intent on strange adventure, 
 Yet, sae uncouth in garb an feature, 
 She seems the Fool of Literature. 
 But lest the critic's birsie besom, 
 Soop aif this cant of egotism, 
 * I'll sidelins hint — na, bauldly tell, 
 I whyles think something o mysel : 
 Else, wha the deil wad fash to scribble, 
 Expectin scorn for a his trouble ? 
 Yet, lest dear self shoud be mista'en, 
 I'll fling the bridle o'er the mane, 
 For after a, I fear this jargon 
 Is but a Willie Glassford bargain, f 
 
 * This paragraph was omitted in the editions of 1835 and 1817. — Ed, 
 t Note by Ramsay. — "William Glassford, a late writer of doggerel verses, 
 which he hawked in pennyworths amongst the inhabitants of Paisley, imder 
 the title of 'Poems on Engaging Subjects.' The reader may he amused on 
 being made aware of some of those subjects, which the author considered 
 so captivating. One is ' On the Police of Paisley ; ' another, ' On Creation ; ' 
 a third, ' On War : France and Bonaparte ; ' and a fourth, * On the New 
 Light."" 
 
 William Glassford, commonly called "Willie," lived in Well Street, 
 and he generally came down to the Cross on Thursdays (the market 
 day) and Saturday afternoons. He liked his "mercies," particularly if he 
 got them for nothing; and he generally returned "wi a wee bit drappie 
 in his e'e," either "laughin or greetin fou." He was one of the minor 
 rhymsters of Paisley, and frequently rested on the doorsteps opposite 
 Professor Wilson's (author of " The Isle of Palms ") house. Willie delighted 
 in children, or children believed in Willie ; aild he would form them into a 
 ring round him, and sing — or, rather, croon — what he called his "sublime 
 stanza," the description of "oor ain toun " : — 
 
 ■" The bonnie toun o Paisley, 
 It Stan's upon a hill ; 
 By it rins the River Cart, 
 And ca's the Seidill MUl." 
 (That verse has been rivetted on our memory from our youth.) Willie then, 
 pointing over to Professor Wilson's house, said— "If I had been born in that 
 big house, I would hae been a gran poet." William Glassford died in Novem- 
 ber, 1822, aged W.—Ed. 
 
POEMS. 
 
 26. 
 
 EPISTLE 
 
 TO ROBERT ALLAN, KILBARCHAN.* 
 
 1807. 
 
 Dear Robin, 
 
 The Muse is now a wee at leisure, 
 An sits her doun wi meikle pleasure, 
 To skelp ye aff a blaud o rhyme, 
 As near's she can tae true sublime ; 
 But here's the rub, — puir poet devils, 
 We're compass'd roun wi mony evils ; 
 
 * Robert Allan, weaver and poet, Kilbarchan, was bom. at Townfoot tliere 
 on Friday, 4tli November, 1774, the same year of Tannabill's birtb. He was 
 tbe tbird cbild of bis parente, whose family consisted of ten children, — five 
 sons and five, daughters. He received his education in tbe Parish School, 
 which was at that time taught by William Manson. Tannabill bad several 
 acquaintances in Kilbarchan, among whom were the Allans. TannahiU, 
 however, became more attached to Robert ■ AUan, who was of the same age, 
 and an admirer of the Muse like himseU. The family of tbe Allans were 
 very respectably l?rought up, and all the brothers and sister.! had very 
 kindly dispositions, and lived affectionately. In all the communications 
 which TannahiU and his poetical and musical friends had with their 
 acquaintances, they always referred to the family as the " Allans," and not 
 as individuals. Robert Allan was very much respected in the village, and 
 he was one of tbe founders of the Kilbarchan Library in 1818, which is stiU 
 ■flourishing and greatly patronised by the population of the district. 
 Robert Allan had, on several occasions, contributed poetical pieces 
 to the Paisley Bums' Club, which were very much admired by the 
 members ; and the Club on 5th February, 1818, in respect of these repeated 
 poetical communications and estimation of his character elected him an 
 honorary member of the Club. Two of these pieces are given in the note 
 at the end of this Epistle. Robert, in his youth, imbibed what were 
 then, considered extreme political opinions, and he was ready to advocate 
 them on all occasions. He spoke at the great Reform Meeting held in the 
 Relief Church in 1817, and took ^a prominent part in the Radical 
 proceedings in 1819 and 1820. In 1819, the Harp of ReTrfrewshire was 
 
EPISTLE. 123 
 
 We jerk ourseFs into a fever 
 Tae gie the warld something clever, 
 An after a perhaps we muddle 
 In vile prosaic stagnant puddle. 
 For me — I seldom choose a subject, 
 My rhymes are aft without an object ; 
 I let the Muse e'en tak her win ; 
 And dash awa thro thick and thin : 
 For Method's sic a servile creature, 
 She spurns the wiles o simple' nature. 
 And paces on, wi easy airt, 
 A lang day's journey frae the heart : — 
 
 published under th.e editorial supervision of the celebrated William 
 Motherwell. Robert Allan contributed aeveral songs to the volume, and 
 received the special approbation of the editor. In 1836, he published, 
 by subscription, a volume of Poems and Songs ; but it did not com- 
 prise all his writings, as some of his Songs in the Harp were not printed 
 in the volume. The reception which the publication m.et with greatly 
 disappointed the Author. He supposed his merits as a Poet had been over- 
 looked ; and, brooding over the disappointment, he became irritable in his 
 temper and gloomy in appearance. Some of his friends had emigrated to 
 America, and succeeded, and he was determined to follow them. As he 
 was in the 67th year of his age, several of his acquaintances remonstrated 
 with him, but without success, and he sailed on 28th April, 1841, from 
 Greenock for New York. All went well until the ship reached the' banks of 
 Newfoundland, where the vessel was detained eight days by foggy weather ; 
 and the Poet, during that time, caught a cold. He landed on the 1st, and 
 died on the 7th June, 1841. 
 
 The Centenary of the birth of Robert Allan of course arrived on 4th 
 November, 1874 ; and the Kilbarchan folk celebrated it by holding two 
 meetings in that town in honour of the birth of their Bard. There 
 is always something melancholy about such meetings. The volume of 
 Poems and Songs published by the Poet had not been so well received by 
 the public as the author expected. As we have seen, he was disappointed, 
 soured, became irritable and sullen ; and left the land of his birth, in his old 
 agej only to droop and die in a foreign country. The one meeting was hold 
 in the Mason Arm's Inn, and the other took the form of a soiree in the Good 
 Templars' Hall. We certainly approve of the latter meeting which was 
 held on temperance principles, where ladies could join, for whom more 
 songs are composed by poets than for the sterner sex.— ^cZ. 
 
1 24 POEMS. 
 
 Sae what comes uppermaist you'll get it, 
 Be't gude or ill, for you I write it. 
 
 How fares my worthy frien, the bard ? 
 Be peace and honour his reward ! 
 May every ill that gars us fyke. 
 Bad webs, toom pouches, and sic like. 
 An ocht that wad his spirit bend. 
 Be ten miles distant from my friend. 
 Alas ! this wicked endless war, 
 Rul'd by some vile malignant star. 
 Has sunk puir Britain low indeed, 
 Has robb'd Industry o her bread. 
 An dasht the sair won cog o crowdie 
 Frae mony an honest eident body. 
 While Genius, dying thro neglect, 
 Sinks doun amid the general wreck 
 Just like twa cats tied tail to tail. 
 They worry at it tooth and nail ; 
 They gim, they, bite in deidly wrg,th, 
 An what is't for ? for nocht, in faith ! 
 Wee Lourie Frank,* wi brazen snout, 
 Nae dout wad like to scart us out. 
 For proud John Bull, aye us'd to hone him. 
 Will no gi'e o'er to spit upon him ; 
 But Lourie's rais'd to sic degree, 
 John wad be wise to let him he,\ 
 Else, aiblins, as he's wearin aul, 
 Frank yet may tear him spawl frae spawl. 
 For wi the mony chirts he's gotten, 
 I fear his constitution's rotten. 
 
 * Note by Ramsay. — "A personification of France." 
 
EPISTLE. 125 
 
 But while the bullying blades o Europe _ 
 Are boxing ither to a syrup, 
 Let's mind oursel's as weel's we can, 
 An live in peace, like man and man. 
 An no cast out and fecht like brutes, 
 .Without a cause for our disputes. 
 
 When I read o'er your kind epistle, 
 I didna dance, nor sing, nor whistle, 
 But jump'd, and cried, Huzza ! huzza ! 
 Like Robin Roughhead* in the play : — 
 But to be serious — jest aside, 
 I felt a glow o secret pride. 
 Thus to be roos'd by ane like you ; 
 Yet doubted if sic praise was due. 
 Till self thus reason'd in the matter • 
 Ye ken that Robin scorns to flatter, 
 And ere he'd prostitute his quill. 
 He'd rather burn his rh3Tiiing mill — 
 Enough ! I cried — I've gain'd my end. 
 Since I hae pleased my worthy friend. 
 
 My sangs are now before the warl, 
 An some may praise, and some may .snarl, 
 
 * This is the principal character in the farce of " Fortune's ProKcs, or the . 
 Ploughman turned Lord," written by John Till Allingham, and published 
 in 1790. It is very probable that TannahiU saw the farce acted in the 
 Paisley Theatre, in the companies either of Mr. Pollock or Mr. Moss. It 
 was performed in Kilkenny Theatre, on 24th August, 1810, in which town 
 Moore, the Irish Melodist, as an amateur, acted the part of Robin Rough- 
 head, and Miss Dyke, actress, the part of Miss Nancy. The Melodist 
 and the Actress were afterwards married ; the former died in 1840, and the 
 latter in 1865. Although TannahiU wrote several songs to Irish airs he had 
 collected, he never referred to or imitated the Irish Melodist in his array of 
 poets and authors. — Bd. 
 
126 POEMS. 
 
 They hae their fauts, yet I can tell 
 Nane sees them clearer than mysel ; 
 "But still, I think, they, too, inherit, 
 Amang the dross, some sparks o merit. 
 
 Then come, my dear Parnassian brither, 
 Let's lay our poet heads thegither, 
 And sing our ain sweet native scenes, 
 Our streams, our banks, and'rural plains, 
 Our woods, our shaws, and fiow'ry holms, 
 An mountains clad wi purple blooms, 
 Wi bumies bickerin doun their braes, 
 Reflecting back the sunny rays : 
 Ye've Semple Woods,* and Calder Glen,t 
 
 * Note hy Ramsay. — " Places in the neighbourhood of Kilbarchan." 
 The estate of Castlesemple, under the various proprietors, has always 
 been ornamented with thriving plantations, yielding a constant supply of 
 very valuable timber. The policies of Castlesemple were the most beautiful 
 and extensive in this district of country, and the aristocratically-ancient trees, 
 singly and in clumps, were certainly worthy the laudation of a poet. The 
 potent house of Sempill were in possession of the estate in 1214, and it de- 
 scended from generation to generation in that family till 1727, a period of 
 513 years, when Colonel William M'Dowall acquired it from Hew, 11th Lord 
 Sempill. This Lord Sempill, a Brigadier-General, was appointed Colonel of 
 the Black Watch, or 42nd Foot, on 14th Januaiy, 1741, and during his 
 command the regiment was called Lord Sempill's Highlanders. In 1743, the 
 regiment was marched to London, reviewed on 14th May by General Wade, 
 and despatched to Flanders, where they made a gallant defence under 
 •their brave Colonel. In 1813, Castlesemple estate passed from the M'Dowalls, 
 who had held it for seventy-two years, into the possession of John Rae or 
 Harvey, and it has continued in that family till the present time. 
 
 t This picturesque glen — sometimes called Calderwood Glen — in the 
 romantic parish of Lochwinnoch, with its sylvan scenery, is well worth 
 visiting. It was the theme of the poet and American Ornithologist, Alex- 
 ander Wilson, in his " Calder Banks," and other pieces, when he lived in 
 the neighbourhood for several years. Tannahill passed it frequently when 
 visiting his relations the Brodies of Langcraft, and notices Calderwood Glen 
 in his "Jessie, the Flower o Dumblanc."— 5d. 
 
EPISTLE. 127 
 
 And Locherbank,* sweet fairy den ! 
 AuchinameSjt a glorious theme ! 
 Where Crawfurd J Hved, of deathless name, 
 Where Sempill § sued his lass to win, 
 And Nelly || rose, and let him in. 
 
 * Another sweet retreat in the Parish of Kilbarchan, — the cascades on the 
 rivulet of Locher, and scenery on the hanks of the stream, are extremely 
 beautiful. See Note to No. 25. — Bd. 
 
 t The old Barony of Auchinames, belonging to the ancient family of the 
 Crawfurds, is also situated in the Parish of Kilbarchan, but has been 
 feued out to various proprietors. — Bd. 
 
 X Note hy Ramsay. — "William Crawford, 'whom,' says Ritson, 'the 
 pastoral beauties and elegant languEige of 'Tweedside,' and the pathetic 
 tenderness of * My dearie, an ye dee,' will ever place in the first rank of 
 lyric poets. He also wrote 'The Bush ahoon Traquair,' and some other 
 songs marked C. in Ramsay's Tea-Table Miscellany. He died young, about 
 1732." 
 
 This is Robert Crawfurd, youngest son of Patrick Crawfurd of Auchinames 
 by his first marrisige. He resided a considerable time in Prance, and on 
 returning to Scotland was drowned in May, 1733. He was an elegant writer 
 of pastoral poetry, and has found a first place in the ranks of lyric poets. — Ed. 
 
 § Note hy Ramsay. — "Francis Sempill of Belltrees bom about 1630, the 
 reputed author of the song here alluded to, and also of 'Maggie Lauder,' 
 * The Blythsome Bridal,' and other pieces." 
 
 This was Francis Sempill, one of the hereditary poets of Belltrees, and 
 Sheriff of Renfrewshire. Francis Sempill, the son of Robert Sempill of 
 Belltrees, author of the '* Elegy on Habbie Simpson," was bom about 1630, 
 married on 3rd April, 1655, and died suddenly on 12th March, 16S2, in his 
 house in Paisley. He was the author of "She raise an loot me in," and 
 other poems. — Ed. 
 
 II A Nelly was the heroine of the song, " She raise an loot me in ; " but 
 there is no evidence that she was Helen Crawfurd of Auchinames, although 
 Tannahill, according to the tradition of the period, and without weighing 
 dates, says the latter named place was 
 
 * ' Where Sempill sued his lass to win. 
 And Nelly rose and let him in." 
 
128 POEMS. 
 
 Whar Habbie Simpson * lang did pky, 
 The first o pipers in his day ; 
 
 * Note hy Ramsay. — "The famous piper of Kilbarchan^ on wliom Robert 
 Sempill, father of Francis, wrote the well-known Elegy." 
 
 Robert alias Habbie Simpson was a well-known piper, a wandering 
 minstrel, who generally resided in the Parish of Kilbarchan, and attended 
 weddinga, merry-makings, and fairs. On the death of this celebrated 
 piper, his fame became more extended from Robert Sempill of Belltrees, 
 eldest son and third child of Sir James Sempill of Belltrees, having written 
 the popular Elegy—" The Life and Death of the Piper of Kilbarchan, or the 
 Epitaph on Habbie Simpson." Robert Sempill was bom in 1599, was 
 educated at the Paisley Grammar School, and matriculated in Glasgow 
 University in the kalends of March, 1613. He succeeded to the estate of 
 Belltrees and other heritable properties on the death of his father, who died 
 at his great lodging or tenement at the head of Saint Mirin's Wyud, Paisley, 
 in 1625. In the rude days of the piper, common people with the Christian 
 name of Robert were vulgarly called Hob, Hab, Hobbie, and Habbie, 
 according to the district of country in which they resided. In ancient 
 criminal trials, persons were indicted both by their proper and popular 
 names, and the names of "Hob, alias Robert," frequently occur. Pitcaim, 
 the learned editor of Criminal Trials, in reporting the cases of Robert 
 Eldwalde, alias " Hob the King ; " Robert alias Hob Ormeston ; and Robert 
 Tumbull, alias "Fabel Hob," in a note to the first of these cases, explains 
 to his readers that ' * * Hob ' is a familiar border abbreviation for Robert, not 
 Halbert." The border names of Hob and Hobbie, and the west country 
 ecfteued names of Hab and Habbie, all represent Robert, and not Halbert. 
 Habbie Simpson, under his proper name of Robert Simpson, piper, 
 occasionally appears in the Council books of Paisley for rude manners or 
 piper immorality. His true name would be well known to the Bailies and 
 the whole inhabitants of that town, — the population at the time not 
 exceeding 915. Those names have been changed into Bob, Robin, and 
 Rabbie ; and our author himself was familiarly called by his companions 
 both "Bob" and "Robin" Tannahill, both in verbal conversation and in 
 written correspondence. The cleverly-written elegy of Rpbert Sempill 
 brought Robert Simpson, alias Habbie, into greater fame than the gifted 
 poet and famed author 
 
 Archibald Robertson (formerly ofGreenock, afterwards of Liverpool), when 
 a, young man, and just about to make Ms debut as a wood carver and 
 
EPISTLE. 
 
 129 
 
 And tho aneath the turf langsyne, 
 Their sangs and tunes shall never tyne. 
 
 Sae, Robin, briskly ply the Muse ; 
 SheVarms our hearts, expands our views, 
 Gars every sordid passion flee, 
 And waukens every syvcipsLthy. 
 
 * 
 
 sculptor, came to Kilbarchan along ■with a few companions to enjoy them- 
 selyes. They dined, and talked on many subjects. The chief subject being 
 the piper ; and, as a piece of frolic, it was decreed that young Robertson 
 should display his handicraft in a statue of the renowned Habbie. Mr. 
 Robertson consented, finished his work, and, in 1822, the figure in wood was 
 placed where it now stands in the steeple. Upwards of half a century has 
 now passed away, and a statue of stone has not been erected to the gifted 
 poet and author. 
 
 * At the Paisley Burns' Anniversary Meeting held in 1815, Bobert Allan 
 took the advice of Tannahill, and briskly phed the Muse upon the Ale Caup 
 of Scotia's Bard and " the Harp which his infant hand had strung." The 
 minute of the meeting of the Club on that occasion respecting these 
 subjects, is as follows : — 
 
 Paisley, 29th January, 1815.— The "Ale Caup" presented to the Club at 
 the last meeting by Mr. James Armour was produced, handsomely mounted 
 with silver, and the following inscriptions engraven on it : — 
 
 BURKS FAVOURITE CAITP. 
 
 Presented to the Paisley Bums' Club, 29th January, 1814, 
 At their Ninth Anniversary Meeting to Commemorate the 
 
 Birth of the Bard, 
 By James Armour, brother to the Poet's "ain dear Jean." 
 
 Underneath the above inscription : — 
 
 Wi mony a draught o reamin nappy. 
 Aft Scotia's Bard I've made fu happy. 
 And slockened mony a mashlum bannock 
 That grac'd the boards o auld Nanse Tannock. 
 
 On the reverse side at the top : — 
 
 He glowed with all the spirit of the Bard, 
 Fame, honest fame, his great— his dear reward 
 
 The Caup is composed of twelve staves of Plane and Plum tree wood, 
 bound with six cane hoops, and the bottom of oak. It measures four 
 
 R 
 
130 POEMS. 
 
 Now, wishing Fate may never tax you, 
 Wi cross, nor loss, to thraw and vex you, 
 But keep you hale till ninety nine. 
 Till you and yours in honour shine. 
 Shall ever be my earnest pray'r. 
 While I've a frienly wish to spare. 
 
 incliea in diameter, and is three and a-half inches deep. The Caup being filled 
 with "nappy ale," the following song, written for the occasion by Mr. Robert 
 Allan, Kilbarchan, and here printed for the first time, was sung by Mr. Smith 
 immediately before drinking from it, which every one present did, and gave 
 their toast : — 
 
 THE CAUP 
 
 Air, — "Lewie Gordon:" 
 
 Fill the bicker to the brim Dear tae him was Simmer e'en, 
 
 Tae Scotia's Bard, and drink tae him Hawthorn shade and valley green, 
 
 Wha was the king amang them a ; Rosy brier and birken shaw, — 
 
 He's dear to us, tho uoo awa. The pride Caledonia. 
 
 For the Bruce and Wallace wicht, Now again well taste the bree. 
 
 And for liberty and richt. Till the drap glance in cor e'e ; 
 
 Pu weel cou'd he the whistle blaw. An aye we'll roun the bicker ca 
 
 The Bard o Caledonia. Tae Burns and Caledonia. 
 
 The following songs, also written by Mr. Robert Allan, and here printed for 
 the first time, were sung by Mr. Smith : — 
 
 THE HARP. 
 
 Where is the Harp when the Bard was young, ' 
 
 The Harp that his infant hand hath strung ; 
 
 That broke on our ear, from its hallowed cell. 
 
 As a thunder peal in the hollow dell. 
 
 And in stilly murmurings stole its way, 
 
 Like the brook and the breeze of a summer's day ? 
 
 Where is the Harp when the Bard was young. 
 The Harp that his infant hand hath strung ; 
 That o'er the expanse of ocean swept. 
 Laugh *d with the gay, with the mguruful wept. 
 And came on us still, in our wandering way, 
 Like the brook and the breeze of a summer's day ? 
 
EILD. 131 
 
 27. 
 
 EILD. 
 
 The rough hail rattles thro the trees, 
 The sullen lift loVrs gloomy gray, 
 
 The trav'ller sees the swelling storm, 
 And seeks the alehouse by the way. 
 
 But, waes me ! for yon widowed wretch, 
 Borne doun wi years an heavy care ; 
 
 Her sapless fingers scarce can nip 
 The wither'd twigs tae beet her fire. 
 
 Where is the Harp when the Bard was young. 
 
 The Harp that his infant hand hath strung? 
 
 Oh Scotia ! list its echoiuga wild, — 
 
 Its chords are torn, and the minstrel child 
 
 Is mute ; hut his song shall murmur aye 
 
 Like the hrook and the breeze of a summer's day. 
 
 LAMENT O'ER SCOTIA'S BARD. 
 Shall Scotia lament o'er the Bard she hath lost. 
 
 While laurels are blooming around him ? 
 Can she weep o'er the wreaths that affection hath wove, 
 
 And fresh and unfading hath bound him ? 
 
 Tes, Scotia may weep ; but the tears she will shed 
 
 Are those of a fond loving mother 
 Who weeps for her son, as she hangs up the Harp 
 
 That ne'er shall be strung by another. 
 
 But the star of his glory that hallows the dome 
 Where the echoes-yet sweetly are streaming. 
 
 Will play round the Harp as to wake it to life. 
 And brighten her eye vrith its beaming. 
 
 Then, peace to his shade I in her bosom he rests, 
 
 Nor time the fond ties shall e'er sever ; 
 On her heath blooming hlUs, and her mou;itains of storm. 
 
 His laurel shall blossom for ever. 
 
132 
 
 POEMS. 
 
 Thus youth and vigour fends itsel ; 
 
 Its help, reciprocal, is sure. 
 While dowless Eild, in poortith cauld, 
 
 Is lanely left tae stan thestoure. 
 
 28. 
 
 THE RESOLVE TO GIVE UP RHYMING; OR, 
 THE ROSE AND PRIMROSE.* 
 
 1806. 
 
 ' Him who ne'er listen'd to the voice of praise, 
 The silence of neglect can ne'er appal." 
 
 Beattie. t 
 
 TwAS on a sunny Sabbath day, 
 Whan wark-worn" bodies get their play 
 (Thanks tae the rulers o the nation, 
 Wha gi'e us all a toleration, 
 
 * This poem first appeared in 1806 in Maver's Cfleatier. See Note to No. 
 B.—Sd. 
 
 t James Beattie, LL.B., an eminent Poet and Philosopher, was horn at 
 Lawrencekirk, 25th October, 1735. His leisure.hours were devoted to poetical 
 compositions, several of which appeared in the Scots Magazine. His first 
 ■ volume of Poems was published in 1759. In 1760, he was appointed 
 Professor of Moral Philosophy in Mareschal College, Aberdeen. In 1770, his 
 "Essay on Truth" appeared; in 1771 and 1774, his "Minstrelsy" was 
 published; and, in 1776, his Essays on Poetry and Music. He died 18th 
 August, 1803. The gentle Tannahill must have been an admirer of Beattie, 
 when he took the motto of this poem from his works, and also added a note 
 from the same author to the " Soldier's Funeral," No. 101. 
 
RESOLVE. 133 
 
 Tae gang as best may please oursel's — 
 
 Some tae the kirk, some tae the fiel's),* 
 
 I've wander'd out, wi serious levik, 
 
 Tae read twa page on Nature's beuk ; 
 
 For lang I've thocht, as little harm in 
 
 Hearin a lively out-fiel sermon, 
 
 Even tho rowtet by a stirk, 
 
 As that aft bawl'd in crowd'd kirk 
 
 By some proud, stern, polemic wicht, 
 
 Wha cries, " My way alane is richt ! " 
 
 Wha lairs himsel in controversy, 
 
 Then damns his neighbours without mercy. 
 
 As if the fewer that war spar't. 
 
 These few would be the better ser't. 
 
 Now tae my tale — digression o'er — 
 I wander'd out by Stanely tow'r. 
 The lang grass on its tap did wave, 
 Like weeds upon a warrior's grave ; 
 Whilk seem'd tae mock the bluidy braggers. 
 An grow on-theirs as rank's on beggars' — 
 But hold, I'm frae the point again. — 
 I wander'd up Gleniffer glen ; 
 There, leaning gainst a mossy rock, 
 I, musing, ey'd the passing brook, 
 That in its murmurs seem'd tae say — 
 " Tis thus thy life glides fast away : 
 Observe the bubbles on my stream ; 
 Like them, fame is an empty dream, 
 They blink a moment tae the sun. 
 Then burst, and are for ever gone : 
 
 '' This parenthetical sentence was suppressed in Eamaay's Edition. 
 
134 POEMS. 
 
 So fame's a bubble of the mind ; 
 Possess'd, tis nocht but empty wind, 
 No courtly gem e'er purchas'd dearer, 
 An ne'er can satisfy the wearer. 
 Let them wha hae a bleezing share o't 
 Confess the truth, they sigh for mair o't. 
 Then let contentment be thy cheer, 
 An never soar aboon thy sphere ; 
 Rude storms assail the mountain's brow 
 That lichtly skiff the vale below." 
 
 A gaudy Rose was growing near. 
 Proud, tow'ring on its leafy brier;* 
 In Fancy's ear it seem'd to say — 
 " Sir, have you seen a flower so gay ? 
 The poets in my praise combine. 
 Comparing Chloe's f charms tae mine ; 
 The sunbeams for my favour sue me. 
 And dark-brow'd nicht comes doun tae woo me; 
 But when I shrink from his request, 
 He draps his tears upon my breast, 
 And in his misty cloud sits wae. 
 Till chas'd awa by rival day — 
 
 * The Briarbuali or Dog-rose, — Eosa canirM, — very prevalent on the ] 
 of Gleniffer and almost everywhere, a spreading shrub, growing from five to 
 eight feet high. Leaflets narrow, elliptic, serrated, smooth, upper pair and 
 odd leaflet largest, and the young leaves shining as if varnished. Flowers 
 in June and July, red or white — the latter rarely, and the huds redder than 
 the expanded flowers. The hip or fruit elliptic, smooth, shining scarlet. 
 Eosewater distilled from flowers of the Dog-rose more fragrant than from 
 garden roses. The mossy protuberance seen on the briarbush is the work- 
 manship of bediguar insects. The Dog-rose is the emblem of Pleasure and 
 Pain.— £d. 
 
 t The shepherdess beloved by Daphnis in the pastoral romance of Longus, 
 entitled " Daphnis and Chloe." Saint Pierre's tale of " Paul and Virginia " 
 is founded on the fine romance of Longus.— .Frf. 
 
RESOLVE. 13s 
 
 That streamlet's grov'lUng grunting fires me, 
 Since no ana sees me but admires me ; 
 See yon bit violet * neath my view : 
 Wee sallow thing, its nQse is blue ! 
 An that bit primrose t 'side the breckan, 
 Puir yellow ghaist, — it seems forsaken ! 
 The sun ne'er throws't ae transient glow, 
 Unless when passing whether or no ; 
 But wisely spuming ane sae mean, 
 He blinks on me frae morn till e'en."' 
 
 To which the Primrose calm replied — 
 "Puir gaudy gowk, suppress your pride, 
 For sune the strong flow'r-sweeping blast 
 Shall strew your honours in the dust ; 
 While I, beneath my lowly bield, 
 Will live an bloom frae harm conceal'd ; 
 An while the heavy raindraps pelt you, 
 Ye'U maybe think on what I've tell't you." 
 
 The Rose, derisive, seem'd to sneer. 
 An waVd upon its bonnie brier. 
 
 * The Bog Violet, Vdola Canina, This plant is also abundant on Gleniffer 
 Braes. Boot woody. Leases heart-shaped, acute, nearly smooth. Flowers 
 from April to June, and, in shaded places, longer,- -the status axillary, 
 solitary, erect, bearing two awl-shaped bracteas in the upper part, and one 
 nodding blue-flower. The emblem of Love in Idleness. — Ed. 
 
 t The Common Primrose, Primula Vulgaris. This plant is also to be 
 found on Gleniffer Braes. Leaves spread from the root four or five inches 
 long, dark green above and pale beneath. The flowers of a pale yellow 
 or sulphur colour, and very common in April and May, and later in glens. 
 This is the parent of all the varieties of Polyanthi. The emblem of Early 
 Youth.— .Erf. 
 
136 POEMS. 
 
 Now dark'ning cluds began to gather, 
 Presaging sudden change o weather; 
 I wander'd hame by Stanely green, 
 Deep pond'ring what I'd heard an seen, 
 Firmly resolv'd to shun from hence 
 The dangerous steeps of eminence, 
 Tae drap this rhyming trade for ever, 
 And creep thro Hfe a plain, day plodding weaver. 
 
 29. 
 
 THE CHOICE.* 
 
 Ye vot'ries of pleasure and ease. 
 
 Proud, wasting in riot the day, 
 Drive on your career as ye please. 
 
 Let me follow a different way. 
 The woodland, the mountain, and hiU, 
 
 With the birds singing sweet from the tree, 
 The soul with serenity fill, 
 
 And have pleasures more pleasing to me. 
 
 When I see yon parade thro the streets, 
 
 With affected, unnatural airs, 
 I smile at your low, trifling gaits. 
 
 And could heartily lend you my pra/rs. 
 
 * Tannahill, in these excellent verses composed in the guileless simplicity 
 of his heart, has shown the leaning of his mind, and made his Choice. The 
 poet has firmly stated he had no desire for tavern dissipation and degradation, 
 which drives on to destruction both physically and morally. The chief wish 
 of our sweet lyrist was to enjoy the sohtude and scenery of Gleniffer Braes, 
 among the woodland choristers, reading " Thomson's Seasons "or ** Shen- 
 stone's Poems," and striving to imitate them. — Ed. 
 
EPISTLE. 137 
 
 Great Jove ! was it ever design'd 
 
 That man should his reason lay down, 
 
 And barter the peace of his mind, 
 For the follies and fashions of town ? 
 
 I'll retire to yon broom-cover'd fields, 
 
 On the green mossy turf I'll recline. 
 The pleasures that Solitude yields. 
 
 Composure and peace shall' be mine. 
 There Thomson* or Shenstone t I'll read, 
 
 Well pleas'd with each well-manag'd theme, 
 With nothing to trouble my head. 
 
 But ambition to imitate them. 
 
 30. 
 
 THE CONTRAST. 
 
 Inscribed to Mr. J. SCADLOCK. 
 August, 1803. 
 
 When Love proves false, and friends betray us, 
 All nature seems a dismal chaos 
 
 Of wretchedness and woe; 
 We stamp mankind a base ingrate. 
 Half loathing life, we challenge Fate 
 To' strike the final blow. 
 Then settled grief, with wild despair, 
 Stares from our bloodshot eyes, 
 
 * James Thomson, an eminent Poet, was bom at Ednam in Roxburghshire 
 on 11th September, 1700. His Smsons of Winter, Summer, Spring, and 
 Autumn, were published separately between 1725 and 1730, and now hold 
 a high place in English literature. He died 22nd August, 1748.— J'li. 
 
 t See Note to "The Pamassiad," No. 17.— ^A 
 S 
 
\8 POEMS. 
 
 Tho oft we try to hide our care, 
 And check our bursting sighs. 
 Still vexed, so wretched. 
 
 We seek some lonely wood, 
 There sighing, and crying. 
 We pour the briny flood. 
 
 Mark the contrast — what joys we find, 
 With friends sincere and beauty kind. 
 
 Congenial to our wishes ; 
 Then life appears a summer's day ; 
 Adowri Time's crystal stream we play 
 As sportive's little fishes. 
 
 We see nought then but general good, 
 
 Which warm pervades all nature ; 
 Our hearts expand with gratitude 
 Unto the great Creator. 
 Then let's revere the virtuous fair. 
 The friend whose truth is tried. 
 For, without these, go where we please, 
 We'll always find a void. 
 
 31. 
 
 A FOP PASSING AN OLD BEGGAR. 
 
 He who, unmov'd, can hear the suppHant cry 
 
 Of pallid wretch, plac'd on the pathway side. 
 Nor deigns one pitying look, but passes by. 
 
 In all the pomp of self-adoring pride : 
 So may some great man vex his little soul. 
 
 When he, obsequious, makes his lowest bow ; 
 Turn from him with a look that says, — Vain fool, [know. 
 
 And speak to some poor man whom he would shame to 
 
EPISTLE. 139 
 
 32. 
 
 THE GUINEA NOTE. 
 
 Thou little badge of independence, 
 
 Thou mak'st e'en Pride dance mean attendance ; 
 
 Thou sure hast magic in thy looks ; 
 
 Gives poets taste for tasteless books ; 
 
 Makes lawyers lie, makes courtiers flatter, 
 
 And wily statesmen patriots clatter ; 
 
 Makes ancient maids seem young again, 
 
 At sixty, beauteous as sixteen ; 
 
 Makes foes turn friends, and friends turn foes, 
 
 And dmgmen brew the pois'ning dose. 
 
 And ev'n as common say prevails. 
 
 Thou mak'st e'en Justice tip the scales.* 
 
 * Note by the Author.—" Lines written on the, back of a guinea note." 
 These excellent lines on the corrupting influence of money were very 
 appropriately written by the author on the back of a guinea note. Burns 
 also wrote lines on the back of a bank note, and they appeared as a 
 fugitive piece, but not in any of the editions of his works till" Cunningham's 
 of 1834. In 1663, during the reign of Charles II., a gold coin was minted 
 which was called a *' guinea," from the gold of which the coin was made 
 having been brought from Guinea, on the coast of Africa. It became a 
 favourite coin in Scotland; and, in Paisley, it was called "a gold guinzie." 
 The coin in guinea gold at first represented 20s. , but shortly afterwards it 
 was converted, and re-stamped as of the value of £1 Is., — 
 *' The rank is but the guinea stamp, 
 
 The man's the gowd for a that." — Bwns. 
 On banks being instituted in Scotland in 1695, guinea notes, representing the 
 same value of £1 Is. sterling as the coinage of that name, were issued. The 
 Paisley Banking Company commenced business on 1st October, 1783, in thS 
 house No. 28 Gauze Strjeet, Paisley, (now belonging to Mr. Thomas Russell 
 Cameron, surgeon-dentist,) and issued guinea notes. The above lines are 
 here printed on the back of a representation of the guinea note of that 
 Banking Company, which is a very fair imitation of the original guinea 
 note, and will give our readers an idea of the form of that extinct Note of 
 Issue. Subscriptions for benevolent objects and other kindred subjects are 
 frequently solicited, and, in numerous instances, still made in guineas. — Ed. 
 
ODE TO JEALOUSY. 14T 
 
 33. 
 
 ODE TO JEALOUSY.* 
 
 Mark what Demon hither bends 
 
 Gnawing still his finger-ends, 
 
 Wrapt in contemplation deep, 
 
 Wrathfiil, yet inclin'd to weep. 
 
 Thy wizard gait, thy breath-check'd broken sigh, 
 
 Thy burning cheeks, thy lips, black, wither'd, ary; 
 
 Thy side-thrown glance, with wild malignant eye, 
 
 Betray thy foul intent, infernal Jealousy. 
 
 Hence, thou self-tormenting fiend, 
 To thy spleen dug cave descend. 
 Fancying wrongs that never were. 
 Rend thy bosom, tear thy hair ; 
 Brood, fell Hate, within thy den. 
 Come not near the haunts of men. 
 
 Let man be faithful to his brother man. 
 Nor guileful, still revert kind Heaven's plan. 
 Then slavish fe'ar, and mean distrust shall cease, 
 And confidence confirm a lasting mental peace. 
 
 34. 
 
 ON A FLATTERER. 
 
 I HATE a flatt'rer as I hate the devil, 
 But Tom's a very, very pleasing dog, 
 
 df course, let's speak of him in terms more civil- 
 I hate a flatt'rer as I hate a hog ; 
 
 * This Ode first appeared in Maver's Glasgow periodical, the Selector, of 
 1805, Vol. I., page 268,— the sixth of the seven pieces with the signature 
 " Modestiis." See the first Note to No. 5. — Bd. 
 
142 POEMS. 
 
 Not bufi applause is music to mine ears — 
 He IS a knave who says he likes it not, 
 
 But wlien, in friendship's guise, deceit appears, 
 'Tvfould fret a Stoic's frigid temper hot. 
 
 35. 
 
 EVIL SPEAKER.* 
 
 As/secret's the grave be the man whom I trust ; 
 
 i''hat friendship imparts still let honour conceal, 
 AJ plague on those babblers, their names be accurs'd! 
 / Still first to enquire, and the first to reveal. 
 As open as day let me be with the man 
 / Who tells me my failings from motives upright, 
 /But when of those gossiping fools I meet one, 
 f Let me fold in my soul and be close as the night. 
 
 36. 
 
 THE MORALIST. 
 
 " Barb'rous I" cried John, in humanising mood, 
 Tae Will, who'd shot a blackbird in the wood ; 
 " The savage Indian pleads necessity, 
 gut thou, barbarian wretch! hast no such plea." 
 Hark ! — click the alehouse door — his wife comes in — 
 "Dear, help's man, John ! — preserve me, what d'ye mean ! 
 Sax helpless bairns — the deil confound your drouth ! . 
 Without ae bit tae stop a single mouth." 
 
 " Get hame," cried John, "else, jade! I'll kick your a !" 
 
 Sure such humanity is all a . 
 
 * Note by the Author. — " Written on hearing a fellow tell some stories to 
 the hurt of his best friends." 
 
EPISTLE. 143 
 
 37. 
 
 A LESSON.* 
 1800. 
 
 Quoth gobbin Tom of Lancashire, 
 
 To northern Jock, a lowland drover, 
 "Thoose are foin kaise thai'rt driving there, 
 
 They've zure been fed on English clover." 
 "Foin kaise !" quoth Jock, "ye bleth'rin hash, 
 
 Deil draw your nose as lang's a sow's ! 
 That tauk o yours is queer-like trash ; 
 
 Foin kaise! poor gowk ! — their names are koose." 
 The very fault which I in others see. 
 Like kind, or worse, perhaps is seen in me. 
 
 38. 
 
 TOWSER. t 
 
 A TRUE TALE. 
 20th July, i8o6. 
 
 ' Dogs are honest creatures, 
 Ne'er fawn on any that they love not ; — 
 And I'm a friend to dogs, — 
 They ne'er betray their masters. " 
 
 In mony an instance, withoiit dout. 
 The man may copy frae the brute. 
 
 * Written by Tannahill when he resided in England in 1800. — Ed, 
 t The true name of TannahiU's dog was " Cyrus," and the Poet was very 
 much attached to hie faitliful canine companion. Cyrus loved his master. 
 
144 POEMS. 
 
 And by th' example grow much wiser ; — 
 Then read the short memoirs of Towser. 
 
 With def'rence tae our great Lavaters, t 
 Wha judge a mankind by their features, 
 There's mony a smiling, pleasant-fac'd cock. 
 That wears a heart no worth a custock. 
 While mony a visage, antic, droll, 
 O'erveils a noble, gen'rous soul. 
 With Towser this was just the case : 
 He had an ill-faur't tawtie face. 
 His mak was something like a messin, 
 But big, an quite unprepossessin, 
 His master caft him frae some fallows, 
 Wha had him doom'd untae the gallows. 
 Because (sae hap'd poor Towser's lot), 
 He wadna tear a comrade's throat ; 
 Yet, in affairs of love or honour, 
 He'd Stan his part amang a hunner, 
 An whare'er fighting was a merit, 
 He never failed to shaw his spirit. 
 
 and always accompanied him in his rambles on Gleniffer Braes and by Alt 
 Patrick Bum. On the sudden death of Cyrus occurring, tire Poet wrote the 
 above tale under the name of Towser, and it was first printed in No. VII. of 
 John Millar's Faisley Repository, published in July, 1806. See first Note to 
 No. 16.— £d. 
 
 t John Kaspar Lavater, the celebrated physiognomist, was bom at Zurich 
 in 1741, and became a Protestant minister. He was an acquaintance of Dr. 
 Zimmerman, and the doctor advised his friend to pursue his natural and 
 extraordinary gift of physiognomy. In 1776, Lavater's great work, 
 " Physiognomanio Fi'agments," in 4 vols., 4to., appeared, which was 
 translated into Bnglish, obtained great celebrity, and was a favourite 
 subject for discussion in the days of TannahilL Lavater died in 1801.— jffrt. 
 
TOWSER. 145 
 
 He never girri'd in neighbour's face, 
 Wi wild, ill-natur'd scant-o-grace, 
 Nor e'er accosted ane wi smiles, 
 Then, soon as turn'd, wad bite his heels, 
 Nor ever kent the courtier airt. 
 To fawn wi rancour at his heart ; 
 Nor aught kent he o cankert quarlin, 
 Nor snarlin just for sake o snarlin ; 
 Ye'd pinch him sair afore he'd growl, 
 Whilk ever shaws a magnanimity of soul. 
 
 But what adds Aaistly to his fame. 
 An will immortalise his name — 
 (Immortalise ! — presumptive wicht ! 
 Thy lines are dull as darkest nicht, 
 Without ae spark o wit or glee, 
 To licht them through futurity. ) 
 E'en be it sae ; — poor Towser's story, 
 Though lamely tauld, will speak his glory. \ 
 
 Twas in the month o cauld December, 
 When Nature's fire seem'd just an ember. 
 An growlin winter bellow'd forth 
 In storms and tempests frae the north — 
 When honest Towser's loving master. 
 Regardless o the surly bluster. 
 Set out to the neist borough town 
 To buy some needments his own ; 
 An, case some purse pest soud waylay him, 
 He took his trusty servant wi him. 
 
 His bus'ness done, twas near the gloamin, 
 An ay the king o storms was foamin, 
 
 T 
 
146 POEMS. 
 
 The doors did ring — ^lum pigs down tuml'd — 
 
 The strawns gush'd big — the sinks loud ruml'd ; 
 
 Auld grannies spread their looves, an sich't, 
 
 Wi " O sirs ! what an awfu nicht ! " 
 
 Poor Towser shook his sides a draigl'd, 
 
 An's master grudg'd that he had taigl'd ; 
 
 But, wi his merchandizing load, 
 
 Come weel, come wae, he took the road. i 
 
 Now ckids drave o'er the fiel's Hke drift, 
 
 Nicht flung her black cleuk o'er the lift ; 
 
 An thro the naked trees and hedges, 
 
 The horrid storm redoubl'd rages : 
 
 An, to complete his piteous case, 
 
 It blew directly in his face. 
 
 Whiles gainst the footpath stabs he thumped. 
 
 Whiles o'er the coots in holes he plumped ; 
 
 But on he gaed, an on he waded. 
 
 Till he at length turn'd faint and jaded. 
 
 To gang he could nae langer bide, 
 
 But lay down by the bare dykeside. 
 
 Now, bairns and wife rush'd on his soul — 
 
 He groan'd — ^poor Towser loud did howl, 
 
 An, mournin, couret doun aside him ; 
 
 But, oh ! his master couldna heed him. 
 
 For now his senses gan to dozen. 
 
 His vera life streams maist war frozen ; 
 
 An't seemed as if the cruel skies 
 
 Exulted o'er their sacrifice. 
 
 For fierce the win's did o'er him hiss. 
 
 An dasht the sleet on his cauld face.* 
 
 * In the April number of the Scots Magazine for 1803, VoL LXV., page 256, 
 the following anecdote of a dog, taken from the Gmtleman's Magazine, 
 appeared. At that time, there were several reading clubs in Paisley, and 
 
TOWSER. 147 
 
 As on a rock, far, far frae Ian, 
 Twa shipwreck'd sailors shiv'ring stan, 
 If chance a vessel they descry 
 Their hearts exult with instant joy, 
 Sae was poor Towser joy'd to hear 
 The tread o trav'llers drawing near, 
 He ran, an yowFd, and fawn'd upon 'em, 
 But couldna mak them understan him, 
 Till, tugging at the foremost's coat, 
 He led them tae the mourjafu spot, 
 
 the Scots Magazine was one of the monthly periodicals taken in, and 
 Tannahill afterwards hecame a contributor to that well-conducted serial : — 
 
 " Remai^kaele Sagacity in a Dog.— Some years since, Mr. S of Margate, 
 
 in Kent, was returning from a neighbouring town, during a very heavy fall 
 of snow, and was accompanied by a dog belonging to a relation of his who 
 kept an inn near his own house. He became so fatigued with his journey, 
 which he performed on foot, that he was hardly able to proceed, and when 
 within a mile or less from home he several times stopped ; when the 
 sagacious animal seized hold of his coat and impelled him forwards, until, 
 through his kind efforts, he literally tore the skirts from his garmertts. At 
 
 last, Mr. S being entirely overcome by the incletnency of the weather, when 
 
 he had arrived within two hundred yards of liis house, was obliged to drop 
 on the snow by the side of a hovel, and supposes he immediately fell asleep. 
 It appeared that the faithful animal had used every endeavour to awaken 
 him, as his hands and face, when he was discovered, were evidently marked 
 by the claws of the dog ; but this being ineffectual, he then left his friend, 
 and hasted to his master's house, and by every gesture which he could 
 command endeavoured to entice somebody with him by howling, running 
 backwards and forwards to the door, &,e. But not being able to make 
 himself understood, he took a person by the coat, and led him to the spot 
 where his friend lay in a miserable state, and nearly deprived of life by the 
 
 cold. Assistance being procured, Mr. 8 was taken to his house, and, with 
 
 the greatest difficulty, restored to animation. In gratitude to his deliverer 
 (under the Almighty), he took the greatest care of the dog, had his portrait 
 accurately taken in oil colours, and which, as a meTnmto, now graces the 
 chimney-piece in his hall. Shall we call this fidelity, instinct, sagacity, 
 friendship, or reason, in the brute ; or a graciotis interposition of Eternal 
 Providence, in thus furnishing this animal with faculties beyond the nature 
 of his species, — thus to preserve the life of one in the higher rank in his 
 wonderful, incomprehensible, and all-beautiful creation."— ^rf. 
 
148 POEMS. 
 
 Where, cauld an stiff his master lay, 
 Tae the rude storm a helpless prey. 
 
 Wi Caledonian sympathy 
 They bore him kindly on the way, 
 Until they reach'd aj;ottage bien. 
 They tauld the case, war welcomed in— 
 The rousin fire, the cordial drop, 
 Restofd him soon tae life an hope ; 
 Fond raptures beam'd in Towser's eye. 
 An antic gambols spake his joy. 
 
 Wha reads this simple tale may see 
 The worth of sensibility. 
 And learn frae it tae be humane-- — 
 In Towser's life he saVd his ain. 
 
 39. 
 
 THE AMBITIOUS MITE.* 
 
 A FABLE. 
 
 Whan Hope persuades, and Fame inspires us, 
 And pride with warm ambition fires us, 
 Let reason instant seize the bridle. 
 And wrest us frae the passions guidal ; 
 Else, like the hero of our fable, 
 We'll aft be plung'd intae a babble. 
 
 • This fable first appeared in 1806 in Maver's SelecUir, Vol. I., page 264. 
 The third of the seven pieces under the signature **Modestus." See the 
 first Note to No. S.—Xd. 
 
THE AMBITIOUS MITE. 149 
 
 Twas on a bonny simmer day, 
 Whan a the insect tribes war gay, 
 Some journeying o'er~the leaves o roses. 
 Some brushing thrang their wings an noses, 
 Some wallowing sweet in bramble blossom, 
 In luxury's saft downy bfsom ; 
 While ithers of a lower order, 
 Warperch'd on plantain leafs* smooth border, 
 Wha frae their twa inch steeps look'd doun. 
 An view'd the kintra far aroun. 
 
 Ae pridefu elf, amang the rest, 
 Wha's pin point heart bumpt 'gainst his breast, 
 Tae work some michty deed of fame 
 That woud immortalise his name ; 
 Thro future hours woud han him doun. 
 The wonder o an afternoon ; 
 (For ae short day wi them appears 
 As lang's our lengthen'd hunner years.) 
 
 By chance, at han, a bow'd horse hair 
 Stood up six inches high in air ; 
 He plann'd tae climb this lofty arch, 
 Wi^philosophic deep research, 
 Tae prove (which aft perplex'd their heads) 
 What people peopl'd ither blades, 
 Or, from keen observation, show 
 Whether they peopl'd were or no. 
 
 * Greater plantain, — PlavMgo ma^or. A common plant in pastures and 
 sides of roads, with broad short leaves, vulgarly called the viaybuirn, leaf 
 spread on the ground, oval, long foot stalks. Flower stalk from centre six 
 to twelve inches high, under half barp, upper half cylindrical, with flowers 
 of a greenish white colour. The seeds are small and brown, and collected 
 for food to birds. The leaves were reckoned formerly among the most 
 eflBcacious for healing wounds. — Ed. 
 
15° POEMS. 
 
 Our tiny hero onward hies, 
 Quite big with daring enterprise, 
 Ascends the hair's curvatur'd side. 
 Now pale with fear, now red with pride. 
 Now hangin pend'lous by the claw. 
 Now glad at having 'scap'd a fa ; 
 What horrid dangers he came thro, 
 Woud trifling seem for man tae know ; 
 Suffice, at length he reach'd the top. 
 The summit of his pride and hope, 
 And on his elevated station 
 Had plac'd himsel for observation. 
 When, puff ! — the win did end the matter, 
 And dasht him in a horse hoof gutter. 
 
 Sae let the lesson gi'en us here. 
 Keep each within his proper sphere. 
 And when our fancies tak their flight. 
 Think on the wee ambitious mite. 
 
 40. 
 
 BAUDRONS AND THE HEN-BIRD. 
 
 - A FABLE. 
 
 Some fouks there are of such behaviour. 
 They'll cringe themselves intae your favour. 
 And whan you think their friendship staunch is, 
 They'll tear your character tae inches. 
 T' enforce this truth, as weel's I'm able. 
 Please, reader, tae peruse a fable. 
 
BAUDRONS AND THE HEN-BIRD.. 151 
 
 Deborah, an auld wealthy maiden, 
 Wi spleen, remorse, an scandal laden, 
 Socht out a solitary spat, 
 Tae live in quiet wi her cat, — 
 A meikle, sonsie, tabbie she ane 
 (For Deborah abhor'd a he ane). 
 And in the house, tae be_a third. 
 She gat a wee hen chuckle bird. 
 
 Soon as our slee nocturnal ranger, 
 Beheld the wee bit timid stranger, 
 She thus began, wi frien'ly fraise, — 
 "Come ben, puir thing, an warm your taes; 
 " This weather's cauld, an wet, an dreary, 
 " I'm wae tae see you look sae eerie, 
 " Serse ! how your tail an wings are dreepin ! 
 " Ye've surely been in piteous keepin ; 
 " See, here's my dish, come tak a'^ick o't, 
 " But, deed, I fear there's scarce a lick o't." 
 
 Sic sympathisin words o sense 
 Soon gain'd puir chuckle's confidence, 
 An while Deborah mools some .crumbs, 
 Auld baudrons sits, an croodlin thrumbs ; 
 In short, the twa soon grew sae pack. 
 Chuck roosted upon pussy's back ! 
 
 But ere sax wee short days war gane, 
 When baith left in the house alane. 
 Then thinks the hypocritic sinner, 
 Noo, noo's my time tae hae a dinner ; 
 Sae, wi a squat, a spring, an squal, 
 She tore puir chuckle spawl frae spawl. 
 
 Then mind this maxim, — Rash acquaintance, 
 Aft leads tae ruin and repentance. 
 
152 Poems. 
 
 41. 
 CONNEL AND FLORA. 
 
 A SCOTTISH LEGEND* 
 
 " The western sun shines o'er tlie loch, 
 And gilds the mountain's brow, 
 
 And what are Nature's smiles tae me, 
 Without the smile of you ? 
 
 " O will ye go to Garnock side, 
 Wliere birks and woodbines twine ! 
 
 I've socht you aft to be my bride, 
 Whan ! whan will ye be mine ?" 
 
 * Note by Motherwell.—*' 'CGnxiQls.n&'Plora.' is read without emotion, and 
 never thought of again after penisal. This piece has none of that noble 
 simplicity of diction and disregard to meretricious ornament which distin- 
 guish the ballad from every other kind of poetry, and give it all its peculiar 
 charm. With the exception of one or two stanzas, ' Connel and Flora ' 
 glistens in all the showy and unmeaning garniture of wordiness, and fulness 
 of sounding epithet, that disgusted us so in the balladmongery lately in 
 vogue, but now happily rooted out and despised, never, it is hoped, to be 
 again cultivated or esteemed. " 
 
 Note by Ramsay. — "This attempt to engraft modem refinement upon 
 ancient simplicity is, we think, unsuccessful. " 
 
 The scene of this legend is laid in the Parish of Bjlbimie, in the vicinity 
 of the loch of that name, and Glengamock Castle, shortly after the bloody 
 Battle of Flodden. The Garnock Kiver flows from the base of the hill of 
 Staik in Lochwinuoch Parish, — a hill 1200 feet above the level of the sea, — 
 and flows through the Parishes of Kilbimie, Dairy, Kilwinning, and Irvine, 
 and falls into the Firth of Clyde. The characters represented are Flora, — a 
 young maiden plighted to the youthful Corvnel down the dusky dale ; and 
 Donald, — a siurviving trooper of the fatal field of Flodden, suing Flora for 
 his bride. The ancient Castle of Garnock, said to have been the residence 
 of Hardyknute, was not very far from Langcraft in Lochwinnoch Parish, 
 the residence of Tannahill's granduncle, Hugh Brodie, where the mother of 
 the Poet was brought up, and would be visited by him in his rambles in 
 that district of country.— ^rf. 
 
CONNEL AND FLORA. 153 
 
 " Aft as ye socht me for your bride, 
 
 My mind spak frae my e'e ; 
 Then wherefore seek tae win a heart 
 
 That is not mine tae gi'e ? 
 
 "Wi' Connel doun the dusky dale 
 
 . Lang plighted are my vows ; 
 He won my heart before I wist 
 I had a heart to lose." 
 
 The fire flash'd from his eyes of wrath, 
 
 Dark gloom'd his heavy brow. 
 He grasp'd her in his arms of strength, 
 
 And strain'd to lay her low. 
 
 She wept and cried — the rocks replied — 
 
 The echoes from their cell, 
 On fairy wing, swift bore her voice 
 
 To Connel of the dale. 
 
 With vengeful haste he hied him up. 
 
 But when stern Donald saw 
 The youth approach, deep stung with guilt. 
 
 He, shame-fac'd, fled awa. 
 
 " Ah ! stay my Connel — sheath thy sword — 
 
 O, do not him pursue ! 
 For mighty are his arms of strength. 
 
 And thou the fight may rue." 
 
 "No ! — wait thee here,^— I'll soon return, — 
 
 I mark'd him from the wood ! 
 The lion-heart of jealous love 
 
 Burns for its rival's blood ! 
 u 
 
1 54 POEMS. 
 
 " Ho ! stop thee, coward, — villain vile !. 
 
 With all thy boasted art, 
 My sword's blade soon shall dim its shine, 
 • Within thy reynard heart !" 
 
 " Ha ! foolish stripling, dost thou urge 
 
 The deadly fight with me ? 
 This arm strove hard in Flodden Field,* 
 
 Dost think 'twill shrink from thee ! " 
 
 " Thy frequent vaunts of Flodden Field 
 Were ever fraught with guile : 
 
 For honour ever marks the brave, 
 But thou'rt a villain vile ! " 
 
 Their broad blades glitter to the sun — 
 The woods resound each clash — 
 
 Young Connel sinks 'neath Donald's sword, 
 With deep and deadly gash. 
 
 "Ah ! dearest Flora, soon our morn 
 
 Of love is overcast ! — 
 The hills look dim — Alas ! my love ! " — 
 
 He groan'd and breath'd his last 
 
 "Stay, ruthless ruffian ! — murderer ! — 
 Here glut thy savage wrath ! — 
 
 * The Battle of Flodden Field was fought on 9th September, ] 513, between 
 King James IV. of Scotland and King Henry VIIL of England, brothers-in- 
 law. It was a sad day for Scotland, for the Scots army was signally 
 defeated, — King James and the choicest of the nobility having been slain. 
 In that disastrous engagement, several dignitaries of the Church, twelve 
 peers, thirteen lords, five eldest sous of peers, fifty gentlem en of note, and 
 about 1000 men, were left lying dead on the field with their Sovereign. — Ed. 
 
THE HAUNTET WUD. 155 
 
 Be thou the baneful minister 
 To join us low in death !" 
 
 In wild despair she tore her hair, 
 
 Sunk speechless by his side — 
 Mild Evening wept in dewy tears, 
 
 And, wrapt in night, she died. 
 
 42. 
 
 THE HAUNTET WUD. 
 In Imitation of jf^ohn Barbour, an old Scots Poet* 
 
 QuHY screim the crowis owr yonder wud, 
 Witht loude and clamourynge d)mne, 
 
 Haf deifenynge the torrentis roare, 
 Quhilk dashis owr yon linne ? 
 
 * JTofe hy MotherweLl. — "'Tte Haunted Wud' is a bonnie little poem, 
 considered as such ; but far from being anything like an imitation of .Tohn 
 Barbour. Tannabill had neither leisure, education, nor means, to qualify 
 himself for the perusal of Barbour and other venerable makers^ much less to 
 imitate their productions. Yet though he has been unsuccessful, we cannot 
 help loving him for thus showing that he was acquainted with the name> 
 if not with the language, of one of the oldest of our epic poets." — Harp 
 of Renfrewshire Essay, p. xli. 
 
 Note, by Ramsay, eontinuing.—" So said a very competent judge and 
 successful imitator of our ancient bards, the late William Motherwell. 
 The Essay was published anonymously, and we now claim it for our fiiend. 
 If Tannahill failed in the above attempt, it was not for the want of a liberal 
 allowance of consonants, which (to use a figure of Sir Walter Scott's, when 
 writing of Chatterfcon), are * doubled like the sentinels of an endangered 
 army.' " 
 
 The old Scots poets and ballad •' makers " were the literature in which 
 Motherwell delighted, and made a study to imjtate them both in composition 
 
156 POEMS. 
 
 Quhy straye the flokis far outowr, 
 
 Alang the stanery lee, 
 And wil nocht graze anear the wud, 
 
 Thof ryche the pasturis be ? 
 
 And quhy dis aft the sheipherdis dug, 
 Gif that ane lamikyne straye, 
 
 Ay yamf and yowl besyde the wud, 
 Nae farthir yn wil gaye ? 
 
 "Marvil thee nocht at quhat thou seist," 
 The tremblynge Rusticke sayde, 
 
 "For yn that feindis hauntet wud. 
 Hath guyltiles blude been sched. 
 
 and orthography. Motherwell seems to question whether Tannahill had 
 acquired any more knowledge of Barbour than his mere name ; but a 
 perusal of Tannahill's works will satisfy every reasonable person that Tanna- 
 hill was well acquainted with the current literature of the day, and f^so of 
 bygone times, — particularly poetical compositions. The names of authors 
 that have been introduced into his pieces, and references otherwise miHie, 
 show that he had not given more than a tithe of those he consulted in his 
 studies. Allowing, however, that Motherwell was correct, Tannahill is 
 entitled to the greater credit in having so well imitated the ancient poet 
 both in composition and spelling. Tannahill had, undoubtedly, obtained 
 the loan of Barbour's works ; and we have not the least hesitation in say- 
 ing he read them. Ramsay followed in the wake of his chief by saying the 
 failure had not occurred from a want of liberal allowance of consonants. 
 He seems not to have tested his own assertion by counting these consonants 
 in the poem ; we have done so, and also in the same number of words in 
 the Memoir framed by Mr. Bamsay, and find the result to be as follows : — 
 
 Tannahill, . . 206 words, — 350 vowels, 588 consonants, 938 letters. 
 Ramsay, .. 206 „ ,—346 „ 525 „ 875 „ 
 
 The weaver poet, living thirty years before his two learned annotators, 
 certainly had the best of it. Notwithstanding the questionable opinions of 
 Motherwell and Ramsay, the poem has been inserted in all the editiom 
 of Tannahill's works.— Ed, 
 
SPIDER DARTING ON A FLY. IS7 
 
 "Thou seist far doun yon buschye howe, 
 
 An eldrin castil greye, 
 Witht teth of tyme, and weir of wyndis, 
 
 Fast mouldiryng yn decaye. 
 
 '"Twas ther the jealous Barrone livit, 
 
 Witht Lady Anne hys wyfe, 
 He fleichit her neatht that wudis dark glume, 
 
 And revit hyr ther of lyffe. 
 
 "And eir hyr fayre bodye was founde, 
 
 The flesch cam fra the bane, 
 The snailis sat, feistyng onne hyr cheikis, 
 
 The spydiris velit her ein. 
 
 "And evir syne nae beist nor byrde 
 
 Win byde twa nichtis ther, 
 For fearful yellis and screichis wylde 
 
 Are heird throch nicht sae dreir." 
 
 'Twas thus dark ignorance did ween. 
 
 In fancy's wizard reign, 
 When minstrel fiction won belief, 
 
 O'er Scotland's wide domain. 
 
 43. 
 
 SPIDER DARTING ON A FLY. 
 
 Let gang your grip, ye auld grim devil ! 
 Else with ae crush I'll mak you civil — 
 Like debtor bard in merchant's claw, 
 The fient o mercy ye've at a! 
 
IS8 POEMS. 
 
 Sae spite an malice (hard to ken 'em), 
 
 Sit spewin out their secret venom — 
 
 Ah, hear ! — poor buzzart's roaring " Murder : " 
 
 Let gang! — Na, faith ! — thou scom'st my order ! — 
 
 Weel, tak thee that ! — ^vile ruthless creature ! 
 
 For wha but hates a savage nature ? 
 
 Sic fate to ilk unsocial kebar 
 
 Who lays a snare to wrang his neighbour. 
 
 44. 
 RICH GRIP-US. 
 
 Rich Grip-us pretends he's my patron and friend. 
 That at all times to serve me he's wiUing, 
 
 But he looks down so soiu: on the suppliant poor, 
 That I'd starve ere I'd ask him one shilling. 
 
 45. 
 
 PURSE PROUD. 
 
 I SCORN the selfish, purse-proud b- 
 
 Who piques himself on being rich 
 With twoscore pounds, late legacied, 
 Sav'd by his half-starv'd father's greed — 
 To former neighbours not one word ! 
 He bows obsequious to my Lord. 
 In public see him — how he capers I 
 Looks big — stops short — epulis out his papers, 
 And from a silly, puppish dunce. 
 Commences the great man at once. 
 
SILLER STANDS FOR SENSE. 1 59 
 
 46. 
 
 SILLER STANDS FOR SENSE. 
 
 On a Country yustice in the South* 
 
 1800. 
 
 What gars yon gentry gang wi Jock, 
 
 An ca him Sir and Ma;ster ? 
 The greatest dunce, the biggest block, 
 
 That ever Nature cuist her \ 
 Yet see, the/ve plac'd this human stock 
 
 Strict justice to dispense : 
 Which plainly shows yon meikle folk 
 
 Think siller stands for sense. 
 
 47. 
 
 ASSUMED SANCTITY. 
 TO w. . 
 
 What need'st thou dread the end of sin. 
 
 The dire reward of evU ; 
 Keep but that black infernal grin, 
 
 'Twill scar the vera devil. 
 
 * Written by Tannahill when he resided in England in 1800, on a country 
 Justice of the Peace there.- Sd., 
 
l6o POEMS. 
 
 48. 
 
 MODE FOR ATTAINING A CHARACTER. 
 
 If thou on earth wouldst live respected, 
 
 In few words, here's the way to make it — 
 
 Get dog-thick with the'parish priest, 
 
 To all his foibles mould thy taste ; 
 
 What he condemns, do thou condemn. 
 
 What he approves do thou the same ; 
 
 Cant Scripture words in every case, 
 
 " Salvashion, saunt, redemshion, grace ; "- 
 
 But controverted points forbear, 
 
 For thou may'st shew thy weakness there ; 
 
 Look grave, demure as any owl — 
 
 A cheerful look might damn the whole. 
 
 Gang rigid to the kirk on Sunday, 
 
 With face as lang's a gothic window ; 
 
 But from these maxims should'st thou sever, 
 
 Poor profligate ! thou'rt lost for ever. 
 
 49. 
 
 THE MAN OF CHARACTER. 
 
 Wee a , self-sainted wight, . 
 
 If e'er he won to heaven. 
 The veriest wretch, though black as pitch. 
 
 May rest he'll be forgiven : 
 With holy pride he cocks his nose. 
 
 And talks of honest dealings. 
 For when our webs are at the close, 
 
 He nips off' two three shillings. 
 
ALLAN'S ALE.- l6l 
 
 50. 
 
 SUCCESSOR TO OLD CHARON. 
 
 When the devil got notice old Charon was dead, 
 He wish'd for some blockhead to row in his stead ; 
 For he fear'd one with int'lect discov'ries might make, 
 Of his tortures and racks, t'other side of the lake ; 
 So for true native dullness and want of discernment, 
 He sought the whole world, and gave John the preferment. 
 
 51. 
 
 ALLAN'S ALE.* 
 
 1799. 
 
 Come a ye frien'ly, social pack, 
 Wha meet wi glee tae club your plack, 
 Attend while I rehearse a fac'. 
 
 That winna fail ; 
 Nae drink can raise a canty crack, 
 
 Like Allan's Ale. 
 
 * I^ote'h^/ the Author, — "AlKn Br**n." 
 
 Note in 1825 Editicm. — "Allan Brown." 
 
 William Semple, in his History of Eenfrewshire and Paisley, published 
 in 17S2, page 327, mentioned that there are " two large breweries in this 
 town : the first by Thomas Brown and Son. They also began the brewing 
 of porter in 1781, which appears to do well. The second by Matthew 
 Brown, both in Croft Street." The Son was Allan Brown, the subject 
 of this poem. He was a subscriber for Semple's history. Thomas, 
 the father, died about 1791 ; and Allan Brown succeeded to the whole 
 business. Allan also became a changekeeper or dealer in ales and porter, 
 
 V 
 
1 62 POEMS. 
 
 It waukens wit, an mak's as merry 
 As England's far-fam'd Canterbury ; 
 Rich wines frae Lisbon or Canary,* 
 
 Let gentles hail. 
 But we can be as brisk an airy, 
 
 Wi Allan's Ale. 
 
 and allowed "cockmains" to take place in his premises. By making 
 good brewsts, his ale became famous, and drew forth the praise of the Poet 
 in 1799. Allan's daughters were excellent swimmers, and they occasionally, 
 like the Naiades of old, disported themselves in the river of White Cart, at 
 the back of their house, when the tide was fuU. The pellucid water of the 
 Cart could be and was then used for all domestic purposes, while the river 
 was much frequented by trout and salmon. His changehouse was a 
 rendezvous for recruiting parties ; and Allan Brown, like a great number of 
 others who deal in ales and spirits, had become one of his own best customers, 
 and frequently headed these parties in their enlisting ;parades through the 
 town, dressed with many coloured ribbons, feathers, and cockades, to attract 
 the senseless youths into the martial ranks. In the end of the year 1801, 
 Allan Brown's affairs had come to a crisis, and his heritable property was 
 advertised for sale by' public roup for 7th January, 1802. It was described 
 in the advertisement as ' ' All and Whole that Garden lying at the south- 
 east end of the Sneddon Bridge of Paisley, with the adjoining front houses, 
 close, and an extensive range of backhouses, long occupied in the brewing 
 and distilling business, either in whole or in separate lots, which may be 
 divided as follows : — Lot I. The Garden ; II. The'House possessed by Mr. 
 Brown ; III. The House possessed by Mr. Peat ; and IV. The House 
 possessed by Mr. Muir." The whole were purchased by Mr. Matthew 
 Brown, distiller. Allan Brown then removed to the hostelry called " The 
 White Swan," on the opposite side of the New Smithhills Street. The 
 whole range of that property formerly belonging to Allan Brown, now 
 belongs to ex-Provost Robert Brown, author of The History of the Paisley 
 Ch-aminar School, from its foundation in 1576; of the Paisley Grammar School 
 and Academy; and of the' other Town's Schools; with some Notices of 
 Subjects relating to the History of tlie Town of Paisley: 1875. Ex-Provost 
 Brown is noways related to Allan Brown or Matthew Brown, and we are 
 not related to William Semple. — Ed. 
 
 * The Canterbury Ale of Englaiid ; the Red or Port Wine of Portugal ; 
 and the White or Sherry Wine of the Canary Islands. — Bd. 
 
Allan's ale. 163 
 
 It bears the gree, I'se gie my aith, 
 O Widow Dunn's an Ralston's baith, * 
 Wha may cast by their brewin graith, 
 
 Baith pat and pail, 
 Since Paisley wisely puts mair faith 
 
 In Allan's Ale. 
 
 Unlike the puir, sma penny wheep,f 
 Whilk worthless, petty changefouk keep. 
 O'er whilk mirth never deign'd to peep, 
 
 Sae sour an stale, 
 I've seen men joyous, frisk an leap, 
 
 Wi Allan's Ale. 
 
 Whether a frien'ly, social meetin. 
 
 Or politicians tlirang debatin, 
 
 Or benders J blest your wizzens weetin, 
 
 Mark well my tale, 
 Ye'U fin nae drink hauf worth your gettin. 
 
 Like Allan's Ale. 
 
 * Two famed alehouses in Paisley. Mrs. Dunn kept a very respectable 
 inu at the Old Bridge, and she was the individual that furnished the dinner 
 and drink at the "house-heating" of the author's father's cottage in Queen 
 Street in 1776. John Ralston's was a much-frequented house at the foot of 
 Saint Mirin's Wynd, on the west side of the street, where the Bank of 
 Scotland is now situated. He was designed a ckangekeeper, and died in 1805. 
 His widow, Luckie Balaton, carried on the business, and she is designed in 
 the Paisley Dircctm-y for 1810 — "Mrs. .Balston, vintiiei; Saint Mirren'g 
 Street."— id. 
 
 i Small ale. 
 
 t Benders — Hard-drinkers. 
 
164 POEMS. 
 
 Whan bleak December's blasts dae blaw, 
 An Nature's face is co'er'd wi snaw, 
 Puir bodies scarce dae work at a, 
 
 The cauld's sae snell, 
 But meet an drink their cares awa 
 
 Wi Allan's Ale. 
 
 Let auld Kilmarnock mak a fraise, 
 What she has dune in better days, 
 Her " thri-penny " ance her fame coud raise 
 
 O'er muir an dale ; 
 But Paisley * now may claim the praise 
 
 Wi Allan's Ale. 
 
 Let selfish wichts impose their notions, 
 And damn the man wont tak their lessons, 
 I scorn their threats, I scorn their cautions. 
 
 Say what they will. 
 Let frien'ship croun our best devotions 
 
 Wi Allan's Ale. 
 
 While sun, an moon, an stars endure. 
 An aid wi licht " a random splore," 
 StLU let each future social core 
 
 Its praises tell : 
 Ador'd ay and for evermore 
 
 Be Allan's Ale ! 
 
 * The Poet, true to his native to-wn, claimed more pralae for Paisley Ale — 
 the cauldron yill, also called the tip-;penny, than the famed thri-penny of his 
 father's auld Killie. — Bd. 
 
PARODY. 165 
 
 52. 
 
 PARODY. 
 
 On seeing the late Mr. Thomas Willoughby, Tragedian, 
 rather below himself.* 
 
 Peaceful, slumb'ring in the ale-house, 
 
 See the god-like Rollo lie, 
 Drink outwits the best of fellows ; 
 
 Here lies poor Tom Willoughby. 
 
 Where is stem King Richard's Jury ? 
 
 Where is Osmond's blood-flush'd eye ? 
 See these mighty men before ye, 
 
 Sunk to poor Tom Willoughby. 
 
 Pity tis that men of merit, 
 
 Thus such sterling worth destroy ; 
 Oh ye gods ! did I inherit 
 
 Half the pow'rs of Willoughby ! 
 
 * Bote by Ramsay. — " Tlus piece appeared in the Author's Edition ; but it 
 has hitherto been omitted in the posthumous ones." 
 
 Mr. Bamsay has committed a mistake, as it appeared in the Editions of 
 1822 and 1825. Mr. Thomas Willoughby, an Englishman, was a first-class 
 actor, but had sunk down to the boards of provincial theatres. He had been 
 weU educated, and had the manners of a gentleman. He frequently acted 
 in the Glasgow, Paisley, and Greenock Theatres, about the end of last, and 
 beginning of the present centuries ; and we observe from » playbill of 
 Messrs. Hamilton and Power, New Theatre, Greenock, that Mr. Willoughby 
 appeared on 10th January, 1800, in the character of Doctor Pangloas, in 
 Coleman's comedy of '' The Heir-at-Law." Mr. Willoughby was a great 
 favourite with Paisley audiences ; but his gentlemanly manners were sadly 
 marred with that accursed liquor called "whisky," and he was oftener 
 found lying in the gutter, than "peaceful, slumb'ring in the alehouse," from 
 ite alcoholic effects. — Bet. 
 
1 66 POEMS. 
 
 53. 
 
 SCOTCH DRINK. 
 
 Let ither bards exhaust their stock 
 Of heav'nly names, on heaVnly folk, 
 An god an goddesses invoke 
 
 Tae guide the pen, 
 •While, just as well, a barber's block 
 
 Woud ser their en. 
 
 Nae muse hae I, like guid Scotch drink. 
 It mak's the dormant saul to think, 
 Gars wit and rhyme thegither clink. 
 
 In canty measure, 
 An even tho half fou we wink, 
 
 Inspires wi pleasure. 
 
 Whiles dullness stands for modest merit. 
 And impudence for manly spirit ; 
 Tae ken what worth each does inherit. 
 
 Just try the bottle. 
 Sen roun the glass, an dinna spare it, 
 
 Ye'U see their.mettle. 
 
 O woud the gods but grant my wish ! 
 My constant pray'r woud be for this. 
 That luve sincere, with health an peace. 
 
 My lot the/d clink in, 
 With now an then the social joys 
 
 O frien'ly drinkin. 
 
THE BACCHANALIANS. 167 
 
 And when youth's rattHn days are done, 
 An age brings on life's afternoon, 
 Then, like a simmer's setting sun, 
 
 Brichtly serene. 
 Smiling, leuk back, an slidder down 
 
 Tae rise again. 
 
 54. 
 
 THE BACCHANALIANS.* 
 
 Encircl'd in a cloud of smoke. 
 
 Sat the convivial core ; 
 Like lightning flash'd the merry joke. 
 
 The thund'ring laugh did roar ; 
 Blythe Bacchus "j" pierc'd his fav'rite hoard. 
 
 The sparkling glasses shine : 
 "Tis this," they cry, "come, sweep theioard. 
 
 Which makes us all divine ! " 
 
 Apollo tun'd the vocal shell. 
 
 With song, with catch, and glee : 
 The sonorous hall the notes did swell. 
 
 And echoed merrily. 
 Each sordid, selfish, little thought. 
 
 For shame itself did drown ; 
 And social love, with every draught, 
 
 Approv'd them for her own. 
 
 * This poem first appeared in Maver's Glasgow periodical, the Selector, 
 of 1805, Vol. II., page 111, — the seventh, and last, with the signature 
 " .Modestus." See first Note to No. 5, — £d. 
 
 t Bacchus, in Heathen Mythology, the son of Jupiter and Semele. The 
 god of Wine,— hence the title of this poem, "The Bacchanalians."— £d. 
 
I 68 POEMS. 
 
 " Come, fill another bumper up, 
 And drink in Bacchus' praise, 
 Who sent the kind, congenial cup. 
 
 Such heav'niy joys to raise !" 
 Great Jove, quite mad to see such fun, 
 
 At Bacchus 'gan to curse, 
 And to remind they were but men, 
 , Sent down the fiend Remorse. 
 
 55. 
 THE COCK-PIT. 
 
 The barbarian-like amusement of seeing two animals instinctively 
 destroy each other certainly affords sufficient scope fir the fen of 
 the Satirist; the Author thought he could rnlt do it more effectually 
 than by giving a picture of the COCK-PIT, and describing a few of 
 the characters who generally may be seen at such glorious contents. — 
 Author.* 
 
 ' The great, the important hour is come." 
 Oh Hope ! thou wily nurse ! 
 I see bad luck behind thy back,' 
 Dark, brooding, deep remorse. 
 
 * The barbarous sport of cock-fighting was very prevalent in Paisley in 
 the end of the last and beginning of the present centuries. The principal 
 Cock -pit was situated in the house now 25 West Street, behind the Deer Inn 
 in Broomlands Street. The tenement was vulgarly called the Pit Land, and 
 it is known by that name at the present time. Cock-fighting was frequently 
 carried on in alehouses and taverns, such as that of AUan Brown's, referred 
 to in the Poem, No. 51. — Ed, 
 
THE COCK PIT. 169 
 
 No fanqied muse will I invoke, 
 
 To grace my humble strain, 
 But sing my song in homely phrase, 
 
 Inspir'd by what I've seen. 
 
 Here comes a " feeder " with his charge ; * 
 
 Mong friends 'tis whisper'd straight, 
 How long he swung him on a string 
 
 To bring him to his weight, t 
 
 The carpef s laid — pit money drawn — 
 
 All's high with expectation ; 
 With birds bereft of Nature's garb, 
 
 The handlers take their station. 
 
 What roaring, betting, bawling, swearing. 
 Loudly assaU. the ear ! 
 " Three pounds ! " — "four pounds, on Phillip's cock ! " f 
 "Done ! done ! come on, sir! here !" 
 
 Now cast a serious eye around — 
 
 Beliold the motley group, 
 All gamblers, swindlers, ragamuffins. 
 
 Votaries of the stoup. 
 
 * The best of food was reciuired for game cocks, as higli feeding 
 stimulated their pugnacity, and increased their powers of endurance. 
 Hence, the saying — To live like fighting cocks, is to have abundance of the 
 best of food. — Ed. 
 
 t IPfoWby the Author. — "When a feeder ha^ unluckily fed his bird abOTe the 
 stipulated weight, recourse is had to the ludicrous expedient of making 
 poor chanticleer commence rope-dancing. Being tied on the rope, he 
 flutters, and through fear loses part of his preponderancy. When this 
 happens to be the case, the kn&vnng ones who are up to it will not bet so 
 freely on his prowess, as the operation is supposed to have weakened him." 
 
 I Phillips was a Glasgow cock-fighter. 
 
 W 
 
1 70 POEMS. 
 
 (But why of it thus lightly speak ? 
 
 The poor man's one best friend — 
 When fortune's sky lours dark and grim, 
 
 It clears the drumly scene.) 
 
 Here sits a wretch with meagre face, 
 
 And sullen, drowsy eyej 
 Nor speaks he much — ^last night at cards 
 
 A gamester drain'd him dry. 
 
 Here bawls another vent'rous soul, 
 , Who risks his ev'ry farthing ; 
 What d — ^I's the matter though at home 
 His wife and brats are starving. 
 
 See, here's a father gainst a son, 
 
 A brother gainst a brother, 
 Who, e'en with more than common spite. 
 
 Bark hard at one another. 
 
 But see yon fellow all in black. 
 
 His looks speak inward joy; 
 Mad happy since his father's death. 
 
 Sporting his legacy. 
 
 And, mark this aged debauchee, 
 
 With red bepimpl'd face — 
 He fain would bet a crown or two, 
 
 But purse is not in case. 
 
 But hark ! — what cry ! — " He's nm ! — ^he's.run !"- 
 
 And loud huzzas take place — 
 Now, mark what deep dejection sits 
 
 On ev'ry loser's face. 
 
THE TAP-ROOM. 171 
 
 Observe the owner — frantic man, 
 With imprecations dread, 
 
 He grasps his vanquish'd idol-god, 
 And quick twirls off his head. 
 
 But, bhss attend their feeling souls, 
 Who no such deeds delight in ! 
 
 Brutes are but brutes, let men be men, 
 Nor pleasure in codi-fighting.* 
 
 56. 
 THE TAP-ROOM. 
 
 This warl's a Tap-room owre an owre, 
 
 Whar ilk ane tak'shis caper, 
 Some taste the sweet, some drink the sour. 
 
 As waiter Fate sees proper ; 
 Let mankind live, ae social core. 
 
 An drap a selfish quar'ling. 
 An whan the Landlord ca's his score. 
 
 May ilk ahe's clink be sterling. 
 
 * Note hy Ramsay.—" This little piece says much for the humane disposi- 
 tion of the Author. We have been assured that it gives a very just 
 description of what may he witnessed at such degrading exhibitions," 
 
172 POEMS. 
 
 57. 
 
 THE TRIFLER'S SABBATH DAY, 
 
 Loud souns the deep-mouth'd parish bell, 
 
 Religion kirkward hies, 
 John lies in bed and counts each knell, 
 
 And thinks tis time tae rise. 
 
 But, oh how weak are man's resolves ! 
 
 His projects ill tae keep, 
 John thrusts his nose beneath the clothes. 
 
 An doses o'er asleep. 
 
 Now fairy fancy plays her freaks 
 
 Upon his sleep-swell'd brain ; 
 He dreams — ^he starts-^he mutt'ring speaks, 
 
 An waukens wi a grane. 
 
 He rubs his e'en — the clock strikes twelve — 
 
 Impell'd by hunger's grup, 
 Ae mighty effort backs resolve — 
 
 He's up — at last he's up ! 
 
 Hunger appeas'd — ^his cutty pipe 
 
 Employs his time till two, — 
 An noo he saunters thro the house, 
 
 An knows not what to do. 
 
 He baits the trap — catches a mouse — 
 
 He sports it roun the floor — 
 He swims it in a water tub — 
 
 Gets glorious fun till four ! 
 
THE PORTRAIT OF GUILT. 1 73 
 
 An now of cats, and mice, an rats. 
 
 He tells a thousan tricks. 
 Till even dullness tires herself. 
 
 For hark — the clock strikes six ! 
 
 Now view him in his easy chair 
 
 Recline his pond'rous head ; 
 Tis eight — now Bessie raiks the fire. 
 
 An John must go to bed! 
 
 58. 
 
 THE PORTRAIT OF GUILT.* 
 In Imitation of Lewis, t 
 
 TwAS night, and the winds thro the dark forest roar'd, 
 From heaven's wide cat'racts the torrents down poufd, 
 
 And blue lightnings flash'd on the eye ; 
 Demoniac howlings were~ heard in the air, 
 With groans of deep angu'ish, and shrieks of despair, 
 
 And hoarse thunders growl'd thro the sky. 
 
 * This tale first appeared in the Poetical Magazme of Vemoa and Hood, 
 London, imi.—Bd. 
 
 t Matthew Gregory Lewis, M.P., was bom in London in 1773. A romance- 
 writer, whose tales were of the most marvellous description. He was called 
 Monk Lewis, from his novel entitled " The Monk. " He died in 1818. Lewis 
 was a year older than Tannahill, and the latter must have read the tales 
 of the former, when ha imitated him in "The Portrait of Guilt."— i(Z. 
 
1 74 POEMS. 
 
 Pale, breathless, and trembling the dark villain stood, 
 His hands and his clothes all bespotted with blood. 
 
 His eyes wild with terror did stare ; 
 The earth yawn'd around him, and sulph'rous blue. 
 From the flame boiling gaps, did expose to his view 
 
 A gibbet and skeleton bare. 
 
 With horror he shrunk from a prospect so dread. 
 The blast swung the clanking chains over his head. 
 
 The rattling bones sung in the wind ; 
 The lone bird of night from the abbey did cry. 
 He look'd o'er his shoulder, intending to fly. 
 
 But a spectre stood ghastly behind. 
 
 " Stop, deep hell-taught villain !" the ghost did exclaim, 
 " With thy brother of guilt here to expiate thy crime, 
 
 " And atone for thy treacherous vow. 
 " Tis here thou shalt hang, to the vultures a prey, 
 " Till, piecemeal, they tear thee and bear thee away, 
 
 " And thy bones rot unburied below." 
 
 Now, closing all round him, fierce demons did throng, 
 In sounds all unholy they howl'd their death-song, 
 
 And the vultures around them did scream ; 
 Now clenching their claws in his fear-brisded hair. 
 Loud yelling they bore him aloft in the air, 
 
 And the Murd'rer awoke — Twas a Dream ! 
 
EPIGRAMS. 1 75 
 
 EPIGRAMS. 
 
 59. 
 DICK TO BOB. 
 
 Cried Dick to Bob, "Great news to-day !" 
 " Great news," quoth Bob, "what great news, pray ?" 
 
 Said Dick, " Our gallant tars at sea 
 
 Have gain'd a brilliant victory." 
 "Indeed !" cried Bob, "it may be true, 
 
 But that, you know, is nothing new." 
 
 60. 
 
 FRENCH INVASION. 
 
 "French threats of invasion let Britons defy, [on." 
 
 And spike the proud frogs if our coast they should crawl 
 
 Yes, statesmen know well that our spirits are high, 
 The financier has rais'd them two shillings per gallon. 
 
 61. 
 
 WOMAN'S TONGUE. 
 
 Nature, impartial in her ends, 
 When she made man the strongest, 
 
 For scrimpet pith to make amends. 
 Made woman's tongue the longest. 
 
I^6 POEMS. 
 
 62. 
 
 WILL MACNEIL'S ELEGY * 
 
 " He was a man without a clag, 
 His heart was frank without a flaw." 
 
 ICin^ Jamie the First, t 
 
 Responsive tae the roarin floods, 
 ^Ye win's, howl plaintive thro the woods, 
 Thou gloomy sky, pour doun hale clouds, 
 
 His death tae wail, 
 For bright as heaven's brightest studs, 
 
 Shin'd WiU MacNeil. % 
 
 ^ This Elegy first appeared in Mayer's Glasgow periodical, the QleaneTj 
 page 37, in 1S06. See Note to No. 5.— Ed. 
 
 t Note l>y Ramsay. — " In previous editions, the name of ' King Jamie the 
 First ' has been attached to the lines which form the motto f hut they are 
 not to be found in any of the works of that monarch. They occur in the 
 song of ''Willie was a wanton wag," a much later production ascribed to 
 William Walkinshaw, a member of the now extinct family of Walkinshaw 
 of that Ilk near Paisley." 
 
 Eamsay, in his Edition of 1838, substituted the words " Willie was a 
 wanton wag " for " King Jamie the First. " " A dispute recently arose whether 
 the author of "Willie was a wanton wag" was Douglas of Fingland, 
 Hamilton of GUbertfield, or William Walkinshaw of that Ilk ! The song 
 appeared first in Ramsay's Tea-Table Miscellany, published in 1724, with the 
 initials " W. W. " for "Wanton Willie." David Laing, LL.D., has given his 
 opinion that Gilbertfield was the author, and we suppose the opinion of 
 such an excellent judge will settle the matter.— £d. 
 
 t Note hy Ramsay.—" William MacNeil was a surgeon in Old Kilpatrick, 
 and survived, for some years, the friend by whom his good qualities are 
 here celebrated." 
 
 *' Will MacNeil " was bom about the same time as the Author,]and was the 
 
WILL MACNEIL'S elegy. 177 
 
 He every selfish thocht did scorn, 
 His warm heart in his leuks did burn, 
 Ilk body own'd his kindly turn, 
 
 An gait sae leel ; 
 A kinder saul was never born 
 
 Than Will MacNeil. 
 
 son of John MacNeil, gardener to Alexander Speirs,- Esq. of Elderslie, and 
 resided at Thorn, between Elderslie and Johnstone. MacNeil and Tannahlll 
 were intimate and familiar acquaintances. MacNeil was apprenticed to the 
 trade of a weaver with James Buchanan, weaver, Kilbarchan, to whom the 
 Epistle, No. 25, is addressed ; but he detested the work of a wabster. 
 He, accordingly^, devoted more time than hia leisure hours to the 
 reading of books, and stoi-ing his mind with knowledge ; and he also 
 indulged in the spirit-stirring music of the bagpipes, and frequently made 
 the woods and glens to the south of Thorn and Elderslie (the scenes of the 
 finest of the songs of TannahiU) echo and resound with his wild pibroch. 
 His sister. Mall MacNeil, had a similar craving for book knowledge and folk 
 lore, and some people even say that she excelled him. Will MacNeil was a 
 taH, robust man, nearly six feet high, with an exceedingly large head, so 
 much out of the ordinary proportion that it was difficult to find a bonnet or 
 hat that would fit the magnum caput without being trysted. MacNeil con- 
 sidered himself qualified to occupy a higher position than that of a wabster. 
 He abandoned the loom, and commenced schoolmaster, and began teaching 
 first at Bridge of Weir and next at Barrhead. , By dint of indomitable 
 perseverance, and almost in the face of starvation, he entered Glasgow 
 College as a medical student. He had a severe struggle both to acquire his 
 lessons, attend coUege, and work at the loom to earn his maintenance. With 
 his threadbare garmeuis and awkward manners, he cut a sorry figure among 
 the young aristocracy, and they played all manner of tricks upon him. 
 Several writers have stated that he ultimately triumphed, and obtained a 
 diploma. We accordingly searched the Eegister of the University of Glasgow 
 for its date, but could not find the issuing of the diploma. He, however, 
 opened a druggist's shop in Old Kilpatriok, and was called Doctor MacNeil. 
 The doctor having been very frugally brought up, little was required for hi 
 maintenance ; and he was not very exacting with his Jionoranums, hut left 
 his charges to the discretion of the villagers, the miUworkera at Duntocher, 
 and the canny wives of the farmers, and they certainly never overpaid him, 
 and frequently remunerated him in kind. He was a member of the same 
 social club with Tannahill, and he was a frequent tourist to the Highlands, 
 visiting the places mentioned in the Elegy, and Tannahill occasionally 
 accompanied him. The doctor married Miss Margaret Walker, belonging to 
 a, respectable family in Paisley. lie was very short-sighted, and gradually 
 
 X 
 
178 POEMS. 
 
 He ne'er kept up a hidlins plack 
 To spen ahint a comrade's back, 
 But on the table gart it whack, 
 
 Wi free guid will : 
 Free as the win on winter stack, 
 
 Was Wm MacNeil. 
 
 He ne'er coud bide a narrow saul 
 Tae a the social virtues caul ; 
 He wisht ilk sic a fiery scaul, 
 
 His shins to peel ; 
 Nane sic durst herd in fiel or faul 
 
 Wi Will MacNeil. 
 
 He ay abhor'd the spaniel airt : 
 
 Ay whan he spak twas frae the heart, 
 
 became worse, so that latterly he had to be led by the hand to visit his patients. 
 Before his death, he desired a bunch of rooted heather to be planted at the 
 head of his grave. He died in 1829 in the 55th year of his age, and was 
 buried in the cemetery of Kilpatrick, where it is said Saint Patrick, the 
 patron saint of Ireland, rests in peace. The emblem of Solitude was planted 
 at the desired place, where it bloomed for twelve years till the adjoining 
 lair was opened, when it withered and died. 
 
 On Saturday, 5th September, 1874, we made a pilgrimage to the grave in 
 Kilpatrick Churchyard, — a very well-kept burying-ground. Some kind 
 friend, who remembered the kindness of Will MacNeil, had put up a small 
 headstone five inches high, one foot six inches long, by five inches broad, 
 and engraved on the top — 
 
 W: MCNEIL, 
 SU RGEON. 
 
 And another considerate friend, who had also recollected his kindness, had 
 recently painted the stone for preservation. These two acts of kindness 
 give a tone to Tannahill's Elegy on his professional friend.- Ed. 
 
WILL MACNEILS ELEGY. 1 79 
 
 An honest, open, manly pairt 
 
 He ay uphel : 
 
 " Guile soud be develt in the dirt," 
 
 Said Will MacNeil. 
 
 He ne'er had greed to gather gear, 
 Yet rigid kept his credit clear ; 
 He ever was tae Mis'ry dear, 
 
 Her loss she'll feel ; 
 She ay got saxpence, or a tear, 
 
 Frae Will MacNeil. 
 
 In Scots antiquities he pridit ; 
 
 Auld Hardyknute, he kent wha made it j* 
 
 The bag-pipe, too, he sometimes sey'd it, 
 
 Pibroch and reel ; 
 Our ain auld language, few could read it 
 
 Like Will MacNeil. 
 
 In wilyart glens he lik'd tae stray, 
 By fuggie rocks, or castle gray ; 
 Yet ghaist rid rustics ne'er did say, 
 
 "Uncanny chiel !" 
 They fill'd their horns wi usquebae 
 
 Tae Will MacNeiL 
 
 * In the end of last century, a dispute arose amongst tlie antiquarians of 
 that period respecting the authorship of the heroic Scottish ballad of 
 "Hardyknute," whether it was ancient or modem. The grave point, 
 howeTer,_was not settled until kind Will, with his antiquarian knowledge, 
 folk lore, and college education, declared, " he kent wha made it." He was 
 in the habit of contributing articles to John Millar's Paisley R&pQ&itory, and 
 the ballad, with Will M'Neil's knowledge of and observation on it, will be 
 found in Nos. ix., x., xi., xii,, xiii,, and xiv. of the Repositori/. — JBd. 
 
He sail'd and trampit mony a mile, 
 
 To visit auld l-columb-kill ;* 
 
 He clamb the heichts o Jura's isle, 
 
 Wi wearie speil ; 
 But siccan sichts ay payt the toil, 
 
 Wi Will MacNeil. 
 
 He raing't thro Morven's hills an glens, t 
 Saw some o Ossian's moss grovm stanes, 
 Whar rest the low laid heroes' banes. 
 
 Deep in the hill ; 
 He cruin't a cronach tae their manes, , 
 
 Kind Will MacNeil. 
 
 * The illustrious island of lona, whicla was once the luminary of Caledonia, 
 from whence were sent the benefits of knowledge and the blessings of reli- 
 gion among savage clans and roving barbarians. lona was the burial-place 
 of the kings of Scotland until 1056, when Malcom (III.) Canmore succeeded 
 to the throne. In the end of the 12th century, or beginning of the 13th 
 century, some Cluniac monks from Paisley landed in lona, and erected the 
 Cathedral. The edifice was cruciform, and dedicated to Saint Mary. The 
 capitals of the columns are carved with grotesque figures, still very sharp, 
 and well preserved. Besides these quaint delineations, there are several 
 dragons with tails ending in scrolls and foliage. In that portion of the Isle 
 are to be seen the romantic remains of Monasteries, both of monks and nuns. 
 Cathedral, Chapels, Colleges, and Oratories, — trains of ancient grandeur, 
 piety, and literature, surrounded by the old sanctuary of the dead, with 
 their mouldering tombstones of Scots, Irish, and Norway kings. Lords of 
 the Isles, chieftains, and bishops, priests, abbesses, nuns^ and friars. "We 
 observed that the Duke of Argyle commenced operations on 10th July, 
 1875, for the restoration of these monastic buildings, and, in re-opening tho 
 celebrated quarries at Corsaig, Ross of Mull, the place had been found where 
 the beautiful cornices and arches of the world-famed ruins of lona were 
 taken. In prosecuting their investigations, the workmen discovered the 
 Habnan Cailleach, or the Nun's Cave, 80 feet long, containing drawings of 
 many of the ancient crosses and tombstones, with their dates, which once 
 adorned the island of lona. The discovery clears up the doubt as to the 
 place from which these monuments and tombstones came. — Ed. 
 
 t TannahiU was a great admirer of Ossian's poems, and must have parti- 
 cularly studied the poem of "The War of Inis-thona." Morven, or Morvern, 
 
WILL macneil's elegy. i8i 
 
 He was deep read in Nature's beuk, 
 Explor'd ilk dark mysterious creuk, 
 Kent a her laws wi antrin leuk, 
 
 An that richt weel ; 
 But (fate o genius) death soon teuk 
 
 Aff Will MacNeil. 
 
 O ilka rock he kent the ore, 
 He kent the virtues o ilk flow'r, 
 Ilk banefu plant he kent its pow'r, 
 
 An warn't frae ill ; 
 A nature's warks few coud explore 
 
 Like Will MacNeil. 
 
 He kent a creatures, clute an tail, 
 Doun frae the hon to the snail, 
 Up frae the mennon to the whale. 
 
 An kraken eel ;* 
 Scarce ane could tell their gaits sae weel 
 
 As Will MacNeil. 
 
 in Argyllshire, bounded, on th,e south by the Sound of Mull, is a modern 
 parish composed of the two ancient parishes of KillcomkiU and Killintag", 
 which were imited about the time of the Eeformation. It includes the 
 greater part of the Lordship of Morvem. Killcolmhill, the church of Saint 
 Columba in Morwame ; a small portion of the ruins of the church and the 
 burying ground remain. This district was at one time considered the land 
 of Morven, as stated in the poems of Ossian, and generally believed in. the 
 days of Tannahill, but investigations since that period have dissipated the 
 land of song. Professor Wilson, in Ms poem of " Inismore," a Dream of the 
 Highlands, writes of this parish — 
 
 " Morven and Mom, and Spring and Solitude ! 
 In front is not the scene magnificent ? 
 
 ***** 
 Morven and Mom, and Spring and Solitude 1 
 A multitudinous sea of mountain-tops."— .Erf. 
 
 * Krahm ed,—thsi Norwegian name of that fabulous monster of the deep 
 called the sea serpent. —Ed. 
 
POEMS. 
 
 Nor past he ocht thing slichtly by, 
 But wi keen scrutinizing eye, 
 He tae its inmaist bore woud pry 
 
 Wi wond'rous skill ; 
 An teaching ithers ay gae joy 
 
 Tae Will MacNeil. 
 
 He kent auld Archimedes' gait,* 
 What way he burnt the Roman fleet : 
 " 'Twas by the rays' reflected heat, 
 
 Frae speculum steel ; 
 For bare refraction ne'er could dae't," 
 
 Said Will MacNeil. 
 
 Yet fame his praise did never rair it, 
 For poortith's weeds obscur'd his merit, 
 Forby he had a bashfu spirit. 
 
 That sham't tae tell 
 His worth or wants ; let envy spare it 
 
 Tae Will MacNeil. 
 
 Barra,t thou wast sair tae blame ! 
 
 1 here record it tae thy shame. 
 
 * Archimedes, bom 287 B.C., was a renowned geometrician andastronomer 
 of Syracuse in Sicily. His Inventions in mechanics, particularly the pulley 
 and the screw, amazed the whole world. When Syracuse was besieged 
 212 B.C. by Marcellus, Archimedes constructed a burning mirror that fired 
 the enemy's fleet. On the city being taken, the inventor, then seventy-five 
 years of age, was f oimd dead among the slain. The screw, the Archimedian 
 screw, is a powerful appliance at the present time in marine navi^tion for 
 propelling vessels, and of great use in general engineering purposes. — Ed. 
 
 t Note by the Author. — " The Laird of Barra, Chief of the MacNeil clan." 
 
 Note by Ramsay. — "MacNeil of Barra, the generally-understood chief of 
 the clan." 
 
 Roderick MacNeil, Laird of the Island of Barra in Invemess-shire, chief 
 of the clan MacNeil, and the 34th generation in lineal descent, was, in the 
 days of Tannahill, as poor as "puir Will McNeil ;" and in 1836 the creditors 
 of his son, Colonel MacNeil, sold Barra to Colonel Gordon of Cluny. — Bd. 
 
WILL MACNEIL'S elegy. . 1 83 
 
 Thou lat the brichtest o thy name 
 
 Unheeded steal 
 
 Thro murky life, tae his lang hame — 
 
 Puir Will MacNeil. 
 
 He ne'er did wrang tae livin creature, 
 
 For ill. Will hadna't in his nature ; 
 
 A warm kind heart his leading feature, 
 
 His main-spring wheel. 
 Ilk virtue grew tae noble stature 
 
 In Wm MacNeil. 
 
 There's nae a man that ever kent him. 
 But wi their tears will lang lament him, 
 He hasna left his match ahint him, 
 
 At hame or fiel. 
 His worth lang on our minds will prent him — 
 
 Kind Will MacNeil. 
 
 But close my sang ; my hamert lays 
 Are far unfit tae speak his praise ; 
 Our happy nichts, our happy days, 
 
 Fareweel, fareweel ! 
 Now dowie, mute — tears speak our waes 
 
 For Will MacNeil ! 
 
 THE CONTRARY. 
 
 Get up, my Muse, and soun thy chanter, 
 Nae langer wi our feelings santer ; 
 Ilk true-blue Scot get up an canter, 
 
 He's hale an weel ! 
 An lang may fate keep aff mishanter, 
 
 Frae Will MacNeil. 
 
EPITAPHS. 
 
 EPITAPHS. 
 
 63. 
 
 EPITAPH ON THOMAS BISSLAND,* 
 
 A Gentleman whojn indigence never solicited in vain. 
 February, 1806. 
 
 Ever green be the sod o'er kind Tom o the wood, 
 
 For the puir man he ever supplied ; 
 We may weel say, alas ! for our ain scant o grace, 
 
 That we reckt not his worth till he died : 
 
 * This Epitaph first appeared in 1806 in Maver*s Gleaner, page 132. See 
 Note to No. 6. — Ed. 
 
 Note by Ranisay. — "This benevolent individual still survives. The 
 allusion in the first line is to Ferguslie Wood, which is elsewhere celebrated 
 as a favourite haunt oi the Author's." 
 
 In the same year — 1756— that the four brothers, James, Thomas, Robert, 
 and John TannahiU, weavers, came from Kilmarnock to Paisley ; two 
 brothers, Thomas and Alexander Bissland, wrigits, came from Drymen to 
 Paisley, Thomas Bissland was successful in business ; and, in 1760, entered 
 into the Baltic trade with the Laird of Merksworth, under the firm of 
 Maxwell and Bissland, and, in 1771, contracted a matrimonial alliance with 
 Margaret Kibble, daughter of William Kibble of Whiteford. He acquired 
 about thirty acres of the Whiteford Estate in 1785, and built a mansion house 
 in a castellated style of architecture, and called the place "Auchentorlie." 
 This house was taken down in 1828. His only son, Thomas Bissland, bom 
 29th March, 1772 (the subject of the epitaph), on coming of age, entered 
 into partnership with the husband of his eldest sister, William Stuart, and 
 another person, as merchants and cotton-spinners. In 1798, Thomas 
 Bissland, junior, purchased a few acres of the lands of Ferguslie with a 
 house built thereon, upon which he. made alterations and additions in the 
 same castellated style as Auchentorlie mansion. He was married at Edin- 
 burgh on the 5th November, the same year, to Miss Margaret White 
 Houston, eldest daughter of Captain Andrew Houston, Esq. of Jordanhill, 
 and it was considered at the time he had married above his station. 
 Shortly thereafter, William Stuart purchased from Captain Houston (Mi-s. 
 Bissland's father) Ms lands of Gryfe Castle, in the Parish qf Houston. The 
 
EPITAPHS. 185 
 
 Though no rich marble bust mimics grief o'er his dust, 
 
 Yet fond memory his virtue will save. 
 Aft at lane twilicht hour sad remembrance shall pour 
 
 Her sorrows, unfeigned, o'er his grave. 
 
 Captain, however, like all discreet fathers-in-law, became reconciled to his 
 son-in-law, and resided in family with him at Ferguslie ; and an obituary 
 notice states that Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Houston of JordanhiU died at 
 Ferguslie, near Paisley, on 1st October, 1800, much and justly regretted. 
 Another obituary notice states that Mrs. Margaret Kibble, wife of Mr. 
 Thomas Bissland, senior, merchant, Paisley, died on Sunday, 14th December, 
 1800, much regretted. Thomas Bissland succeeded his father in 1804, and 
 designed himself of Auchentorlie. He was chosen one of the captains of 
 the Renfrewshire Yeomanry Infantry. In 1806, he purchased the estate of 
 FergusUe, containing 156 acres, from the Corporation of Paisley, for £10,000, 
 and then called himself of Ferguslie. The general distress of 1810 in com- 
 mercial affairs affected the extensive business of Thomas Bissland & Co. , 
 and they yielded to the pressure of the times in 1811. Shortly thereafter, 
 he received the appointment of Collector of Customs at Greenock, from 
 which he retired about 1836 on an annuity, and left Greenock to reside with 
 his son, the Bev. Thomas Bissland, Bector of Hartley, Alton, Hants. The 
 son and father both died at Hartley, — the former on 31st May, and the 
 latter on lOtti July, 1846,— and tablets were put up in the Church to their 
 memories : — 
 
 *' SACRED TO THE MEMOBY OF 
 THOMAS BISSLAND, A.M.," ETC. 
 
 "ALSO TO THE MEMORY OF 
 
 THOMAS BISSLAIirD, ESQUIRE, 
 
 LATE OF GREENOCK, IN THE COUNTY OF RENFREW, N.B. 
 
 WHO SURVIVED THE ABOVE, HIS ONLY SON, SIX WEEKS, 
 
 AND DEPARTED THIS LIFE, 
 
 JULY 10th, 1846, AGED 72." . 
 
 He was 74 according to the date of hife birth above-noticed ; and in tlie 
 Begister of Deaths for Hartley, his age is also entered at 74. No marble bust, 
 not even a tombstone, marks the grave where " Kind Tom of the Wood " is 
 buried in Hartley Churchyard. The family is now extinct— Ed. 
 
 Y 
 
1 86 EPITAPHS. 
 
 64. 
 
 ON A FARTHING-GATHERER.* 
 
 1806. 
 
 Here lies Jamie Wight, wha was wealthy an' proud, 
 Few shar'd his regard an far fewer his goud ; 
 He liv'd unesteem'd, and he died unlamented, 
 The kirk gat his gear an auld Jamie is sainted. 
 
 65. 
 
 ON AN INTOXICATED PERSON, f. 
 
 If loss of worth may draw the pitying tear, 
 
 Stop, passenger, and pay that tribute here — 
 
 Here lies, whom all with justice did commend, 
 
 The rich man's pattern, and the poor man's friend; 
 
 He cheer'd pale Indigence's bleak abode, 
 
 He oft remov'd Misfortune's galling load : 
 
 Nor was his bounty to one sect confin'd, 
 
 His goodness beam'd alike on all mankind; 
 
 Now, lost in folly, all his virtues sleep, — ■ 
 
 Let's mind his former worth, and o'er his frailties weep. 
 
 66. 
 
 ON A CRABBED OLD MAID. 
 
 Here slaethorn Mary's hurcheon bouk. 
 
 Resigns its fretfii bristles; — 
 And is she deid ! — no — reader, look, 
 
 Her grave's o'ergrown wi thistles. 
 
 * This Epitaph first appeared in 1806 in Maver's Glasgow Gleaner. See 
 Note to No. 6.—Bd. 
 
 t Note by the Author. — "Written on seeing a once worthy character Ij'ing 
 in a state of inebriation in the street." 
 
-<jW^6i?>^ Si. 
 
 
 • et^t*^ 
 
 f^e <H^'K-*\p 
 
 
 
SONGS 
 
 67. 
 FAIRY WOODSIDE AND SWEET FERGUSLIE,* 
 
 OR 
 
 THE GREY PINIONED LARK. 
 September, 1807. 
 
 Set to Music by Mr. Louis Hoeck, Professor of Music, 
 Paisley, 3rd yune, 1874. 
 
 While the grey pinioned lark early mounts to the skies, 
 
 And cheerily hails the sweet dawn, 
 And the sun, newly-risen, sheds the mists from his eyes, 
 
 And smiles over mountain and lawn. 
 
 * Tannahill ffom his infancy was brought up in the cottage built in 1776 
 by his father, at No. 6 Queen Street, Paisley, in the immediate vicinity of 
 Woodside and Ferguslie. All his infantile, youthful, and adult associations, 
 were connected with that residence, and he never knew any other. Up 
 Queen Street and dovTn King Street, and in two or three minutes the 
 lyrist would be at " Fairy Woodside " and " Sweet Ferguslie." These were 
 the two places where the Poet spent the happiest hours — ^the halcyon days — 
 of his boyhood, and where the Muse inspired the first song of his youth. 
 The lands of Woodside were adorned with avenues of beech trees, and some 
 of these trees can be seen in majestic grandeur at the present time. The 
 view from Woodside, the site of an ancient encampment, -is magnificent, 
 embracing the whole of Strathgryflfe, Kilpatrick Hills, the lofty Benlomond, 
 Goatfell in Arran, with numerous other Bens in the distance, and is well 
 entitled to the name of " Fairy Woodside. " The lands of Ferguslie lying 
 
190 SONGS. 
 
 Delighted I stray by the Fairy Woodside,* 
 Where the dewdrops the crowflowers adorn, 
 
 And Nature, array'd in her midsummer's pride, 
 Sweetly smiles to the smile of the mom. 
 
 Ye dark waving plantings, ye green shady bowers, 
 
 Your charms ever varying I view ; 
 My soul's dearest transports, my happiest hours, 
 
 Have owed half their pleasures to you. 
 
 immediately below Woodside, with their green plantations of fir trees, inter- 
 spersed with indigenous shrubs and odoriferous plants, — the haunt of 
 numerous feathered warblers and the abdde of the cushat dove, — were well 
 entitled to be called "Sweet Ferguslie," "the dear sacred grove." We 
 recollect these places, having seen them, about 1815, in a similar state to 
 that in which Tannaliill saw them during his time. These places were then 
 the favourite haunts of the boys from the neighbourhood. — Ed. 
 
 * In the year 1208 (as formerly noted in the "Soldier's Return"), Walter 
 Fitzallan, High Steward of Scotland, granted to the Monks of Paisley "aU 
 the lands between Hauld Patrick and Espedare." In 1545, Abbot John 
 Hamilton of Paisley and his Monks feued out the greater portion of the 
 lands included in the above grant. In particular, the Abbot and his 
 Convent, with consent of the infant Queen Marie, Patroness of the Abbey, 
 as the heiress-at-law of the High Stewards, and of James, Earl of Arran, 
 protector and governor of the kingdom as her tutor-at-law, feued to John 
 Stewart, kindly tenant in Woodside, "All and Whole the twenty shilling 
 lands of Woodside, with the New Yaird of the same and pertinents ; Reser- 
 ving a public way through the whole lands of Woodside, from the public 
 way, as far as the wood of Darskayt." The name "Woodside" was pro- 
 bably derived from the lands lying at the side of Darskayt Wood. The 
 family of Stewart retained these lands till 1680. when Mr. Ezekiel 
 Montgomerie, Sheriff Depute of Renfrewshire, acquired them. Mr. 
 Montgomerie, in 1688, sold the lands to Thomas Crawfurd, elder, of Carts- 
 burn, father of George Crawfurd, historian of Renfrewshire. The lands 
 continued in the Crawfurd family till 1750, when they were sold to Mr. 
 Shedden, merchant in Paisley. The Trustees of his second son sold the 
 house and part of the lands, in 1846, to Peter Coats, Esq., residing in 
 Woodside. Mr. Coats founded the Psusley Free Public Library and Museum 
 (the Memorial-Stone of which was laid with Masonic honours on 2'rth 
 AprU, 1869), and presented them to the community of Paisley. On 9th July, 
 1869, Her Majesty was very graciously pleased to confer the dignity of 
 Knighthood on Mr. Coats, and we are certain no honour was ever better 
 bestowed than that on Sir Peter Coats, Knight, of Woodside. — Ed. 
 
THE GREY PINIONED LARK. 19 1 
 
 Sweet Ferguslie,* hail ! thou'rt the dear sacred grove, 
 "Where first my young Muse spread her wing ; 
 
 Here Nature first waked me to rapture and love, 
 And taught me her beauties to sing. 
 
 * Ferguslle waa feued by the same Abbot Jolin Hamilton, with similar 
 consents, to the kindly tenant, John Hamilton, in 1545. The lands were 
 bounded by the Burgh of Paisley, Darskayt Wood, and the lands of Wood- 
 side on the east, Candren Bum on the south and west. The Abbot reserved 
 a public way through the lands of Ferguslie from the wood of Darskayt 
 towards Candren Bum, with power to quarry stones for building his place» 
 his town, and millstones for his miU of Paisley. That public way became 
 the high road to the west country from Paisley, and traces of it from 
 Sandholes Street to the Candren Burn — over Barskivan grounds and through 
 the Lands of Elderslie, &c. — can be seen at the present day. On the opening 
 of the new turnpike road to the south, in a line with Broomlands Street in 
 1750, the old carriage road was superseded, and became a private road. In 
 the days of Tannahill, it was a quiet and retired walk, much frequented by 
 meditative weavers of the west end. The quarrying of stones on the lands 
 of Ferguslie for building the place and town of Paisley continued for 300 
 years. The estate remained in the Hamilton family tiU 1680. During that 
 period, the celebrated ease of discipline between the Paisley Presbytery and 
 the guidwife of Ferguslie, Margaret Hamilton, wife of John Wallace, factor 
 for the Earl of Abercorn, which lasted for five years, — from June, 1642, to 
 August, 164:7, — occurred. John Cochran, nephew of William, first Earl of 
 Dundonald, acquired the estate in 1680 ; the Corporation of Paisley in 1740 ; 
 Thomas Bissland, merchant. Paisley, in 1806 ; and Thomas Coats, Esq. of 
 Ferguslie, Paisley, in 1872. In 1751, King Street was formed through 
 Woodside lands, and the road to Blackston through Ferguslie estate opened. 
 The fences on the road were low, dry stone dykes, and the ground on 
 either side was planted with trees, principally Scots firs, and called **The 
 Ferguslie Woods," Tannahill called them in a song "The Bonnie Woods of 
 Craigielee," and the locality was and is now well known by that classic 
 name. Thomas Coats, Esq., purchased Hope Temple grounds in Love Street, 
 and, at a considerable expense, laid off the Fountain Gardens, and presented 
 them to the community of Paisley on 26th May, 1868. 
 
 These two brothers, Sir Peter Coats of Woodside and Thomas Coats, Esq. of 
 Ferguslie, are both natives of Paisley, and have been long allied together in 
 a successful business. They head almost every local subscription with the 
 highest sums. Their munificent donations to the community, their many 
 deeds of beneficence in every good work, and their innumerable acts of 
 private charity, have gained for them the highest esteem and respect of their 
 feUow-townsmen.— i'c^. 
 
192 SONGS. 
 
 68. 
 
 BONNIE WOOD O CRAIGIELEE.* 
 
 Set to Music by Mr, yames Barr. t 
 
 Thou bonnie wood o Craigielee, % 
 Thou bonnie wood o Craigielee, 
 Near thee I pass'd life's early day, 
 An won my Mar/s heart in thee. 
 
 The brume, the brier, the birken bush, 
 Blume bonnie o'er thy flowery lee. 
 
 An a the sweets that ane can wish 
 
 Frae Nature's han, are strewed on thee. 
 
 * This song first appeared in the Glasgow MghtingaU of 1806, page 75, and 
 is titled " Bonny Wood of Craigie-lee." See the first Note to No. 13. 
 
 t Note by R. A. Smith in the "Harp of Renfrewshire," page xxxvii. — "The 
 music to ' Thou bonnie wood 0' Craigielee ' was composed by ' Blythe Jamie 
 Barr frae Saint Barchan's toun.' It does the author great credit. It is a 
 very pleasing and natural melody, and has become most deservedly a great 
 favourite all over the West Kintra side. I think this little ballad possesses 
 considerable merit ; one of the stanzas (the last) strikes me as being par- 
 ticularly beautiful." 
 
 X Note hy Ramsay, — " The scenery, here so finely described, lies to the 
 north west of Paisley. Since TannaMll's time its beauty has been sadly 
 impaired by the erection of a more unpoetical object, the gas work," 
 
 There was no place on the estate of Ferguslie called Craigielee until 
 TannahiU invented that name, and which first appeared in print when the 
 author published the song in the Nightvngale, and also in the first edition 
 of his songs in 1807. There was a mailing on Ferguslie estate called Craigs, 
 from the rocks abounding in it, and it was probably that name which 
 suggested to the author the softening of the word into Craigielee. It has 
 now become a classic name. In the 1815 Edition, the last letter of the name, 
 €, was corrupted into an a, without giving any authority whatever for 
 making the change. In several of the editions that have followed the true 
 orthography of the Author has been observed, jwid in several other editions 
 
BONNIE WOOD CRAIGIELEE. 193 
 
 Thou bonnie wood o Craigielee, 
 Thou bonnie wood o Craigielee, 
 Near thee I passed life's early day, 
 An won my Mary's heart in thee. 
 
 Far ben thy dark green plantin's shade, 
 
 The cushat croodles am'rously,* 
 The mavis, doon thy buchted glade, 
 
 Gars echo ring frae ev'ry tree. 
 
 tho corrupted spelling has been adopted. In grammar, it is said, there is 
 no rule for the spelling of the proper names of persons and places, We are 
 of opinion the Author's mode of spelling the name is coKrect, and have ac- 
 cordingly followed his rule. The Author was the Inventor, and he is 
 certainly the best judge. The Author's mode of spelling the name even 
 looks better in print. It was not an agricultural word tliat Tannahill was 
 writing, but a fine soft word, melting away in the poetry of the name and 
 Bound. He has been equally successful in the name of Craigielee as he was 
 with his invented name of Glenfeoch in No. 82. 
 
 ** Thou bonnie wood o Craigielee," with " thy dark green plantin's slmde," 
 was situated at the foot of King Street, along the Blackston Road, on the 
 Fergushe estate, the fir tree plantations growing on each side of the road, 
 were frequently called "King Street woods" and "Mary Spreul's woods," 
 the name of the tenant. It was within five minutes' walk from 
 Tannahill's residence, No. 6 Queen Street, Paisley, and was the 
 favourite haunt of his youth, and of all the boys in the west end 
 of the town. " The brume, the briar, the birken bush," flourished 
 luxuriantly on the soil, and the wild flowers with their many coloured 
 "blossoms adorned the scene. It was a vast aviary of singing birds 
 and the best place nearest the town for bird nesting. These plantations of 
 Scots firs were cut down about forty years ago, and the last tree that fell 
 under the woodman's axe was preserved, and came into possession of James 
 Caldwell, Esq., Writer, Craigielee, Paisley, who in 1873 made 60 caups from 
 it, turned out of the solid wood, which he presented to his friends. The 
 one received by us measures at the mouth, in diameter 3 inches, and from 
 the extremities of the handles 5 inches. On the obverse side the first and 
 fourth verses of the song were written, and on the reverse side the follow- 
 ing inscription, both being holograph of the donor :— " This cap, made from 
 part of 'The Bonnie Wood of Craigielea,' is presented as a token of respect 
 to my esteemed friend, Mr. David Semple. (Signed) Ja. Caldwell, Craigielea 
 Place. Paisley, 25th June, 1873."— ^c?. 
 * Note hy Ramsay. — "The ciy of the cusliat or wood-pigeon is often 
 
 Z 
 
196 SONGS. 
 
 The wild flowers o Simmer were spread a sae bonnie, 
 The mavis sang sweet frae the green birken tree ; 
 
 But far to the camp they hae march'd my dear Johnnie, 
 And now it is winter wi nature and me. 
 
 for the old Scottish melody, 'Bonnie Dundee,' but Bums had occupied the 
 same ground before him. Mr. Boss of Aberdeen composed a very pretty 
 air for it, yet, to use the phrase of a certain favourite vocal performer, it 
 did not hit. The language and imagery of this song appear to me beautiful 
 and natural There is an elegant simplicity iu the couplet, — 
 
 ' The wild flowers o Simmer were spread a sae bonnie, 
 The mavis sang sweet frae the green birken tree ; ' 
 And the dreary appearance of the scenery in winter is strikingly pourtraycd 
 in the second stanza, — 
 
 * Now naething is heard but the vnn whistling dreary ; 
 
 And naething is seen but the wide spreading snaw.' 
 Again — 
 
 * The trees are a bare, and the birds mute and dowie ; 
 
 They shake the cauld drift frae their vrings as they flee. 
 And chirp out their plaints, seeming wae for my Johnnie ; 
 Tis vTinter wi them, and tis winter vri, me.' 
 
 The birds shaking *the cauld drift frae their wings' is an idea not unworthy 
 of Bums. One of TannahiU's most favourite walks was by the ruins of 
 Stanely Castle or over the Braes of GlenifEer. There he could recline on the 
 brown heather, or ait on the side of a breckan-fringed rock, listen to the 
 bum murmuring through the glen, and view the vrfld and varied scenery 
 around him with a Poet's eye." 
 
 The Braes of GlenifEer was one of the favourite haunts of TannahilL This 
 mountainous range, lying east and west, is the boundary between Paisley 
 and Neilston parishes. The forest of Passeleth was situated here. It was 
 originally divided into three large portions, called Stanely, Thornly, and 
 Pereneze. The north side of the ridge was afterwards called Paisley Braes> 
 but now better known by the classic name of the Braes of GlenifEer. The 
 south side of the ridge Is called the Fereneze Braes. The lands of Stanely, 
 part of the ridge of Paisley Braes, were granted by King Robert III. to Sir 
 Robert Danyelston in 1392. One of his two daughters and co-heiresses 
 married Sir Robert Maxwell, laird of Calderwood, in the parish of East 
 Kilbride, and these lands, along with others, were allocated to Lady Calder_ 
 wood. In the middle of the 15th century, the Maxwell family built on the 
 lands a strong baronial residence, a massive piece of masonry, 40 feet high, 
 which became well known by the name of Stanely Castle. The Maxwells 
 continued in possession of the estate for saveral generations, and John 
 
THE BRAES O GLENIFFER. 
 
 197 
 
 Then Hk thing aroun us was blythesonie and cheery, 
 Then ilk thing aroun us was bonnie and braw ; 
 
 Now naething is heard but the win whistlin dreary, 
 And naething is seen but the wide spreadin snaw. 
 
 Maxwell, in 1629, with consent of his son John, sold the estate to Jean 
 Hamilton, dowager of Robert, fourth Lord Ross. It has continued in the 
 Ross-Boyle families till the present time. The roof was taken off in 1714, 
 when the "auld castle's turrets" and the inside of the building wore 
 exposed to the inclemency of the weather. 
 
 Stanely Castle, so hoary and grey, is now surrounded with a fine sheet of 
 water,— the Reservoir of the Paisley Water Works,— covering an area of 50 
 acres of ground, and containing 34 millions of cubic feet of water "so 
 placid, so calm, and so serene ! " The supplying of the town of Paisley with 
 water was projected by the late James Kerr, M.D., Paisley, and the works 
 were inaugurated and opened on Friday, 13th July, 1838. Dr. KeiT died on 
 4th March, 1848, aged 79. 
 
 This song was printed in Smith's Scotish Minstrel in 1822, Vol. II., page 7, 
 to the Air, " Bonnie Dundee " : — 
 
 THE 
 
 SCOTISH MINSTREL: 
 A Selection 
 
 FROM THE 
 
 Vocal Melodies of Scotland, Ancient 
 
 and Modem, 
 
 arranged for the 
 
 Piano Forte 
 
 BY 
 
 R. A. SMITH. 
 
 f Vignette view of J 
 Edina, " Scotia's darhng seat. 
 P. Gibson delt, W. H. Lizars, sculp. 
 Entd. at Stat. HalL Price 88. 6d. 
 
 EDINBURGH : 
 
 Published & sold by Robt. Purdie, 
 at his Music & Musical Instrument 
 Warehouse, No. 70 Princes Street. 
 
 The Seotiah Minstrel, a collection of 
 songs, with music, is all engraved 
 excepting the preface of ten pages 
 and indices, which are letterpress. 
 The Scotish Minstrel was published 
 in 6 vols., in 1821, 22, 23, and 24. 
 Twenty - three of the songs are 
 Tannahill's, one of them (No. 172) 
 has been pubhshed only in the 1846 
 edition, and other two (Nos. 168 and 
 173) never appeared till now in any of 
 the editions of Tannahill's works. 
 These three are printed among the 
 unpublished and unedited pieces 
 printed at the end of the Songs in 
 this volume. One song, "The Braes 
 o Balquither," No. 91, is printed in 
 both the first and fourtti volumes pf 
 the Minstrel. 
 
 Smith only uses one ( in making his compound word of Scotish. He seems 
 to be correct. The syllable Scot is the prefix, and the syllable ish is tho 
 affix, making Scot-iah, Scotish. The common way, however, in writing the 
 word is Scottish ; the prefix being Scot, and the afiix tisTi—Scot-tislif, Scottish. 
 Double consonants are not used in writing the words English, British, and 
 Irish, as Engllish, Brittish, and Irrish.—Ech 
 
igS SONGS. 
 
 TKe trees are a bare, and the birds mute and dowie; 
 
 They shake the cauld drift frae their wings as they flee, 
 And chirp out their plaints, seeming wae for my Johnnie; 
 
 Tis winter wi them and tis winter wi me. 
 
 Yon caul sleety cloud skiffs alang the bleak mountain, 
 
 And shakes the dark firs on the stey rocky brae. 
 While doun the deep glen bawls the snaw flooded fountain, 
 
 That murmur'd sae sweet to my laddie an me. 
 Tis no its loud roar, on the wintry win swellin, 
 
 Tis no the caul blast brings the tear to my ee. 
 For, oh, gin I saw my bonnie Scots callan, 
 
 The dark days o winter war simmer to me ! 
 
 70. 
 
 GLOOMY WINTER'S NOW AWA.* 
 
 Air, — "Lord Balgowaies Favourite." 
 1807. 
 
 Arranged by Mr. Ji. A. Smith. 
 
 Gloomy Winter's now awa, 
 Saft the westlan breezes blaw ; 
 
 * NoU hy R. A. Smith in the "Har^ of Jimfreisshire," page xxxiv. — "Tanna- 
 hiU was particularly averse to enter the company of people above ids own 
 station of Ufe, As an instance of this, I shall relate one little anecdote : — 
 
 Miss — of was particularly fond of the Scottish melody, ' Lord 
 
 Balgownie's Favourite,' and had expressed a wish to see it united to good 
 poetry, I accordingly applied to my friend, who produced his song, 
 * Gloomy Winter's now awa,' in a few days. As soon aa I had arranged the 
 air, with symphonies and accompaniment for the pianoforte, T waited on 
 the lady, who was much delighted with the verses, and begged of me to 
 invite the author to take a walk with me to the house at any leisure time. 
 
GLOOMY winter's NOW AWA. 1 99 
 
 Mang the birks o Statiely shaw 
 The mavis sings fu cheerie, O; 
 
 I knew that it would be almost impossible to prevail on Robert to allow 
 himself to be introduced by fair means, so, for once, I made use of the only 
 alternative in my power by begTiiling him thither during our first Saturday's 
 ramble, tmder the pretence of being obliged to call with some music I had 
 with me for the ladies. This, however, could not be effected, till I promised 
 not to make him known, in case any of the family came to the door; but 
 
 how great was his astonishment when Miss came forward to invite 
 
 him into the house by name. I shall never forget the awkwardness with 
 which he accompanied us to the music room. He sat as it were quite 
 petrified, till the magic of the music a,nd the great affability of the ladies 
 
 reconciled him to his situation. In a short time, Mr, came in, was 
 
 introduced to his visitor in due form, and with that goodness of heart and 
 simplicity of manner, for which he is so deservedly esteemed by all who 
 have the pleasure of knowing him, chatted with his guest till near dinner 
 
 time, when Robert again became terribly uneasy, as Mr. insisted on 
 
 our staying to dine with the family. Many a rueful look was cast to me, 
 and many an excuse was made to get away ; but, alas I there was no escaping 
 with a good grace, and finding that 1 was little inclined to understand his 
 signals the kind reqxiest was at length reluctantly complied with. 
 
 * * * * After a cheerful glass or two, the restraint 
 
 he was under gradually wore away, and he became tolerably communicative. 
 I believe that, when we left the mansion, the poet entertained very different 
 sentiments from those' with which he had entered it. He had formed an 
 opinion that nothing save distant pride and cold formality was to be met 
 vrith from people in the higher walks of life, but on experiencing the very 
 
 reverse of his imaginings, he was quite delighted, and when Mr. 's 
 
 name happened to be mentioned in his hearing afterwards it generally 
 called forth expressions of respect and admiration. * Gloomy winter's now 
 awa ' became a very popular song, and was the reigning favourite in Edin-, 
 burgh for a considerable time. " 
 
 Note hy Ramsay. — "This melody was published in Nathaniel Gow's 
 collection under the name of *Lord Balgonie's Favourite,' as a very ancient 
 air. Afterwards, however, it was claimed by Alexander Campbell, who 
 asserts in 'Albyn's Anthology,* Vol. I., that it was originally composed by 
 him as a strathspey. " - 
 
 Mr. Ramaay further said — *'The song * Gloomy Winter's now awa* was 
 written by Tannahill for Smith, who adapted the melody to the words, 
 and published it in the key C Minor about the year 180S. It became very 
 popular, and was the reigning favourite in Edinburgh for a considei-able 
 time. Twenty years afterwards when the song was, comparatively speaking, 
 forgotten, its popularity was renewed from the inimitable manner of Miss 
 E. Baton's singing ; and Smith was induced to publish a new edition, with 
 
SONGS. 
 
 Sweet the crawflower's early bell * 
 Decks Gleniffer's dewy dell, 
 Blooming like thy bonnie sel, 
 My young, my artless dearie, O. 
 
 Come my lassie, let us stray 
 O'er Glenkilloch's sunny brae, t 
 Blythely spend the gowden day, 
 Midst joys that never weary, O. 
 
 an entirely new arrangement and a tliird lower, and more suitable for the 
 generality of voices." 
 
 The young lady referred to in the foregoing notes was Miss Elizabeth 
 Wilson, daughter of John Wilson, Esq., Hurlet, a very worthy and highly 
 respected gentleman, who took a deep interest in the affairs of Benfrewshire. 
 Miss Elizabeth Wilson was then 16 years of age, is still living, and is now in 
 the 85th year of her age. On Monday, 25th May, 1874,— ten days before the 
 Centenary of Tannahill, — the Crathie Choir came to Balmoral Castle, where 
 Queen Victoria was residing at the time, and sang the following selection of 
 music in honour of Her Majesty's Birthday (the preceding day) : — "Auld 
 Langsyne," "Banks and Braes o' bonnie Boon," "A wee bird cam'taeoor 
 ha' door," "Tam Glen," "Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled," '•Gloomy" 
 Winter's now awa," "The hundred pipers," "Ca' the ewes to the knowes," 
 and the "National Anthem."— ^tZ. 
 
 * The flower here referred to is the Wild HyaclntJti, or Harebell, ffyacintkus 
 Non Smptus. Abundant in Gleniffer woods and hedges. Root, a coated 
 egg-shaped bulb. Leaves long, narrow, and grass green. Flower stem 
 six to twelve inches. Flowers in a long drooping raceme of fine purplish 
 blue, pendent, and pointing one way. Tannahill did not refer to the yellow 
 flower of the Crowfoot, Ranunculus RepenSt so common in pasture fields, 
 known by the common name of Buttercups. — JSd. 
 
 t GlenJcilloch. — The farm of Killoch is situated in Neilston paiish, in the 
 Fereneze portion of the mountainous range dividing that parish from the 
 parish of Paisley ; and, having a southe^'n exposure, the lyric poet has 
 described the place as " Glenkilloch's sunny brae." In Killoch Glen there 
 are a succession of beautiful cascades, or falls of water, before the Killoch 
 burn sifiks into the bosom of the Levem rivulet at Broadley Mill,— Ed. 
 
GLOOMY winter's NOW AWA. 2C 
 
 Tow'ring o'er the Newton* wuds, 
 Lav'rocks fan the snaw white cluds, 
 Siller saughs, wi downy buds, 
 Adorn the banks sae briery, O. 
 
 Roun the sylvan fairy nooks, 
 Feath'ry breckans fringe the rocks, 
 Neath the brae the burnie jouks, 
 And ilka thing is cheerie, O. 
 
 Trees may bud, and birds may sing. 
 Flowers may bloom, and verdure spring, 
 Joy to me they canna bring. 
 Unless wi thee, my dearie, O. 
 
 * The lands of Newton, situated at a short distance to the north-west of 
 Stanely Castle, are bounded on the west by the Aid Patrick bum ; on the 
 north, by the road to Beith ; and on the east, by the Fulbar road. The 
 eastern portion was covered with plantations, and several hundreds of the 
 trees are still growing, reminding the present generation of TannahiU's 
 Newton Woods. These lands were acquired by Robert Alexander in 1670, 
 and he and his descendants were the respected landlords for upwards of a 
 hundred years. He was the ancestor and founder of the present Southbar 
 and Ballochmyle families of Alexander. — Ed. 
 
SONGS. 
 
 71. 
 WINTER IS GANK 
 
 Air, — " The fair-haired child." 
 i8o6. 
 
 TajinahilVs second stanza : — 
 
 Ye mind whan the snaw lay sae deep on the hill, 
 
 Whan cauld icy cranreuch hung white on the tree, 
 Whan bushes war leafless, an mournfully still 
 War the wee birds o sweet Woodhouselee : 
 Whan snaw show'rs were fa'ing. 
 An wintry win's blawing, 
 
 * Hamilton's first stanza: — 
 
 Now winter is gane, and the clouds flee away. 
 Ton bonnie blue sky how delightful to see, 
 Now Unties aiid blackbirds sing on ilka spray 
 That flourishes round Woodhouselee. 
 The hawthorn is blooming. 
 The soft breeze perfuming, 
 O come, my dear lassie, the season is gay. 
 And naething mair lovely can be ; 
 The primrose and lHy 
 Well pu' in the valley. 
 And lean, when we like, on some gowany brae 
 That rises beside Woodhouselee. 
 
 The whole of this song, including HamHton's and Tannahill's verses, 
 appeared in tho Glasgow Nightingale of 1806, page 215, among others contri- 
 buted by TannahiU. See first Note to No. 13. — Sd. 
 
 Note hy Mothettoell in "Harp of Renfrewshire" page 311. — "We extract 
 this song from a selection made by Mr. R. A. Smith, teacher of music. 
 
WINTER IS GANE. 203 
 
 Loud whistling o'er mountain an meadow sae chill, 
 We marked it wi sorrowin ee ; 
 
 • But now since the flowers 
 Again busk the bowers, 
 O come, my dear lassie, wi smilin goodwill. 
 An wander around Woodhouselee. * 
 
 Paisley, for the use of his pupils, where also occurs concerning its authors 
 the following — 
 
 " Note hy R. A. Smith. — * It may be interesting to many to learn that this 
 little song is the joint production of the late Mr. John Hamilton of 
 Edinburgh (author of the popular Scottish song, ' Up in the Morning Early/ 
 &c.) and Tannahill. Mr. Hamilton wrote the first stanza for an ancient 
 Irish melody, * The fair-haired child ; ' but after some unavailing attempts 
 to proceed further, he applied to Tannahill, through the medium of a friend, 
 for a second verse. In a short time, the request was complied with, and the 
 Bard sent it to his friend with the following note : — ' Mr. Hamilton's stanza 
 is admirably suited to the air ; in my opinion, his lines possess, in an 
 eminent degree, that beautiful natural simplicity which characterises our 
 best Scottish songs. I have attempted to add a verse to it ; but I fear you 
 will think it a frigid production,— the original one is so complete in itself 
 that he who tries another to it labours under the disadvantage of not know- 
 ing What to say further on the subject. However, I give you all I could 
 make of it.'" 
 
 Iiike all the letters given by Smith, he neither gives date nor name. It 
 was probably written in 1806. Eamsay gave the above Notes of Motherwell 
 and Smith as his own; but at the word "'friend" he inserted the name 
 (Clark) in parenthesis. John Hamilton died at Edinburgh in September, 
 1814, aged 53.~Bd. 
 
 * This place is in the Parish of Glencross. Edinburghshire, the seat of the 
 Tytler family ; and Ramsay, in his "Gentle Shepherd," says the parish is a 
 place 
 
 " Where a the sweets Spring and Simmer grow."— 5d 
 
204 SONGS. 
 
 72. 
 
 EARLY SPRING.* 
 
 Air, — " Fornetk house.'^ 
 May, 1806. 
 
 Now winter, wi his cloudy brow, 
 
 Is far ayont yon mountains. 
 And spring beholds her azure sky 
 
 Reflected in the fountains. 
 Now, on the budding slaethom bank, 
 
 She spreads her early blossom, 
 And woos the mirly breasted birds 
 
 Tae nestle in her bosom ; 
 But lately a was clad wi snaw, 
 
 Sae darksome, dull, an dreary, 
 Now lav'rocks sing tae hail the Spring, 
 
 An Nature all is cheery. 
 
 Then let us lea the toun, my love. 
 
 An seek our country dwelling, 
 Whar waving woods, and spreading flow'rs 
 
 On eVry side are smiling. 
 We'll tread again the daisied green, 
 
 Whar first your beauty mov'd me ; 
 We'll trace again the woodland scene, 
 
 Whar first ye own'd ye loVd me. 
 
 * This song first appeared iu the Glaegow ^nightingale of 1806, page 153. 
 Sec first Note to No. li.—M. 
 
SIMMER GLOAMIN. 205 
 
 We soon will view the roses blaw, 
 
 In a the charms fancy, 
 For doubly dear these pleasures a, 
 
 When shar'd with you, my Nancy. 
 
 73. 
 
 SIMMER GLOAMIN.* 
 
 Air, — "Alexander Donn's Stn 
 January, 18 10. 
 
 The midges dance aboon the burn, 
 
 The dews begin to faw, 
 The pairtricks doun the rushy holm, 
 
 Set up their e'ening caw. 
 
 " Note by Motherwell.— '^l^hiB song, though not generally known, our 
 readers will be gratified to learn is the production of the late R. Tannahill. '' 
 
 NoU ty Samsay.— " Although this has never acquired much popularity as 
 a song, we think that for trueness to Nature and beauty of expression it 
 must he ranked as one of the happiest of the Author's efforts." 
 
 This song, with the above title, appeared in the January number of the 
 Scots Magazine for 1810, and it was there plainly stated to have been written 
 by "Robert Tannahill," In Ramsay's edition, the title is changed to 
 the first line of the song, and the Air to "The Shepherd's Son." John 
 King, an intelligent Paisley weaver (mentioned in the Note to No. 6) 
 and a companion of Tannahill, wrote an essay on Entomology, and took for 
 his motto the first line of this song— 
 
 " The midges dance aboon the bum." 
 
 John King also wrote an essay on the Geology of the Paisley Mosslande, and 
 other essays on similar kindred subjects, which were read at meetings of 
 the club with which he was connected. Being well versed in the ologies^ 
 the sobriquet of "The Dungeon of Wit"— deep thought — was populaiiy 
 conferred upon him. He was evidently a more cultured essayist than a 
 poet.— ^d. 
 
2o6 SONGS. 
 
 Now loud and clear the blackbird's sang 
 Rings thro the briery shaw, 
 
 While flitting gay, the swallows play 
 Aroun the castle wa. 
 
 Beneath the gouden gloamin sky, 
 
 The mavis mends her lay. 
 The redbreast pours his sweetest strains, 
 
 To charm the lingerin day ; 
 While weary yeldrins seem to wail 
 
 Their little nestlings torn, 
 The merry wren, frae den to den, 
 
 Gaes jinking thro the thorn. 
 
 The roses faul their silken leaves,* 
 
 The foxglove shuts its bell, t 
 The honeysuckle J and the birk § 
 
 Spread fragrance thro the dell. 
 Let ithers crowd the giddy court 
 
 Of mirth and revelry, 
 The simple joys that Nature yiel's 
 
 Are dearer far to me. 
 
 * Roses. ■ See Note on page 134. — Ed. 
 
 t Purple Foxglove, Digitalis Purpurea, common in ravines and woods on 
 Gleniffer Braes. Stem three or four feet high. Flowers bell-shaped, purple 
 or white in July, — Ed, 
 
 X Common Honeysuckle, Lonic^'a Pi/riclT/menmn. Woods and hedges. 
 Stems several feet, trailing over bushes and twining round boughs of trees. 
 Flowers red outside, yellowish inside ; exceeding sweet in the evening. — Ed, 
 
 § Common Birch, Eetula Alba, Woods and ravines. May.* A well-known 
 f ragi-ant tree. The wood used for bobbins, machinery, and tul'nery. It is 
 the universal wood of the Scots Highlanders. — Ed, 
 
THE LAD I LO^E SAE DEAR. 
 
 207 
 
 74, 
 
 THE LAD I LO'E SAE DEAR. 
 
 Thou cauld gloomy Feberwar, 
 
 Oh gin thou wert awa; 
 I'm'wae tae hear thy sughin winds, 
 
 I'm wae tae see thy snaw : 
 For my bonnie brave young Hielander, 
 
 The lad I lo'e sae dear, 
 Has vow'd tae come an see me 
 
 In the spring o the year. 
 
 ' Addition by Patrick Buchan : — 
 
 A silken ban lie gaed me 
 
 To bin my gouden hair, 
 A siller brooch and tartan plaid, — 
 
 A for his sake to wear ; 
 And oh ! my heart was like to break 
 
 (For partin sorrow's sair). 
 As he vowed to come and see me 
 
 In the spring the year. 
 
 Aft, aft as gloamin dims the sky, 
 
 I wander out alane 
 Whar buds the bonnie yellow whins 
 
 Around the trystin stane : 
 
 Twas there he pressed me to his heart, 
 And kissed away the tear, 
 
 As he vowed to come and see me 
 In the spring o the year. 
 
 Ye gentle breezes saftly blaw, 
 
 And deed anew the wuds ; 
 Te lav'rocks lilt your cheery sangs 
 
 Amang the fleecy cluds : 
 Till Feberwar and a his train 
 
 Affrighted disappear, 
 ni hail wi you the blythesome change. 
 
 The spring time o the year. 
 
2o8 SONGS. 
 
 75, 
 
 JESSIE, THE FLOWER O DUNBLANE 
 Set to Music by Mr. R. A. Smith. 
 
 The sun has gane doun o*er the lofty Benlomond, 
 
 And left the red clouds to preside o'er the scene, 
 While lanely I stray in the calm simpler gloaming, 
 ' To muse on sweet Jessie, the flower o Dunblane. 
 
 * Note hy R. A. Smith. — "Perhaps the most popular of all his songs was 
 ' Jessie, the Flower o Dunblane.' Many a bonnie lass whose name chanced 
 to be the same with that in the song, has been in her time the supposititious 
 heroine of it, and got the blame of having 'cuist the glamor o'er him,' 
 though with little reason, for I do sincerely believe the poet had no 
 particular fair one in his eye at the time, and that Jessie was quite an 
 imaginary personage. The third stanza of this song was not written till 
 several months after the others were finished, and, in my opinion, it would 
 have been more to the Author's credit had such an addition never been 
 made. The language, I think, faUs considerably below that of the two first 
 verses. Surely the Promethean fire must have been burning but lovmlyy 
 when such commonplace ideas could be coolly written, after the song had 
 been so finely woimd up with the beautiful apostrophe to the mavis, — 
 
 ' Sing on, thou sweet mavis, thy hymn to the e'enin.' 
 
 When I had composed the music, Jessie was introduced to the world with 
 this clog hanging at her foot, much against my incHnatio^ and advice ; 
 however, I feel confident that every singer of taste will discard it as «. 
 useless appendage." 
 
 Note hy Ramsay, — "'Jessie, the Flower o Dunblane' was first ushered 
 into the world in 1808, and since that time no Scottish song has enjoyed 
 among all classes greater popularity. For this, it is indebted at once to the 
 beauty of the words, and the appropriateness of the music composed for 
 them by the Poet's friend." After quoting the remarks of Smith respecting 
 the clog, Ramsay says — "Jn this opinion, we concur. When viewed in con- 
 nection with the preceding stanzas, the third does appear to be deficient 
 in that callida junctura which it would have manifested had the whole been 
 struck off at a heat." After quoting Smith's remark that Jessie was an 
 imaginary personage, Ramsay says— "The same belief, founded on the best 
 authority (the Poet's own assurance to them), is entertained by his surviving 
 friends and relations ; but, notwithstanding, a writer in the Musical Magazine 
 
JESSIE, THE FLOWER DUNBLANE. 309 
 
 How sweet is the brier wi its saft faulding blossom, 
 And sweet is the birk, wi its mantle o green ; 
 
 Yet sweeter, and fairer, and dear to this bosom, 
 Is lovely young Jessie, the flower o Dunblane. 
 
 for May, 1836, gravely assures us that he, having had occasion to visit 
 Dunblane some sixteen or seventeen years previously, was then Introduced 
 to an elderly female who was represented to be the herome of the song, hut 
 who formed the exact counterpart of the pure creature of the Poet's 
 imaglnatlou ;— and coachmen hesitate not to point out to travellers the very 
 house in Dunblane in which 'Jessie' first saw the light. The truth is 
 that Tannahill never was in Dunblane, and knew no person belonging to 
 it ; and that the words were written to supplant the old doggerel song of 
 the 'Boh o Dunblane,'— hence the title. As for the aUusion to the going 
 down of the sun' ' o'er the lofty Benlomond.' the poet needed not to go to . 
 Dunblane to witness such a spectacle ; in his evening walks on the Braes of 
 Gleniffer it formed the most imposing object of the scene, — * towards 
 heaven's descent sloping its west'ring wheel.' " 
 
 On Saturday, 27th June, 1874, a curious coincidence occurred respecting 
 spontaneous communications of information regarding the heroine of this 
 song, "Jessie, the Flower o Dunblane," and the heroine of the " Fareweel," 
 No. 77. In the morning of that day, we received a letter from a gentleman 
 in France stating that his grandaunt, Jean Crawford, afterwards married to 
 Andrew Smith, cottonspinner, In the Mill Land, now 66 George Street, 
 Paisley, son of Bailie Andrew Smith at the head of Causeyside, had 
 frequently stated that she was the chief companion of Jenny Tennant, the 
 betrothed of Tannahill; that the "Fareweel" was Tannahill's version of 
 the breaking of the engagement betwixt them, and the following was that 
 of Jenny Tennant ; — Another beau of a weaver- had agreed to attend the 
 Annual Dance of the district with which he was connected ; but not having 
 an engaged sweetheart, he asked Jenny Tennant if she would accompatiy 
 him as his partner to the Ball, and she informed him she would require to 
 ask Bob's (Tannahill's) consent. She did so, and obtained it. As the day 
 approached, TannrihUl became uneasy, and he resolved to watch their 
 behaviour on returning from the Dance, and accordingly concealed himself 
 in the end of the passage to Jenny's residence, where he could see and not 
 be seen. The dancers arrived in the passage, exchanged the usual salu- 
 tations, and the new beau on leaving, fired with the evening's enjoyment, 
 implanted a kiss on the ruby lips of the beautiful Jenny Tennant, and the 
 smack was quickly wafted in the. midnight silence to the impatient ears of 
 Tannahin in his hiding-place. The kiss formed no part of' the contract of 
 the oonsenter to the Dance ; the TannahiU pride was touched ; the silver 
 
 B 2 
 
SONGS. 
 
 She's modest as ony, and blythe as she's bonnie. 
 For guileless simplicity marks her its ain ; 
 
 And far be the villain, divested o feelin, 
 
 Wha'd blight in its bloom the sweet flower o Dunblane. 
 
 chord of Love waa snapped ; and the green-eyed demon of Jealousy instantly 
 entered his souL 
 
 The following day Jenny Tennant received from Tannahlll the poetical 
 ' ' Fareweel." ' ihe last verse of the first stanza, and the first verse of the last 
 stanza, stung her heart to the core, and she gave vent to her distress in 
 weeping :— 
 
 *' But when I knew thy plighted lipt 
 Once to a rival's prest, 
 Love-smothered independence rose. 
 And spv/iti'd thee from my breast. 
 
 The fairest Jlower in Nature's field 
 
 Conceals the rankling thmii ; 
 So thou, sweet flower ! as false as fair. 
 
 This ouce kind heart hath torn. " 
 
 On her grief subsiding a little, she ran with the epistle to her favourite 
 female companion, Jean Crawford, for counsel ; and drowned in tears, and 
 with a sobbing heart, handed it to her, saying— "See what Bob has sunt 
 me!" On Miss Crawford reading over the final "Fareweel," she deeply 
 sympathised with the disconsolate Jenny so borne down with grief, and 
 remarked that Bob would be lost to her for ever. Andrew Smith died in 
 1810 ; and Jean Crawford (Mrs. Smith) died in 1857, in the 84th year of. her 
 age. 
 
 In the evening of the same Saturday, we happened to be accidentally in 
 the company of several gentlemen, and the conversation was principally 
 directed about Tannahill and the recent centenary celebration of his birth. 
 One of the gentlemen said he would mention a circumstance not generally 
 known, that Jenny Tennant, his grandmother, was "Jessie, the Flower o 
 Dunblane," and that her parents had come from Dunblane, and taken up 
 their residence in Paisley. He stated that the tradition in the family of 
 the rupture between Tannahill and his grandmother arose from the silence 
 of the Poet in their lonely walks ; and on his grandfather coming forward 
 for Jenny, she preferred him. He mentioned other corroborative circum- 
 stances in support of his statement, and asked if we had heard of Jenny 
 Tennant. We "nodded assent, and read over the letter we had received from 
 France that morning, at which he was very much surprised, for he thought 
 no person knew anything of the matter up to the present time except in her 
 own family. 
 
JESSIE, THE FLOWER O DUNBLANE. 2] 
 
 Sing on, thou sweet mavis, thy hymn to the e^enin, 
 Thou'rt dear to the echoes o Calderwood glen ; 
 
 Sae dear to this bosom, sae artless and winnin, 
 Is charming young Jessie, the flower o Dunblane. 
 
 Our two spontaneous informants were unknown to each other, and their 
 information was derived from the traditions in two different families,— 
 the latter referring to the "Flower o Dunblane," and the former to the 
 *' Fareweel," but both agreeing in the name of the same person. We tested 
 the information given by both parties along- with the corroborative circum- 
 stances mentioned by each, and found what each stated to be both truthful 
 and reliable. 
 
 With the view of satisfactorily completing this very interesting investi- 
 gation, we wrote to a son and granddaughter of Janet Xeimant, resident in 
 Canada, and received a communication from them, which we consider wiU 
 set the matter at rest. They stated that Jessie Tennant, the name 
 which these Canadians called her, was born in Dunblane in 1T70, and 
 afterwards came to Paisley with her maternal parent, taking up her 
 residence in or near John Street ; that she became acquainted with 
 Kobert TannahiU, and kept company with him for three years, and they 
 frequently danced with each other,— one of the places being the hall of the 
 Masonic Lodge, New Street, Paisley. That TannahiU was of a very quiet retir- 
 ing disposition, and bashful in the extreme,— in fact, requiring to be instructed 
 in the art of Love ; while Jessie, on the other hand, was a bhthe hearty maid, 
 a pretty woman with winning manners, and that " bonnie lasses generally 
 flirt a little to bring blate lads to the point." The tradition among Jessie's 
 descendants of the course of true love not running smooth was the failure 
 of the Poet to carry on the conversation in their long lonely walks together, 
 after the sim had gone down over the lofty Benlomond. He, however, 
 could and did write sweet and lovely verses, and they have no doubt what- 
 ever that the beautiful and popular song of " Jessie, the Flower o Dunblane " 
 referred to Jenny or Jessie Tennaut, their parent and grandparent. The 
 feelings of love between the two gradually cooled, and was finally 
 extinguished by the "Fareweel" (No. 77): — 
 
 " Accuse me not, inconstant fair. 
 Of being false to thee," &c. 
 
 The rival pressed on his suit, in which he was successful ; and they were 
 married in 1798. On the raising of the Volunteers in 1803, the husband of 
 Jessie, the gaUant weaver, was appointed bandmaster of Colonel M'Kerrell's 
 Regiment, Several of their children emigrated to Canada, and two of their 
 sons are still living, and several grandchildren. Jessie Tenuant died 
 in Orr Square, Paisley, in 1833, aged 63 ; and was interred in the Lair, No. 
 552, of the burying-ground of the West Relief Church, Canal Street, Paisley. 
 
212 SONGS. 
 
 How lost were my days till I met wi my Jessie, 
 The sports o the city seemed foolish and vain ; 
 
 I ne'er saw a nymph I woud ca my dear lassie, 
 
 Till charmed wi sweet Jessie, the flower o Dunblane. 
 
 These Canadian families have no doubt whatever that Jessie Tennant, their 
 relation, was the heroine of the "Flower o Dunblane," a sweetheart 
 of Taunahill, and the same person referred to in the *'Fareweel." So con- 
 vinced are they of the truth of these facts that, on each recurring New-rear's- 
 Day, they sing the songs of "Jessie", the Flower o Dunblane" and the 
 "Fareweel." They sent us a copy of the "Fareweel," and we observed 
 several words are not the same as in the printed editions ; for instance, the 
 word "plighted" is pledged. We have tested the statements, and found 
 them substantially correct. We next examined the Lair-Book, and found 
 the Lair, No. 552, belonged to her husband's faraily ; and observing a 
 deleted jotting, we asked and received an explanation of it. We then called 
 on one of the' individuals referred to,— an octogenarian gentleman, — who 
 happened to be a nephew of Janet Tennant's husband, and he showed us 
 the original certificate of the Lair, No. 552, dated 21st November, 1792, and 
 signed by John Watson, treasurer. We then inquired if there was anything 
 peculiar respecting Janet Tennant, and he, quite offhand, replied that she was 
 Tannahlll's lass, which was well known to the family at the time. 
 
 We may here state that Tannahill became intimately acquainted with 
 William M 'Laren in 1803, and E. A. Smith in the beginning of 1804. M 'Laren 
 has related in his biography of the Poet that the only amour TannahlU had 
 was the one in connection with the song, "Accuse me not." Smith has said 
 "the third stanza (of 'Jessie, the Flower o Dunblane *) was not written till 
 several months after the others were finished." Perhaps he would have 
 been nearer the truth If he had used the word " years " instead of 
 "months," — the difference of composition indicating they had been com- 
 posed in a dissimilar frame of mind. We are of opinion the first and second 
 stanzas were wiitten during his courtship of Jenny Tennant, and suppressed 
 at the publication of the first edition, but not destroyed, from the excellence 
 of composition. The song appeared in the Scots Magazine of itarch, 1808, 
 and Smith composed music for it, which was published -by J. Stevens, 
 Wilson Street, Glasgow. The song became very popular from Jack Shaw, 
 a comic singer and an eccentric comedian in the company of Mr. James 
 Moss of the Paisley Theatre singing it there, and also at Braham's Concerts 
 in Glasgow and London. We have given a fuller account of Jack Shaw in 
 the Notes to a letter from Tannahill to Smith, dated 27th Aug-ust, 1808, 
 enclosing a copy of the song for Mr. Shaw. The reader is accordingly 
 referred to that letter, which seemed at first sight not worth printing, but 
 has ultimately become the most romantic in the whole Correspondence. — £d, 
 
ECHOES O THE WOODS O BOWGREEN. 2x3 
 
 Tho mine were the station o loftiest graiideur, 
 Amidst its profusion I'd languish in pain, 
 
 And reckon as naething the heicht o its splendour, 
 If wantin sweet Jessie; the flower o Dunblane. 
 
 76. 
 
 ECHOES O THE WOODS O BOWGREEN. 
 
 Set to Music by R. A. Smith. 
 
 Ye echoes that ritig roun the woods o Bowgreen,* 
 Say, did ye e'er listen sae meltin a strain, 
 
 When lovely young Jessie gaed wand'rin unseen, 
 An sung o her laddie, the pride o the plain ? 
 
 Aye she sang, " Willie, my bonnie young Willie ! 
 
 There's no a sweet flow'r oh the mountain or Valley, 
 
 Mild blue spritl'd crawflow'r, or wild woodland lily. 
 But tynes a its sweets in my bonnie young swain. 
 
 Thou goddess o Love, keep him constant tae me. 
 
 Else, with'rin in sorrow, puir Jessie shall dee !" 
 
 fneHf — the common or vulgar name for Balgreen. Balgreen is 
 situated in the parish of Lochwiimoch, Renfrewshire, in the north-west of 
 the parish. Balgreen at one time belonged to the Fultons, and lay to the 
 south of the lands of Langcraft. Langcraft belonged to relations of the 
 Poet's mother, and there she had been partly brought up with her uncle, 
 Hugh Brodic. The Poet, in visiting his maternal relations at Langcraft, 
 would hear the " echoes that ring roun the woods o Bowgreen. " Calderwood 
 Glen, Balgreen, and Langcraft, are in the neighbourhood of each other. 
 
214 SONGS. 
 
 Her laddie had stra/d through the dark leafy wood, 
 His thoughts war a fixt on his dear lassie's charms, 
 He heard her sweet voice, a transported he stood, 
 Twas the soul o his wishes — he flew tae her arms. 
 " No, my dear Jessie ! my lovely young Jessie ! 
 Thro simmer, thro winter, I'll daut an caress thee, 
 Thou'rt dearer than life ! thou'rt my ae enly lassie ! 
 
 Then, banish thy bosom these needless alarms : 
 Yon red setting sun sooner changefu shall be. 
 Ere wav'ring in falsehood I. wander frae thee." 
 
 77. 
 
 THE FAREWEEL.* 
 
 Air — "Lord Gregory." 
 
 Accuse me not, inconstant fair, 
 
 Of being false to thee, 
 For I was true, would still been so, 
 
 Hadst thou been true to me. 
 
 * William M'Laren, who became intimately acquainted with Tannahill 
 in 1803, continued a chief companion of the Poet's, and was one of the twq 
 original biographers of Tannahill. In writing the life of his friend in 1815, 
 he devoted four pages to the Poet's first and only amour; but he has neither 
 mentioned the name of the beloved one, nor the time and length of the 
 courtship. Prom the flowery language with which M'Laren has wreathed 
 th:^ incident, the following may be given as the substance of the matter : — 
 "Another suitor came forward whose addresses were not rejected ; and the 
 Vulture of Jealousy fixed her talons in the heart of Tannahill, and he sent 
 the above verses to her as an eternal farewell, and then left Paisley for 
 England." All the other biographers of Tannahill are alike deficient in 
 dates and chronological order, — prior events frequently appearing after 
 
THE FAREWEEL. 215 
 
 But when I knew thy plighted lips 
 
 Once to a rival's prest, 
 Love-smothered independence rose, 
 
 And spurned thee from my breast. 
 
 subsequent occurrences. It has been also stated by several of these life. 
 writers that Tannahill was never in love; but the above verses evidently 
 convey the feelings of one who had himself suffered the pangs of slighted 
 love, deep and severe, from his betrothed. 
 
 In making our investigation, we heard of six females whose friends had 
 supposed their relation had at one time been loved by Tannahill. Two of 
 them appeared to have had such a slender hold on the Poet that we dis- 
 missed them at once without taking down their names. The next three 
 were each sisters of poets, — one of them having come from Dunblane,— and 
 all of them were about ten years younger than the Poet, and his acquain- 
 tance with them would occur after his return from England in 1802. The 
 names of two have already appeared in print, and we will take notice of them 
 here. One of these was Jennie King, sister of John Eing, weaver and poet, 
 Paisley (referred to in the Notes to Noa. 6 and 73). This amour will be 
 found related in the "Life of Tannahill " contributed in the year 1857 to 
 the Paisley Literary/ Wallet, Vol. II., page 2,— a periodical of considerable 
 merit, — and seems, so far as this matter is concerned, to have been an 
 abridgment of the version given by M'Laren, with the name of Jeanie King 
 ' filled in. The other was Mary Allan, sister of Robert Allan, weaver and 
 poet, Kilbarchan (to whom the Epistle No. 26 was addressed), — a woman as 
 modest and retiring as Tannahill himself. It was related by Mr. John 
 Shaw, chairman of the Soiree at the celebration of the Centenary of Robert 
 Allan on 5th November, 1874. The chairman stated she was a sweetheart 
 of Tannahill's, and he had written both verses and letters to her. We 
 heard of the story long before the chairman made it public, and intended 
 to make enquiries. On the 25th of January, 1875, we wrote Mrs. Janet 
 Stewart or Allan, relict of Mr. George Allan, druggist, Irwinton, Alabama, 
 United States, son of Robert Allan (with whom Mary Allan resided 
 before her decease twelve years ago), mentioniug the Centenaries of 
 Robert Tannahill and Robert Allan, and particularly regarding the state- 
 ment of the chairman of the Soiree. We asked her to transmit the verses 
 and letters, if they had been preserved, that we might publish them 
 in this volume, and, if destroyed, to write a copy of the verses and the 
 import of the letters ; and if she did not remember them, to say whether 
 she ever saw them or heard Miss Allan say she had received them. We 
 have not received an answer ; but we saw Mr. William Caldwell, cabinet- 
 maker, Glasgow, who informed us he had written George Allan's eldest 
 daughter to the same effect on the 18th of the same month, and showed us 
 tlie answer which he had received from her. It stated that she had written 
 
2l6 SONGS. 
 
 The fairest flow'r in Nature's field, 
 
 Conceals the rankling thorn ; 
 So thou, sweet fiow'r ! as false as fair, 
 
 This once kind heart hath torn. 
 Twas mine to prove the fellest pangs 
 
 That slighted love can feel ; 
 Tis thine to weep that one rash act, 
 
 Which bids this long fareweel. 
 
 her mother (the lady to whom we had addressed our letter of enquiry) 
 on the subject, and received a reply from her, as follows : — " To think 
 of timid, modest, retiring Aunty, how would she have shrunk within 
 herself at the thought of her name being mentioned in connection with 
 Taunahill in such a manner ! It must have been from dread of such an 
 exposure that not 'even a line or letter of any description could be found in 
 her collection. Anticipating her decease, she must have destroyed all 
 traces of this romance of her early days. She never mentioned his name 
 but once, and then seemed overcome at recollection of his unhappy fate." 
 We have since seen a nephew of Miss Mary Allan, who stated to us that his 
 Aunt had shown him the verses and letters ; but he had no recollection of 
 their contents owing to the length of time that had elapsed. She died in 
 Irwinton about twelve years ago, aged 79. However anxious the friends of 
 these two ladies were to encourage the addresses of Tannahill, we are 
 inclined to believe it never went beyond Platonic love — the same friendship 
 for the sisters that the Poet had for the two brothers, None of these 
 parties acknowledged the " Fareweel " was applicable to them. The sixth 
 and remaining, and we believe the only sweetheart of Tannaliill, was Jenny 
 Teunaut, to whom we have so fully referred in our Notes to "Jessie, the 
 Flower o Dunblane," No. 75. It has been admitted by her descendants that 
 she received the verses of the * ' Fareweel, " and her children and grandchildren 
 sing them every New-Year's-Day. There can be no doubt that is the 
 person to whom M'Laren in his " Life of Tannahill" referred. 
 
 Since the above Note was written, we have met with the descendants of 
 three other ladies who all maintained that the song of ' ' Jessie, the Flower o 
 Dunblane " was made upon their respective mothers ; but neither of them 
 .would admit the "Fareweel." The same amount of evidence which either 
 of them possessed as to their ancestors being the real Jessie might be pro- 
 duced by every Jessie that lived in Paisley in the time of Tannaiiill. — Sd. 
 
UNREQUITED LOVE. 217 
 
 78. 
 
 UNREQUITED LOVE. 
 
 Lone in yon dark sequester'd grove, 
 
 Poor hapless Lubin* strays; 
 A prey to ill-requited love, 
 
 He spends his joyless days : 
 Ah ! cruel Jessie, couldst thou know 
 
 What worthy heart was thine. 
 Thou ne'er hadst wrong'd poor Lubin so, 
 
 Nor left that heart to pine. 
 
 79. 
 
 O LA'DDIE, CAN YE LEA ME ! 
 
 O LADDIE, can ye lea me ! 
 
 Alas ! twill break this constant heart ! 
 There's nocht on earth can grieve me 
 
 Like this, that we must pairt. 
 
 Think on the tender vow you made 
 Beneath the secret birken shade. 
 
 And can you now deceive me ! 
 Is a your luve but airt ? 
 
 Timid as a Lubin. — Said of a chicken-hearted person. — Ed. 
 C 2 
 
2l8 SONGS. 
 
 80. 
 
 OUR BONNIE SCOTS LADS.* 
 Set to Music by Mr. J^ohft Ross, Orga?itst, Aberdeen. 
 
 Our bonnie Scots lads in their green tartan plaids, 
 Their blue-belted bonnets, an feathers sae braw, 
 
 Rankt up on the green war fair tae be seen, 
 But my bonnie young laddie was fairest o a ; 
 
 * In noticing this song in the "Soldier's Return," page 11, we added a 
 Note referring to the eminent composer of the music ; and we now again 
 refer to Mr. Ross with greater pleasure from the following accidental 
 conversation respecting other music of the composer : — On Thursday 
 evening, 4th August, 1875, we met Mr. John Walker, Wellmeadow, a 
 good amateur player on the pianoforte, who, observiug a hook in our 
 hands, asked the name of the old, volume ; when we told him it was so new 
 that it had not reached the length of receiving a name, as it consisted 
 of the printed sheete only of this volume. He then remarked that he had 
 Just risen from playing one of the finest pieces of music that had 
 ever passed through his hands, — a perfect treasure, — so precious that he 
 would not lend it to any person in case it would not he returned to him. 
 He mentioned that the words were "An Ode to Charity," and the music — 
 " such excellent music " — was composed by a John Ross. We then stated to 
 Mr. Walker that Mr. Ross had composed the music for several of Tannahill's 
 songs, and opened up page 11, and desired him to read the Note on Mr. Ross. 
 On reading over that brief biography of Mr. Ross, he expressed himself so 
 pleased and gratified that we held the same opinion of that distinguished 
 composer, and remarked that it was no wonder Tannahill's songs were often 
 sung when the music was set by such an exquisite composer. W^ told him 
 that Ross had published a large folio volume of music, and we had searched 
 the libraries of Glasgow and Edinburgh, and made enquiries in Aberdeen 
 and in the British Museum, and also advertised for a copy, all without 
 success. Mr, Walker kindly lent us the volume, which is entitled — "An 
 Ode to Charity, written by Mr. John Rannie. Set to Music with an accompani- 
 ment for -the Pianoforte, and respectfully dedicated to Mrs. James Gordon 
 of Craig, by John Ross, Organist of St. Paul's, Aberdeen. Price 5s. Lon- 
 don : Printed and Sold by Preston, at his Wholesale Warehouse, 97 Strand." 
 It is an engraved 4to. of 21 pages without date, but seems to have been 
 published in the end of last century from the colour of the paper. ~Bd, 
 
LASSIE, WILL YE TAK A MAN. 219 
 
 His cheeks war as red as the sweet heather-bell, 
 Or the red western chid lookin doun on the snaw ; 
 
 His lang yellow hair owre his braid shouthers fell. 
 An the een o the lasses war fix't on him a. 
 
 My heart sank wi wae on the wearifu day. 
 
 When torn frae my bosom they march'd him awa, 
 He bade me fareweel, he cried — " Oh, be leel !" 
 
 An his red cheeks war wet wi the tears that did fa. 
 Ah ! Harry, mylove, tho' thou ne'er shou'dst return. 
 
 Till life's latest hour I thy absence will mourn : 
 An memory shall fade like the leaf on the tree, 
 
 E'er my heart spare ae thocht on anither but thee. 
 
 81. 
 
 LASSIE, WILL YE TAK A MAN? 
 
 Air, — " Whistle owre the lave o't,'' 
 
 O LASSIE, will ye tak a man. 
 Rich in housin, gear, an Ian ? 
 Deil tak the cash ! that I soud ban, — 
 Nae mair I'll be the slave o't. 
 
 I'll buy you claise tae busk you braw, 
 
 A ridin pownie, pad an a ; 
 
 On fashion's tap we'll drive awa. 
 
 Whip, spur, an a the lave o't. 
 
SONGS. 
 
 Oh, poortith is a wintry day ! 
 Cheerless, blirtie, caul, an blae. 
 But baskin under Fortune's ray, 
 
 There's joy whate'er ye'd have o't. 
 
 Then gie's your han, ye'll be my wife, 
 I'll mak you happy a your life ; 
 We'll row in luve and siller rife. 
 
 Till death win up the lave o't. 
 
 82. 
 
 MY DEAR HIELAN LADDIE.* 
 
 Air, — *'Morneen I Gaberland." ^ 
 1803. 
 
 Blythe was the time when he fee'd wi my faither, O, 
 Happy war the days when we herded thegither, O, 
 Sweet war the hours when he row'd me in his plaidie, O, 
 An vowed tae be mine, my dear Hielan laddie, O. 
 
 * Note by R. A. Smith in the "Harp of Renfrewshire," page xxxiv. — "My 
 first introduction to Tannahill was in consequence of hearing his song 
 ' Blythe was the time ' sung while it was yet in manuscript. I was so much 
 struck with the beauty and natural simplicity of the language that I found 
 means shortly afterwards of being introduced to its author. The acquain- 
 tance thus formed between us gradually ripened into a warm and steady 
 friendship, that was never interrupted in a single Instance till his lamented 
 death." 
 
 + Note hy Lamb. — *' R. A. Smith, in his Scottish Minstrel calls the aii" to 
 which this song is sung 'Mornian aGhibarlan.' The firat, second, thirdi 
 and last verses are those of the Interlude ; the fourth verse appeared in the 
 1815 edition." 
 
MY DEAR HIELAN LADDIE. 221 
 
 But, ah! waes me! wi their sodg'ring sae gaudie, O, 
 The laird's wyst awa my braw Hielan laddie, O ; 
 Misty are the glens, and the dark hiUs sae cludie, O, 
 That aye seemt sae blythe wi my dear Hielan laddie, O. 
 
 The blaeberry banks, noo, are lanesome an dreary, O, 
 Muddy are the streams that gusht-doun sae clearly, O, 
 Silent are the rocks that echoed sae gladly, O, 
 The wild meltin strains o my dear Hielan laddie, O. 
 
 He pu'd me the cranberry, ripe frae the boggy fen,* 
 He pu'd me the strawberry, red frae the fuggy glen, t 
 He pu'd me the row'n frae the wild steep sae giddy, O, J 
 Sae lovin an kind was my dear Hielan laddie, O. 
 
 The wliole of this song first appeared in 1805, in Millar's Pauley Xepodtori/, 
 No. III. See Notes to this song in the "Soldier's Eetum," page 19, and first 
 Note to No. 16. Both Tannahill and Smith have written the words phoneti- 
 cally from hearing them pronounced. The proper Gaelic orthography is Mor 
 nighean a Qhioharian, and means Sarah the daughter from Giberland. 
 Tannahill seems to have understood the meaning when he made Jean con- 
 tinue the dialogue — 
 
 " Thro' distant touns 111 stray a hapless stranger. 
 In thochts o' him 111 brave pale want and danger. 
 An as I go, puir weepin mournfu pond'rer. 
 Still some kind heart will cheer the weary waud'rer," — 
 by recognising and naming her 'Jean the daughter from Glenfeoch.' — Ed. 
 
 * Cranberry. Vaccinium Ozycoccos. Grows in bogs or marshes on 
 Gleniffer Braes. Stems from 5 to 10 inches high. Leaves evergreen. 
 Flowers drooping of a beautiful flesh colour, singularly elegant. Berries 
 pale red, mottled or purplish, red when ripe. — Ed. 
 
 t Wood Strawberry. Fragaria Vesca. Found in hedges and woods on 
 Gleniffer braes. Leaves usually serrulate. Flowers corymbose. Fruit red, 
 drooping. The berries are fragrant and juicy. — Ed. 
 
 t Row'n tree or mountain ash. Fyi'vs Aucuparia. Abundant in woods 
 and on precipices in Gleniffer braes. A small handsome tree. Flowers 
 white, small with considerable odour. Fruit orange red, size of a pea, acid 
 and austere. Branches used by the credulous to prevent witchcraft.— 5d. 
 
SONGS. 
 
 Fareweel my ewes ! an fareweel my doggie, 0, 
 Fareweel ye knowes ! noo sae cheerless an scroggie, O ; 
 Fareweel, Glenfeoch ! my mammie an my daddie, O, 
 I will lea ye a for my dear Hielan laddie, O. 
 
 83. 
 
 LANGSYNE BESIDE THE WOODLAN BURN.* 
 
 Set to Music by R. A. Smith, and also by Mr. 
 yohn Ross. 
 
 Langsyne beside the woodlan burn, 
 
 Amang the brume sae yellow, 
 I leant me neath the milk white thorn. 
 
 On Nature's mossy pillow; 
 A roun my seat the flowers were strew'd. 
 That frae the wild wood I had pu'd, 
 To weave mysel a simmer snood, 
 Tae pleasure my dear fellow. 
 
 I twin'd the woodbine roun the rose, 
 
 Its richer hues tae mellow, 
 Green sprigs of fragrant birk I chose, 
 
 Tae busk the segg' sae yeUow.f 
 
 * This song first appeared in tlie Glasgov) Nightingale of 1806j page 213, 
 with the title of "The Willow."— £ii. 
 
 t Compare tMs verse with the 36th and SVth lines of Burns* Ode for 1805, 
 No. 6.— .B((. 
 
THE DUSKY GLEN. 
 
 The crawflow'r blue, an meadow-pink, 
 I wove in primrose braided link ; 
 But little, little did I think 
 
 I shoud hae wove the willow.' * 
 
 My bonnie lad was forc'd away. 
 
 Tost on the raging billow ; 
 Perhaps he's faun in bludie war, 
 Or wreck't on rocky shallow : 
 Yet, ay I hope for his return, 
 As roun our wonted haunts I mourn. 
 And aften by the woodlan burn, 
 I pu the weepin willow. 
 
 223 
 
 84. 
 
 THE DUSKY GLEN, t 
 
 Set to Music by Mr. y^ohn Ross, Organist, Aberdeen. 
 
 We'll meet beside the dusky glen, on yon burn side, 
 Whar the bushes form a cozie den, on yon burn side, 
 
 Tho the brumy knowes be green, 
 
 Yet, there we may be seen. 
 But we'll meet — we'll meet at e'en, doun byyon burn side. 
 
 I'll lead thee to the birken bow'r, on yon burn side, 
 Sae sweetly wove wi woodbine flow'r, on yon burn side. 
 
 There the busy prying eye. 
 
 Ne'er disturbs the lovers' joy, 
 While in ithers' arms they lie, doun by yon bum side. 
 
 * The emblem of mourning for an af&anced lover, f See Note on page 25. 
 
2 24 SONGS. 
 
 Awa ye rude unfeeling crew, frae yon burn side, 
 Those fairy scenes are no for you, by yon burn side, — 
 There Fancy smooths her theme. 
 By the sweetly murm'ring stream, 
 An the rock lodg'd echoes skim, doun by yon burn side. 
 
 Noo the plantin taps are ting'd wi goud, on yon burn side. 
 
 And gloamin draws her fuggy shroud o'er yon burn side. 
 Far frae the noisy scene, ' 
 
 I'll thro the fiel's alane, [side. 
 
 There we'll meet — My ain dear Jean ! doun by yon bum 
 
 85. 
 
 FROM THE RUDE BUSTLING CAMR 
 
 A/r, — "My laddie is gane," 
 
 From the rude'bustling camp to the calm rural plain, 
 I've come, my dear Jeanie, to bless thee again ; 
 Still burning for honour our warriors may roam. 
 But the laurel I wished for, I've won it at home : 
 All the glories of conquest no joy could impart. 
 When far from the kind little girl of my heart ; 
 Now, safely returned, I will learve thee no more. 
 But love my dear Jeanie till life's latest hour. 
 
 The sweets of retirement, how pleasing to me ; 
 Possessing all worth, my dear Jeanie, in thee ! 
 Our flocks' early bleating will wake us to joy, 
 And our raptures exceed the warm tints in the sky ! 
 
KILLOCH BURN. 22 5 
 
 In sweet rural pastimes our days still will glide, 
 TUl Time, looking back, will admire at* his speed, 
 Still blooming in virtue, tho' youth then be o'er, 
 I'll love my dear Jeanie till life's latest hour. 
 
 86. 
 
 KILLOCH BURN, 
 
 OR 
 
 ALL HAIL ! YE DEAR ROMANTIC SCENES.f 
 
 Air — Mr. Hamilton of Wishaw's Strathspey. 
 
 1803. 
 
 All hail ! ye dear romantic scenes. 
 Where oft, as eve stole o'er the sky. 
 
 You've found me by the mountain streams, 
 Where blooming wildflowers charm the eye. 
 
 * Note by Raimay.—" 'Admire at/ that is — 'wonder at,* according to a 
 rather antiquated meaning of words." 
 
 + In 1803, Tannahill received from his acquaintance, James Scadlock^ a 
 small manuscript volume of original Scottish Poems composed hy William 
 Livingstone, William Anderson, James Scadlock himself, and John King, 
 which had been collected in that form by Scadlock. Tannahill on returning 
 the volume, wrote an Epistle (No. 19) to him in April, 1803, giving his opinion 
 of tlie merits of each of these compositions. In reference to Scadlock's poetry, 
 he said — 
 
 " Tour 'Levern Banks' an ' Killoch Bv/rUt' 
 Ye sing them wi sae sweet a turn 
 Ye gar the heart-strings thrill." 
 
 This song first appeared in print in 1806 in the Qlasgovi Nightingale, page 
 D 2 
 
2 26 SONGS. 
 
 The sun's now setting in the west, — 
 Mild are his beams on hill and plain ; 
 
 No sound is heard save Killoch burn,* 
 Deep murm'ring down its woody glen. 
 
 Green be thy banks, thou silver stream 
 That winds the flowery braes among, 
 
 Where oft I've woo'd the Scottish muse, 
 And raptur'd wove the rustic sang. 
 
 212, with the title "KiUochbum." It was probably transmitted to the 
 editor by Tannahill for Scadlock, and, appearing among the contributed 
 pieces of Tannahill, may have been supposed to have been one of his own. 
 In the last verse, the word Ji'ameze is printed where the word "flowery" is 
 presently used. R. A. Smith shortly before his death on 3rd January, 1829, 
 presented a letter dated 27th August, 1808, which he had received from Tanna- 
 hill, to his friend and correspondent, Mr. Alexander Laing, poet, Brechin. In 
 1833, Laing, who was a great admirer of Tannahill, printed and published 
 in Brechin an 18mo. edition of TannahilVs Songs. The compiler remarked 
 that the reader would find in that volume aU the Author's songs formerly 
 published, "with the addition of one of his laUst compositions 'All Hail 
 ye dear romantic scenes, ' which was kindly communicated to the compiler 
 by his lamented friend and correspondent, R. A. Smith." In Ramsay's 
 edition of 1838, this song also appeared without note or comment ; and we 
 are of opinion he knew nothing of Laing*s edition, and must also have 
 obtained the copy of the song from the same person, R. A. Smith. There 
 can be no doubt this song was composed by James Scadlock, and Tannahill 
 himself has candidly admitted it in his Epistle to James Scadlock, No. 19, 
 page 90. In 1818, the posthumous works of James Scadlock were pubUshed, 
 and ttie above song was printed as one of them. — Ed. 
 
 * This bum, marked Glenkilloch on the map, is the division between 
 Auchentiber and Killoch farms on Fereneze Braes, and falls into the Levem 
 rivulet opposite Broadley Mill. Near the termination of the bum, there are 
 several beautiful cascades, which may be called the Falls of Clyde in 
 miniature. — Ed. 
 
YE DEAR ROMANTIC SHADES. 227 
 
 87. 
 
 YE DEAR ROMANTIC SHADES.* 
 
 Air — "Mrs. Hamilton of Wishaw's Strathspey.^ 
 1806. 
 
 Far from the giddy court of mirth, 
 Where sickening follies reign, 
 
 By Levern banks f I wander forth 
 To hail each sylvan scene. 
 
 All hail, ye dear romantic shades ! 
 
 Ye b^nks, ye woods, and sunny glades ! 
 
 Here oft the musing poet treads 
 In Nature's riches great : 
 
 Contrasts the country with the town, 
 Makes Nature's beauties all his own, 
 And, borne on fancy's wings, looks down 
 
 On empty pride and state. 
 By dewy dawn, or sultry noon, 
 
 Or sober evening gray, 
 I often quit the dinsome town, 
 
 By Levern banks to stray. 
 
 * This song first appeared in the GUtsgow Nightingale of 1806, page 150. 
 See the first Note to No. IS.—Bd. 
 
 t The Xjevem rivulet has its source in the Long Loch, four miles above the 
 village of _ Neilston, and after its noisy passage through the parish of that 
 name, enriching the district by its valuable water for driving power, and 
 receiving suppb'es from tributary streamlets, merges in the River Cart near 
 Crocston Castle.— ^d!. 
 
228 SONGS. 
 
 Or from the upland's mossy brow 
 
 Enjoy the fancy pleasing view 
 
 Of streamlets, woods, and fields below. 
 
 And sweetly varied scene. 
 Give riches to the miser's care, 
 Let folly shine in fashion's glare. 
 Give me the wealth of peace and health, 
 
 With all their happy train. 
 
 88. 
 THE FLOWER O' LEVERN SIDE.* 
 
 Ye sunny braes that skirt the Clyde, f 
 Wi simmer flowers sae braw, 
 
 There's ae sweet flower on Levern side. 
 That's fairer than them a': 
 
 Yet aye it droops its head in wae, 
 
 Regardless o the sunny ray, 
 
 An wastes its sweets frae day to day. 
 Beside the lanely shaw. 
 
 * Note by Ramsay. — " The Levern (which must not he confounded with 
 the Leven of Smollet's Ode) is a rivulet that falls into the Cart near 
 Crockston Castle." 
 
 + "The simny braes that skirt the Clyde" are seen from the summit of 
 Gleniffer and Fereneze Braes, 580 feet high. Standing there, one of the 
 most magnificent and varied scenes is opened up to view, — the great valley of 
 Strathgryffe, in the highest state of cultivation, dotted over with mansions 
 and plantations, lies at your feet ; and in the distance the KUpatrick Hills 
 from Partick to Dumbarton — the " sunny braes that skirt the Clyde ' '. — where 
 the great luminary, when he shines, always shines with freshness and 
 brilliancy.— M. 
 
CRUIKSTON castle's LANELY WA's. 229 
 
 Wi leaves a steep'd in sorrow's dew, 
 Fause, cruel man, it seems to rue, 
 Wha aft the sweetest flower will pu, 
 Then rend its heart in twa. 
 
 Thou bonnie flower on Levern side, 
 ~-Oh, gin thou'lt be but mine, 
 I'll tend thee wi a lover's pride, 
 
 Wi love that ne'er shall tyne. 
 I'll tak thee to my shelt'ring bower, 
 An shiel thee frae the beating shower. 
 Unharmed by aucht thou'lt blume secure 
 
 Frae a the blasts that blaw : 
 Thy charms surpass the crimson dye 
 That streaks the glowing western sky ; 
 But here, unshaded, soon thou'lt die. 
 
 An lane will be thy fa. 
 
 89. 
 
 CRUIKSTON CASTLE'S LANELY WA'S.* 
 
 September, 1808. 
 
 Set to Music by Mr. J^ohn Eoss, Organist, Aberdeen. 
 
 Thro Cruikston Castle's lanely wa's 
 
 The wintry wind howls wild and dreary ; 
 
 Tho mirk the cheerless e'ening fa's, 
 Yet I ha'e vow'd to meet my Mary : 
 
 * This song first appeared in the September number of the Scoti Magazine 
 for 1808, and was set to music by Mr. John Ross of Aberdeen. Ramsay, 
 however, says it was "arranged by Smith." We have given s, facsimile 
 
230 SONGS. 
 
 Ah ! Mary, tho the wind should rave 
 Wi jealous spite to keep me frae thee, 
 
 The darkest stormy night I'd brave, 
 For ae sweet secret moment wi thee. 
 
 of the song in the handwriting of the Author in the frontispiece, containing 
 Mr. Ross's name as the composer of the music. — JSd. 
 
 liote hy Ramsay. — " So early as the 12th century, the baronies of Crookstou, 
 Damley, and Neilston, belonged to a family of the name of Croc, from whom 
 it passed by marriage in the following century to a younger brother of the 
 house of Stewart, ancestor of Lord Darnley, husband of Queen Mary. At 
 Crookston Castle, according to a questionable tradition, that princess 
 occasionally resided ; and near it she awaited the issue of the Battle of 
 Langside, which was fought in the neighbourhood, and ended in the defeat 
 of her adherents, and in her flight to England; This ancient edifice now 
 belongs to Sir John Maxwell, who takes great care to prevent the further 
 dilapidation of 'the ruins grey.' ' Hard by the Castle' (said Crawfurd, the 
 historian of the County, who wrote in 1710) 'is to be seen that noble 
 monument the Yew Tree, called the * Tree of Crockston ; " of so large a 
 trunk and well spread in its branches that 'tis seen at several miles distance 
 from the ground where it stands.' From its traditional connexion with the 
 history of Hhe most unhappy of an unhappy race,' this venerable tree was 
 regarded with great interest. The withered trunk was removed only about 
 twenty years ago. Its memory is preserved in relics, such as quaighs and 
 snufl-boxes." 
 
 Crocston, Cruxton, Crookston, or Cruikatcn Castle, the oldest baronial 
 building in thp Barony of Renfrew, erected about 1150 by Robert Croc, the 
 Anglo-Norman companion of the first High Steward, both of whose lineal 
 descendants were the unfortunate Henry, Lord Damley, and the still more 
 unfortunate Queen Marie. The Castle was inhabited by Matthew, 2nd Earl 
 of Lennox, married to Elizabeth Hamilton, sister of James, 1st Earl of 
 Arran, till 1506, when he abandoned the Castle, and removed to the Palace 
 he had erected on the lands of Inchinnan. He was slain at the Battle of 
 Flodden Field on 9th September, 1513. His grandson, Matthew, 4th Earl of 
 Lennox, in March, 1544, fled to England, and was married there in July 
 thereof to Margaret Douglas, aunt uterine of Queen Marie. In 1545, the 
 Earl of Lennox was. declared a traitor, and his estates in Renfrewshire 
 forfeited, and conferred on Lord SempiU. After nineteen years' exile, the 
 Earl was restored by Queen Marie, and he returned to Scotland on 23rd 
 September, 1563. Henry Stewart, Lord Damley, his second son, bom in 
 1546, named after King Henry VIII., arrived in Scotland on 13th February, 
 1564-5, and was mm-dered on 9th February, 1566-7; and, therefore, only 
 resided one year and 361 days in Scotland. The tradition that the courtship 
 of Queen Marie and Lord Darnley took place at Crocston under the "Yew 
 
CRUIKSTON castle's LANELY WA's. 23 1 
 
 Loud, o'er Cardonald's rocky steep, 
 
 Rude Cartha * pours in boundless measure ; 
 
 But I will ford the whirling deep, 
 That roars between me an my treasure : 
 
 * Note by iiamsay.— "Tannahill here, and Bums in his song of 'Where 
 Cart'rins rowln to the sea,' describes the appearance which this usually 
 sluggish stream presents during 'a spate.' Grahame, the author of 'The 
 Sabbath/ who in childhood lived amongst the 
 
 rura, qua Liris quieta 
 
 Mordet qua, iacitjimia amniB. 
 exhibits it in a more pleasing aspect :— 
 
 ' Forth, from my low-roofed home, I wandered blithe 
 Down to thy side, sweet Cart, where, cross the stream, 
 A range of stones below a shallow ford 
 Stood in the place of the now-spanning arch. ' 
 
 ' The Birds of Scotland/ p. S7." 
 
 Cardonald lies on the opposite side of the River Cart from Crocston lands. 
 Cartha is the Latinised word of the Gaehc name of Cairt; Norman name 
 Eert, and the modern name Cart. — Fd. 
 
 Tree" is not correct. Their first meeting took place at Weemys Castle, 
 Fifeshire, on 16th February, 1564-5 ; and the Queen was not at Crocston — 
 not even in the west country— between that date and the marriage on 29th 
 July, 1565. The other doubtful tradition of the Royal pair passing the 
 honeymoon at Crocston is equally incorrect. Who would believe that a 
 King and Queen would retire to spend their happiest days in a castle that 
 had been abandoned for sixty years, — the latter nineteen of which had 
 been passed in exile by Matthew, 4th Earl of Lennox, the forfeited owner, 
 father of Lord Damley ? Signor David Rizzio, the Queen's French Secre- 
 tary, was murdered on 9th March, 1565-6, which led to the complete 
 estrangement of the Royal couple ; so that the period between their first 
 meeting in Scotland and that occurrence was only one year and twenty-one 
 days. Every day and night can be accounted for where the Queen 
 resided during that space, and she was not at Crocston Oxstle. When Damley 
 came to visit his father, who resided in Glasgow, in December, 1566, he 
 lodged with William Erskine, Parson of Campsey (afterwards Commendator 
 of Paisley), in his manse in the Di-ygait, and not at the deserted' and 
 dilapidated Castle of Crocston. There is no evidence whatever of Queen 
 Marie visiting Crocston, and as little proof of Damley being there. The 
 - tradition of the " Crookston Dollar," with the " Tew Tree," which has also 
 got into print, is without foundation. The Privy Council on 2nd December, 
 1565, appointed a new coinage, to consist of three sizes,— the largest size to 
 
232 SONGS. 
 
 Yes, Mary, tho the torrent rave 
 Wi jealous spite to keep me frae thee, 
 
 Its deepest floods I'll bauldly brave, 
 For ae sweet secret moment wi thee. 
 
 bear "on the ane side ane palm-tree crownit,'" and tlie coin accordingly 
 bears a " Palm Tree " and not a Tew Tree. Ricinus Communis^ the common 
 palm tree, was introduced into Britain in 1548, and it was that species of the 
 palm which was ordered to be represented on the crownpiece. A yew tree — 
 a large yew tree — no doubt grew at Crocston, but it neither shaded the King 
 and Queen during their courtship or honeymoon, nor was it represented on 
 the coinage. Sir Walter Scott in his romance of the '* Abbot," published in 
 1820, (Abbot Hamilton of Paisley, Archbishop of Saint Andrews,) in addition 
 to making Queen Marie spend her bridal days and hold her first court after 
 her marriage at Crocston Castle, made her view the Battle of Langsyde, and 
 rout of her army, from the "Yew Tree" of Crocston. These romantic 
 visits are downright fictions. The yew tree was in the rear of the enemy — 
 the Eegent Moray's warriors ;-and theDamleyand Crocston tenants — ^the 
 Lennox men — were commanded by Lord Sempill, their recent martial chief, 
 in the Regent's interest. The great novelist may have borrowed the idea of 
 his fiction of separating the Queen from her own army, and placing her in 
 the awkward position behind her enemy's rear, from the spectral illusions 
 of the peasantry mentioned iu John Wilson's poem descriptive of the Clyde, 
 written in-1764, where that Poet, in reference to Crookston Castle, says : — 
 " Here, when the moon rides dimly through the sky. 
 The peasant sees broad dancing standards fiy ; 
 And one bright Female form with sword and crown. 
 Still grieves to view her banners beaten down." 
 The Queen was a fearless equestrian ; and mounted on her charger, standing 
 on a small eminence in the rear of her own army, beheld the confusion and 
 complete disaster of her supporters, when she fled and rode to Dundrennan 
 Abbey, sixty miles from the scene of action. The ruins of Crocston Castle 
 are the most picturesque in Renfrewshire, and have always formed a favourite 
 .subject for artists. One of the towers, which is still standing, in twenty- 
 one feet square and fifty-four feet high, and, being built on an eminence, 
 commands an extensive view of the country. The late Sir John Maxwell. 
 Bart, of PoUok, the Laird of Crocston, built a new stair to the top of the 
 "Castle's lanely wa's," that real female forms may ascend to the corbels to 
 flaunt their scarfs in the sunshine of day and view the peaceful valley, — 
 leaving the peasant's moonUght phantom of night to grieve over the horrid 
 scene of war — the beaten banners, and the dying and dead of a defeated 
 army. The i-uins— the superb ruins of the ancient Castle and Norman 
 towers of Croc — will become more interesting to the antiquary when freed 
 from the fiction of 1565, that this was the scene of the faithless vows of a 
 facile foolish boy who was murdered before his majority.— JFd. 
 
CRUIKSTON castle's LANELY WA's^. 233 
 
 The watch-dog's howling loads the blast, 
 And makes the nightly wand'rer eerie, 
 
 But when the lanesome way is past, 
 I'll to this bosom clasp my Mary.* 
 
 * When we were correcting the proof aheeta of this Song and Notea, a 
 Royal event occurred in Paisley, — ^the arrival of a lineal descendant of 
 Queen Marie. We thought we might be permitted to add a Kote to the last 
 stanza recording the occurrence, to prevent mistakes afterwards, that on 
 Tuesday, 21st September, 18T5, at five o'clock afternoon, His Royal Highness 
 Prince Leopold George Duncan Albert^ youngest son of Her Majesty Queen 
 Victoria, arrived at the Railway Station, County Square, Paisley, en route 
 for Blythswood, the seat of Colonel Archibald Campbell, three miles from 
 Paisley, near Renfrew. The Railway Station and County Buildings were 
 decorated with flags. The Prince was received by Colonel Campbell, and 
 introduced to Provost Murray, Colonel Holms, M.P., and Sheriff Cowan. 
 The Prince then entered an open carriage at the' station, and proceeded 
 through County Sc[uare, Gilmour Street, where we saw the Prince and suite 
 pass our windows. They drove down High Street, Smithhills Street, turned 
 into Lawn Street, and onwards to Blythswood. The streets had become 
 densely crowded in a few minutes, and the Prince was received with great 
 demonstrations of joy and respect, which ho frequently acknowledged. 
 Genealogical Table of Descent from Queen Marie. 
 1542. Queen Marie, bom 1542. 
 1567. King James YL, bom 1566. 
 
 Princess Elizabeth, his eldest daughter. 
 
 Queen of Bohemia, bom 1596. 
 Princess Sophia, her youngest daughter. 
 Duchess of Hanover, born 1630. 
 1714. King George L, bom 1660. 
 1727. King George IL, bom 1683. 
 
 Frederick, Prince of Wales, bom 1706. 
 1760. King George IIL, bom 1738. 
 
 Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, bom 1767. 
 1837. Queen Victoria, bom 1819. 
 
 Prince Leopold, bom 14th April, 1853. 
 
 ROYAL VISITS TO PAISLEY. 
 
 King James IV. and Queen Margaret visited Paisley on 
 
 Queen Marie, in . . 
 
 Queen Margaret, consort of King James VI., 
 
 King James VI., on 
 
 Prince Leopold, on 
 
 . 20th July, 1507. 
 
 July, 1563. 
 
 July, 1597. 
 
 23rd July, 1617. 
 
 . 21st Sept., 1875. 
 
 On Saturday, 25th September, 1875, the Prince and suite came to Paisley 
 again, and visited the shawl manufacturing establishments of Messrs. Robert 
 Kerr & Son in Seedbills and Thread Street, where the Prince was presented 
 with a beautiful Victoria tartan shawl and a fancy velvet rug. 
 
 The Prince also visited the venerable Abbey, of which the Charter ot 
 foundation was granted in July, 1163, by his illustrious ancestor, Walter, 
 High Steward of Scotland. 
 
 In passing the artistic bronze statue of Alexander Wilson, Poet and 
 Ornithologist, it was much admired by the Prince and his party. See Note 
 at page 63. 
 
 The Prince left Blythswood on Tuesday, 28th September, 1875. — Ed. 
 
 £ 2 
 
234 SONGS. 
 
 Yes, Mary, tho stern Winter rave 
 Wi a his storms to keep me frae thee, 
 
 The wildest dreary night I'll brave. 
 For ae sweet secret moment wi thee. 
 
 90. 
 
 THE LASS O ARRANTEENIE.* 
 
 Air — " I had a Horse." 
 
 Set to Music by Mr. J^ohn Ross of Aberdeen. 
 
 March, 1806, 
 
 Far lane amang the Hielan hills, 
 Midst Nature's wildest grandeur, 
 
 By rocky dens, an woody glens, 
 Wi weary steps I wander. 
 
 * This song firBt appeared in 1806 in Haver's Gleaner, page 136, — "Air, I 
 had a horse." See Ifoteto 'So. 6. Second in Leslie's Glaagovi Nightingalty 
 also in 1806, page 85. The first word in the first line is printed "Forlorn." 
 See first Note to No. IZ.—Ed. 
 
 Note by M'Zaren. — " In the autumn of the same year that this song (' The 
 Harper of Mull ') was writt'en, a friend of the Bard's set out with a party 
 of pleasure on an excursion to the interior parts of the Highlands of 
 Scotland. JRetuming home, chance directed him to lodge for the night at 
 Arranteenie, a respectable inn on the side of Loch Long. He was here 
 introduced to a young lady who resided with the family, whose manners 
 aud appearance formed a striking contrast to those of her sex he was accus- 
 tomed to see in other parts of his journey. On his return home," he was 
 visited hy the Bard, who, with friendly curiosity, inquired whether he had 
 seen anything entertaining on his journey. ' ! yes,' he exclaimed, ' I have 
 seen the most divine object in all created nature ! ' In fact, the lady had so 
 engrossed his soul, that all the grandeur and novelty of Highland scenery 
 were forgot. At the end of eight days, he returned to the inn ; but the 
 flame that had burned ao fast was exhausted, and he found the angel of his 
 hopes auuk into a frail and erring woman. The mania of his soul was 
 removed ; but the Bard had caught the infection of his disease^ and, in his 
 
THE LASS A'RRANTEENIE. 235 
 
 The langsome way, the darksome day, 
 
 The mountain mist sae rainy, 
 Are naucht tae me whan gaun tae thee, 
 
 Sweet lass o Arranteenie. 
 
 Yon mossy rosebud doun the howe. 
 
 Just op'ning fresh and bonny. 
 Blinks sweetly neath the hazel bough, 
 
 An's scarcely seen by ony : 
 Sae, sweet amidst her native hUls, 
 
 Obscurely blooms my Jeanie — 
 Mair fair an gay than rosy May, 
 
 The flower o Arraiiteenie.* 
 
 absence, wrote * The Lags o Arranteenie.' This lady has been so beautifully 
 decorated by the verses of the Poet, and, the exquisite music of his friend, 
 Mr. Smith, that she must longTemain a favourite -with the public." 
 
 Note by Ramsay. — " Written in honour of a young lady whom a friend of 
 the Poet's, during an excursion to the Highlands, accidentally met at 
 Arranteenie (properly Axdentinny), a romantic and sequestered spot on the 
 banks of Loch Long." 
 
 * Hugh Macdonald,. block printer at ColinsUe, Paisley, author of "Eam- 
 bles Round Glasgow," "Days at the Coast," and a posthumous volume of 
 Poetical Works, visited Edinburgh in August, 1846 ; and having had a long 
 and ardent desire to see the author of the " Isle of Palms," &c., — ^thc far- 
 famed ''Christopher North," — wrote a note to Prof essor Wilson on Friday 
 evening, the 21st of that month, asking an interview. On Saturday, he 
 received an answer from the Professor, fixing a meeting for that day or the 
 following. They met on Sunday, and had a long conversation, when they 
 came upon Tannahill's "Lass o Arranteenie" and Wordsworth's "Lucy." 
 Macdonald expressed himself favourably for the words of Tannahill. The 
 Professor said he was not aware of the lines, and asked Macdonald to repeat 
 them. Macdonald repeated Wordsworth's first : — 
 
 " She dwelt amongst the untrodden ways. 
 Beside the Springs of Dove : 
 A maid whom there were few to praise, 
 And none at all to love, 
 
236 SONGS. 
 
 Now, from the mountain's lofty brow, 
 I view the distant ocean. 
 
 There av'rice guides the bounding prow- 
 Ambition courts promotion ; 
 
 Let fortune pour her gouden store. 
 Her laureFd favours many, 
 
 Gie me but this, my soul's first wish, 
 The lass o Arranteenie.* 
 
 A violet by a mossy stone. 
 
 Half hidden from the eye ; 
 Fair as a star, when only one 
 
 Is shining in the sky." 
 
 The Professor thought the transition from the violet to the star was perhaps 
 too violent or too far-fetched. Tannahlll's lines are— 
 
 '' Far lane amang the Hielan hiUs, 
 Midst Nature's wildest grandeur ;" 
 Or rather 
 
 *' Yon mossy rosebud doun the howe, 
 
 Just opening fresh an bonny. 
 Blinks sweetly neath the hazel bough, 
 
 An's scarcely seen by ony : 
 Sae, sweet amidst her native hills, 
 
 Obscurely blooms my Jeanie— 
 Mair fair an gay than rosy May, 
 
 The lass Arranteenie ! " 
 
 The Professor at once allowed it was very beautifully expressed, at least 
 equal to Wordsworth's. It will be sung, whereas the other will not. — Bd. 
 
 * Several credulous persons, who have visited Ardentinny or the surround- 
 ing district, have frequently enquired for the lass ; and on being shown any 
 staid matron who said she was Jeanie, they believed her assertion without 
 further enquiry into the truth of the statement, and afterwards maintained 
 they had seen the "Lass Arranteenie. " In our investigations, we have 
 met many such credulous persons ; but they were soon upset with dates an4 
 a.ges.—Sd, 
 
THE BRAES O BALQUHITHER. 237 
 
 91. 
 
 THE BRAES O BALQUHITHER.* 
 
 Air — '* The three carles o Buchanan," 
 
 Let us go, lassie, go, 
 
 Tae the braes o Balquhither, 
 Whar the blaeberries grow 
 
 Mang the bonnie Hielan heather ; 
 Whar the deer and the rae, 
 
 Lichtly bounding taegither. 
 Sport the lang simmer day 
 
 On the braes o Balquhither, t 
 
 * This song appeared twice in R. A. Smith's Scotiah Minstrel,— Yo\. I., page 
 49, and Vol. IV., page 8$, — and he gives the A.ir, "The Braes o Balquither." 
 See last Note to "Braes o Gleniffer," No. QO.—Sd. 
 
 Note by Ramsay.—** Pponouuced Balwhither,—quh expressing the sound 
 wh in the Scottish language." 
 
 t Listening to this song is among the earliest of our recollections. Maiy 
 M'Intyre or Wright, the Highland domestic who took charge of us in the 
 days'of infancy, was continually crooning it over. She frequently mentioned 
 that she had been horn in the Farisl^ of Balquither, and, when a lassie, had 
 gathered blaeberries on the braes among the Highland heather. She often 
 pridefully remarked 'Uiat she had assisted her mother in baking bannocks 
 for the army of bonnie Prince Charlie on their march to CuUoden. Another 
 theme of hers was the exploits of Rob Roy Macgregor, who lay buried in 
 tlie churchyard of Balquhither. This faithful domestic servant died in 
 November, 1825, in the 85th year of her age. From the description of 
 vegetation and animals of the mountain mentioned in this song, and the 
 names of " Benvoirlich " and **Fillan Glen" mentioned in the song of 
 " Brave Lewie Roy," in the neighbourhood of the Braes of Balquither, but 
 in the adjoining Parish of Comrie, it may be inferred that TannahUl had 
 visited these places. In other songs, the Poet mentions the names of places 
 he had evidently seen, and where circumstances may have occurred sug- 
 gesting a subject for his Muse, and then setting the sohg to an old Axr.—Ed. 
 
23? 
 
 SONGS. 
 
 I will twine thee a bow'r, 
 
 By the clear siller fountain, 
 And 111 cover it o'er 
 
 Wi the flowers o the mountain ; 
 I will range thro the Wilds, 
 
 And the deep glens sae dreary. 
 An return wi their spoils, 
 
 Tae the bow'r o my deaty. 
 
 Whan the rude wintry win 
 
 Idly raves roun our dwellin, 
 And the roar o the linn 
 
 On the nicht breeze is Swellin ; 
 So merrily we'll sing. 
 
 As the Storm r'attles o'er us, 
 Till the dear shielin ring 
 
 Wi the licht liltin chorus. 
 
 Now the simmer is in prinie, 
 
 Wi the flowers richly bloomin, 
 Wi the wild mountain thyme 
 
 A the moorlan's perfumin ; 
 Tae our dear native scenes 
 
 Let us journey taegither, 
 Whar glad innocence reigns, 
 
 Mang the braes o Balquhither. 
 
 * Addition by William Finlayson^ Follokshaws :— 
 
 ' Now the Sun in the west 
 Is increasin our shadows. 
 An the cattle a tae rest 
 Gather roun ia the meadows ; 
 
BRAVE LEWIJE ROY. 239 
 
 92. 
 BRAVE LEWIE ROY.* 
 
 An old Gaelic Air, 
 
 Brave Lewie Roy was the flower of our Highland-men, 
 Tall as the oak on the lofty Benvoirlich, \ 
 
 Fleet as the ligh^bounding tenants of Fillan-glen, t 
 Dearer than life to his lovely neen voiuch. % 
 
 Sae, whan life is at a close, 
 
 We'll-grow fonder o ither. 
 Till at length, we repose 
 
 On the Braes o Balquhither." 
 
 The above addition was printed in Finlayson's Poems, published, in 1815, 
 which we have inserted to show the superiority of the original. See Note to 
 the Epistle to Robert TannahiU by the same William Finlayson in February, 
 1808, printed at the end of the Songs, and to the Letter in the Corres- 
 pondence department from TannahiU to Finlayson, dated 5th, March, 
 1808.— ^d. 
 
 * This song, along with several other fragments, were contributed by 
 E. A. Smith to, and printed in, the Havp of Renfrewshire of 1819, as 
 Tannahill's ; and it was afterwards printed in Smith's own Scotish Minstrel, _ 
 in 1823, VoL III., page 102, to the Air of "Brave Lewie Roy,"— Smith 
 there stating that the author was unknown.— JBd. 
 
 + Benvoirlich and Filtan Gflen. — The readers are referred to the Note on the 
 "Braes of Balquhither," No. 91. The high mountain of Benvoirlich is 3300 
 feet above the level of the sea, and is situated in the Parish of Comrie, in 
 the neighbourhood of the Braes of Balquhither. FiUan Glen,-r-named after 
 one of the saints of the Culdees, Saint Fillan, — is also situated in the Parish 
 of Comrie. — Sd. 
 
 X Beautiful maiden. 
 
240 SONGS. 
 
 Lone was his biding, the cave of his hiding 
 
 When forc'd to retire with' our gallant Prince Charlie,* 
 
 Tho manly and fearless, his bold heart was cheerless 
 Away from the lady he aye loVd so dearly. 
 t 
 
 * Charles James Edward Stewart, bom 20th December, 1720, called the 
 Prince of Wales, &c. , was the eldest son of James Francis Edward, Chevalier 
 de Saint George, Pretender of 1715, calling hiraselE King James VIII. The 
 Prince landed in Scotland on 25th July, 1745 ; and on 1st Aug^t, 174^, a, 
 proclamation offering a reward of £30,000 was issued for his apprehension, 
 notwithstanding he set up the Standard of Rebellion on 16th August following. 
 
 ■After several skirmishes between the Rebels and the Royalists, the great and 
 memorable Battle of CuHoden was fought on Wednesday, 16th April, 1746, 
 when the Royalists were victorious, and the Rebels dispersed. The Prince 
 finally retired from Scotland on 20th September, 1746," and, on the death 
 of his father on 30th December, 1765, he styled himself King Charles III.,— 
 his chequered life was ended at Rome on 31st January, 1788. — Ed. 
 
 t Addition to this fragment by Alexander Rodger : — 
 
 But woe on the bloodthirsty mandates of Cumberland,* 
 
 Woe on the bloodthirsty gang that fulfilled them ; 
 Poor Caledonia 1 bleeding and plunder'd land, 
 
 Where shall thy children now shelter and shield thee ? 
 Keen prowl the cravens, like merciless ravens. 
 
 Their prey the devoted adherents of Charlie ; 
 Brave Lewie Roy is tak'n, cowardly hack'd and slain. 
 
 Ah ! his neen voiuch will mourn for him dearly. 
 
 * Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, bom 15th April, 1721, 
 third son of King George II., commanded the Royalist Army at the 
 Battle of CuUoden. He died Slst October, 1788 ; and his last words to the 
 surgeon were — " It is too late ! It is all OYer."— Ed. 
 
YOUNG' DONALD AND HIS LAWLAN BRIDE. 241 
 
 93. 
 
 YOUNG DONALD AND HIS LAWLAN BRIDE.* 
 Arranged by Mr. yohn Ross of Aberdeen. 
 
 Lawlan lassie, wilt thou go 
 Whax the hiUs are clad wi snow ; 
 Whar, beneath the icy steep, 
 The hardy shepherd tends his sheep ? 
 Ill, nor wae, shall thee betide, 
 Whan row'd within my Hielan plaid. 
 
 Sune the voice o cheery spring 
 Will gar a our plantin's ring ; 
 Sune our bonnie heather braes, 
 Will put on their simmer claes ; 
 On the mountain's sunny side, 
 We'll lean us on my Hielan plaid. 
 
 Whan the simmer spreads her floVrs, 
 Busks the glen in leafy bow'rs. 
 Then we'll seek the caller shade. 
 Lean us on the primrose bed ; 
 While the burning hours preside, 
 I'll screen thee wi my Hielan plaid. 
 
 * This song first appeared in tlie Glaigow NialttingaU of 1806, page 86, with 
 the title "The Highland Plaid." See the firsTNote to No. 13. 
 
 In perusing the Songs on the present occasion, we were forcibly struck 
 with the subject and beauty of this one. We considered it among the 
 finest of Tannahill's songs, and deserving of a better title than that of " The 
 Highlaud Plaid," and have accordingly changed it into the best and last line 
 of the song, '* Ifouug Donald and his Lawlan Bride." — Sd. 
 
 F2 
 
242 SONGS. 
 
 Then we'll lea the sheep an goat, 
 I will launch the bonnie boat, 
 Skim the loch in cantie glee, 
 Rest the oars to pleasure thee ; 
 Whan chilly breezes sweep the tide, 
 I'll hap thee wi my Hielan plaid. 
 
 Lawlan lads may dress mair fine, 
 Woo in words mair saft than mine ; 
 Lawlan lads ha'e mair o airt, 
 A my boast's an honest heart, 
 Whilk shall ever be my pride : 
 To row thee in my Hielan plaid ! 
 
 " Bonnie lad, ye've been sae leel. 
 My heart woud break at our fareweel ; 
 Lang your luve has made me fain : 
 Tak me, — tak me for your ain! " 
 
 'Cross the Firth awa they glide, 
 Young Donald and his Lawlan bride. 
 
LAMENT OF WALLACE. 243 
 
 94. 
 
 LAMENT OF WALLACE AFTER THE BATTLE 
 OF FALKIRK.* 
 
 Air— " Maids of Arrochar." 
 
 180S. 
 
 Thou dark-winding Carron, once pleasing lo see, 
 To me thou canst never give pleasure again ; 
 
 My brave Caledonians lie low on the lea, [slain. 
 
 And thy streams are deep ting'd with the blood of the 
 
 * This song first appeared In the Slasgow Nightingale of 1806, page 148. 
 See the first Note to No 13.— Bd. 
 
 Note hy Motherwell.—" The following notice of this song ooovirs in a letter 
 from Mr. TannahUl to one of his particular friends, for whom it seems he 
 had written other verses to accompany the- same beautiful and plaintive 
 air, hut which not altogether pleasing himself, he had suhstituted the above. 
 'According to promise,' says he, 'I send you two verses for the 'Maids of 
 Arrochar ; " perhaps they are Uttle better than the last. I believe the 
 language is too weak for the subject ; however, they possess the advantage 
 -over the others of being founded on a real occurrence. The Battle of 
 Talkirk was Wallace's last, in which he was defeated with the loss of almost 
 his wholB army. I am sensible that to give words suitable to the 
 poignancy of his grief on such a trying reverse of fortune would require 
 an the fire and soul-melting energy of a Campbell or a Bums." 
 
 " The modest terms in which our amiable Author speaks of his verses quite 
 blunt the edge of criticism, and fuUy compensate for any lack of that deep 
 and powerful feeling, that vigour and grandeur of conception which the 
 loftiness of his theme required. Be it remembered, that it was no less than the 
 anguish of a fearless and unshaken -patriot bewailing the ruins of his 
 native land, and breathing revenge against the insulting and cruel invader, 
 which the poet wished to express— that it was no less than all the noble 
 workings of passion in the bosom of the .unsubdued, incorruptible, heroic 
 and godUke Wallace, which the poet attempted to embody in words. It 
 was no common strain he chose, and it required no common power 
 of execution to perform it weU. We do not mean to say these are 
 the very best verses which could have been written on such a subject; we 
 only rejoice that they are so excellent as they are, and will have the effect, 
 though It should be in never so, partial a degree, of preserving and extend- 
 ing the glory of our national Champion. 
 
244 SONGS. 
 
 Ah ! base-hearted treach'ry has doom'd our undoing, 
 My poor bleeding country, what more can I do ? 
 
 Ev'n valour looks pale o'er the red field of ruin, 
 And freedom beholds her best warriors laid low. 
 
 *'The Battle of Falkirk, in its consequences so fatal to tlie Scots, was 
 fought on the 22nd of July, 129S. It was obstinately contested for a long 
 time, but the superiority of the English in the number of their cavalry, 
 decided the day. Some historians allege that this defeat happened in coil- 
 sequence of the little piques and jealousies which at that time subsisted 
 amongst the leaders of the Scottish Army ; but this is merely conjectural. 
 The English authors are unanimous in their praises of the firmness and 
 courage displayed by their enemies on that occasion. Langtoft gives a 
 curious description of the mode in which the Scottish phalanx sustained 
 the onset ; — 
 
 Ther formast courey, ther bakkis togidere sette, 
 
 Ther speres poynt over poynt, so fare and so thikke. 
 
 And fast togidere joynt, to se it was ferlike. 
 
 Als a castelle thei stode, that were walled with stone, 
 
 Thei wende ne man of blode thorgh theim suld haf gone, 
 
 *'The life of Wallace is minutely detailed in the metrical work of Henry 
 the Minstrel, better known by the name of Blind Harry, which, with all its 
 chronological inaccuracies and romantic fictions, must still be considered as 
 forming a part of authentic history. A splendid monument we understand, 
 will, within a short time, be raised to the memory of the Knight of Elderslie, 
 at Glasgow. On the 10th of March last (1819), a meeting for this purpose was 
 held in the town hall of that city, and there is every probability that the 
 monument, when it is erected, will not only redound to the honour of the 
 country, but be worthy of the great patriot whom it is intended to 
 commemorate." 
 
 Note by Rwmaay.—" In these verses, the Author has failed to give suitable 
 expression to the feelings of that * great patriot hero, ill-requited chief,' 
 whose name and whose deeds are still, at the distance of five hundred years, 
 so freshly and so honourably remembered by tiie whole Scottish people. 
 Hear our national bard : — 
 
 * At Wallace' name, what Scottish blood 
 But boils up in a spring-tide flood ! 
 Oft have our fearless fathers strode 
 
 By Wallace's side. 
 Still pressing onward, red-wat-shod. 
 
 Or glorious dy'd.' 
 
 Tannahill had his own misgivings as to his success in this effort. It seems that 
 he had written other verses to accompany the same beautiful and plaintive 
 
LAMENT OF WALLACE. 245 
 
 Farewell, ye dear partners of peril ! farewell!. 
 Though buried ye lie in one wide bloody grave, 
 
 Your deeds shall ennoble the place where ye fell. 
 
 And your names be enrolled with the sons of the brave. 
 
 But I, a poor outcast, in exile must wander, 
 Perhaps, like a traitor, ignobly must die ! 
 
 On thy wrongs, O my country ! indignant I ponder ; 
 Ah ! woe to the hour when thy Wallace must fly ! 
 
 air, but which, not pleasing himself, he had substituted the above. In a 
 letter to James Barr, 19th July, 1806, he says — 'According to promise, I 
 send, &c.' (as before quoted by Motherwell.) In the opinion thus modestly 
 expressed, Tannahill was right. Besides, the utterance even in that dark 
 hour of language so feeble and despondent is not consistent with the stem 
 and unyielding character of the indomitable asserter of our country's 
 independence." 
 
 In another letter to James Clark when he was in Edinburgh, dated 2nd 
 February, 1807, the Author wrote — *"The Lament of Wallace,' which you 
 advised me to publish, is already done. Mr. Blackie has engraved and 
 published it in a very elegant style. I will send you a copy first oppor- 
 tunity. Far too little has been said, indeed, among the poets respecting 
 Wallace. I know of no poet belonging to Scotland save Campbell who is 
 half competent to do the subject justice." We have used every exertion to 
 obtain a copy of Blackie's publication to give a description of the elegant 
 style, but have been unsuccessful. 
 
 The meeting referred to by Motherwell, in his Note, was got up by 
 himself for the purpose of raising funds to erect a monument to Wallace in 
 the Necropolis of Glasgow ; but after one or two meetings, the matter 
 dropped. The subject was revived in 1856, a few preliminary meetings 
 were held, and a public meeting took place at Stirling on 24th June of that 
 year, at which it was resolved to erect a monument on Abbey Craig, near 
 Stirling. On 24th June, 1861, the anniversary day of the Battle of Bannock- 
 bum, a National Demonstration took place at Stirling on the occasion of 
 laying the foundation-stone of Wallace's Monument with Masonic honours. 
 The building of the monument commenced on Friday, 16th August, 1861 ; 
 and we happened to have business in Alloa that day, and walked along the 
 ridge of Abbey Craig. The builders allowed us, with hammer and trowel, 
 to place two stones in their positions in the foundation,— a circumstance 
 we have considered worth recording when the proper opportunity hath 
 occurred. That new landmark is upwards pf 200 feet high, and we have 
 ■fwice ascended it, — Sd, 
 
246 SONGS. 
 
 95. 
 
 LOUDON'S BONNIE WOODS AND BRAES * 
 
 Air — ** Earl Moira's Visit to Scotland,'* 
 17th October, 1807. 
 
 Loudon's bonnie woods and braes, 
 I maun lea' them a, lassie • 
 
 Wha can thole whan Britain's faes, 
 Woud gie Britons law, lassie ? 
 
 * Note hy Ramsay. — *' This very popular song was composed in honour of 
 the late Earl Moira (afterwards Marquis of Hastings), and a Scottish 
 Peeress, the Countess of Loudon, on occasion of his Lordship having been 
 called abroad in the service of his country shortly after their nuptials. In 
 a letter to his friend King (Nov. 2, 1807), the Author says — ' I own 1 am 
 somewhat half pleased with the above myself ; but that is always the case 
 when a piece is newly finished, and it must lie past some time before we are 
 capable of judging rightly how it may stand.' " 
 
 In May, 1803, Napoleon Buonaparte, first Consul of the French Republic, 
 having threatened to invade the sea-girt Isle with a vast army of veteran 
 soldiers, Volunteer Companies were formed, and the Militia embodied to 
 repel the invasion. General the Earl of Moira, who had distinguished 
 himself in the American War, was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the 
 forces in Scotland. People of every grade joined heart and hand, and 
 resolved to give the invaders a warm reception. The coast, where necessary, 
 was guarded by the guns of the Artillery, and tfie interior bristled with the 
 musketry and bayonets of the Volunteer Infantry, and flashed with the 
 sabres of the Yeomanry Cavalry. Loyal Paisley was among the first of the 
 places which raised two regiments of Volunteers. The Poet's brother, 
 Matthew, and R. A. Smith, joined the Second or QentU Corps; and the 
 regimental dress provided by the members consisted of a cap festooned 
 with two gold-plated chains, scarlet coat and vest, with facings of blue and 
 gold, white breeches, and black gaiters. The First Regiment was com- 
 manded by Lieutenant-Colonel William M'K.errell, younger of HiUhouse, 
 and the Second by Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Fulton of Hart&eld. The 
 French, however, did not press their own invitation. On the 12th of July, 
 
Loudon's bonnie woods and braes. 247 
 
 Wha wou'd shun the fiel o danger ? 
 Wha frae Fame woud live a stranger ? 
 Now whan Freedom bids avenge her, 
 
 Wha woud shun her ca, lassie ? 
 Loudon's bonnie woods and braes 
 Hae seen our happy bridal days, 
 And gentle hope shall soothe thy waes, 
 
 AVhan I am far awa, lassie. 
 
 1804, Francis Rawdon Hastings, Earl of Moira in Ireland, was married to 
 ' Flora Mure Campbell, Countess of Loudon in Scotland ; and she was given 
 away by the Prince of Wales, afterwards King George the IV. The ceremony 
 was performed by the Bishop of London at Lady Perth's House, London, 
 and the nuptial days were spent at Loudon Castle. The Earl was born in 
 Ireland on 7th December, 1754 ; and the Countess in Scotland on 2nd 
 September, 1780, and her mother died the same day, and her father on 28th 
 April, 1786. 
 
 The whole of the Volunteers in the County of Renfrew, mustering nearly 
 5000 strong, were reviewed by the gallant Commander, General the Earl of 
 Moira, on Thursday, the 4th day of October, 1804, in the large field on the 
 norUi-west side of the Bamsford Bridge, near Walkinshaw, two miles from 
 town. This review was among the earliest, if not the very first of Volunteer 
 reviews in Scotland, and occurred on a splendid day for the occasion. 
 Business was suspended, and it became a joyous and grand holiday to all 
 classes of the community. The brilliant appearance of so many thousands 
 of Volunteers in their military uniforms, — ^the beauty and fashion of the 
 surrounding country, — and the vast assemblage of civilians in holiday 
 attire, — ^was a sight worth seeing. The review was a complete success ; and 
 from the cheerful smiles and merry laughs, it was evident that every con- 
 fidence and reliance was placed in our Scots Volunteer lads that they would 
 defend their households to the death. In the afternoon, an elegant enter- 
 tainment was given in the Town Hall to his Excellency and suite, and a 
 nmnber of noblemen and gentlemen belonging to the County, officers of 
 Corps, &c., &c. In the evening, his Lordship and suite returned to Glasgow. 
 
 The plantations on Loudon Braes were at that time one of the finest in 
 Scotland ; John, 4th Earl of Loudon, having about fifty years previously 
 planted upwards of a million of trees, which he had collected in his military 
 travels abroad, and sent home. 
 
 In 1807, the Republican Consul (now elevated to Napoleon I., Emperor of 
 the French), having threatened invasion again, the Earl of Moira was 
 called upon to go into acttve service abroad. On that occasion, Tannahill 
 composed this song, which was dated "Paisley, I7th October, 1807," and 
 
248 SONGS. 
 
 Hark ! the swellin bugle sings, 
 
 Yieldin joy tae thee, laddie ; 
 But the dolefu bugle brings 
 
 Waefu thochts tae me, laddie. 
 Lanely I may climb the mountain, 
 Lanely stray beside the fountain, 
 Still the weary moments countin. 
 
 Far frae love and thee, laddie. 
 O'er the gory fiels o war, 
 Whan Vengeance drives her crimson car, 
 Thou'lt may be fa, frae me afar, 
 
 And nane to close thy e'e, laddie. 
 
 first appeared in the Scots Magazine of that year, page 927. It has now 
 hecome one of the popular melodies of Scotland. 
 
 The Earl of Moira was created Marquis of Hastings in 1816, and he died 
 28fch IfoTember, 1826. His daughter. Lady Flora Hastings, born at Edin- 
 burgh 11th February, 1806, died at Buckingham Palace on 5th July, 1839, of 
 a broken heart from the circulation of a wicked and unfounded fama. Her 
 gentle spirit passed away with the tender and endearing words on her lips, 
 "My mother." The whole nation was bathed in tears, and deeply sym- 
 pathised with her aged widowed parent. The young lady was apoetess ; and 
 a volume of her Poems was published in 1841, a specimen of one, also a 
 "Farewell," in blank verse, we will give : — 
 
 "FAREWELL, MY HOJJE. 
 
 Farewell, my home !— Oh ! in that one brief word 
 What myriad thoughts are cherished, — what deep love ! 
 
 And thou dark Hill * and hoar 
 
 That broodest like a genius o'er the strath. 
 
 Passionless witness of the lapse of ages— 
 
 And monument, by Nature's hand uprear'd. 
 
 Of the stern struggles of an ancient time." 
 The venerable Marchioness also died of a broken heart oU 9th January , 
 1840.— JBte. 
 
 * "Loudon Hill, a curious rock of volcanic formation in Ayrshire, at the 
 foot of which three battles have been fought, — one in the time of the 
 Romans (of whose camp the traces are still supposed to be visible;, th« 
 second in ISO'T, and the third in 1679." 
 
THE SOLDIERS ADIEU. 249 
 
 Oh, resume thy wonted smile ! 
 
 Oh, suppress thy JFears, lassie ! 
 Glorious honour crouns the toil 
 
 That the soldier shares, lassie. 
 Heaven will shield thy faithfu lover. 
 Till the vengefu strife is over, 
 Then we'll meet, nae mair to sever 
 
 Till the day we dee, lassie : 
 Midst our bonnie woods and braes. 
 We'll spend our peacefu, happy days, 
 As blythe's yon lichtsome lamb that plays 
 
 On Loudon's flowery lea, lassie. 
 
 96. 
 
 THE SOLDIER'S ADIEU.* 
 
 Air — "Good night and joy,'' 
 September, 1808. 
 
 The weary sun's gane doun the west, 
 
 The birds sit nodding on the tree. 
 All Nature now inclines for rest. 
 
 But rest allow'd there's nane for me : 
 The trumpet calls to War's alarms, 
 
 The rattling drum forbids my stay ; 
 Ah ! Nancy, bless thy soldier's arms, 
 
 Forere mom I will be far away. 
 
 * These verses were composed for Alexander Kilpatrick, weaver in Pais- 
 ley, who resided in the house next to TannahiU's residence in Queen Street, 
 a soldier in the 22nd or Renfrewshire MUitia Regiment, on hia leaving 
 Paisley for Ireland ; and were put into his handS by the Author when he 
 was bidding adieu. Kilpatrick preserved the verses for many years as a 
 memento of the Lyric Poet. He died on 7th September, 1872, at the 
 G2 
 
250 SONGS. 
 
 I grieve to leave my comrades dear, 
 
 I mourn to leave my native shore, 
 To leave my aged parents here, 
 
 And the bonriie IksS whom I adore. 
 But tender thoughts must now be hushed, 
 
 When duty calls, I must obey ; 
 Fate wills it so that part we must. 
 
 And .the tnorn I will be far away. 
 
 Adieu ! dear Scotland's sea-beat coast ! 
 
 Ye misty vales and mountains blue ! 
 When on tHe heaving ocean tost, 
 
 I'll cast a wishful look to you. 
 And now, de^r Nancy, fare-thee-weel ! 
 
 May Providence thy guardian be ! 
 And in the camp, or in the fiel, 
 
 My constant thoughts shall turn to thee. 
 
 patriarchial age of ninety years. The wliole of this beautiful song 
 appeared for the first time in a Glasgow newspaper in September, 180S, with, 
 the initials " R. T.," and the Air. We saw a copy of it which had been cut 
 out of the newsj>aper. Mr. Ramsay, in his edition of 1838, gave the first 
 stanza only as a fragment without any remark. In 1843, Alexander 
 Whitelaw, in his "Book of Scottish Song," page 15, published the whole 
 verses with a little verbal variation and this chorus — 
 
 " Good night and joy, good night and joy. 
 
 Good nfeht and joy be wi you a ; 
 For since it's so that I must go, 
 
 Good night and joy be wi you a ! " 
 and stated, in a Note, that "so far as known to him it was printed for the 
 first time ; and that he had been favoured with it by the Poet's brother, 
 Mr. Matthew Tannahill, of Paisley, who said it was composed when the 
 Author was about sixteen or seventeen years of age " (1791). We called on 
 the widow of Alexander Kilpatrick to make enquiries, but her daughter -in- 
 law said Mrs. Kilpatrick had lost her memory, and was in her dotage. We 
 insisted in putting one question; and on asking her if she knew "The 
 Soldier's Adieu," she instantly answered "It was about my man; but I'm 
 not Nancy." This is an expression of common people in Paisley, meaning 
 my Jmsband. Nancy was a former flame. The daughter-in-law was much 
 surprised at the correct answer. — Ed, 
 
WEEP NOT, MY LOVE. 251 
 
 WEEP NOT, MY LOVE.* 
 
 Tune — "Maids of Arrochar." 
 
 May, i8oj5. 
 
 O WEEP not, my love, though I go to the war, 
 
 For soon I'll return rich with honours to thee ; 
 The soul rousing pibroch is sounding afar, 
 
 And the clans are assembling in Morar-crg,iglee ; 
 Our flocks are all plunder'd, our herdsmen are murder'd, 
 
 And, fir'd with oppression, aveng'd we shall be ; 
 To-morrow we'll-vanquish these ravaging English, 
 
 And then I'll return to thy baby and thee. 
 
 Slow rose the mom on Dunscarron's dark brow, 
 
 Firm rose our youths in their fighting array. 
 Powerful as Morven they rush'd on the foe. 
 
 And the din of the battlefield deafened the day ; 
 The conflict was glorious, our clans were victorious. 
 
 Yet sad was the Bard the dark herald to be, — 
 Ah ! poor weeping Flora, thy dear promised Mprar 
 
 Will never return to thy baby and thee. 
 
 * The whole of this song was contained in a letter written by the Author 
 to his friend James Barr, on 1st May, 1806 ; and the name Moiar-craiglee 
 was written HLorsiT-Ctlmlee, but we could not discover either of these names 
 in history. The whole of the song appeared in the Glasgow Nightingale of 
 1806, page 208. See the first N'ote to No. 13. The first stanza was not 
 printed in any of the editions till Ramsay's of 1838, and then as a fragment 
 without any comment.— j^<i. 
 
252 SONGS. 
 
 98. 
 
 COMPANION OF MY YOUTHFUL SPORTS.* 
 
 Air — " Gilderoy.'' 
 1809. 
 
 Companion of my youthful sports, 
 
 From love and friendship torn, 
 A victim to the pride of courts. 
 
 Thy early death I mourn. 
 Unshrouded on a foreign shore, 
 
 Thou'rt mould'ring in the clay, 
 While here thy weeping friends deplore 
 
 Corunna's fatal day. \ 
 
 How glows the youthful warrior's mind 
 With thoughts of laurels won, 
 
 But ruthless Ruin lurks behind, 
 " And marks him for her own." % 
 
 * Sou hy Sammy. — "Written ou the death of a friend who fell at the 
 Battle of Corunna." 
 
 This song of lamentation first appeared in No. 10 of John Millar's Paialeij 
 Repository^ and bore the title " Lament." See first Note to No. 16. — ^d. 
 
 t *' Corunna's fatal day " is a memorable event in British history. The 
 Battle of Corunna, in Spain, between. the French and British, was fought 
 on Monday, 16th January, 1809. The British were victorious. The distin- 
 guished commander. General Sir John Moore, a native of Glasgow, and the 
 gallant Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Napier, of Blackston, near Paisley 
 (aged 35), of the 92nd Highlanders, both fell that day, and were buried at 
 Corunna. Odes were written to the memories of each of them, and 
 Tannahill did not forget a companion 0^ his youth, who fell on the same 
 bloody field.— id. 
 
 X *' Fair Science frowned not on his humble birth. 
 And Melancholy marked him for his own." 
 118th and 119th Una of Sraifi Slegy in a Country Churchyard,— Ed, 
 
THE soldier's WIDOW. 253 
 
 How soon the meteor ray is shed, 
 " That lures him to his doom," * 
 
 And dark Oblivion veils his head 
 In everlasting gloom ! 
 
 99. 
 
 THE SOLDIER'S WIDOW, t 
 1806. 
 
 The cold wind blows, 
 
 O'er the drifted snows ; 
 Loud howls the rain-lashed naked wood ;. 
 
 Weary I stray 
 
 On my lonesome way, 
 And my heart is faint for want of food. 
 Pity a wretch left all forlorn. 
 On life's wide wintry waste to mourn ; 
 The gloom of night fast veils the sky. 
 And pleads for your humanity. 
 
 * " Forbear, my son," the Hermit cries, 
 To tempt the dangerous gloom ; 
 For yonder faithful phantom flies. 
 To lure thee to thy damn," 
 
 Srd Verse of Boldmith't "Hermit." 
 
 We are of opinion that many of the quotations made by Tannahill have 
 been done from memory, and not from notes ; and hence some of them are 
 not altogether correctly quoted. — Ed. 
 
 t This song first appeared in the Qlaigmo Nightingale of 1806, page 73, 
 Se6_fiiat.Note to No. IS.— Ed. 
 
254 SONGS. 
 
 Qn valour's bed 
 
 My Heniy djgd, 
 In the cheerless desert is his tprnb : 
 
 Now lost to joy, 
 
 With my little boy, 
 In woe and want I wander home. 
 Oh ! never, never will you miss 
 The boon bestow'd on deep distress, 
 For dear to HeaVn is the glist'ning eye. 
 That beams benign humanity. 
 
 THE DEFEAT QF THE FiR-ENCH.* 
 
 Tune — " Enrolled in our tright annctls, lives." 
 
 FkoM hill to hiU the bugles sound 
 
 The soul-arousing strain. 
 The war-bred coursers paw the ground, 
 
 And foaming, champ the rein. 
 Their steel-clad riders bound on high, 
 
 A bold defensive hpst; 
 With valour fired, away they fly. 
 
 Like lightning, to the coast. 
 
 And now they view the widespread lines 
 
 Of the invading foe ; 
 Now skill with British bravery joins, 
 
 To strike one final blow. 
 
 « This song first appeared In the Slasgow Nightingale of 1806, page 161, 
 See the first Note to No. 13.— SA 
 
THE DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH. 255 
 
 Now on they rush with "giant stroke, 
 
 Tfen thoiisahd victims ble^d : 
 They trample on the iron yoke 
 
 Which France for us decreed.* 
 
 Now view the trembling vanquish'd crew 
 
 Kneel o'er their prostrate aims, 
 Implore respite of vengeance, 'due 
 
 For all these dire alarms. 
 Now, while Humanit)f's warm glow, 
 
 Half weeps the guilty slain, 
 Let conquest gladden every brow. 
 
 And godlike mercy reign. 
 
 Thus fancy paints that awful day. 
 
 Yes, dreadful, should it come ; 
 But Britain's sons, in stem array. 
 
 Shall brave its darkest gloom. 
 Who fights, his native rights to save. 
 
 His worth shall have its claim ; 
 The Bard wUl consecrate his grave. 
 
 Arid give his name to fame. 
 
 * Note 62/ iiofflsoj^.—" Written at the time b{ the threatened invasion by 
 France in the beginning of tliis century." 
 
2S6 SONGS. 
 
 101. 
 
 THE SOLDIER'S FUNERAL. 
 
 Air — " Holderis Dead March." 
 1805. 
 
 Now let the procession move solemn and slow, 
 While the soft mournful music accords with our woe, 
 While friendship's warm tears round his ashes are shed. 
 And soul melting memory weeps for the dead. 
 Kind, good hearted feUow as ever was known ! 
 So kind and so good every heart was his own ; 
 Now, alas ! low in death are his virtues all o'er ; 
 How painful the thought, we wUl see him no more ! 
 
 In camp or in quarters he still was the same, 
 Each countenance brighten'd wherever he came ; 
 When the wars of his country compell'd him to roam. 
 He cheerful, would say, all the world was his home. 
 And when the fierce conflict of armies began, 
 He fought like a lion, yet felt as a man ;* 
 For when British brav'ry had vanquish'd the foe. 
 He'd weep o'er the dead by his valour laid low. 
 
 * ifote &y fhi Aiiikw. — "Tlieyboreasheroes, but they felt as man." 
 
 Pope's *' Homer." 
 "He thought as a sage, while he felt as a man." 
 ^' Seatti^s " Hemiit." 
 
 Note by Ramsag. — "This song appeared in the only edition which was 
 published in the Author's lifetime ; but has hitherto been omitted in the 
 posthumous editions, probably from oveiBight." 
 
 It first appeared in 1805 in Millar's Paisley Repository, No. 1. See first Note to 
 No. 16. It next appeared in Leslie's Glasgow Nightingale, page 19, in 1806. 
 See first Note to No. 13. It also appeared in each of the editions of the 
 Author's works published in 1822 and 1825. — Ed. 
 
THE WORN SOLDIER. 257 
 
 Ye time fretted mansions ! ye niould'ring piles ! 
 Loud echo his praise through your long vaulted aisles ; 
 If haply his shade nightly glide through your gloom, 
 O tell him our hearts lie with him in the tomb ! 
 And say, though he's gone, long his worth shall remain, 
 Remember'd, beloved, by the whole of the men. — 
 Whoe'er acts like him, with a warm feeling heart. 
 Friendship's tears drop applause at the close of his part. 
 
 102. 
 
 THE WORN SOLDIER.* 
 
 November, 1807. 
 
 The Queensferry boatie t rows light. 
 
 And light is the heart that it bears. 
 For it brings the poor soldier safe back to his home. 
 
 From many long toilsome years. 
 
 How sweet are his green native hills, 
 As they smile to the beams of the west, 
 
 But sweeter by far is the sunshine of hope 
 That gladdens the soldier's breast ! 
 
 * This song first appeared in tlie Marcli number of tlie Scots Magazine for 
 ISQS.—Sd. 
 
 + Tlie Paisley Bard probably founded this song on the incident of having 
 been ferried across the Firth of Forth from the one Queensferry to the other, 
 and seen an old soldier on the occasion taking the same mode of conveyance. 
 H 2 
 
2S8 SONGS. 
 
 I can well mark the tears of his joy, 
 As the wave beaten pier he ascends, 
 
 For already, in fancy, he enters his home, 
 Midst the greetings of tender friends. 
 
 But fled are his visions of bliss. 
 All his transports but rose to deceive. 
 
 He found the dear cottage a tenantless waste. 
 And his kindred all sunk in the grave. 
 
 Lend a sigh to the soldier's grief. 
 
 For now he is helpless and poor. 
 And, forced to solicit a slender relief, 
 
 He wanders from door to door. 
 
 To him let your answers be mild, 
 
 And, oh ! to the suff 'rer be kind ! 
 For the look of indiff'rence, the frown of disdain. 
 
 Bears hard on a generous mind. 
 
 103. 
 
 RETURN O GALLANT SONS. 
 
 Now, Marion, dry your tearfu e'e, 
 Gae break ye're rock in twa. 
 
 For sune ye're gallant sons ye'll see, 
 Return'd in sefety a. 
 
 O wow, gudeman, my heart is fain ! 
 
 An shall I see my bairns again, 
 
 A seated roun our ain hearth-stane, 
 Nae mair tae gang awa ? 
 
DISABLED SEAMAN. 259 
 
 104. 
 
 DISABLED SEAMAN. 
 
 Arranged by Mr. R. A. Smith. 
 
 MoNGST Life's many cares there is none so provoking, 
 
 As when a brave seaman, disabled and old, 
 Must crouch to theworthless, and stand the rude mocking 
 
 Of those who have nought they can boasftut their gold; 
 Poor Tom, once so high on the list of deserving, 
 
 By captain and crew none so dearly was prized, 
 At home now laid up, worn with many years' serving, 
 
 Poor Tom takes his sup, and poor Tom is despised. 
 
 Yet, Care thrown a-lee, see old Tom in his -glory. 
 
 Placed snug with a shipmate, whose hfe once he saved. 
 Recounting the feats of some bold naval story. 
 
 The battles they fought, and the storms they had braved: 
 In his country's defence he has dared every danger. 
 
 His valorous deeds he might boast undisguised ; 
 Yet home-hearted landsmen hold Tom as a stranger, 
 
 Poor Tom loves his sup, and poor Tom is despised. 
 
 Myself, too, am old, rather rusty for duty. 
 
 Yet still I'll prefer the wide-ocean to roam ; 
 I'd join some bold corsair, and live upon booty. 
 
 Before I'd be gibed by these sucklings at home. 
 Poor Tom, fare-thee-well ! for, by heaven, tis provoking. 
 
 When thus a brave seaman, disabled and old, 
 Must crouch to the worthless, and stand the rude mocking 
 
 Of those who have nought they can boast but their gold. 
 
26o SONGS. 
 
 105. 
 THE WANDERING BARD. 
 
 Chill the wintry winds were blowing, 
 Foul the mirky night was snowing, 
 Through the storm, the minstrel, bowing. 
 
 Sought the inn on yonder moor. 
 All within was warm and cheery. 
 All without was cold and dreary. 
 There the wand'rer, old and weary, 
 
 Thought to pass the night secure. 
 
 Softly rose his mournful ditty, 
 Suiting to his tale of pity ; 
 But the master, scoffing, witty. 
 
 Checked his strain with scornful jeer : 
 " Hoary vagrant, frequent comer. 
 Canst thou guide thy gains of summer ? 
 No, thou old intruding thrummer, 
 
 Thou canst have no lodging here." 
 
 Slow the bard departed, sighing. 
 Wounded worth forbade replying ; 
 One last feeble effort trying. 
 
 Faint, he sunk no more to rise. 
 Through his harp, the breeze sharp ringing, 
 Wild his dying dirge was singing. 
 While his soul, from insult springing, 
 
 Sought its mansion in the skies. 
 
 Now, though wintry winds be blowing. 
 Night be foul with raining, snowing. 
 Still the trav'Uer, that way going, 
 Shuns the inn \ipon the moor. 
 
THE BARD OF GLENULLIN. 26 1 
 
 Though within 'tis warm and cheery, 
 Though without 'tis cold and drpary, 
 Still he minds the minstrel weary, 
 Spum'd from that unfriendly door. 
 
 106. 
 
 THE BARD OF GLENULLIN.* 
 
 Air — " There'll never be peace till King Jamie come hame." 
 1807. 
 
 Tho my eyes are grown dim, and my locks are turned gray, 
 I feel not the storms of life's bleak wintry day, 
 For my cot is well thatch'd, and my barns are full stor'd. 
 And cheerful Content still presides at my board : 
 Warm-hearted Benevolence stands at my door, 
 Dispensing her gifts to the wandering poor, 
 The glow of the heart does my bounty repay, 
 And lightens the cares of life's bleak wintry day. 
 
 " We made a search to discover the place called Glenullin ; but were 
 unsuccessful. In. the end of last, and beginning of the preaent century, 
 several copies of the edition of Ossian's Poems and Songs, published in 
 1796, came to Paisley ; and Tannaliill was a great admirer of thfe Gaelic 
 Bard. We have now arrived at the conclusion that the name referred to 
 Ullin, one of the Bards or sons of song of Fingal, and that he is noticed in 
 that character in several of Ossian's Poems. Ossian, in the poems of 
 "Fingal," Book I., relates that " Fingal, after mourning over his grandson, 
 *' Oscar, ordered Ullin, the chief of the bards, to carry his body to Morven 
 " to be there interred." Immediately after our making the above enquiry, 
 a query appeared in the London NoU& and Queries of 10th September, 1874, 
 but from whom we did not know : — " Glenullin. — In ' Lochiel's Warning,' 
 " is this the title of a real Highland chieftain ? if so, where was his territory ? " 
 and the answer elicited on 12th December following was — "Ihave looked 
 *' into several works, and cannot find such a place. With such numbers of 
 " well-sounding names around him, it is a great pity that the poet Campbell 
 
202 SONGS. 
 
 From the summit of years I look down on the vale, 
 Where age pines in sorrow, neglected and pale ; 
 There the sunshine of fortune scarce deigns to bestow 
 One heart-cheering smile to tlie wand'rers below. 
 From the sad dreary prospect this lesson I drew. 
 That those who are helpless are friended by few ; 
 So, with vigorous industry, I smooth'd the rough way 
 That leads through the vale of life's bleak wintry day. 
 
 Then, my son, let the Bard of GlenuUin advise 
 (For years can give counsel, experience makes wise) ; 
 Midst thy wand'rings let honour for aye be thy guide. 
 O'er thy actions let honesty ever preside. 
 Then, though hardships assail thee, in virtue thou'lt smile. 
 For light is the heart that's untainted with guUe ; 
 And, if fortune attend thee, my counsels obey, 
 Prepare for the storms of life's bleak wintry day. 
 
 " did not embody a real name in tbe rich setting of his verses,— (Signed) 
 "Thomas Strattok." "Lochiel's Warning," by Thomas Campbell, a tale 
 of 1745, appeared in Maver*8 Selector, in October, 1805, VoL II., page 267, with 
 the name Glen-Ullin in it; and TannahiU sent ^ a copy of his song to John 
 Manfarlane, Neilston, on 20th August, 1807, and which he entitled "The 
 Sage of GlenuUin." It is rather a strange circumstance that both poets use 
 a name that had no existence ; at least, cannot be found. In Macfarlane's 
 copy, the air as now printed for the first time in this edition was given. 
 The song appeared in the 1816 edition of TannahiU's Works with the word 
 bard substituted for the word saffe. — Ed. 
 
THE HARPER O MULL. 263 
 
 107. 
 THE HARPER O MULL. 
 
 Writte7i on reading the '* Harper of" Mull," a Highland story. '^ 
 
 Set to Music by Mr, R, A. Smith, 
 
 1806.- 
 
 When Rosie was faithfu, how happy was I, 
 
 Still gladsome as simmer the time glided by ; 
 
 I pla/d my harp cheery, while fondly I sang 
 
 O the charms o my Rosie the winter nichts lang. 
 
 But now I'm as waefu as waefu can be, 
 
 Come simmer, come winter, tis a ane tae me : 
 
 For th' dark gloom o falsehood sae clouds my sad soul, 
 
 That cheerless for aye is the Harper o Mull. 
 
 * William M'Zaren in his Life of TannahiU, 1815, mentions that, at a 
 convivial meeting, a dispute arose between the Poet and another person 
 present regarding the chastity of the fair sex and fidelity after marriage. 
 The opponent referred to several cases of unfaithfulness, and particularly 
 the infidelity of Rosie and the sorrows of the Harper of Miill. The Bard, in 
 a few days, ' presented his friends with the beautiful song known by that 
 name. The original story occupied many pages of an Edinburgh periodical 
 called the Bee : and so far as the Biographer could recollect of reading it in 
 his boyish days, it is briefly thus :— In the island of Mull lived a harper, 
 conspicuous for nothing so much as his exquisite performance on that 
 instrument, and his attachment to a lovely rosy-cheeked nymph, who was 
 esteemed by the inhabitants of the island as the sweetest object ever formed 
 by the hand of nature. As the harper was universally esteemed and 
 admired for his sprightly appearance, and the affectionate simplicity of his 
 manners, he soon gained the heart of his Rosie, and in a few weeks after he 
 made her his bride. Soon after the nuptial ceremony was performed, he set 
 out on a visit to some low country friends, accompanied by Rosie and his 
 hai-p, which had been a companion to him in all his joumies for many 
 years. Overtaken by the shades of night, in a solitary part of the country, 
 a cold and shivering falntness fell upon Rosie, and she sank £Jmost lifeless 
 into the harper's arms. His tartan plaid he unbound from his arm, and 
 
264 SONGS. 
 
 I wander the glens an the wild woods alane, 
 In their deepest recesses I mak my sad mane ; 
 My harp's mournfu melody joins in the strain, 
 While sadly I sing o the days that are gane. 
 Tho Rosie is faithless, she's no the less fair. 
 An the thocht o her beauty but feeds my despair ; 
 Wi painfu remembrance my bosom is full, 
 An weary o life is the Harper o Mull. 
 
 hastily wrapped it round her shivering frame, but the cold sweat still 
 gathered on her cheek. Distracted and alarmed, he hurried from place to 
 place, in search of fuel to revive the dying ember of life. None could be 
 found. His hai-p lay carelessly on the grass. Its neglected strings vibrated 
 to the blast. The harper loved it dear as his own life, but he loved his 
 Rosie better than either. His nervous arms were applied to its sides, and 
 in a few minutes it lay crackling on the heath. Rosie soon revived, and 
 resumed her journey as soon as morning began to purple the east. Stepping 
 down the sloping side of a hill, they were met by a hunter on horseback, 
 who addressed Rosie in the style of an old and familiar friend. The harper, 
 innocent himself, and unsuspicious of others, paced slowly down the hill. 
 Wondering at his Rosie's delay, he turned round and saw the faithless fair 
 seated on the hunter's steed. The horse flew swift as the wind. The 
 harper, transfixed in astonishment, gazed at them. Then pacing heavily 
 home, he, sighing, exclaimed—" Fool that I was to bum my harp for her." 
 Note by Ramsay. — "The story on which these verses are founded, may be 
 thus abridged. In the island of Mull, &c." He only took out a few words 
 from MXaren's narrative, and finished with the contraction Bd. 
 
 Tannahill said the song was written on his reading "The Harper of MuU," 
 a Highland story. M'Laren stated that allusion had been made to the story 
 in a discussion, which he gave as near as he could from his own recollection 
 of the circumstances. Ramsay comes next, commencing his Note with- " In 
 the island of Mull, <fec.," — taking out a few words of M'Laren's narrative, 
 and passing off the remainder as a Note composed by himself. They all 
 seem to have been making a "mull" of the harper. We are, however, 
 inclined to believe the statement of Tannahill himself, for he had a copy 
 of the Bee in his library. It was a small Edinburgh periodical, edited by 
 James Anderson, LL.D., and was commenced on 22nd December, 1790. 
 "'The Harperof Mull,'a tale written in the year 17S0, never before printed," 
 will be found in Vol. III., page 233, June 15, 1791. The story was related 
 by a native to Dr. Garnet, Professor in the Andersonian Institution 
 of Glasgow, when in the island of Mull, and he Inserted it in his 
 
THE HARPER O MULL.* 265 
 
 As slumbering I lay by the dark mountain stream, 
 My lovely j^oung Rosie appear'd in my dream ; 
 I thocht her still kind, an I ne'er was sae blest, 
 As in fancy I clasp'd the dear nymph tae my breast. 
 Thou fause fleetin vision, too sune thou wert o'er 1 
 Thou wak'dst me tae tortures unequall'd before ; 
 But death's silent slumbers my griefs sune shall lull, 
 An the green grass wave o'er the Harper o Mull. 
 
 VTour to th,e Hebrides in 1800." Hector MacneU, a popular poet, bom 
 in 1746, pubUshed his poem " The Harp," containing fifty-six stanzas, on 
 15th April, 1789, relating the foregoing tale in verse, with a little variation 
 of the traditions. In his preface, he stated that Mr. Ramsay of Anchtertyre 
 while on a tour in the Hebrides heard the tale. Macneil, in his poem, 
 changed the scene to Saint Kilda ; and he called the harper " Coll," and his 
 wife "Mora." In 1807, an "Historical enquiry respecting the performance 
 on the Harp in the Highlands of Scotland till 1734, dravTn up by John 
 Gunn, F.S.A,," was published ; and the tale of the "Harper of Mull" was 
 introduced thus :— "The summit of a steep hill near Moy Castle, the seat 
 of the Macleans of Lochbay, in the Island of Mull, is called Madhm na 
 Tiompan, or the Harper's Pass ; and was so named from a remarkable 
 incident that happened on that summit, which the natives relate to the 
 following purpose." The abridged narrative of M'Laren relates the purport 
 so well that we will not require to repeat it. Mr. Gunn, in a Note in his 
 book, says — "Mr. Macneil has told me that he now regrets his having 
 departed so much in his poem from the traditional story," — Bd. 
 
 I 2 
 
266 SONGS. 
 
 108. 
 BAROCHAN JEAN.* 
 
 Air— *' Johnnie M'Gill." 
 1809. 
 
 'Tis haena ye heard, man, o Barochan Jean ? 
 
 An haena ye heard, man, o Barochan Jean ? 
 How death an starvation cam o*er the haill nation, 
 
 She wrocht sic mischief wi her twa pawkie een. 
 The lads an the las.ses were deein in dizzens, 
 
 The tane killed wi luve, an the tither wi spleen ; 
 The ploughin, the sawin, the shearin, the mawin — 
 
 A wark was forgotten for Barochan Jean. 
 
 * Note hy Ramsay. — " The concludiug stanza, wliich will not he found in 
 former editions, is taken from a letter to King, 9th May, 1809. Of the 
 origin of this amiising extravaganza, we find the following account in a 
 letter to Barr, 24th December, 1809, — 'You will no doubt have freq^uently 
 observed -how much old people are given to magnify the occurrences of 
 their young days. * Barochan Jean ' was written on hearing an old grannie 
 in Lochwinnoch Parish relate a story something similar to the subject of 
 the song ; perhaps I have heightened her colouring a little.' " 
 
 The "old grannie" referred to in the foregoing Note was said to be 
 the wife of Andrew Brydie or Brodie, farmer, Langcraft, Lochwinnoch. 
 These lands belonged equally to Andrew Brodie, Hugh Brodie, and Bailie 
 Kobert Fulton of Paisley. Hugh Brodie had married Bliaabeth, daughter 
 of Andrew Brodio, and, in 1762, he acquired the other two shares of Lang- 
 craft belonging to Andrew Brodie, his father-in-law, and Bailie Fulton ; and 
 the conveyances were taken to himself and his wife in liferent, and Andrew 
 Brodie, their eldest son, in fee. In 1763, Janet Pollock, who was residing 
 with her uncle Hugh Brodie, was miarried to James Tannahill, weaver in 
 Paisley. James Tannahill and his wife named their son Hugh after 
 Hugh Brodie, and their son Andrew after Mrs. Brodie's father, Andrew 
 Brodie. Hugh Brodie was an enterprising agriculturist, and made a 
 vast improvement on his small estate of thirty acres. He was also a 
 poet, and wrote several pieces,— his chief production being a poetical 
 address on "Husbandry," delivered at a meeting of the Kllbarchan 
 Farmers' Society, on Friday, Stti January, 1769, and of which society lie 
 
BAROCHAN JEAN, 267 
 
 Frae the south an the north, o'er the Tweed an the Forth, 
 
 Sic comin an gangin there never was seen; 
 The comers were cheerie, the gangers were blearie, 
 
 Despairin or hopin for Barochan Jean. 
 The carhns at hame were a gimin and granin. 
 
 The bairns were a greetin frae momin till e'en ; 
 They gat naethin for crowdie but runts boiled tae sowdie, 
 
 For naethin gat growin for Barochan Jean. 
 
 had been cliosen President for that year. That address, containing sixty 
 stanzas, has been printed in William Semple'e History of Renfrewshire, 
 1782, page 116, of which we give the 5th and 6th verses to show the 
 abilities of Tannahill's granduncle as a poet :— 
 
 " So, if to me you'll lend your lug. First wi a cast I draint it dry, 
 
 I'll tell you of a barren bug, Which made the nat'ral springs tae die, 
 
 (Excepting short heath an fug) Likewise the rain sent from on hie 
 
 It yielded nocht ; It did receive : 
 
 Till ance you'll hear how I it dug, Then I such manure did apply 
 And how it wrocht. As it did crave. 
 
 Mrs. Tannahill and her children were in the habit of visiting their friends 
 at Langcraft ; and Bobert Tannahill, the Poet, would thus become acquainted 
 with the "old grannie" there. Alexander Wilson, Paisley, poet and 
 American Ornithologist, during his residence in Lochwinnoch, in 1786, 
 wrote a descriptive poem of that parish, containing 320 lines, twenty-six 
 being devoted to Hugh Brodie, six lines of which we will quote : — 
 
 ' 'Midst clustering trees and sweet surrounding dells. 
 In rural cot, a rustic poet dwells." 
 
 * Cheerful he sits, and, gazing o'er the plain. 
 In native language pours his jocund strain. " 
 
 " How the deep bog or watery marsh to drain, 
 And bid bare hillocks groan with bending grain," 
 
268 SONGS. 
 
 The doctors declared it was past their descriyin, 
 
 The ministers said 'twas a judgment for sin ; 
 But they lookit sae blae, an their hearts were sae wae, 
 
 I was sure they were deein for Barochan Jean. 
 The bums on roadsides were a dry wi their drinkin, 
 
 Yet a wadna sloken the drouth in their skin ; 
 A roun the peatstacks, an alangst the dyke backs, 
 
 E'en the win's were a sighin, "Sweet Barochan Jean.'' 
 
 The timmer ran dune wi the makin o coffins, 
 
 Kirkyairds o their swaird were a howkit fu clean ; 
 Deid lovers were packit like herrin in barrels. 
 
 Sic thousan's were deein for Barochan Jean. 
 But mony braw thanks tae the laird o Glenbrodie, 
 
 The grass owre their graffs is now bonnie an green : 
 He staw the" proud heart o our wanton young leddie, 
 
 An spoilt a the charms o her twa pawkie een. 
 
KEBBUCKSTON WEDDIN. 269 
 
 109. 
 
 KEBBUCKSTON WEDDIN.* 
 
 Written to an ancient Highland Air. 
 
 AuLD Wattiet o Kebbuckston brae, 
 
 Wi lear an. readin o beuks ^.uld-farren, 
 What think ye ! the bodie cam owre th-e day. 
 
 An tauld us he's gaun tae be marrieii tae Mirren. % 
 
 We a gat a biddin 
 
 Tae gang tae the weddin, 
 Baith Johnnie an Sannie, an Nellie an Nannie ; 
 
 An Tam o the Knows, 
 
 He swears an he vows, 
 At the dancin he'll face tae the bride wi his grannie. 
 
 " We are exceedingly sorry we cannot communicate much information 
 concerning this humourous song. In our investigations, we discovered that 
 Tannahill, al; the time he wrote it, sent a copy, with a letter on the subject, 
 to his friend Mr. James Barr, Kilharchan. These were in existence after 
 Barr's death on 24th February, I860. His eldest daughter, Miss Janet Bair, 
 distributed a number of Tannahill 's letters and pieces among her father's 
 ucquaintances, and several of these appear in the Correspondence depart- 
 ment of this volume. A bundle was sent to her nephew in Australia, Who 
 afterwards died ; and these are now supposed to be irretrievably lost. We 
 observed from a memorandum in Miss Barr*s handwriting (see Note to 
 No. 20) she had retained six pieces in her own possession ; and, among these, 
 were "Kebbuckston Weddin" and letter on the subject. She died on 
 25th December, 1873, aged 68. And at the present time, we applied to her 
 surviving sister, Mrs. Bannerman, Liverpool, and Miss Barr's friends in 
 Kilbarchan ; but they all deplared they had not seen them since Miss Barr's 
 decease. We may now infer that the authentic information concerning 
 the subject of this song is lost for ever. 
 
 We will now refer to the printed unauthenticated evidence. John 
 
 t Wattie, the hero of this song, is inv.olved in mystery ; and we have not 
 found a single person that could give any information, or even make a con- 
 jecture on the subject of that " auld-farren '* bodie.— JEW. 
 
 t Note hy Ramsay. — " Hfirren, the local pronunciation of the name 
 Marion," 
 
270 SONGS. 
 
 A the lads hae trystet their joes ; 
 
 Slee Wulhe cam up, an ca'd on Nellie ; 
 Altho she was hecht tae Geordie Bowse,* 
 
 She*s gien him the gunk, an she's gaun wi Wullie. 
 Wee collier Johnnie f 
 Has yokit his pownie, 
 An's aff tae the toiin for a ladin o nappy, 
 Wi fouth o gude meat 
 Tae ser us tae eat ; 
 Sae wi fuddlin an feastin we'll a be fu happy. 
 
 Mitchell, poet, in a Note to his preface to *" A Night on the Banks of Boon/ 
 and other poems ; 183S," said— " Tannahill's * Kibbuckstane ' and 'Whinny 
 Knowe,' both on the esiate of Ferguslie, have been adorned by Mr. Bair, — 
 the only compliment yet paid to his memory." (See Note to John Mitchell's 
 "Ode to the Memory of Tannahill" in Appendix.) Robert Skimming, 
 another poet, said, in "Strains I used to Sing," printed in 1852, in a Note to 
 one of his poems, that " Kebbuckston is situated near Bridge of Weir. " 
 (See Note to *' I'll lay me on the wintry lee, " No. 135.) Janies J. Lamb, in 
 his biographical sketch of TannahiU, 1873, said — "To the northward, a 
 short walk through rural Ferguslie, brings you to Kebbuckstone Brae, the 
 scene of Auld Watty's memorable wedding." Mitchell and Lamb are both 
 dead, and we wrote Mr. Skimming asking hia authority for placing 
 Kebbuckston near Bridge of Weir. He replied that there was no place in 
 Ferguslie estate called Kebbuckston in the days of Tannahill, nor for many 
 yeara after his death ; that his informant was James Paterson, weaver in 
 Maxwelton Street, Paisley, an acquaintance of Tannahill's, who had died 
 twenty years ago, aged 80 ; that the scene was Kibleston Farm, and the 
 characters mostly belonged to Kilbarchan, and the Poet had changed the 
 name of the farm; that John Parkhill, author of a small history of 
 Paisley, was of the same opinion ; and that both Paterson and Parkhill 
 knew that Mitchell had fixed the scene on Ferguslie estate to please Mr. 
 Barr. Neither Mitchell nor Skimming have attempted to describe a single 
 character. — Sd. 
 
 * George Bowse died 13th July, 1336; aged 'JA.—Ed. 
 
 t We think this referred to one of the Author's cousin's family, James 
 Stevenson, at the Thorn,— £({. 
 
KEBBUCKSTON WEDDIN. 2'Jt 
 
 Wee Patie Brydie * tae say the grace — 
 
 The bodie's aye ready at dredgies an weddin's ; 
 An Fhinkie M'Fee, o the Skiverton place, 
 
 Is chosen tae scuttle the pies and the puddin's. 
 For there'll be plenty 
 O ilka thing dainty, 
 Baith lang-kail an haggis, an ilka thing fittin ; 
 Wi luggies o beer, 
 Our wizzens tae clear, 
 Sae the deil fill his kyte wha gaes clung frae the meetin. 
 
 Lowrie has caft Gibbie Cameron's gun, [Charlie; 
 
 That his auld gutcher bore whan he fallowed Prince 
 The barrel was rustit as black as the grun, 
 
 But he's taen't to the smiddy, an's fettled it rarely. 
 
 Wi wallets o pouther, 
 
 His musket he'll shouther. 
 An ride at our heid, tae the bride's a-paradin ; 
 
 At ilka farm toun. 
 
 He'll fire them three roun. 
 Till the haiU kintra ring wi the Kebbuckston weddin. 
 
 Jamie an Johnnie maun ride the broose, f 
 For few like them can sit in the saidle ; 
 
 * We have already explained in the Memoir of the Tannahills that the 
 true name of this person was Robert Brodie, son of Hugh Brodie, farmer, 
 Langcraft, Lochwinnoch ; consequently, a cousin of Mrs. Tannahill, the 
 mother of the Author. He was ^ very exemplary gifted person, and 
 frequently attended funerals and weddings to act as chaplain. Brydie 
 is an old surname in Lochwinnoch Parish, and, in modern times, the 
 orthography had been changed to Brodie. — S<^. 
 
 i " To ride the broose, — to run a race on horseback at a wedding. A Scots 
 custom, still preserved in the country. Those who are at a wedding, 
 especially the younger part of the company, who are conducting the bride 
 from her own house to the bridegroom's, often set off at full speed for the 
 latter. This is called riding tlie broose. He who first reaches the hou se is 
 said to win tlie broose." — Jamieson. 
 
272 • SONGS. 
 
 An Willie Cobreath,* the best o bows, 
 Is trysted to jig in the bam wi hi$ fiddle. 
 
 Wi whiskin an fliskin, 
 
 An reelin an wheelin, 
 The young anes are like to loup out o the bodie, 
 
 An' Neilie M'Naim, 
 
 Tho sair forfaim, 
 He vows that he'll wallop twa sets wi the howdie. 
 
 Sannie M'Nab, t wi his tartan trews, 
 
 Has hecht tae come doun in the midst o the caper, 
 An gie us three wallops o merry shantrews, 
 
 Wi the true Hielan fling o Macrimmon the piper, J 
 
 Sic hippin an skippin. 
 
 An springin an flingin, 
 I'se wad that there's nane in the Lawlans can wafF it ! 
 
 Feth ! Willie maun fiddle, 
 
 An jirgura an diddle, 
 An screed till the sweat fa in beads frae his haffet. 
 
 * Noti by Rainsay, — " William Galbreath, whose services as a violin player 
 were put in requisition on festive occasions all the country round. He 
 lived during the greater part of his days in Kilbarchan, where he, after an 
 interval of two centuries, worthily filled the situation of its renowned 
 piper, Habbie Simpson. William had a buirdly personal figure ; but uu- 
 liappily, was blind from infancy. Tanuahill listened with great pleasure to 
 his strains : and Smith had a good opinion of his abilities, and named a tune 
 after him. Latterly, he resided in Johnstone, where he died on 13th May, 
 1835, aged 63." 
 
 t Alexander M'Nab, a weaver at Lonend or Dykebar, a good dancer, who 
 wore tartan trousers. — Ed. 
 
 J Mac-Bimmou was the name of the hereditary pipers of the clan 
 M'Leod ; and Donald Dubh Mac-Himmon, the last of these pipers and 
 dancers, bom in 1731, died in 1822, aged 91. — Sdi 
 
273 
 
 Then gie me your han, my trusty guid frien, 
 
 An gie me yer word, my worthy auld kimmer, 
 Yell baith cam owre on Friday bedeen, 
 An join us in rantin an toomin the timmer. 
 Wi fouth o guid liquor, 
 We'll baud at the bicker, 
 And lang may the maUin o Kebbuckston flourish ; 
 For Wattle's sae free, 
 Between you an me, 
 I'se warrant he's bidden the hauf o the parish.* 
 
 110. 
 
 RAB RORYSON'S BONNET, t 
 
 Air — " The auld wife o the glen." 
 
 Ye'll a hae heard tell o Rab Roryson's bonnet, . 
 Ye'll a hae heard tell o Rab Roryson's bonnet ; 
 Twas nae for itsel, twas the held that was in it, 
 G3.rt a bodies talk o Rab Roryson's bonnet. 
 
 * NotQ hy Ramsay. — "The^ humour and spirit of this production are so 
 appropriate that it is to be regretted the Author did not write more in the 
 same vein. The bill of fare, and the description of the guests, wiU briiig 
 Francis Sempill's song of 'The Blithesome Bridal' to the recollection of 
 those readers who are acquainted with Scottish poetry of the seventeenth 
 century. " 
 
 t The model of this song has been said by some persona to have been the 
 bonnet and head of kind Will MacNeil ; and others, again, assert it was the 
 bonnet and head of John Riddle, labourer, Lochwinnoch. We have already 
 given a description of the large head of MacNeil in the Notes to No. 62 ; 
 and the great size of' Riddle's head may be guessed from the following 
 obituary notice in the Scots Magazine for July, 1816 :— " At Lochwinnoch, on 
 9th April, 1816, John Eiddle, labourer. He knew nothing of his age but 
 K 2 
 
274 SONGS. 
 
 This bonnet, that theekit his won'erfu heid, 
 Was his shelter in winter, in simmer his shade ; 
 An at kirk, or at market, or bridals, I ween, 
 A braw gawcier bonnet there never was seen. 
 
 Wi a roun rosie tap, like a muckle blackbide, 
 It was slouch'd just a kennin on either han side ; 
 Some maintained itwas black, some maintained itwas blue. 
 It had something o baith, as a bodie may trew. 
 
 But, in sooth, I assure you, for ocht that I saw. 
 Still his bonnet had naething uncommon ava ; 
 Tho the haUl pairish talk'd o Rab Roryson's bonnet, 
 'Twas a for the marvellous heid that was in it. 
 
 That heid, let it rest, it is noo in the mods, 
 
 Tho in life a the warld beside it war fools ; 
 
 Yet o what kind o wisdom his heid was possess't, 
 
 Nane .e'er kent but himsel, sae there's nane that will miss't. 
 
 * There are some still in Kfe wha eternally blame, 
 Wha on buts an on ifs rear their fabric o fame ; 
 Unto such I inscribe this most elegant sonnet, 
 Sae let them be crooned wi Rab Roryson's bonnet ! 
 
 that he was nine nights old at the Windy Saturday. In his earlier years 
 he was a man of extraordinaiy bodily strength, and performed many rustic 
 feats of wrestling and pugihsm worthy of more classic times. He wore a 
 bonnet of unparalleled magnitude, the elevated or slouching attitude of 
 which was thought by the youth of the neighbourhood to prognosticate 
 good or bad weather." The Windy Saturday, so named in consequence 
 of the great hurricane which occurred on 13th January, 1739, after an eclipse 
 of the Moon. John Riddle having been born nine nights before that event, 
 Ms birth would consequently happen on 4th January, 1739, and was, there- 
 fore, in the 78th year of his age at his death. — Ed. 
 
 * Note hy RanisaT/. — "The concluding stanza, which will not be found in 
 former editions, is taken from a letter to King, 9th May, 1809." 
 
FAITHFUL ELLEN MORE. 275 
 
 111. 
 
 FAITHFUL ELLEN MORE.* 
 
 Air, — "Mary's Dream." 
 
 The sun had kissedgreen Erin's waves, 
 
 The dark bhie mountains tower'd between, 
 Mild evening's dews refresh'd the leaves, 
 
 The moon unclouded rose serene ; 
 When Ellen wandered forth, unseen. 
 
 All lone her sorrows to deplore ; 
 False was her lover, false her friend, 
 
 And false was hope to Ellen More. 
 
 Young Henry was fair Ellen's love, 
 
 Young Emma to her heart was dear ; 
 Nor weal nor woe did Ellen prove, 
 
 But Emma ever seemed to share. 
 Yet envious still, she spread the wile, 
 
 That sullied EUen's virtues o'er ; -' 
 Her faithless Henry spurn^ the while. 
 
 His fair, his faithful Ellen More. 
 
 She wander'd down Loch Mary side. 
 Where oft at ev'ning hour she stole. 
 
 To meet her love with secret pride ; 
 Now deepest anguish wrung her soul. 
 
 * The scene of this dirge is in the Parish of Yarrow, Selkirkshire, where 
 many a mournful event has occurred, and been preserved in border 
 minstrelsy. Loch Mary, or Saint Mary's Loch, is a well-known lake, and 
 the Biver Yarrow is also equally well known. Saint Mary's Chapel was 
 situivted on the north-west side of Saint Mary's Loch. 
 
276 SONGS. 
 
 O'ercome with grief, she sought the steep 
 Where Yarrow falls with sullen roar ; 
 
 Oh, pity ! veil thine eyes and weep ! 
 A bleeding corpse lies Ellen More. 
 
 The sun may shine on Yarrow Braes, 
 
 And woo the mountain floVrs to bloom. 
 But never can his golden rays 
 
 Awake the flow'r in yonder tomb. 
 There oft young Henry strays forlorn, 
 
 When moonlight gilds the abbey tower ; 
 There oft from eve till breezy mom. 
 
 He weeps his faithful Ellen More. 
 
 112. 
 
 THE SNOWSTORM. 
 
 Air,—"Fingcil's Lamentation." 
 
 " Wild drives the bitter northern blast, 
 
 Fierce whirling wide the crispy snaw. 
 Young lassie, turn your wand'ring steps, 
 
 For e'ening's gloom begins to fa : 
 I'll tak you to my faither's ha. 
 
 An shiel you frae the wintry air, 
 For, wand'rin thro the driftin snaw, 
 
 I fear ye'll sink to rise nae mair." 
 
 " Ah ! gentle lady, airt my way 
 
 Across this langsome, lanely moor. 
 For he wha's dearest to my heart. 
 Now waits me on the western shore ; 
 
THE SNOWSTORM. 277 
 
 Wi morn he spreads his outward sail — 
 This nicht I vow'd to meet him there, 
 
 To tak ae secret, fond fareweel. 
 We maybe pairt to meet nae mair." 
 
 " Dear lassie, turn — twill be your deid ! 
 The dreary waste lies far an wide ; 
 Abide till mom, an then ye'U hae 
 
 My faither's herdboy for your guide." 
 " Na, lady, — na ! I maunna turn, 
 
 Impatient love now chides my stay. 
 Yon rising moon, wi kindly beam. 
 Will licht me on my weary way." 
 
 A. h ! Donald, wherefore bounds thy heart ? 
 
 Why beams wi joy thy wistfu e'e ? 
 Yon's but thy true love's fleeting form. 
 
 Thy true love mair thou'lt never see ; 
 Deep in the hollow glen she lies, 
 
 Amang the snaw, beneath the tree, 
 She soundly sleeps in Death's caul arms, 
 
 A victim to her love for thee. 
 
278 SONGS. 
 
 113. 
 
 WRECK ON GLOOMY ISLE OF MAY.* 
 
 Air,— " Sweet Annie frae the sea-beach came." 
 
 Wi waefu heart and sorrowing e'e 
 
 I saw my Jamie sail awa ; 
 Oh ! twas a fatal day to me, 
 
 That day he pass'd the Berwick Law ; t 
 How joyless now seem'd a behind ! 
 
 I ling'rin, stray'd alang the shore ; 
 Dark boding fears hung on my mind 
 
 That I micht never see him more. 
 
 The nicht came on wi heavy rain, 
 
 Loud, fierce, and wild the tempest blew ; 
 In mountains roll'd the awful main : 
 
 Ah, hapless maid ! my fears how true ! 
 The landsmen heard their drownin cries. 
 
 The wreck was seen with dawnin day ; 
 My love was found, an now he lies 
 
 Low in the isle o gloomy May. 
 
 * This song appeared in the NiglUingaU, 1806, page 35, and the Caledonian 
 Musical Repositm-y, 1806, page 180,— a selection of 118 esteemed Scottish 
 Songs, issued by B. Crosby & Co., stationers, Paternoster Bow. It was also 
 inserted in R. A. Smith's Scotish Mittsirel, Vol. I., page 16 ; Air, — " The waefu 
 heart." — Ed. 
 
 t Berwick Law is a hill in the County of Berwick, on the shore of the 
 German Ocean ; the Isle of May is on the opposite shore, near the mouti) 
 of the Forth, and is in the Parish of Crail, Pifeshire. 
 
LONE SILENT GRAVE. 279 
 
 O boatman, kindly waft me o'er ! 
 
 The cavern'd rock shall be my home ; 
 "^ill ease my burdened heart, to pour 
 
 Its sorrows o'er his grassy tomb ; 
 With sweetest flowers I'll deck his grave, 
 
 An tend them thro the langsome year ; 
 I'll water them, ilk mom and eve, 
 
 Wi deepest sorrow's warmest tear. 
 
 114. 
 
 LONE SILENT GRAVE.* 
 
 Air, — "My time, O ye Muses." 
 
 Responsive, ye woods, wing your echoes along. 
 Till Nature, all sad, weeping, listen my song, 
 Till flocks cease their bleating, and herds cease to low. 
 And the clear winding rivulet scarce seems to flow. 
 For, fair was the flower that once gladden'd our plains. 
 Sweet rosebud of virtue, adored by our swains ; 
 But Fate, like a blast from the chill wintry wave. 
 Has laid my sweet flower in yon cold silent grave. 
 
 Her warm feeling breast did with sympathy glow. 
 In innocence pure as the new mountain snow ; 
 Her face was more fair than the mild apple bloom. 
 Her voice sweet as Hope, whisp'ring pleasures to come. 
 
 * This song first appeared in the Glasgow Iiiff?itingale of 1806, page 63, with 
 the title " Dirge." See the first Note to No. 13.— Ed. 
 
28o SONGS. 
 
 Oh, Mary, my love ! wilt thou never return ! 
 Tis thy William who calls ! burst the bands of thy urn ! 
 Together we'll wander — ^poor wretch, how I r^e ! 
 My Mary lies low in the lone silent grave. 
 
 Yon tall leafy planes throw a deep solemn shade 
 O'er the dear holy spot where my Mary is laid, 
 Lest the light wanton sunbeams obtrude on the gloom, 
 That lorn love and friendship have wove round her tomb. 
 Still there let the mild tears of nature remain. 
 Till calm dewy eVning weep o'er her again ; 
 There oft I will wander — no boon now I crave, 
 But to weep life away o'er the dark silent grave. 
 
 115. 
 
 A GEM OF PEARLY DEW.* 
 
 August, 1807. 
 
 I mark'd a gem of pearly dew. 
 
 While wand'ring near yon misty mountain. 
 Which bore the tender blade so low. 
 
 It dropp'd off into the fountain. 
 So thou hast wrung this gentle heart, 
 
 Which in its core was proud to wear thee. 
 Till, drooping sick beneath thy art. 
 
 It sighing found it could not bear thee. 
 
 * Taunahill sent a copy of this soug to his friend, Mr. John Macfarlan, 
 eaver, Neilston, for his opinion, on 20th August, 1807. — Sd. 
 
O ARE YE SLEEPIN, MAGGIE. 28 1 
 
 Adieu, thou faithless fair ! unkind ! 
 
 Thy falsehood dooms that we must sever ; 
 Thy vows were as the passing wind, 
 
 That fans the flow'r, then dies for ever. 
 And think not that this gentle heart, 
 
 Though in its core twas proud to wear thee, 
 Shall longer droop beneath thy art ; 
 
 No, cruel fair ! it cannot bear thee ! * 
 
 116. 
 
 O ARE YE SLEEPIN, MAGGIE, t 
 
 Air, — " Sleepin Maggie." 
 i8o5. 
 
 Chor. — " O are ye sleepin, Maggie, 
 O are ye sleepin, Maggie ! 
 Let me in, for loud the linn 
 Is roarin o'er the warlock craigie." 
 
 * Note by Ramsay. — "Talinahill and Smith once went on a fishing 
 excursion with some acquaintances. The two friends being but tyros soon 
 grew weary of lashing the water to no purpose, and separated for a little, 
 each to amuse himself in his own fashion. When Smith rejoined the Poet, 
 he was shown this song written with a pencil. Tanaahill had been oecupie* ' 
 observing a blade of grass bending under the weight of a dewdrop, and this 
 trifling object had suggested to him the simile embodied in tl^e song." 
 
 t This song first appeared in the Qlaigow NigJUinffale of 1806, page 70. 
 See the first Note to No. 13.— Ed. 
 
 h 2 
 
3 82 SONGS. 
 
 Mirk an rainy is the nicht, 
 No a starn in a the carry, * 
 
 Lightnin's gleam athwart the lift, 
 An win's drive wi Winter's fury. 
 
 O are ye sleepin, Maggie, 
 O are ye sleepin, Maggie ! 
 Let me in, for loud the linn • 
 Is roarin o'er the warlock craigie. 
 
 Fearfu soughs the boortree bank. 
 
 The rifted wood roars wild an drearie, 
 
 Loud the iron yett does clank. 
 An cry o howlets mak's me eerie. 
 
 O are ye sleepin, Maggie, 
 O are ye sleepin, Maggie ! 
 Let me in, for loud the linn 
 Is roarin o'er the warlock craigie. 
 
 Abune my breath I daurna speak, 
 For fear I rouse your waukrif daddie. 
 
 Caul's the blast upon my cheek, 
 O rise, rise my bonnie laddie ! 
 
 * Note hy Rainsay. — "The 'carry' means in Scotland the direction in 
 which clouds are carried by the wind. In the above passage, the Author, by 
 a poetical license, uses it to denote the firmament or sky." 
 
 The heroine of this song was Margaret Pollock, a cousin of the .\uthor by 
 the mother's side. She was the eldest daughter of Mattliew Pollock ^3rd) 
 of Boghall, by his second marriage (mentioned in the Memoir of the 
 Tannahills) ; and it is very probable the Poet beheld such an evening as he 
 had described, in walking from Paisley over the high road to his uncle's 
 f.'irm steading in Beith Parish. Margaret Pollock afterwards Hved in family 
 with William Dochhead, Ryveraes, and she and Mrs. Lochhead frequently 
 sang tiiat song together. Miss Pollock died unman-led. — Ed. 
 
O ARE YE SLEEPIN, MAGGIE. 283 
 
 O are ye sleepin, Maggie, 
 O are ye sleepin, Maggie ! 
 Let me in, for loud the linn 
 Is roarin o'er the warlock craigie. 
 
 She op'd the door, she let me in, 
 I cuist aside my dreepin plaidie : 
 
 Blaw your warst, ye rain an win, 
 Since, Maggie, now I'm in aside ye. 
 
 Now since ye're wauken, Maggie, 
 Now since ye're wauken, Maggie, 
 What care I for howlet's cry, 
 For boortree bank, or warlock craigie? 
 
284 SONGS. 
 
 117. 
 
 MARY IS A BONNIE LASS.* 
 
 Air, — " Invercauld's Reel." 
 1806. 
 
 My Mary is a bonnie lass, 
 
 Sweet as the dewy morn, 
 Whan fancy tunes her rural reed 
 
 Beside the upland thorn, -f 
 She lives ahint yon sunny knowe, 
 Whar flow'rs in wild profusion grow, 
 Whar spreading birds and hazels J throw 
 
 Their shadows o'er the bum. 
 
 Tis not the streamlet-skirted, wood, 
 
 Wi a its leafy bow'rs, 
 That gars me wade in solitude 
 
 Amang the wild sprung flow'rs; 
 
 * This song appeared both in the Nightingale and the Caledonian Musical 
 ReposiUyry, — both of 1806. As to the former, see No. 13 ; and the latter. 
 No. \13.—Md. 
 
 t Blackthorn or Sloe, — PruwMS Spinom. Abundant on Gleniffer Braes. 
 April and May. Branches thorny. A well-known bush. One of the most 
 powerful acerb fruits, and an excellent astringent. Its dried leaves are 
 frequently mixed with tea, and the juice of them enters largely into the 
 British manufacture of port wine. — Ed. 
 
 X Hazel, — Cerylus Avellana. Common in woods and on Gleniffer Braes. 
 March and April. It flowers the first of our trees. Hazel nuts are well 
 known, and much better on the night of 31st October— Halloween. — Ed, 
 
MARY IS A BONNIE LASS. 285 
 
 But aft I cast a langin e'e, 
 Doun frae the bank, out owre the lea, 
 There, haply, I my lass may see, 
 As through the brume she scours. 
 
 Yestreen I met my bonnie lass. 
 
 Coming frae the toun, 
 We raptured sank in ither's arms. 
 
 An prest the breckans doun. 
 The pairtrick sung his evening note. 
 The ryecraik * -rispt his clamorous throat, 
 Whilk there the heavenly vow I got, t 
 
 That erPd her my own. 
 
 ^ Note by Ramsay. — "We suspect tliat.Tannahill wrote *rye-craik' for 
 'com-craik/ and thereby misled Dr. Jamieson, who, in his supplement, 
 gives the former as *a provincial designation for the land-rail, Renfrew- 
 shire ;' and quotes the above passage, and it alone, as the authority. We 
 cannot discover that the name ' rye-craik ' is known either in Renfrewshire 
 or elsewhere in Scotland. James Grahame, who was a native of the neigh- 
 bouring city of Glasgow, and a contemporary of Tannahill, and who spent 
 part of his childhood on the banks of the Cart, calls it the ' com-craik ' in 
 • The Birds of Scotland,' p. 68 :— 
 
 * Poor bird, though harsh thy note, X love it well ; 
 It tells of Summer eves.' " 
 
 Rye is a coarse cereal grown in olden times in Scotland. The Poet's 
 mother was brought up in the Parish of Lochwinnoch, where old names, 
 old manners, the old style, and old everything, were long retained, and the 
 names " ryecraik " may have been the ancient name of comcraik or land 
 rail. He may have heard his mother call the bird, with the harsh note, the 
 "ryecraik." " Coming through the Rye" was an oldtune to which Bums 
 adapted a song of the same name ; and Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, another 
 to the same tune of ''Coming through the Rye." — Ed, 
 
 t In both publications of 1806, this line was printed — 
 
 " While raony a soul- warm kiss I got." — Ed, 
 
286 SONGS. 
 
 118. 
 
 BONNIE WINSOME MARY.* 
 
 Written to u Gaelic Air. 
 
 Fortune, frowning most severe, 
 Forced me frae my native dwellin, 
 Parting wi my friens so dear, 
 Cost me many a bitter tear; 
 But, like the clouds of early day. 
 Soon my sorrows fled away, 
 Whan, blooming sweet and smiling gay, 
 I met my winsome Mary. 
 
 Wha can sit wi gloomy brow. 
 Blest wi sic a charming lassie ? 
 Native scenes, I think on you, 
 Yet the change I canna rue ; 
 Wand'ring many a weary mile. 
 Fortune seem'd to low'r the while. 
 But now she's gien me, for the toil, 
 My bonnie winsome Mary. 
 
 Tho our riches are but few, 
 Faithfu love is aye a treasure ; 
 Ever cheery, kind, an true, 
 Nane but her I e'er can loe. 
 
 * This song first appeared in the Qlaagow Nightingale of 1S06, page 160. 
 See the first Note to No. 13.— Sd. 
 
MINE AIN D£AR somebody. 287 
 
 Hear me, a ye powers above, 
 Powers of sacred truth and love ! 
 While I live I'll constant prove 
 To my dear winsome Mary. 
 
 119. 
 
 MINE AIN DEAR SOMEBOM.* 
 
 Air, — " Were I obliged to beg," 
 1805. 
 
 Whan gloamin treads the heels o day. 
 An birds sit courin on the spray, 
 Alang the flow'ry hedge I stray 
 Tae meet mine ain dear somebody. 
 
 The scented brier, the fragrant bean. 
 The clover bloom, the dewy green, 
 A charm me, as I rove at e'en, 
 Tae meet mine ain dear somebody. 
 
 Let warriors prize the hero's name. 
 Let mad ambition tow'r for fame, 
 I'm happier in my lowly hame, 
 Obscurely blest wi somebody. 
 
 * This song first appeared in 1S05 in Maver's Selectw, Vol. I., page 194, — 
 the first with the signature " Modestus." See Note, No. 5. Second in 
 the Nightinffcde in 180S, page 209. See Notes, No. 13.— Ed. 
 
SONGS. 
 
 120. 
 
 FAIR-HAIRED NANNIE. 
 
 Full auchteen simmers up life's brae, 
 
 I speeded on fu cannie, O, 
 Till sleeky Love threw in my way 
 
 Young, bonnie, fair-haired Nannie, O. 
 
 I woo'd her sune, I wan her syoe, 
 Our vows o luve war mony, O, 
 
 An, O what happy days war mine, 
 Wi bonnie fair-haired Nannie, O. 
 
 121. 
 
 SING ON, THOU SWEET WARBLER. 
 
 Sing on, thou sweet warbler, thy glad ev'ning song, 
 And charm the lone echoes the green woods among ; 
 
 As dear unto thee is the sun's setting beam, 
 So dear unto me is the soul's ntelting dream : 
 
 The dark winter frowning, all pleasure disowning, 
 
 Shall strip thy green woods and be deaf to thy moaning ; 
 
 But dark stormy winter is yet far away, 
 
 Then let us be glad, when all Nature is gay. 
 
THE SHEELIN HILL, 289 
 
 122, 
 THE SHEELIN HILL. 
 
 Air, — ^'G/iUe Callum,'' 
 
 I'll hie me tae the sheelin hill,* 
 
 And bide amang the braes, Callum ; 
 Ere* I gang tae Crochan mill, f 
 
 I'll live on hips an slaes, Callum. 
 Wealthy pride but ill can hide 
 
 Your runkl't measl't shins, Callum -, 
 Lyart pow, as white's the tow, 
 
 An beard as rough's the whins, Callum. 
 
 Wily woman aft deceives, 
 
 Sae ye'Il think, I ween, Callum ; 
 
 Trees may keep their withered leaves, 
 Till ance they get the green, Callum. 
 
 * The eminence near a mill where the chaff is winnowed from the grain. 
 
 t This song first appeared in No. 2 of the 1815 editions ; and the Editor 
 may have made a mistake in the name Crochan. We never heard of such a 
 place ; but there may be still such a mill struggling for existence in an 
 obscure district, or it may have sunk into oblivion since the time when 
 Tannahill composed this song on Highland girlish pride, seventy years ago. 
 We covild not discover the locality of Crochan-Mill, and concluded it was a 
 ■ misprint for Barochan MUl,— Sa having been mistaken for a C. We found 
 the first and third lines rhyming with each other, and the first line to 
 contain eight syllables and the third line only seven syllables ; — 
 
 *' ITl hie me tae the Sheelin-hill, 
 
 And bide amang the braes, Callum ; 
 Ere I gang tae Barochan mill 
 111 live on hips an slaes, Galium." — Bd. 
 M 2 
 
290 SONGS. 
 
 Blythe young Donald's won my heart, 
 Has my willing vow, Galium ; 
 
 Now, for a your couthy airt, 
 I winna marry you, Galium. 
 
 123. 
 
 HOW TAE WIN A BONNIE LASSIE.* 
 
 Air, — " Galium Brogach," 
 1810. 
 
 Ye wooer lads wha greet an grane, 
 Wha preach an fleech, an mak a mane, 
 An pine yoursel's tae skin and bane. 
 
 Come a tae Galium Brogach. 
 I'll leam you here the only airt 
 Tae win a bonnie lassie's heart — 
 Just tip wi goud Love's siller dart 
 
 Like xiainty Galium Brogach. 
 
 I ca'd her aye my sonsie doo. 
 The fairest flow'r that e'er I knew ; 
 Yet, like a souple spankie grew. 
 She fled frae Galium Brogach. 
 
 • Hott hy Ramtay.—" Copied from a letter written by the Author to Mr. 
 John Crawford, Largs, on March 17, 1810." 
 
OCH, HEyI JOHNNIE, LAD: 29 1 
 
 But sune's she heard the guinea ring, 
 She tum'd as I had been a king, 
 Wi — " Tak my han or ony thing, 
 Dear, dainty Galium Brogach ! " 
 
 It's goud can mak the blin to see, 
 Can bring respec whar nane wad be. 
 An Cupid ne'er shall want his fee, 
 
 Frae dainty Callum Brogach. 
 Nae. mair wi greetin blin your een, 
 Nae mair wi sichin warm- the win, 
 But hire the gettlin for your frien, 
 
 'Like dainty Callum Brogach. 
 
 124. 
 OCH, HEY !- JOHNNIE, LAD.* 
 
 Air, — "The lassies the ferry." 
 
 OcH, hey! Johnnie, lad, 
 
 Ye're no sae kind's ye soud hae been ; 
 Och, hey! Johnnie, lad, 
 
 Ye didna keep your tryst yestreen : 
 
 •This song first appeared in the Glasgow Nightingale of 1806, page 74. 
 See first Note to No. 13. The subject of the song was John Howie, weaver 
 in Paisley (an acquaintance of the Poet), and his sweetheart. Agues Smith, 
 residing in the Brig Johnstone district ; and was written on the occasion 
 of their having been mistaken in the trysting-place of one of their engage- 
 ments,— the beav. supposing it was the "Thorn," and the helle the "Wood." 
 
292 SONGS. 
 
 I waited lang beside the wud, 
 Sae wae an wearie, a my lane ; 
 
 Och, hey! Johnnie, lad, 
 
 Ye're no sae kind's ye scud hae been. 
 
 I lookit by the whinnie knowe, 
 I lookit by the firs sae green, 
 
 I lookit owre the spunkie howe,* 
 An aye I thocht ye woud hae been. 
 
 That occurrence happened eighty years ago, and several places around Paisley 
 answering the description of the "whinnie knowe," "the firs sae green," 
 and "the spunfcie howe," have now been obliterated by agricultural 
 improvements. Some persons think the scene of the song was Craigielee, 
 on the estate of " Sweet Ferguslie;" and others maintain it was at the Gum 
 Hill, or the Thorn, on the road between Paisley aad Johnstone, — ^the lovers 
 having divided the distance between their residences for the place of meet- 
 ing. We incUne to the latter, from the residence of the lady. In the 
 hollow at the Gum Hill, or Bumbrae road, leading down from the Johnstone 
 road, we have seen the little glow-worm lighting up his "e'ening spunkie," 
 or phosphorescent lamp, to entice the unwary into his swampy den ; and it 
 was probably near this spot where Agnes waited. The lad would not stop the 
 following evening at the Thorn, but proceed direct to Agnes' house, tirl at 
 the window, and the two, after mutual explanations of the mishap yestreen, 
 go to Craigton Shaw, behind Johnstone Castle, — a place then famous for 
 making lovers' vows, — 
 
 " Whan the silken tow is twisting 
 Roun this artless heart o mine ;" 
 
 and, shortly thereafter, John Howie and Agnes Smith were married— in 
 December, 1796. TannaMll's acquaintances generally belonged to the 
 poetical or musical class of society, and John Howie loved the martial 
 music of the drum, — an instrument much in use at that time for recruiting 
 in Paisley. A Sailor's Parade occurred in Greenock about the end of last 
 century, and both Howie and TannahiU attended as musicians— the former 
 drumming, and the latter fifing. John Howie died in 1851, aged 75 ; and 
 Agnes Smith (Mrs. Howie) in 1853, aged l9.~Bd. 
 
 * Note by Rainsay.—" Dr. Jamiesou, in the Supplement to his Scottish 
 Dictionary, has stated as one of the meanings of the adjective 'spunkie' 
 that it is an ' epithet applied to a place supposed to be haunted, from the 
 frequent appearance of the ignis fatuus ; ' in support of which, he quotes 
 
OCH, HEY ! JOHNNIE, LAD. 293 
 
 The ne'er a supper crost my craig, 
 The ne'er a sleep hae clos'd my een ; 
 
 Och, hey! Johnnie, lad, 
 
 Ye're no sae kind's ye soud hae been. 
 
 Gin ye war waitin by the wud, 
 
 Then I was waitin by the Thorn, 
 I thocht it was the place we set. 
 
 An waited maist till dawnin mom ; 
 Sae be na vext, my bonnie lassie. 
 
 Let my waitin stan for thine, 
 We'll awa to Craigton shaw. 
 
 And seek the joys we tint yestreen.* 
 
 the above passage as his only authority. But with great deference, the 
 venerable lexicographer has misapprehended the meaning of the Poet, ■Who 
 plainly used * spunkie howe ' as a compound noun "to denote the ' howe of 
 the spunkie,' — in other words, the ' WiU o the Wisp hollow. ' " 
 
 * E. A. Smith in his Scoiish Mimtrdsy, 1823, Vol. III., page 108, gave a 
 song " Hey, Hou ! Johnny, lad," author unknovTH, Air of the same name ; 
 and Alexander WMtelaw, in his " Book of Scottish Song," 1843, page 525, 
 gives a song vrith the same title, and the following Note : — " This song is 
 partly preserved by Herd in his collection, 1776 : but is here given with 
 some slight additions by Allan Cunningham. It is sung to a reel tune, 
 originally called 'The Lasses the Ferry.' Tannahill wrote a song with the 
 same burthen and to the same tune, wliich is also given in this work at 
 page 4riS."—Ed. 
 
294 SONGS. 
 
 125. 
 
 CONTENTMENT. 
 
 Air, — "'Her sheep had in clusters.' 
 1806. 
 
 Where primroses spring on the green tufted brae, 
 
 And the riv'let runs murrn'ring below, 
 Oh, Fortune! at morning, ot noon, let me stray. 
 
 And thy wealth on thy vot'ries bestow. 
 For, oh ! how enraptured my bosom does glow 
 
 As calmly I wander alone. 
 Where wild woods, and bushes, and primroses grow, 
 
 And a streamlet enlivens the scene. 
 
 Though humble my lot, not ignoble's my state. 
 
 Let me still be contented, though poor ; 
 What destiny brings, be resigned to my fate. 
 
 Though misfortune should knock at my door. 
 I care not for honour, preferment, nor wealth. 
 
 Nor the titles that affluence yields. 
 While blythely I roam, in the heyday of health, 
 
 'Midst the charms of my dear native fields. 
 
MY DAYS HAE FLOWN WI GLEESOME SPEED. 295 
 
 126. 
 
 MY DAYS HAE FLOWN WI GLEESOME 
 SPEED. 
 
 My days hae flown wi gleesome speed, 
 
 Grief ne'er sat heavy on my mind, 
 Sae happy wi my rural reed, 
 
 I liltet every care behind ; 
 I've been vext and sair perplext 
 
 When friens prov'd false, or beauty shy ; 
 But, like gude John o Badenyon,* 
 
 I croon'd my lilt and car'd na by. 
 
 * " John o Badenyon " was the name of a song written by the Bev. John 
 Skinner, a popular song-writer and ecclesiastical historian. He was horn 
 in the Parish of Birse, Aberdeenshire ; Episcopal clergyman at Longside, 
 Peterhead, sixty-five years ; and died 16th June, 1807. He was one of two 
 Bishops of Aberdeen. Tannahill seemed to be acquainted with the current 
 literature of the day, particularly of a poetical description. The ruins of 
 Badenyon or Badniaun House, alluded to in the song of " John o Badenyon," 
 are situated in the Parish of Glenbucket, Aberdeenshire.— .Sd. 
 
296 SONGS. 
 
 127. 
 
 LASSIE TAK THE LAD YE LIKE. 
 
 Air, — " Clean pea strae.'' 
 
 Whan John an me war married, 
 
 Our haudin was but sma, 
 For my minnie, cankert carlin, 
 
 Woud gie us nocht ava ; 
 I wair't my fee wi canny care, 
 
 As far as it woud gae, 
 But, weel-I-wat, our bridal bed 
 
 Was clean pea strae 
 
 Wi workin late an early, 
 
 We've come to what ye see. 
 For fortune thrave aneath our hans, 
 
 Sae eident ay war we ; 
 The lowe o luve made labour licht, 
 
 I'm sure ye'U find it sae, 
 Whan kind ye cuddle doun at e'en, 
 
 Mang clean pea strae. 
 
 The rose blooms gay on caimy brae, 
 As weel's in birken shaw, 
 
 An love will lowe in cottage low, 
 As weel's in lofty ha : * 
 
 * "Love's as warm amang cottars as courtiers." — Allan Ramsay's "Scots 
 Proverbs." 
 
AN WAR YE AT DUNTOCHER BURN. 297 
 
 Sae, lassie, tak the lad ye like, 
 
 Whatever your minnie say, 
 Tho ye shoud mak your bridal bed 
 
 O clean pea strae. 
 
 128. 
 
 AN WAR YE AT DUNTOCHER BURN ? * 
 
 An war ye at Duritocher burn ? f 
 
 An did ye see them a, man ? 
 An how's my wifie an the bairns ? 
 
 I hae been lang awa, man. 
 This hedger J wark's a weary trade, 
 
 It doesna suit ava man ; 
 Wi lanely house an lanely bed 
 
 My comforts are but sma, man. 
 
 * Note hy Ramsay. — "This is one of the pieces of" which only the first 
 stanza was understood to hare been preserved. The remainder of the 
 above, however, has fortunately been recovered from a letter to King, 9th 
 May, 1809, in which the Author says — * The above is written on a real 
 occurrence, which fell under my observation, but I doubt the subject is not 
 well suited for a song ; therefore I am the more anxious to have your mip.d 
 on it, — not in that loose, vague way, which goes for little or nothing, but 
 in . I have shown you a pattern in my last. ' " 
 
 t Is situated in Old or West Kilpatrick Parish, Dumbartonshire. Flax 
 and cotton spinning was commenced iu Duntocher in the year 1807, and 
 shortly thereafter Mr. William Dunn purchased the Duntocher Mill, about 
 1808. Water was the driving power of machinery iu those days, and 
 streams with waterfalls were coveted sites for the erection of mills for the 
 spinning of wool and cotton. — Bd. 
 
 X The first stanza or fragment of this song, printed in the Harp of R^nr 
 frewshirCj in 1819, contained the words "This hedger wark's," and in 
 Ramsay's edition, in 1838, it is printed—" That cotton wark's." There is no 
 
298 SONGS. 
 
 An how's wee Sandy, Pate, an Tam ? 
 
 Sit doun an tak your blaw, man ; 
 Fey, lassie, rin, fetch in a dram, 
 
 Tae treat my Men, John Lamon ; 
 For ilka plack ye've gien tae mine. 
 
 Your callans shall get twa, man ; 
 O were ray heels as licht's my heart, 
 
 I sune wad see them a, man. 
 
 My blessing on her kindly heart. 
 
 She likes tae see me braw, man ; 
 She's darnt my hose, an bleacht my sarks 
 
 As white's the driven snaw, man. 
 An ere the win's o Martinmas 
 
 Sough thro the scroggie shaw, man, 
 I'll lift my weel hain't penny fee, 
 
 An gang an see them a, man. 
 
 way of testing which of the two is correct ; but we think it must have 
 been hedger work. At the time this song was printed, the north side 
 of the Towing-path of the Glasgow, Paisley, and Johnstone Canal, was in 
 the course of planting, with a thorn hedge ; and several estates around 
 Paisley were being planted with similar hedges. Tannahill has said the 
 song is founded on fact, but to discover " John Lamon " from Duutocher 
 bum will be a very dif&cult matter. It would seem John Lamon 's friend, 
 whether he had been a hedger or cotton -spinner, had been under the 
 necessity of leaving Duntocher burn for work in another place, and had 
 left his wife and children at Duntocher burn, for whom he was making 
 affectionate enquiries at John Lamon. — Sd, 
 
FI CKLE FRIEN'SHIP AND CAUL MISFORTUNE. 299 
 
 129. 
 
 FICKLE FRIEN'SHIP AND CAUL MISFORTUNE. 
 Air, — " The rosy brier.'' 
 
 My heart is sair wi heavy care, 
 
 Tae think on Frien'ship's fickle smile ; 
 
 It blinks a wee wi kindly e'e, 
 Whan warld's thrift rins weel the while ; 
 
 But let Misfortune's tempests low'r, 
 
 It sune turns caul, it sune turns sour ; 
 It leuks sae hie and scornfully, 
 
 It winna ken a puir man's door. 
 
 I ance had siller in my purse, 
 I dealt it out richt frank and free, 
 
 And hop'd, shoud Fortune change her course. 
 That they woud dae the same for me : 
 
 But, weak in wit, I little thocht 
 
 That Frien'ship's smiles were sold and bocht, 
 Tin ance I saw, like April snaw. 
 
 They waned awa when I had nocht. 
 
 It's no tae see my threadbare coat. 
 
 If s no tae see my coggie toom, 
 It's no tae ware my hinmost groat, 
 
 That gars me fret an gars me gloom; 
 But tis tae see the scomfu pride 
 That honest poortith aft maun bide 
 
 Frae selfish slaves, and sordid knaves, 
 Wha strut with fortune on their side. 
 
300 SONGS. 
 
 But let it gang ; wha deil care I ! 
 
 Wi eident thrift I'll toil for mair ; 
 I'll hauf my mite wi misery, 
 
 But fient a ane o them shall share : 
 Wi soul unbent I'll stan the stour, 
 And while they're flutt'ring past my door, 
 
 I'll sing wi glee, and let them see 
 An honest heart can ne'er be poor. . 
 
 130. 
 
 DESPAIRING MARY. 
 Sei to Music by Mr. R. A. Smith. 
 
 'Mary, why thus waste thy youthtime in sorrow? 
 
 See a aroun you the flowers sweetly blaw ; 
 Blythe sets the sun o'er the wild cliffs o Jura,* 
 
 Blythe sings the mavis in ilka green shaw ! " 
 'How can this heart ever mair think o pleasure. 
 
 * Jv/ra, — This is the island and parish of that name. It presents to the 
 eye a rough and rugged appearance, and the wild cliffs mentioned by 
 the Author are the conical mountains, called the "Paps of Jura," — the 
 picturesque landmarks that are seen at a great distance. The sun in setting, 
 referred to by the Poet, when sinking down behind the cliffs into the bosom 
 of his ocean love, is a romantic scene, and was probably seen by the Poet 
 in one of the excursions to ^e Highlands with kind Will MacNeil, 
 mentioned at page 177. — EA, 
 
 Note by K. A. Smith.— "The music published with this songwas originally 
 composed for other words ; but Tannahill took a fancy to the air, and 
 
DESPAIRING MARY. 30I 
 
 Simmer may smile, but delight I hae nane ; 
 
 Caul in the grave lies my heart's only treasure, 
 
 Nature seems deid since my Jamie is gane. 
 
 " This kerchief he gave me, a true lover's token, 
 
 Dear, dear tae me was the gift for his sake ! 
 I wear't near my heart, but this puir heart is broken, 
 
 Hope dee't wi Jamie, an left it tae break. 
 Sighin for him I lie doun in the e'enin, 
 
 Sighin for him I awake inthe morn; 
 Spent are my days a in secret repinin, 
 
 Peace tae this bosom can never return. 
 
 "Aft hae we wander'd in sweetest retirement, 
 
 Tellin our loves neath the mune's silent beam ; 
 Sweet war our meetin's o tender endearment. 
 
 But fled are these joys like a fleet passin dream. 
 Cruel Remembrance, ah! why wilt thou wreck me? 
 
 Broodin o'er joys that for ever are flown; 
 Cruel Remembrance, in pity forsake me. 
 
 Flee tae some bosom whar grief is unknown ! 
 
 immediately wrote * Despairing Mary ' for it, which, being the better song, 
 was adopted. The opening of the melody is too like the first part of * The 
 flowers of the forest' to lay claim to great originality, but after it was 
 composed 1 never could please myself with any alteration I attempted to 
 make, so it remains as it was first sketched." 
 
302 SONGS. 
 
 131. 
 
 THE WITLESS WISH. 
 Arranged by Mr. R. A. Smith. 
 
 Oh, sair I rae the witless wish, 
 
 That gart me gang wi you at e'en ; 
 An sair I rue the birken bush. 
 
 That screent us wi its leaves sae green ; 
 An tho ye vow'd ye wad be mine, 
 
 The tear o grief aye dims my e'e ; 
 For, oh I I'm fear'd that I may tyne 
 
 The luve that ye hae promis'd me! 
 
 While ithers seek their e'ening sports, 
 
 I wander, dowie, a my lane. 
 For whan I join their glad resorts, 
 
 Their daffin gies me meikle pain. 
 Alas, it wasna sae shortsyne. 
 
 Whan a my nichts war spent wi glee ; 
 But, oh ! I'm fear't that I may t)me 
 
 The luve that ye hae promis'd me ! 
 
 Dear lassie, keep thy heart aboon, 
 
 For I hae wairt my winter's fee ; 
 I've caft a bonnie silken goun, 
 
 Tae be a bridal gift for thee. 
 An sooner shall the hills fa doun. 
 
 An mountain hie shall stan the sea, 
 Ere I'd accept a gouden croun, 
 
 Tae change that luve I bear for thee. 
 
DESERT ISLE. 303 
 
 132. 
 
 THE DESERT ISLE.* 
 
 Air, — "Rory Fraser's Winsome Lassie." 
 
 Fly we tae some desert isle, 
 There we'll pass our days thegither, 
 
 Shun the world's derisive smile, 
 Wand'ring tenants o the heather ; 
 
 Shelter'd in some lanely glen, 
 
 Far removed frae mortal ken, 
 
 Forget the selfish ways o men, 
 Nor feel a wish beyond each ither. 
 
 Tho my frien's deride me still, 
 Jamie, I'll disown thee never ; 
 
 Let them scorn me as they will, 
 I'll be thine, and thine for ever. 
 
 What are a my kin tae me, 
 
 A their pride o pedigree ! 
 
 What war life, if wantin thee. 
 
 An what war deatlj, if we maun sever ! 
 
 * GEbert Bums, Esq., Knockmaroon Lodge, Chapelizod, Dublin,— a 
 nephew of the Scots National Poet, — has in his possession the manuscript 
 of this sougin the handwriting of TannahiU. It is entitled "A Scottish 
 Song," written to the Air — "Rory Praser's Winsome Lassie." He is also 
 in possession of a letter dated 1st March, 1810, written by TannahiU to Mr. 
 Thomas Stewart, bookseller, Greenock, when the Poet was proposing to 
 publish a second edition of his Works. Mr. Burns kindly sent us copies of 
 .the song and letter. — Ed^. 
 
304 SONGS. 
 
 133. 
 
 HEY, DONALD! HOW, DONALD! 
 
 Tho simmer smiles on bank an brae, 
 An Nature bids the heart be gay, 
 Yet a the" joys o flowery May 
 
 Wi pleasure ne'er can move me. 
 Hey, Donald! how, Donald! 
 Think upon your vow, Donald ; 
 Mind the heathery knowe, Donald, 
 
 Whar ye vowed tae loe me. 
 
 * 'Additiou to the above fragment by William Motherwell :~ 
 
 " The buddin rose and scentit brier, 
 < The siller fountain skinkhn clear, 
 
 The merry lav'rock whistlin near, 
 Wi pleasure ne'er can move me. 
 Hey, Donald ! how, Donald I 
 Think upon your vow, Donald ! 
 Mind the heathery knowe. Donald, 
 Whar ye vowed tae loe me. 
 
 I douna luik on bank or brae, 
 I douna greet whar a are gay, 
 But oh ! my heart will break wi wae. 
 
 Gin Donald cease tae loe me. 
 Hey, Donald ! how, Donald ! 
 Think upon your vow, Donald ! 
 Mind the heathery knowe_, Donald, 
 
 Wliar ye vowed tae loe me. " 
 
 Note hy itaiwaa?/.— "These two supplemental stinzas were wi-itten by 
 Motherwell about the year 1820, at the request of Smith, who waa fond of 
 the air, which he took down from the voice of a country girl in Arran. 
 Smith afterwards inserted the whole song, as now given, in the second 
 volume of his Scotish Minstrel." 
 
 In examining the Scotish Minstrel, Vol. II., page 78, we find Mr. R. A. 
 Smith has stated that the Author was unknown. — Ed. 
 
HOW CAN- YOU GANG, LASSIE.- 305 
 
 134. 
 HOW CAN YOU GANG, LASSIE. 
 
 Air. — " The Bonniest Lass in a-the Warl" 
 
 O HOW can you gang, lassie, how can you gang, 
 O how can you gang sae tae grieve me ! 
 
 Wi your beauty, and your airt, ye hae broken my heart, 
 For I never, never dreamt ye wad lea me. 
 
 * TMa song appeared in E. A. Smith's Scotisk Mitisirel, Vol. III., page 98, 
 with the word thought instead of dreamt. — JEd, 
 
 Addition to this fragment by Alexander Eodger ;— 
 
 " Ah, wha wadhae thocht that sae bonnio a face 
 Coud e'er wear a smile tae deceive me ? 
 Or that guile in that fair bosom coud e'er find a place. 
 An that you wad break your vow thus, an lea me ? 
 
 Oh, hae you not mind whan our names you entwined 
 In a wreath roun the purse you did weave me ? 
 
 Or hae you now forgot the ance dear try sting-spot, 
 Whar sae aft you pledged your faith ne'er tae lea me ? 
 
 But, changin as the win is your licht, fickle mind, 
 
 Your smiles, tokens, ^ows, a deceive me ; 
 Nae mair, then. 111 trust to such frail painted dust. 
 
 But bewail my fate tiU kind death relieve me. 
 
 Then gang, fickle fair, tae your new-fangled jo. 
 
 Yes, gaug, and in wretchedness lea me ; 
 But alas I shoud you be doomed tae a wedlock o woe, 
 
 Ah, how would your unhappiness grieve me ! 
 
 For, Mary I a faithless an false as thou art. 
 
 Thy spell-bindin glances, believe me, 
 Sae closely are entwined roun this fond foolish heart, 
 
 That the grave alane o them can bereave me." 
 
 O 2 
 
306 SONGS. ' 
 
 135. 
 
 I'LL LAY ME ON THE WINTRY LEA. 
 
 Air-—" Waly, waly, — old Set " 
 
 Fll lay me on the' wintry lea, 
 
 An sleep amidst the wind an weet, 
 An ere anither's bride I be, 
 
 O bring tae me my windin sheet ! 
 What can a hapless lassie dae, 
 
 Whan ilka frien wad prove her fae, 
 Wad gar her break her dearest vow, 
 
 Tae wed wi ane she canna loe ? 
 
 * Addition to this fragment by Robert Skimming : — 
 
 " Sax simmers noo liae owre me flown, Noo, Jamie, he's a rakish loon, 
 Siu Willie's heart was knit to mine; Our laird's ae son altho he be : 
 
 An whan our pledges I disown, Anwhanmyfrien'sgiehimtheii'haun, 
 
 Oh ! a my senses may I tine. He thinks he has the heart o me. 
 
 For, love and truth in him combine But I will let the stripling see 
 nk frien and fae maun a allow : That love tae wealth shall never how, 
 
 Shoud a the fates against me join. For frien's shall ne'er mak me agree 
 111 wed wi him — for him I loe. Tae wed wi nane but him I loe." 
 
 Eobert _Skimming composed these additional verses at the request of a 
 friend of Tannahill in 1843, who published the whole song in the Renfrew- 
 shire Advertiser. Robert Skimming was bom in Stewarton on 28th April, 
 1812 ; and on his arriving at ten years of age, he was put to the trade of his 
 father— a weaver. He removed with his father to Paisley in 1826, and 
 commenced rhyming in 1828. In 1840, he published "Lays of Leisure 
 Hours;" and, in 1852, "Strains I used to Sing." Tannahill's fragment, 
 with the four additional verses, appeared among the "Strains." Robert 
 Skimming, after forty-one years' trials in Paisley, removed to Rothesay in 
 1867, where he was appointed Janitor to the Working Men's Institute. He 
 attended the Centenary of Tannahill on 3rd June, 1874, and w&s on the 
 platform at the Tannahill Festival without being recognised. He returned 
 to Rothesay with a feeling of sadness at the changes which time had 
 made.— Ed. 
 
THE POOR maniac's SONG. 307 
 
 136. 
 THE POOR MANIAC'S SONG. 
 
 Set to Music by Mr. R. A. Smith* 
 1806. 
 
 Hark ! tis the poor Maniac's song : 
 
 She sits on yon wild craggy steep, 
 And while the winds mournfully whistle along, 
 
 She wistfully looks o'er the deep : 
 And aye she sings, " Lullaby, lullaby, lullaby ! " 
 
 To hush the rude billows asleep. 
 
 She looks to yon rock far at sea. 
 And thinks it her lover's white sa.il ; 
 
 The warm tear of joy glads her wild glist'ning eye, 
 As she beckons his vessel to hail ; 
 
 And aye she sings, " Lullaby, lullaby, lullaby ! " 
 And frets at the boisterous gale. 
 
 Poor Susan was gentle and fair. 
 Till the seas robbed her heart of its joy; 
 
 Then her reason was lost in the gloom of despair. 
 And her charms then did wither and die ; 
 
 And now her sad " Lullaby, lullaby, lullaby ! " 
 Oft wakes the lone passenger's sigh. 
 
 * This song first appeiired in 1806 in Millar's Paisley Repository, No. IV. 
 See Note to No. 16. Second, in the Nightingale^ page 214. See Note to No. 
 13. B. A. Smith sung the above song in character at his Concert on 3rd 
 May, 1808, and his name was put down in the Concert handbill as the 
 composer of the music. A copy of the handbill will be found among the 
 Correspondence. TannahiU was present, and he said Mr. Smith "had a 
 very numerous and respectable audience, and they seemed to be all highly 
 pleased with the performance." — Ed. 
 
308 SONGS. 
 
 137. 
 
 THE NEGRO GIRL.* 
 
 Set to Music by Mr. J^ohi Ross of Aberdeen, 
 
 1805. 
 
 Yon poor negro girl, an exotic plant, 
 
 Was torn from her dear native soil ; 
 Reluctantly borne o'er the raging Atlant, 
 
 Then brought to Britannia's isle. 
 Though Fatima's mistress be loving and kind. 
 
 Poor Fatima still must deplore ; 
 She thinks on her parents, left weeping behind, 
 
 And sighs for her dear native shore. 
 
 * This song first appeared in 1805 in Mayer's periodical, the Select<y>% 
 Vol. I., page 266,— the fourth of the seven pieces bearing the signature 
 "MoDESTUS." See Note to No. 5. And secondj in the NxgMingalef 1806, 
 another Glasgow publication, page 55. See Note to No. 13. 
 
 "As the auld cock craws, the young cock learns," says Allan Ramsay in 
 his " Scottish Proverbs." "We have much pleasure In noticing that Maver's 
 youngest son, Mr. Robert Maver, music publisher, 11 Renfield Street", 
 Glasgow, has followed the footsteps of his worthy sire in publishing a 
 " Selection of Genuine Scottish Melodies arranged for the Pianoforte or 
 Harmonium in keys suitable for the voice, with 488 tunes, with Words ; 
 edited by George Alexander, Esq." Threescore and ten years have now 
 passed away since old Mr. Maver first printed the above song, one of a 
 series of seventeen pieces of Tannahlll's in his serials— the Selectm' and 
 Gleaner ; and now Mr. Maver, junior, has burst forth in 1875 with another 
 magnificent edition of his National Collection of Airs, revised by the editor, 
 Mr. Alexander, containing fifteen of the most popular songs of Tannahill. 
 In alluding to that valuable Repository, we seize the opportunity of congra- 
 tulating Mr. Alexander, the editor, an enthusiast in old Scottish Airs, upon 
 the care and attention, and scholarly editorship, he has bestowed upon that 
 valuable addition to the song and musical literature of Scotland. — Ed. 
 
THE LASSIE MERRY AUCHTEEN. 309 
 
 She thinks on her Zadi, the youth of her heart, 
 
 Who from childhood was loving and true ; 
 How he cried on the beach, when the ship did depart ! 
 
 Twas a sad everlasting adieu. 
 The shell-woven gift which he bound round her arm. 
 
 The rude seamen unfeelingly tore. 
 Nor left one sad relic her sorrows to charm, 
 
 When far from her dearnative shore. 
 
 And now, all dejected, she wanders apart, 
 
 No friend, save retirement, she seeks ; 
 The sigh of despondency bursts from her heart. 
 
 And tears dew her thin sable cheeks. 
 Poor hard-fated girl, long, long she may mourn ! 
 
 Life's pleasures to her are all o'er ; 
 Far fled ev'ry hope that she e'er shall return 
 
 To revisit her dear native shore. 
 
 138. 
 
 THE LASSIE O MERRY AUCHTEEN. 
 
 My faither wad hae me tae marry the miller. 
 My mither wad hae me tae marry the laird. 
 
 But brawly I ken it's the luve o the siller, • 
 That brichtens their fancy tae ony regaird. 
 
310 
 
 SONGS. 
 
 The miller is cruikit, the miller is crabbit, 
 
 The laird, tho he's wealthy, he's lyart an lean ; 
 
 He's auld, an he's caul, an he's blin, an he's baul, 
 An he's no for a lassie o merry auchteen. 
 
 139. 
 
 DAVIE TULLOCH'S BONNIE KATIE. 
 
 Davie Tulloch's bonnie Katie, 
 Davie's bonnie blythesome Katie, 
 
 Tam the laird cam doun yestreen, 
 He socht her love, but gat her pity. 
 
 Wi tremblin grip he squeez'd her hah, 
 While his auld heart gaed pitty patty ; 
 
 Aye he thocht his gear an Ian 
 Wad win the love o bonnie Katie. 
 
 Addition to the above by Alexander Rodger : — 
 
 " But oh, there's a laddie wha tells me he loes me. 
 
 An him I loe dearly, ay, dearly as life ; 
 Though faither and mither shoud scold and abuse me, 
 
 Nae ither sliall ever get me for a wife. 
 Altho he can boast na o Ian nor yet siller. 
 
 He's worthy tao match wi a duchess or queen ; 
 For his heart is sae warm, and sae stately his form. 
 
 And then, like mysel, he's just merry auchteen." 
 
MEG THE GLEN. . 311 
 
 1 )avie Tulloch's bonnie Katie, 
 Davie's bonnie blythesome Katie, 
 
 Aye she smil'd as Tammie wil'd, 
 
 Her smile was scorn, yet mixt wi pity. 
 
 140. 
 MEG O THE GLEN. 
 
 Air--" When she cam ten she ioiiit." 
 
 Meg o the Glen set aff tae the fair, 
 
 Wi ruffles, an ribbons, an meikle prepare ; 
 
 Her heart it was heavy, her heid it was licht, 
 
 For a the lang way for a wooer she sicht. 
 
 She spak tae the lads, but the lads slippet by, 
 
 She spak tae the lassies, the lassies war shy; 
 
 She thocht she micht dae, but she didna weal ken. 
 
 For nane seem'd tae care for puir Meg o the Glen. 
 
 * Addition to the atove fragment by Alexander Rodger : — 
 
 " But wat ye what was't made the lads a gae by? 
 An wat ye what was't made the lasses sae shy ? 
 Pair Meg the Glen had nae tocher ava, 
 An, therefore, coud neither be bonnie nor braw ; 
 But an uncle wha lang in the Indies had been. 
 Foreseeing death coming tae close his auld een. 
 Made his will, left her heiress o thous.'ind punds ten,- 
 Now, wha is mair thocht than Meg o the Glen." 
 
312 SONGS. 
 
 141. 
 
 KISS'T YESTREEN, KISS'T YESTREEN. 
 
 Air — " Kiss't yestreen," 
 
 The lassies a leuch, an the carlin flate, 
 But Maggie was sittin fu ourie an blate, 
 The auld silly gawkie, she couldna contain, 
 How brawlie she was kiss't yestreen ; 
 
 Kiss't yestreen, kiss't yestreen. 
 How brawlie she was kiss't yestreen \ 
 She blethered it roun tae her fae an her frein, 
 
 How brawlie she was kiss't yestreen. 
 
 * Additional verses. 
 
 " Slie loosed the white napkin frae bout her dun neck. 
 An cried — * The big sorrow tak lang Geordie Fleck ; 
 D'ye see what a scart I gat frae a preen, 
 By his touslin and kissin at me yestreen ; 
 
 At me yestreen, at me yestreen. 
 By his touslin and kissin at me yestreen : 
 I canna conceive what the fallow coud mean 
 By kissin sae mcikle at me yestreen.' 
 
 Then she pu'd up her sleeve, and shawed a blae mark. 
 Quoth she — ' I gat that frae young Davie, our clark ; 
 But the creature had surely forgat himsel clean 
 Whan he nipt me sae hard for a kiss yestreen ; 
 
 For a kiss yestreen, for a kiss yestreen. 
 Whan he nipt me sae hard for a kiss yestreen : 
 I wonder what keepit my nails frae his een. 
 
 Whan he nipt me sae hard for a kiss yestreen. ' 
 
MARJORIE MILLER. 313 
 
 142. 
 MARJORIE MILLER.* 
 
 Louder than the trump of fame 
 
 Is the voice of Marjorie Miller ; 
 Time, the wildest beast can tame, 
 She's eternally the same : 
 
 Loud the mill's incessant clack, 
 Loud the clink of Vulcan's hammer, 
 
 Loud the deep-mouth'd cataract, . 
 But louder far her dinsome clamour ! 
 
 Nought on earth can equal be 
 
 To the noise of Marjorie. 
 
 Then she held up her cheek, an cried — ' Foul fa the laird. 
 Just leuk what I gat wi his black birsie beard ! 
 The vile filthy bodie 1 was e'er the like seen ? 
 Tae rub me sae sair for a kiss yestreen ; 
 
 For a kiss yestreen, for a kiss yestreen, 
 Tae rub me sae sair for a kiss yestreen ; 
 I'm sure that nae woman o judgment need green, 
 
 Tabe rubbit, like me, for a kiss yestreen.' 
 
 Syne she tald what gran offers she aften had had, 
 But, wad she tak a man ? na, she wasna sae mad : 
 For the hall the sex she car'd nae a preen. 
 An she hatit the way she was kisst yestreen ; 
 
 Eissit yestreen, kissit yestreen. 
 She hatit the way she was kisst yestreen ; 
 Twas a mercy that naething mair serious had been. 
 
 For it's dangerous, whiles, tae be kisst at e'en. " 
 
 * Note hy Ramsay. — "This song appeared in the only edition which was 
 published in the Author's lifetime ; but has hittierto been omitted in the 
 posthumous editions, probably from oversight." 
 
 This song first appeared in the Glasgow nightingale of 1806, page 72. See 
 first Note to No. 13. It also appeared in the editions of 1822 and 1825 ; but 
 Mr. Ramsay seemed not to have been aware of these editions. — Ed. 
 P 2 
 
314 SONGS. 
 
 Calm succeeds the tempest's roar, 
 Peace does follow war's confusion, 
 
 Dogs do bark and soon give o'er, 
 
 But she barks for evermore. 
 
 Loud's the sounding bleachfield horn. 
 
 But her voice is ten times louder ! 
 Red's the" sun on winter morn. 
 
 But her face is ten times redder ! 
 She delights in endless strife. 
 Lord ! preserve's from such a wife ! 
 
 143. 
 THE BANKS OF SPEV. 
 
 A ir — * ' Banks of Spey. ' ' 
 
 Scenes of my childhood, your wanderer hails you; 
 Wing'd with rude storm, though the winter assails you, 
 Bleak and dreary as ye are, ye yet have charms to cheer me, 
 For here, amidst my native hills, mybonnie lassie's near me; 
 Tis sad to see the wither'd lea, the drumlyfloodedfountain, 
 The angry storm in awful form, that sweeps the moor and 
 
 mountairi ; 
 But from the surly swelling blast, dear lassie, I'll defend her, 
 And from the bonnie banks of Spey I never more shall 
 
 wander. 
 
THE FIVE FRIEN's. 315 
 
 144. 
 THE FIVE FRIEN'S.* 
 
 A FAMOUS SCOTTISH SONG. 
 Air, — " We're a noddin , 
 
 Weel, wha's in the bouroch, f an what is your cheer ? 
 The best that ye'll fin in a thousan a year. 
 
 An we*re a noddin, nid nid noddin, 
 
 We're a noddin fu at e'en. 
 
 * TSqU by R. A. Smith. — " The little bacclianaliau rant you are so anxious 
 to know the history of was written In commemoration of a very happy 
 evening spent by the Poet with four of his musical friends. At that 
 meeting he was in high spirits, and his conversation became more than 
 usually animated ; many songs were sung, and we had some glee singing, 
 but neither fiddle nor fiiite made its appearance in company, nor were any 
 of us 'nid, nid, noddin.' We were 'unco happy,' and had just such a 
 ' drappie in our e'e ' as enabled us to bid defiance to Care for the time 
 being ; but the Poet thought proper to embellish his song with the old 
 chorus, ' We're a noddin, ' and rather than throw aside a lucky thought he 
 chose to depict his ain hardship ' as blin as an owl,' but I assure you this 
 was not the case, — his hardship had all his faculties ' sitting lightly on 
 him. ' As the merry rhymes in questio'n were never intended for the public 
 eye, I hope you will not give a copy to any person.*' — Harp of Itenfrew- 
 shire, p. xxxvii. 
 
 Note by MotJierwell. — " We have ventured to disagree on this point with 
 Mr. Smith, inasmuch as the courteous reader will find the song alluded to 
 printed at full length in the Appendix to the Harp. " 
 
 Note by Ramsay. — "The 'Five Frien's ' were — James Clark (the Poet's 
 correspondent), who now resides at Campbelton, Argyleshire ; William 
 Stuart, now at Anderston, Glasgow ; James Ban*, who lived at Kilbarchan 
 (' Barchan's touu '), but went abroad some years ago (see Note to No. 68) ; 
 Smith ; and Tannahill himself. To Mr. Stuart, we are indebted for some 
 interesting information concerning Smith and the Poet. " 
 
 t The cozie room in Allan Stewart's Sun Tavern, 12 High Street, used by 
 the social club with which three of the " Five Frien's " were connected. — Sd. 
 
3l6 SONGS. 
 
 There's our ain Jamie Clark,* frae the Ha o Argyle, 
 Wi his leal Scottish heart, an his kind open smile. 
 
 An we're a noddin, nid nid noddin, 
 
 We're a noddin fli at e'en. 
 
 There is Will t the guid fallow, wha kills a our care 
 Wi his sang an his joke, an a mutchkin mair. 
 
 An we're a noddin, nid nid noddin. 
 
 We're a noddin fu at e'en. 
 
 There is bly the Jamie Barr J frae "Sanct Barchan's" toiin, 
 Whan wit gets a kingdom, he's sure o the crotin. 
 
 An we're a noddin, nid nid noddin, 
 
 We're a noddin fu at e'en. 
 
 ' James Clark was bom in Paisley in 1781 ; and he and William Stuart, 
 ' the guid fallow,' were schoolfellows. He was brought up to the trade of a 
 weaver ; and in 1798, when he was eighteen years of age, he volunteered 
 into the Argyleshire Militia. Shortly thereafter, he married Betty Miller in 
 Kilbarchan. From his good conduct, he was early raised to the rank of 
 sergeant, and, from his qualifications in instrumentdl music, he was trans- 
 ferred into the Band. His talents fitted him for a leader; and he was elevated 
 to the rank of Bandmaster. The Baud of the Argyleshire Militia then became 
 one of the best in Scotland. His fine open countenance, genial disposition, 
 and kind heart, won the affections of his companions-in-arms ; and 
 his dress, height, proportionable personal appearance, and majestic step 
 with the leaders' staff, attracted the attention and approbation of the 
 inhabitants wherever the regiment was quartered. James Clark was an 
 early and constant acquaintance and correspondent of the Foet, and when 
 the former visited Paisley or Kalharchan, the two were always sure to meet 
 each other. The last occasion the two were together was in the end of 
 March, 1810, when the Poet said it was a pity that he had not called two 
 days earlier,, and he would have seen the "Ettrick Shepherd." When tiie 
 regiment was disembodied in 1816, James Clark was appointed one of the 
 staff, and resided in Campbeltown ; and, on being disbanded in 1826, 
 he was rewarded with a pension of one shilling per day. He became 
 a teacher of instrumental music in that town, where he was very much 
 respected. William Stuart and his son, James Stewart, frequently visited 
 James Clark ; and they had long cracks about their old lamented acquain- 
 tance, Bob Taunahill. James Clark died in 1859, aged 78.— £d. 
 
 "t William Stuart. See the Note to No. 20, page QS.—Bd. 
 
 i James Barr. See the Notes to Nos. 20, and 68. " Sanct BarcharCs toun," 
 
THE FIVE FRIEN'S. 317 
 
 There is Rab, * frae the south, wi his fiddle an his flute; 
 I coud list tae his strains till the stams fa out. 
 
 An we're a noddin, nid nid noddin, 
 
 We're a noddin fu at e'en. 
 
 Apollo, t for our comfort, has furnish'd the bowl, 
 An here is my bardship, f as blin as an owl. 
 
 For we're a noddin, nid nid noddin, 
 
 We're a noddin fu at e'en. 
 
 — Kilbarchan. The first time the words **Sanct Barcban's" can be found in 
 print, is in the popular elegy of "The Life and Death of the Piper of 
 Kilbarchan, or the Epitaph on Habbie Simpson," written by Kobert 
 Sempill of Beltrees about 1640. See Note to No. 26, page 128. These 
 words, "Sanct Barch^n's," had been properly adopted by Tannahill f rora 
 the seventh stanza of the elegy : — 
 
 " Sae kyndlie tae his nychbours, neist 
 At Beltane an Sanct Barchan's feist 
 He blew, an then hald up his breist 
 
 As he war weid ; 
 But now we neid not him arreist. 
 
 For Habbie's deid. " 
 
 In forty-four years afterwards, the learned Professor Cosmo Innes, the 
 greatest antiquarian authority of the age, also adopted the same words 
 from the elegy. The professor in his valuable work on "The Origin of 
 Parishes in Scotland," published in 1851, said in reference to Kilbarchan : — 
 "The ancient church was situated in the village or Kirk-toun. It is only 
 from the name we learn its dedication to Saint Barchan, bishop and con- 
 fessor ; but his feast seems formerly to have been celebrated in the village, 
 and was probably the day of the 'Annual Fair.'" He cites Semple of 
 Beltrees as his authority for using the name "Saint Barchan " in the two 
 sentences before quoted. The Professor died on 31st July, 18T4, aged 75. — 
 Ed. 
 
 * R. A. Smith, who came from EngLind. See Note at page 20.— ^t^. 
 
 t ApoUo, the god of the Muses, —Ed. 
 
 X The Author himself. 
 
3l8 SONGS. 
 
 145. 
 WHY UNITE TO BANISFI CARE?* 
 
 Air, — "Let us taste the sparkling wine." 
 1810. 
 
 Why unite to banish Care ? 
 Let him come our joys to share ; 
 Doubly blest our cup shall flow, 
 When it soothes a brother's woe ; 
 Twas for this the powers divine 
 Crown'd our board with generous wine. 
 
 Far be hence the sordid elf 
 
 Who'd claim enjoyment for himself; 
 
 * R.A. Smith, in one of several letters to Motherwell, editor of the "Harp 
 0/ Renfrewshire," yage xl. (First Series), says :—" Two days before his death 
 Tannahlll showed me several poetical pieces of a most strange texture ; and 
 in the afternoon of the same day he called on me again, requesting me to 
 return him a song that bad been left for my perusal I had laid it past in 
 n music book, and was unable to find it at the time. It was his last 
 production, and he seemed to be much disappointed when, after a long 
 search, I could not procure it for him. This was the last time I saw him. 
 The anxiety he showed to get back the manus^pript appears to have pro- 
 ceeded from a determination to destroy every scrap of his poetry that he 
 could possibly collect." 
 
 According to Mr. Smith's statement, this meeting with the Poet must 
 have taken place either on Monday, the 14th, or Tuesday, the 15th day of 
 May, 1810. M'Larcn relates the strange conduct of the Bard at his 
 "initiation into the sacred order of Masonry," which likely took place on 
 either of these two days, 14th and 15th May. But it seems far stranger to 
 us that neither. Smith nor M'Larcn, his bosom friends, in referring to 
 poetical pieces of a most strange texture, or strmige conduct, never hint that 
 Tannahill was then insane, and should have been looked after. If such is 
 friendship, well may we exclaim, ' ' Save us from our f liends ! ' ' — Ed,. 
 
WHY UNITE TO BANISH CARE? 319 
 
 Come, the hardy seaman, lame, 
 The gallant soldier, robb'd of fame ; 
 Welcome all who bear the woes 
 Of various kind that merit knows. * 
 
 " Patriot heroes, doomed to sigh, 
 Idle neath corruption's eye ; 
 Honest tradesmen, credit worn. 
 Pining under Fortune's scorn ; 
 Wanting wealth, or lacking fame. 
 Welcome all that worth can claim. 
 
 " Come, the hoary headed sage, 
 Suffering more from want than age ; 
 Come, the proud, though needy bard, 
 Starving midst a world's regard : 
 Welcome, welcome, one and all 
 That feel on this unfeeling ball." j 
 
 * The first and second stanzas were printed in the 1815 and 1817 
 editions. — Ed. 
 
 t Note hy Motherwell. — " The last two stanzas are for the first time added. " 
 
 Note by Rammy. — " Many an expedient has been resorted to by the poets 
 for the disposal of so gloomy a personage as Care. Burns gained the 
 admiration of all jolly topers by making him 
 
 " Mad to see a man sae happy. 
 E'en drown himsel amang the nappy." 
 
 Our good-natured Bard, by inviting him to participate in the festivities, 
 surely evinced a more hospitable disposition. A melancholy interest is 
 attached to this Uttle effusion ; it was Tannahill's last production. This we 
 state on the authority of Smith, — Harp. The two last stanzas have not 
 appeared in any former edition. They are taken from a manuscript copy 
 furnished by the Author to his friends." 
 
320 SONGS. 
 
 146. 
 THE HIGHLANDER'S INVITATION. 
 
 Air, — " Will ye come to the tower f" 
 
 Will ye come to the board I've prepared for you ? 
 Your drink shall be good, of the true Highland blue. 
 Will ye, Donald, will ye, Galium, come to the board ? 
 There each shall be great as her own native lord. 
 
 There'll be plenty of pipe, and a glorious supply 
 ' Of the good sneesh-te-bacht, and the fine cut-an-dry. 
 Will ye, Donald, will ye, Galium, come then at e'en ? 
 There be some for the stranger, but more for the frien. 
 
 There we'll drink foggy Gare to his gloomy abodes, 
 And we'll smoke till we sit in the clouds like the gods. 
 Will ye, Donald, will ye, Galium, won't you do so ? 
 Tis the way that our forefathers did long ago. 
 
 And we'll drink to the Gameron, we'll drink to Lochiel, 
 And for Gharlie, we'll drink all the French to the deil. 
 Will ye, Donald, will ye, Galium, drink there until 
 There be heads lie like peat's if hersel had her will ! 
 
 There be groats on the land, there be fish in the sea, 
 And there's fouth in the coggie for friendship and me. 
 Gome then, Donald, come then, Galium, come then 
 
 to-night. 
 Sure the Highlander be first in the fuddle and the fight. 
 
THE COGGIE. 32 1 
 
 147. 
 
 THE COGGIE.* 
 
 Air, — " Cauld kail in Aierdeex." 
 1804. 
 
 When poortith caul, an sour disdain, 
 
 Hang owre life's vale sae foggie. 
 The sun that brichtens up the scene. 
 Is frien'ship's kindly coggie ! 
 
 Then, oh ! revere the coggie. sirs ! 
 The frien'ly, social coggie ! 
 It gars the wheels o life run licht, 
 Tho e'er sae doilt an cloggie. 
 
 Let pride in Fortune's chariot fly, 
 
 Sae empty, vain, an voggie ; 
 The source o wit, the spring o joy. 
 Lies in the social coggie ! 
 
 Then, oh ! revere the coggie, sirs ! 
 The independent coggie ! 
 An never snool beneath the frown 
 O ony selfish roggie. 
 
 Puir modest worth, wi cheerless e'e. 
 
 Sits hurklin in the boggie, 
 Till she asserts her dignity. 
 
 By virtue o the coggie ! 
 
 * This song first appeared in Maver's Glasgow periodical, the Selector, Vol. 
 IV., page 264, in 1806. See Note to No. 5, It also appeared the same year 
 in Leslie's Glasgow Nightingale, page 210. See first Note to No. 13. — Ed. 
 
 Q 2 
 
322 SONGS. 
 
 Then, oh ! revere the coggie, sirs ! 
 The puir man's patron coggie, 
 It warsels care, it fechts life's fauchts, 
 An lifts him frae the boggie. 
 
 Gie feckless Spain her weak snail broo, 
 
 Gie France her weel spic't froggie, 
 Gie brither John his luncheon too. 
 But gie to us our coggie ! 
 
 Then, oh ! revere the coggie, sirs ! 
 Our soul-warm kindred coggie ; 
 Hearts doubly knit in social tie, 
 When just a wee thocht groggie. 
 
 In days o yore our sturdy sires. 
 Upon their hills sae scroggie, 
 Glow'd with true Freedom's warmest fires, 
 An faucht to save their coggie ! 
 
 Then, oh ! revere the coggie, sirs ! 
 Our brave forefathers' coggie ; 
 It rous'd them up to douchty deeds. 
 O'er whilk we'll lang be voggie. 
 
 Then, here's — May Scotland ne'er fa doun, 
 
 A cringin, coward doggie, 
 But bauldly stan an bang the loon, 
 Wha'd reave her o her coggie ! 
 
 Then, oh ! revere the coggie, sirs ! 
 Our guid auld mither's coggie ! 
 Nor let her luggie e'er be drain'd 
 By ony foreign roggie. 
 
COGGIE, THOU HEALS ME. 323 
 
 148. 
 COGGIE, THOU HEALS ME. 
 
 Dorothy sits i the caul ingle neuk, 
 
 Her red rosy neb's like a labster tae, 
 Wi girnin, her mou's like the gab o the fleuk, 
 
 Wi smokin, her teeth's like the jet o the slae. 
 An aye she sings "Weel's me," aye she sings "Weel's me, 
 Coggie, thou heals me ! coggie, thou heals me ! 
 Aye my best frien whan there's onything ails me. 
 Ne'er shall we pairt till the day that I dee." 
 
 Dorothy ance was a weel-tocher'd lass. 
 
 Had charms like her neebours, and lovers enou. 
 
 But she spited them sae, wi her pride an her sauce. 
 They left her for thretty lang simmers to rue. 
 
 Then aye she sang "Wae's me !" aye she sang "Wae's me ! 
 
 Oh, I'U turn crazy, oh, I'U turn crazy.! 
 
 Naething in a the wide warl can ease me, 
 
 Deil tak the wooers, — Oh, what shall I dae ? " 
 
 Dorothy, dozen't wi leevin her lane, 
 
 Pu'd at her rock, wi the tear in her ee ; 
 She thocht on the braw merry days that war gane. 
 
 And caft a wee coggie for companie. 
 Now aye she sings "Weel's me ! " aye she sings "Weel's me ! 
 Coggie, thou heals me ! coggie, thou heals me ! 
 Aye my best frien whan there's onything ails me, 
 Ne'er shall we pairt till the day that I dee." 
 
324 SONGS. 
 
 149. 
 FILL, FILL, THE MERRY BOWL. 
 
 Fill, fill, the merry bowl. 
 
 Drown corrosive care and sorrow, 
 Why, why clog the soul. 
 
 By caring for to-morrow ? 
 Fill your glasses, toast your lasses, 
 
 Blythe Anacreon bids you live ; 
 Love with friendship far surpasses 
 
 All the pleasures life can give. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Ring, ring th' enlivening bell. 
 The merry dirge of care and sorrow, 
 
 Why leave them life to tell 
 Their heavy tales to-morrow ? 
 
 Come, join the social glee, 
 
 Give the reins to festive pleasure ; 
 While fancy, light and free. 
 
 Dances to the measure. 
 Love and wit, with all the graces. 
 
 Revel round in fairy ring. 
 Smiling joy adorns our faces, 
 
 While with jocund hearts we sing. 
 
AWAY, GLOOMY CARE. 325 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 Now, since our cares are drowned, 
 Spite of what the sages tell us, 
 
 Hoary Time, in all his round, 
 Ne'er saw such happy fellows.* 
 
 150. 
 
 AWAY, GLOOMY CARE. 
 
 Away, gloomy care, there's no place for thee here, 
 
 Where so many good fellows are met ; 
 Thou wouldst dun the poor bard eVry day in the year, 
 
 Yet I'm sure I am none in thy debt. 
 Go, soak thy old skin in the miser's small beer. 
 
 And keep watch in his cell all the night ; 
 And if in the morning thou dar'st to appear. 
 
 By Jove, I shall drown thee outright. 
 
 * JToie by Bamaay. — "Smith aaysin a manuscript note now before us, — 
 ' Tannahin wrote the above at my particular desire for a favourite air I 
 gave him, which I thought would make a good bacchanalian.'" 
 
 Although the above admission of Smith is the only one that has come to 
 the surface, it is probable he suggested more of these songs ; and we are 
 inclined to think that some of the other companions of Tannahill may have 
 directed the attention of the Poet to such subjects.— ^ti. 
 
326 SONGS. 
 
 151. 
 COME HAME TO YOUR LINGELS. 
 
 Air, — " Whistle an I'll come tae you, my lad." 
 
 Come hame tae your lingels, ye ne'er-do-weel loon, 
 You're the king o the d3^ours, the tauk o the toun ; 
 Sae soon as the Munonday mornin comes in, 
 Your wearifu daidlin again maun begin. 
 Guidwife, ye're a skillet, your tongues jist a bell, 
 Tae the peace o guid fallows it rings the death knell ; 
 But clack till ye deafen auld Barnaby's mill. 
 The souter shall aye hae his Munonday's yill. 
 
 * Addition to the above fragment by Alexander Rodger : — 
 
 " Come hame tae your lapstane, come hame tae your last, 
 If s a bonnie affair that your family maun fast, 
 While you au your crew here a-drinkin maun sit. 
 Ye dazed, drucken, guid-for-nocht heir o the pit ; 
 Just look, how I'm gaun without stockin or shae. 
 Your bairns a in tatters, and faitherless tae. 
 And yet, quite content, like a sot, ye'U sit still. 
 Till your kyte's like tae crack, wi your Munonday's yill. 
 
 I tell you, guidwife, gin ye haudna your clack, 
 III lend you a reistle wl this, owre your back ; 
 Maun we be abused and aSrontet by you, 
 Wi siccan foul names as loon^ dyvour, an cr&w ? 
 Come hame tae your lingels, this instant come hame. 
 Or I'U redden your face, gin ye've yet ony shame. 
 For I'll bring a the bairns, and we'll just hae our fill, 
 As weel as yoursel, your Munonday's yill. 
 
KITTY O'CARROL. 327 
 
 152. 
 KITTY O'CARROL. 
 
 Ye may boast of your charms, and be proud, to be sure, 
 As if there was never such beauty before ; 
 But ere I got wedded to old Thady More, 
 I had dozens of wooers each night at my door, 
 With their " Och dear ! O will you marry me, 
 Kitty O'Carrol, the joy of my soul ! " 
 
 153. 
 KATHLEEN OWNS SHE LOVES ME.* 
 
 Air, — "Gamby Ora." 
 
 Ye friendly stars that rule the night, 
 
 And hail my glad returning, 
 Ye never shone so sweetly bright, 
 
 Since gay St. Patrick's morning. 
 
 Gin that be the gait o't, sire, come let us stir, 
 What need we sit here tae be pestered by her? 
 For she'll plague an affront us as far as she can : 
 Did ever a woman sae bother a man ? 
 Frae yillhouse tae yillhouse shell after us rin. 
 An raise the hail toun wi her yelpln an din ; 
 Come ! ca the guidwife, bid her bring in the bill : 
 I see I maun quat takin Munonday 's ylll. " 
 
 * Note hy Ramsay.— " Gamby ora, literally Qabhaidh mi oran, means- 
 will sing. " 
 
328 SONGS. 
 
 My life hung heavy on my mind, 
 Despair sal brooding o'er me ; 
 Now all my cares are far behind, 
 And joy is full before me. 
 
 Gamby ora, gamby ora. 
 
 How my heart approves me ; 
 Gamby ora,- gamby ora, 
 
 Kathleen owns she loves me. 
 
 Were all the flow'ry pastures mine. 
 
 That deck fair Limerick county. 
 That wealth, dear Kathleen, should be thine, 
 
 And all should share our bounty. 
 But fortune's gifts I value not, 
 
 Nor grandeur's highest station ; 
 I would not change my happy lot 
 
 For all the Irish nation. 
 
 Gamby ora, gamby ora, &c. 
 
 154. 
 KITTY TYRELL. 
 
 Irish Air. 
 
 The breeze of the night fans the dark mountain's breast. 
 And the light bounding deer have all sunk to their rest ; 
 The big sullen waves lash the loch's rocky shore. 
 And the lone drowsy fisherman nods o'er his oar. 
 
KITTY TYRELL. / 329 
 
 Tho pathless the moor, and the starless the skies, 
 The star of my heart is my -Kitty's bright eyes ; 
 And joyful I hie over glen, brake, and fell, 
 In secret to meet my sweet Kitty TyreL 
 
 Ah ! long have we loved in her father's despite, 
 And oft we have met at the dead hour of night. 
 When hard-hearted vigilance, sunk in repose, 
 Gave love one sweet hour its fond tale to disclose. 
 These moments of transport, to me, oh, how dear ! 
 And the fate that would part us, alas, how severe ! 
 Although the rude storm rise with merciless swell. 
 This night I shall meet my~ sweet Kjtty Tyrell. 
 
 Ah! turn, hapless youth ! see the dark cloud of death. 
 Comes rolling in gloom o'er the wild haunted heath ; 
 Deep groans the scathed oak on the glen's cliffy brow. 
 And the sound of the torrent seems heavy with woe. 
 Away,, foolish seer, with thy fancies so wild. 
 Go, tell thy weak dreams to some credulous child ; 
 Love guides my light steps through the lone dreary dell, 
 And I fly to the arms of sweet Kitty T3Trell. * 
 
 * Note by Ramigay. — "As it is fashionable to furnish various readings, we 
 will here suhjoin one taken from a copy of this song in the Author's hand-- 
 writing, by which it appears that he at first gave it a melancholy 
 termination in the following lines, which were afterwards supplanted by 
 the last four above printed : — 
 
 ' O fearless he goes,— see ! he fords the deep burn. 
 He goes— but alas ! he shall never return ; 
 The ruthless assassin unseen marks him well. 
 And he falls for his love to sweet Kitty Tyrell. ' " 
 
 R 2 
 
330 SONGS. 
 
 155. 
 SWEET KITTY MORE. 
 
 y}?>, — "The Lass that wears Green.' 
 
 One night in my youth as I rov'd with my merry pipe, 
 List'ning the echoes that rang to the tune, 
 
 I met Kitty More, with her two lips so cherry ripe ; 
 " Phelim," says she, " give us ' Eileen Aroon ! ' " 
 
 Dear Kitty, says I, thou'rt so charmingly free ! 
 
 Now, if thou wilt deign thy sweet voice to the measure, 
 Twill make all the echoes run giddy with pleasure. 
 
 For none in fair Erin can sing it like thee. 
 
 My chanter I plied, with my heart beating gaily, 
 I pip'd up the strain, while so sweetly she sang;- 
 
 The soft melting melody fill'd all the valley, 
 The green woods around us in harmony rang. 
 
 Methought that she verily charmed up the moon ! 
 And now, as I wander in village or city. 
 When good people caU for some favourite ditty, 
 
 I give them sweet Kitty, and Eileen Aroon. 
 
EVELEEN, OR GREEN INISM6RE. 331 
 
 156. 
 
 EVELEEN, OR GREEN INISMORE. 
 
 Air, — " The Leitrim County." 
 
 . How light is my heart as I journey along, 
 
 Now my perilous service is o'er, 
 I think on sweet home, and I carol a song, 
 
 In remembrance of her I adore ; 
 How sad was the hour when I bade her adieu ! 
 Her tears spoke her grief, though her words were but few ; 
 She hung on my bosom, and sighed, Oh, be true. 
 
 When you're far from the Green Inismore ! 
 
 Ah, Eveleen, my love, hadst thou seen this fond breast, 
 
 How, at parting, it bled to its core. 
 Thou hadst there seen thine image so deeply impress't. 
 
 That thou ne'er couldst have doubted me more. 
 For my king and my country undaunted I fought. 
 And braved all the hardships of war as I ought. 
 But the day never rose saw thee strange to my thought 
 
 Since I left thee in Green Inismore. 
 
 Ye dear native mountains that tower on my view. 
 
 What joys to my mind ye restore ! 
 The past happy scenes of my life ye renew. 
 
 And ye ne'er seemed so charming before. 
 In the rapture of fancy, already I spy 
 My kindred and friends crowding round me with joy, 
 But my Eveleen, sweet girl, there's a far dearer tie 
 
 Binds this heart to the Green Inismore. 
 
332 SONGS. 
 
 157. 
 THE IRISH FARMER. 
 
 Air, — "Sir John Scott' s ■ Favourite.' 
 July» 1809. 
 
 Dear Judy, when first we got married, 
 
 Our fortune indeed was but small, 
 For save the light hearts that we carried, 
 
 Our riches were nothing at all : 
 I sung while I reared up the cabin. 
 
 Ye powers give me vigour and health ! 
 And a truce to all sighing and sobbing, 
 
 For love is Pat Mulligan's wealth. 
 
 Through summer and winter so dreary, 
 
 I cheerily toiled on the farm, 
 Nor ever once dreamed growing weary. 
 
 For love gave my labour its charm. 
 And now, though tis weak to be vaimty, 
 
 Yet here let us gratefull)' own, 
 We live amidst pleasure and plenty, 
 
 As happy's the king on the throne. 
 
 We've Murdoch, and Patrick, and Coimor, 
 As fine little lads as you'U see, 
 
 And Kitty, sweet girl, pen my honour. 
 She's just the dear picture of thee. 
 
IRISH TEACHING. 333 
 
 Though some folks may still underrate us, 
 Ah, why should we mind them a fig ? 
 
 We've a large swinging field of potatoes, 
 A good drimindu* and a pig. 
 
 158. 
 IRISH TEACHING. 
 
 July, 1809. 
 
 t Dear Judy, Fve taken a-thinking, 
 
 The children their letters must learn, 
 And we'll send for old Father OJenkin, 
 
 To teach them three months in the bam ; 
 For learning's the way to promotion, 
 
 Tis culture brings food from the sod, 
 And books give a fellow a notion 
 
 How lAatters are doing abroad. 
 
 * Note hy Ramsay. — Drimindu, or more properly drimindubh (black back), 
 a name for the cow. " 
 
 t Note hy Ramsay. — " In former editions, this and the following stanzas 
 were printed as a separate song under the title of ' Dear Judy,' contrary to 
 the intention of the Author, as appears from his manuscript now before us,' ' 
 
 No. 157, "The Irish Farmer," and No. 158, "Dear Judy, "had only appeared 
 in the 1817 and 1833 editions, and were there separate,— the latter of which 
 we have now titled " Irish Teaching," and still kept them separate ; but 
 they can be read either separately, or connected, as the reader prefers.— £'tf. 
 
334 SONGS. 
 
 Though father neglected my reading, 
 
 Kind soul, sure his spirit's in rest ! 
 For the very first part of his breeding. 
 
 Was still to relieve the distressed. 
 And, late, when the trav'ller benighted, 
 
 Besought hospitality's claim, 
 He lodged him till morning, delighted. 
 
 Because twas a lesson to them. 
 
 The man that won't feel for another. 
 
 Is just like a colt on the moor. 
 He. lives without knowing a brother, 
 
 To frighten bad luck from his door. ■ 
 But he that's kind-hearted and steady, 
 
 Though wintry misfortune should come. 
 He'll still find some friend who is ready 
 
 To scare the old witch from his home. 
 
 Success to Ould Ireland for ever ! 
 
 Tis just the dear land to my mind, 
 Her lads are warm-hearted and clever. 
 
 Her girls are all handsome and kind. 
 And he that her name would bespatter. 
 
 By wishing the French safely o'er, 
 May the de'il blow him over the water. 
 
 And make him cook frogs for the core.* 
 
 Sou hy Ra-imay.-" In a letter to Mr. G. Thomson conoeniing this son^ 
 3rd Jul,, 1809. tho Author says-'The Air designed for it is unquestionaWv 
 Irish ; and I believe some publisher on tUs side the water has iivor, it Vi^ 
 name of • Sir John Scott's Favourite. ' "• "as given it tho 
 
LAMENT FOR POOR DRIMINDO. 335 
 
 159. 
 LAMENT FOR POOR DRIMINDO.* 
 
 How gay rose this morning, how cheerful was I, 
 No care on my mind, and no cloud on the sky ; 
 I dreamt not ere night that my sorrows should flow, 
 Bewailing the fate of my poor drimindo. 
 
 160. 
 
 MOLLY, MY DEAR. 
 
 Air, — "Miss Molly." 
 
 The harvest is o'er, and the lads are so funny, 
 Their hearts lined with love, and their pockets with money, 
 From morning till night tis " My jewel, my honey, 
 Och, go to the north with me, Molly, my dear ! " 
 
 Young Dermot holds on with his sweet botheration. 
 And swears there is only one flower in the nation ; 
 " Thou rose of the Shannon, thou pink of creation, 
 Och, go to the north with me, Molly, my dear ! 
 
 JiJotn by Mamsay. — " iJnmzndw,— a name for a cow.' 
 
336 
 
 " The sun courts thy smiles as he sinks in the ocean, 
 The moon to thy charms Veils her face in devotion, 
 And I, my poor self, och ! so rich is my notion, 
 
 Would pay down the world for sweet Molly, my dear.' 
 
 Though Thady can match all the lads with his blarney, 
 And sings me love-songs of the lakes of Killarney, 
 In worth from my Dermot he's twenty miles' journey. 
 My heart bids me tell him I'll ne'er be his dear. 
 
 161. 
 
 SHEELAH, MY DARLING. 
 
 Air, — "Nancy Vernon.'' 
 
 Ah, Sheelah, thou'rt my darling. 
 
 The golden image of my heart ; 
 How cheerless seems this morning, 
 
 It brings the hour when we must part. 
 Though doomed to cross the ocean. 
 
 And face the proud insulting foe. 
 Thou hast my soul's devotion, 
 
 My heart is thine where'er I go ! 
 Ah, Sheelah, thou'rt my darling. 
 
 My heart is thine where'er I go I 
 
 When tossed upon the billow. 
 
 And angry tempests round me blow. 
 
 Let not the gloomy willow 
 O'ershade thy lovely lily brow ; 
 
SHEELAH, MY DARLING. 337 
 
 But mind the seaman's story, 
 Sweet William and his charming Sue ; 
 
 I'll soon return with glory, 
 And, like sweet William, wed thee too. 
 
 Ah, Sheelah, thou'rt my darling. 
 My heart is thine where'er I go. 
 
 Think on our days of pleasure, 
 
 When wand'ring by the Shannon side, 
 When summer days gave leisure 
 
 To stray amidst their flow'ry pride ; 
 And while thy faithful lover 
 
 Is far upon the stormy main, 
 Think, when the wars are over. 
 
 These golden days shall come again. 
 Ah, Sheelah, thou'rt my darling. 
 
 These golden days shall come again ! 
 
 Farewell, ye lofty mountains, 
 
 Your flow'ry wilds we wont to rove ; 
 Ye woody glens and fountains. 
 
 The dear retreats of mutual love. 
 Alas, we now must sever. 
 
 Oh, Sheelah, to thy vows be true, 
 My heart is thine for ever ; 
 
 One fond embrace, and then adieu ! 
 Ah, Sheelah, thou'rt my darling. 
 
 One fond embrace, and then adieu ! 
 
 s 2 
 
33^ ■ SONGS. 
 
 162. 
 
 PEGGY O'RAFFERTY.* 
 
 Air,— " Paddy O'Rafferty." 
 
 6h, could I fly like the green-coated fairy, 
 
 I'd skip o'er the ocean to dear Tipperary, 
 
 Where all the young fellows are blythesome and merry, 
 
 While here I lament my sweet Peggy O'Rafferty. 
 How could I bear in my bosom to leave her, 
 In absence I think her more lovely than ever ; 
 With thoughts of her beauty I'm all in a fever, 
 
 Since others may woo my sweet Peggy O'Rafferty. 
 
 Scotland, thy lasses are modest and bonny, 
 But here every Jenny has got her own Johnny, 
 And though I might call them my jewel and honey, 
 
 My heart is at home with sweet Peggy O'Rafferty. 
 Wistful I think on my dear native mountains. 
 Their green shady glens and their crystalline fountains, 
 And ceaseless I heave the deep sigh of repentance, 
 
 That ever I left my sweet Peggy O'Rafferty. 
 
 ^ J^oie hy Ramsai/. — " lu a letter to Mr. George Tliomson witli this song 
 iiud the two preceding (Nos. 163 and 156), dated 3rd July, 1S09, Tannahill 
 says— '1 have gleaned the three preceding airs for you. You may depend 
 on their being genuine Hibernians. I li^d them taken down from the 
 voice. The songs usually sung to them were as low stuff as can be. I am 
 firmly of opinion that the Very popular air of ' Peggy O'Rafferty ' is worthy 
 of being adopted into the singing class, provided a good song can be had 
 for it. I shall bo glad to know your mind of it, and how my verses please 
 you. ' The La.s3 that wears Green ' is surely a fine little air. My song to it 
 and the one following arc just warm from the Parnassian mint. I cannot 
 as yet guess how they stand.' " 
 
AWAKE, MY HARP, THE CHEERFUL STRAIN. 339 
 
 Fortune, twas thine all the light foolish notion, 
 That led me to rove o'er the wide rolling ocean, 
 But what now to me all my hopes of promotion. 
 
 Since I am so far from sweet Peggy O'Rafferty. 
 Grant me as many thirteens as will carry me 
 Down through the country and over the ferry, 
 I'll hie me straight home into dear Tipperary, 
 
 And never more leave my sweet Peggy O'Rafferty. 
 
 163. 
 AWAKE, MY HARP, THE CHEERFUL STRAIN. 
 
 Awake, my harp, the cheerful strain ! 
 
 Shall I, the first of Erin's warrior band. 
 
 In wasting sorrow still complain ? 
 
 The first to dare stern danger's bloody field. 
 
 Shall I to silly, changeful woman yield ? 
 No, — raise, my harp, the cheerful strain. 
 
 What is a rosy cheek, or lily hand ! 
 Since thus she scorns, I'll scorn again. 
 
34° SONGS. 
 
 164. 
 
 ADIEU, SWEET ERIN. 
 
 A^r, — " The green woods of Treugh.' 
 
 Adieu, ye cheerful native plains, 
 
 Dungeon glooms receive me. 
 Nought, alas, for me remains. 
 Of all the joys ye gave me — 
 All are flown ! 
 Banished from thy shores, sweet Erin, 
 I, through life, must toil, despairing. 
 Lost and unknown. 
 
 Howl, ye winds ! around my cell. 
 
 Nothing now can wound me ; 
 Mingling with your dreary swell. 
 Prison groans surround me : 
 Bodings wild ! 
 Treachery, thy ruthless doing. 
 Long I'll mourn in hopeless ruin, 
 Lost and exiled ! 
 
THE DIRGE OF CAROLAN. 34 1 
 
 165. 
 THE DIRGE OF CAROLAN.* 
 
 Air, — " Ballymoney." 
 
 '• Ye maids of green Erin, why sigh ye so sad, 
 The summer is smiling, all nature is glad," 
 The summer may smile, and the shamrock may bloom, 
 But the pride of green Erin lies cold in the tomb ; 
 And his merits demand all the tears that we shed, 
 Though they ne'er can awaken the slumbering dead ; 
 Yet still they shall flow — for dear Carolan we mourn, 
 For the soul of sweet music now sleeps in his urn. 
 
 * Note hy Muir. — "Note from 'The Wild Irish Girl' hy Miss Owenson : — 
 * Carolan is the most celebrated of all the modern Irish hards. He 
 was horn in the village of Nobher, County of , Westmeath, 1670, and 
 died in 1739. He never regretted the loss of his sight, but used 
 gaily to- say — 'My eyes are only transported into my ears.' It has 
 been said of his music by O'Connor, the celebrated historian, who 
 knew him intimately, that so happy, so elevated was he lii some of his 
 compositions, he attained the approbation of that great master Gemiuiani, 
 who never saw him. His execution, too, on the harp, was rapid and im- 
 pressive, — far beyond that of all the professibnal competitors of the age in 
 which he lived. The charms of woman, the pleasures of conviviality, and 
 the power of poetry and music, were at once his theme and inspiration ; 
 and his life was an illustration of his theory, for, until his last ardour was 
 chilled by death, he loved, drank, and sang. While in the fervour of com- 
 position, he was constantly heard to pass sentence on his own effusions as 
 they rose on his harp or breathed from his lips, — blaming and praising, with 
 equal vehemence, the unsuccessful effort and felicitous attempt. He was 
 the welcome guest of every house, from the peasant to the prince, hut in 
 the true wandering spirit of his profession he never stayed to exhaust that 
 welcome. He lived and died poor. ' " 
 
 Rammy, in his edition, transposed the first line to the end of the Note, 
 and said—" This note is taken from ' The Wild Irish Girl' by Miss Owenson 
 
342 
 
 SONGS. 
 
 Ye bards of our isle, join our grief with your songs, 
 For the deepest regret to our memory belongs ; 
 In our cabins and fields, on our mountains and plains, 
 How oft have we sung to his heart-melting strains. 
 Ah ! these strams shall survive, long as time they shall last, 
 Yet they now but remind us of joy^ that are past; 
 And our days, crowned with pleasure, can never return, 
 For the soul of sweet music now sleeps in his urn. 
 
 Yes, thou pride of green Erin ! thy honours thou'lt have, 
 Seven days, seven nights, we shall weep round tliy grave; 
 And thy harp that so oft to our ditties has rung, 
 To the lorn-sighing breeze o'er thy grave shall be hung ; 
 And the song shall ascend thy bright worth to proclaim, 
 That the shade may rejoice in the voice of thy fame ; 
 But our days, crowned with pleasure, can never return, 
 For the soul of sweet music now sleeps in thine urn. 
 
 (now Lady Morgan) ; " and added the contraction Sd., although, only a copy 
 of Muir's Note. 
 
 Oliver Goldsmith, in his Essay XX., says — " The Irish bards are still held 
 in great veneration, and of all the bards that country ever produced "The 
 last and greatest was Cabolan, the Blind. He was at once a poet, a 
 musician, a composer, and sung his own verses to his harp. Being once at 
 the house of an Irish nobleman, where there was a musician present who was 
 eminent in his profession, Carolan immediately challenged him to a trial 
 of skill. • To carry the jest forward, his Lordship persuaded the musician 
 to accept the challenge, and he' accordingly played over on his fiddle the 
 fifth concerto of Viraldi. Carolan immediately taking his harp, played over 
 the whole piece after him without missing a note, though he never had 
 heard It before, which produced some surprise." Goldsmith has very well 
 described Turlough O'Carolan, the Irish Bard. 
 
 Miss Sydney Owenson, Irish novelist, was bom in Dublin on 25th 
 December, 1783, and " The Wild Irish Girl," (originaUy the " Princess of 
 Inismore,") was published in 1806, when she was twenty-two years of age. 
 She married Sir Thomas Charles Morgan in 1811, In 1850, an edition of 
 ** The Wild Irish Girl" by Sidney Owenson, edited by Lady Morgan, was 
 pubhshed. A prefatory explanatory address and miany notes were added 
 by the Editress (Lady Morgan) of Miss Owenson's popular works. Sir 
 Thomas died in 1843, and Lady Morgan on 13th April, 1859, in the 76th year 
 of her age, — Ed, 
 
UNEDITED & UNPUBLISHED 
 PIECES . 
 
In this Section, our laboiu-s have been successful in recovering and 
 collecting several outlying and scattered Poems and Songs of the Poet, 
 and placing them together for the first time. The first stanzas 
 of "The Soldier's Return " and "Weep not, my Love," (Nds. 96 and 
 97,) were first printed by Ramsay as fragments. We have now 
 recovered the second and third stanzas of the former, and the second 
 stanza of the latter. The song, "Caller Herrin," No. 169, and the 
 other pieces — Nos. i65, 167, 168, 170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, and 
 176 — are all here printed in a collected form for the first time. "Caller 
 Herrin" was taken from manuscript. No. 176 from memory, and 
 the remainder from periodicals which were procured with considerable 
 difficulty.— £(/. 
 
UNEDITED & UNPUBLISHED 
 PIECES. 
 
 166. 
 
 MY AIN KIND DEARIE, O.* 
 
 Tune,—'^ The Lea Rig." 
 
 Whan I the dreary mountains pass'd, 
 
 My ain kind dearie, O, 
 I thought on thee, my bonnie lass. 
 
 Although I wasna near thee, O. 
 My heart within me was richt sad. 
 
 Whan ithers they were cheerie, O ; 
 They little kent I thought on thee. 
 
 My ain kind dearie, O. 
 
 * This is i^e second of the two original songs communicated to Alexander 
 Whitelaw, editor of the " Book of Scottish Song," published in 1843. The 
 editor remarked that "the following songs by Robert Tannahill are, so far 
 as is known to us, here printed for the first time. We were favoured with 
 them bythe Poet's brother, Mr. .Matthew Tannahill of Paisley, who says 
 they were composed when their Auttior was about sixteen or seventeen 
 years of age. In introducing this second song, Mr. Matthew Tannahill 
 said, in the communication with which we are favoured, ' My brother bad 
 a strong wish to see Alloway's auld haimted kirk, and he and two or three 
 of his young acquaintances set out to pay it a visit. After seeing the kirk, 
 they visited some of the surrounding scenery. I remember he was well 
 pleased with the jaunt ; and when he returned, he gave me a copy of two 
 verses of a song which he said he wrote in his bedroom the first time he 
 was in the town of Ayr. I know he did not think much of them himself, 
 and I believe he never wrote another copy. I give you them, however, such 
 as they are. ' " 
 
 Alloway's "auld haunted kirk" was brought into prominent notice by the 
 publication of "Tamo Shanter." The tale first appeared in the expensive 
 T 2 
 
346 SONGS. 
 
 But now an I hae won till Ayr, 
 
 Although I'm gae an wearie, O, 
 I'll tak a glass into my han, 
 
 An drink tae you, my dearie, O. 
 Cheer up your heart, my bonnie lass, 
 
 An see you dinna wearie, O ; 
 In twice three ooks, 'gin I be spared, 
 
 I'se come again an see thee, O, 
 
 An row thee up, an row thee down. 
 An row till I wearie, O, 
 
 An row thee o'er the lea rig. 
 My ain kind dearie, O ! 
 
 167. 
 
 WEEL O'ER THE BRAES O YARROW.* 
 
 The sun, just glancin thro the trees. 
 Gave light and joy to ilka grove, 
 
 work of Captain Francis Grose, " The Antiquities of Scotland," a posthumous 
 publication, — ^he having died on 12th May, 1791. It next appeared in the 
 edition of Burns' Works published in 1T93. In 1794, it was scattered broadcast 
 over Scotland in the popular form of a chapbook, and, in that manner, entered 
 almost every home in the kingdom, — causing many pilgrimages like that of 
 Tannahill and his companions to the auld haunted kirk and the Land of 
 Burns. The other original song referred to is "The Soldier's Adieu," 
 
 No. 9e.—m. 
 
 * This song appeared in a volume called " The Goldfinch ; or, New 
 Modern Songster, of the Most Admired and Pavourite Scots and English 
 Songs," page 196, published by J. & M. Robertson, Saltmarket. Glasgow, — 
 without date. From the paper and printing, we infer it belonged to the 
 period of 1806.— M. 
 
WEKL O ER THE BRAES O YARROW. - 347 
 
 An pleasure in each southern breeze 
 Awakened hope and slumbering love, 
 Whan Jenny sung wi hearty glee, 
 Tae charm her winsome marrow, — 
 " My bonnie laddie gang wi me, 
 Weel o'er the braes o Yarrow." 
 
 Young Sandy was the blythest swain 
 
 That ever pip'd on brumy brae, 
 Nae lass coud ken him free frae pain, 
 ,Sae gracefu, kind, sae fair an gay ; 
 Whan Jenny sung wi hearty glee, 
 Tae charm her winsome marrow, — 
 " My bonnie laddie gang wi me, 
 Weel o'er the braes o Yarrow." 
 
 He kisst and lov'd the bonnie maid. 
 
 Her sparklin een had won his hea,rt ; 
 Nae lass the yputh had e'er betraysd, 
 Nae fear had she, the lad nae art. 
 An Jenny sung wi hearty glee, 
 Tae charm her winsome marrow, — 
 " My bonnie laddie gang wi me, 
 Weel o'er the braes o Yarrow." * 
 
 * Mr. Jarms Lamb, in his biographical sketch of the Author, said : — "One 
 evening, at an Anniversary Meeting of the Paisley Bums' Club, held in 
 a relation of the writer of this sketch 
 sat next the Poet. The conversation turned on Scottish song and music, 
 and Tannahill (a very exceptional thing with him under such circumstances) 
 waxed earnest and eloquent, and made his remarks so energetically right 
 and left that the chairman of the club called the little coterie quietly to 
 order." 
 
 The meeting of the club referred to by Mr. Lamb was very probably the 
 one held in Mr, Hector's Saracen's Head Inn on 29th January, 1806, at 
 
348 SONGS. 
 
 168. 
 
 AMANG THE LOMOND BRAES* 
 
 Air, — " Gang tae the Lomond ttii me." 
 
 ' Oh ! lassie, wilt thou gang 
 Tae the Lomond wi me, 
 The wild thyme's in bloom, 
 An the flower's on the lea ? 
 
 Wilt thou gang, my dearest love ? 
 I will ever constant prove ; 
 I'll range each hill an grove 
 On the Lomond wi thee." 
 
 ' Oh ! young men are fickle, 
 
 Nor trusted to be, 
 An many a native gem 
 Shines fair on the lea : 
 
 Thou may see some lovely flower 
 Of a more attractive power, 
 An may tak her tae thy bower. 
 On the Lomond wi thee." 
 
 which William Gemmill presided. A copy of the above song in the hand- 
 writing of Tannahill, and a letter without date, also in the handwriting 
 of the Poet, addressed to "Mr. James Lamb, Paisley," was received by the 
 biographer's father, in which Tannahill said— "Looking over a collection of 
 " songs the other day, I fell in with the above. It is one of the Anglo-ScottUh 
 "kind, as Bums calls them. Recollecting that you once wanted it, I have 
 *' scrawled it down for you. — lam, Sir, yours, R. Tahnahill." There is a 
 pencil jotting on it : — " Feby., 1806." The manuscript song and letter are 
 now in possession of Ex-Provost Brown, Paisley. — Sd. 
 
 * This beautiful lyric, engraved in 1822 in the Scotish Minstrel, Vol. II., 
 page 29, must have been kept up by Smith to adorn the pages of that book, 
 or any other book of melodies he mightpublish. Like the subsequent Jacobite 
 song of " The Bonnie Hielan Laddie," No. 173, this is the first time this 
 song has appeared in an edition of the Author's Works. See last Note to 
 "The Braes o Gleniffer," No. 69.— .Bd. 
 
. AMANG THE LOMOND BRAES. 349 
 
 ' The hynd shall forsake, 
 
 On the mountdin, the doe ; 
 The stream o the fountain 
 Shall cease for tae flow; 
 Benlomond shall bend 
 His high brow tae the sea, 
 Ere I tak tae my bower 
 Any flower, love, but thee." 
 
 She's taken her mantle; 
 He's taken his plaid ; 
 He's caft her a ring. 
 
 An he's made her his bride : 
 They're far o'er the hills 
 Tae spend their happy days, 
 An range the woody glens 
 Amang the Lomond braes. 
 
 169. 
 
 CALLER HERRIN.* 
 Air, — " The Cameronian Rant.' 
 
 " Ah, feechanie ! they're no for me ! 
 Guidwife, your herrin's stinkin ; 
 O sic a smell ! just fin yoursel, 
 I weel coud ken them winkin." 
 
 * This humorous song was contained In a letter from TannahiU to James 
 Barr, dated 3rd December, 1808. "Blythe Jamie" gave it to his friend, 
 Pavid AndeiBon, damask weaver, Glasgow, after 1821, — having previously 
 
350 SONGS. 
 
 " The deevil dance your lady gab ! 
 Gae doun the close, ye dirty drab ! 
 They're caller fish, as ane can wish ; 
 She needna miss a dainty dish, — 
 But, barmy jade! she's winkin !" 
 
 " How daur you trow that I am fou. 
 Ye flounder-gabbit gipsy ! 
 Set doun your creel, I'll gar you feel 
 I'm neither fou nor tipsy." 
 " Gude trouth ! if I my creel set doun, 
 I'll wad my life tae hauf-a-croun 
 I'll gar ye yelp, like ony whelp, 
 An cry for help, wi skelp on skelp, — 
 I'll gie her hipsey-dixey !" 
 
 Tae fyle my han's wi sic as ye, — 
 Gude feth ! I'll ne'er bemean me." 
 " Weel, honest fouks, a this ye hear? 
 
 It's mair than flesh an bliide can bear. 
 
 I'll tell you what, ye birsie cat ! 
 
 Tak that, an that, for a your chat ; 
 Now, tell what I hae gien ye !" 
 
 made a copy of the letter and song. A mouse had eaten part of the copy at 
 one of the folds : and on opening it up, it was found the vermin had 
 regaled on the first, second, and third lines of the last stanza ; but being 
 rather fastidious, like thp customer about the freshness of the " Caller 
 Herrin," had left the remainder as printed above. Several letters which 
 had been left of the third line enabled us to complete the whole of the 
 Une. See Notes to the above letter in the Correspondence. — Ed,. 
 
THE RECRUITING SERVICE DRUM. 35 1 
 
 170. 
 
 THE RECRUITING SERVICE DRUM. 
 1805. 
 
 I HATE that drumis discordant sound, 
 Parading round and round and round ; 
 To thoughtless youth it pleasure yields, 
 And lures from cities and from fields. 
 To sell their liberty 'for charms 
 Of tawdry lace, and glitt'ring arms. 
 And, when Ambition's voice commands, 
 March, fight, and fall in foreign lands. 
 
 I hate that drum's discordant soU|nd, 
 Parading round and roimd and round ; 
 To me it talks of ravag'd plains 
 And burning towns, and ruin'd swains, 
 And mangled limbs, and dying groans. 
 And widows' tears, and orphans' moans, 
 And all that Mis'ry's hand bestows 
 To swell the list of human woes.* 
 
 * Note by tM Author. — "These verses were written on hearing a drum 
 beat for the recruiting service." 
 
 The above verses appeared in No. I. of the Paisley Repository, 1805, along 
 with and between the two pieces titled "The Old Beggar," No. 171, and 
 "The Soldier's Funeral," No. 101. The three seem to have been a set 
 furnished by Tannahill to the new periodical, all on a similar subject. 
 This, like "The Old Beggar" and "The Soldier's Funeral," very pro- 
 bably was one of " the pieces " sent along with them by Tannahill to 
 Mr. John Crawford, Largs, and referred to in his answer of 8th May, 1805, — 
 although not specially named. See Notes to that letter.— .Bd. 
 
352 SONGS. 
 
 171. 
 
 THE OLD BEGGAR.* 
 
 1805. 
 
 Do you see the old beggar who sits at the gate, 
 With his beard silver'd over hke snow ? 
 
 Tho he smiles, as he meets the keen arrows of Fate, 
 Still his bosom is wearied with woe. 
 
 Many years has he sat at the foot of the hill; 
 
 Many days seen the Summer sun rise ; 
 And, at ev'ning, the passenger passes him still 
 
 While the shadows steal over the skies. 
 
 In the bleak blasts of Winter, he hobbles along 
 O'er the heath at the dawning of day ; 
 
 And the dewdrops that freeze the rude thistles among, 
 Are the stars that illumine his way. 
 
 * This poem appeared in No. I. of the Paisley Repositort/ along with 
 ' ' The Soldier's Funeral " (No. 101). Tannahill had previously asked his friend 
 Mr. John Crawford, Largs, what he thought of these two pieces ; and Mr. 
 Crawford, in returning an answer on 8th May, 1805 (which will be found 
 among the Correspondence), said — "Ton were right when you were sure the 
 beautiful poem of ' The Old Beggar ' would please me. * The Soldier's 
 Funeral ' I also like. " This piece has never appeared in any of the editions of 
 the Poet's Works. From the circumstance of these tvrin pieces having been 
 mentioned together in the letter of Mr. Crawford, — ^their appearance together 
 in the same number of the Paislei/ Repository, — their kindred subjects and 
 similarity of composition, have convinced us that the poem of " The Old 
 Beggar " (an old soldier who served his coxmtry — a suppliant for alms) is 
 an effusion of Tannahill, and it is accordingly placed here. — Sd, 
 
THE OLD BEGGAR. 353 
 
 The time was when this Beggar, in martial trim dight, 
 
 Was as bold as the chief of his throng, 
 When he march'd thro the storms of the day or the night. 
 
 And still smiled as he journeyed along. 
 
 Then, his form was athletic, — his eye's vivid glance 
 Spoke the lustre of Youth's glowing day; 
 
 And the village all mark'd, in the combat and dance, 
 The brave youngster — still valiant as gay. 
 
 When theprize was propos'd, how hisfootsteps would bound 
 While the maid of his heart led the throng ; 
 
 Whilethe ribbons that circled the Maypole around 
 WavM the trophies of garlands among. 
 
 See him now; white with age, and with sorrow oppress'd. 
 
 He the gate opens slowly, and sighs. 
 See him drop the big tears on the woe-wither'd breast — 
 
 The big tears that fall fast from his eyes. 
 
 See, his habit aU tatter'd, his shrivell'd cheek pale ! 
 
 See, his locks waving thin in the air I 
 See, his lip is half froze with the sharp-cutting gale, 
 
 And his head, o'er the temples, all bare ! 
 
 Now, the eyebeam no longer in lustre displays 
 The warm sunshine that visits his breast ; 
 
 For deep sunk in its orbit, and darken'd its rays. 
 And he sighs for the grave's silent rest ! 
 
 And his voice is grown feeble, his accent is slow, 
 
 And he sees not the distant hill-side ; 
 And he hears not the breezes of morn as they blow, 
 
 Nor the streams that soft murmuring glide, 
 u 2 
 
3S4 SONGS. 
 
 To him, all is silent and mournful and dim, 
 Ev'n the Seasons pass dreary and slow, — 
 
 For Affliction has plac'd its cold fetters on him, 
 And his- soul is enamour'd of woe. 
 
 See the tear which — imploring — is fearful to roll, 
 
 Tho in silence he bows, as you stray. 
 Tis the eloquent silence that speaks to the soul ; 
 
 Tis the star of his slow-setting day ! 
 
 Perchance, ere the May blossoms cheerfully wave, — 
 Ere the zephyrs of Summer soft sigh, — 
 
 The sunbeams shall dance o'er the grass on his grave. 
 And his journey be marked — to the sky. 
 
 1,72. 
 
 WILL YE GANG TAE SHERRAMUlU ? * 
 
 Will ye gang tae Sherramuir, 
 Baul John o Innisture, 
 There tae see the noble Mar 
 An his Hielan laddies ? 
 
 * James Hogg, the " Ettrick Shepherd," printed the above two stanzas 
 in his "Jacobite Relics" of 1819, along with the following two stanzas, 
 apparently written by a different person : — 
 
 " There, you'U see the noble Whigs, Will ye go tae SheriHmuir, 
 
 A the heroes o the brigs, Baul John o Innisture ? 
 
 Baw hides and withered wigs. Sic a day, and sic an hour. 
 
 Riding in array, man. Ne'er was in the north, man . 
 
 Riven hose and raggit hools, Sicoan sights will there be seen ! 
 
 Sour milk and girniu gools. An gin some be nae mista'en, 
 
 Psalm-beuks and cutty stools, Fragrant gales will come bodeen 
 We'll see never mair, man. Fiae the water o Forth, man." 
 
WILL YE GANG TAE SHERRAMUIR ? 3SS 
 
 A the true men o the north, 
 Angus, Huntly, and Seaforth, 
 Scouring on tae cross the Forth 
 Wi their white cockadies ! 
 
 There, you'll see the banners flare ; 
 , There, you'll hear the bagpipes rair, 
 An the trumpet's deadly blare, 
 Wi the cannon's rattle ! 
 
 To which, Hogg added the following Note :— " For this truly original song, 
 I am indebted to my valuable correspondent, Mr. John Graham. It has 
 never before been published ; but the Air has long been popular, and I have 
 often heard the first verse of the song sung, perhaps the first two,— I am 
 not certain. Had I only rescued six such pieces as this from oblivion, I 
 conceive posterity should be obliged to me ; not on account of the intrinsic 
 merit of the songs, but for the specimens left them of the music and poetry 
 of the age so ingeniously adapted to one another. I have no conception 
 who *baul John o Innisture" was. The other four noblemen mentioned 
 in the first verse were among the principal leaders of the Highland army. 
 It is likely, from the second stanza (where only three of the clans are men- 
 tioned), that some verses have been lost. These registers of names in 
 which the north country songs abound are apt to be left out by a Lowlander 
 singer ; and if the song be preserved only traditionally, as this appears to 
 have been, they can scarcely be retained with any degree of precision." 
 
 This Jacobite song of the Rebellion of 1715, and the following Jacobite 
 song (No. 173) of the Rebellion of 1745, appeared in 1821 in R. A. Smith's 
 Seotish Minstrel, Vol. L, pp. 18 and 108; and the previous song, "Amang 
 the Lomond Braes" (No. 168), published in 1823 iu Vol. IT., p. 29, 
 under the title of "The Lomond," and without note or comment;^ — 
 except the Author's name, **Tannahill," in the index. In the preface, 
 Smith has made the following general remarks :— " Many hitherto 
 unpublished will be found in this collection ; " and " some beautiful verses 
 from Leyden, Fergusson, Taunahill, Gall, and the 'Ettiick Shepherd,' &c., 
 will be found in these volumes, which were never before united to music." 
 Smith was nearly half-editor of the Harp of MmfrewsJdre, and contributed 
 the whole eighteen fragments of Tannahill printed in the appendix to that 
 book in 1819, or, at least, some of them, yet he never alluded to the above 
 three songs, Ramsay, — the biographer of Smith, and editor of TannahiU's 
 Works in 1838, — although he devoted a page to the Seotish Minstrel, and 
 quoted from his preface, yet he did not print these three songs in his edition 
 of the Poet's "Works. The above song was next printed in the 1846 
 
3S6 SONGS. 
 
 There, you'll see the baul M 'Craws, 
 Cameron's and Clanronald's raws ; 
 An a the clans, wi loud huzzas, 
 Rushing tae the bjittle. 
 
 173. 
 
 BONNip HIELAN LADDIE.* 
 
 Will ye gang tae Inverness, 
 Bonnie laddie, Hielan laddie ? 
 
 There ye'U see the Hielan dress, 
 Bonnie laddie, Hielan laddie. 
 
 edition. The Air given by Smith was " Will you go to Sherramuir ? " and 
 the tune in the 1846 edition " We'll awa to Sherramuir, and hand the Whigs 
 in order." See last Note to No. 69. 
 
 These statements being so conflicting, we applied to David Laing, Esq., 
 LL.D. , Edinburgh, — the learned umpire in all questions of disputed Scottish 
 poetry. He wrote in answer he could not give any information respecting 
 the Jacobite songs of TannahiU ; but the one, " Will yfi ffang to Shen'amuir ? " 
 was very like the style of James Hogg. He mentioned he had the greatest 
 respect for poor Smith, and advised us to publish the song in this Appendix 
 as doubtful. We have taken his advice, and ascribe the two stanzas in 
 the text to Tannahill, and attribute the two stanzas in this Note to Hogg, 
 who may have received the stanzas in the text either from Tannahill or 
 Smith.— £ii. 
 
 * This Jacobite song of the '46 first appeared in 1S22 in Smith's Scotish 
 Minstrel, page 108. This is the first time it has appeared in any edition of 
 the Author's Works. See Note to preceding song, No. 172. — Ed. 
 
BONNIE HIELAN LADDIE. 357 
 
 Philabeg and bonnet blue, 
 
 Bonnie laddie, Hielan laddie. 
 For the lad that wears the trew, 
 
 Bonnie laddie, Hielan laddie. 
 
 Geordie sits in Charlie's chair, 
 Bonnie laddie, Hielan laddie ; 
 
 Had I my wiU he'd no sit there, 
 Bonnie laddie, Hielan laddie. 
 
 Ne'er reflect on sorrows past, 
 Bonnie laddie, Hielan laddie, 
 
 Charlie will be king at last, 
 Bonnie laddie, Hielan laddie. 
 
 An, tho now our sky may lower, 
 Bonnie laddie, Hielan laddie. 
 
 It's only like an April shower, 
 Bonnie laddie, Hielan laddie. 
 
 Time an tide come roun tae a, 
 Bonnie laddie, Hielan laddie. 
 
 An upstart pride will get a fa, 
 Bonnie laddie, Hielan laddie. 
 
 Keep up your heart for Charlie's fight, 
 Bonnie laddie, Hielan laddie ; 
 
 An come what may, ye've done what's right, 
 Bonnie laddie, Hielan laddie. 
 
358 SONGS. 
 
 174. 
 
 A RIDDLE.* 
 
 My colour's brown, njy shape's uncouth, 
 On ilka side I hae a mouth, 
 And, strange to tell, I will devour 
 My bulk of meat in half-an-hour. 
 
 175. 
 
 EPIGRAM. 
 
 1804. 
 
 Ha! Doctor, your powders and potions give o'er," 
 Nor boast of your knowledge in healing ; 
 
 * This riddle first appeared in Chambers's Biographical Dictimiai'^/, pub- 
 lished in 1836, Vol. IV., page 337, under the Notice of Tannahlll written by 
 Mr. Alexander Whitelaw, mentioned in the Note to No. 96. Mr. Whitelaw 
 stated that — ''After school hotirs, it wa,g customary for the boys to put 
 "riddles to each other, or, as they call it, to 'speir guesses.' Robert usually 
 " gave his in rhyme ; and a schoolfellow, to whom we are indebted for some 
 **of the particulars of this Memoir, remembers one of them to this day. 
 "This riddle, on being solved, turned out to allude to the big, brown, un- 
 " shapely nose of a well-known character, who took large quantities of 
 "snuff." 
 
 The abovb riddle, with the same remarks, appears in a sketch of Tannahill 
 in Chambers's Edinburgh Journal^ 11th November, 1837, Vol. IV., page 332. 
 
 In the Memoir of. the 1846 edition, not only the above riddle and remarks, 
 but the whole paragraph .ippeared without acknowledgment. It again 
 appeared in the Memoir written by Mr. Lamb in the edition oJ 1873.— .Bd. 
 
THE PLUNKIN WEDDIN. 359 
 
 For plainly we see all your skill is a fee, 
 Since you'll lame any man for a shilling,'^ 
 
 With a long life, obtained I this freedom. \ 
 
 176. 
 
 THE PLUNKIN WEDDIN. % 
 
 Plunkin § kens a queer auld cock they ca Rab, 
 Wha has hoardet his hugger in coppers ; 
 
 Hauf his house is filled up wi his wab, 
 While the ither hauf leuks like a broker's. 
 
 * Persons drawn for the Militia were anxiousto get quit of the service ; 
 and on applying to Mr, Clelland, surgeon; Paisley, for a certificate of their 
 unfitness, the cause he generally assigned was lameness, —the luymra/riv/m 
 being one shilling. — B<1. 
 
 t The Author here refers to his own lameness from his birth, which freed 
 him from service.— ^d. 
 
 X The original manuscript of this piece could not be found. It is 
 taken down from memory. — Ed. 
 
 § PlunHn, — the vulgar name of Orchard Street in the days of Tannahill, 
 and is understood to have arisep. from the many pools of water in the 
 street, which made a "plunking" sound when persons stepped or fell 
 into them. "Plunk," says Jamieson, the Scottish lexicographer, 'Ms a 
 sound made by a^eavy body falling into water." The name Plunkin is 
 associated with the following anecdote of the wifa of a weaver in Gordon's 
 Lone, whose husband subsequently became a successful manufacturer in 
 "Plunkin," wore gold buttons on his clothes, and ultimately owner of 
 Mouutblow, near Kilpatrick. She was shrewd and active ; but her education 
 had been neglected. In relating or listening to gossip, she invented a 
 new mode of grammatical comparison. At the commencement of the 
 
360 SONGS. 
 
 Auld Rab had seen bonnie Ann Auchencloss 
 Washin claes at the Marshall's Lane dippin, ^ 
 
 Sae, he reckonit the profit an loss 
 If his house tae a wife he shoud lippin. 
 
 Syne he trystet a blue coat at the Cross, — 
 
 It was Symington's f best, wi brass buttons ; 
 Wi Wright's wig, that his grandfaither Rab Ross 
 
 Had bequeatht, wi shae buckles an stockin's. 
 Rab took up the want^X dressed, in the mirk, 
 
 Creepin near Ann's backdoor in a hover, — 
 "Leuk," quoth the faither, "What ails that daft stirk ?" 
 
 Quo the mither, "Come in for a bother." 
 
 story, she used the exclamation or ^positive degree — "Gordon's Lone I" on 
 becoming more excited, the comparative degree of — "Gordon's Lone and 
 Prussia Street ! I " and, on arriving at the sensational part, the supertatvae 
 degree of — "Gordon's Lone and Prussia Street, and Plunkin at the end 
 o't ! ! I " These places are near each other, and these exclamations of com- 
 parison used by that plain guidwife of the weaver, manufacturer, and 
 landed proprietor, have been retained to the present day. * ' Plunkin at 
 the end o't " was made into a spacious square in 1S66. — Ed. 
 
 * Along the banks of Cart, there were several stairs down to the river 
 for the burgesses' wives and daughters to draw water and rinse clothes, 
 which were designated "dippings." The march of improvement swept these 
 dippings away. In 1860, it was resolved to erect an iron railing on the river 
 walk or terrace for protection of the lieges, when several churlish residents 
 threatened opposition to the removal of the " Marshall's Lane dippin ; " 
 but on the morning of 3rd October that year, some kind fairy bore it away, 
 and the oppositionists, thinking there was something supernatural in the 
 event, quietly acquiesced. — Ed. * 
 
 t A cloth merchant at the " Plain stanes " or public promenade at the 
 Cross, in the end of the last century and beginning of the present. — Ed. 
 
 X Want. — The opening or passage on the east side of " Plunkin " leading 
 down to Cart. — Ed. 
 
THE PLUNKIN WEDDIN. 36 1 
 
 But she guessed by the sheen o his e'e, 
 
 An the queer way Rab aye glintet at her ; 
 Sae, " Gudeman, wheesht, lea this wooin wi me, 
 
 An I'll fixt in a five minent's clatter," — 
 For she weel kent, Rabble's gear wasna sma. 
 
 Puir Ann gloomt; says her mam, "What's the matter ?" 
 " Mither, in this warl I'll ne'er wed ava, 
 
 If my choice is cpiifin'd tae that creature." 
 
 But Rabble wheetlit her out in the dark, 
 
 Wi his beard he was ne'er owre particular, 
 Et'lin, if Ann gaed him a squeeze or a smirk. 
 
 The jags o his bristles woud tickle her. 
 They brocht hame braws for the bride, quite a load j 
 
 Puir Ann wrocht, an her mither sae wrocht her, 
 That, before Martinmas morn. Abbey Boog* 
 
 Had united auld Rab tae her dochter. 
 
 They sent for yill in abundance frae Mair, f 
 
 An a dram frae Lochheid's roun the comer. 
 Widow Rule's winnock gleamit like a fair 
 
 Wi pies, puddins, and haggis extraord'nar. 
 They had drank Rab an Ann's health in ae glass, 
 
 Sung, danct, feastet, and fuddlet till mornin ; 
 Whan Annie's haun (out o sicht) gat a press, 
 
 An a whisper — "It's time for adjoumin." 
 
 Then she reelt out o the door in a jig, 
 Wi auld Rabble hip-steppin behint her ; 
 
 * Kev. Eobert Boog, D.D., Mini8ter of the First Charge of the Abbey 
 Church, who died on 24th July, 1823, in the 78th year of his ago, and 60th 
 year of his ministry. — Bd. 
 
 t The names in this verse were well known at the time.— Sd. 
 V 2 
 
362 SONGS. 
 
 But the daunert bodie's gran'faither's wig 
 Was pu't aff on the door by a splinter. 
 
 Rab reached hame saft an sair out o breath; 
 Through a hole at the foot o his steadin, 
 
 Crying — " Annie, fix the latch, — I fear scaith ; 
 I've been bothert for days 'bout our beddin." 
 
 Annie creept intae her bed like a lanjb, 
 
 An was saftly asleep in a twinklin ; 
 Tremblin, Rab ahint the door took his stan, 
 
 Lest the rascals shoud burst up the fastnin. 
 Wi .peep o day, Ann flew up like a lark. 
 
 Fried twa eggs wi the ham she had skirlin. 
 " Is a breakfast tae be first o your wark. 
 
 Ye young, wasterfu jade?" Rab cried, snarlin. 
 
 " Hear ye," says Ann, " I'll tak nane o your snash ; " 
 
 "Deed," quoth Rab, "I'll hae nane o yours eithei;" 
 " Daft coof, — as sure's I'm a maid an a lass, 
 
 I'll gae scamperin hame tae Tny faither. 
 Ye silly gouk, I think mair o mysel 
 
 Than be deevt the day lang wi your havers. 
 For your baul heid's aye covered wi kell, 
 
 An your birsie beard's dreepin wi slavers." 
 
 But noo, the racket frae less gaed tae mair ; 
 
 Auld Rab liftet his hauns for correction, 
 Whan young Ann whamelt him owre on the flai r, 
 
 An fiew hame for her faither's protection. 
 Noo, the haill toun tesoun's wi the clish-clash, 
 
 Tauk that's bad baith for Rabbie an Annie ; 
 Tongue ne'er tellt, if, instead o the young lass, 
 
 Rab had cocket his wig for her grarmie. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE, 
 
In the present age, there is a stronger desire to read the Correspon- 
 dence of an Author and see his inner life than existed in former times. 
 James Muir, the first editor of Tannahill's Works (1815) has only 
 given short extracts of httle importance from four letters. Mr. 
 William M'Laren, in his Life, does not refer to any letters at all. Mr. 
 William Motherwell, in his Essay in the Harp of Renfrewshire, gave 
 extracts from letters of R. A. Smith, the friend of Tannahill, without 
 dates; and in one of these. Smith gave a quotation from a letter 
 without name or date, and drew an inimical inference, without quoting 
 the context. P. A. Ramsay, the editor of the 1838 edition, gave 
 extracts from twenty-one letters, which he chiefly embodied in his 
 Memoir of the Author. At this distance of time, we have recovered 
 thirty-five letters, — twenty from Tannahill, nine to him, and six 
 referring to him. This numhen far exceeded our expectation, and we 
 trust the letters will form an interesting feature in this edition. The 
 letters from Tannahill to his correspondents are plain, neat, well- 
 expressed compositions, without any flowery language or pretentious- 
 ness, and showed that he could condense his thoughts. The 
 handwriting is good in every case, while the whole are carefully 
 punctuated, and are evidently the productions of a man of method. 
 The names of the persons who furnished us with the loan of these 
 valuable reUcs are given, and a few explanatory notes to several of the 
 letters are added. Though this is the fullest collection which has been 
 made, it is evident that they do not comprise a tithe of the letters our 
 Author must have written in his day^ 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 Excerpt from a letter from 'Robeb.t Tannahill to William 
 Kibble, Bolton. — Bamsay's 'Memoir, page xviii. 
 
 Paisley, Utii March, ISOZi 
 
 Alek, poor Alek* is gone to his long home ! It was 
 to me like an electric shock. Well, he was a good man ; but 
 his memory shall be dear and his worth had in remembrance 
 by all who knew him. Death, like a thief, nips oflf our friends, 
 kindred, and acquaintances, one by one, till the natural chain 
 is broken, link after link, and leaves us scarce a wish to stop 
 behind them. My brother Hugh and I are all that now re- 
 maiij at home with our old mother, bending under age and 
 frailty, and but seven years back nine of us used to sit down 
 at dinner together, (I still moralise sometimes). I cannot 
 but remember that such things were and those most dear to 
 
 n. 
 
 Letter from William LiviNTGSTOBr'B, ComedAan, to Robbm 
 Tannahill, Queen Street, Paisley. 
 
 KiEKCUDBKiGHT, 18th November, I8O4. 
 Dkae Bob, 
 
 I should have answered your kind favour of the 1st 
 ult., but that I waited in the expectation of some books from 
 Edinburgh, which our people had written for, in the failure 
 of which I had Some thoughts of troublihg you about them. 
 
 f An acquaintance of Tannahill's when he resided in Solton.—Bd. 
 
366 COEKESPONDENCB. 
 
 They are still expected, but as we leave this town soon, I 
 could not longer delay the writing you. 
 
 Believe me, your letter gave me extreme pleasure, the 
 kind attention of my friends, and their concern for my wel- 
 fare penetrated me deeply and produced sensations I will not 
 attempt to describe. I rejoice to hear that you are still much 
 in the old way. Long may your friendly few, alike removed 
 from ignorance and pedantry, from foppish ceremony and 
 rude vulgarity, enjoy their manly, social, friendly intercourse. 
 And in your hours of relaxation from the fatigues of honest 
 bodily labour or mental exertion, may good sense, good 
 humour, and good cheer crown the chosen circle, in which I 
 spent so many happy hours. For me to hear that you con- 
 tinue to honour me with your regard is my chief consolation 
 for the regret I feel in being separated from your society. 
 
 I might give you some account of our situation, but I be- 
 lieve it would prove but uninteresting. Oiu: success in this 
 town has been pretty tolerable, but in short, this life has but 
 few charms for me. The passion I once had for this profes- 
 sion is long since abated. I find myself now incapablo of 
 much exertion, and from various causes am convinced I have 
 little to expect from it. I once had some boyish notions of 
 succeeding in it ; but I am no longer a boy in years, whatever 
 I may be in wisdom ; and in constitution I am pretty old. 
 Yet do not call me discontented, I am only indifferent. My 
 companions are almost all of them very agreeable, and could 
 I have the pleasure of corresponding with Paisley, and Kil- 
 barchan, as I could wish, I should be tolerably easy. 
 
 By-the-bye, I have been long looking for a letter from 
 Kilbarchan. I-have written repeatedly to James Barr there, 
 but have received no answer. I wish to know, before I write 
 particularly to my friends there, if he has left the place. 
 If you can gain any information, it would be an obligation to 
 communicate it. 
 
 Your love ballad pleased me extremely, and I am im- 
 patient for the " Sodger's Return." I hope you will send 
 me it, and whatever else you can, with the first carrier. 
 
OOKKESPONDENCB. 367 
 
 You -will pardon this haste, but anything of yours will be a 
 oordigj to me. Any thing you can easily procure without 
 purchasing, or songs, ,&c., will be particularly acceptable. 
 I desire to be warmly remembered to all my friends particu- 
 larly to James Scadlock* (tell him I will write to him soon) 
 to Messrs Anderson,* M'Neil,* Wylie,* &c., &c. Assure 
 them all of my highest respect and grateful consideration, 
 and, 
 
 Believe me, 
 
 Deak Bob, 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 WM. LIVINGSTONE. 
 
 P. S.— What you can send you will forward by a carrier, 
 by Dumfries, to Kirkcudbright, addressed to me at Mr Wm. 
 Leggat's, smith, Kirkcudbright. 
 
 The Original of this is in possession of Mr Matthew Blair, Paisley. — Ed. 
 
 Letter from James Clabk, Bandmaster m the Argyleshvre 
 Militia, to James Babb, Musician, Kilbarchan, by Paisley. 
 
 Dunbar, April 9th, 1805. 
 
 Feiend Babb, 
 
 I received your letter with the glee of the " Witches " 
 some time back. I am much obliged to you for your atten- 
 tion to my wishes. I wish I could send you something you 
 would have as much pleasure from as I had from that. I 
 have nothing worth your hearing to inform you of. I am 
 well and happy. I hope this will find you and all our 
 worthy acquaintances the same. I hope you go in to Paisley 
 
 * James Scadlock to whom the Epistles, No. 19 and 21, were addressed ; 
 William Anderson mentioned in No. 19 ; WiUiam M'Neil on whom the Elegy, 
 No. 62, was made ; and William Wylio to whom the Epistle, No. 23, was ad- 
 dressed. — Ed. 
 
368 COBKBSPONDBNCB. 
 
 often and see them. Give my service to them all; Let 
 Messrs. Stewart and Smith* know I received their letters ; 
 they may expect to hear from me soon. Give my comi:)li- 
 ments to William Galbraithf and family. I don't know 
 how they in the west country may like the strathspey I 
 wrote him ; but there is almost nothing else played here. 
 
 You should set it for the band. It goes well in G . 
 
 Give my compliments to James Buchanan. I hope he is 
 still increasing his cabinet. J You will oblige me if you'll 
 call on and let my wife know I'm well. 
 I am, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 JAMES CLARK. 
 
 P.S. — As I know you are fond of Waltzes, I have sent one 
 here, which is a favourite of mine ; but it is new, which 
 may probably account for that. — J. C. 
 
 Here follows the strathspey. 
 
 The original ia in possession of James Caldwell, Esq. of Oraigiolea.— £ti. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Letter from John Crawi'oiid,§ Largs, to Rojbert Tannahill. 
 
 liAEGS, 8th May, 1805. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I acknowledge that before I received your letter, I 
 was almost inclined to complain of your inattention ; and 
 could not conceive the reason of your delaying writing. The 
 
 ♦ WiUiam Stuart and R. A. Smith, two of the " Five Prien's," No. 144.— 
 Bd. 
 
 t William Galbralth, mentioned in " Kebhuokston Weddin," No. U^.—Bd. 
 
 } The old antiquarian collector to whom Tannahill addressed the Epistle 
 No. ii.—Bd. 
 
 § "John Crawford," weaver, Largs, was born in 17S0, and brought up to 
 the trade of a weaver. He was an acquaintance and correspondent of the 
 author, and his brother Matthew, and when Tannahill went to Largs for the 
 
COKRBSPONDBNCB. 369 
 
 one which you assign, ought not to have deterred you a 
 single moment. The pieces you sent me I received with 
 pleasure. The manly sentiments contained in the sonnet, * 
 I approve, and highly applaud. Sincerity is a cardinal 
 virtue. Dissimulation I detest. The venal sophist I abhor. 
 In short, I am pleased with all the pieces ; but do not think 
 you right, in yonr surmises, when you doubt I will think you 
 ill-natured. If it is ill-natured to feel a strong abhorrence to 
 vice, and strongly to express the feelings, long may you con- 
 tinue to be the same ill-natured being you were when your 
 feelings dictated them. You were right when you were sure 
 the beautiful poem of " The Old Beggar " f would please 
 me. " The Soldier's Funeral " J I also like. I was particu- 
 larly pleased with that line — 
 
 " He fought like a lion yet thought as a man. ' 
 
 This, in my opinion, is the characteristic of a hero, but I 
 must acknowledge that I am d, very imperfect judge upon 
 that subject. Your request for privacy shall be scrupulously 
 complied with. You express a desire that I would send you 
 something of my own ; with regard to which, I answer, if 
 I had anything that I thought would be capable of giving you 
 satisfaction, I should not hesitate a moment, but the case 
 
 benefit of his liealtli he resided with his friend. Crawford was also a Poet, and 
 ■ he has given a specimen of his verses in this letter. Several of his pieces ap- 
 peared in periodicals, published in Ayrshire and Dumfriesshire. After the 
 death of Tannahill,Mr. Crawford continued his intimacy and correspondence, 
 till the day of his decease, with'Mr.' Matthew Tannahill, the immediate 
 younger brother, and the last letter of this correspondence is from the 
 former to the latter. Mr. Crawford died on Uth November, 1851, in the 
 Tlst year of his age. — Ed. 
 
 * This is the " Sonnet to Sincerity" No. 14. 
 
 t These two pieces are Nos. 172 and 101. They both appeared In the 
 first number of the Paisley RepoiiUyry. In the Indices at the beginning of 
 this volume it will be seen that the former has appeared for the first time, 
 and the latter in several of the previous editions of the Poet's Works. See 
 notes to Nos. 14, 101, and 172. 
 
 w2 
 
370 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 is quite otherwise. However, I send you the following, 
 tlio' I am afraid my "genius does not lye that way :" — 
 
 If ony merits in my line ; 
 If ony glancing beauty shine ; 
 If ony place be glowing fine, 
 
 That gars you feel ; 
 For justice' sake it is namine 
 
 I hae tae steal. 
 
 DESPONDElvCY. 
 
 Oh, could I paint my happy lot ! 
 Oh, could 1 raise the plaintive song ! 
 Exil'd from happiness and peace, 
 I wander gayest scenes among ; 
 Despair lifts her horrific brow. 
 Then spreads her wings and flies away, 
 
 My trembling soul, enchain'd by fear. 
 In sullen darkness feels decay, 
 Hope, charming once unto my mind, 
 Ah, now she's gone, ne'er to return; 
 I did indulge the pleasing thing ; 
 But now her abseiioe I must mourn. 
 
 But what have Ito do with hope, 
 I'm more congenial to despair ; 
 My mind her power cannot impress, 
 Destiu'd to never ending care. 
 
 Doom'd to uncertainty in all, 
 In every thing I think upon. 
 Destruction's sword hangs o'er my head ; 
 And not a soul to mark my groan. 
 Without a friend to ease my grief , 
 My mind is restless as the wave, 
 ExU'd from hope, allied to fear, 
 I seek for shelter in the grave. 
 
 Dear Sir, — This you must allowisa proof of myzeal, though 
 
COREBSPONDENPB. 371 
 
 it should be none of my talent for poetry. It is intended to 
 be inserted in the middle of another piece. I beg you will 
 yet write me, whatever you please, and as soon as possible ; 
 any remark which you may make shall be thankfully received. 
 I have just room to subscribe my name, and 
 
 I am, 
 
 Dear Sib, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 JOHN CRAWFORD. 
 
 The original is iu poasession of Kr. Matthew Blair. 
 
 Excerpt from a Letter from Robekt Tanicahih to , 
 
 contamed in a Selection made by R. A. Smiih for 
 JfAs Pupils. Copied w4>f> Mk^ "Harp of Renfrewshire" 
 (1819), page Sll ; and Bamsay's Edition (1838), 
 page 85. 
 
 " Mr. Hamilton's stanza is admirably suited to the 
 air ; in my opinion, his lines possess, in an eminent degree, 
 that beautiful natural simplicity which characterises our 
 best Scottish songs. I have attempted to add a verse to it, 
 but I fear you will think it a frigid production. The original 
 one is so complete in itself, that he who tries to add another to 
 it labours under the disadvantage of not knowing what to say 
 further on the subject. However, I give you all that I 
 could make of it." * 
 
 » See Note to No. 11.— M. 
 
372 
 
 C!ORRESP0ln)ENCB. 
 
 Excerpt from a Letter from Robert Tannahill to James 
 Clark. — Ramsay^s Edition, page SB. 
 
 Paisley, 31st August, 1805. 
 
 I am much obliged to you for fitting me with an 
 air suitable to the stanza I formerly sent you, and though 
 it answers the words as well as ever tune did any, yet I am 
 doubtful that the verses wUl not do to sing at all, owing to 
 the repetition of the same two lines at the hinder-end of 
 every stanza,* which two lines being repeated twice (to the 
 music) will be intolerably insipid. However, I will give you 
 the whole of it, so that you may judge. 
 
 vn. 
 Letter from Wiliiam Livingston to Egbert Tannahili,. 
 
 KiLLTLEAGH, MoTch 7th, 1806. 
 
 Dear Bob, 
 
 I seize the opportunity of writing you by a Mr. 
 Wilson from this place, who goes to Glasgow, and wUl put 
 them into the Post OflBce. After so long a sUenoe, a letter 
 ,from me will, I suppose, surprise you ; and I am, no doubt, 
 long ago accused of ingratitude and want of friendship or 
 affection. Yet tho' appearances are against me, were things 
 rightly understood I might not, perhaps, appear so culpable ; 
 but I have no time for apologies. I would only have you 
 believe, once for aU, that no change of time or place can 
 erase the remembrance of your friendship, or that of my 
 other dear intimates of Renfrewshire. That friendship has 
 been long dear to me, and the recollection of it oftentimes 
 my only solace ; and although the renewal of it has been for 
 
 * The Author refers to the Hefrain at the end of the verses in the 
 * Dirge " on Burns' Funeral, No. 4, — Ed, 
 
COERESPONDENCB. 373 
 
 a time suspended, I fondly hope no seeming neglect on my 
 part will operate towards a breach of what is so near my 
 heart. 
 
 I would often have written letters, but the uncertainty of 
 receiving answers in our unsettled way of life, and the 
 distance, for sometime back made me defer it from time to 
 time. We came to this country in May last with no inten- 
 tion of staying so long as we have done, but the encourage- 
 ment being pretty tolerable in several places, we were 
 inclined to go a little farther on, and have been in general 
 kindly received. You will, I believe, be surprised when I 
 inform you that I have begun to weave in this town. The 
 truth is, I had of late entered rather too deeply into Irish 
 conviviality, and was almost in danger of losing my health, 
 and with it every comfort. I therefore resolved to endeavour 
 to balance myself a little, and as I could not properly come 
 to Scotland till at once I contrived to get a web here (a 1000 
 Mall 4J), which, though but trifling, will suffice for a little, 
 for living is pretty moderate, and I have been kindly and 
 hospitably treated. 
 
 Messrs. Bellman and Kelly, &c., are within 14 or 15 
 miles of me at present. They and I are as much friends as 
 ever, except in the article of separation, which took place on 
 my part without the least shadow of a difference, farther 
 than their perhaps not seeing the necessity for the step I took 
 in the same light as I myself felt it. They are, I believe, 
 pushing homewards, and perhaps our separation may be but 
 temporary, although, for my own part, were it not that they 
 are so friendly altogether, I would prefer anything like a 
 settled situation to strolling for the present. Hdwever, 
 little more can be said just now, as we are but very lately 
 parted, and I look soon to hear from them. 
 
 And now, my dear friend, as I am hurried, I must beg of 
 you to write me as soon as possible, and let me know every- 
 thing you can about all friends in Paisley, Kilbarchan, and 
 Barrhead. I hope James Scadlook is still so near you, 
 that you will see him before you write. If you could pos- 
 
374 COKBESPOirDENCE. 
 
 Bibjy see any Kilbarchan frienda likewise, I would be 
 remembered warmly to the Allans, with thpir frienda, and 
 James Barr. I am anxious to be noticed in that quarter. 
 
 Remember me moat affectionately to Messrs. Scadlock, 
 M'Neil, Anderson, William M'Laren, Stewart, MarsJiaU, 
 Campbell, your brother James, and your mother, i^c. T 
 hope no change of consequence has taken place among you 
 to injure the cild society. 
 
 I cannot be more particular juat now, but I will look with 
 impa;tience for your answer, in which I may ask you that you 
 will ejideayour to be as particular as possible. Do not 
 scruple to send a large packet. It will be at present to me 
 of gfeat interest. With the moat ardent wishes for your 
 happineaa. 
 
 Deab Bob, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 WM. LIVINGSTOliriE. 
 P.S. — Let me know the atate of trade. 
 
 The original is in the possession of Mr. Matthew Blair. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Letter from Robert Tannahii,!, to Jambs Baku, musician, 
 Kilbarchan. 
 
 Paislet, 1st May, 1806. 
 Dear Jambs, 
 
 According to promise, I herewith send you 4 vols, 
 of the Selector. I would have sent them ere now, but 
 could not get the last two volumes from the binder. With 
 respect to writing to W. Livingstone, I could not conveni- 
 ently go to Glasgow before the vessel saUed, besides it would 
 bave been a chance to have found Wilson (the man who 
 brought his lettejr) after all ; I therefore wrote to him on 
 a large sheet, and copied yours verbatim. You may have 
 the driginal first time I see you. Scadlock and I called on 
 you at Kilbarchan about four Sundays since, but you were 
 
OORRESPONDENOE, 375 
 
 from home. If you come in at our fair, which is to-morrow 
 fortnight, I hope to have the pleasure of seeing you. The 
 elegy, in the enclosed No. of the Paisley R&pository* I be- 
 lieve was written upon John Findlay t your old friend in 
 
 * The Elegy was on a youijg ladj who was drowned in Lochwinnoch Loch, 
 more than 30 years ago. It was by Thomas Brown, a young student, £Uid 
 appeared in No. 6 of the RepositorTf, in 1806. She was 18 years of age , and 
 on the eve of her marriage. — Sd. 
 
 t " John Finlay " was a weaker in Kilbarchan, and bom in 1735. He trod 
 life's path with humility, and if ever man fpun^ " wisdom's ways to be wayg 
 of pleasantness," it was him. Tannahill woul^ ^ee him frequently sitting 
 in his arm chair with his open brow and lyart haffets wearing,thin and bare, his 
 countenance serene but cheerful, and his once athletic form bending under 
 the pressure of years. He , wasi then upwards of three score and ten. The 
 chief books he stu died were— Shakespere, Milton, Thomson, and Hume. He 
 died in 1815, in the 80th year of hia age, and was buried in the West Relief 
 Churchyard of Paisley. 
 
 " William Finlay," poet, his 'nephew, was bom in Paisley in 1792, and died 
 on 5th November, 1847. aged 55, and interred in Paisley Cemetery. In 1846 
 he published a Volume of '* Poems, Humourous, and Sentimental," 12 mo., 
 276 pages. One of the poems is addressed to 
 
 MY OLD UNCLE JOHN. 
 
 I sing not of Prince, nor of Prelate, nor Peer, 
 
 Who the titles and trappings of vanity wear ; 
 
 I sing of no hero, whose fame hsis been spread 
 
 O'er the earth, for the quantum of blood. he hath shed ; 
 
 But of one, who life's path with humility trod. 
 
 The friend^f mankind, and child of his God; 
 
 Who indeed, died to "Fame and to Fortune unknown," 
 
 But who lives in my heart's core— my old uncle John. 
 
 His manners were simple, yet manly And firm. 
 
 His friendship was generous, and constant and warm ; 
 
 To Jew and Gejitile alike he was kind. 
 
 For the trainmels 6f party ne'er narrowed his mind ; 
 
 His heart, like his hand, was aye open and' free. 
 
 And though he at times had but little to gi'e, 
 
 Tet even that little with grace was bestown. 
 
 For it came from the heart of my old uncle John. 
 
 O well do I m.ind, though I then was but young, 
 When he came on a visit, how blithely I sprung 
 To meet the old man, who with visage so lifieek 
 Would a kiss of affection imprint on my cheek ; 
 
376 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 Kilbarchan ; this is printed from a copy which Wm. M'Neil 
 had given to the publisher. I think a good -deal of it. I 
 
 Then I'd place him a chair, take his sta£E and his hat. 
 Then climb up on hia knee, where delighted I sat — 
 For never was monarch so proud on his throne. 
 As I on the knee of my old uncle John. 
 
 When at school, to his snug room with pleasure I'd hie. 
 And often I've seen the fire flash from his eye. 
 And a flush of delight his pale cheek o'erspread. 
 When a passage from Shakespere or Milton I read. 
 For me the best authors he'd kindly select, 
 He then to their beauties my eye would direct. 
 Or the faults to which sometimes great genius ia prone, 
 So correct was the taste of my did uncle John. 
 
 'Twas said, when a stripling, his feelings had been 
 Storm-bUghted and rent by a false-hearted queen ; 
 But this sour'd not his temper, for maidens would bloom 
 More brightly and fresh when among them he'd come. 
 They would cluster around him like flowers round the oak. 
 To weep at his love tale, to laugh at his joke ; 
 For his stories were told in a style and a tone 
 That aye put them in raptures wi* old uncle John. 
 
 To all he was pleasing — to old and to young — 
 
 To the rich and the poor, to the weak and the strong. 
 
 He laughed with the gay, moralised with the grave, 
 
 The wise man he humoured, the fool he forgave ; 
 
 Beligion with him was no transient qualm, 
 
 'Twas not hearing a sermon, or singing a psalm. 
 
 Or a holiday robe for a season put on, 
 
 'Twas the every day robe of my old uncle John. 
 
 His country he lov'd, for her glory he sigh'd. 
 
 Her struggles of yore for her rights were his pride ; 
 
 He lov'd her clear streams, and her green flowery fells 
 
 Her mists and her mountains, her dens and her dells ; 
 Yes ! the land of his fathers, his birth place he lov'd, 
 Her science, her wit, and her worth he approv'd ; 
 But men of each kindred, and colour, and zone, 
 As brethren were held by my old uncle John. ' 
 
 His last sickness I tended, and when he was dead. 
 To the grave in deep sorrow I carried his head ; 
 The spot is not marked by inscription or bust, 
 No child or lone widow weeps over his dust ; 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 377 
 
 am told that the lines by a " A Paisley Volunteer" are a Dr. 
 Richmond*s in this town. * 
 
 But oft when the star of eve lightly doth bum, 
 From the buatle and noise of this world I turn. 
 And forget for a while, both its smile and its frown 
 On the green turf which covers my old uncle John. 
 
 " William Finlay" was the son of Alexander Finlay, from Kilbarchan, fore- 
 man in Paisley. He was educated in the Burgh Schppl, Storie Street, Paisley, 
 built in 1788, taught by Mr. William Bell, the first schoolmaster, appointed 
 on 5th July, 1788, and who came from Giffen School, Belth. Mr. Bell be- 
 came a member of the Paisley Baron Club in 1797, and assumed the barren 
 title of Baron ''Giffen Castle" of Beith. William Finlay next entered the 
 Grammar School, Paisley, where he continued two years, when his father 
 died, leaving a widow and six children. He was taken out of school, ap- 
 prenticed to weaving, and continued at that trade for 20 years. He gave up 
 that hopeless business and became a pattern setter, at which he continued 
 till 1840. He next entered the employment of Mr. John Neilson, printer, as 
 reader. Mr. Finlay's pieces frequently appeared in the Poet's Corner of 
 newspapers, and latterly they were collected and published, as above 
 noticed. One of them is a humorous poem titled * ' The Battle of the Barons," 
 on the club before mentioned. 
 
 * 1INE5 ON LORD NELSON'S VICTORY AND DEATH. 
 
 (Written on the 9th November, 1805, by a Paisley Volunteer.) 
 
 When Europe's quarrels, that divide the world. 
 
 Had Britain's banners and her flag unfurl'd. 
 
 The Gallic Tyrant, frantic with disdain 
 
 That Britain scorned his base, ignoble chain. 
 
 Had roused her heroes once again to arms. 
 
 To meet invasion's threat'nings and alarms ; 
 
 Full oft old Ocean, murm'ring from afar, 
 
 Had borne her victor in his sea-beat car. 
 
 Her heroes many, and her chiefs renown'd. 
 
 With naval trophies and with glory crown'd. 
 
 Her Raleighs, Drakes, and each illustrious name. 
 
 Inscribed in a long, long list of fame ; 
 
 When Egypt's strand deep groan'd beneath their host. 
 
 And Bruix f rode triumphant on her coast, 
 
 Their triumphs glist'ning but a little while. 
 
 Soon grac'd the glories of the Lord of Nile : 
 
 * Thomas Richmond, assistant-surgeon to the Paisley First Regiment 
 of Volunteers raised in 1803. — Sd. 
 t A gallant and distinguished French admiral, who died in 1805. — Sd. 
 
378 COBKBSPONDBNCB. 
 
 You wished me to mark what pieces were mine in the 
 SelMor. Vol. 1st :—" Prologue to the Gtentle Shepherd," 
 
 "Ode to Jealousy," "Lines to W. M'L n," "The 
 
 Ambitious Mite," Song— "The Negro Girl," Song— "Mine 
 ain dear Somebody." Vol. 2nd :— "The Birth of Bums," 
 
 "The BacchanaUans." Vol. 3rd :—" Epistle to J 
 
 S ." Vol. -4th :—" Epistle to J. B.." Song— "When 
 
 Poortith Cauld." 
 
 You win observe several of the first signed " Modestus," 
 but for anysake don't impute it to me as ostentation. I 
 gave them in anonymous, and the Editor added the signa- 
 ture, which, • unhappily for me, to them who do not know, 
 wUl appear something aflfectatious ; but enough of self. 
 
 You will perhaps be curious to know the authors of the 
 other originals in it. I wUl inform you as far as I know. 
 The pieces signed "O.L. O.," by Mr. Robert Lochore,* author 
 of "Margat and the Minister." "The Hare." vol. 2nd, page 
 52, by John Stevenson, who formerly kept the Burns 
 
 when leagued amMtion rear'd in northern wars 
 The Danish standards and the Swedish stars, 
 Tlie British Hero once again appears, 
 To bum their fleets, and dissipate our fears. 
 Hark ! the last, greatest order e'er he gave. 
 As British valour near'd them on the wave. 
 Oh ! if amidst our honour'd country's claims. 
 We wish to rank among her patriot's names. 
 Write it, nay, grave it on your very swords. 
 Tell it in deeds, far better than in words. 
 Remember, that great Nelson's shade may rest, 
 ^'England expects each man shall do his best."t 
 
 * Robert Lochore was a shoemaker in Buchanan Street, Glasgow. He 
 died on 2rth April, 1862, in the 90th year of his age. His eldest and only 
 surviving son is the Eev. Alexander Lochore, D.D., minister of the Parish 
 of Drymen, who is in the 85th year of his age. 
 
 t The famous saying signaUed by Lord Nelson to the fleet on 21st 
 October, 1805, at the Battle of Trafalgar, was 
 
 " England expects every man to do his duty," 
 but which is here verbally altered to suit the rhyme. — Bd, 
 
C0BRESP0NDB]Srcl3. 379 
 
 Tavern. The beautiful little pieces, dated Glasgow College, 
 signed "W.D.H.M.," by a young Irish lad, who has now 
 returned to his native country. "A. T n," I am in- 
 formed, is a tailor, lad in Glasgow. 1st Ode for our last 
 anniversary, by John Struthers, shoemaker, Glasgow ; * 2nd 
 do., by Mr. James Young, Glasgow. Those by " W.O.B.," 
 a young clergyman at Kilsyth. Song, vol. 4th, signed 
 " M.M.," a Mr. M'Mman, Glasgow. These are all that I 
 know. 
 
 With regard to the little collection of airs which you are 
 making out for me, I am certainly much indebted to you. I 
 would wish the most of them to be such as I am little 
 acquainted with, as you know I already have seen a number 
 of our old standard airs, such as " Cowdenknowes,'' "Eoslin 
 Castle," " Bush aboon Traquair," &c., but pray don't think 
 me too nice, whichever pleases you wUl likely please me. I 
 have been considering what ones I would like to see. Some 
 of the following I only know by name : — 
 
 Twine weel theplaidie. 
 
 Sweet Annie frae the sea-heach came. 
 
 The last time I came o'er the mx)or. 
 
 I'll never leave thee. 
 
 Loch Ness. — (I think they call it.) 
 
 Maids of Arrochar. 
 
 Rosy Brier. — (I have it, but wish it in your coUectioti. ) 
 
 Gumhemauld House. The Gselic air which you mentioned in 
 M 'Donald's ooUeotion. 
 
 Invercauld's Reel. 
 
 Ellen the Dee. 
 
 Wat ye wha I me* yesireen. 
 
 Busk ye, bush ye, my honnie bride. 
 
 But lately seen in gladsome green. 
 
 Bothiemurchus Rant. . (Do you know the Gselio air of Bums ?) 
 
 Song — wUt thou be my deary. 
 
 Momeen I gaberlan. (If you have the set, which is in some 
 one of Aird's vols.) 
 
 * Burns' Anniversary in Paisley. 
 
380 COEEBSPONDBNCE. 
 
 The bonnie Earl of Murray. 
 
 Barbara Allan. 
 
 Why, Owen, didst thou leave me ? 
 
 It ■would be too much to expect you to write all these, but 
 as many of them as you conveniently can will please me 
 highly. The names of the diflferent composers — as many of 
 them as you know — will add value to it. 
 
 I will write you an attempt for your favourite air, but 
 request you not to give away any copies of it, as it does not 
 altogether please me. 
 * . 
 You win observe that the three first lines of the last verse 
 want the starting note. 
 
 You will notice that I am hurried, therefore excuse in- 
 accuracy. So I wiU bid you adieu till I see or hear from you. 
 Yours assuredly, 
 
 R. TANNAHILL. 
 
 The original letter and song are in possession of James Caldwell, Esq., 
 Cmigielea. 
 
 Letter from Robert Tannahill to James Barr, rmmcian, 
 Kilba/rcha/n,. 
 
 Paisley, May, S3d, 1806. 
 Friend Jambs, 
 
 Your repeated kindness had already insured my 
 warmest regard ; but your last reaUy claims every spark of 
 gratitude that my heart is susceptible of. The number of 
 airs which you promise me, far surpasses what I could even 
 hope for, the writing of so many must be a laborious under- 
 taking. They will be a treasure to me, and, by Jove ! if ever 
 I write a verse to any of them you shall have the first copy. 
 
 * The song "O weep not, my love, though I go to the War," No. 97, is 
 here copied by the Poet,— M, 
 
CORRBSPONDBNOB. 381 
 
 With respect to the tune, "But Lately Seen," I know it 
 already, but wanted it into the collection, so you need not 
 mind it. I see several parts in the one which I sent you to 
 " The Maids of Arrochar," which I would wish amended. 
 What do you think of the following for the last line of it, 
 but two, "Yet sad sung the bard wi the tear in his ee." 
 " Ah ! poor weeping Flora, &o.," being Scottish, I am afraid 
 it will not do well, all the rest being English. How would 
 "bugles'' do for "pibroch" in line 3rd 1* I will thank you for 
 your observations next week. I never saw " Fometh 
 House " tUl you sent it. Mr. Smith tells me that the band 
 play it. He thinks it a very pretty air. I am likewise highly 
 pleased with it. I have written a couple of doggerel kind of 
 verses to it, but am doubtful they are unworthy. I am so 
 little acquainted with the subject which you suggested that 
 you will excuse me, though I am convinced none can suit it 
 better. I wUl here give you them. Please give me your 
 opinion of them, with any alteration you may think proper. 
 I request you not to give away any copies of it, as I cannot 
 judge properly how it stands tUl the nawfanglestrie goes off 
 me. I intend seeing you soon, tiU then, believe me yours, 
 
 E. Tabtnahili. 
 
 Annexed, in tlie handwriting of Tannahill, is the song. No. 72, " Now 
 Winter wi' his cloudy brow." 
 The original is In possession of James Caldwell, Esq. 
 
 X. 
 
 Excerpt from a Letter from Egbert Tannahill to James 
 Baer. — Bamsay's Edition, page 60. 
 
 Paisley, 19th July, 1806. 
 
 " According to promise, I send you two verses for 
 the ' Maids of Arrochar ; ' perhaps they are little better 
 than the last. I believe the language is too weak for the 
 
 * This is the song " Weep not, my Love," be. No. 97.— JffA 
 
382 CORBESPOHDENCE. 
 
 subject ; however, they poasesa the advantage over the 
 othera of being founded on a real occurrence. The Battle 
 of Falkirk was Wallace's last, in which he was defeated with 
 the loss of almost his whole army. I am sensible that to 
 give words suitable to the poignancy of his grief, on such a 
 trying reverse of fortune, would require all the fire and 
 soul-melting energy of a Campbell or a Burns." * 
 
 Letter from, Robbkt Tannahill to Jambs Clabk, Band- 
 master of the Argyleshire Militia, when stationed at Edin- 
 burgh. 
 
 Paisley, Bnd February, 1807. 
 
 My Dbak Frieitd, 
 
 I received in due time your very welcome letter. 
 Your intention of reciting my Ode pleased me highly. I 
 am aure you could do it justice. I hope the meeting suc- 
 ceeded to your wishes. Oura went on gloriously. Eighty- 
 four aat at supper ; after which, Mr. Blaikie addressed us 
 in a neat speech calculated for the occasion, concluding 
 with a toast — " To the Memory of Bums." The Ode which 
 you gave the first spur to the writing of waa well done. The 
 plan was something novel. Mr. M'Laren' spoke the recitative 
 parts very well ; and Messrs. Smith, Stewart, and Blaikie, 
 sung the songs, harmonised in glees by Smith, in their best 
 styles, t In the courae ol the night were toaated the Kilbar- 
 chan meeting and yours. We had a number of original 
 pieces. Smith sung an appropriate song by the author of 
 "The Poor Man's Sabbath," who was out from Glasgow 
 
 * The song above referred to Is the " Lament of Wallace after the Battle 
 of Falkirk," No. 94.— Sd. 
 
 t The Ode referred to was that written for Bums' Anniversary held on 
 Thursday, 29th January, 1807,— No. 7 of the Poems.— id. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 383 
 
 joining ns. * Not one disagreeable occurrence happened ; 
 all was harmony, enthusiasm, and goodwill. We had two 
 rounds of toasts, — one of sentiments and one of authors. 
 We broke up about one, and were well pleased and happy. 
 I am sorry to inform you of the death of William Stewart's 
 mother. She died on last IViday. I called on him for a 
 tune which he had, and he told me she had just then 
 expired. She was interred to-day. 
 
 Moss has taken our Theatre. I don*t know when he 
 comes, t I have not been at Kilbarchan since I received 
 
 * Mr. John Stnithers, shoemaker, Glasgow, the author of "The Sabbath," 
 published in 1S04, was present at the meetings of the Paisley Burns' 
 Society held on 29th January, 1806, and 29th January, 1807. At the first of 
 these meetings, he read an Ode containing fourteen stanzas, which will be 
 found printed in the Glasgow Selector, Vol. IV., page 105. He was the 
 author of several other poems and essays. He edited the Harp of 
 Caledonia, published in 1815 ; and respecting Tannahill, with whom he had 
 become acquainted at the Bums' Society meetings, he said — "The Songs of 
 Tannahill will be read till the incrustation of time render the language 
 unintelligible, and the revolution of society render his descriptions inappli- 
 cable. His person was rather under the middle size, and his appearance 
 Indicated no marks of genius. His powers of conversatioii were not great ; 
 but from the sympathy which he manifested in all that he aaid, his com- 
 pany was often very interesting. He was always, however, ready to speak 
 in "praise of depressed merit,^in mitigation of the censure which the world 
 is liberal in bestowing upon the unfortunate against faithless friendship 
 and disappointed love, of which he never spoke but with the keenness of 
 one whose heart had been deeply wounded." Mr. John Struljhers was bom 
 at Poref aulds. Long Calderwood, East Kilbiide, 18th July, 1776 ;/and he died 
 at Glasgow on 30th July, 1853, in his 78th yeax.Sd. 
 
 t Tannahill mentions the name of Mr. Moss as one with whom he and his 
 correspondent were familiar. Mr. Moss came to Paisley at that i^nje. The 
 first notice of this comedian is la the year 1773, when jhe was announced in 
 thebiUsof the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh. He obtained a place in Kay's 
 Original Portraits and Caricature Etchings ; and he appears in No. XCIV. 
 in the character of Caleb, in "He would boa Soldier,", and singing '*I'm 
 the Dandy, 0." In 1783, he again appeared on the Edinburgh boards, and 
 attracted great attention in the character of Lingo in the "Agreeable 
 Surprise." On one of the nights of his acting was added a new musical farce 
 called " Lingo's Wedding," as a sequel to the "Agreeable. Suiprise,/* — LingOf 
 the Latin Schoolmaster and Parish Clerk, by Mr. Moss. Sisneactperformance 
 iu Edinburgh was in 1788-1789. He was for many years Manager of several 
 Provincial Theatres, and it is stated he had taken Paisley Theatre. 
 
384 CORKBSPONDBNCB. 
 
 yoiira ; but first time I am there, I will call per prnict on 
 your brother-in-law and Mrs. Clarke. The "Lament of 
 Wallace," which you advised me to publish, is already done. 
 Mr. Blaikie has engraved and published it in a very elegant 
 style. I will send you a copy first opportunity. By-the-bye, 
 have you heard that I have proposals out for publishing, by 
 subscription, "The Soldier's Return, with other Poems and 
 Songs. " I have taken the liberty of sending a few to Mr. 
 Hamilton* to distribute among the booksellers in Edin- 
 burgh. I told him. to send one to you to let you see how I 
 was doing. " The Soldier's Return " is dramatic, and I hope 
 having the pleasure of yet seeing you perform a part in it. 
 'Tis a Scottish Interlude, in two acts. Alas ! it was poor 
 PoUook who is now in his grave, with our most worthy 
 friend, Livingstone, who set me first to it. Should you be 
 in Edinburgh soon, you will oblige me much by calling 
 on your friends, Richardson, Gray, or any others who you 
 think will help me to a few subscribers. The. number is 
 increasing rapidly here. I am sure I will have as many as 
 will enable me to publish. I am much hurried at present. 
 
 In the beginning of December, 38T4, we had a very interesting conversation 
 with Mr. John Barr, Castlehead, Paisley, an intelligent old man who knew Mr. 
 Moss. Mr Barr died on Christmas Day of that month, in the 92d year of 
 his age. He mentioned that he had been born and brought up in Kilbarchan, 
 and recollected of himself and Mr. James Barr, Kilbarchan, frequently 
 coming to Paisley to see Mr. Moss and his company acting. He spoke 
 of Mr. Moss having been twice in Paisley on two separate occasions, and 
 saw Tannahill in the theatre, which was on the east side of New Smithhills 
 Street, near the south-end of the street. The next time we hear of Mr. 
 Moss was a benefit night in Edinburgh Theatre on Saturday, 20th May, 
 1815, from his having been disabled and confined In the Eoyal Infirmary 
 vrith a lingering disease. That benefit night realised £130. The last notice 
 of him is in the obituary of the Scots Maganine :—"\iai. January, 1817. 
 —Died at Edinburgh, Mr. Moss, after a lingering disease of three years" 
 duration, the pains of which he bore with exemplary fortitude. Mr. Moss 
 was long the great dramatic favourite of the Edinburgh public, and many 
 still recollect the exoeUeuoe with which he pourtrayed Lingo and many 
 characters of the same stamp." — Ed. 
 
 *' This is Mr. John Hamilton referred to in the Note to " Winter is Bane " 
 No. 11.— Bi. 
 
OORRESPONDBNCE. 385 
 
 or I would have written you a longer letter ; but depend I 
 wiU do it first time I have leisure. Too little has been said, 
 indeed, among the poets respecting Wallace. I know of no 
 poet belonging to Scotland, save Campbell, who is half com- 
 petent to do the subject justice. I gave your compliments 
 to your friends as you desired. They all return them with 
 mutual kindness. I will take it very kind if you will write 
 aa soon as you see the proposals, and let me know how you 
 relish the specimen of the Scottish Interlude, and how 
 affairs are going on in Edinburgh. It perhaps was presump- 
 tion to write to Mr. Hamilton* on any such business ; if 
 you think so, do what you can to apologise for me. Give 
 my compliments to my cousin, M. M'Neil,t and William 
 Whiteford, J and particularly to Tom and Mrs. Buchanan. § 
 Please write soon, as I am anxious to hear how affairs are 
 going on in the great city ; and 
 
 Believe me. 
 
 Your friend in true sincerity, 
 
 R. TANNAHILL. 
 
 The original is in possession of Mrs. Scott, U.P. Manse, Kirkcaldy. 
 
 * Mr. John Hamilton referred to in Note to the song "Winter is Gane," 
 No. 11.— Ed. 
 
 f Matthew M'Neil, weaver, son of Alexander M'Neil, weaver in Causey- 
 side. Paisley, and Mary Pollock, sister of Tannahill's mother. Matthew 
 M'Neil had enlisted as a soldier in the Argyleshire Militia, and was, therefojre, 
 in the same regiment with the bandmaster, James Clark. — Ed. 
 
 X An acquaintance, also in the Argy'lesliire Au:?iliary 'FoxcQ.—Ed. 
 
 § Thomas and Mrs. Buchanan kept a tavern in the beginning of this 
 century in the High Street, — a short distance westward from the Cross of 
 Paisley ; and hp sung Tannahill's songs to any company who entered the 
 hostelry. We suppose that Tom was an instrumentalist in the Band of the 
 Argyleshire Militia at this time, for Tannahill, in' his letter of 20th Sep- 
 tember, 1807, asks Mr. Clark "to give ray best respects to my cousin, 
 and to my friend Tom and Mrs. Buchanan." The Argyleshire was one of 
 the finest bands in Scotland at the irme.— Ed. 
 Y 2 
 
386 COEEBSPONDENCE. 
 
 Letter from William Kibble tn Eobeet Tannahill. 
 
 Boston, April 6th, 1S07. - 
 My Feibnd, 
 
 I received yours of the 6th March, with the papers, 
 and sent some of them to Stockport. Likewise I wrote to 
 Gavan, but have received no answer. I wrote him in favour 
 of a young man of my acquaintance, but whether he has 
 been faithful or not, I cannot tell ; and as you wished me to 
 be punctual as to time of writing, I cannot wait any longer 
 for an answer. I believe that, from the feature of the times 
 in this place, Preston will not be productive of any advantage 
 to you, for they are very poor. I have collected from my 
 acquaintances in this town and in Stockport 26 subscriptions. 
 I think you may send 30 copies, as I wake little doubt but I 
 can part with them. I could_ have wished, my friend, to 
 have done something more for you, but trade being so very 
 low, and consequently money scarce, that many persons 
 wliom I am acquainted with would have become subscribers, 
 but could not, merely from poverty. I might send you a 
 list of the names of the subscribers. If I am not wrong, I 
 think it no way material to your plan ; but should you 
 think otherwise, you shall have them in my next. With 
 regard to remittance, I have made some enquiry. There 
 are two modes of conveyance — the Post Office and the heavy 
 coach. The first is 2d. per £ insurance, the last is 6d. ; but, 
 if I am not mistaken, I can make some interest with Mr. 
 Ainsworth, so that he can receive the money, and give a 
 draft for it on some house in Paisley. Give me your in- 
 structions on this point in your next. My friend, as this 
 part of our correspondence has been all on business, I have 
 considered it no.t requisite to interlard it with any other thing 
 particular, as I think we shall have opporttfnity enough 
 afterwards, when this is completed. One thing I have heard 
 which I must let you know. John Jamieson is ! ! ! 
 
 I shall go over to Stockport when your books come, so you 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 387 
 
 may depend on having a fuU, true, and particular account 
 by the lump of the whole affair. Jamieson sends his love to 
 you. Trade goes well, but wages very low. The masters 
 are all in a mind to starve ua. The Weavers Regulation 
 Bill is committed to a Committee of the House. It is 
 thought that they will be successful. 
 
 My respects to Black, Fulton, and Mitchell. 
 I remain. 
 
 My Friend, 
 
 Yours for ever, 
 
 WM. KIBBLE. 
 
 The original letter is in possession of Mr. Matthew Blair. — Ed. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Excerpt from' Letter of Robert Tannahill to William 
 Kibble. — Eamsay's Memoir, page xxxix. 
 
 Paisley, llth April, 1807. 
 I hate dependence on printers, paper-folks, or anybody. 
 On inquiry, they found I was poor. Nothing could be done 
 without I found security. Tliat was easily procured : then, 
 they were most happy to serve me in anything I wanted. 
 'Tis the way of the world ! Self-interest is the ruling pas- 
 sion. Merit might pine in obscurity for ever, if Pride, or 
 Interest, for their own gratification, were not to hand the 
 lone sufferer into public notice. 
 
 Letter from Robert Tannahill to William Thomson, 
 Overtoil, near Beith. 
 
 Paisley, Xst May, 1807. 
 Dear William, 
 
 Please receive 29 volumes poems, for which you 
 favoured me with subscribers. I request your acceptance of 
 
388 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 one copy, not as compensation for your trouble, but as a small 
 mark of my regard for the kindness you have shewn me. I 
 sent two for the Kilmalcolm subscribers last Saturday by 
 Gibson, and hope you have received them. I am anxious to 
 hear your mind of the volume, upon the whole. You'll 
 oblige me by writing next Thursday, letting me know, with- 
 out reserve, what you think of it, and how the west country 
 people seem to be pleased with their bargain. I'm afraid 
 they will thiuk the volume small for the money ; but first 
 time I publish sermons I'll let them have a lumpin' penny- 
 worth. You may remit the money when you can conveni- 
 ently collect it from them. 
 
 Be sure arid write by Gibson on Thursday first, and allow 
 me to conclude by once more assuring you that 
 
 I am yours, 
 
 Most sincerely, 
 
 ROBT. TANNAHILL. 
 
 P.S. — The others will not be delivered in this town till 
 Wednesday or Thursday. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Letter from Robert Taunahill to Robert Lang, Manu- 
 facturer, Paisley. 
 
 Paisley, 4th May, 1807. 
 Mr. Robt. Lang. 
 
 SiK, 
 
 I have ordered copies of the enclosed volume to be 
 sent to each of the gentlemen whose names you handed 
 me as subscribers. You will oblige me by accepting of one 
 of these, not as compensation for your trouble, but as a small 
 mark of my regard for the kindness you have shewn me. 
 
OORKESPONDENCB. 389 
 
 Please present my best thanks to Mr. Robertson, and request 
 him, from me, to accept of one likewise. 
 
 I am, 
 
 Deab Sib, 
 
 yours most sincerely, 
 
 ROBT. TANNAHILL. 
 
 The original is in possession oJ Mr. Lang's son, Mr. Robert Howard Lang, 
 Espedair Street, Paisley.— ia. 
 
 Litter from Robert Tannahill to James Bishop,* 
 Bridge of Johnstone. 
 
 Paisley, 4th May, 1807. 
 
 SlE, 
 
 Please receive 13 volumes poems for which you 
 favoured me with subscribers. I request your acceptance of 
 one copy as a smaU mark of my regard for the kindness you 
 have shewn me. Please deliver Mr. Morton's volume, and 
 present him my thanks for his subscription'; t You may re- 
 
 * "James Bisliop," -warehouseman to William Malloch & Company, cotton 
 spinners, Johnstone, called the Old Mill. He was a plain, modest man, and 
 taught a mathematical class in the evenings. — Ed. 
 
 t This was "James Morton," teacher in Johnstone, and precentor in the 
 Chapel. He had a good voice, and was one of the iirst vocalists of the day. 
 He died ahout September, 1824. Mr. John Fraser, formerly teacher in 
 Kilmalcolm, succeeded Mr. Morton in the Johnstone School, and is now 
 residing at Newfield House, Johnstone. He was a musical enthusiast from 
 his youth, and in 1843 commenced a musical tour through Great Britain, 
 Ireland, and America. Tann.ahill's songs were the favourites ; and the 
 Fraser family, from their musical talents, spread the sweet songs of the 
 Poet throughout the length and breadth of the English-speaking dominions. 
 Mr. Fraser was bom in 1794, and is now in the 81st year of his age, fii 
 good health, hale and hearty. Long may the "old man musical" live and 
 indulge in singing his favourite songs of Tannahill. — Bd. 
 
300 COKRBSPONDENOE. 
 
 mifc the money when you have been able, conveniently, to 
 
 collect it. 
 
 I am, 
 
 Dear Sie, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 ROBT. TANNAHILL. 
 
 The oi-iginal is in possession of Jas, K. M. Robertson, Esq., M.U., Renfrew. 
 
 Letter from Robert Tannahill to James Babr. 
 
 Patslev, 30th June, 1S07 . 
 Dear James, 
 
 How well-looking is a tree in full verdure, and how 
 pretty is a blue-winged butterfly beside a kail-worm. The 
 whin-bush in its gouden robes, and the rosy brier o'erhangin' 
 the soroggy dyke-side thorn — all have inspired me with the 
 notion that he who would live on anything like respectable 
 terms in this notioe-takin' world, must clothe his outward 
 man. Meditating on which, " I sigh when I look to my 
 threadbare coat," and am resolved " to hae a new clewk 
 about me." Therefore, if you can oblige me wi' twa pund 
 English on or before next Friday, you will do me a favour, 
 as I intend going to Glasgow ^on Saturday. Cooke,* the 
 
 • • The George Frederick Cooke, who appeared in 1800 like a meteor in 
 the theatrical world. His figure was not elegant ; his arms were short; 
 his movements abrupt and angular ; and his features were powerfully 
 expressive of the darker passions. He had a strdng vein of sarcastic 
 humour. His voice, though somewhat high and sharp in its ordinary tone, 
 possessed great compass, and carried him without fail throughout in the 
 most arduous characters— a pre-eminence over his rival, Mr. John Kemble, 
 in usingwhich he absolutely revelled, and never omitted to exercise when he 
 found an opportunity. His part of Sir Pertinax Macsi/cophant was con- 
 sidered one of the most complete representations ever presented on the stage. 
 Irregular habits, however, marred his fortunes. He left for America iu 
 1810, and he died at New York on 26th November, lS12.—Jld. 
 
COBHESPONDENCE. 391 
 
 celebratetl tragedian, is jiiat now playing there, and a few of 
 ■ us intend seeing him on Saturday night. 
 
 I would have been in your good town ere this time, but 
 there has been a whaup * in the nest ever since I saw you 
 last, or, in other words, I've been but very poorly in my 
 health, but am now pretty 'well again. You have no doubt 
 heard of Mr. Smith's being engaged to fill Mr. Robertson's 
 berth in our old church. 
 
 I hope you are getting on to your wishes in your new 
 way of life, and rest assured that none wish you better than 
 Your friend, 
 
 ROBT. TANNAHILL, 
 
 P.S. — I have two original songs which I'll write out for 
 you next week. 
 
 The original is in possession of Alexander MacDonald, Esq., mercliant 
 in Glasgow, wlio lias liad it mounted on cloth, and hound Tip with his copy 
 of the 1817 edition, thus showing his great respect for the auWoT.—M. 
 
 Letter from James Clark to Robbet Tannahill. 
 
 Abbrdben, 19tJi July, 1807. 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 I eipect before you receive this you will have 
 received a parcel, which I gave to a Mr. Donaldson, who 
 works with Mr. Carswell, manufacturer. Moss Row. When I 
 called on Mr. Ross, he told me he would have sent you 
 some things before that, but he did not wish to put you to 
 the expense of carriage until he got some things from London, 
 which bethought pretty, when he would send them altogether. 
 I knew a woman who was going to Glasgow at that time, and 
 I told him if he got them soon to let me have them, and I 
 would get them conveyed to you. However, she was gone, 
 
 ' The Curlew,— a sea-bird of a very restless disposition. 
 
392 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 and fortunately I met with Mr. Bonaldson. Mr. Ross lives 
 here in great style — keeps a house in the town, and another 
 in the country. He lives at his country house now. He is 
 very much respected here, and deservedly. I had a long 
 stay with him, and am invited to visit him in the country, 
 but the invitation was given in too general terms to accept 
 it'. He is va,in of his composition. Independent of what he 
 says about it, can there be a greater proof of it than his 
 setting music of his own to " Logan Water," in .preference 
 to the old air, one of the most beautiful tunes ever composed. 
 He is not so tall as his brother, whom you knew, but very 
 like him in the face, and stUl thinner in the body and legs. 
 I should like to know what you think of the songs he sent 
 you. I did not look much at them, but what I did look, I 
 thought a good deal of the "Dusky Glen,'' and would have 
 thought more of it had I never heard it sung to the " Lack 
 of Gold." I was in Edinburgh iive days before I got a 
 vessel to Aberdeen (no disappointment,). I called on Gray. 
 Upon my soul, he was astonished when I mentioned your 
 book that he had not seen it. After what he had tojd me, 
 and what you had told me of him some time ago, I marked 
 him down a smooth-faced double-dealer. But he made so 
 many palpable excuses, that I thought it might be true 
 what he said. He laid the whole blame on William Orr. 
 He said he had repeatedly asked him to call upon you, and 
 get some copies from you, and give you a guinea. I should 
 be glad to know if that was the case or not. I told him you 
 had no more copies. Then he talked of sending you money 
 whether or not ; then he thought again that would hurt 
 your independence. If Gray is not a warm-hearted, 
 friendly, good fellow, he is one of the best actors I ever saw. 
 I am very sorry I had not more of your company when in 
 Paisley. I called at Wilson's that night I was at your 
 house, but you were not there. After that I got happy, and 
 called on Smith and Stewart. I mind I behaved very silly. 
 Upon my soul, Bob, I could not help it. I am so happy 
 when in Paisley, and meeting with so many old acquaintances. 
 
COERBSPONDBNOE. 393 
 
 that I get little short of crazinesa. And when I join the 
 Regiment I find fault with almost everything I have done. 
 I'm sure my friends have a great deal of allowance to make, 
 which I hope they do with a good grace. Believe me, it 
 would vex me exceedingly did. I offend any of them in the 
 least by any of my inadvertencies. Give my warmest 
 respects to William Stewart and Robert Smith. I would be 
 glad to hear from any of them as soon as convenient. I 
 hope they are using Smith as he deserves. Your old friend 
 Buchanan and his family are all well, and desire to be re- 
 membered to you and all our old friends. I hope you won't 
 delay long in letting me hear from you, as you was not very 
 well when I saw you last. I'll be impatient until I hear 
 from you, as I am certain none have your welfare more at 
 heart than 
 
 Your old friend, 
 
 JAMES CLARK. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 Letter from Jambs King, corporal in the Renfrew Militia, to 
 Robert Tannahill. 
 
 Pbvbnsey, Sussex, Gth Aug., 18Q7. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I received yours of date 3rd June, and your poems 
 and a few lines sometime after from a woman of the regi- 
 ment. I have read your poems many times over with a deal of 
 pleasure, and shewn them to some of the most intelligent 
 oflSlcers in the regiment, who are all very weU pleased with 
 them. One of them, whose mother keeps a considerable tap 
 room in Glasgow, pointing to " Allan's Ale " said — ' ' King, does 
 not that do very well?" lam highly pleased with the "Two 
 National Clowns." With respect to the " Peasant's Death" 
 I never he£(rd of such a poem, nor of such a man as John 
 z 2 
 
394 OOKKESPONDBNGE. 
 
 Struthers. * 'Tis somewhat remarkable that the subject and 
 stanza should be ^the same. The " Poor Man's Burial" is 
 now wholly but I pay no regard to it on account 
 
 of the " Peasants, " When I was in Berwickshire some years 
 since, I fell in with a wandering bard, who sung a number 
 of Border scraps, and one of them something like " Och Hey, 
 Johnnie, Lad." If you remember, some years since, we pro- 
 posed seeing one Robertson, t somewhere about the Well- 
 
 ^ See first note to tlie letter dated 2n.d February, 1S07. Shortly after 
 the pubhcation of " The Poor Man's Sabbath" in 1804 by John Struthers, he 
 pubhshed " The Peasant's Death" as a sequel. It would seem that James 
 King had written a poem which he had called " The Peasant's Burial," and 
 submitted it to Tannahill for his opinion, who very properly informed King 
 that Struthers had anticipated him, when King replied, " it was somewhat 
 remarkable they should be the same, for he had never heard of such a poem 
 as 'The Peasant's Death,' nor of such a person as John Struthers." The 
 blank in thci following sentence of the reply may be finished with the word 
 buried or burnt. King then petulantly retaliates on Tannahill that he had 
 heard, some years ago, a wandering Bard singing a song something like 
 " Och Hey, Johnnie, Lad," No. 124. It may have happened that two authors 
 wrote songs to the same old air, but that is not a parallel case with the 
 peasant's death or buHaL—Ed. 
 
 t "John Robertson, weaver, bom about 1770. He was the son of John 
 Robertson, grocer, No. 22 Sandholes, Paisley. His father did an extensive 
 business in these premises, and, having considerable means, he gave hi s son 
 an excellent education. John Robertson, jun., was afterwards apprenticed 
 to the weaving, the staple trade of Paisley ; but like a great number of 
 others who had wealthy parents, he detested the work of the loom. 
 He amused himself writing verses, and at that time Ebenezor Picken 
 (bom in 1769 or 1770, son of Bbenezer Picken, weaver. South Side of We 11- 
 meadow Street, Paisley,) who had received a University education, and, 
 a -brother versifier, were acquainted with each other, and they were un- 
 doubtedly congenial companions. John Robertson, notwithstanding his good 
 business, became involved in pecuniary difficulties, which caused the son to 
 support himself by weaving. In 1800, the year of the great dearth, young 
 Robertson wrote the song of the " Toom Meal Pock," which will be found at 
 page Ixix. of the Harp of Renfrewshire. He also wrote a number of other 
 pieces, but he never pubUshed a volume. He was rather an in- 
 different weaver, fond of company, and he descended in the social scale 
 until he became destitute, when he enlisted in the Fifeshire Militia ia 1803, 
 which, with other Scots Regiments, marched to England. Jam3s ICui'^, 
 
COREBSPONDENCE. 395 
 
 meadow. I was informed that he was in the Fif eshire Militia, 
 ' and as we marched from Hastings to this place we passed 
 through Boxhill, where the Fifeshire lies. I called upon 
 him, and had some beer with him. He is an intelligent man, 
 and remarkably fond of poetry. We are only eight miles 
 separate. I sent him the song-book you sent me, and told 
 him of your poems. He sent me word that he would be here 
 soon to see your book. He thinks that none of the Rosy 
 Briar was written by Burns, and says he is almost positive 
 that the last verse is part of a song done by himself some 
 years back, which he had forgot had not that verse struck 
 him and put him in mind of it. There is a song in the col- 
 lection called " The Land o the Leel." T was informed the 
 other day that in the West of Scotland it went under the 
 name of "Burns' Death Song." Let me know if Bums be 
 its author. I hope that your constitution is a deal better of 
 the salt water, and that you had a pleasant jaunt. For me, 
 I am always upon the coast, and but for being every other 
 night out of bed would be very well; however, I cannot com- 
 plain at present. I am of opinion that ere long not a cannon 
 will be fired on the continent of Europe without the appro- 
 bation of the Emperor Napoleon. If the troops of civUised 
 Europe, experienced, and often in battle, could not stop his 
 progress, what could the raw, half disciplined soldiers of 
 Russia do. Their battles were ill-directed, the papers men. 
 tioned several of their generals being found killed near one 
 spot of ground. It appears to me that when the action be- 
 came serious that they had left their divisions and come to 
 Bonnigheim for orders, for how the devil could they have 
 been killed together and their columns cut off for want of 
 direction. 
 
 who was in the Eenf rewshire Militia, found him at Boxhill with his regiment 
 ^n 1807. King and he had frequent meetings, the stations of the two 
 Regiments not heing far distant from each other. John Eohertson, jun., 
 died at Hilsea, near Portsmouth, in February, 1810, aged 40 years. 
 
396 COKEBSPONDENCE. 
 
 SONG. 
 Air — " Wat ye wha I met yestreen." 
 
 Away ! ye warlike scenes, away ! 
 Half moons and parallels, adieu ! 
 No more I'll view the lofty tow'r ; 
 No more the strong built rampart view, 
 Though waving on the lofty tow'r 
 The standard shews its glitt'ring wing, 
 There's no" peace near the lofty tow'r ; 
 There's no rest where the bugles sing. 
 
 The garden's finest blossoms fade, 
 Where chilly winds pass o'er the flowers ; 
 The brightest ray of rising man 
 Is darkened when the tempest loVrs. 
 The blast comes rushing armed with fire, 
 And bears the dark green leafy spray ; 
 So 'neath the blast of Tyrant pow'r. 
 All genius withering dies away. 
 
 All hail ! ye sunny flow'r-clad vales, 
 Where peace and liberty appear ; 
 And hail ye scenes of social life, 
 For ever to my memory dear. 
 But hence ye painful warlike scenes. 
 Where man o'er man holds sad control ; 
 And welcome hours of sacred rest. 
 That please and elevate the soul. 
 
 Remember me to Borland and Scadlock. No more at pre- 
 sent, but, believe me to remain 
 
 Yours, &c., 
 
 JAMES KING. 
 
COREESPONDBNCE. 397 
 
 XX. 
 
 Letter from Robert Tannahill to John Macfarlanb, 
 'Neihton.* 
 
 Paisley, ZOth August, 1817. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I embrace the first leisure hour that I have had 
 since I saw you to write you a few lines. I fear that, from 
 our last interview, you have stampt me down as the most 
 morose and unsocial of beings. 1 will make no a,pology, 
 further than informing you that, ere you saw us return from 
 the moors, my temper had been considerably soured by one 
 of the company repeatedly grwmbling that on my account 
 they had to go round by Neilston. Indeed, we were all 
 heartily tired with our excursion, but I was vex'd to hear 
 the very person whom I had accompanied making any words 
 about it, and it has ever been impossible with me to wear a 
 face of gaiety when under real chagrin. I believe, from 
 what passed on that night in your hearing, that you will 
 guess who the person is to whom I allude. I reckon it alto- 
 gether superfluous saying one word more on the subject, but 
 will writ^ you the songs which I mentioned to you formerly. 
 
 (Here follow the songs, No. 106, The Bard of Glen Ullin, 
 and No. 115, The Pearly Dewdrop.) 
 
 * Mr. John Macfarlane, weaver, Neilston, became acquainted with 
 Xannahill through his friend, James Scadloek, the lyric poet of the 
 Severn. Mr. Macfarlane was an intelligent and leading gentleman in the 
 village of Neilston, whose counsel and advice was frequently asked and 
 followed in matters of importance to the residenters. He was possessed 
 of a fine musical taste, and became one of TannahiU's correspondents, as 
 will be seen from the several letters we have printed. Tannahill sent him 
 several pieces of his poetry for his opinion, as the Poet considered 
 his opinion entitled to weight. Mr. Macfarlane was for many years the 
 respected manager of the power-loom cloth manufactory at Arthurlie 
 belonging to Messrs. J. & J. Cogan. Mr. Macfarlane was born in 1781, and 
 died in 1830, aged 49 years.— jSd. 
 
398 OOKRBSPONDENCB. 
 
 I don't know how these may please, but shall be gratified 
 on hearing your opinion of them. I expect that the first 
 time you are in town, and have leisure, you wUl give me a 
 call, and will take it kindly if you will favour me with a few 
 lines at any time, letting me know how you are coming on. 
 
 I am, 
 
 Dbak Sir, 
 
 Yours most sincerely, 
 
 EOBT. TANNAHILL. 
 
 The original is in poaseasion of Mrs. J. Wright, Kirkcaldy, daughter of 
 Mr. Macfarlane. 
 
 Letter from Robekt Tannahill to John Crawford, Largs. 
 
 Paisley, Sd September, 1807. 
 Dear Sib, 
 
 I received yours of the 28th ult., and was happy to 
 hear your favourable opinion of the songs. I cannot help 
 remarking the dift'erence of taste. The very line which you 
 mention as being superior was condemned by a gentleman to 
 whom I showed the song for being a low and vulgar idea. 
 However, I own that it pleased myself tolerably. I wiQ not 
 praise the whole of your poem, but some parts of it please 
 me highly. I think that anyone who writes frequently may 
 form some little notion when he has been able to express a 
 happy thought to advantage, and perhaps the following verse 
 pleases you as well as any in the piece : — 
 
 " The Parson guides his flock in duty's road, 
 Dead to the world, he views the blest abode, 
 A call from thee he boldly names the voice of God ! " 
 
 " Some rhyme, vain thought, for needfu' cash." 
 
0ORB.BSPONDBN0B. 399 
 
 And I am not so clear of the justice of the following line : — 
 " And oftentimes for thee the poet makes his lay." 
 
 The truth of the following everyone will acknowledge ; — 
 " The man of wealth is not, nor cannot be a fool." 
 
 And— 
 
 " The Premier always makes the most convincing speech," 
 
 is so true that it will strike everybody. However, I sat 
 down to write a line to accompany the enclosed volumes,* 
 and find that unaware I have been writing criticisms. You 
 may keep the books as long as you please, as I perused the 
 whole as they came out in numbers. You wUl observe a 
 few things of mine in the first vol., signed "Modestus.'' 
 I sent them anonymous, and was rather hurt on seeing the 
 signature, as affected modesty is among the silliest of all 
 affectations. I complained to the Editor, who mentioned 
 on the cover that it was they who had done it. 
 
 An acquaintance has just called on me, so I'll bid you 
 good-night. 
 
 I am, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 ROBT. TAENAHILL. 
 
 (At the end of the letter is the following presentation ;— 
 " To Mr. TannahUl, City of Glasgow Bank, Greenock, with 
 Allan Park Paton's kind regards, Jan., 1868."^ 
 
 This letter is in possession of Mr. James Tannahill, grand nephew of the 
 . Poet. 
 
 * These were the four vols, of the Selector, a periodical mentioned in the 
 letter to James Barr, dated let May, 1806." See the Note to the poem 
 No. 6. 
 
400 COEEESPONJJBNCE. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Excerpt from a Letter o/Eobbm Tannahill to Jambs Clabk, 
 Bandmaster of the Argyleshire Militia. — Bamsay's 
 Memoir, page xxii. 
 
 Paisley, SOth September, 1807. 
 My Dear Priend, 
 
 I received your very welcome letter, dated 19th 
 July, and sliould have answered ere now, but the truth is, 
 I have been obliged to scribble so much of late that writing 
 anything is become a real labour to me. However, that 
 apathy ia now beginning to wear off, and I promise you that 
 I wiU be more punctual in future. I received the packet 
 which you forwarded by Mr. Donaldson, and am highly 
 pleased with the kindness Mr. Boss of Aberdeen has shown 
 me. In all our dealings, he has used me like a gentleman. 
 The music he has set to my songs, I think, ia excellently 
 suited to the words. Have you tried that to the " Highland 
 Plaid?"* It stamps a value on the words, which they 
 would by no means possess without it. Smith and Barr 
 are well pleased with them. By-the-by, have you heard 
 that Mr. R. A. f is now precentor to our old church 1 Dr. 
 Boogt sent for him about two months since, and he 
 engaged with him for ten or twelve pounds per annum. 
 Messrs. Stuart, Gumming, and Locke, sit in his band. His 
 employment in the teaching line has, as yet, scarcely come 
 up to his wishes ; but the proper season for it ia just coming 
 in. He has bespoke a room for it above the Crosa, and ia 
 going to open a class for young ladies and gentlemen some 
 of these nights. The influence of the Old Kirk gentry may 
 be of use to him. Mr. Boss has likewise set music to "The 
 
 * This is the song, No. 93, which we have titled " Young Donald and his 
 Lawland 'Bnie."—Ed, 
 
 t Note by Ramsay.— "^y this abbreviation, R. A. Smith was familiarly 
 known among his friends." 
 
 t The minister of the first charge of the Abbey Church, Paisley.— .Ed. 
 
COBRESPONDBNCB. 401 
 
 Braes of Gleniffer. " It does capitally. It is published by- 
 Hamilton in a very elegant style.— I was not a little sorry 
 that I did not see you on the night before you left Paisley. 
 However, at that time I was poorly ; and even in your com- 
 pany, would have been as flat as a flounder. I will write 
 you a little song on chance ; I don't know how it may please 
 you, — " While the grey-pinioned Lark," * &c. — Now, my 
 dear friend, -I hope you will not long deny me the pleasure 
 of letting me hear from you. There are so many rubs in 
 life that we ought to make one another as comfortable as 
 possible ; and I assure you that hearing from you frequently 
 afibrds me much happiness. Give my best respects to my 
 cousin, and to my friend Tom, and Mrs. Buchanan, and rest 
 assured that, among your numerous acquaintances, none 
 esteems you more truly than your friend, 
 
 R. T. 
 
 Excerpt from a Letter o/ Robert Taunahill to James King, 
 Benfrewshwe Militia. — Ramsay's Memoir, page cccU. 
 
 Paisley, Snd November, 1807. 
 Dbab. Jambs, 
 
 I received yours of the 22nd September in due time, 
 and accordingly to your wish let your mother know that you 
 were well. She called on me the other night, and wished 
 that I would write to you directly, as she was very impatient 
 to have a letter from you ; (indfependent of that I should h^ve 
 written a fortnight ago.) You are sensible of a mother's 
 solicitude, and wiU not fail giving her that gratification. 
 Trade is remarkably low with us.' Those who have their 
 
 * From the Author in this song, No. 67, using the names of "Fairy 
 Woodside" and "Sweet Ferguslie,"— the places or haunts ol his boyhood, — 
 we altered the title of the song to " Fairy Woodside and Sweet Ferguslie ; 
 or, The Grey-Pinioned Lark."— fli. 
 
 A3 
 
402 COBEESPONDBNCE. 
 
 work continued are obliged to do it at pitiful low prices, and 
 those who are thrown out of employment can scarcely 
 get the offer of any by calling through. Lappets 900 
 have been offered at threepence nett. However, people's 
 minds are not yet damped so much as you have seen in 
 former depressions. I am obliged to you for sending the 
 songs in your last. ' Thou'rt fair, Morning of May !' is a 
 beautiful little ballad, but I would advise you to throw out 
 the last verse, as the subject is quite complete without it ; 
 besides being in five stanzas, it will not suit any double tune. 
 In verse 4th, line 3d, instead of ' will retire,' I would prefer 
 ' is retired.' " The Morning Trembles O'er the Deep," like- 
 wise pleases me very well. " O why is thy Hand so Cold, 
 Love," possesses some merit, but I think it inferior to the 
 others. Li my opinion, your songs surpass your other pro- 
 ductions, and I would advise you to apply yourself to that 
 department of our favourite amusement, in preference to any 
 other. Another thing which I beg leave to mention, and 
 which always makes a song appear more masterly, is, to make 
 the 1st and the 3rd lines of the verse to rhyme. In the old bal- 
 lad style, it may be dispensed with; but in songs written in the 
 idiom of the present day, it is expected, and reckoned not so 
 well without it ; but you are already sensible of all that. . . 
 I am happy that the songs in my volume please you ; but 
 when you mention them as equalling Bums', I am afraid 
 that the partiality of friendship weighs a good deal in that 
 decision. You have never mentioned the Interlude : I sus- 
 pect that, in general, it is reckoned not worth much. I wiU 
 now finish with some rhymes to you. (Here is given the 
 first four verses of the " Queensferry Boatie Rows Light," 
 No. 102.) I don't know any air that answers the above 
 measure ; let me hear whether you know any one to it. You 
 wiU no doubt know "Lord Moira's Reel." I have been 
 trying verses to it, and will write yon all that I was able to 
 make of it. ("Loudon's Bonnie Woods and Braes," is here 
 given, No. 45.) I own I am somewhat half-pleased with 
 the above myself ; but that is always the case when a piece 
 
COEEBSPONDENCB. 403 
 
 is newly finished, and it must lie past sometime before we 
 are capable of judging rightly how it may stand. Mention . 
 any defects you may see in it. 
 
 Letter from Jambs Clakk, Musicicm m the Argyleshire 
 MiUUa, to RoBBET Tajinahill. 
 
 Abeedeen, 16th liovemier, 1807. 
 My Deab Feibnd, 
 
 I received your letter dated, 20th September with 
 great pleasure. I am always glad to hear from you, and 
 particularly so now, as you are the only correspondent I 
 have from Paisley. My old friends Stewart and Smith 
 have forgot me. I have not forgot them. • I begin to like 
 this town very well. There are a number of social souls 
 about it, and I spend some of my evenings very agreeably. 
 There are a number of free-and-easy clubs here, and three 
 good tap-rooms, which are very well attended, which by 
 going to sometimes a stranger gets acquainted with the 
 natives. I have the honour to be president now of a very 
 respectable club. I have sung I don't know how often your 
 glorious song " The Coggie " here, which of aU your songs 
 is my favourite. (I hope in God the author of it nor his 
 friends will never want one.) It is a great favourite here. 
 I have never seen Mr. Ross but once since I came here, and 
 then it was by chance he was in town. He keeps no music 
 shop, and teaches but little. He has made his fortune some 
 years ago — keeps a town and country house, elegantly fur- 
 nished. He is a strange genius for a musician — ^keeps no 
 company, and never enjoyed his bottle. He sent up a 
 letter to me for you, with his compliments to me, wishing 
 me to forward it, which I did as soon as possible. I hope 
 you received it safe from David Dickie. I am playing in 
 
404 CORKBSPONDENCB. 
 
 the orchestra at the theatre here!* We have a most excel- 
 lent band, consisting of four violins (three of them first-rate 
 performers), two horns, one flute, one bassoon, and one 
 viohncello (played by your humble servant). The theatre 
 has been open about a month. It is a very pretty house, 
 fitted up in the same style as the Edinburgh one, and holds 
 about £60. There are some good scenes, painted by 
 Naismith in his best style. The company are better than 
 they have been used with here. He is collecting from all 
 quarters for good performers to open with eclat in Glasgow, 
 but he must get a few more capital actors before he can do 
 any good there. Mr. Beaumont is really a bad actor : has a 
 good figure and a fine face for tragedy ; graceful in his 
 action, but too pompous — making too much of it ; — but he 
 is the worst speaker I ever heard on the stage — a bad voice, 
 and a manner of snapping the last syllable of his words as to 
 render him almost unintelligible. He doth not play much, 
 and when he goes to Glasgow I suppose will play none. 
 Our tragedy hero is a Mr. Seytojj, from London, a young 
 man of fortune, but stage mad ; plays sometimes very well, 
 but " saws the air " too much with his hands. Indeed, he 
 is too extravagant in his action. The poor fellow is really 
 deranged at times. He has the richest dresses I ever saw. 
 Mr. King, late of the Theaitres Edinburgh and Glasgow, is 
 here — a useful man, and pretty clever. We have, too, a 
 Mrr Hubert, the most gelieral actor I ever saw — splays 
 Charles ia "The School for Sca,n6ial," Macduff, WilUam ia 
 "Rosina," Oaleb Colmm, and Lmgo^aH respectable. He is 
 the best John Thomherry. A Mr. Lewis plays the comedy 
 old men very well. I think he will do for Glasgow. Mrs. 
 Beaumont I think a good tragedienne. Her Belvidere, Jane 
 Shore, and Mrs. Brvine in "Everyone haa his Fault," pleased 
 me very well, yet she cries too loud ; but her Lady Teazle 
 
 * Aljerdeen Theatre Eoyal was built in 1795, and was sold on 27tli January 
 1876, for tlie erection of a church in connection with the Church ol Scotland, 
 A few years ago it had been converted into a music hall.— Sd. 
 
vCOERESPONDENCE. 405 
 
 and Widow Cheq/rte I think poor. All will be ill to please 
 in parts of that town who have seen Miss Duncan, and, in 
 my opinion, the equally great Mrs. Young, play often, irfrs. 
 Odger is here, and her you have seen. Miss Locke, a 
 beautiful young woman ; she is but young on the stage, and 
 will be better than she is, the' I fear she will never be great. 
 We have had "The Forty Thieves " here in great style. I 
 think the dialogue of that piece very trifling. Indeed, the 
 Col. has some good things to say, but none else. I suppose 
 you would go to Glasgow to see it. Now, T really think, if 
 you are not tired of theatricals, you may. I am obliged to 
 you for sending me the song you wrote. I think it a very 
 beautiful one, and I would be very glad you would let me 
 have any little thing you do when you write. Your old 
 friend Tom is well and hearty, and wishes to be kindly 
 remembered to you. Give my compliments to our old 
 friends, W. Stewart and A. Smith. I hope you will let me 
 hear from you soon, and let me know any particular news 
 that's amongst you. * 
 
 I am, 
 
 Deae, Bob, 
 
 Your friend sincerely, 
 
 JAMES GLARK. 
 
 Letter from Robert Tannahill to James Bake, Kilba/rchan. 
 
 PAiSLBy, Sth Januwry, 1808. 
 Deae James, 
 
 I am quite sorry to imagine our correspondence 
 should seem to be dwindled down to the dry hasty scribbling 
 of Dr. and Or., yet such really appears to be the case. I 
 have not written to P., nor do I believe ever shall on the 
 
 * This commuiiioatioii discloses the taste TiinnaliiU had (or dramatic per- 
 formances, yet not one of his former biographers have said a single word 
 about his attending theatrical exhibitions in Paisley and Glasgow. — Ed, 
 
406 CORRESPONDENCB. 
 
 subject ; he has served me no worse than some others have 
 done, and since honour does not prompt him to do as he 
 ought, let him stand just as he is. I remit you the list so 
 that you may see what number is on his score. If you have 
 not received payment for any of the others it would be un- 
 fair in me to expect it ; but if you can make it convenient to 
 settle your part before Friday fortnight you will meet me in 
 a particular wish, as, on the Friday evening following I shall 
 (God and you willing) be happy. 
 
 I understand Koss has set some others of the songs to 
 music ; I have seen only one of them, 'tis that one in the 
 Interlude set by our friend Robert. He has just been shew- 
 ing me a letter from London approving of the "Rosy Brier" 
 and a song written by G. AUan. They are to be published 
 soon, and copies of them sent to him. He has been down, 
 on invitation, spending two days of the new year with the 
 Dr. at Erskine. I wish you a gude new year, and wish you 
 to 
 
 Believe me, 
 
 Tours truly, 
 
 R. TAKNAHILL. 
 
 P.S. — I request you to return the list, as I ought to re- 
 spect every name contained in it. I have a few things past 
 me when more at leisure. However, I enclose you a copy 
 of one I have ready written. 
 
 E. T. 
 
 The original letter is in possession of Mr John Love, Mount Pleasant, 
 Kilbarchan. — id. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Exceryt from a Utter of Mr. Robert Tannahill to 
 
 from Muw's Memoir m the 1815 and 1817 Bditions, 
 page xi/o. ; and Ramsay's Memoir, page xxxii. 
 
 Paisley, 14t7i, February, 1808. 
 "We are a set of capricious beings— that dismal 
 melancholy mood in which I wrote to you last has consider- 
 
COREBSPONDENCE. 407 
 
 ably worn off. One of the causes of it was : — A fellow, who 
 for a long time had lived with me upon the most intimate 
 and friendly terms, took it into his dizzy pow that he was 
 advancing rapidly in the high way of fortune ; he of course 
 must drop all low company ; he had the effrontery even to 
 say it, and used me and others in such a way as led us to see 
 that he considered us as belonging to that order. A kick 
 up, which we had -on that account, threw me into a kind of 
 fever for some days. " 
 
 From William Kibble to Robert Tannahill. 
 
 Bolton, March 1st, 1808. 
 
 Mr Worthy Friend, 
 
 I have read your letter, and am happy to hear of 
 your welfare. It likewise gives me much pleasure to hear 
 that the Muse and you have been, not idle but busy, and 
 that your joint endeavours will be not only for the enhance- 
 ment of social mirth, but have a tendency to mend the heart. 
 That sacred spark of our friendship has not for one moment 
 been extinguished from my heart, and altho' I have been 
 negligent in writing, you may believe me, my friend, you 
 have always been dear to me. I have interested myself in 
 your behalf in regard to your publication as far as my influ- 
 ence can extend, and have got 17 names to my list. I ex- 
 pect a good number more, but I cannot extend the plan of 
 my intentions without other five proposal papers, which I 
 advise you to send me immediately. I intend to send two 
 to Stockport, as you have more acquaintances in that 
 place at present than in this town. Our dull trade being 
 the cause of their shifting. Other two to Preston, and an- 
 other for thistown, which shall be in charge of Thomas Wright. 
 I would likewise advise you to enclose two or three of your 
 
408 OORRESPONDBNCE. 
 
 songs, as I make no doubt would turn out to your advantage. 
 Let me know when your book will be published, so that I 
 may know how to proceed. There is a Mr. James M'Alpine 
 who desires me to send you ; * he is from Ander- 
 
 ston. He sung one of your songs about a week ago, at a 
 meeting of the Sons of Comus, where I sometimes attend. I 
 think he named it the "Highland Plaidie." It was received 
 with unbounded applause. Nine of those jovial fellows sub- 
 scribed for your book last night. Some of them knew you, 
 and some not. I expect you will excuse me for this short 
 letter as I intend that you shall have pennyworths again. I 
 shall only mention to you that our trade is very dull and 
 wages never were less than at this time. The unreasonable 
 drop of which has induced the weavers to apply to Parlia- 
 ment for a regulation of all kinds of work done by them in 
 the weaving line, that is to say in the cotton branch. I shall 
 inform you more particularly of this at another time. Give 
 my best love to aU friends, and be assured that I remain 
 Thine eternally while 
 
 WM. KIBBLE. 
 
 Tbe original is in possession of Mr. Matthew 'Blaii.—Bd. 
 
 Letter from Robert Taiwahill to William Finlayson, 
 wea/eer, PoUohshmJOs. — From "Scottish Rhymes" by 
 William Fmlayaon, page 91. 
 
 Paisley, StJi March, 1808. 
 Dear Sib, 
 
 I should ere now have owned the receipt of your 
 very friendly epistle, and intended to return it in kind ; but 
 I find that the Muse has rather jilted me for the present. 
 You must be sensible that a person cannot at aU times sit 
 down to write a poem as a joiner would do to make a chair; 
 
 * Torn in opening the seal.— Sd. 
 
COEBBSPONDENCB. 409 
 
 therefore, I hope you will accept of these, my plain prose 
 acknowledgments. Independent of the oompUments with 
 which your verses honour me, they certainly possess a con- 
 siderable share of poetical merit. * . . . . . I was 
 gratified on finding that my efforts, had in some degree, 
 pleased the good folks in your town ; and now, since my 
 poetical mania has rather subsided, I can as clearly discern 
 and as readily acknowledge their deficiencies as if they 
 ■had been written by any other person (at least, I think so). 
 Tou may perhaps hear from me at a futin-e period. In the 
 meantime, believe me to be yours, 
 
 With due respect, 
 
 ROBERT -tAJSTNAHILL. 
 
 NOTE BY riNLATSON. 
 
 " I believe a number of my readers will consider the publication 
 of the above extract (from Tannahill'a letter) as a palpable instance 
 of vanity in me. It may appear so to them. I, however, should be 
 wanting in that respect for my own character (which the most il- 
 liberal of my detractors must allow, on a due investigation of my 
 case, to be laudable), were I to omit such a fair opportunity of 
 exhibiting to those who have so eminently sneered at my pre- 
 sumption in giving these contemptible trifles to the world, — ^the 
 approbation of a ' Poet of Nature ' to at least one of these 
 trifles. Few — I may say none — ever dared to assume the 
 dignity of an author in opposition to such an overwhelming tide 
 of humiliating admonitions to beware of attempting the 
 dangerous eminence. No literary companion ever smoothed my 
 verses, — no animating voice ever cheered my solitary ravings 
 round the base of Parnassus ; and shall I then suppress the only 
 semblance of commendation I ever received, and that, too, from 
 a bard whose merit is universally acknowledged. No ; the 
 incense of praise is at all times grateful, but, doubly so, when 
 given in proper season, and rendered by one duly qualified to 
 
 * This letter is copied from f inlayson's Poems, publislied in 1816. 
 the Epistle and the Note at the end of the Correspondence.— 5tZ. 
 
 b3 
 
410 COREBSPONDBNCB. 
 
 bestow it. — I shall not, therefore, easily forget that there was, 
 at least, one who did not denominate me a diunee, and that one 
 no less than the ingenious Bard of Senfrewshire. 
 
 Allow me to conclude this long Note with a quotation from 
 one of my own pieces, the egotism of which precludes it from a 
 place in this edition : — 
 
 Without some vanity, nae bardie 
 Wad be sae confident an hardie, 
 As lea tae ilka critic's wordie 
 
 His reputation ; 
 For weel kens he, Envy's ne'er tardie 
 
 At defamation. 
 
 Then, on my pow the blame be laid 
 If thoughtlessly the fool I've played, 
 I court nae countenance ; nae aid 
 
 From frien or foe, — 
 Hiss'd or applauded, undismayed 
 
 My verse shall flow. '' 
 
 Letter from, Robert Tanwahill to John M'Farianb, 
 Neihton. 
 
 Paisley, ISth May, 180S. 
 
 Dear Sib, 
 
 You really wrong me if you suppose me indifferent 
 to your welfare. I have of late been so throng that in fact 
 I have not had leisure to enquire how the world was using" 
 you. I will thank you to write me a few lines by return of 
 the Carrier, and let me know how you have been since I saw 
 you last, and if I shall have the pleasure of seeing you soon 
 in Paisley, as you proposed. The enclosed song is one in 
 Mr. Smith's bill (I mean his concert), which was about ten 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 411 
 
 days ago. We had a very numerous and respectable 
 audience, and they seemed to be all highly pleased with the 
 performance. I intended to have written you a song or two, 
 but I entreat your excuse at present. I have just now put 
 up one of those new-fangled seeding * webs. I can make 
 pretty good wages on it. I find it to be the most irksome 
 work I have ever had. My breast is rather pained with 
 working hard, and I know you'll excuse me. 
 In expectation of your answer, 
 
 I remain, 
 
 Dbak Sir, 
 
 Yours most sincerely, 
 
 ROBT. TANNAHILL. 
 
 The origiiial letter and concert bill are In the possession o£ Mrs. J. 
 Wright, Kirkcaldy.— ai. 
 
 * The word " seeding " was derived from the pattern being an imitation of 
 "seeds."— ^d. 
 
*i2] CONCERT. 
 
 MR. SMITH 
 
 Respectfully informs the Ladies and Gentlemen of Paisley, that his 
 
 CON CERT 
 
 IS FIXED FOE 
 
 TUESDAY, the 3d May, 
 
 IN THE NEW ASSEMBLY-ROOM, RENFREW-SHIRE 
 
 TONTINE: 
 
 Which will Conclude his Public Classes for this Season. 
 
 He has also the pleasure of announcing, that he will be favoured with the 
 
 assistance of Mr. Gale and Mr. Cole. 
 
 Mr. Cole will accompany the Songs on the Piano Forte, and in the course of the 
 
 Entertainment, will perform a Grand Sonato. 
 
 SAO RED MUSIC. 
 
 Sonning. 
 
 Mapledurham. 
 
 Hadyn's Celebrated Hymn. 
 
 SONGS, b'c. 
 
 Scotch Glee,-^"Weel may the boatie row." Khtvett. {^T^Tolrr^!^' ^°'" 
 Song, — * ' The etreamlet that flow'd round her 
 
 cot." Shield. Young ladies. 
 
 Song, — " The sapling oak." .... Storage. Mr. Gale. 
 
 Song, — "The heart ttiat can feel for another." Shield. Young Gentlemen. 
 
 Glee,-" In the lonely vale of streams." . Db. Callcott. { ^Sie^<?'sm«f 
 Scotch Song-, — " Our bonny Scotch lads." , Smith. Young Ladies. 
 
 Scotch Song, — "An thou wert mine aiu thing." .... Mr. Stnith, 
 
 Gl6e,-"Shakespeare's Loadstars." . . Shield. {'^TSkith!"' ^"^"^^ 
 
 Grand Sonato. .... Pleyel. ' Mr. Cole. 
 
 Glee,— "Aldlborontophosoophomlo." . . De. Calloott. {''^'^^Smith'^^"' ^^ 
 
 Song,—" The willow." Hook. Young Ladies. 
 
 Scotch Song, — "Lochaber no more." Mr. Gale. 
 
 Song, —'You Mariners of England." . . Ross. Ymmg Gentlemen. 
 
 Catch,— "Give me the sweet deUghts of love." Dr. Habeington. ■( ■*'^'^i- .,?"''• '^''^' 
 
 > \, OS Stmth. 
 
 Scotch Song, — "Lowland lassie." . . Boss. Young Ladies. 
 
 Song,—" The Maniac." Smith. Mr. Smith. 
 
 Catch,— "Three old women in a country church- (Messrs. Gale, Cole 
 
 yard Dr. Haeeinoton . \ & Smith. 
 
 To conclude with the Favourite National Air, of 
 
 HEARTS OF OAK. 
 
 Music provided for a 
 
 £AZZ. 
 
 Tickets, 2S. 6d. each, to be had of Mr. Logan, and Mr. Crichton, Stationers ; 
 Mr. Smith, Hart's Land, head of New Street ; and of Mr. Thomson, 
 Renfrewshire Tontine. 
 T&e Concert will begin frecisely at Eight in the Evening. 
 %* Piano Fortes tuned in the most correct manner. 
 Printed by\ ®- Private Teaching as usual. 
 
 S. Young.]" 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 413 
 
 xzx. 
 
 Excerpt from a Letter of Robert Tannahill to Jambs 
 Clark. — Bamsay, page xxv. 
 
 Paisley, S8th May, 1808. 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 I hope you have been blessed with your usual 
 share of good health since I heard from you. I am now 
 going to beg of you, as a very particular favour, that you 
 would send me, as soon as you can, any fine Irish airs of 
 the singing kind which you may chance to know. I don't 
 mean any of those already very common, such as " The 
 Lakes of Killarney," " Shannon's Flowery Banks," &c. 
 What makes me so importunate with you is, that if I can 
 accomplish songs worthy of being attached to them, I shall 
 have the pleasure of seeing them printed in perhaps the 
 most respectable work of the kind that ever has been pub- 
 lished in Britain. Now, dear Jamie, as this is placing me 
 on my very soul's hobby, do try to oblige me. Should you 
 favour me with any, they must be rare natives of the dear 
 country, for I believe there are many imitations composed 
 on this side of the water. I am sure I have heard some very 
 pretty Irish airs played as retreats. Try to recollect some, 
 of them. 
 
 Lette/r Jrom Robert Tannahill to George Thomson, 
 Editor of " Sekct Melodies." — Bamsay, page xxv. 
 
 Paisley, 6th June, 1808. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 "The Green Woods of Treugh.," 
 The above little air pleased me so much that I 
 could not help trying a verse to it. I believe it has never 
 been published. It was taken down from an old Irish 
 
414 CORKESPONDENCE. 
 
 woman singing a native song to it, which she said, when 
 rendered into English, was in praise of the green woods of 
 Treugh. 'Tis in such a wild measure that I could think of • 
 no form of stanza to suit it. I shall be happy to hear 
 whether you have ever before seen it. With regard to 
 " Nancy Vernon," you may judge how sorry I was on being 
 assured by a friend that my set of the air was incomplete. 
 I thought of course that poor Sheelah was entirely lost, and 
 have been earnestly trying to accommodate' matters between 
 them. I find that the last line but one of eacli of the verses 
 must- be repeated before they can agree together, and am 
 thus obliged to write both the air and the song a second 
 time, to show yon how they now stand. 'The sides of many 
 lakes and rivers are properly denomiuated banks, because 
 being steep they really are so ; but, in my opinion, when a 
 lake or river is bounded by low, level ground, it would be 
 improper to oaU its margins by that appellation. We never 
 say "the banks ' ' of the sea, aiid I think the term proper enough 
 when applied to any bushy brae. I think the first word in 
 the line is very bad, and have made a little alteration on it — 
 perhaps not much for the better. I was highly gratified on 
 finding that the song met your approbation, and again 
 return you my warmest thanks for mentioning a,nything 
 that you may judge incongruous : we must first know our 
 errors before there can be a possibility of amending them.* 
 [Here is a copy of the air of " Nancy Vernon," and the 
 amended words.] I have fallen in with several very fine 
 Irish airs, but I fear they are already published. Inform 
 me if you know the following: — "Kitty Tyrrell," "The 
 "Fair-hair'd Child," or "Patheen a Fuen." The first of 
 these I am quite in raptures with. If you have them not 
 already, I shall send them in my next. Besides these, I 
 have other two, taken from memory, but I must have my 
 most worthy musical friend, Mr. Smiyi, to write them oflf 
 
 * Note by Samsay—Ue hero alludes to the song, " Ah, Sheelah, thou'rt my 
 darling," and to some strictures which Mr. Thomson had made on the first 
 version of it." 
 
COBRBSPONDBNCE. 415 
 
 correctly for me. He is just now poorly, and confinod to 
 his bed, else I would have sent them now. I have written 
 to a very tasty cronie, who is in the Argyleshire Militia 
 Band. I know he will gladly oblige me witli anything of 
 the kind that he can procure. In looking through my 
 songs, I find the following English stanzas, which were 
 written about four years ago on the death of a very beautiful 
 young woman, who died of a consumption in her eighteenth 
 summer. She was to have been wedded to a friend of mine, 
 and sympathy for his grief at that melancholy event gave 
 rise to the present effusion. I am sorry to add that the 
 poor fellow ever since seems to be reckless of life, and 
 regardless of everything else than his bottle. I thought it 
 might pei7haps please you for " O'Connell's Lament." Now, 
 my dear Sir, do not mistake me, nor think that I am forcing 
 these things upon your hand. AU that I wish is that you 
 may have them past you, so that, when you come to make 
 your selection, some of them may stand a chance of being 
 the chosen. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 Excerpt from letter of Robert Tannahill to Jambs King. 
 Bamaay, page xxix. 
 
 Paisley, 17th July, 1808. 
 Give me your severest remarks on the above songs. 
 Every coof may say a thing is capital, lecmtiful, &a. ; but 
 I'd rather have the candid criticism of a man of taste than 
 the incense of ten thousand fools. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Letter from William Kibble to Robekt Tannahill. 
 
 Bolton, July $3d, 1808. 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 T have received your letter ; about four weeks after 
 its date it came to hand, the cause of which I do not know. 
 
416 CORRBSPONDBNOB. 
 
 I was very happy to hear from you, and that you are in good 
 health, as this leaves me at present. That you are chagrined 
 at not receiving any account from me in the book affair, I 
 am not in the least surprised, for if the case had been mine 
 I should have been downright angry, indeed I have been 
 ashamed to write my friend. I have been exceedingly un- 
 fortunate in your business. I shall state the matter to you. 
 It is now about nine months ago since an acquaintance of 
 mine, whose name is John Livingston, called on me and in- 
 formed me that he was going to Scotland, that he had a 
 brother of the name of Peter Livingston, who was at that 
 time in Paisley, a stone mason, and that he intended to take 
 the way to Paisley on his way home, which is nigh Stirling, 
 in order to see his brother, as he was a person whom I could 
 trust, being acquainted with him for some years past. I gave 
 him what money I had collected for your books, which 
 amounted to £2 18s, two guineas and a half in gold, five shil- 
 lings and sixpence in silver, and a letter for you. Receiving 
 no answer from you, and being unsatisfied in my mind con- 
 cerning the money, I wrote over to Bury to the man with 
 whom he had lived, and he informed me that he had received 
 a letter from him from Edinburgh, and he had not been in 
 Paisley, but intended to be there by September next, yet 
 never mentioned anything of my affair in his letter, which has 
 made me more uneasy. I have seen his comrade whom he 
 wrought with, and he told me that he would write him in 
 the covffse of a few days, and would mention my business to 
 him and procure me all the information in his power. He 
 gives Livingston a good character ; but I am satisfied it was 
 his duty to have written me, turn out which way it will. 
 Misfortune comes not single-handed. I gave five copies of 
 your book to Robert Blair, who you know lived in Preston 
 at the time you lived in that place, and who was employed 
 in the pedlar business for this some time past. I am informed 
 he died in Bradford in Yorkshire, of a fever. I have not re- 
 ceived one penny for them, although they were delivered and 
 the money drawn for them. The Bolton people paid me ex- 
 
COBEBSPONDBNCB. 417 
 
 cept two copies, which it is doubtful if ever I shall receive, 
 and two more at Stockport, which I think are safe. The other 
 six which I sent to that place, I got paid for them. I have 
 given you a true account of the business as it siiands, but am 
 sorry to add that from the severe pressure of the times, it is 
 out of my power to send you anything at the present ; on the 
 other hand, I would have you to rest assured that you shall 
 not lose one penny by me, and that in a short time I shall have 
 it in my power to return you a satisfactory account of my 
 Trust. My friejid, it would give me an infinite deal of plea- 
 sure if, on the receipt of this, you would write and let me 
 know that I do not live under the pressure of yoiw displea- 
 sure as it would be truly grevious to me. You have ever, 
 since our first acquaintance, possessed a very large portion of 
 my respect and esteem, and I sincerely believe that on your 
 part it was reciprocal, and to lose wMch would be to me a 
 circumstance truly afflicting, therefore I entreat you to wrjte. 
 I have nothing new to inform you, but what is of a miserable 
 nature; for were I to describe to you the wretched situation 
 of the manufacturing part of this country, you woiild think 
 I had ransacked the very intricacieis of Pandora's box to fill 
 up my description ; too much labour, and almost nothing for 
 it ; exceeding dear markets, and every other attendant evil 
 fills up the cup of our misery. To say any more on the sub- 
 ject would be but like lifting up some melanchply dirge to 
 your troubled mitid, I would say, but you see my paper is 
 filled up. Nevertheless, in prosperity or adversity, above 
 
 or below. I am your sincere friend 
 
 WM. KIBBLE. 
 
 P.S. — I have opened this letter to inform you that a inanu- 
 f acturer of tBis place has shewn me a piece of Scotch muslin ; 
 it is a gauze open wor^ with dotted wjhip. I partly under- 
 stand how to do it, but not thoroughly. If you wiU be so 
 kind as send me a description how it is done with the price 
 of weaving, you will much oblige me. I could engage with 
 a loom work of it, which, I think, would turn to advantage. 
 
 W. K. 
 c3 
 
418 COERESPONDBKTCE. 
 
 Excerpt from Letter of Robert Tannahill to George 
 Thomson, Edinburgh. — Bamsay's Edition, page xxvii. 
 
 Paisley, 6th August, 1808. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I was favoured with yours of the 16th ult., and 
 am much obliged to you for your candid remarks on my 
 last song. I am really ashamed of these bungled airs which 
 I have sent you. Not acquainted with the rules of trans- 
 position, and knowing very little of music, it was indeed 
 presumption in me to think of writing them for you. Let 
 my fondness to send you something of the kind plead my 
 exculpation, and be so kind as consign them to the flames. 
 I never was more ambitious to have a song to any air than 
 to "Kitty ;" it is worthy of the best poetry that ever was 
 penned. By your friendly suggestions, I have done all in 
 my power to accomplish one to it ; with what success, you 
 must now determine. You are, indeed, fastidious ; but not 
 too much so. It is in great part owing to that, that Scotland 
 can now with justice boast of perhaps the best collection of 
 songs that ever was produced ; and although I may at times 
 pay as much deference to my own dear opinion as ever fool 
 did, yet to yours in these things I shall ever most cheerfully 
 submit. My highest gratification, next to the pleasure of 
 composing a song, is to see it published in some respectable 
 work ; and if you think the present one will now stand for 
 a place in yours, I shall gladly let it lie past till convenient 
 for you to publish. If otherwise, I perhaps will send it to 
 some magazine, or give it to some one of the music-sellers. 
 As the first four lines of the concluding stanza correspond 
 with the superstitions of the common people in Ireland, I 
 thought proper to retain them. I beg leave to transcribe 
 you the whole of the song. 
 
COKRESPONDBNCE. 419 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 Letter from Robert Tannahiu to James Baee, 
 Musician, Kilba/rchcm. 
 
 Paisley, Wednesday Niglit.* 
 
 Dear James, 
 
 Should I have made any blunders in the above, 
 please set them to rights. I have not seen Smith to-day ; 
 of course cannot say -whether it will suit him to come West 
 this week or not. As for me, my Saturday afternoons and 
 other leisure hours have been for these some weeks- past 
 devoted to certain hobby-horsical matters which thro' the 
 week I have little time to meddle with ; but as you wiU pro- 
 bably not be throng at home on Friday, I shall be very 
 happy to accompany you down the to-Hoi. We will caU on 
 Smith, and see the race together. Hqping your family are 
 all well, 
 
 I remain. 
 
 Yours, &c., 
 
 R. TANNAHILL. 
 
 The original is in the possession of James Caldwell, Esq.— id. 
 
 Leiter from Robert Tannahill to R. A. Smith, 
 Music Teacher. 
 
 Paisley, $7th Aug., 1808. 
 My Friend, Robt., 
 
 I hate to write to you on this beggarly paper, but 
 I had no better past me. I should like to know how you are 
 pleased with my Old Tar Song. " The Smuggler's Grave " 
 was buzzing in my ear at the time I -wrote it, so I thought 
 
 * The date of this letter -was Wednesday, 10th August, 1808, the Race for 
 the Silver Bells heing on the liiK—Bd. 
 
•420 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 proper to adapt it to its measure. The other is the one you 
 were speaking of for Mr. Shaw.* 
 
 Yours, &c., 
 
 R. TANNAHILL. 
 
 "Brechin, Oct. 30, 1846. — This letter, received by me 
 from Mr. R. A. Smith a short time before his death in 1829, 
 I now present to my esteeined friend, David Vedder, Esq., 
 with every sentiment of respect and gratitude, f 
 
 "ALEX. LAING." 
 
 * John Shaw, commonly called "Jack Shaw," an eccentric commedian 
 and comic vocalist, in the theatrical company of James Moss then in 
 Paisley. The theatres in which he chiefly appeared were (jlasgow. Paisley, 
 and Greenock. The song referred to ty Tannahill was "Jessie the Flower 
 Dunblane," which had appeared in the March No. of the Scots Magazine 
 fpr 1808. R. A. Smith had it set to music, and arranged with James 
 Stevens, music publisher; in Wilson Street, Grlasgow, to publish it. Jack 
 Shaw, who, was acquainted with Smith, appUed to him for a copy of 
 the song, to sing it in the Paisley Theatre. It appears Tannahill had made 
 a copy for Shaw, and enclosed it in the letter to Smith. Shaw sung 
 the song in the Paisley Theatre, and afterwards in the circus in Glasgow at 
 that time. The celebrated vocalist, John Braham, came to Glasgow, and ap- 
 peared in the Theatre Royal, Queen Street, Glasgow, with his company of 
 vocalists. Shaw obtained an engagement with him for Scots singing, and 
 sang the favourite and popular melody of the " Flower o Dunblane" to large 
 audiences. Smith's music was now published and entered in Stationers* Hall 
 to secure the copyright. Braham, on returning to London, engaged Shaw 
 for his concerts, where he appeared on the London boards and sang the 
 song of the period, which was received with rapturous applause. Shaw be- 
 came emboldened with the copy of the song in. the author's handwriting, and 
 entered into an arrangement wiiji a London publisher ; but on the matter 
 coming to the ears of Smith and Stevens, they immediately threatened the 
 London publisher with a suit for infringement of copy-right, and he yielded 
 and gave up his plate. In a subsequent letter, written on 28th September, 
 1859, by James Barr,— "blythe Jamie,"— then in the ?8th year of his age, to 
 his friend "William Porteous, of the Glasgow Post Office, several of the fore- 
 going circumstances are very graphically detailed. This was one way in 
 which the song obtained notoriety and popylaalty ; but Smith, in all his 
 multifarious correspondence with editors, never related a single syllable of 
 these circumstances. — JBd. 
 
 t The memorandum is in the handwriting of Alexander Laing, a lyric poet, 
 and editor of the Brechin edition of TannahiU's songs, published in 1883. 
 He explains how he received the letter from Smith himself shortly before hia 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 421 
 
 Excerpt of Letter from Bobert Tannahill to JaMes King. — 
 Itamsayy pcige xxix. 
 
 Paisley, ^8th August, 1808, 
 I am much obliged to you for your free critieiams 
 on my I'ast song ; but I must assure you I have never seen 
 a line of Blbomfield*a ** Highland Drover." I was sensible 
 
 death on 3rd January, 1829 ; and how he again presented it to his esteemed 
 friend, David Vedder, on 30th October, 1846. 
 
 David Vedder was bom in the parish of Bumess, Orkney, in 1790. He was 
 a lyric poet of considerable originality, and wrote several poems, the first of 
 which appeared in 1811. His collected works of Legendary, Lyrical, and 
 Descriptive Poems, were published in 1841. He died at Bdinhurgh on 11th 
 February, 1854, aged 63. 
 
 In the latter year, Robert Blair, a, grand nephew of Tannahill'a, was 
 residing in Arthur Street, Edinburgh, and! either in that or the following 
 year his wife sent to a grocer i^or a pound of Ijutter, which was brought home 
 in a piece of old paper. She tiobfc off the paper, and, in doing so, observed 
 the name '*B. Tannahill," and having heard her husband frequently speak 
 about his friends, and particularly the poet, she preserved it. Robert Blair 
 at once knew his grand-uncle's handwriting, and sent it to his brother, 
 Matthew Blair, Paisley,— in whose possession it still is. On undertaking 
 the duties of editor, we resolved to print every letter of the author's, how- 
 ever insignificant they might appear, for we have frequency found one 
 word to be the missing link to a great discovery. The writing of the letter, 
 enclosing a copy of a song for Shaw, the singing of the song in Paisley, 
 Glasgow, and Londoij, the presentation of the letter to Laing, the re-presen- 
 tation to Vedder, his relations sehdihg his papers to a grocer as waste 
 paper, the discovery and preservation by a relative of the original writer, 
 and the revelations it has brought to light, may, in the present instance, be 
 well styled a romance. 
 
 "When copying the letter for the present edition, we thought the ink 
 rather blacker and brighter than that of Tannahill's other letters, and on 
 narrowly examining the letter and ink we found it was a lithograph. We 
 then accidentally heard that John M'Watters, watchmaker, Buchanan 
 Street, Glasgow, was in possession of a letter of Tannahill's, addressed to 
 Jameq King, and we wrote him for a copy of it. He kindly sent us a copy, 
 stating that his letter was addressed to IS.. A. Smith, and mentioning that he 
 had received the original letter seventeen years ago for singing the song 
 of "Jessie, the Flower o Dunblane," The copy we received was the 
 same as ' that of Matthew Blair's ; and we accqrdingly waited on 
 M'Watters with Blair's lithograph, and saw MTVatter's m'iginal letter 
 (preserved in a gilt frame); but instead of being the original, it was 
 
422 COBEBSPONDBNCE. 
 
 of the two first lines of the last verses being similar to 
 "Dark lours the night;" but I really think they are as 
 much mine as Ossian's, MacPherson's, or anybody's. How- 
 ever, if you think they will be found fault with, I shall 
 inclose them with inverted commas. You mention "scath'd 
 oak " as being nothing new. You are right ; but because 
 one writer may have said "whistling wind," "dreary 
 night," "gloomy winter," and so on, is that enough to 
 prevent others ever after from using the same epithets? 
 No ; if one was thus braoketted, it would be impossible to 
 write anything at all ; but by this time you are convinced, 
 and I will drop it. 
 
 xxxvni. 
 
 Letter from Robert Tannahill to John M'Farlane, 
 Neilston. 
 
 Paisley, September Srd, 1808. 
 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 According to promise, I herewith send you a copy 
 of the 'song * you wished. You must not give it away to 
 anybody, as 'tis useless without the music. I expect to 
 receive a few of the sheets soon, and will do myself the 
 
 another copy of the lithograph. Being aware that Vedder's son-in- 
 law, Frederick Schenk, was an artist and lithographer, we waited on 
 him in Edinburgh, and he informed us he recollected of lithographing 
 Tannahill's letter from the "beggarly paper" it had been written on. 
 Schenk showed us a thin volume, published in 1848, with the title page of 
 "The Pictorial Gift Book, or Lays and Lithographs. " The poetry by David 
 Vedder, CM., A.S.E., and the illustrations by Frederick Schenk. We 
 wrote Vedder's daughter, Mrs. Edie, Xasswade, respecting the original, who 
 replied she much regretted that she could not gratify our desire, as it was 
 not in her possession. — Ed. 
 
 * That copy of the song of " Thro Cruikston Castle's Lanely Wa's " has 
 been zincographed to show the handwriting of the Poet, and the careful 
 manner in which he wrote and punctuated his poems and songs. — Ed, 
 
COREBSPONDENCB. 423 
 
 pleasure of forwarding you one or two of them as soon as 
 they come to hand. Give me a call first time you are in 
 town. I mean only if it suit your convenience. 
 I remain. 
 
 Yours truly, , 
 
 ROBT. TANNAHILL. 
 
 The original letter, with the song prefixed,^ "Thro Gruikston Castle's 
 Lanely Wa's " (No. 89), arc in possession of Mrs. John Wright, Kirkcaldy. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 Excerpt of Letter from Robert Tankahill to James Ciaek, 
 Bcmd/master of the Argyleshire MilAtia. — Bamswy, page xxvwi. 
 
 Paisley, S4tJi November, 1808. 
 Dear, Friend, 
 
 In due time, I received your very obliging letter of 
 date the 22nd June, and must again cry you mercy for not 
 acknowledging it sooner. The airs you favoured me with 
 are quite such as I wanted. They were all new to me 
 except "Cothnelan TreU," which I had past me under the 
 name of " Kitty Tyrrell." Being busied with other matters, 
 I have not yet attempted songs to any of them save the 
 above, which, I am happy to say, has obtained the promise 
 of a place in the work formerly mentioned ; but as these 
 things are best lying past tiU published in form, I have not 
 given away one copy of any I have written for it, which 
 indeed are only other two. You mention the collection of 
 O'Perrol, and another, with the compositions of Carolan, 
 &c. I believe I might find them on enquiry, but I would 
 rather pick up any wUd little straggler, such as "Dermot,'' 
 which, from their not being so common, have a greater 
 chance of being noticed. You will doubly oblige me by en- 
 deavouring to procure one or two more of the above 
 description. (Here he gives some local news.) Remember 
 me to James King by a hard slap on the left shouther, and 
 three hearty shakes of the right hand, which kindness you 
 
424 OORBBSPONDBNCE. 
 
 will please set down to my account. I have no good news 
 to tell you — no, nor very bad ones either ; but concerning 
 dear tobacco, dear whiskey, dear candles, dear everything, 
 the obliging bearer of this will inform you. 
 
 Letter from Robbet Tai^nahill to Jambs Babe, Kilba/rchan. 
 
 Paisluy, Srd Dec, 1808. 
 
 Dear James, 
 
 I received yours of the 1st current, and am obliged 
 to you for your attention, but the sea term you mention was 
 used in the song when first written. I suppose you recol- 
 lected it from h?;ying heard the song sung by Mr. Stuart. 
 With regard to the phrase o'erhauling instead of " recount- 
 ing," on second thought, I reckon the latter in the present 
 instance preferable to the first — although often used by our 
 tars, is a very open, softly accented word, and I think the 
 the other better suited to the abrupt, bold strain of the 
 music ; besides, I am not fond of altering one word of my 
 own or that of any other person without being convinced 
 that the alteration would be an amendment. Have you 
 ever seen MoUison's essay of "Melody the Soul of Music."* 
 I think it a very fine piece. The justice of one of his ob- 
 
 * Alexander MoUison, bookseller, librarian, teacher of miisip, and poet in 
 Glasgow, published in 1798 his essay of "Melody the Soul of Music," price 
 Is. 6d., and in 1800 a poem on "Tho Sweets of Society." He was a taU 
 stout man, with rather a clumsy figure. MoUison was a character in his day, 
 and during the first ten years of the present century he frequently walked 
 in the Trongate, in rather a rusty dress, carrying a thick walking staff, and 
 a book under his arm. Towards the close of his career he issued a prospectus 
 of a "Life of Hannibal the Great," and, after obtaining subscriptions, he 
 published fhe first number, but never got any further with the great work. 
 We observe from the Directory of 1817 he was to be found at Messrs. J. & 
 E. Monteith's house, Sauchiehali Road, Glasgow.— Sd. 
 
COKEBSPONDENCB. 425 
 
 servations struck me. He says he never heard "The 
 Caineroni3,n Rant" played without it reminding him of two 
 women scolding. I have just now strung up verses on his 
 plan to it. Whatever may be their faults,' I am certain you 
 must, approve of them, fpr their extrepie delicacy, i^on't 
 show it save to a friend or two. With regard to thosej airs 
 we were speaking of, but. . 
 
 I remain, 
 
 Yours, &c., 
 
 R. TANNAHILL. 
 
 N.B. — The original of this was given to David Anderson, *, 
 damask manufacturer^ Glasgow, who made the woven linen 
 shirt by" loom, complete, with the National Arms on the 
 bosom front, and presented- it to Georg« IV. of. Britain, 
 &c. It is deposited in the British Museum, "f 
 
 JAS. BARR. 
 
 This letter, with song, is in the possession of James Caldwell, Esq.— Bd. 
 
 * David AndeiBou,^-a- damask draper and plain linen weaver, 11 Tarbet 
 Street, Deanside, Glasgow, — in lp21 wove a shirt ^thout a seam, and 
 received a reward of £60 f oi^ his. ingenuity, frpijx. King, George IV. James 
 Barr, — " blythe Jamie," — ^then teacher of jnusic, §9. Glassf ord Street, Glasgow, 
 who was acquainted with Anderson, presented him with, the original 
 letter of Tannahill, containing the manuscript of *' Caller^ Herrin'.," ^e 
 exerted every nerve to discover Anderson or his descendants, to obtain the 
 original letter and MSS., to supply the first and second lines of the last 
 stanza in "Caller Herrin'," which a mouse had eaten in the copy. We were 
 informed by a person who had known him well that he died about 1845, and 
 his family had left Glasgow, but where they were now he could not tell, 
 David Anderson also wrought a chemise without seam for her present 
 Majesty Queen Victoria, of Chinese tram silk and net warp' yam. In 1702 a 
 shirt without seam was wrought by a weaver named Inglis, and in 180S a 
 better specimen of the same kind was executed by a Henry Meldrum. — £d. 
 
 t The song of " Caller Herrin," No. 169, is here copied.— .Bd. 
 
 d3 
 
426 COBBESPONDEM-CE. 
 
 Qiiotation from a Letter witJioui date from R. A. Smith to-' 
 William Motherwell, Editor of " The Harp of Ben- 
 frewshvre,^' which, with a Quotation from cm alleged 
 Letter by Smith, also without name or date, appeared vn the 
 "EssoAf" m that Periodical j published in 1819, page xxxix.^ 
 and subsequently quoted m succeeding Editions of Tanna- 
 hilVs Works. 
 
 " That scribbling of rhymes hath positively half ruined 
 me. It has led me into a wide circle of acquaintances — of 
 course, into an involuntary habit of being oftener in a 
 public-house than can be good for anybody. Although I 
 go there as seldom as possible, yet how often have I sat till 
 within my last shilling, and, unlike some of our friends who 
 are better circumstanced, had to return to my loom sick and 
 feverish. This often makes me appear sullen in company, 
 for if I indulge to tte extent we have both seen in others, I 
 am in for two or three days afterwards." * 
 
 * We hesitated very much whether we should reprint the above quotation, 
 given in a letter from Smith to Motherwell without Tuune and daU- 
 We very much disliked the Inference drawn by Smith from the anonymous 
 quotation. If he had printed the whole letter other persons in r&ading 
 it might have drawn a different inference. If the letter referred to by 
 Smith was written before July, 1807, TannahiU had not spent his last 
 shilling, as then he deposited £20 in the Paisley Union Bank ; and if it was 
 written after July, then TannahiU was fortified by having that sum in 
 bank, where it lay at interest for three years thereafter. 
 
 In copying the above quotation our eyes caught the following remark of 
 Smith on the preceding page fxxxviii).of the Essay respecting the music to 
 " The Braes o Glenifler," No. 69 : — " Mr. Ross of Aberdeen composed a very 
 pretty air for it, yet, to use the phrase of a certain favourite vocal performer, 
 it did not hit ;" while TannahiU himself, in his letter dated 20th September, 
 1807, said — "It does capitally." Perhaps it would have been as weU that 
 Smith should not have recorded this mvious hit at his eminent rival, but 
 when he did make it, he should not have concealed the name of the favourite 
 performer. — Ed . 
 
COEKBSPONDENCE. 427 
 
 XLII. 
 
 Letter from Robert Tanis^ahill to Jambs Clark, Art 
 Militia Band, Aberdeen. 
 
 Paisley, Jjth April, 1809. 
 
 My Dear Sib, 
 
 I have not yet been able to procure that song of 
 Craig's * which I promised to send you. I have called on 
 him repeatedly, but he was always from home. You may 
 
 * Mr. WiUlam Craig was bom at Paisley on 11th June, 1789, and was 
 educated for the medical profession. He was chairman of the Paisley Bums 
 Club at the Anniversary on January 29th, 1809, when in the 20th year of his 
 age, and where he delivered an animated address. Tannahill was present, 
 and several of Craig's pieces were sung. He wrote the following burst of 
 melody, probably the song referred to by Tannahill :— 
 
 " THE WREATH. 
 " I stood on the spot where his lyre is unstrung. 
 Where cold is the bosom it fired ; 
 I wept o'er the bones of the Sovereign of. Song — 
 The Minstrel whom Nature inspired. 
 
 ** I plucked a green wreath from the Bard's hallowed tomb, 
 ^ But it was not the wreath of his fame ; 
 No, the wreath of his fame shall unf adlngly bloom 
 In the glory that circles his name. 
 
 " Yes, Bums, while the children of Scotia shall heave 
 A sigh o'er the grave of the Bard, 
 To the native Minstrel affection shall weave 
 A wreath of eternal regard." 
 
 These charming lines were afterwards inserted in the Minute Book of the 
 Club, and are a fine specimen of the poetical talent and felicity of expression 
 of a sou of Paisley. Several of Craig's songs were published by R. A. 
 Smith in his Scotiah Minstrel. His father, Robert Craig, grain mer- 
 chant in Paisley, purchased the old Meal Market built in 1665, took it 
 down in 1799, and erected a three-storey house on the site. William 
 Craig commenced the arduous profession of a coxintry surgeon in Kilbarchan, 
 removed to Neilston, and in 1825 came to Paisley with his family to practise. 
 He took up liis residence in the house erected by his father. He died on 
 18th January, 1829, aged iO.—Ed. 
 
428 COKRESPONDBNCB. 
 
 depend on having it as soon^as I can get hold of it. When 
 you can get leisure to write me the air of "The Tinker 
 Man," I expect you to send it. 1'lease ^ve'me the first 
 verse and chorus along with it, as they will help me to its 
 crank measure. The volumes you left with me are a real 
 treasure. I cannot say when I wiU be over with them, but 
 shall take proper care of them till I send' them to yoiir 
 friend Archd. The enclosed bill will-inform you respecting 
 Mr. Sinith's concert. I have no doubt of his havirig a ftiU 
 audience. Do you recollect a song in Jb^wiiSoii's, ' beginning 
 " O merry hae I been teething a heckle." 'Tis to a Highland 
 air. I forget the name ; but I have seen it elsewhere called 
 '"The auld wife o- the glen. " On the othfer p^ge, I will give 
 you a few verses newly strung up to it, perhaps to little 
 . piurpose. You shall again soon hear from me. When you 
 write (on receipt of this), say whether you have seen Mr. 
 Ross. I would have been happy to have "had a few lines 
 from him concerning that last song of ours which Hamilton 
 published. Give my test wishes and warm respects to 
 Charles Marshall and Thomas Buchalnan. 
 I am, 
 
 Yours (you know the rest), 
 
 ROBT. TANNAHILL. 
 P.S.— Mr. Stuart is well. 
 
 The song of "Rab Koryson's Bonnet," No. 110, is given on the third 
 page. — Ed. 
 
 This letter is in possession of David Laing, Esq., LL.D., Edinburgh.— KZ. 
 
 Bxcerptfrom a Utter from, Robbkt Tannahili; to James 
 BJora. — Bamsay, page hxm. 
 
 PAlsiiEY, 9ih May, 1809. 
 "The above is written ona real occurrence, which 
 fell under my observation ; but I douBt the subject is not 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 429 
 
 very well suited for a song ; therefore I am the more anxious 
 to have your mind on it, not iii that loose, vague way which 
 
 goes for little or nothing.* . ., 
 
 I have'shewayoua pattern in- my last." 
 
 xtrv. 
 
 Excerpt f torn a letter from^Sx>Tisa!S Tannahim, fo James 
 'K.vsa.—Bamsay, page xnix. 
 
 Paislby,' 4<7t Jwne, 180d. 
 " I hope your ode will be put to a better purpose than 
 being used for match paper. I think you taight'easily pctlish 
 it a little. 'Owen's Bfetiirn' is very weU written ;■ yet 'I 
 think you might hSvegiveii it ai morfe^l^atsant cast, byinak- 
 ing him come home •''Bfefbre'his locks were grey;' Besides 
 I am not sure of its being proper to give him a harp at all ; 
 it is such an unwieldy instrument, that the mind cannot 
 easily suppose a soldier to be carrying one of them about 
 with him. .■'■.' 
 
 I. must entreat you- to, bum 'John M -— 's Last WUl.' 
 
 1 had no thought of ,it,bei?ig in existence. I was surprised 
 lately on seeing a person with a copy, which he lent me. 
 H&did not know of 'its being mine. I have burned it. Be- 
 sides its being childishly low, John M is an industri- 
 ous, peaceable old man, and is no subject for ridicule." t 
 
 * This referred to the song "An war ye at Duntooher Burn," No. 128.— ^d. 
 
 t John Mann, manufacturer, Queen Street, was certainly a very respect- 
 able person, and the author only acted right in burning the piece entitled 
 the " Last Will. "—M, 
 
430 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Excerpt from a Utter from Robert Tannahill to George 
 THOUSOT!i,imththe song of "Peggy 0'Bafferty."—Bamsay, 
 
 page aMA. 
 
 Paisley, 3rd July, 1809. 
 " ' The Lass that wears the Green," 'Gamby Ora,' 
 'Paddy O'Rafferty.' I have gleaned the three preceding 
 airs for you. You may depend on their being genuine 
 Hibernians. I had them taken down from the voice. The 
 songs usually sung to them axe as low stuff as can be. I am 
 firmly of opinion that the very popular air of 'Peggy 
 O'BaJfferty' is worthy of being adopted into the singing class, 
 provided a good song can be had for it. I shaU be glad to 
 know your mind of it, and how my verses please you. ' The 
 Lass that wears the Green ' is surely a fine little air. My 
 song to it and the one following, are just warm from the 
 Parnassian mint. I cannot as yet guess how they stand." 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 Letter from Robert Tannahili, to John Macpaelane, 
 Weaver, Neilston,. 
 
 Paisley, 9th July, 1809. 
 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 I hope you have been well since I heard from you. 
 You will herewith receive Mr. M'Donald's works, and I am 
 much obliged to you for the loan of them. The ode on 
 Scotch Music is the only piece of his I had seen before. 
 The odes by Mat. Bramble, Esq.,* please me much. Though 
 
 * Andrew Donald, son of a gardener in Edinburgh, was bom at the foot of 
 Leith Walk of that city in 1766. He studied at Edinburgh University, and 
 was admitted in 17?5 into Deacon's Orders in the Episcopal Church. At that 
 time he added the prefix of Mac to his surname. In 1777, he became pastor 
 
COREESPONDENCB. 431 
 
 not SO richly witty as the celebrated Peter's,* they are the 
 first after him I have seen. His " Velina " has many fine 
 passages, but, as a whole, it perhaps is too laboured. The 
 story, too, is the child of fancy. I should be happy to know 
 more of the author. From the volume, I guess that he is 
 under the sod. I have not one particle of news. The en- 
 closed song is newly published. It has a very beautiful air, 
 which, as far as T know, has never before had verses to it. 
 I have no other new things past me at present, but there's 
 another song of mine in the publisher's hands, which I hope 
 to have the pleasure of sending to you soon. 
 
 Yours most truly, 
 
 R. TANNAHILL. 
 
 P.S. — Mr. Smith's every hour is occupied in teaching; so 
 much the better. Mr. Stewart has been poorly in his 
 health, and off work for a fortnight past ; so much the 
 worse. Your humble servant is boxing away something in 
 the old way, with scarce an afternoon to spare. So I 
 cannot say when we will have the pleasure of seeing you in 
 your gocd town, but I trust we will have a night of it some 
 time. Thomas Auld + tried all Edinburgh some time since 
 for the copy of Burns' works which you wanted, but he 
 could not find one. These Irish editions are contraband 
 on this side of the water. Forgive haste. This business- 
 
 of the Episcopalian congregation at Glasgow. His congregation having after- 
 wards decreased, he resigned the charge and his profesBion. He wrote 
 poems, and his "Velina " was first published in 1782. He also wrote novels, 
 tragedies, and operas, but he was both unsuccessful and unfortunate. He 
 then commenced writing humorous and' satirical pieces for the newspapers, 
 under the signature of "Matthew Bramble, Esq.," from which he contrived 
 to earn a precarious subsistence. He was reduced to destitution, which 
 affected his weak constitution, and he died in August, 1790, aged 33. 
 His miscellaneous works were published in 1791, and it was this volume 
 which Tannahill was returning to his friend in Neilston. — Sd. 
 
 * Peter Pindar— Dr. Woloot. See the poem No. li.— Ed. 
 
 t A bookseller in Paisley. — Ed. 
 
432 COKRESPONIIENCB. 
 
 looking scrawl does : not please me. I will maybe tire you 
 
 with a letter some day aa long and as dull as an Anti r's* 
 
 best burial-blessing. 
 
 The original letter la in poasession of Mrs. J. Wriglit, Kirkcaldy. 
 
 Excerpt' from a- letter from Robert Tannahill to , 
 
 from 1815 edition, page xvim. 
 
 Faisjmy, September 10th, 1809. 
 " You will, I am sure, be glad to hear that I am 
 weU, indeed I havei been a good deal stouter and haler these 
 some nionths past than I have been for years." 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 Excerpt from a Utter from Robert Tannahill to James 
 King. — Hamsay, page xxi. 
 
 Paisley, 10th September, 1809. 
 "Perhaps the highest pleasure ever I derived from 
 these things has been in hearing, as I walked down the pave- 
 ment at nightj a girl within doors rattling away at some one 
 of them." 
 
 Letter from Robert Tankahih to John M'Fari,anb, weaver, 
 Neilston. 
 
 Paisley, S8th October, 1809. 
 Ms Dear Sir, 
 
 I hope you have been well and happy since I saw 
 you. Although we seldom see one another, I should be 
 truly and deeply mortified to suspect that any neglect of 
 mine had lessened me in your esteem. We sons of labour 
 
 * Antiburgher. — Ed. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 433 
 
 cannot square everything to our minds and every man has 
 his fault. * You wrong me if you think me wanting in respect 
 for the kindness you have ever shewn me, and which I am 
 proud to acknowledge ; I am happy in making you any little 
 return which I have in my power. Please accept of the en- 
 closed song as a small mark of my regard, and rest assured 
 that with true esteem, 
 
 I remain yours, 
 
 R. TANNAHILL. 
 
 The original is in possession of Mr. J. Wright, Kirkcaldy. — Ed. 
 
 Excerpt from a letter from Robert Tannahill to James 
 King. — Bamsay, page xxxvi. 
 
 Paisley, i^tJi- NrmerrCber, 1809. 
 " When at any time I have been led into it I never 
 felt so unhappy, so truly miserable in all my life ; a social 
 night passed in moderation is life to me, but the bestial 
 roar of inebriation, I never could, nor ever shall be able to 
 bear." 
 
 Excerpt from a Letter from Robert Tannahill to James 
 Clark. — Bamsay, pagexxx. 
 
 Paisley, 17th December, 1809. 
 My Dear Friend, 
 
 There is not a man in the world whom I would wish 
 to oblige before yourself, and I am sorry that I cannot 
 
 * An excerpt from this letter, without name or date, was inserted in the 
 memoir by Dr. Muir, in the 1815 and 1817 editions, page xxi,, and copied 
 by Bamsay into the' Memoir in the 1838 edition, page xxxiii.— £d. 
 
 k2 
 
434 CORBESPOKDBNCB. 
 
 comply with your flattering proposal that I should write an 
 ode for your ensuing anniversary. A few days prior to the 
 receipt of yours, Wylie was chosen for our next year's 
 president, and in a moment of enthusiasqj I came under a 
 promise to furnish him with something of that kind for what 
 he calls his night. I shall attempt something; however, 
 I tremble when I think of it. To do justice to the subject 
 would require the abilities of a Campbell or a Scott, and I 
 almost despair of being able to produce anything half so 
 good as what has already been by different hands given to 
 the public. Besides, I know that the society are determined 
 to have a blazing account of our meeting sent to some of 
 the newspapers. Of course, my rhymes are designed to be 
 attached as a train to the dazzling luminary, or a lang 
 wiggle-waglin tail to a caUcen's dragon Paoy's kite]. We have 
 clever fellows in the society —men of genius, and coUege- 
 ,bred ; but. there seems to be a jealousy subsisting among 
 them, or a fear of one another, which has prevented any 
 account worthy of our former meetings from, being given in 
 print. I hope our next will be better. Smith had the best 
 concert on Tuesday night, both for performance and attend, 
 ance, that ever I witnessed in this place ; and who could 
 tamely return all at once to sowenbrods omd cauld swjbt-tnes ? * 
 Allow me now to thank you for the music you sent me. Ex- 
 cept ' The Fair*haired Child/ all the airs are new to me. I 
 have found a set of ' Peggy O'Leven ' here, so you need 
 not mind about it. I was quite sensible that in the song 
 I sent you ' The Five Friends,' f our most worthy 
 friend Smith deserved something more than merely musical 
 to be said of him ; but the shortness of the stanza confined 
 one so much, that I could not get my breath half out about 
 any of you. Let me hear from you soon ; your happiness 
 
 * Note by Ramsay. — " Soioen brod, — a board used by weavers on which they 
 put the sowens or paste used for stiffening the yarn. Seat-tree, — the wooden 
 seat occupied by the weavers at the loom, " 
 
 t This refers to No. lU.~E(i. 
 
COEEBSPONDENCE. 435 
 
 and welfare ever add to mine. I would send you some 
 rhymes, but have not leisure at present to copy them. 
 I remain, 
 
 Mt i)BAB. Fkibnd, 
 
 Yours most faithfully, 
 
 R. T. 
 
 Excerpt from a letter from Robekt Tannahili to Jambs 
 Bark. — Itamsa/y, page xlii. 
 
 PAiSLBy, S4th December, 1809. 
 
 " You wUl no doubt have frequently observed how 
 much some old people are giv^n to magnify the occurrences 
 of their young days. ' Barrochan Jean' * was written on hear- 
 ing an old grannie, in Lochwihnooh parish, relating a story 
 something to the subject of the song : perhaps I have 
 -heightened her colouring a little.'' 
 
 Letter from Robert Tannahill to Thomas Stewart, 
 bookseller, Oreenock. 
 
 Paisley, 1st Mwrch, 1810. 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I have to thank you for the printed copy of your 
 verses recited at the oelebrjition of our immortal Bard's birth- 
 day ; they honour the occasion for which they were com- 
 posed. Smith tells me you have likewise seen the account 
 of our meeting. , 
 
 I feel a delicacy in sending you my MS. pieces, as some 
 of them have been scrawled down in haste, and others are 
 
 * See Notes on ' Barrochan Jean,' No. 108.— ^li. 
 
436 CORKBSPONDENOB. 
 
 disfigured with interpolations ; however, I think you will be 
 able to form a pretty fair estimate of those I have past 
 me by the volume which accompanies this. I have drawn a 
 pencil across such parts in it as I would propose omitting 
 in a second edition. The Interlude in its published state, I 
 am quite ashamed of, and have almost entirely new-modelled 
 it. I am confident of its being altered to considerable ad- 
 vantage. In the Poem department I have only about as 
 many originals as would supply the room of those I mean to 
 omit. To the songs I could add sixty or seventy, and the 
 whole would comprise about 240 ISmo. pages. 
 
 There are some little faults and incorrections throughout 
 the whole of my volume, which could be amended on its 
 second publication, and it is from an earnest wish to have 
 one more respectable that makes me think of reprinting it. 
 Now, my dear sir, do not understand me as viewing the 
 publication of Scottish Poetry (at the present day) as a light 
 matter. I hope I have duly weighed the subject, and am 
 well aware of what I am about. As to publishing by sub- 
 scription, none can feel what a weight of obligation and 
 trouble it lays one under, save those who have tried it. TeU 
 me with the same frankness whether you will tak-e it in 
 hand or not. Keep the enclosed volume (the only one I 
 have) for a month, and then give me your mind freely on 
 the business. Please be so kind as clear postage for this 
 packet, and I'll take an early opportunity of canceUiijg it 
 with you. Drop me a line, merely for. satisfaction, on 
 receipt of it ; and whether you approve of my design or not, 
 believe me to be your sincere well-wisher, 
 
 R. TANNAHILL. 
 
 P.S. — I am likewise iU-pleased with the arrangement of 
 the Poems as they stand at present. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Stewart, 
 
 Bookseller, Greenock. 
 
 With a small parcel. 
 
 The original is in possession of Gilbert Bums, Esq., Knockmarroon Lodge, 
 Chapelizod, County Dublin, a nephew of the Scots National Bard.— Ed, 
 
COERESPOSfDEKCE. 437 
 
 Excerpt from Letter from Robert Tankahill to Jambs 
 King. — Bamsay, page xxxiv. 
 
 Paisley, tst April, 1810. 
 
 "We had a good deal of conversation over the poets 
 of the day. He tells me he has been in company with Walter 
 Scott, Hector MacNeil, Thomas Campbell, and others of our 
 Scottish Worthies. I have not time at present to write you 
 'Grloomy Winter,' but will send it soon, v Meantime, I 
 will thank you for a few of the Welsh airs you mention, if 
 you can easily procure them. And I must again enjoin you 
 to write to your mother. Nothing in the world gives her 
 greater pleasure than to hear of your welfare, and she is 
 always very unhappy when you neglect writing to her for 
 any length of time." 
 
 Excerpt of Letter from Robert Tannahill to Alexander 
 Borland, Glasgow. — Bamsa/y, page xxxv. 
 
 " I am an ungrateful wretch in not writing you 
 before to-day. My conscience has been upbraiding me 
 these ten days past for delaying it. I hope this will find you 
 and your two Annies all as well as I wish you. My spirits 
 have been as dull and cheerless as Winter's gloomiest days. 
 What has the world to do with, or who cares (take the mass 
 of mankmd), for the feelings of others? Am I right? 
 Happiness attend you." 
 
 R. TANNAHILL. 
 
438 COKRBSPONDKNCE. 
 
 tVI. 
 
 Letter from R. A. Smith to Robert Lakg, manufacturer, 
 
 Ayb, July 9th, 1818. 
 
 Dear Friend, 
 
 I take the opportunity of sending you a few lines 
 by my father, who I am happy to state, returns to Paisley 
 in better health than he has enjoyed for several years. He 
 was so ill of the jaundice when he left home that I had 
 scarcely a hope of his recovery ; but the "hurl" in the cara- 
 van and the fine air of this place has had an amazing effect. 
 I also begin to feel my nerves now strong, but I was so' 
 terribly cut up by the severe practice for the 4th June, that it 
 will take some time to set me to rights ; I begin to eat with 
 an appetite, which I had not done for a long period before. 
 My reception here has been very flattering ; I have been in- 
 troduced to the most respecta,ble inhabitants, by whom I am 
 placed on the most intimate footing ; I have two classes to 
 attend of yourig folks in the afternoon ; not numerous, but of 
 the best families, and one in the evenings of grown gentlemen, 
 who are learning sacred music, among whom I have doctors 
 and even lawyers!; one gentleman of near sixty, and another 
 wpwards of sixty. Several of them sat in the band seat with me 
 in church, last Sunday, to give me countenance. This would 
 be rather a novel sight in Paisley. Last week I was at a 
 dinner, given chiefly on my account, with a most genteel 
 party, consisting of some of the gude bailies and a number 
 of their friends. The dinner was given in the most elegant 
 style, and the company behaved most politely. I had almost 
 forgot to mention that we were in the vera room where honest 
 Tarn Shdnter sat with his "ancient trusty drouthy crony" 
 8outerJohrmy,h6iove he "took the road" to " Alloway's 
 auld haunted kirk," and on my informing the gentlemen 
 that I was one of the oldest members of the Paisley Burns' 
 
COKKESPONDBNOE. 439 
 
 Club, T had the honour to be placed on the very spot where 
 Tarn is supposed generally to have sat 
 
 " Fast by the ingle, blazing finely 
 Wi reaming swats, that drank divinely." 
 
 We kept it up till the hour "O night's black arch the key 
 stane," in compliment to the memory of Tarn I suppose, and 
 I assure you "the hours flew by on eagle wings," and we 
 parted unco blythe and happy. By-the-bye my Kirk Alloway 
 box was a great favourite that night, and the company ap- 
 peared much gratified with the account I gave them of oiir 
 anniversary meetings in memory of their almost townsman. 
 I would have given something for our ale caup at the mo- 
 ment, it would have put them a-maist daft. I am gathering 
 all the information I can, of what is yet remembered of 
 Burns or the characters mentioned in his works. In the 
 first place, you must know that the 25th of Jany. is his real 
 birth-day. I believe it was a mistake of his own that caused 
 the 29th to be understood as the day of his birth. It is yet 
 called the 29th on the cottage wall where he was, born, and 
 likewise on the painting of his likeness, which is kept inside 
 the house, but it will be filtered soon. I am well acquainted 
 with the session clerk, who has shewn me the session books, 
 from which he extracted the certificate I now send you, to 
 be pasted in the minute book of the Paisley Burns' Club, 
 that is, if they think it a vafuable document, worthy of such 
 a place ; if not, keep it safe till I return. What puts its 
 correctness beyond all dispute is, the mtnesses that were 
 necessary at that period at all bookings of that nature. I saw 
 the original with my ovm eyes and seei/ng 's believitig you 
 know. There has been also an attempt in a Dumfries news- 
 paper to make it appear that Bums was not born at the cot- 
 tage at Alloway, but it was only a malicious' design of some 
 person to hurt the trade of the house, which is at present a 
 public house ; it being the property of the shoemaker's society 
 in Ayr. They, of course, caught the alarm, and a party was 
 deputed to wait on an old cottager, upwards of ninety years 
 
440 CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 of age, who was very intimate with the poet's father, to 
 ascertain the truth or falsehood of the statement. After 
 some common salutations he was addressed, "Well, Thomas, 
 ye min the nicht whan Robin Burns was bom ? "Aye, 
 atweel do I," says the old man ; " I'se ne'er forget that night 
 as long as I live ; a sair night it was wi storm, a the deils 
 war at wark, an part o the roof was blawn aff the room 
 whare the puir woman — his mither — lay in, an we had a 
 sair faught in getting her and. young Rabbie removed to a 
 neighbour's house nearly opposite." " But they say, 
 Thomas, that he wasna born at the house at Alloway." 
 " Wha says sae ! "Wha says sae ! " cried the old man in a 
 terrible passion. "The newspapers, Thomas." "News- 
 papers ! the newspaper is a muckle sinf u liar ; what ! will 
 they tell me sic a lie when I was oa'd in to help a haun at the 
 removal, aye, aye ; weel I wat I sal ne'er forget that awfu 
 night." This, of course, completely puts to silence all scepti- 
 cism on that head. I have also seen the redoubtable Souter 
 Johnny, his name is John Lauohlan, he is living in the poor- 
 house of Ayr. Mr. M'Dermid, the session clerk, who is also 
 governor of the poorliouse, has promised to take him out some 
 night soon to get a gill with me. He says he is exactly the 
 character described by Burns, has plenty of queer stories to 
 tell yet, and dearly likes a sup of " reaming swats," but he 
 also mentions that he must be spoken to with great caution 
 on the subject of his friend Ta/m, as he has been so plagued 
 about it that he grows quite crabbed whenever the subject 
 is mentioned, and generally denies himself that he is the fa/r- 
 famid Souter. He owns, however, that he ken'd Tam Graham 
 (alias Tam o Shanter) well, and that they whiles had a giU 
 thegither on market days ; also that he ken'd Bums' father 
 well, that auld William was a much better man than his son 
 Rab, who at best was but a " ram shackle deil." He ken'd 
 him when he was a gay rough cowte, and wore a muckle hue 
 bonnet wi a hole in it, and hair sticking thro the hole. 
 This is such a ludicrous description of our great Bard in his 
 youth that I got a hearty laugh- when hearing the story. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 441 
 
 Little did the world imagine then that this same ram-shac- 
 kk rough cowte, Tvith his hair hanging thro the hole of an 
 old blue Ayrshire bonnet was to run such a race of fame in 
 after time. I expect to elicit some information from this 
 droll being if I could once get him to open a little with 
 "swats.'' You see I have begun to glean some local chit- 
 chat in earnest, but how could a lover of song remain indif- 
 ferent even to these little circumstances whilst rambling over 
 such classic ground, where almost every whin-bush carries 
 an interest in it. I have been perambulating the beautiful 
 and romantic "banks and braes o bonnie Boon," and richly 
 do they deserve the immortality bestowed on them by the 
 Bard. I could not help humming the song involuntarily 
 while sitting on the auld Brig o Boon, and looking at the 
 delightful wild woods that adorn the banks of the stream. 
 I intend to take some sketches before I leave Ayrshire, 
 which perhaps may do for some of Danl. Craig's snuff-boxes. 
 You will greatly oblige me by getting my yew box finished ; 
 and as you are generally in Glasgow on the Wednesdays, if 
 you make it up. in a parcel, and send it by the guard of the 
 Ayr coach, directed to me, care of Mr. Robt. Mackay, mer- 
 chant, Ayr, it will come quite safe. If Mr. Aikin has 
 finished my caup or caups, I would like much they were 
 sent at the same time. It would afibrd a high treat to some 
 of our antiquarians here. A box of Wallace Oak would be 
 most particularly valued here, but it must be a hinged one. 
 The turned, kind are thought nothing of, from the Cumnock 
 box maker living so nigh, jvhose boxes are in great estima- 
 tion. I wish D. Craig would lend me one of his best, with 
 a veneer of the yew, and a drawing of Crocstoun Castle on 
 the bottom. I should like to show it off against the Cum- 
 nock man's. I have been bragging a little for the honour of 
 Paisley, and have promised to produce some of equal work- 
 manship. At least, you can speak to Danl. He could 
 easily get one finished before the Sacrament, when I must 
 be in Paisley, having promised Dr. Boog ; and'I could take 
 it with me, and perhaps get it well sold for him — at any 
 f3 
 
442 OORBBSPONDENCB. 
 
 rate, I should take particular care of it. Be so good as men- 
 tion this to him, for I can see nothing in the Cumnock 
 boxes superior to his. I mean D. Craig, jun. 
 
 By this time I daresay you will be most heartily tired of 
 my nonsensical scribbling. I sat down with the determina- 
 tion of giving you one sheet, and behold ! I have been led 
 on to almost two imperceptibly, so the best way to punish 
 me will be to pay me back with a double one in the same 
 way. Tell Robert Allan when you see him that I expect to 
 gulp in poetry with the air of this fairyland, and I aibUns 
 may take it in my whimsical head to send him a " blaud o 
 rhymes " some o these days. I intended to have written 
 him at this time, but I find a double task too much f or'me 
 at present, so I must refer him to you for the local cracks I 
 have given you. 
 
 Wishing you and yours all well and happy, 
 I remain, 
 
 Dear Robt., 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 R. A. SMITH. 
 
 IiYlI. 
 
 Letter from John Crawford, Largs, to Matthew 
 TannahUjL, Paisley. 
 
 25 Main Street, 
 Laegs, SOth October, 18^8. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 I received yours of the 17th inst., and enclose a 
 letter in your brother's handwrfting, which is the only one 
 in my possession. I returned a number at the time you 
 mention. I hope it may gratify the person of whom you 
 
COEBESFONDENCE. 443 
 
 speaJc. I gave some both to America and the West Indies, 
 to acquaintances who went thither. 
 
 I remain, 
 
 SiK, 
 
 Yours most sincerely, ^ 
 
 JOHN CRAWFORD. 
 
 Mr. Crawford must have received many letters from his acquaintance 
 Tannahill, and this letter is so far satisfactory as showing what has been 
 done with them, — sent to the West Indies and America as relics of the 
 Bard.— 5(2. 
 
 Letter from James Bakr to William Pobteous, Post 
 Office, Glasgow. 
 
 GovAN, Jime 9th, 1859. 
 Deab Sib, 
 
 The proverb says, " auld folk are twice weans," so, 
 like the school-boy, I rule the paper to guide my feeble hand 
 and obscure vision. The effusion of TannahUl's, " The Five 
 ' Friens," originated in this : — A part of the Argyle Militia 
 Band under Clark was ordered to attend the October gather- 
 ing at Inveraray Castle. Clark on his return stopt a few 
 days at Paisley (his. native place), hence "frae the hall o 
 Argyle.'' I was accidentally in Paisley that day, and, calling 
 at Tannahill's house, was informed of the meeting. I found 
 out the nest, and " like birds of a feather," gregarious, I was 
 fixed. It was a harmonious and social meeting. Sometime 
 after this I was in Paisley, and spent the evening with 
 TannahUl aJone, as was often the case. It was late, and so 
 dark that he would not allow me to take the road, but 
 insisted on my taking a share of his bed. I did so, and next 
 morning, after breakfast, and at parting, he saw at a distance 
 Smith and Stuart coming in our direction, with three strange 
 gentlemen. He said, "There is something in the wind," 
 
444 COKRESPONDBNCB. 
 
 and wished me to stop and see. We kept out of their sight, 
 but saw them enter a public house near to his place. In a 
 short time he was sent for. He desired me to wait, and he 
 would let me know. He came for me, and on entering the 
 company he introduced me direct to Hogg, the Ettrick 
 Shepherd. Being so sudden and unexpected, I was for a 
 moment stunned. The other two gentlemen haying busi- 
 ness in Glasgow, left Hogg, promising to have a ticket for 
 him by the evening coach with them to Edinburgh. We 
 then went down town, as Hogg wished to see Mr. Blaikie, 
 the engraver, an old acquaintance, and a musical enthusiast 
 — a good voice leader, played several instruments, and suc- 
 ceeded B.. A. Smith in conducting the music of the Abbey 
 Church. The forces were now collected, and such a con- 
 genial meeting I never beheld. Hogg was enraptured with 
 our company, and it was a treat to see the friendship of the 
 two Bards. The contrast of the two was striking — ^the one 
 lively, healthy, and off-hand; the other quiet, delicate, and 
 unassuming. The only regret felt by all was the limitation 
 of time. We were conveyed on the road till necessity urged 
 a parting. Soon after Hogg spied an empty coal cart lolling 
 on the road, and asked me if we might try to get it to drive 
 us in. I agreed, and Hogg called out, " My lad, are you 
 going in to Glasgow ? " " Ay, man." " WUl you gie us a 
 smart drive in, and we'll pay you for't ? " " ay, man.' 
 In we went, and at the Half-way House primed him with 
 half-a-mutchkin, and galloped to the keystane of the 
 Broomielaw Bridge, where we' came off, Hogg saying, " it 
 would not do to be seen galloping thro' the streets of Glas- 
 gow in a coal cart." He hurried on to the Tontine. The 
 coach had waited five minutes, and was just starting. 
 When we were observed running, it stopped. We shook 
 hands, and in an instant all disappeared in the hollow of the 
 Galloisgate. 
 
 These gentlemen had been on a tour in the Highlands, 
 and came round by Paisley purposely to see Robert Tanna- 
 hill. 
 
COKRESPONDBNCE. 445 
 
 In finishing this scrawl, I add to my infirmities an obsti- 
 nate steel pen, but if you can read it, you must just put up 
 with it. An eminent authoress says that imperfections and 
 blunders may be expected at fourscere. 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 JAS. BARR. 
 
 LIX. 
 
 Letter from Jambs Barb, to William Porteotjs, of the 
 Post Office, 'Glasgow. 
 
 GovAN, Sept. S8th, 1859. 
 Fkiend Pokteous, 
 
 Respecting "Jessie, the Flower o Dunblane," in 
 aU my correspondence with Robert TannahUl I do not re- 
 collect of her being mentioned. I have heard it said that 
 an interesting young lady at, or belonging to, that place 
 (Dunblane) had caught his fancy, and inspired, or set a 
 spark to, the muse. Be it as it may, I can, however, give 
 you a little information concerning Jessie's coming out (as 
 Yankees say), or being brought out, or introduced to the 
 admiring public. 
 
 About the time that R. A. Smith composed •the music for 
 "Jessie," there were a theatrical party performing in 
 Paisley, and in that company there was a comedian cog- 
 nomenised Jack Shaw. Jack had also a musical propensity, 
 with a good commanding voice, and qualified for reading 
 music by the voice. He sang on the stage several of our 
 old Scotch songs quite in their true character, and having 
 heard of the new song, he found means (Jack was enterpris- 
 ing) to be introduced to Mr. Smith, and solicited a copy, 
 that he might refresh his old songs by something new. 
 Smith very obligingly gave him the song, with an accom- 
 paniment for two violins and bass. Jack of course set it 
 agoing in Paisley ; but merrily as things might be going on. 
 Jack left them, came to Glasgow, and was a short time with 
 the circus company. In the meantime the celebrated 
 
446 COBBBSFONDENCE. 
 
 Braham had. made his first appearance in the Theatre Royal, 
 Queen Street. Jack again found his way to an engagement 
 in the Glasgow company, taking his manuscript with him 
 of course. He was not long there till he made bold with 
 Braham for an engagement on the boards in London. 
 Braham, considering on it, thought he might be a good set 
 oflf in different ways, as being a good native Scotch comedian 
 (a rarish article), and to take part in duets and glees he 
 might be useful. Mr. Shaw being now installed on the 
 London boards, he hoisted up "Jessie," and when the 
 audiences had taken a good view, he thought she might 
 travel a little further, so he enterprisingly applied to a 
 music publisher, with the copyright in the author's own 
 handwriting, to have her shown off in a broadsheet, which 
 was accordingly done ; but it so happened that previous to 
 this Mr. Steven in Glasgow had his sheet in motion, with an 
 accompaniment for the pianoforte by Mr. Smith, and the 
 full authority of Mr. Steven's holding the copyright as 
 established at Stationers' Hall. Mr. Shaw, supporting the 
 London publisher by boasting of the copy being in the hand- 
 writing of the author, threatened a tug at law, which Mr. 
 Smith decided by declaring that, although he obligingly 
 gave a copy to- Mr. Shaw for his individual singing, he gave 
 no authority for him otherwise to publish it. The London 
 publisher, now looking at pro and con, and. discomfit, gave 
 up to Mr. Steven the plate, &c., rather than go to Iww war 
 with the Glaagowites. "Jessie" was, however, by this 
 time doing for herself. " The Plow'r o' Dunblane " conse- 
 quently jgot popular, and became a favourite, principally by 
 this introduction to the pubjic. Were the other songs of 
 Smith's composition to Tannahill's verses sufficiently heard 
 in public assemblies, such as concerts, theatres, &c., they 
 would become favourites also. Hi a music is of a soft, flow- 
 ing style, within moderate compass of voice, and suitably 
 combined with the sentiment of the poetry. I shall finish 
 by pointing out a few of his songs, viz.: — "The Old Sea- 
 man," 'Mongst Ufe's mamy ca/res, &c. ; "' The Harper of 
 
COKBBSPONDENCE. 447 
 
 Mull," When Bosie was faithful, &c.; "The Lass o' Arran- 
 teenie," Far kme among the Highland hills (music also by 
 Ross of Aberdeen) ; Langsyne beside the woodland hwm ; 
 "The Maniac," Sark I 'tis the poor mamiac^s song. This, 
 tho' last, not least, was the first attempt at vocal composition 
 by R. A. Smith, followed about the same time by his music 
 to Brown, junr.'s, " Calm dewy morning." The music for 
 " The Maniac " is quite characteristic of the song, and, to 
 show Snith's enthusiasm, he illustrated the sentiment in 
 China ink — the stormy sea, the rugged perpendicular rock, 
 and wild maniac on the brink of the precipice, beating the 
 storm, were so well delineated as to appear almost actual 
 life. Had Smith exercised his talent in painting as much as 
 he did in music, he would have attained eminence. "The 
 Maniac," (the music) I believe, was never printed. The 
 others above were published by the late Mr. Steven, the late 
 Brown, followed by Mitchison, but I am afraid the music 
 copies will not be easUy got now. The only gentleman I think 
 likely to give information respecting the plates, or finding 
 copies, are Mr. Lithgow or Mr. Barr, both professors of 
 music in Glasgow, as I understand they were concerned 
 in winding up the affairs of Mr. Mitchison, who probably 
 possessed the plates. * 
 
 I remain, 
 
 De^b Sib, 
 
 Your old friend, 
 
 JAS. BARR. 
 
4i8 OOBEESPONDBNCB. 
 
 LX. 
 
 EPISTLE TO ROBERT TANNAHILL,' 
 By William Fimlayson, PollohsJuMos. + 
 
 February 1808. 
 My peace be wi you, Tannahill, 
 I liowp ye winua tak it ill, 
 Tho I (a stripUn at your will) 
 
 This soud hae sent, 
 Tae ane like you, wha's rhyming skill 
 Sae weil is keut. 
 
 * Note by the Author. — " Tlie stanzas contained within the brackets were 
 omitted in the Epistle sent to Mr. TannahiU." [They are, however, inserted 
 again, as I am aware of no reason why they should be left out now. The 
 foregoing extract, from his answer to the above, can only be considered as 
 relating to the stanzas which he received. The extract will be found at 
 page 408.— .Bd!.] 
 
 t William Pinlayson, bom at Pollokshaws on 12th January, 1787, and 
 died at Leith on 1st October, 1872, in the 86th year of his age. The fore- 
 going Epistle was vmtten within eight months after the publication of 
 Taunahill's first edition of his Works. The 'Shaw's poet would then be 21 
 years of age, and he seems to have studied the pieces of the Paisley Lyrist 
 from the remarks made in the Epistle. Finlayson's volume of " Scottish 
 Hhymes," consisting of 168 pages, 12mo., and containing 63 pieces, printed 
 in 1815 by S. & A. Young, printers, Paisley, and dedicated to Sir John 
 Maxwell, of Pollok, Baronet. The father o£ the present publisher was at 
 the time in the printing office of Messrs. Young, and was thus engaged on 
 Knlayson's volume sixty years ago. It is evident, from a perusal of 
 Flnlayson's pieces, he had been well trained by his parents, and main- 
 tained a great respect for the Scriptures and the religion of his fathers. He 
 was a descendant of William Niven, smith, Pollokshaws, who endured 
 terrible treatment and sufferings, both in prison and the plantations, for 
 conscience sake, during the reigns of King Charles II. and King James VII. 
 See " Wodrow's History of the Church of Scotland," vol. iv., pages 53 150, 
 and 151. 
 
 Finlayson was a well informed gentleman, and possessed of some 
 breadth of mind. In the second decade of the present century there was a 
 strenuous effort made to maintain the wages of the operative weavers in 
 Scotland, and he acted in the capacity of secretary, an office which requtred 
 a person with policy, nerve, and firmness, and which office he fulfilled 
 with satisfaction. In 1822 this poet, like Bums, the Ayrshire Bard, (whom 
 he has noticed in the foregoing epistle) was appointed an officer of Excise, 
 in which he continued fifty years, thirty whereof in active service, and the 
 remainder on the superannuation Ust. — Ed. 
 
CORBBSPONDENOB. 449 
 
 My mind it wadna let me settle 
 
 Till I sou'd greet you for your mettle ; 
 
 Sae here at last, wi timorous ettle, 
 
 I write in measure. 
 An, as Parnassus hill is kittle, 
 
 I'll climb at leisure. 
 
 Weel may your worthy honor'd name, 
 The just reward o laurels claim ; 
 Thy merit will insure thy fame 
 
 Tae future times ; 
 An' Bards unborn, may wish thy flame 
 
 Tae lioht their rhymes. 
 
 Oh ! had I only hauf the glee. 
 The wit, the lingo, judgment free 
 Whilk in thy various sangs I see 
 
 Nae snarlia scribble, 
 No envious critic wad gie me 
 
 The sma'est trouble. 
 
 Come ! dinna halt, but blythely sing 
 Till bleak Gleniffer echoes ring ; 
 Your fiddle sweet, stent ilka string, 
 
 An dinna spare' t ; 
 Haste ! play us up anither spring, 
 
 I lang tae hear't. 
 
 Sing as ye wont o Hielan Harry, 
 Or ancient Muirlan mad to marry ; 
 Make fashionable follies bare ay 
 
 Whar e'er ye gang ; 
 But oh ! religious failings spare ay 
 
 In ilka sang. 
 
 The great, inimitable Burns, 
 
 In a his social ready turns, 
 
 Or whan he human frailty mourns. 
 
 Bards weel may copy ; 
 But whan he at religion spurns. 
 
 They there sou'd stop ay. 
 g3 
 
450 COHEESPONDBNCB. 
 
 Tho' Coila's rural, aiten reed, 
 Did every minstrel's liarp exceed, 
 That ever twang't on this side Tweed, 
 
 Wi rapt'rous string, 
 Maun we for that adopt his creed, 
 
 Whene'er we sing ? 
 
 [Opinion, as the wind, is free, 
 What may be sterUn truth tae thee 
 May seem incredible tae me, 
 
 reason bare ; 
 Than by our own faith why sou'd we 
 
 Our neighbour's square. 
 
 'Tis most unfeeling in th' extreme. 
 The tenets of a frien tae deem, 
 The idle melaaioholy dream 
 
 Of a dull brain. 
 Whilst to anither, ours may seem 
 
 As weak an vain. 
 
 Uncharitable is the man. 
 Whatever his religious plan, 
 Wha rigidly presumes tae iann 
 
 His neighbour's creed ; 
 A h^ve an equal richt tae scan 
 
 Whate'er they read. 
 
 Altho owre us the Bible may 
 Possess but little, if no sway. 
 We but our narrow souls display 
 
 To ca them fools, 
 Wha conscientiously obey 
 
 Its holy rules. 
 
 Whan on the dread approach o death, 
 
 We bid adieu tae all beneath. 
 
 How precious is the Ohristian's faith 
 
 Beyond a prizin ! 
 Believin what this volmme saith — 
 
 He dies rejoicin. 
 
COKBE,SPONDENCB. 451 
 
 But mark the sinner how he cowers, 
 If sickness sap his sandy towers ; 
 Wi maniac woe— foreboding glow'rs, 
 
 Wildly he stares, 
 An his last breath despairin hours 
 
 In hopeless prayers. 
 
 For me wi pleasure I'd forego 
 
 A rhymin excellence below 
 
 The love o Heaven aricht to know, 
 
 An bruik a share ; 
 Blest antidote of sin an woe, 
 
 Death an despair !] 
 
 Why shou'd we-dedicate our lays 
 Tae Bacchus, an his vot'ries praise ? 
 Maun we our future flame tae raise 
 
 Sing scenes o lewdness, 
 An' lauch and jeer at wiser ways, 
 
 An moral goodness ? 
 
 Let us, inspir't wi nobler aim, 
 Each wild propensity disdain, 
 An every vicious bias tame, 
 
 Whilk daurs control, 
 An point tae virtuous goals o fame 
 
 The human soul 
 
 Our Scottish Poets a o late, 
 
 Th' senseless verse, our feelin's grate ; 
 
 Burns they admire, an imitate 
 
 His lewdest style. 
 Without his comic glee, or hate 
 
 Tae raise a smile. 
 
 Thinkna, Sir, you I criticise. 
 
 The verra thocht o't I despise; 
 
 These whan they attempt Parnassian skies, 
 
 Maun sink wi shame, 
 Tho'sic as you will ever rise 
 
 Wi honest fame. 
 
452 COB.KESP0NDENCE. 
 
 Your ttoohts original, are drawn 
 An ta'en f rae Nature at first han, 
 A customer at lier leal stan, 
 
 Your sangs declare you 
 Sae dinna break for ocht you're awn 
 
 She yet can spare you. 
 
 Yes, Nature still devoid o art, 
 Can toucli and captivate the heart, 
 A finer pathos can impart - 
 
 Than leamin gies, 
 An teach or comfort, or divert, 
 
 Wi equal ease. 
 
 Auld Scotland yet may fidge an smile. 
 An half forget the Bard o Coil ; 
 Weel blawn by thy poetic toil. 
 
 Her flame may flee, 
 Baith far an wide for mony a mile, 
 
 Owre Ian an sea. 
 
 But you may think. Sir, that I flatter, 
 An plague you wi my fulsome clatter ; 
 But may I steepit be in water, 
 
 Owre head an ears. 
 If I your sense wi lies bespatter. 
 
 Or ettle jeers. 
 
 Now tae conclude — it ye this haver 
 Wad wi a rhyming answer favour, 
 I tho a mongrel stanza raver 
 
 Wad ne'er forget it. 
 But owre my dearest boons forever 
 
 Wad highest set it. 
 
APPENDIX, 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 ODES TO THE MEMORY OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 Immediately after the death of the Bard a number of poetical 
 effusions were written " In Mbmokiam" of the departed. A 
 few of these we have collected and printed, to show the respect 
 and esteem in which Tannahill was held by his brother poets. 
 The first part comprises those by his poetical acquaintances, and 
 the second part those by subsequent local poets. 
 
 LIST. 
 
 I.— POETICAL ACQUAINTANCES. 
 
 Ode by Alexander Borland. 
 ,, Robert Allan. 
 „ James Scadlock. 
 ,, William M'Laren. 
 „ James King. 
 
 IL— SUBSEQUENT POETS. 
 
 Ode by Robert Clark. 
 „ Hugh M'Donald. 
 ,, WiUiam Murdoch. 
 ,, Duncan M'NeU. 
 ,, James Archibald. 
 
 ODE 
 
 ON THE DEATH OP TANNAHILL, OF PAISLEY, THE CELEBEATED. 
 COMPOSER OE SCOTTISH SONGS. 
 
 By Alexander Borland. 
 
 Unwelcome sound, that strikes my listening ear, 
 That makes my eyes o'erflow with pity's tear, 
 A sound that doth my mind of mirth bereave. 
 With sighs of sorrow makes my bosom heave ; 
 
456 APPENDIX. 
 
 The last sad tribute, that a friend can pay 
 To merit, mould'riug with the common clay. 
 The Muse's fav'rite, Scotland may deplore, 
 Her son, her songster, Tannahill's no more ; 
 He on whom Fame so oft complacent smil'd, 
 Whom genius marked as her fav'rite child ; 
 He who so skilful blew the pipe and horn, 
 Resistless Fates for ever from us torn ! 
 
 Ah ! black disease that in his bosom pin'd 
 A hidden demon, to distract his mind ; 
 And dire despair, that base infernal tool, 
 That drove him senseless to the fatal pool ; 
 And left the world to mourn his hapless fate. 
 And glow with sympathy when too, too late. 
 Thus merit oft unto the world is lost, 
 Before the world e'er calculate its cost ; 
 Vain, vain to think to soothe the Poet's grief. 
 When past all human power to yield relief. 
 Like metal that runs off and leaves but dross. 
 So thoughtless man too late perceives his loss ; 
 Ev'n sorrow, now doth many bosoms fill. 
 Who never thought before of Tannahill; 
 Now safely moor'd beyond life's stormy main. 
 His native isle his mem'ry shall retain. 
 Exulting in his sweet harmonious strains. 
 Long shall his music float on Scotia's plains. 
 While Scottish songs, to Scotland are endear'd, 
 The iiame of Tannahill wiU be rever'd. 
 Songs (free from chains the servile Muses bind) 
 Flow'd from his heart — to hearts of duU mankind : 
 Now aU is huah'd since its bright spirit's flown 
 To heav'nly spheres, to care and death unknown ; 
 Perhaps where some transporting zephyr blows 
 Where grief doth smile, and friendship's fragrance flows- 
 In some blessed shades beyond life's stormy wave 
 Despair grows mild, — distractions cease to rave ! 
 Let candour then be jiist unto his praise : 
 Nor slander rob him of his well-won lays, 
 
APPENDIX. 457 
 
 May round his grave bright laurels ever bloom, 
 And be his virtues, grav'd upon his tomb ; 
 His faults be plac'd to nature and to man. 
 And imitate his virtues — if we can. 
 
 A. B.* 
 
 ODE 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF ROBERT TANNAHILL, 
 
 By Robert Allan.\. 
 
 While pity mourns the helpless child of woe, 
 And flowing tears bedew the placid eye, 
 
 Tannahill ! for thee those tears should flow — 
 To thee belongs the deep heart-rending sigh. 
 
 In fond remembrance shall thy mem'ry live, 
 And fame shall rank thee Scotia's sons among ; 
 
 Thy wreath of laurel shall the Muses weave, 
 And oft for thee shall wake the minstrel's song. 
 
 Like Nature's seU rock'd in the wintry storm. 
 Hard press'd with ills, a desolating train, 
 
 Thou saw and mark'd Fate's dire and hideous form. 
 That soon, too soon should blast Life's peaceful reign. 
 
 * Alexander Borland, weaver, Glasgow, the poet to whom Tannahill ad- 
 dressed the Epistle No. 24, the friend to whom he also sent the last letter 
 he wrote, and the acquaintance whom Tannahill last met on 16th May, 
 1810. The manuscript is in possession of Mr. John Wright, Kirkcaldy, and 
 we tielieve this is the first time it has been published. — Ed, 
 
 t Note by Jamea Muir, — " The admirers of our Poet wiU not be displeased 
 at the insertion of the above verses, from the pen of a young poet. Tho' 
 Unacquainted with the Author, the editor is disposed to offer to public 
 regard this tribute to the memory of our Bard. " 
 
 The young poet was Eobert Allan, weaver, Kilbarchan, another acquaint- 
 ance of Taunahill's, to whom the Epistle No. 20 was addressed. This ode has 
 been frequently printed. See Note to No. ie.—Ed. 
 
 h3 
 
458 APPENDIX. 
 
 Sequester'd 'neath thy humble cottage roof, 
 
 Thy fancy roam'd o'er hill and woodland plain ; 
 
 From haunts of noise and folly stood aloof, 
 And sung thy artless animating strain. 
 
 Ill-fated Bard, what anguish wrung thy breast ; 
 
 Ah, who can tell of all thy grief and care ; 
 No soothing hope to bid thy spirit rest, 
 
 Nor chase the gloom of sadness and despair. 
 
 Then censure not the dee^ ye generoua few. 
 For heav'n may smile upon the wanderer's way ; 
 
 But requiems sing, and with flow'rets strew 
 The cold green sod that wraps the Poet's clay. 
 
 D I E G E 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF ROBERT TANNAHILL. 
 
 By James Scadlock. * 
 (Set to Music by Mr. R. A. Smith.) 
 
 No more along the upland brow, ' 
 
 Where wil,d-fowl crop the heather bud, 
 The City's t distant spires I'll view. 
 Half hid in evening's murky cloud. 
 
 Since thou art gone my joys are fled. 
 Thy love-strung harp in silence lies, 
 - The bleak winds murmur o'er thy head, 
 On fancy's ear it plaintive sighs. 
 
 The birds no more give joy to me. 
 
 That warble in the green-wood bower. 
 
 No more I mark the wand'ring bee, 
 Unwearied fly from flower to flower, 
 Since thou art gone, &o. 
 
 * James Scadlock, engraver, Ferenfeze, another companion of Tannahill's, 
 to wliom the Epistles Nos. 19 and 21 were addressed, and "The Contrast,' 
 N . 30, was inscribed. See Notes to these Foems . — Ed. 
 
 t The city of Glasgow. 
 
APPENDIX. 459 
 
 How oft with thee on summer's eve, 
 Ere dew had wet the footpath way, 
 
 The busy town with joy I'd leave, 
 To hail the sun's last parting ray, 
 Since thou art gone, &c. 
 
 Now lonely down Gleniffer glen. 
 
 Where brackens shade the streamlet clear, 
 I'll shun the busy haunts of men, 
 
 And silent shed the friendly tear. 
 Since thou art gone,.&c. 
 
 Ill-fated youth ! long, long I'U mourn 
 
 In solitude thy untimely end, 
 And oft beside thy lonely urn 
 
 In deepest sorrow wUl I bend. 
 Since thou art gone, &c. 
 
 THE OLD TREES. 
 
 By William M'La/ren. 
 
 The following lines were written immediately after the death oi the last 
 of the author's most intimate friends. 
 
 Have you seen the old tree that stands lone on the' moor. 
 
 With its branches all withered and bare ; 
 Like a life-wearied wretch who keenly has felt 
 
 The torturing pangs of despair. 
 
 Tho' the rank grass wave wild o'er the spot where they stood 
 
 Yet three kindly companions it knew. 
 Who exultingly spread their gay leaves to the sun. 
 
 And drank of the nourisTiing dew. 
 
 So broad were their boughs, and so fresh were their leaves, 
 
 And so kindly they mingled together. 
 That they dreamed not the sorrowful day was so near, 
 
 That would part them in anguish for ever. 
 
460 APPENDIX. 
 
 But a blast from the heath like the flat of fate, 
 
 Gave the loftiest tree to the wind, • 
 And left the disconsolate friends of its youth 
 
 To linger in sadness behind. 
 
 Soon the canker of care, like a worm in the bud, 
 Seized the tree that grew close by its side ; + 
 
 And its green leaves grew pale, and its branches were few, 
 And it sickened — and withered — and died. 
 
 But the envious shaft that had destined their fate 
 
 Had not finished the work it began, 
 For a poison was fixed in another fair tree 
 
 And its span of existence is ran. + 
 
 And now the old tree that stands lone on the moor. 
 
 With its branches all withered and bare. 
 In solitude mourns for the friends of its youth. 
 
 The victim of anxious despair. § 
 
 THE BAUD OF GLENIFFEB. 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OP ROBERT TANNAHILL. 
 
 By Jtrnnes King. || 
 
 The Bard of Gleniffer, in life's early day, 
 By hawthorn and hazel constructed his lay ; 
 While blackbirds sweet warbling in sunshine and shade, 
 ~ Like him sang of nature in beauty array'd. 
 The grey mossy-rock to his soul gave delight, — 
 The wild mountain herbage and stream shining bright, 
 The sun's yeUow lustre on Stanely's old pile. 
 To rapture awaken'd his bosom the while. 
 
 * Bobctt Tannahill. t James Scadlock. J William Anderson. 
 
 § Seethe sketch of William MTJaren among the "Sketches of Editors."— 
 Ed. 
 
 11 This is the person to whom the Epistle No. IS was addressed. See Note 
 to the Epistle.— ,£(2 
 
APPENDIX. 461 
 
 The fame of his song, like the wreath on his head, 
 For ages will brighten, for ages will spread ; 
 For love's sweet affections are blossoming there, 
 And pity that springs to the eye in a tear. 
 Sweet pity ! — thou still hast thine office to do, 
 Oh ! weep, for the Bard of Gleniffer is low ; 
 Aifliction's cold waves hurried over his bloom, 
 And sent him, alas ! premature to the tomb. 
 
 VERSES 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OP ROBERT TANNAHILL. 
 
 By Sobert Clark* 
 
 O'er the braes of Gleniffer I wander'd alone, 
 
 At the sweet dawn of morning, when pure was the sky ; 
 
 The brown leaves fast falliog showed summer was gone. 
 And the chill breezes murmur'd stern winter was nigh. 
 
 Though cheer'd was my fancy with all things around me. 
 Yet sad was my heart that with sorrow did fill ; 
 
 For thoughts of the hard fate so keenly did wound me 
 Of Scotia's sweet minstrel, far-famed Tannahill. 
 
 His sweet melting strains there did tenderly move me. 
 That's been stor'd on my memory since life's early days ; 
 
 While the mellow-fcon'd Eedbreast that warbled above me 
 On the small bending spray seem'd to join in his praise. 
 
 * Robert Clark was bom in 1810 in the west end of Paisley. He received 
 very little education, and was by trade weaver. In 1836 he published a 
 small collection of poetical works, and then emigrated to America, where he 
 resided five years. Having returned to Paisley to recruit his health, he 
 recommenced weaving, and also keeping of an eating-house. In 1842 he 
 published '* Random Rhymes," another small collection of poetical pieces. 
 In 1848 he sailed again for America, with his wife and three children. The 
 vessel was never more-heard of. — Sd. 
 
462 APPENDIX. 
 
 Yon lone dingle side by the rill where he wander'd, 
 Was soothing and sweet to this bosom of mine ; 
 
 Where oft midst sweet Nature's profusion he ponder'd, 
 Till the sun on yon far western wave did recline. 
 
 Then homeward he'd stray by the greenwood sae bonnie, 
 Where the old monld'ring turrets of Stanely are seen ; 
 
 Sweet scene, where the lone lover mourn'd for her Johrmie, 
 Who far over the seas in the wild wars had been. 
 
 Long, long wiU his haunts to this bosom give pleasure, 
 That with his soft numbers doth rapturously thrill ; 
 
 And long, long the tear of remembrance will measure 
 The friendship of affection for deair TannaTiiU. 
 
 LINES 
 
 WRITTEN ON KBADING IN THE " GLASGOW CITIZEN " OP 30TH SEPT., 
 1848, AN ARTICLE ENTITLED "A VISIT TO THE LAND OF TANNA- 
 HILL,"Br HUGH M'DONALD. 
 
 By John Mitchell. * 
 
 Weep not for Tanuahill ; his lyre 
 
 Will ne'er again be strung. 
 Nor wilt these scenes again inspire 
 
 The Bard who oft them sung. 
 
 John Mitchell, shoemaker, was bom in Paisley, in 1786. He received 
 a good initiatory education being a pupil in the Ayr Academy for several 
 years. He published The Moral and Literary Observer, commenced on 15th 
 February, and finished on 3rd May, 1823 in 12 Nos. of 12 pages each, 12mo., 
 price Hd, and Charles Marshall, (sou of Charles Marshall mentioned in the 
 memoir under the heading "Formation of the Burns Club," and in the 
 letter dated 4th April, 1809.) niinister of the Free North Church, Dunferm- 
 Kne, was the editor. The pen of Mitchell was proUfic in poetry, and for 
 many years the poei^s comer of the local newspapers were amply supplied 
 with his effusions. He published four volumes of poetry, the first of 
 which appeared In 1838 titled a " Night on the Banks of boon and other 
 poems ,•" the second in 1840, " The Wee Steeple's Ghaist and other poems 
 and songs ;" the third in 1845, a collection of " One Hundred Songs ;" 
 and the fourth in 1862, " My Grey Goose Quill and other,poems and songs." 
 
APPENDIX. 463 
 
 But Tannahill has reached the goal 
 
 That few e'er reach, where fame, 
 Above oblivion's dark control. 
 
 In light has stamp'd his name ; 
 
 And there among the sons of song 
 
 He sits with laurel crown'd 
 And Scotland's HUs and vales will long 
 
 The tones he woke resound. 
 
 His master, Burns, with giaat stride^ 
 
 Had reaoh'd the dizzy steep 
 Where genius' sons in modest, pride 
 
 Unfading laurels reap. 
 
 And Tannahill, with eager eye 
 
 The stately pile survey'd, 
 And fondly hop'd at least to lie 
 • Beneath his cheering shade, 
 
 t And nobly did our poet dare 
 To win a, l^urell'd crown. 
 And long the ilowers wiU blossom fair, 
 That live in his renown. 
 
 Tho' ' ' Loudon's bounie woods an braes, " 
 
 And "Stanley's birken shaw," 
 Should lay aside, their 'Simmer claes,' 
 
 And droop, 'neatb, Winter's suaw. 
 
 He also, in conjunction, with Mf. J. N. Dickie, wrote the prose work entitled 
 " Tlie Philosophy of Witchcraft," of 424 pages, published by Oliver ,& Boyd, 
 Edinburgh, in 1840. He had a remarkable facility in framing his verses, and 
 has placed himself in a respectable position with the minor poets in 
 Paisley, and the foregoing ode will give the reader a specimen of his poetry. 
 He was little, of a light make, and very quick of speech. The pen and 
 imk vignetto sketch of the "Alms House," the "Hospital," or the "Wee 
 Steeple," the ghaist of his poem, drawn by James Hamilton, drawing master. 
 Paisley, will keep him long in remembrance with Paisley folks. The 
 same vignette has been given in the " History of the Penfolk," 1871 and 
 *' History of the Grammar School," 1876. Mitchell died 12th August, 1856, 
 in the 70th year of his age. —B^. 
 
464 APPBNDrx:. 
 
 Their names will flourisli in our land 
 
 Aa green as when the theme 
 Of Tannahill, whose magic wand 
 
 First wafted them to fame. 
 
 His " Bonnie wood o Craigielee," 
 
 His "Jessie o Dunblane," 
 Will match with any melody 
 
 Auld Scotland calls her ain. 
 
 Then, Scotsmen, weep not for the Bard ; 
 
 He now has gain'd a name 
 That's writ upon the flowery sward 
 
 Where stands the dome of fame. 
 
 SCENES OF GLENIFFBR BRAES. 
 
 By Hugh Macdonald. 
 
 Wha sees "the crawflower's early bell," 
 Sweet blumin' in the woodlan' dell, 
 The wildin' rose that ees itsel 
 
 In lanely rill, 
 But feels his heart wi' mem'ry swell 
 
 O TannahilL 
 
 Ye'se see Gleuififer's flr-crown'd brae, 
 Auld Stanely Castle's ruins grey, 
 Whar Paisley's minstrel wont tae stray 
 
 Whan fell the dew, 
 Enraptur'd weaving some sweet lay, 
 
 Tae Nature true. 
 
 Unblest wi Fortune's sunny smile, 
 
 His was a life o care an toil ; 
 
 Yet happy hours war his the while ; 
 
 At closin day 
 He left the busy town's turmoil, 
 
 Alaue tae stray. 
 
APPENDIX. 465 
 
 Yet tho unblest wi Fortune's shower, 
 His was in truth a nobler dower — 
 A heart o love, a soul o power, 
 
 That deeper joy 
 Coud win frae wildin bird or flower 
 
 Than wealth coud buy. 
 
 Soun sleeps he now 'neath death*s caul wing, 
 But lang as woodlan birds shall sing. 
 Or wildflowers rise tae welcome Spring, 
 
 'Side gushin rills. 
 His mem'ry shall a halo fling 
 
 Aroun thae hills.* 
 
 * Hugh, Macdonald was bom in Bridgeton of Glasgow on 4th April, 1817. 
 "His parents were in humble circumstances, and had a large family. 
 His education could not be conflld^red liberal, and he was sent early to 
 work. ' He became an apprentice block printer in the works of Henry, 
 Monteith, & Company, at Barrowfield. and afterwards entered the em- 
 ployment of Harrow, M'Intyre, & Company, block printers, Colinslie, 
 Paisley. The first poetical efEusion of Hugh Macdonald, "The Scottish 
 Emigrant's Farewell," appeared in the Chartist Cvrcular of 16th May,, 
 1840, page 140. His next appearance was in the- select columns of the 
 Glasgow Citizen, newspaper, defending the character of Bums from the iU- 
 advised attack of the Bev. George GilfiUan, of Dundee. Some of his sweetest 
 songs first saw the light in the poet's neuk of that literary paper. In 1849 he 
 was taken on to its literary staff. "Caleb's" (Macdonald's) "Rambles 
 Round Glasgow " now appeared in the columns of the Citizen, and three chap- 
 ters were devoted to "Cardonald and Cruickston," "Paisley and its En- 
 virons," and "Gleniffer and Elderslie." The whole were published in a col- 
 lected form in 1854, and since that time have passed through several editions. 
 His connection with the Citizen ceased at the time of the abolition of the 
 stamp duty on newspapers in 1855, when he commenced his " Days at the 
 Coast " in the columns of the Glasgow Times, and also became a member of 
 the staff of the Glasgow Smtvnel. These appeared in a collected form in 185T, 
 and have likewise passed 'Ubrough several editions. In June, 1858, the Glas- 
 gow Momtng Jownal was commenced, and the services of Macdonald were 
 secured for the literary department of that newspaper, and he continued 
 there till his sudden decease. He had introduced his "Footsteps of the 
 Year " Into that journal, intended for all the months of 1860. In January 
 and February he discourfled on the subject, and in the month of March he 
 
 i3 
 
466 appendix:. 
 
 VERSES 
 
 TO THE MEMOEY OF TANNAHILL, 
 
 Sy William Murdoch. * 
 
 Once more Grleniffer ; yet once more 
 
 Upon thy brow I stand, 
 And view thy Castle old and hoar, 
 Where Scotland's sons, in days of yore 
 Kepell'd, in fields of death and gore, 
 
 The foes of Scotia's land ; 
 Once more thy bearded thistles wave, 
 Meet emblem of the glorious brave. 
 
 walked to Castlemilk: to see the snowdrops, and on his return took to his 
 lied, and expired on the 16th day of March, 1860, in the 43d year of his age. 
 See Note to No. 60, page 235.— ^d. 
 
 The first stanza is taken from an Epistle to Peter Still of Bnchan, author 
 of " The Cottar's Sunday," apd other poems. The remaining stanzas are 
 taken from an Epistle to William Miller, author of "Wee Willie Winkie," 
 and many other beautiful nursery songs, reminding bim of a visit he was to 
 make to Paisley. 
 
 * William Murdoch was born in Paisley, in 1822. He received the com- 
 mon education of reading, writing, and arithmetic, and was brought up to 
 his father's ti-ade of a boot and shoemaker, and afterwards carried on business 
 at No. 28 Lady Lane, Paisley. He commenced rhyming about 1S40. The 
 shop of William Murdoch became the meeting place of similar gifted sons like 
 himself, admirers of Tannahill, such as Hugh Macdonald, Alexander Smith, 
 author of the Life Drama; Archibald M'Kay, historian of Kilmarnock; James 
 Yool, poet, Paisley, author of " How ardently my bosom glows ;" J. M'Inty re, 
 poet, Glasgow, author of "The Scottish Emigrant;" and also with other 
 kindred poetical and literary persons. William Murdoch was also well ac- 
 quainted with the late Matthew Tannahill, brother of the poet, from 
 whose lips he heard many reminiscences of his brother, which Murdoch 
 afterwards wrought into racy articles, and inserted them in the local perio- 
 dicals of the day. The above "Versos to the memory of Tannahill" first 
 appeared in J. M'Intyre's publication of his poems called "The Emigrant's 
 Hope,"printed inPaisley in 1854. The brother of Murdoch, clothier in Saint 
 John's, New Brunswick, having required a person to take charge of his 
 business, sent for his brother, andhe left Paisley in 1854. His literary tastes 
 afterwards caused him to enter into a newspaper stafE in his adopted coimtry. 
 In 1860 Murdoch published a volume of "Poems and Songs of Scotland" 
 and in 1872 he issued a new edition with additions. — Sd. 
 
APPENDIX. 467 
 
 Once more I see thy ravine deep 
 
 Half hid among the trees ; 
 I see its crystal waters leap 
 From bank to bank, while down they sweep 
 Through channel— rooky, dusk, and steep, 
 
 Again I feel thy breeze ; 
 Once more the Norland hiUs I greet. 
 Where snows defy the summer's heat. 
 
 Now to thy broom and heather bell 
 
 The bees with rapture cling ; 
 Again from glen, wood, rock, and fell, 
 Thy countless feather'd minstrels swell 
 Their notes of love, tiQ sky and dell 
 
 With'heav'nly echoes ring ; 
 Again I hear thy streamlets' wail, 
 And fragrance from thy flowers inhale. 
 
 AD these with raptur'd breast I haU ; 
 
 But where is now the Bard, 
 Whose strains, borne on the passing gale. 
 Were heard afar o'er hill and vale. 
 Sweet as the eastern nightingale ; 
 
 Ala^a ! no more is heard 
 Those magic sounds that sooth'd the soul. 
 And waft his flame to Nature's goal. 
 
 Hail ! glorious and immortal shade ! 
 
 Hail gentle TannahiU ! 
 Thy dust is with thy fathers laid ; 
 But with'ring time can never fade 
 Those laurel wreaths thyself hast made. 
 
 Age makes them greener still ; 
 Great nature, changeless, holds her sway. 
 But all that's mortal fades away. 
 
468 APPENDIX. 
 
 STANZAS 
 
 TO THE MEMOKY OF TANNAHILL, 
 
 By Duncan M'N&l. * 
 
 Though days on days .and years on years have pasa'd 
 
 And been into oblivion's waters cast, 
 
 The harp hangs on the willows silent stiill — 
 
 The harp once strung by thee, lov'd TannahiU ; 
 
 No hand melodious sweeps the silver string. 
 
 To make our woods and glens with jnusio ring, 
 
 To sing in pathos sweet, of flowery braes, 
 
 Of love, of friendship, and their happy days,. 
 
 With smooth notes stealing o'er the vale and riU, 
 
 Like the melodious chants of TannahiU. 
 
 Dear to my heart, sinoel childhood's happy days. 
 Since first I roam'd " Gleniffer's flowery braes," 
 Since "Gloomy Winter" first my ear did charm. 
 And fiU'd my teart with feelings pure and warm ; 
 The touch of pity — oh ! how dear to me— 
 That glows and swells in " Bonnie Craigielee ;" 
 The " Woodlan Burn," and cozy " Dusky Glen," 
 With music thrill my raptured ears again j 
 And ever in my soul, till death make stiU 
 This heart, thy strains shall dwell, lov'd TannahiU. 
 
 * Duncan M'Neil, was bom In Renfrew on 12tli December, 1830, and 
 being the first child baptized in Renfrew Church after the induction of the 
 the Bev. Duncan M'Farlane, he was named ^d registered Duncan MTarlane 
 M'Neil. His parents came to Paisley, and hje was brought up In that 
 town and apprenticed to a baker there in the year 1846 for six years. 
 In 1860 this son of toil published a small volume of 144 pages titled 
 " The Reformed Drunkard, or the Adventure on the Muir, with other 
 poems and songs," from which we selected the above ode. He removed to 
 Glasgow that year, and has continued in his employment of an operative 
 baker. We met him in October last and had a very pleasant conversation 
 and we hope this notice will recall to him youth's happy days and the pleas- 
 ant hours he spent at his own dear fireside with the Muse. — Ed. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Oh ! could I touch thy lyre and catch its strain, 
 
 I'd make our gleiis and woodlands wake again, 
 
 And wrap my soul in spells to last jtor aye 
 
 Till woods, and glens, and braes, were swept away ; 
 
 Not like the soaring eagle would I steer, 
 
 But sing like the low linnet on the brier. 
 
 That chants its modest song mid dews and flowers, 
 
 By crystal stream and fragrant shady bowers ; 
 
 Ye muses ! grant my fervent pray'r, and' fill 
 
 My breast with feelings like lov'd Tannahill. 
 
 THE HAUNTS OP TANNAHILL. 
 By James Archibald.* 
 
 Read at the celebration of the 98th Tannahill Anniversary, Paisley, 3rd 
 June, 18?2. 
 
 I love Gleniffer's classic biaes. 
 The yeUow broom and heather-bell. 
 
 Where Phoebus leaves his ling'ringl rays 
 Eie he departs, and bids farewell. 
 
 I love the gurgling mountain stream. 
 
 The rocky, glen and rowan tree. 
 Where grassy banks with wild-flowei'B teem. 
 
 And woodland songsters whirring flee. 
 
 ■* James Archibald, -weaver, Queen Street, was bom there in 1817. His 
 father removed in 1820 to the cottage No. 6 Queen Street, Paisley, where he 
 resided till 1845, being the same house in which Tannahill was brought up. 
 James occupied the same bedstead that Tannahill. slept in, and latterly the 
 same loomstead that the Poet had occupied. It now appears from this 
 poem he likewise loved the same haunts which had been frequented by 
 Tannahill. All these combined circumstances may have excited our excel- 
 lent friend to cultivate poetry, and we are certain he has written the verses 
 with true sincerity and love for the gentle, modest Tannahill.— £(2. 
 
470 APPENDIX. 
 
 I love the auld grey granite fold, 
 Where shelter'd Robin stood alone, 
 
 Whilst lightnings flashed and thunder roll'd. 
 That made the stately oak to groan, 
 
 I love the lonely mossy rose, 
 
 That blinks obscurely neath the thorn, — 
 In native beauty stUl it grows. 
 
 Though isolated and forlorn. 
 
 I love to see " the midges dance," 
 In merry glee " aboon the burn ;" 
 
 On lightsome airy wings they prance. 
 And never know what 'tis to mourn. 
 
 I love to wander forth unseen. 
 Beside sweet flowery Craigielee, 
 
 Where Bobin met at dewy e'en 
 Wi' Mary, near the trysting tree. 
 
 1 love the homely, lowly cot, 
 
 Which soulptur'd art may laugh to scorn ; 
 For haUow'd is the humble spot 
 
 Where Nature's sweetest bard was born. 
 
 O gentle, modest TannahiU, 
 Thy name's engraven on my heart ; 
 
 Though thou art gone, I love thee still. 
 With love, too, that shall ne'er depart. 
 
APPENDIX. 471 
 
 SKETCHES OF the PAESTTBR of the LIKENESS 
 
 AND THE 
 
 EDITORS OF THE EARLIER EDITIONS AND 
 BIOGRAPHIES OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 Painting, 1810. — By John Morton. 
 
 Edition, 1807.— „ The Author. 
 
 „ 1815. — „ John Muib. 
 
 Biography, 1815. — „ William M'Laebn. 
 
 Edition, 181.9. — ,, William Motherwell. 
 
 ,, 1822. — „ Robert Smith. 
 
 „ 1833. — „ Alexander Laing. 
 
 „ 1838.— ,, P. A. Ramsay. 
 
 PORTRAITS AND ENGRAVINGS OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 Jolin Morton, painter of tlie original likeness of the Poet, was 
 born in Paisley in 1775. He received the common education of a 
 tradesman's son, and was brought up to the trade of a weaver. 
 He possessed considerable taste for drawing and painting, and a 
 genius for mechanism. His taste for the KneArts led him 
 to form ornamental figures to be wrought in the weaving of 
 cloth, and his ingenuity enabled him to make improvements on 
 the weaving loom and implements. He also tried his hand at* 
 portrait and landscape painting, and produced specimens fair 
 enough for a seU-taught artist. He belonged to the Baptist 
 Church, Storie Street, and took an active interest in the affairs 
 of the congregation ;. he was also one of the Exhorters in the 
 Church, and precentor to the Congregation. 
 
 Mr. Morton being an acquaintance of the Tannahill family, 
 and no likeness having been taken of the Poet in his lifetime, 
 he, with the sanction of the relatives, made a deliueation 
 of the features of the Bard the day after his jiecease. It was a 
 four-inch miniature pencil profile likeness, and it lay over in that 
 state for several years until a proposal was made to publish an 
 engraving of it. It was then carefully examined and retouched 
 by Mr. Morton, under the advice of the Poet's brothers, James 
 
472 APPENDIX. 
 
 and Matthew Tannahill, and with the assistance of Mr. William 
 Porteous, teacher of drawing in Paisley. On being completed, 
 the portrait was pronounced by the brothers and by persons who 
 had been acquainted with the Poet to be a true and striking like- 
 ness of Robert TannahUI, AH the engravings, original paintings, 
 and busts of Tannahill were either copied from this likeness, or 
 taken from copies. And although -the public are chiefly in- 
 debted to Mr. Morton for preserving the only authentic likeness 
 of Tannahill, yet extreniely little has been said respecting the 
 versatile genius of the painter. 
 
 John Morton, while engaged as an operative weaver, invented 
 the barrel revolving ten box lay, but it was shortly thereafter 
 superseded by another invention, the perpendicular sliding or 
 drop ten box lay. About 1812 he entered the evening class of 
 Mr. William Porteous, teacher of drawing. Inkle Street, Paisley, 
 and received instructions in the art of pattern designing. Having 
 made considerable proficiency, he was engaged as an assist- 
 ant with Mr. Porteous, and continued in his employment 
 for two years. He then commenced business on his own account. 
 In these days flower drawers for manufacturers' designs were 
 considered capable of Portrait and Landscape painting, which 
 they executed at their leisure hours. John Morton drew a view 
 of the mansion of Mr. Daniel Maofarlane, Canal Bank, and also 
 a view of the Town of Paisley. About 1819 he commenced the 
 business of manufacturing and tambouring or embroidering. 
 With the view of facilitating the work, Mr. Morton invented a 
 tambouring machine, which was wrought nearly on the same 
 principle as the sewing machine of the present day. He removed 
 to Glasgow to accommodate his chief customers, who carried on 
 business in that city, and there he added the fringing of shawls 
 to his business, for which he invented a machine to facilitate the 
 work. He had no children, but his wife was a willing and 
 valuable assistant in working out these inventions. Having 
 acquired a competency, he disposed of his business and 
 machines about 1831 or 1832. He retired to Dunoon to live at 
 his ease, and we recollect meeting in company Mr. Morton and 
 Mr. James Tannahill, the poet's brother, at Baggieburn, 
 Dunoon, in 1834, and conversing with them. Mr. Morton, now 
 of Marohburn, had no business to distract his mind, yet his mind 
 
APPENDIX. 473 
 
 was more troubled than ever. His active spirit could not rest in 
 retirement, and he devoted his whole time and means to the 
 whims of his genius. Painting, Poetry, and Music, were now 
 commenced in earnest. He also painted a miniature likeness 
 of himself similar to that of Tannahill, which is still in 
 existence. * Poetry next engaged his attention, and, being 
 a native of Paisley, he waS, of course, a born poet. He wrote 
 songs, composed music for them, and sung them himself. 
 He purchased a set of musical glasses, became a proficient' 
 player upon them, and frequently entertained his friends with 
 a tune. Musical instruments, he was of opinion, were not 
 properly constructed, and accordingly he commenced the making 
 of all kinds of musical instruments with improvements for his 
 own use. While in Ulasgow, Mr. Morton conceived the idea of 
 constructing a box of music to be called " The Universal Har- 
 monica," an instrument to combine a fuU band of musicians 
 playing upon wind and stringed instruments. He wrought at 
 this wonderful invention in Dunoon for ten years, but failed in 
 bringing it to perfection. His idol, instead of producing universal 
 harmony was a musical Babel, and was thrown aside. Wood 
 turning next took up his attention, and he turned out many 
 neat and pretty ornaments from all kinds of wood, brass, bones, 
 iron, and stone. Being near sighted, he made spectacles to fit 
 his own eyes, and having accomplished this successfully, he com- 
 menced making glasses for other people. During the two last 
 years of John Morton's Ufe, he was principally engaged in 
 Daguerreotyping, a name given to the original photographic 
 process introduced by its inventor M. Daguerre in 1839. 
 
 On 12th August, 1875, we made a pilgrimage to the Parish 
 Church yard of Dunoon, and saw the monumental tombstone 
 erected to the memory of the Painter of the original portrait of 
 Tann AHiiiL. It had a Ltbe cut in bold relief upon the pediment 
 with the following inscription below — 
 
 * This miniature, enclosed in a frame, is in possession of his grandniece 
 Mrs. Toung, 46 George Street, Tias\sy.—M. 
 
 k3 
 
474 APPENDIX. 
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 
 JOHN MORTON, 
 
 WHO DIED 30th septbmbek, 1851, 
 
 AGED 75 YEARS. 
 
 THIS STONE 
 
 IS BKECTBD OVER HIS REMAINS, 
 
 BY A PEW FRIENDS, 
 
 AS A TRIBUTE OP RESPECT AND ESTEEM 
 
 FOR HIS MANY ESTIMABLE QUALITIES. 
 
 Engravings of TannahUl. 
 The first copperplate engraving of Tannahill's profile por- 
 trait shewing the left side was published by John Lawrence, jun. , . 
 bookseller. Paisley, on IsJ AprU, 1819, and the same portrait, is 
 the frontispiece of the Harp of Benfrewshiri published that year. 
 The names "J. Morton," and "K. Scott, sculpt., Edin.," are 
 engraved on it. Four editions of this portrait have been published 
 with each of the editions of 1822, 1825, 1838, and 1846, of 
 Tannahill's works, two of them shewing the right side, the 
 next the left side, as in the original, and the remaining one the 
 front or facial view of the Poet. The portrait in this volume is 
 the same as in the Edition of 1838, and is considered the best 
 likeness of Tannahill. 
 
 Oil Paintings. 
 Two full bust size portraits of Tannahill in oil were painted 
 from Morton's drawing, both said to be original paintings, but 
 we suppose the originality consisted in the size and the oil colours. 
 One was painted bj' Mr. William Beith, flower drawer, Paisley, 
 a member of, and for the Paisley Literary and Convivial Associa- 
 tion. .Beith was bom in Paisley on 17th August, 1811, the 
 Association instituted in 1814, the painting executed about 1833, 
 and he died on 14th September, 1853. On the club dissolving, 
 about 1856, this painting, along with several other paintings of 
 celebrated poets and the relics of the club, were sold. The 
 Tannahill painting was purchased by Mr. William MacKenzie, 
 governor of the Paisley Hospital. It was exhibited by Dr. 
 Taylor on the centenary day of the Poet's birth, and much ad- 
 mired by the thousands who passed the doctor's residence. 
 
APPENDIX. 475 
 
 The other was painted by Mr. Thomas Carswell, a Greenock 
 artist, for Mr. IVlarshall of Ladyburn, Greenock, who had been 
 a schoolmate of Tanjstahill. This was partly done from the 
 engraved portrait in the Harp of Renfrewshire, and the remem- 
 brance by Marshall of his old school-fellow. We have been in- 
 formed it is a good likeness, and several copies have been taken 
 from it. Mr. Marshall carried on business at 43 Moss Street, 
 Paisley, 55 years ago. 
 
 BvM of Tannahill. 
 
 In 1873, Daniel llichmond, Esq., M.D., presented to the 
 Paisley Free Museum a bust of Tannahill executed in 1845 
 under the supervision of the Poet's nearest relations and friends, 
 and which had received the imprimatur of the Artist who had 
 drawn the Portrait of Tannahill. That bust was the chef d' 
 muvre of the late John Fillans, sculptor, and the following holo- 
 graph draft of a letter by Mr. Fillans to the Doctor was found 
 among the papers of the sculptor after his death, giving his own 
 account of the circumstances connected with the modelling of the 
 bust. 
 
 "Dr. Richmond, — Sir, In compUance with your request, I 
 have noted down a few incidents which occurred while I was 
 modelling the bust of Robbet Tannahill, one of the sweetest 
 minstrels who ever strung the lyre. His beautiful songs have 
 added a lustre to the lyrics of his native land. Therefore, it 
 may be somewhat satisfactory to the admirers of the bard to get 
 a detailed account of the manner in which I accomplished the 
 arduous but pleasant task ; also, to know the opinions of those 
 who were his contemporaries, — some of whom have passed away 
 from amongst us, and some are still living, ^who gave me their 
 opinion of the bust whUe I was progressing with it, I have no 
 doubt they will give their testimony if required. 
 
 " In the year 1845, my brother James, the sculptor, had exten- 
 sive commissions in the West of Scotland. Amongst them was 
 the bust of the philanthropic and indefatigable John Alston, who 
 spent much of his valuable time in mitigating the sufferings and 
 elevating the mind of the indigent blind. It was executed in 
 marble, and. placed in the Blind Asylum in Glasgow ; and with 
 the view of facilitating those commissions, -he requested me to 
 
476 APPENDIX. 
 
 come from London to assist him, so that it might enable him to 
 return to his study in London much sooner, for the purpose of 
 working out in marble those works of art which he modelled in 
 Scotland. He had his temporary study in Glasgow at that 
 period, while we resided in Paisley. While I was there, I 
 resolved to model the bust of Taunahill ; therefore, I embraced 
 the opportunity of gaining all the information I could get con- 
 cerning the features of the poet's face. I was informed that 
 there was no likeness of him except the profile likeness taken by 
 John Morton while TannahUl was lying dead. Mr. Morton was 
 an amateur, and had but little practice ; however, he knew the 
 bard well when'alive, and did all he could to make it like him. 
 StiU, it had its defects. I had a strong desire to model a bust of 
 him while I could get the opinions of those who knew him, and 
 for that purpose I got introduced to Mr. Matthew Tannahill, the 
 poet's brother, who very kindly gave me all the information he 
 could. He pointed out the defects in the engraving of the 
 profile by Morton, and vice-versa, consequently it enabled me to 
 block out the bust before I showed it to him ; and when he saw 
 it, he was astonished at the progress I had made. That encour- 
 aged me to proceed with it. He kindly requested me to model it 
 in his house : by so doing, I profited much from the remarks 
 made by Mrs. Tannahill, who had a very vivid recollection of 
 the poet's features. When I had made the likeness to please 
 them, I took it down to Dunoon, and showed it to Mr. John 
 Morton, who recognised the likeness at once, and said, ' This is 
 Tannahill ; I am quite delighted with it ; however, you must 
 own that had I not taken the first likeness of him, you could 
 never have taken that one. ' I replied, ' I am quite willing to give 
 you all the praise ; all that I want to know is how far I have 
 succeeded in making a bust of him, which requires to be seen in 
 every view.' 'Well,' he replied, 'it is like in every view, and 
 it is invaluable to the world as a likeness of E,obert Tannahill. ' " 
 
 The document, of which the above is a copy, presented to the 
 Museum, is the holograph of John Fillans. 
 
 Dr. Richmond also presented the "Tannahill Bracket," a 
 work of art of great merit an.d beauty, executed by Miss Wilhel- 
 mina Fillans, daughter of Mr. James Fillans. The architectural 
 part of this bracket was designed by Mr. William Stewart 
 
APPENDIX. 477 
 
 architect and poet, the floral part was designed by Miss Pillans, 
 and the whole modelled by her. The floral portion is most 
 elaborate, embracing a nest with a laverock feeding her young 
 brood, surrounded by siller saughs, feathery brackens, seggans, 
 crawflowers, &c.- Miss FUlans had a laverock's nest and the 
 photograph of every flower, frond, and leaf meant to be repre- 
 sented gathered from the Braes o' Gleniflfer, constantly before 
 her eyes. The bust, letter, and bracket were handed Over to 
 the Free Museum, and can be seen there. 
 
 EDITION OF 1807. 
 KoBEET Tannahill, On 19th January, 1807, issiied printed pro- 
 posals for publishing a volume of his Poems and Songs, in which 
 he gave a specimen of the typography, from the Inter- 
 lude of the " Soldier's Return." His acquaintances exerted 
 themselves to obtain subscribers' names, and they generally re- 
 turned well filled sheets. The volume, a I2mo. of 175 pages, 
 was issued in May, 1807, at the price of 3s. The following are 
 the title page, dedication, and prefatory advertisement : — 
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 THE- 
 
 SOLDIER'S BETURN, To Mb. William M'Larek. 
 
 A Sib, 
 
 Scottish InterlwU, m Two Acts; With gratitude, I reflect on the 
 
 WITH OTHER happy hours we have spent together ; 
 
 Poems and Songs. and in testimony of the high regard 
 
 I entertain for your many worthy and 
 
 amiable qualitdes, I take the liberty 
 
 of Inscbibing to you this little 
 
 BY ROBERT TANNAHILL. volume. Several of the pieces con- 
 t.'iined in it you have already seen, 
 
 and if the others afford you any 
 
 pleasure it will add much to the 
 
 paisley: happiness of 
 
 Printed by Stephen foung. Bowling Dear Sib, 
 
 Green. , With true respect and sincerity, 
 
 Tour Friend 
 
 1807. ROBERT TANNAHILL. 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The Author of the following Poems, from a hope 
 that they possess some little merit, has ventured to 
 publish them ; yet fully sensible of that blinding 
 partiality with which writers are apt to view their 
 own productions, he offers them to the Public with 
 unfeigned diffidence. When the man of taste and 
 
478 APPENDIX. 
 
 discrimination reads them, he will no doubt find 
 many passages that might have been better, but, 
 his censures may be quaJified with the remembrance 
 that they are the effusions of an unlettered me- 
 chanic, whose hopes, as a poet, extend no further 
 than to be reckoned respectable among the minor 
 Bards of his country. 
 
 Several of the Songs have been honoured with 
 original Music by Mr. Ross, of Aberdeen, and others 
 by Mr. Smith, Paisley ; the remainder were mostly 
 written to suit favourite Scotch and Gaelic Airs that 
 particularly pleased the Author's fancy. 
 
 The Inteblude was undertaken by desire of the 
 late Mr. A-rchibald PoUock, comedian, but, alas ! 
 ere it was well begun, his last Act was played. He 
 \^as a worthy man, and died deeply regretted by 
 all who knew him. 
 
 The Author returns his sincere thanks to his 
 numerous subscribers, particularly to those friends 
 who have so warmly interested themselves in pro- 
 moting the present Publication ; and with a due 
 sense of their favours, he has, only farther, to 
 solicit their indulgence in the perusal of his volume, 
 assuring them that their kindness, in the present 
 instance, shall long be felt with gratitude, and ever 
 esteemed among the first pleasures of his memory. 
 
 The Author. 
 
 EDITIOlSr OF 1815, No. 1. 
 
 The first edition of Tannahill's poems and songs having been 
 long out of print, and numerous applications made for them, 
 Hugh Crichton, bookseller. Paisley, resolved to publish a new 
 edition. He engaged Mr. John Muir, surgeon, Smithhills Street, 
 Paisley, a poet and gentleman well qualified for the office of 
 Editor and to write the biography of Tannahill. We have 
 already stated that Tannahill destroyed every scrap of his 
 poetry he could lay his hands upon shortly before his death ; but 
 he had been in the habit of sending several copies of his pieces to 
 his acquaintances. These were collected and submitted to the 
 Editor. From these he selected 24 which, with 69 pieces out 
 of the 97 in the first Edition, made up a 12mo volume of 2 
 
APPENDIX. 479 
 
 pages, with xxiv. pages of a biography ; containing the following 
 title page and dedication : — 
 
 POEMS 
 
 SONGS, DISDIOATION. 
 
 Chi^y in the Scottish Dialect, 
 
 By Robert Tannahill. to 
 
 AUGUSTA, 
 
 A Notice respecting the life and JVri- Countess of Glasgow, 
 
 ttngs of the Author is pr^ed. this volume 
 
 Is Respectfully Inscribed 
 
 - LONDON: BY 
 
 Published by Gale, CurtlB, and Fenner. THE EDITOR. 
 A. Constable and Co., Edinburgh ; 
 
 And H. Crlchton, Paisley. Paisley, 1st March, 1815. 
 
 1815. 
 
 In looking at the Indices at the commencement of the present 
 volume the new pieces added by the respective Editors can 
 easily be distinguished from those published by the poet himself ; 
 and the pieces left out of this edition can be seen in the same 
 manner. The Countess was the third daughter of James, 13th 
 Earl of Errol, and wife of George, 4th Earl of Glasgow. 
 
 EDITION OF 1815, No. 2, AND EDITION OF 1817. 
 
 About the end of the same year (1815) another edition entitled 
 the "Third Edition,'' was printed in different type, binders' 
 marks, and publishers' names, containing 264 pages, having 70 
 pieces from the first edition, 24 from the- second edition, and 14 
 additional, making in all 108 pieces. This last edition probably 
 did not seU, and in 1817, a new title page was substituted with 
 the words, "Fourth Edition with considerable additions," and 
 28 pages of an appendix containing 7 additional pieces, making a 
 total of 115 pieces. The volume contained 288 pages altogether. 
 The dedication, with the date, 1st March, 1815, and the 
 Author's life in both of these editions are verbatim copies of 
 those in the 1815 Edition, No. 1. ■ The whole of these editions 
 are 12mo, aad were printed by John Neilson, Paisley. 
 
 James Muir, the Editor, was bom in the Townhead of Kil- 
 marnock, about the year 1775, and was educated at the 
 Grammar School of that town. He afterwards attended the 
 Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh as a student of Divinity. 
 
480 APPENDIX. 
 
 Robert Watt, a lad from the neighbourhood, was a student at 
 the same time, studying for the medical profession. James 
 Muir passed throu^ the classes with great distJBction. He 
 was a splendid Latin and Greek scholar, and he had also 
 acquired several of the modem languages which he could both 
 speak and write fluently. He, however, abandoned his inten- 
 tion of following the profession of the ministry, and com- 
 menced studying for the medical profession. In the meantime, 
 his companion Watt had obtained his Diploma from the 
 University of Glasgow, on 6th May, 1799, and commenced 
 business that year in SmithhUls Street, near the Old Bridge of 
 Paisley. The business of Mr. Watt having rapidly increased, 
 and Mr. Muir having obtained his Diploma, the former assumed 
 the latter as a, co-partner in 1801. In 1803, two Regiments of 
 Volunteers w.ere raised. Mr. James Muir was appointed 
 surgeon, and Robert M'Kechnie, assistant to the 1st Regiment; 
 and Mr. Robert Watt, surgeon, and Thomas Richmond, assistant 
 to the 2d Regiment. The University of Aberdeen conferred on 
 Mr. Watt the degree of M.D., and he removed to Glasgow in 
 1810. Dr. Watt was the author of several medical works, and 
 compiler of the celebrated Bibliotheca Britannica. In the year 
 1810 Mr. Muir married a Paisley lady. Miss Macfarlane, Canal 
 Bank, Mr. Muir was both a poet and a painter, and he con- 
 tributed several pieces to the periodicals of the period. As 
 already stated, he wrote the life of Tannahill, the manuscript 
 of which, written in a very neat hand for the printer, is still pre- 
 served, and is in possession of Mr. Archibald M'Kay, the histo- 
 rian of Kilmarnock. We applied to him for the loan of it, which 
 he at once kindly granted. In comparing the MS. with 
 the printed lite we observed that several paragraphs had been 
 suppressed, we suppose, to shorten it. Mr. Muir wrote a jeu d' 
 esprit " The Chief Priest of the Sanhedrim with a Lamentation 
 for Zion," "The Progress and Care of Melancholy," "The 
 Family of the Humanists" in 4 volumes (unfinished), and 
 "Home;" consisting of, 354 Spenserian stanzas. He excelled 
 in portrait painting, and we saw several of his miniatures 
 of distinguished characters, which are very artistically exe- 
 cuted. The following anecdote respecting the biographer wUl 
 be found in "The Laird of Logan," headed "Two Halves 
 
APPENDIX. 461 
 
 Make a Whole." "The Jate Dr. Muir, surgeon in Paialey, 
 in cue of his visiting rounds called upon a lady well known 
 for parsimony. The lady, previous to the Dr. taking leave, 
 presented two very small glasses on a salver, each about 
 one third filled with wine, saying as she presented the 
 salver to him, ' port or white. Doctor," upon which the Dr , lift- 
 ing one of the glasses, poured its contents into the other and 
 drank the whole off, saying with great gravity as he smacked 
 his lips and returned the empty glasses, ' I generally take both!' " 
 Dr. Muir was acquainted with his townsman James Tannock, 
 mentioned in the Epistle to James Buchanan, No. 25, when 
 Tannock was in Paisley at that time painting portraits. Dr. 
 Muir, shortly before his death, when he was in bad health, 
 went to London to have his portrait painted by Tannock, who 
 had then become a celebrated artist. The portrait is stUl in 
 good preservation and we looked on it with considerable interest, 
 from our being engaged in writing this notice of the biographer. 
 F-. In May, 1812, Mr. James Peddle, teacher, Paisley, received a 
 letter from Mr. Alexander Wilson, American ornithologist, along 
 with three volumes of his Ornithology. We saw the draft of his 
 answer to the ornithologist acknowledging receipt, in which he 
 said, "Your Ornithology does you credit, and will insure you a 
 place in the annals of fame. Enclosed you will find letters I had 
 from-the Rev. Dr. Boog, and from Dr. James Muir of this place, 
 a gentleman celebrated for his taste in drawing, composition, 
 and. polite literature. I daresay you will feel gratified with the 
 approbation of two such competent judges.'' 
 
 Mr. Muir was also intimately acquainted with E. A. Smith, 
 the intimate friend of the poet, and he frequently met Smith 
 at the house of John Wilson, Esq., Hurlet, factor for the Earl of 
 Glasgow. The Editor, we presume, must have received his chief 
 information for writing the biography of Tannahill from his friend 
 Smith, a gentleman well versant with the every day life of the 
 Author from 1804. Mr. Muir died on 23d July, 1815, after a 
 severe and tedious illness, in the 40th year of his age. 
 
 l3 
 
482 APPENDIX. 
 
 LIFE OF TANNAHILL, 1815. 
 Ill March, 1815, there was issued printed proposals for pub- 
 lishing, by subscription, "A Life of the Renfrewshire Bard, 
 Robert TannahiU, by a Friend who enjoyed his confidence for 
 the last seven years of his life." The " Friend " in his proposals 
 said, "This work, it is presumed, will be found a pleasant and 
 necessary appendage to the writings of the Bard, as it will con- 
 tain some anecdotes hitherto unknown to the public, and serve 
 as a key to describe the incidents from which some of his most 
 popular poems and songs were written." It was further pro- 
 posed " to print a few copies on a paper corresponding as nearly 
 as possible to the new edition of his works, price Is. 6d." The 
 subscriptions warranted the publication, and the Biography 
 appeared with the following title page : — " The Life of the 
 Renfrewshire Bard, Robert TannahiU, author of Jessie, tJte Flow'r 
 Dumblane, Tlie Braes of Gleniffer, &c. Attached to the work 
 is an address delivered at the celebration of the Birth of Burns in 
 the year 1805 ■.^- 
 
 Let not ambition mock their useful toil, 
 ^heir homely joys and destiny obscure. 
 
 Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful smile. 
 The short and simple manners of the poor. 
 
 — €huy. 
 
 Paisley : Printed by J. NeUaon, 1815. " Although published 
 anonymously, it was well known at the time it was written by 
 William M'Laren, weaver and poet, a familiar acquaintance of 
 TannahiU, and the person to whom TannahiU dedicated the first 
 edition of his poems and songs. The Life contained thirty- 
 seven pages, and the Address eight pages. Several of the sub- 
 sequent Editions caUed it the Anonymous Life, but they could 
 appropriate several of the remarks contained in it without 
 acknowledgment. 
 
 WUliam M'Laren was born at Paisley in 1772, and was 
 brought up to the trade of a weaver. He and TannahiU became 
 famUiar acquaintances in 1803, and a warm friendship existed 
 between them. They were members of the same social club 
 which met in Allan Stewart's Sun Tavern, 12 High Street, 
 Paisley. Both were among the founders and the chief pro- 
 moters of the Paisley Barns' Anniversary Club in 1805 
 
APPENDIX. 483 
 
 M'Laren having been appointed president and Tannahill clerk 
 that year. M'Laren was possessed of literary ability, and' could 
 write both prose and poetry with ease and fluency. His style, 
 however, was flowery and grandiloquent, and he was very vain 
 of his abilities. A specimen of this can be seen in his address at 
 the toast of "The Memory of our Immortal Bard, Robert Burns, " 
 which he, as President of the Burns' Anniversary Club, proposed 
 at the first meeting of the club, and which was copied into the 
 minute book of the club, and published in an appendix of eight 
 pages to his life of TannahUl. M'Laren was the author of the 
 poems of "Emma, or the Cruel Father," and "Isabella, or the 
 Robbers," and several lyrical pieces of considerable merit. He 
 went to Ireland, and commenced business there, but his Scotch 
 liberalism brought him into trouble, and he returned to Paisley. 
 On 26th October, 1824, M'Laren published "The Calumniator 
 Uimiasked," a letter addressed to the Editor of the Wayfarer in 
 reply to his scurrilous and illiberal attack on the Editor of the 
 Paisley Advertiser, a 12mo, of twelve pages. John Eraser, 
 Editor of the Wayfarer, was the unsuccessful candidate for the 
 similar office of the Paisley Advertiser. The first number of the 
 Wayfarer was issued on the 2d, and that of the Advertiser on 
 9th October, 1824. The first four numbers of the Wayfarer 
 contained calunanious attacks on the personal character of 
 Goldie, the Editor of the Advertiser, and severe criticisms 
 on his volume of poems and songs. M'Laren, with the old fire 
 and ardour of a, poet, entered the arena to viadicate a brother 
 of the Muse, and unmercifully thrashed the calunmiator, and 
 finished the Wayfwrer, which, with a struggle, reached the seventh 
 number, and expired. M'Laren neglected his usual employment 
 to cultivate literature, which reduced his circumstances and 
 affected Ws position in society. He died 2nd May, 1832, in the 
 60th year of his age. 
 
 HARP OF RENFREWSHIRE.— 1819. 
 Mr. WUliam Motherwell, Sheriff-Clerk Depute of Renfrew- 
 shire under Mr. Robert Walkinshaw, edited the Harp of Ren- 
 frewshire in 1819, which contained, perhaps, the finest eoUec- 
 tiou of songs ever published. From the following circum- 
 
484 APPENDIX. 
 
 stances, we have included the Harp among the editions of Tanna- 
 hill's works. The frontispiece of that volume is the profile bust 
 of Robert Taunahill, painted by John Morton, engraved by Scott, 
 and published by Lawrence in 1819, mentioned in the bio- 
 graphical notice of John Morton. Thirty songs by Tannahill 
 have been inserted in the Harp, twenty-one of them for the 
 first time, and nine from former editions. There is an essay, 
 partly biographical, and partly critical, of the several poets, 
 whose songs had been selected for the volume; the portion re- 
 specting Tannahill, Mr. Motherwell admitted, was compiled from 
 previous biographies, and we will therefore not require to refer 
 to it further, than to say that the language is more elegant 
 than that of former writers ; a considerable portion of it con- 
 sists of a letter from Mr. R. A. Smith respecting the poet. The 
 critical remarks, both of Motherwell and Smith have been em- 
 bodied in notes to the respective songs in the present edition. 
 
 William Motherwell was born at Glasgow, on 13th October, 
 1797. He received his early education in Mr. William Leunie's 
 school, Edinburgh, in 1805, and entered the Grammar School of 
 Paisley early in 1809, under Mr. John Peddie. In 1812, when 
 he was 15 years of _ age, he was apprenticed to Mr. Robert 
 Walkinshaw, writer in Glasgow, a member of the Faculty of 
 Procurators, Paisley, to attend in the Sheriff-Clerk's office, 
 Paisley. On expiry of his apprenticeship, he was one of 
 several persons engaged by Robert Watt, M.D., compiler 
 of the "Bibliotheca Britannica," to assist in the completion of 
 that great work, as the compiler himself was in bad hesdth. 
 The manuscript of that important work, in 69 thick volumes 
 quarto, will be found in the Reference Department of the Paisley 
 Free Library. Mr. Motherwell was appointed Sheriff-Clerk 
 Depute in May, 1819, and held that situation till 1829. During 
 the greater part of that period he lodged in the house then^ 
 No. 82, now No. 38 on the east side of Moss Street, the old 
 entailed mansion house, of the entailed estate of Merksworth, 
 the entrance to which was by a quaint-looking large iron gate 
 at the south gable, hung on two huge rustic stone pillars, with a 
 large garden behind descending down to the river Cart. Both 
 the mansion house and garden had been acquired by an Act of 
 Parliament for the erection of a Jail and Bridewell and the 
 
APPENDIX. , 485 
 
 County and Municipal buildings, the whole of the stones used in 
 these erections being carted through the antique gateway. We 
 recollect Mr. Motherwell from 1820, and first spoke to him that 
 year in the warehouse of old George Caldwell, bookseller, Dyers 
 Wynd, when both of us were purchasing chap books. He was 
 a little stout man, and wore a broad brimmed hat like a Quaker ; 
 on his leaving, old G-eorge naively remarked, " He is a bit 
 curious body, and we ca him the Tachet. " 
 
 Mr. Motherwell's antiquarian knowledge, particularly of the 
 CDunty of Henfrew, was very extensive, and he was the only 
 person in his time in Paisley who pursued the study of ancient 
 lore and documents. We imagine his residence in the mansion 
 of the Maxwells of Merksworth, with its ancient rustic pillars, 
 and quaint iron gate through which he obtained ish and entry 
 daily, and his assistance at Watt's "Bibliotheca Brittanioa," 
 had a 'certain effect in directing his studies into the path of 
 antiquarian literature. In the year 1824 an important case was 
 raised by the vassals of the Monastery of Paisley and owners of 
 booking lands against the Town Council of Paisley as Superiors 
 before the Court of Session, and Mr. Motherwell was employed to 
 decipher and translate several of the old Latin charters, and par- 
 ticularly the second volume of the CLartulary of the Monastery 
 from 1488 to 1559. To illustrate his researches, he, with 
 the assistance of others, made out a plan of Old Paisley from 
 1488 to 1511, showing the burghal, outfield, and common land. 
 The case was decided on 29th June, 1829, against the vassals, 
 and in favour of the bookers. 
 
 Mr. Motherwell very early dedicated himself to literature. 
 He devoted his mind chiefly to the ancient poetry of Scotland, 
 and succeeded in placing himself in the foremost rank of the 
 minor bards of Caledonia. In 1818, when hie was twenty-one 
 years of age, he contributed several pieces to " The Visitor^ or 
 Literary Miscellany, original and selected, " a Gtreenock periodical. 
 In 1819, The Hatrp of Renfrewshire, was edited by him. In 
 1824, Benfrenvshire Characters and Scenery : a poem in 
 three hundred and sixty -five cantos,* by Isaac Brown, late 
 
 * Althougli tlio title page bore that there was a canto for every day in 
 the year, only thu first canto was published. — Ed. ^ 
 
486 JiPPBNDIX. 
 
 manufacturer in the Plunkin* of Paisley," was published. It 
 was » 12mo, with ten pages of introduction, canto first of 
 twenty-two pages, and antiquarian notes of twenty-eight pages, 
 with a considerable twinkling of fun in the whole of the produc- 
 tion. The ingenious hand who had framed the delectable mor- 
 ceau was so evident that he who runs may read. It must be 
 reprinted with the name of the author — Mothebwell. 
 
 MotherweU had a very facile pencil for pourtraying persons 
 in the style of Kay's " Caricatures ;" and we have seen him 
 frequently at a dreary criminal trial make pen-and-ink sketches 
 of the panel at the bar, his counsel, or a curious-looking 
 juryman. The wall of the Sheriflf-Clerk's Office, near the 
 fire-place, he covered with clever sketches of Paisley characters, 
 drawn with the charred end of a brimstone spunk, — for lucifer 
 matches had not been invented. He engrossed the Instrument 
 of Sasine of the lands of Ardgowan in favour of the late Sir 
 Michael Shaw Stewart of Blackball, Baronet, when he succeeded 
 his father in 1825, — a beautiful specimen of his peculiar penman- 
 ship. In , those days, sasines commenced with the invocation 
 " In the Name of God, Amen;" and in this instance, the initial 
 letter came half down the folio, and was most elaborately illus- 
 trated with curious faces, similar to those afterwards adopted in 
 the title page of the comic serial. Punch. 
 
 In 1827, Motherwell's "Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modem, 
 with an Historical Introduction and Notes," appeared, and placed 
 
 * Note by Motherwell (the author j. — " The street called Plunkin is, by the 
 genteel, denomxnAted Orchard Street. What the etymology of Plwnkin is, 
 may be aa difficult (for ought I know) to resolve as the etymology of 
 Paisley itself, and that is sufficiently puzzling. Both of them might pose 
 Dean Swift, who was fruitful enough in devising whimsical etymologies. 
 The Causeyside was at one time a small clachan in the neighbourhood of 
 Paisley, and took its name from its vicinity to the Roman Causeway which 
 was at this place. It is now a street of manufacturers' houses." 
 
 The ancient orchard of the Abbey, containing six acres of ground, was 
 situated here before the new garden was formed at the Abbey in 1484 ; 
 hen ce the name - Orchard Street. Before the roadway was made, there were 
 deep holes in the street which filled with water every shower of rain. In- 
 stead of "posing Dean Swift," we consulted Dr. Jamieson's Scottish 
 Dictionary, and he defines— " Piimiin.— The sound made by a heavy body 
 taUing into water." See Note to No. W.—Bd, 
 
APPENDIX. 487 
 
 our distinguished antiquarian among the celebrities of ballad 
 literature. It was a laborious work, and he exerted all his 
 energies in producing a volume which would certainly bring him 
 into fame.* 
 
 In January, 1828, the Paisley Magaane was commenced, 
 and edited by the able pen of Motherwell. It was completed in 
 thirteen numbers, forming a handsome Svo volume of 700 
 pages. The articles were greatly diversified, consisting of 
 antiquities, biography, history, poetry, and fiction, — the 
 greater number of them, particularly the antiquarian and 
 poetical, being contributed by the Editor himself. This magazine 
 has maintained the pre-eminence obtained from the versatile pen 
 of its Editor, and when offered for sale always commands com- 
 petition, and we have seen it bring as high a sum as one pound 
 fifteen shillings . 
 
 In 1828 Mr. Motherwell published " Certain Curious Poems 
 written at the close of the xviith or beginning of the xviiith 
 century, on a variety of subjects, local and political, principally 
 from the pen of James M'Alpie, Sheriff Clerk of Renfrewshire, 
 anno MDCXCIV with a few pieces by other ingenious hands." 
 It is an 8vo, containing 4 pages of an advertisement, with the 
 initials of the Editor W. M., and 42 pages of the poems. Only 
 30 copies were printed. In the February number of the Paisley 
 Magazine, the Editor reviewed the volume issued by the Editor 
 of the "Curious Poems." At that time, and even at the present 
 day, a belief prevails that if Motherwell wrote Isaac Brown's 
 poem, he also wrote James M'Alpie's. We have always main- 
 tained they were not written by Mr. Motherwell, but by 
 M'Alpie. The language of the "Curious Poems" is so coarse and 
 vulgar, that the refined taste of the Editor could not possibly 
 have descended to compose them, and circumstances are noticed 
 that could not have been known to the Editor, Mr. Motherwell, 
 at that time. There is no use of following the matter further, 
 as Mr. Hector the present attentive Sheriff Clerk, who has 
 arranged all the documents in the office, and published papers 
 on the "County Records," found a few more similar curious 
 
 * In 1873, a second edition o£ this valuable work waa issued by the 
 present publisher.— SiZ. 
 
488 APPENDIX. 
 
 poems with allusions to names in the published poems, which 
 had escaped the lynx eye of Mr. Motherwell. This now sets all 
 dubiety at rest. We think James M'Alpie would be in the 
 Sheriflf Clerk's oflSce, under Francis Sempill of Beltrees, Sherifif 
 of Renfrewshire, who died in 1682, and who^was a Jacobite song 
 writer. When a copy of these "Curious Poems" is brought to 
 public sale, the competition is keen ; and we have seen them 
 sell as high as one pound eleven shillings and sixpence. 
 
 Mr. Motherwell was one of the seventy-four original proprie- 
 tors of the Paisley Advertiser. He succeeded WiUiam Kennedy, 
 second Editor, — author of "The Arrow and the Eose," and a 
 volume of poems entitled "FitfulFaneiea,":— as third Editor. His 
 first paper was published on 24th May, 1828, and the last on 9th 
 October, 1830, the seventh anniversary of its establishment. On 
 the retirement of Mr. James M 'Queen, Editor of the Glasgow 
 Courier, Mr. Motherwell was appointed Editor, and his first 
 Courier was published on 2nd February, 1 830, and his last on 31st 
 October, 1835. He also contributed articles in 1832 to The Day, 
 and among these a, aeries of humorous papers entitled " Memoirs 
 of Peter Pirnie, a Paisley Bailie." In the end of that year he 
 collected all his scattered poetical pieces into a volume, and 
 published them with the title of ' ' Poems Narrative and Lyrical. " 
 
 Mr. Motherwell had been collecting materials to write the life 
 of Tannahill, but he did not live to overtake that object. 
 From the manner in which he expressed himself respecting the 
 poet in the essay in the ffarp of BenfrewsMre, the -biography 
 would have been written with taste and discriminatitjn. 
 
 Mr. Motherwell was taken ill when he was enjoying himself at 
 a friend's house on Hallowe'en, and Messrs. Robert M'Nish (the 
 Modern Pythagorean) and P. A. Ramsay accompanied him home, 
 and parted with him about 11 o'clock. The following morning, 
 1st November, 1835, about four o'clock, he was struck with a 
 violent shock of apoplexy, and expired at eight o'clock, in the 
 thirty-seventh year oflis age. He was interred in the Glasgow 
 Necropolis, where a Monument, after a design by James 
 FiUans, sculptor, has been erected to his memory, bearing the 
 following inscription — 
 
APPENDIX. 489 
 
 ERECTED 
 BY ADMIKEES OF THE POEl'IO GENIUS OF 
 
 WILLIAM MOTHERWELL, 
 
 WHO DIED 1st NOVEMBER, 1835, AGED 38 YEAES. 
 
 "not as a eecoed he laoketh a stone! 
 'tis a pond debt to the singer we've known — 
 peoop that our love foe his name hath not flown 
 with the frame perishing — 
 that we are cherishing 
 
 PEELINGS AKIN TO THE LOST POBT'S OWN. 
 
 1822 EDITIOK 
 Robert Smith, bookseller and auctioneer, Orr Square, Paisley, 
 published the next edition, an 18mo. of 144 pages (a reprint 
 of the Author's edition of 1807), — printed by W. Falconer, 
 Glasgow: 
 
 THE 
 
 SOLDIEH'S RETURN, 
 
 A The volume contained a woodcut 
 
 Scottish Interlude 
 
 In Two Acts, Bust of the Poet, in profile, showing 
 
 POEMS AND SONGS the right side of the face. There was 
 Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, 
 
 also a well-condensed Biography of 
 
 BY 
 
 EGBERT TAKNAHILL. two pages of the Author, compiled 
 
 To which is Prefixed an Account of from previous biographers, and very 
 the Author. 
 
 ■ neatly expressed ; -but by whom 
 
 paisley: 
 Printed for Robert Smith. written, wo could not discover. — Ed. 
 
 1822. 
 
 E. BeUchambers, in his General Biographical Dictionary, con- 
 taining Lives of the most eminent persons, of all ages and na- 
 tions, published in London in 1835, in noticing Tannahill has 
 given the Life in this edition verbatim et literatim, without 
 acknowledgment. Robert Smith, the publisher, son of William 
 Smith, weaver, was born on August 10th, 1768. WiUiam Smith 
 was proprietor of the two storey thatched house (No. 81 Main 
 or High Street, Paisley) situated on the west side of the Hospital 
 or Alm a House, vulgarly called the Wee Steeple or Pend close, 
 m3 
 
490 APPENDIX. 
 
 from the arched passage through the Steeple. The Almshouse, 
 built in 1618, was erected on the west side of one of the 
 ancient Ports of the old Burgh erected in 1490, and called the 
 West Pokt, and the continuation of the Main Street westward 
 from the West Port to the Wellmeadow was called the Town- 
 head. William Smith was a buirdly man of six feet high, and 
 died at the age of 103, hut his son Eobert was a slender diminu- 
 tive person of five feet four inches in height. Eobert Smith was 
 a companion of Alexander Wilson in the Seedhills, and they were 
 both brought up to the trade of weaving. Wilson, when he was 
 a boy, was in the habit of drawing and painting domestic fowls 
 and the wild birds of Renfrewshire, and presenting them to his 
 companions. Several of the specimens presented to Smith have 
 been preserved to the present time and will be nearly a hundred 
 years old. We saw some of them the other day. Alexander 
 Wilson left this country for America in 1794, and the juvenile 
 painter of Paisley birds became the delineator of the wild birds 
 of his adopted country, and earned the deserved name of " The 
 distinguished American Ornithologist." Robert Smith, about 
 the time of the French Revolution in 1793, commenced business 
 in his father's premises in the Main Street, as a bookseller, 
 publisher, and auctioneer. He belonged to the class of politicians 
 known in Paisley by the name of "JBlacknebs," and the litera- 
 ture he dealt in was principally of a revolutionary kind. He 
 published songs and chap books and local literature of a satirical 
 description. Nearly all his publications were printed on coarse 
 paper, and sold at low prices. His business as an auctioneer was 
 chiefly confined to the sale of libraries, and latterly his own 
 books of an inferior class, which highly pleased the weavers' 
 assistants called drawboys. In 1800 he rouped the effects of 
 James Maxwell, one of the most fertile poets that Paisley ever 
 produced, and who resided on the opposite side of the street 
 from Smith, (No. 36 Main Street, now taken down.) Maxwell 
 had died in May of that year, and his effects consisted 
 solely of two cart loads of his own poetical works. Robert 
 Smith's house, in High Street, was burned in 1809, and on the 
 10th of October, 1810, he advertised " That house belonging to 
 Eobert Smith, corner of Orr Square (lately burned), which 
 formerly consisted of four shops on the ground flat with back 
 
APPENDIX. 493 
 
 houses, affording one of the finest situations in town, ' for build- 
 ing on,' for sale on Saturday the 13th of that month." It was 
 purchased by Thomas Leishman, baker, comer of Storie Street, 
 and he built a large four storey house upon the site. Robert 
 Smith, after the fii'e, removed to the west side of Orr Square, and 
 was married there in 1823. We knew Robert Smith for a 
 quarter of a century. He was a sober and industrious man of 
 plodding habits ; but like a number of individuals, he could 
 never succeed in business. He died regretted by a large circle 
 of acquaintances on ISth August, 1845, in the 81st year of his age. 
 
 1833 EDITION. 
 Alexander Laing, flaxdresser, packman, and poet, Brechin, 
 edited an 18mo. diamond edition of TannahiU's Songs — a- neat 
 volume of ninety-three pages. Mr. Laing was a great admirer 
 of the songs of the Lyric Bard of Paisley, and the best tribute of 
 respect that the Brechin Poet cotdd pay to the memory of his 
 favourite author was a republication Of his songs in that distant 
 district of the country. The volume contains 92 pieces — forty- 
 one selected from the 1807 edition, twenty-two from the 181S 
 edition (No. 1), twelve from the 1815 edition (No. 2), nineteen 
 from The Harp of Renfrewshire, and one new. 
 
 "In this volume, tlie reader will 
 
 find aU the Author's Sonets formerly 
 
 THE published, -with the addition of one of 
 
 SONGS, his latest compositions — " All flail ! 
 
 BAI/LADS, AND FKAGMENTS, ye dear Eomantio Scenes,"* which 
 
 OF was kindly communicated to the 
 
 ROBEET TANNAHILL ; Compiler of the Sketch by his la- 
 
 WITH A mented friend and correspondent, the 
 
 Sketch of his Life. late Mr. E. A. Smith, To the Songs 
 
 are added the Ballads, which include 
 
 Alexander Black, Bookseller, the best and perhaps the greater part 
 Brechin. of Tannahill's works that are worthy 
 
 of preservation. 
 Brechin, 1833. ALEX. LAING." 
 
 Although Mr. Laing has stated that he compiled his sketch of 
 TannahUl's life from former biographers, he has, however, modi- 
 fied, amplified, or verbally* altered several of their remarks, 
 either from conversations with his friend, Mr. R. A. Smith, or 
 
 No. 86. See Notes on pages 225 and il&.—BA. 
 
492 APPENDIX. 
 
 from his o-wn imagination. The following statements differ from 
 the former biographers. He says, — "The little education Tanna- 
 hiU received was from his parents in the evening — his mother 
 teaching him reading, and his father writing and accounts. 
 From one oppressed with poverty, disease, and melancholy, 
 cheerful strains could not be expected. His poems were inferior 
 in merit, and the dramatic poem was severely, and perhaps 
 justly censured." 
 
 Alexander Laing was bom at Brechin on 14th May, 1787, and 
 attended school for two winters. When a boy he was fond of 
 old ballads and songs, and in his adult years he studied the 
 works of Bums, TannahiU, Fergusaon, and other poets. He was 
 apprenticed to the trade of flax-dressing ; but after he became 
 journeyman he met with an accident, which disabled him from 
 that employment. He then commenced the business of a pack- 
 man, and in travelling through the country disposing of his mer- 
 chandise he cultivated the Muse by the wayside. 
 
 Mr Laing's lyric effusions first appeared in the Montrose and 
 Dundee newspapers. His first literary effort of any consequence 
 was the editing an edition of Burns' Songs, published at Mon- 
 trose, in 5 vols. 32mo. In 1827 he published the graphic tale of 
 "Archie Allan," followed by a second edition in 1840, and 
 shortly^ thereafter by a third edition. This poem established his 
 fame as an author. 
 
 The next important matter was the editing of Tannahill's Songs 
 ia 1833, already noticed. In that, year he contributed largely to 
 the poetry for, and compiled the biographical notices of, the 
 Angus Poets in the Angus Alhwm. In 1834, Mr. Laing edited for 
 Scott and Webster, of London, another edition of Burns' works, 
 and supplied the greater part of the foot-note glossary. He 
 also furnished Allan Cunningham with notes for his editions of 
 the Scottish Ballads. 
 
 In the year 1846, Mr Laing, at the urgent entreaty of his 
 friends, published a volume of his poetry by subsoriptiop, under 
 the title of Wayside Mowers, at 3s. a copy. In four years 
 afterwards a second edition in 8vo of 200 pages was published 
 at Is. per copy. In 1856, Blackie & Sons, publishers, purchased 
 the copyright, and issued a new and neat edition, which was 
 soon bought up. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 493 
 
 Mr. Laing, like our own Poet, Tannahill, was of a retiring, 
 unoatentatioua disposition, and, as indicated in his writings, of 
 great moral worth. He will be long remembered by the in- 
 habitants of Brechin, and his songs will be sung for generations 
 to come. Several of them have been translated into German. 
 Mr. Laihg was possessed of considerable information respecting 
 the poets and poetry of Scotland, which was the means of 
 leading him into a large correspondence with some of the most 
 celebrated poets of the day. Mr. Laing was in very poor health 
 for several years before his death. He died on 14th October, 
 1857, and his funeral was followed to Brechin Old Churchyard . 
 by a large number of his fellow-townsmen. 
 
 1838 EDITION. 
 
 P. A. Ramsay (Philip Anstruther Ramsay) writer, Paisley, 
 edited a. 12mo edition of Tannahill's Works, containing xli. 
 pages of a Memoir of Tannahill, xxv. pages of a Memoir of 
 Robert Archibald Smith, 5 pages of verges by Smith, 178 pages of 
 Tannahill's poems and songs, and a glossary of 9 pages. The 
 volume contains 150 pieces by Tannahill. 
 
 From the Edition of 1807 82 
 
 1815 No. 1 24 
 
 1815 No. 2 12 
 
 1817 4 
 
 1819 19 
 
 1833 1 
 
 Never published before, 8 
 
 150 
 
 This Edition has been considered the standard since its publi- 
 cation, and was stereotyped. 
 
494 APPENDIX. 
 
 THE 
 
 POEMS AND SONGS 
 
 OF 
 
 EOBEET TANNAHILL, Townsmau 
 
 A Revised and Enlarged Bditixm, ' 
 
 TaHNAHILL'S DlSTlNHniSHED 
 
 „ ^™ JOHN WILSON, ESQ., 
 Memoirs of the Author and of his 
 
 EOBER?' A." SMITH, Professor of Moral PhUosophy in the 
 
 By Philip A. Ramsay. University of Edinburgh, 
 
 Glasgow: The Present Edition 
 
 Archibald PuUarton & Co. jg 
 Dublin : W. Curry, Jun., & Co. 
 
 London : "W. S. Orr & Co. (By Permission) 
 
 1838. BESFEOTrnLLY Dedicated. 
 
 Mr. Bamsay stated in Ms Preface that the late Mr. Mother- 
 well had in view the preparation of a new edition of Tanna- 
 hill's poems and songs with an original memoir of the author, 
 but his sudden death had frustrated the object ; and that from the 
 long friendship which had existed between Motherwell and" 
 Bamsay, the latter obtained all the materials of the former, and 
 with additional materials he had collected, he ventured to lay 
 the Edition before the public. He said, — " Some of the pieces it 
 contains are now printed for the first time, others have only had 
 an occasional and limited circulation, and a third class has been 
 restored from the first edition. .... 
 
 ' ' On the Memoir of the Author much pains have been bestowed. 
 Besides his letters, it will be found to disclose many interesting 
 particulars respecting his life and character not generally known. 
 To many of the pieces the Editor has appended notes, critical 
 and illustrative. ...... 
 
 " The Portrait of Tannahill has been expressly engraved for 
 this edition from a drawing which was taken by one of his 
 acquaintances — Mr. John Morton — ^the day after his death, and 
 which has now undergone some slight alterations that were sug- 
 gested by his friends for the purpose of more closely bringing 
 out the resemblance. No likeness was taken during his life. " 
 
 P. A. Bamaay was the son of Mr. James Ramsay, Accountant- 
 general in the Excise, Edinburgh, and born in that city in 1798. 
 In 1812 he was apprenticed to Mr. Peter Jack, writer, in Paisley, 
 his brother-in-law, and admitted a member of the Faculty of 
 Procurators in Paisley, on 4th January, 1820. Motherwell and 
 
APPENDIX. 496 
 
 Eamsay became chief friends during their apprenticeship, which 
 continued till the death of the former. Mr. Kamsay entered 
 into co-partnership with Mr. Allan Clark, writer, under the firm 
 of C3ark & Ramsay, which was dissolved by the death of Mr. 
 Clark. Eamsay was one of the original proprietors of the 
 Paisley Advertiser newspaper, had considerable literary taste, 
 and on any of the editors of that newspaper taking their 
 holidays, or an interval occurring in the change of editorship, he 
 temporarily discharged the duties. In 1831 he left Paisley for 
 Edinburgh, and commenced business in that city as a Solicitor 
 before the Supreme Courts. On 31st October, 1835, he and 
 Motherwell were at a friend's house, and the latter having 
 become unwell, Mr. Ramsay accompanied him home. We 
 understood that Mr. Ramsay had contemplated collecting the 
 whole writings of Motherwell for an edition of the works of 
 that highly gifted individual, but it was not forthcoming 
 at his death. 
 
 Mr. Ramsay was an intimate friend and companion of R. A. 
 Smith, and held him in siioh high estimation that he wrote a 
 separate memoir of his life. iir. liamsay would certainly derive 
 considei:able information from the lips of Smith about his old 
 familiar friend Tannahill. Smith, no doubt, was an intelligent 
 person, a sociable companion, and an eminent composer of music ; 
 and Tannahill's songs having made him famous, it would seem 
 the composer was exalted more than the author. Compelled at 
 this time to read the several memoirs of the modest and gentle 
 Tannahul, we are inclined to think his surviving friend gave 
 some inspiration to Dr. Muir, stuffed Motherwell, supplemented 
 Laing, and obtained the ear of Ramsay ; and we almost fancy we 
 see Smith and Tannahill meeting in public company, and. 
 the former, with the pride of a great composer and vanity of a 
 teacher of music, introducing himself as " I am Smith, and this 
 is Tannahill." 
 
 In 1839, Mr. Kamsay published " Views in Renfrewshire, with 
 Historical and Descriptive Notices," another valuable standard 
 local work. It must have been long in preparation, for we recol- 
 lect of him asking us at least ten years previous to its issue 
 respecting several of the historical notices that afterwards 
 appeared in the volume. Mr. Ramsay was a very painstaiking 
 
496 APPENDIX. 
 
 writer, who looked upon condensed, and neat well-turned sen- 
 tences, as the highest mode of composition ; and we are certain 
 every word and sentence in his publications were well weighed 
 and re-written several times before they pleased his fastidious 
 taste. He was gentle in manners and of a mild disposition ; was 
 greatly esteemed for his sincerity and disinterestedness ; was 
 honourable in his profession, and conducted his business as 
 became an upright man. He was beloved by his brethren, and 
 respected by the community in general. He died at Edinburgh 
 on 31st October, 1844, in the 46th year of hia age. 
 
 INSTITTJTIOIif OF A TANNAHILL CLUB, 1858. 
 On the 25th day of May, 1858, a number of gentlemen held a 
 meeting in the Globe Hotel, High Street, Paisley, then occupied 
 by Mr. Peter Tannahill, a nephew of the Poet, for the purpose 
 of instituting a Tajtnahill Club to commemorate regularly the 
 birth day of Robert Tannahill on 3d June yearly. Xhe per- 
 sons present on that occasion were' Messrs. Lamb, architect; 
 James Waterston, Editor of the Raifrmoshire Independent; John 
 Crawford, writer, James Motherwell, bookseller; James Lindsay, 
 block cutter; and WUliam Pollock, clerk. After the several 
 gentlemen had expressed their opinion of the propriety of asso- 
 ciating for such a laudable purpose, it was unanimously agreed 
 that the meeting resolve itself into 
 
 THE TANNAHILL CLUB, 
 
 "The special object of which shall be to commemorate in all 
 time coming the birth-day of Robert Tannahill, who entered 
 this breathing world (whose beauties of scenery he never tired of 
 . singing) on the 3rd day of June, 1774." The Rules of the Club 
 were few and simple. The anniversary meetings were to be pre- 
 viously advertised, and every person who attended was to be 
 held a member of the Club. The gentlemen present at the preli- 
 minary meeting were to form a Copimittee for carrying out the 
 arrangements of the first anniversary meeting. The Chairman 
 for the time being was to nominate the Croupier, and he again 
 was to be Chairman the following year. The first annual 
 meeting for the commemoration of the birth of Tannahill was 
 held in the "Town Hall," Moss Street, on the evening of 
 
APPENDIX. 49'r 
 
 Tharsday, the 3rd day of June, 1858, where fifty gentlemen 
 attended. That hall had formerly been the Assembly Room of 
 the Saracen's Head inn, built in 1792, where many a Dance, 
 Ball, Dinner, and Supper or Meeting, req[uiring large accommoda- 
 tion, had taken place; and where, very probably, the Bard had 
 danced with his companions in his dancing days, Mr. Lamb 
 was elected the first Chairman, and he chose Mr. James 
 Waterston a,3 Croupier. The Chairman's address was an eulo- 
 gistic essay on and'quotations from several of the best songs of 
 Tannahill, and a mild criticism on others which he said might 
 have been made better, and raised Tannahill to the highest 
 pinnacle of fanie. That address became the model for all future 
 chairmen, and, as we have printed the whole works of the 
 Author, there is no necessity whatever for quoting or referring to 
 the passages selected by the several chairmen, as our readers can 
 do so for themselves. Tannahill had been gathered to his 
 fathers many years ago, and criticism on his works will not make 
 them better. There is no necessity for giving the several 
 addresses on the same subject where a single new fact relating to' 
 Tannahill has not been elicited; and then the criticising or 
 comparing the several essays or addresses being an invidious 
 task which we have no desire to undertake, we content 
 ourselves with annexing a list of the several gentlemen who so 
 ably filled the chair at the respective meetings. 
 
 84th Anniversary, 1858. — Mr. James J. Lamb, Architect. 
 
 - „ Jameb 'Waterston, Editor. 
 
 - „ John Cbawiobd, "Writer. 
 
 - ,, James Ebekie, 'Warehouseman. 
 
 - ,) EOBBET L. Hendeeson, "Writer. 
 
 - „ EiOHAED "Watson, Editor. 
 
 - „ EOBBBT COOHBAN, Draper. 
 
 - „ "William Fulton of Glen. 
 
 - „ JcfflN Cook, Editor. .^, 
 
 - „ David Campbell, "Writer. 
 
 - „ EOBBBT Hay^ Engraver- 
 
 - „ "WiLLLiM Stewaet, Architect. 
 -„ John FiSHEB, Accoiiitant. 
 
 - „ John S. Mitchell, Bootmaker. 
 
 - „ James J. Lamb, Architect. 
 n3 
 
 85th 
 
 
 1859.- 
 
 86th 
 
 
 1860.- 
 
 87th 
 
 
 1861.- 
 
 88th 
 
 
 1862.- 
 
 89th 
 
 
 1863.- 
 
 90th 
 
 
 1864.- 
 
 91sf 
 
 
 1865.- 
 
 92nd 
 
 
 1866,- 
 
 93rd 
 
 
 1867.- 
 
 94th 
 
 
 1868.- 
 
 95th 
 
 
 1869.- 
 
 96th 
 
 
 1870.'- 
 
 97th 
 
 
 1871.- 
 
 98th 
 
 
 1872.- 
 
498 APPENDIX. 
 
 99th „ 1873.— „ James Reid, Bookseller. 
 
 The Centenary, 1874. — „ David Murray, Banker. 
 101st Anniversary, 1875.— „ P. C. MAOGREfiOB of Brediland. 
 
 Mr. Lamb acted aa Secretary of the Club from its institution 
 till 1870, and as Honorary Secretary from that time till his death 
 on 27th September, 1872. Mr. Reid has acted aa Secretary from 
 1870. All the founders of the Club and the Presidents, — Messrs. 
 Lamb, Waterston, Crawford, Fulton, and Campbell, -^are dead. 
 
 ERECTION OF A MONUMENTAL TOMBSTONE. 
 
 On the 3rd of January, 1866, Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Richmond, 
 entertained a social party of ladies and gentlemen in their house, 
 and several of the ladies having sung songs of Tannahill, the 
 circumstance introduced the subject of the Poet's grave not 
 being marked by a tombstone. It was mentioned that persons 
 were fast passing away' who could point out the exact spot where 
 the Bard was buried, and how it would be desirable to erect a 
 monument over the place where the remains of the Poet had been 
 interred. The gentlemen present then formed themselves iuto a 
 committee for the erection of a monument, but not to interfere 
 with the future erection of a public statue to the memory of 
 Tannahill. The Committee then with laudable enthusiasm sub- 
 scribed a guinea each, and further undertook to raise from friends 
 for such a desirable oljject three guineas each, which they supposed 
 would be su£Elcient for the purpose they had in view. At the next 
 meeting of Committee, held on 24th AprU, 1866, it was agreed 
 to consult the owner of the burying place, which had been 
 originally purchased by Mr. James Tannahill, the poet's father, 
 after the ground had been laid off in lairs in 1782. The Committee 
 then held several meetings, examined tombstones, inspected 
 sketches, selected design, prepared specification, and received the 
 following offer :— "Paisley, May 20th, 1866.— To the Committee 
 of the Tannahill Monument. — Gentlemen,— We hereby offer to 
 execute Monument according to accompanying sketch, as ap- 
 proved of by jou, which is drawn at one inch per foot scale ; 
 front inscription plate ; polished lyre, sunk in moulded base ; 
 foundation, per specification ; erected in best Creetown granite, 
 
APPENDIX. 499 
 
 consistent with plan and specification, — for the sum of flfty-nine 
 pounds stg. If you make the inscription concise, we will include 
 it in the above sum as our contribution to the fund. Hoping this 
 may meet your approval, we are, Gentlemen, yours respectfully, 
 Gordon- & Babclay." 
 The Committee agreed that the inscription should simply be — 
 
 "TANNAHILL, 
 
 •BoEN 3bd Jxnss, 1774, 
 Died 17th Mat, 1810." 
 
 The Monument was erected over the spot where the Poet was 
 interred, and finished on 24th October, 1866. Mr. Matthew 
 Blair, as representing the relatives, placed a sealed bottle, 
 twelve by six inches, in a hollowed stone set immediately under 
 the base block, bedded in cement, containing : — 
 
 1st. A small leather bag, with fifteen teeth of the Poet, which 
 had been abstracted on the occasion of the lair being 
 opened for an interment. 
 
 2nd. A statement by the late Mr. Matthew Tannahill, relating 
 the circumstance of the abstraction of the teeth, and their 
 recovery from the several persons in possession of them. 
 
 3rd. A copy of the Poet's works. 
 
 4th. A photograph from a profile engraving of the Poet. 
 
 '5th. A statement by Mr. Matthew Blair of the origin of the 
 movement to erect the Monumental Tombstone, and 
 
 6th. A copy of the Herald^ Gazette, and Independent news- 
 papers, published in Paisley on Saturday, 20th October, 
 1866. 
 
 On 20th August, 1867, the Committee agreed to enclose the 
 monument with four granite corner stones and chain. On 5th 
 December, 1867, the following words were added to the in- 
 scription : — 
 
 " ipECIBT OVER THE REMAINS OF 
 THE POET, 1867." 
 
 It was resolved at this meeting to conclude the business with a 
 Soiree Musicale, or a "Nicht wi Tannahill and R. A. Smith, his 
 musical friend and companion." The Committee met on 13th 
 
500 APPEITDIX. 
 
 March, 1868, and fixed on the following card of invitation and 
 programme of proceedings : — 
 
 :A fixcht toi lannahiU & "§.. X Smith. 
 
 BAPTIST CHUEOH, STOEIE STREET. 
 
 TSUBSDAT, 19th MARCH, 1868. 
 To Commence at 7 o'Olock. 
 
 PBO OB A M M E. 
 
 March from EU, Costa, Organ. 
 
 Chairman's Remarks, Provost Macfarlarie. 
 
 Anthems hy R. A. Bmiih. 
 
 How Beautiful upon ttie Mountains, Is. lU. 
 
 Give ear unto my Words, i.. '..;.. H..v; Ps. v. 
 
 Blessed is he that considereth Pa. xU. 
 
 Pro Pecoatis..."..(Stahat Mater), Eossini, Orgap. 
 
 Praise the Lord, .j.. .....';.. ..1... Ps. cxlvii. 
 
 Sing unto God, Ps. Ixviii. 
 
 Committes's Report, Mr. JT. MacKean. 
 
 Treasurer's Report, Mr. A. Pollock'. 
 
 Moving Adoption of Reports, Mr. D. Mwrrdy. 
 
 Overture. (Guy Mannering), Bishop Organ. 
 
 Songs by ' Tannahill. 
 Gloomy Winter. 
 
 Loudon's Bonnie Woods and Braes. 
 Jessie, the Flower o Dunblane; 
 The Braes 6 Gleniffer. 
 Thou Bonnie Wood o Craigielee, Quartette & Chorus. 
 
 GOD SAVE THE QUEEN. 
 
 Accordingly, on Thursday, the company assembled ^Q enjoy 
 the " Night \id Tannahill.'" ' .< ■•.:■■. < 
 
 Provost Maofarlane, afjber taking the chair, delivered the 
 following address :— Ladies and gentlemen, I had the satis- 
 faction, this forenoon, of visiting, along with a friend, the 
 burial place of Egbert Tannahill, in the West Relief Kirk- 
 Yard." A neat granite monumental atone has been placed 
 over his remains by a, few of his townsmen who revere 
 his memory and admire his writings. It is in keeping 
 
APEBNDIX. 501 
 
 with the life of rhim whose name it bears, simple and chaste, — 
 with the dates of his 'birth and death underneath his name ; 
 these suffice to mark the resting place of the lamented poet. 
 We are met to-night as subscribers and friends to receive the 
 report of the committee who have had the charge of this matter, 
 and whose labours wiU terminate with the proceedings of this 
 evening. We are also favoured with the presence and kind 
 assistance of the ladies and gentlemen on the platform, members 
 of the St. Cecilia Musical Society, anjd other friends, who, with 
 Mr. Hoeck as leader, and accompanied on the organ by Mr. 
 'Peace, from <Jlasgow, wiU sing a few of those beautiful anthems 
 by E. A. Smith, which are so deservedly admired by the lovers 
 of sacred music. After these have been sung, the business that 
 has brought us together will be transacted, and then we are to 
 be favoured by some of our friends with a few of Taunahill's 
 songs. Such will be the programme for the evening. It is well- 
 known that Smith and Tannahill were intimate friends -when 
 they lived, and in these songs their names wiU remain associated 
 together for all time. As a musical composer. Smith first be- 
 came known to- fame by perhaps the sweetest of Tannahill's 
 songs, "Jessie the Flower o' Dunblane ;'' and it is not too much 
 to say that, while the songs themselves must ever occupy a high 
 place in the lyric poetry of Scotland, the music by the author's 
 ifrieud has contributed largely to their enduring popularity. I 
 shall not detain you by any lengthened reference to the brief 
 career of the poet. The story of his simple and unblemished 
 life and his unhappy death iS known to- all of you. Born in the 
 humble ranks of life, without ambition, save that he might be 
 euroUed among the minor bards of his country, — of a modest and 
 retiring disposition, tender hearted, amd- warmly attached to 
 home and friends, — ^his was a life that one might have expected, 
 humanly speaking, to have been a prolonged and happy one ; 
 but it was not to be so. The saddest of aU calamities which flesh 
 is heir to — disease of the mind — and which, alas ! too often at- 
 tends the poetic temperarnent, overtook him ere he had reached 
 his prime. He died in 1810, in the 36th year of his age. 
 TannahiU will always be known as one of the sweetest of our 
 song writers. He was pre-eminently true to nature ; as his 
 works show, he Avas intimately acquainted with all the country 
 
502 APPENDIX. 
 
 around our good old town, and many are the spots in our neigh- 
 bourhood which his songs have rendered classic. Sweet 
 FergusUe, " Where first his young muse spread her wing," 
 and Craigielee, will ever be remembered in connection with his 
 name. He loved especially to roam o'er the braes o Gleniffer, 
 and by Stanley green shaw, where 
 
 " The wild flowers o simmer were spread a sae bozmle. 
 The mavis sang sweet frae the gregn birken tree." 
 
 He concluded by reading the " Filial Vow," (No. 10, page 65.) 
 ,The anthems were then sung by the choir, accompanied by 
 
 the organ. 
 
 Ex-BaUie William MacKean, the Secretary of the Committee, 
 
 then read a report of their successful proceedings, which we 
 
 have already noted. 
 Ex-Provost PoUock, the Treasurer, read his financial report, 
 
 as follows : — 
 
 Received by Subscriptions in Disbursements in the under- 
 the undermentionedamounts, mentioned amounts, as fol- 
 viz, : — Iowa : — 
 
 1 Subscriber of 
 
 ■£5 5 
 
 
 
 To Estimate for Monu-' 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Do. 
 
 , 5 
 
 
 
 ment, ; 
 
 £59 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Do. 
 
 . 3 3 
 
 
 
 Granite palls, 
 
 5 
 
 e 
 
 2 
 
 Do. £2 2/, .., 
 
 . i i 
 
 
 
 Cutting and gilding 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 Do. 2 1/, .. 
 
 . i 2 
 
 
 
 two Harps, 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 25 
 
 Do. 11/,.., 
 
 , 26 5 
 
 
 
 Chain and galvanising. 
 
 16 
 
 
 
 17 
 
 Do. 1 0/, ... 
 
 . 17 
 
 
 
 Cutting and varnishing 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 Do. 10/6, 
 
 4 4, 
 
 
 
 35 letters at 5d. each, 
 
 14 
 
 7 
 
 2 
 
 Do. 10/, 
 
 1. 
 
 
 
 Balance on hand, 
 
 9 11 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 Do. 
 
 . 13 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 Do. 7/6, 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 15 
 
 Do. 5/, .. 
 
 . 3 15 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Do. 
 
 . 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 Do. 2/,.. 
 
 . 10 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Interest, 
 
 . 2 10 
 
 
 
 
 £76 1 10 £76 1 10 
 
 Provost Murray moved the adoption of the reports. 
 
 Mr. Robert Hay proposed a vote of thanks to the Acting 
 Committee, consisting of Dr. Daniel Richmond, Messrs. John 
 Poison, R. F. Dalziel, James Miller, Matthew Blair, James 
 Arthur, Alexander Pollock, jun., and William MacKean. 
 
APPENDIX. 503 
 
 Mr. James Cook proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Peace, Mr. 
 Hoeck, and the choir ;' and Mr. James J. Lamb proposed a simi- 
 lar compliment to the Rev. Mr. Flett and the Managers of the 
 Church for granting it and the use of the organ ; and these being 
 all carried by acclamation, the singing of the Kational Anthem 
 closed the proceedings. 
 
 INSERTION OF A GRANIT E TABLET AT THE SUP- 
 :P0SED BIRTH-PLACE OE TANNAHILL.— 1872. 
 
 A meeting of the Castle Street Callans was held on 24th 
 February, 1872, and they appointed a Committee of nine of their 
 number to find out the birth-place of the Poet, and mark it 
 with a Stone Tablet and an Inscription. The Committee 
 accordingly investigated the matter, and examined a num- 
 ber of persons j and, as was to be expected in a matter of that 
 kind, there was a diversity of opinion. The authentic docu- 
 ments which the Committee alluded to were— 1st, The pocket 
 memorandum-book of the Poet's father, which we have already 
 referred to in the Life of Taunahill ; 2nd, The Feu disposition 
 of the property No. 32 Castle Street, dated 1773 ; and 3d, the 
 Feu-disposition of the property ,~No. 6 Queen Street, dated 1779. 
 
 The Callans again met, and heard the report of the Committee, 
 when, on the motion of Mr. James Reid, bookseller, seconded by 
 Mr. James J. Lamb, architect, it was agreed "to thank the 
 Committee for their labours, and to record as the opinion of the 
 meeting that the evidence was conclusive in favour of No. 32 
 Castle Street being the birth-place of Robert Tannahill." The 
 Committee was further instructed to take steps in having a 
 memorial stone erected in a conspicuous part of the house, with 
 a suitable inscription. The Committee proceeded with their 
 remit, fixed the tablet stone in the wall, appointed M onday, 3rd 
 June, 1872, for the inauguration, and secured the services of 
 Provost Murray to deliver an address on the occasion, which 
 accordingly all took place. , On the veil which covered the 
 tablet being withdrawn, the granite stone was found to contain 
 the following inscription : — 
 
504, APPENDIX. 
 
 " Birth-place 
 
 OP 
 
 ROBE RT TANNAHILL, 
 Born 3rd June, 1774. 
 
 * Here nature first waked me to rapture and love. 
 And taught me her beauties to sing.' " 
 
 The quotation is the last two lines- of the song, "The grey 
 pinioned lark," No. 67, in reference to "Sweet Ferguslie," and 
 was not a very happy one so fai^as love was concerned, and the 
 singing of the beauties of nature by an infant at his birth. 
 
 In our necessary investigations at the present time, it will have 
 been observed that, in the memoir of the Tannahills, we have 
 thoroughly examined the memorandum book of the Poet's 
 father, who, in recording the births of his children omitted 
 to specify the places. This authentic document' may therefore 
 be laid aside as not affording evidence on the point. It will 
 also be observed that we had read and examined the Feu Disposi- 
 tion of No. 6 Queen Street. We have also read and examined 
 the Feu Disposition of No. 32 Castle Street, and we shall now 
 give the result of our investigation. It appeared from the latter 
 disposition that a roup of steadings in the lauds of Broomlands 
 took place on 3rd March, 1769. That roup included steadings 
 on the west side of Castle Street and east side of Queen Street, 
 and that the steading. No. 32 Castle Street, was purchased by 
 James Smith, wright, at the price of £5 sterling. Smith after- 
 wards built the present front house on the steading, let it to a 
 tenant, and afterwards sold it to James Peacock, town officer, 
 Paisley. The Town CounoU of Paisley then granted the Feu 
 Right with consent of Smith to Peacock, dated 1st January, 
 1773, and the property is thus described: — "All and haill the 
 foresaid steading of ground at Broomlands with the home now 
 built thereon and yeard thereto belonging as presently possessed by 
 Andrew Laird, weaver, in Paisley, bounded by the house and 
 yeard belonging to Bailie Andrew Smith on the south, the 
 house and. yeard belonging to John Hamilton on the north, 
 Castle Street on the east, and the yeard of WiUiam Dunn on the 
 west parts: declaring the said James Peacock's entry to have 
 commenced on 3rd March, 1769." In all the evidence collected 
 
APPENDIX. 505 
 
 not a single witness referred to the owner, James Peacock, the 
 well-known town officer, nor to the tenant of the whole house, 
 Andrew Laird. He was in possession on 1st January, 1773, and 
 there is not a vestige of evidence when he left the house, nor 
 when old Tannaliitl entered it, or whether le occupied the 
 whole or only part of the house, nor when he left it. The dates 
 of his entry and removal were only inferred from the date of two 
 Dispositions which, on bei^g now read, contradict the hasty in- 
 ference that had been drawn. Not a single witness stated 
 whether any other member of the family was bom in that 
 house or not. 
 
 The first person who allowed himself to be misled by the dates 
 ■1773 and 1779, was the seconder of the motion. Mr. Lamb, 
 in his biographical sketch of the Poet, in the edition of 
 his works published in 1873, made TannahiE step from the 
 Cottage in Castle Street to Glenififer, Stanely, Newton Woods, 
 and FergusUe. (Jiving every license to inference and imagina- 
 tion, Tannahni could not be out of infancy when the family 
 entered the residence in Queen Street. However precocious the 
 boy may have 'become, the chMd im petticoats was not ripe for 
 performance of the exercise' the editor assigned him. 
 
 THE CENTENARY, 
 OR ONE HUNDRETH ANNIVERSARY OE THE BIRTH OP 
 ROBERT TANNAHILL, 
 Wednesday, 3rd Jwm, 1874. 
 TheTannahill Club at their annual meeting held in June, 1873, 
 unanimously agreed to celebrate the centenary of the birth of 
 TannaMU in a manner becoming the eminent Lyric Poet. A 
 large committee was appointed, with power to add to their 
 number, to make the necessary arrangements for the celebration. 
 The committee held a meeting on 22nd April, 1874, when it was 
 agreed to convene a public meeting of aU persons taking an in- 
 terest in the approaching centenary. The meeting was called 
 by the Chairman of the Club, Provost Murray, and held on 28th 
 April following. It seemed to be the feeling of the meet- 
 ing that the Queen's Birth Anniversary and the Poet's Birth 
 Centenary should be held on the same day, and a committee of 
 o3 
 
606 APPENDIX. 
 
 40 gentlemen were appointed, with power to add to their num- 
 ber, to co-operate with the committee of the Tannahill Club, 
 Magistrates of towna are allowed to select the days most con- 
 venient for the inhabitants for the Queen's Birth-Day Anniver- 
 sary, and on 4th May the Magistrates of Paisley recommended 
 Wednesday the 27th of that month to be observed in honour of 
 Her Majesty's Birth-Day. 
 
 The Centenary Committee having so far completed their 
 arrangements, issued the following advertisement : — 
 
 "TANNAHILL CENTENARY HOLIDAY. 
 
 A PUBLIC MEETING, called by Advertisement, 
 having appointed a Large COMMITTEE, repre- 
 senting aU Classes of the COMMUNITY, 'to consider as 
 to the best moe^e of Celebrating the approaching 
 CENTENARY of the BIRTH of ROBERT TANNA- 
 HILL, and said COMMITTEE having met, resolved to 
 recommend that WEDNESDAY, the 3rd Day of June 
 next be observed as a GENERAL HOLIDAY, and that 
 the INHABITANTS be respectfuUy requested to 
 Decorate their Premises, in honour of the occasion. 
 
 The Arrangements at present made include, 
 A PROCESSION to the 'Brabs o GLENrFMiB,' 
 terminating in the vicinity of 'Tannahill's Well,' 
 William Fulton, Esq., of Glen, having cordially 
 granted the use of his Grounds for that purpose ; also, 
 a Soiree and Concert in the Evening, particulars of 
 which, and of any other Arrangements, will be duly 
 Announced. 
 
 DAVID MURRAY, 
 Chmrman of the Tanmikill GentenarT/ Committee. 
 
 Paisley, 8th May, 1874." 
 
 The Committee instantly represented to the Magistrates the 
 desirability of a change of the Queen's Birth-day to 3d June, to 
 combine the Anniversary and Centenary in one general holiday. 
 The Magistrates acceded, and issued placards to that eflfect. 
 Her Majesty at that time was resident at her Highland home 
 of Balmoral, and Monday the 25th May was fixed for the oelebra- 
 ation of her birthday there. The Crathie band had been selected 
 to sing several Scottish Songs before Her Majesty, and one of 
 these was TannahiU's beautiful song of " Gloomy Winter's now 
 awa " (No. 70) apparently in anticipation of the Centenary of 
 
APPENDIX. 507 
 
 the gifted Poet. In Paisley the celebration of Her Majesty^s 
 Birth-day, combined with it the Centenary of the Birth of 
 Tannahill, thus elegantly intertwining the laurel of the Crown 
 and the laurel of the Bard. 
 
 The general Committee having completed their arrangements, 
 issued the following advertisement : — 
 
 " TANNAHILL CENTBNAKY. 
 
 PKOGEAMME OF AERANGEMBNTS. 
 
 THE TANNAHILL CENTENARY COMMITTEE 
 respectfully announce the following PBO- 
 GRAMMB for the Celebration of the CENTENARY, 
 
 On WEDNESDAY Fibst, 3d June. 
 
 The Peoobssion wiU assemble in St. James Street, 
 at Ten o'Clock a.m., where it will be arranged, under 
 the command of Chief Marshall Superintendent 
 Sutherland, in the following order : — 
 
 The Carters, on horseback; Provost, Magistrates, and 
 Town Council ; the Committee ; the various Incorpor- 
 ated Societies; followed by the Freemasons, Oddfellows, 
 Glenfield Workers, Messrs. Coats' Workers, and the 
 various Trades, in the order assigned by ballot. 
 
 The Pboobssion will march across Sneddon Bridge to 
 East end of Incle Street, and proceed by way of Gauze 
 Street, Smithhills, High Street, and Wellmeadow, to 
 Castle Street (the Birth-place of Tannahill), by George 
 Street to Queen Street (the Poet's residence and 
 weaving-shop) along Broomlands to head of George 
 Street, and from thence proceed by way of George 
 Street, Causeyside, and CarriagehiU to the Grounds of 
 William Fulton, Esq., at Glenfield. 
 
 A GRAND RURAL FETE 
 
 Will be held in the Plateau above 'Tannahill's 
 Well,' when short Addresses will be given by Provost 
 Murray and other gentlemen; Tannahill's Songs wiU 
 be sung by a Choir ; and the Airs associated with his 
 Ljrrics played by Bands assembled on the Ground. 
 
 floral ARCHES 
 
 WUl be erected at prominent points on the route of the 
 Procession : — In the Newtown, near the Abbey ; at the 
 Cross ; the Free Library and Museum ; Broomlands ; 
 at head of Castle Street ; George Street, at Queen 
 Street ; head of Causeyside ; at CarriagehiU, &c. The 
 
508 APPENDIX. 
 
 Birth-place of Tannaliill and hia Residence will also be 
 decorated- with flowers and evergreens. 
 
 A PUBLIC DINNER, 
 
 At which Provost Murray will preside, wiU take place 
 in the Abercorn Rooms, at Five o'clock Afternoon. 
 
 A MUSICAL SOIBBB 
 
 Will be held in the Drill Hall at Eight o'Clock Evening 
 —Thomas Coats, Esq. of Eerguslie, in the chair — at 
 which Addresses will be given by several gentlemen, 
 and Tannahill's Songs will be sung by eminent Vocalists 
 and a well-trained Choir. 
 
 By Order. 
 
 JAMES REID, Secretary. 
 
 Paisley, 28th May, 1874. 
 
 Wednesday, the 3d of June, 1874, the Centenary Birth-Day, 
 was ushered in by as beautiful a morning as could be desired 
 by the most enthusiastic admirer of Tannah£l, and the whole 
 day was one of continued sunshine and success. We entered on 
 the mechanical work of compiling a description of the several 
 miles of decoration and procession, but as it approached comple- 
 tion we discovered that, to do the subject justice, a volume 
 would be required. An abridgement, which we hope will be 
 suflicient and more satisfactory, is therefore given. 
 
 The decorations were either sylvan, floral, or artificial, or 
 all combined. The sylvan and floral consisted of branches of 
 trees, evergreens, indigenous shrubs and flowers, ingeniously 
 wrought into crowns, wreaths, garlands, and bouquets, festooned 
 or draped on the buildings, or across the streets, in chaste and 
 artistic profusion. The artificial consisted of flags, tartan 
 plaids, coloured cloth and harness shawls, and occasionally 
 curled shavings of wood, disposed' in a similar manner. The 
 procession was composed of the various trades, in plain or fancy 
 dress, with their bands of music, flags, banners, models, emblems, 
 and mottoes ; walking, driving, or riding gaily caparisoned 
 horses. The thousands that occupied tbe windows, and the tens 
 of thousands that lined the streets, all in holiday attire, were a 
 sight worth seeing. The first recorded decoration and procession 
 in the streets of Paisley was at the Donation of Saint Mirrin's 
 Aisle to the Bailies of Paisley, which took place on 21st July, 
 1499, when the population of the Burgh would not exceed 522. 
 
APMarors. 509 
 
 Numerous decorations and processions have taken place in the 
 streets of ancient Paisley between the first and last of these 
 events. Many we have seen within the last sixty years, and we 
 have every reasonto believe that the one in honour of the Bard was 
 most nobly and fervently responded to by all classes of the com- 
 munity. 
 
 The procession having arrived at Gleniffer Braes, the fete 
 commenced at two o'clock. The choir in front of the platform, 
 under the leadership of Mr. E. F. M'Gibbon, sung "Thou 
 bonnie wood Craigielee." 
 
 Provost Murray then addressed the large assemblage as fol- 
 lows,— If there is anything of which a nation and a community 
 have just reason to feel proud, it is the fact of having given 
 birth to a man of genius whose name the world will not 
 wiUingly let die, a man of genius who has reflected credit, 
 not only on his native town, but has added to that national 
 treasury of literature, science, and art which forms, after all, 
 the richest glory and praise of any nation. It is therefore 
 with peculiar feelings of satisfaction, as the head of the com- 
 munity of Paisley, that I have this day witnessed so thorough 
 an appreciation of the merits of poor Robert Tannahill. 
 It shows beyond all question that the Scottish mind is 
 BtUl, as of old, thoroughly imbued with the lOve and spirit of 
 poetry, and that there is stiU among us the elements that pro- 
 duce great men in that department of literature. We have 
 this day visited the humble abode where the sweet singer 
 first saw the light of heaven ; we have passed the humble 
 dwelling where he pursued his daily toil ; and we are now beside 
 his favourite haunts, where he gratified that intense love of 
 nature which is evident in all his works, and from which he drew 
 that inspiration which produced those imperishable works, 
 which wUl never cease to call forth the feelings of Scotchmen 
 wherever they are sung. The minstrel's harp is now un- 
 strung, the sweet singer's voice is mute and silent ; that 
 heart once pregnant with celestial fire is now cold and unfeeling, 
 but nature never dies — ^these hills and scenes are still renewed 
 from year to year in all their perennial freshness, forming to us, 
 as they did to him, the source of a never-failing love of nature, 
 and the_true source of poetry. We are here in the very haunts 
 
510 APPENDIX. 
 
 of the poet — on Gleniffer Braes — in the neighbourhood of the 
 " dewy dell" and Stanely's turrets, though certainly not covered 
 with snow, and we have at no . great distance the " bonnie 
 wood o Craigielee." Man dies, but nature never dies ; and I 
 trust that, among the crowds who are here to-day to pay 
 a tribute to the memory of Taunahill, we have some latent 
 talent that may one hundred years hence lead to the com- 
 memoration of some son equally gifted, who will reflect 
 additional honour on our native town. I do not know that 
 this is a fitting place— I am sure it is not — to enter into 
 any criticisms of the merits of our sweet singer, because I 
 shall have an opportunity of doing so this evening. I will 
 only add that Tannahill, though dead, yet speaketh ; and it 
 will be better than any feeble words I can utter that he should 
 discourse to you in those songs of his which have been wedded to 
 such appropriate music. 
 
 " frloomy Winter's noo awa," by the Choir. 
 
 Mr. P. C. Macgregor, who as greeted with cheers, said — The 
 duty I have to perform is to me a most pleasing one. Iscarcely 
 remember having a more pleasant one entrusted to me. I have 
 been requested now to move a cordial vote of thanks to the Laird 
 of Glen for the kindness he has shown to this procession, and 
 for the homage he has this day paid to the memory of Robert 
 Tannahill. 
 
 Mr. Macgregor was about to proceed, but was interrupted by 
 the loud and prolonged cheering with which his closing words 
 were received, and further by the choir starting, and the vast 
 assemblage joining in singing "For he's a right good feUow." 
 
 " Jessie the Flow'r o' Dunblane, " Choir. 
 
 Bailie Masson said — We have had a very enthusiastic and sue- 
 cessful demonstration on the haunts of our sweet singer, Tanna- 
 hill ; and I am sure that hundreds who have never been here be- 
 fore will feel inspired by the beauty of the scenery and the 
 
 associations surrounding Gleniffer Braes, to come back again, 
 
 and you are welcome. The centre round which we have 
 gathered has been our worthy Provost, and I beg to propose a 
 hearty vote of thanks to Provost Murray, for besides the 
 Laird of Glen, there is another " right good fellow." 
 
 The choir and company again took up the refrain. 
 
APPENDIX. 511 
 
 Councillor Cochran moved for a hearty vote of thanks to Mr. 
 K. F. M 'Gibbon and the choir. 
 
 " God Save the Queen," Choir. 
 
 A. Public Dinner and Musical Soiree took place in the evening, 
 and several other festive meetings were held throughout the 
 town, but we have not space to insert the proceedings. 
 
 We win close with a few pieces of Centenary Poetry, to shew 
 that the flame is still burning which was lighted by Abbot Shaw 
 at Wau Neuk 390 years ago. 
 
 A p.a;AN.* 
 
 By John Ross Macgregor. 
 
 Hail ! sweet-toned singing bird ! Hail ! Son of Song ! 
 
 Our mightiest Dead 1 The sough,that blows 
 
 Adown the ravines of Gleuiffer Braes 
 
 Is laden with the story of thy praise ; 
 
 And every wimpling burnie as it flows 
 
 Doth croon a psean, and thy fame prolong. 
 
 A hundred times the lark hath built her nest, 
 
 The bonnie " Bonnie wood o Craig ielee " 
 
 Hath decked herself a hundred times in green. 
 
 Since our sweet Lyrist came upon this scene. 
 
 These glens, woods, birds, and flowers we owe to thee, 
 
 Modest and true — of all our gifted sons the best. 
 
 A reeming goblet to his name we fill. 
 
 And twine fresh laurel for our Tannahill. 
 
 SONNET. 
 By M iJ— 
 
 He was no climber on the giddy heights 
 
 Of poesy, where few can dare to stand ; 
 
 Nor did he search through dreamy days and nights 
 
 To find in human souls some strange new land. 
 
 * This Ode of Triumph appeared in the column of "Talk ! Across the 
 Walnuts and the Wine," in the Paisley Hemld of 31st May, 1874. Mr. Mac- 
 gregor has published several pieces in the local newspapers. 
 
512 APPENDIX. 
 
 He lived familiar with the sounds and sights 
 That rise, from city streets and country soil, 
 Around the footsteps of the sons of toU. 
 But on these common things he threw siich lights 
 Of beauty, and from them drew so sweet a song, 
 That hearts and homes awoke to the glad voice 
 Which, rising upwards, moved them to rejoice. 
 Would that on him had gladness lasted long ! 
 And still his thoughts come cheering us this day, 
 Clear, warm and healthful as the Summer's ray. 
 
 3rd June, 1874. 
 
 SHADE OP THE POET. 
 By John Fraaer. 
 
 Shade of the Poet, dost thou hear 
 What I've now said of thee ; 
 
 How you inspired my youthful soul 
 With song and melodic? 
 
 John Frasor, teacher, poet, and vocalist, Johnstone, was bom in 1796, 
 and is now in the 80th year of liis age, Mr. Fraser could not attend the 
 Centenary Soiree, and his address was read by his son, Mr. James Roy 
 Fraser, Teacher of Music, in Paisley, previous to reading the above piece of 
 poetry. Jolin Fraser was apprenticed to Alexander Renfrew, weaver, 
 residing near CtUnfeoch, the scene of the "Soldier's Return," and the first 
 literary purchase the apprentice made was Taimahill's poems, -published in 
 1807. He and the other apprentices frequently acted the dramatic Interlude, 
 Mr. Fraser afterwards became a teacher in Kilmalcolm, and removed to 
 Johnstone in 1824. He thereafter became a vocahst, and, with his family, 
 commenced a musical tour in 1843, through Great Britain and Ireland, and 
 the New England States of America, singing many of Taunahill's finest 
 songs, which were always received with the warmest applause. Mr. 
 Fraser, in introducing the songs, generally informed the audience of the 
 subject, and, in reference to those of Tannahill, he always spoke in the 
 most complimentary language of the Lyric Poet. The singing of "Jessie 
 the flower o Dunblane " by his eldest daughter created the deepest emotion, 
 and the "Braes o Balquither" sung as a duett, was a universal charm, 
 and its repetition, a never-failing consequence. 
 
APPENDIX. 513 
 
 Old as I am, my heart's yet warm, 
 
 Once kindled by your fire ; 
 Old as I am, my mind's yet fresh, 
 
 Your genius to admire. 
 
 Long as it is since first I read, 
 
 Enraptured, your fine pongs. 
 My heart cries out that unto you 
 
 Deep gratitude belongs. 
 
 The flame you kindled e'er shall burn. 
 
 And not till death expire ; 
 The mind you roused to mental life 
 
 Till death wiU you admire. 
 
 Ye men — ^ye patriots of this town — 
 Let Cjrlasgow not you shame ; 
 
 What it for Burns intends to do, 
 To your bard do the same. 
 
 The ploughman bard, in sculpture grand, 
 
 In Glasgow soon you'U see ; 
 Your weaver bard, in sculpture fine, 
 
 In Paisley soon must be. 
 
 See ! see him on yon hill of graves ! 
 
 Striking his golden lyre ; 
 Gazing on grand GleniSer Braes, 
 
 His heart and soul on fire. 
 
 Gleniffer Braes ! the world wide 
 Will then resound your praise, 
 
 When to his worth, and yours as well 
 A monument you raise. 
 
 p3 
 
514 APPENDIX. 
 
 TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF TANNAHILL. 
 
 By William Stewart." 
 
 The poet needs must sing : 
 
 The acFaiing lark 
 That makes the welkin ring, 
 When diest the Dark, 
 With happy heart-beats, thrilling, fall, and strong, 
 His bliss holds by the tenure of his song. 
 
 The poet needs must sing : 
 
 The bubbling well 
 Breaks from dark prisoning. 
 And leaps to teU, 
 In liquid murmurings and ripples bright, 
 Of freedom's joys — glad life, and air, and light. 
 
 The poet needs must sing : 
 The vagrant breeze, 
 That fans, with cooling wing, 
 The drooping trees. 
 Is softly whispering a sweet refrain. 
 To Nature's many-voiced, melodious strain. 
 
 The poet needs must sing : 
 
 The wild-flowera raise 
 A silent worshipping 
 Of incense-praise. 
 And blossom music in harmonious dyes, 
 With God- ward homage in their upraised eyes. 
 
 The poet needs must sing : 
 
 Tannahill ! 
 When bird, and breeze, and spring, 
 
 And flow'ret, M 
 
 * William Stewart, architect, a memlDer of, and Poet Laureate to the 
 PaMey Troglodyte Club. He attended the Centenary Tannahill meeting 
 of the Club, and recited the above tribute, an ode of great merit, which was 
 received with rapturous applause.— ScJ. 
 
APPENDIX. 515 
 
 The ear of Day with harmonies divine, 
 A higher^ nobler, ministry is thine ! 
 
 The laverock heaven-ward springs. 
 
 And, as he towers. 
 Life's quit-rent song outflings, 
 In pattering showers 
 Of throbbing rapture — Tannahill, 'tis thine 
 Its fleeting sweetness, in thy song to shrine ! 
 
 Nested 'mong daily care, 
 Thy heart was strong 
 To leave life's hUlside bare. 
 On wings of song. 
 The common daylight of our thoughts to fill 
 And glorify with music, Tannahill ! 
 
 The little wayside well,— 
 
 In stones and earth 
 Low-cradled, yet can tell 
 Of humble birth 
 Ennobled by such worth and purity, 
 As, gentle TannahUl, we find in thee ! 
 
 Scooped by life's dusty way. 
 
 Thy pure, cool spring 
 Of song, our toilsome day 
 Aye rest wiU bring ; 
 While ia the limpid depths we fondly trace 
 The mirror'd beauties of fair Nature's face. 
 
 The westland breezes bring 
 
 From verdant leas. 
 Soft airs, and, cooing, sing 
 Among the trees, 
 j^olian melodies, our hearts that thrill 
 Again, in thy sweet numbers, Tannahill ! 
 
516 APPENDIX. 
 
 Cool, from the sunny hill 
 
 And dusky glen, 
 They stir thy song, and fill 
 The hearts of men^ 
 Hot with o'erdriving in life's growing strife- 
 With the calm pulses of a sweeter Uf e. 
 
 The wildflower bloom and scent — 
 
 A choral strain 
 Of hue and odour blent. 
 After soft rain-^ 
 With simple grace and dewy freshness fill. 
 To kefep thy memory fragrant, TannahiU. 
 
 ODE TO THE MEMORY OF TANNAHILL. 
 By John 8. MUcliell. 
 
 Greater hands have struck the lyre 
 
 Than thine own, sweet TannahiU, 
 If thine had not the poet's fire. 
 
 Why this bending to thy will. 
 The hearts of Scotsmen, old and young. 
 
 To whatever land they're borne. 
 Thy woodnotes, wild, come to the tongue 
 
 In many a heartfelt form. 
 
 * John Struthers Mitchell, boot and shoemaker, Paisley, a frequent oon- 
 tiibutor to the "Poet's Conier"of the local newspapers, was the son of 
 John Mitchell, previously referred to. Mitchell is opposed to hereditary 
 succession, yet, strange to say, he has insensibly set his idiosyncrasy 
 aside, so far as the Muse is concerned, and is himself a poet by hersditarj/ 
 succeesion. — Bd. 
 
APPENDIX. 617 
 
 'Twas on your own Gleniffer 
 
 That you sang your grandest strains ; 
 Scotsmen can forget them never — 
 
 Thy songs of hills, and streams,. and plains, 
 That drew from thee, in melody. 
 
 The beauties of thy native vale, 
 In wood, and glen, and dark fir tree. 
 
 Meet place to hear a lover's tale. 
 
 True, other lads and maidens fair 
 
 Now tread the scenes once dear to you ; 
 Still they're the same as when you were, — 
 
 Your lessons are for ever true. 
 The poet-painter's art was thine, 
 
 And hill and glen and glancing river 
 Thou dost in thy sweet verse combine. 
 
 In pictures that will last for ever. 
 
 The memory of Tannahill 
 
 His hundredth natal day calls up ; 
 And Scotsmen, with united will, 
 
 To mem'ry drain the festive cup. 
 What joy we have in our dear bard ! 
 
 Our memory stored each gentle lay. 
 Learnt us our mother's voice we heard 
 
 Sing them in years long passed away. 
 
 And aa from our lov'd mother's song 
 
 His cherished memory stUl is near, 
 Time but makes remembrance strong, 
 
 And song and singer still more dear. 
 And if, like us, our children are 
 
 Lovers of the bright and true, 
 Tannahill, the time is distant far 
 
 When Scotsmen will not sing of you. 
 
 When I think of your gentle life. 
 Ill-fitted for the storms that blow, 
 
518 APPENDIX. 
 
 So soon to sink beneath the strife, 
 Aad the harsh words that laid you low ; 
 
 I mourn to think how much is lost 
 Of treasures to a nation's song, 
 
 That might have been our proudest boast. 
 Had years, instead of short, been long. 
 
 Enough ! the past we can't recall. 
 
 The broken pillar reels to earth, — 
 The mental beauties never fall. 
 
 Nor yet require a second birth ; 
 But gather'd are into the store 
 
 That go to civilize the world. 
 And Tannahill has added more 
 
 Than many who war's flag unfurled. 
 
 If dark clouds broke on his life's path, 
 
 Bright golden sunshine too was there, 
 Such as the poet only hath 
 
 When fancy wings beyond life's care. 
 And as his natal day is near. 
 
 Due honour to his name we'll pay. 
 And give with loud and ringing cheer 
 
 True welcome to the joyous day. 
 
GLOSSARY 
 
 A, aU. 
 
 A my lane, all alone. 
 Abeigh, aloof, at a shy distance. 
 Aboon, above. 
 Abi^eed, abroad, 
 Ackit, acted. 
 Ae, one. 
 A£f, off. 
 Aft, oft. 
 Afore, before. 
 Ahint, behind. 
 Aiblins, perhaps, 
 Ain, own. 
 
 Ails, what is wrong. 
 Ailins, sickness. 
 Aim, iron, 
 
 Airt, to direct ; skill. 
 Alane, alone. 
 Alang, along. 
 Amaist, almost. 
 Amang, among. 
 An, and. 
 Anee, once. 
 Auohteen, eighteen. 
 Ane, one, an. 
 Anither, another. 
 Antrin, occasional. 
 Arle, coin given at a verbal 
 
 contract. 
 Auld, old. 
 
 Auld-farren, sagacious. 
 Ava, at all. 
 Awa, away. 
 Ay, yes. 
 Ayont, beyond. 
 
 Bairn, child. 
 
 Baith, both. 
 
 Bane, bone. 
 
 Bang, violent, vehement. 
 
 Bannock, a cake. 
 
 Barmy, giddy, passionate. 
 
 Baudrons, a cat. 
 
 Bauld, bold; bauldly, boldly. 
 
 Bawkie, the bat-bird. 
 
 Bawsonet, spot on cattle's 
 head. 
 
 Bawtie, a dog. 
 
 Bedeen, quickly, forthwith. 
 
 Beet, beit, to add fuel to the 
 fire, 
 
 Ben, inner apartment ; in- 
 wards. 
 
 Benders, drinkers 
 
 Bere, barley 
 
 Beuk, buik, a book. 
 
 Bicker, a wooden dish for ale. 
 
 Bickerin, noise of a stream. 
 
 Bide, to abide, remain. 
 
 Bield, beild, shelter, protection. 
 
 Bien, wealthy. 
 
 Big, large. 
 
 Biggin, a house, household. 
 
 Birk, birch; birken, birchen. 
 
 Birkie, a lively fellow. 
 
 Birsie, bristly, warm temper. 
 
 Bit, a small piece. 
 
 Blackbyde, the bramble-berry. 
 
 Blae, blue, livid. 
 
 Blaeberry, the bilberry. 
 
 Blate, bashful, sheepish. 
 
 Blaud, a large piece, of any 
 thing. 
 
 Blaw, a blast ; " tak a blaw," 
 take a whiff. 
 
 Blearie, bleared. 
 
 Bleezin, blazing. 
 
 Blether, idle talk. 
 
 Blink, a streak of light, 
 
 Bluid, blood. 
 
 Blunt, stupid. 
 
 Blythe, glad, gay. 
 
520 
 
 APPENDIX! 
 
 Boatie, diminutive boat. 
 
 Bodes, omens, foreboding. 
 
 Boggie, a hobgoblin. 
 
 Bonnie, tandsome, beautiful. 
 
 Bore, a small hole or crevice. 
 
 Bouk, bulk. 
 
 Bour-tree, the common elder- 
 tree. 
 
 Bouroch, a chamber. 
 
 Brae, a hill. 
 
 Brag, boasting. 
 
 Braid, broad. 
 
 Braided, plaited. 
 
 Braw, fine, handsome. 
 
 Breohan, common fern. 
 
 Bree, liquor. 
 
 Bricht, bright. 
 
 Brither, brother. 
 
 Brocht, brougHt. 
 
 Brume, broom. 
 
 Broo, broth, soup. 
 
 Broose, a race on horseback at 
 country weddings. 
 
 Buohted glade, a winding glade. 
 
 Buirdly, strong, athletic. 
 
 Burn, a rivulet ; Burnie, dimi- 
 nutive burn. 
 
 Busk, to dress finely. 
 
 But, outward apartment ; out- 
 wards. 
 
 Ca, a call; to call, to drive. 
 
 Cadgier, haf^y, pleased. 
 
 Caft, bought. 
 
 Caimey, loose heaps of stones. 
 
 Callan, a boy. 
 
 Caller, cool, refreshing. 
 
 Cam, came. 
 
 Cankert, cross, iU-natured. 
 
 Canna, cannot. 
 
 Cannie, cautious, frugal. 
 
 Cantie, cheerful, merry. 
 
 Caper, to dance 
 
 Carle, an old man. 
 
 Carline, an old woman. 
 
 Castook, the core or pith of 
 
 colewart or cabbage. 
 Carry, motion of the clouds. 
 Caucht, caught. 
 
 Caul, cauld, cold. 
 
 Caup, a drinking cup. 
 
 Chaft, chafts, jawbone. 
 
 Chanter, a part of a bagpipe ; 
 "to sound a chanter," to 
 sound a pipe. 
 
 Chaps, fellows. 
 
 Chiel, a fellow 
 
 CMrt, to s(iueeze. 
 
 Chuokie-bjrd, a chicken. 
 
 Clachan, a village. 
 
 Claise, clothes. 
 
 Claith, cloth. 
 
 Clatter, frivolous loquacity. 
 
 Cleedin, clothing. 
 
 Cleuk, cluik, a cloak. 
 
 Clink, money. 
 
 Clish-clash, idle discourse. 
 
 Cluds, clouds. 
 
 Clung, empty. 
 
 Clute, cloot, a hoof. 
 
 Cocket, set up, vain. 
 
 Coft, bought. 
 
 Cog, a wooden vessel. 
 
 Coggie, diminutive cog, 
 
 Coof, a blockhead. 
 
 Coots, the ancles. 
 
 Coronach, a dirge. 
 
 Cosie, cojsie, snug, well-shel- 
 tered. 
 
 Coudna, could not. 
 
 Courin, squatting timidly. 
 
 Courit, to crouch. 
 
 Couthy, kind, loving. 
 
 Crabbit, crabbed. 
 
 Cracks, conversation. 
 
 Craigie, diminutive rock. 
 
 Craig's close, the throat. 
 
 Cram, fill up, push down. 
 
 Cranreuch, hoarfrost. 
 
 Craw, to crow, to boast. 
 
 Crawberry, the crowberry. 
 
 Crawflower, the vdld hyacinth. 
 
 Crispy, hard and brittle, like 
 frozen snow. 
 
 Croodle, to coo as a dove. 
 
 Chroichle, a dry cough. 
 
 Chroichlin, coughing. 
 
 Chronach, a dirge. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 521 
 
 Crooket, -cruiket, crooked. 
 
 Croon, hum a tune, purr as a 
 cat. 
 
 Grouse, speaking boldly. 
 
 Crowdie, porridge. 
 
 Cruik, a crook ; to crook. 
 
 Cruiket, crooked. 
 ■ Cruinet, murmuring sound. 
 
 Crummook or crummie, a cow 
 
 Cuddle, to fondle. 
 
 Cuist, cast away. 
 
 Cushat, the wood-pigeon. 
 
 Cutty pipe, a short tobacco 
 pipe. 
 
 Dabbing, attempting. 
 
 Daddie, father. 
 
 Da£Sn, merriment. 
 
 Daft, silly, fatuous. 
 
 Dama, dare not. 
 
 Darnt, sewed. 
 
 Dasht, thrown impetuous. 
 
 Daudlin, slovenly. 
 
 Daunert, wandered. 
 
 Daur, dare. 
 
 Daut, fond. 
 
 Dee, to die. 
 
 Deil, devil. 
 
 Descrive, to describe. 
 
 Deftly, fitly. 
 
 Deliered, delirious. 
 
 Develt, knocked down. 
 
 Diddle, to shake, to 'jog. 
 
 Didna, dinna, did not. 
 
 Dizzen, a dozen. 
 
 Dirt, dust, mud. 
 
 Dochter, daughter. 
 
 Doil'd, doilt, stupid, confused. 
 
 Dolefu, doleful. 
 
 Dorty, saucy, nice, discontent- 
 ed. 
 
 Dotard, a stupid person. 
 
 Doubtna, doubt not. 
 
 Douf, pithless, wanting spirit 
 
 Douless, spiritless, incompetent. 
 
 Dourin, remaining obstinate. 
 
 Downa, do not. 
 
 Dowie, worn with grief, fatigue. 
 
 Dow, to be able to drive ; dove 
 
 Dozen, to stupify. 
 
 Draff, brewers' dregs ; draff- 
 cheap, worthless. 
 
 Draigle, draggled in the mire. 
 
 Drap, to stop ; a drop. 
 
 Dredgy, the funeral service 
 before or after an interment. 
 
 Dree, to endure. 
 
 Dreep, to drop like water. 
 
 Drift, flying snow. 
 
 Drouth, drought, thirst. 
 
 Dule, lament. 
 
 Dune, finished. 
 
 Dusky, dark. 
 
 Dyke, dry stone wall. 
 
 Dyvour, a bankrupt. 
 
 Ee, the eye ; een, the eyes. 
 Benin, the evening. 
 Een, eyes. 
 
 Eerie, frighted, dreading spi- 
 rits. 
 Eident, diligent. 
 Eild, old age. 
 Eldrin, elderly. 
 Erl-kiss, earnest of betrothal. 
 
 Fa, fall, to fall. 
 
 Fae, foe. 
 
 Faen, fallen. 
 
 Fallow, fellow. 
 
 Fardin, farthing. 
 
 Faun, fallen. 
 
 Farm-toun, farm-house. 
 
 Farrin, sagacious, cunning. 
 
 Fash, trouble, care ; to trouble. 
 
 Fauld, a fold; to fold. 
 
 Fause, false. 
 
 Faught, a fight, a struggle, 
 fight. 
 
 Faut, fault. 
 
 Feberwar, February. 
 
 Feoht, a fight ; to fight. 
 
 Feck, many, plenty. 
 
 Feckless, weak in body, spirit- 
 less. 
 
 Fee, wages, to hire. 
 
 Pen, fend, the shift one makes ; 
 to shift, to support, to fare in 
 general. 
 
 Q3 
 
522 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Peth, faith. 
 
 Feechanie, fetid, nauseous. 
 
 Fey, make haste. 
 
 Fettle, to join closely, to re- 
 pair. 
 
 Fient, fiend, (a petty oath. ) 
 
 Fihnin, finding. 
 
 Fit, foot, to dance. 
 
 Fleuk, a flounder. 
 
 Fling, to dance. 
 
 Flicht, enjoyment. . 
 
 Fliskin, skipping, capering. 
 
 Flunkie, a servant in livery. 
 
 Fouks, folks. 
 
 Foul, rainy, evil. 
 
 Forby, besides. 
 
 Forfaien, distressed, worn out, 
 jaded. 
 
 Fou, fu, drunk, full. 
 
 Fouth, plenty, enough. 
 
 Frae, from. 
 
 Fraise, a cajoling discourse. 
 
 Fuddlin, continued intoxica- 
 tion. 
 
 Furthy, frank, affable. 
 
 Fuzzie, mossy. 
 
 Fyke, trifling cares ; to be in a 
 fuss about trifles. 
 
 Gab, the mouth. 
 
 Gae, to go. 
 
 Gait, a way, a street. 
 
 Gane, gone. 
 
 Gain, keen, covetous. 
 
 Gang, to go, to walk. 
 
 Gat, got. 
 
 Gait, road, walk. 
 
 Gaudie, gay dressed. 
 
 Ganger, a goer. 
 
 Gart, to force, to compel. 
 
 Gaun, going. ' 
 
 Gauoy, plump, jolly. 
 
 Gawkie, half-witted, foolish. 
 
 Gayley, in ordinary health. 
 
 Gecht, disdainful toss of head. 
 
 Gear, riches, goods of any kind. 
 
 Geek, to deride. 
 
 Geir, accoutrements. 
 
 Gettlin, a child. 
 
 Ghaist, a ghost. 
 
 Gien, given. 
 
 Giggles, childish laughing. 
 
 Gin, if, against. 
 
 Girn, to grin. 
 
 Glamour, magical deception of 
 
 sight. Hence to cast glamour 
 
 o'er ane, to cause deception 
 
 of sight. 
 Glintet, glanced. 
 Gloamin, the tvrilight. 
 Glowrs, broad staring. 
 Gowan, the generic name for 
 
 the daisy ; singly, it denotes 
 
 the mountain daisy; gowany, 
 
 abounding with daisies. 
 Gowd, gold ; gowden, golden. 
 Gowk, the cuckoo ; also, a 
 
 fool. 
 Grafi', a grave. 
 Grane, a groan ; to groan. 
 Grannie, grandmother. 
 Gree, to agree, superiority. 
 Greet, to weep. 
 Grew, a greyhound. 
 Grufi^, coarse speaking. 
 Grip, a grasp ; to grasp. 
 Groats, milled oats. 
 Grun, ground. 
 Gruntin, sound of pigs. 
 Gude, guid, good ; also used 
 
 for the name of God. 
 Gudeman, a husband. 
 Gudewife, a wife. 
 Gunk, to gie the, to give the 
 
 slip, to jilt. 
 Gush, rush of water. 
 Gutcher, (corruption of gude- 
 
 sire) a grandfather. 
 
 Ha, hall. 
 
 Habble, noisy persons. 
 
 Hae, have. 
 
 Haena, have not. 
 
 Haffet, the temple, the side of 
 
 the head. 
 Haggis, a kind of pudding 
 
 boiled in a stomach of an 
 
 animal. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 523 
 
 Haill, whole. 
 
 Haftina, a young'lad, doubting. 
 
 Hags, notoiiea. 
 
 Hale, in health, vigorona. 
 
 Hallan, lobby of an old cottage. 
 
 Hame, home. 
 
 Hamert, domeatic. 
 
 Hap, covering. 
 
 Hash, a sloven, a foolish fellow. 
 
 Hasna, haa not. 
 
 Hanf, half. 
 
 Hauld, aid, alt, a atream with 
 high banks. 
 
 Havers, foolish talk. 
 
 Haudiu, holding, goods. 
 
 Heather, heath. 
 
 Hecht, offered. 
 
 Hee, heigh, hie, high. 
 
 Hel, held, 
 
 Herrit, robbed. 
 
 Hichts, Heights. 
 
 Hidlin, secret. 
 
 Hielan, highland. 
 
 Hiloh, to hobble, to halt. 
 
 Hilclung, halting. 
 
 Hinmaist, last person. 
 
 Hinna, . have not. 
 
 Hip, to hop. 
 
 Hips, fruit of brier. 
 
 Hobblin", bad walking. 
 
 Holm, the level low ground on 
 the banks of a river. 
 
 Hone, delay 
 
 Hooly, cautious. 
 
 Hoot,, dissatisfaction. 
 
 Houghmagandie, immorality. 
 
 Housin, houses. 
 
 Houkit, to dig. 
 
 Howdie, a midwife. 
 
 Howe, a hollow. 
 
 Howk, to dig. 
 
 Howlet, an owl. 
 
 Hubble, babble, hobble, a hub- 
 bub, a riot, a state of per- 
 plexity. 
 
 Hunner, a hundred. 
 
 Hurcheon, a hedgehog. 
 
 Hurkle, to squat, to draw the 
 body together. 
 
 Hurl, drive in a, cart. , 
 Hurryin, running. 
 
 I, in. 
 
 Ill-faur'd, ill-favoured.^ 
 
 Ilk, ilka, each, every. 
 
 Ingle, Are, fire-place. 
 
 Inmaist, inmost. 
 
 Ise, I shall, or will, 
 
 Ither, other, one another. 
 
 Jink, to turn suddenly. 
 
 Jirgum, to jerk as with a fiddle- 
 bow. 
 
 Joe, a sweetheart. 
 
 Jorum jirger, a player of tunes 
 on the fiddle. 
 
 Jig, to play on the fiddle. 
 
 Kebar, (oabbar,) a rapacious 
 
 person. 
 Kecklin, laughing violently. 
 Kell, scarf. 
 Ken, to^kuow. 
 Kent, known. 
 Kennin, acquaintance, a small 
 
 portion, a slight degree. 
 Kimmer, a gossip. 
 Kintra, country. 
 Kirk, a church. 
 Kirkward, churchward. 
 Kirk-yard, a church-yard. 
 Kittle, to tickle, intricate. 
 Knowe, a small round hillock. 
 Kye, cows. 
 Kyte, the belly. 
 
 Labster, a lobster. 
 Laddie, a boy. 
 Ladin, a load. 
 Laigh, low. 
 
 Lair, to stick in the mire. 
 Laird, landlord. 
 Laith, loathe. 
 Lamikin, a young lamb. 
 Lammies, lambs. 
 Lan, land. , 
 Lane, lone, alone. 
 Lanely, lonely. 
 
624 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Lang, long, 
 
 Lang-kail, coleworta not 
 miuoed. 
 
 Langsome, tedious, longsome. 
 
 Langsyne, long time ago. 
 
 Lapstane, the stone a shoe- 
 maker holds on his knee or 
 lap to beat leather upon. 
 
 Lave, the rest, the others. 
 
 Laverock, a lark. 
 
 Lawin, a reckoning. 
 
 Lawlan, lowland. 
 
 Lea, pasture ground. 
 
 Lea, to leave. 
 
 Lear, learning. 
 
 Leddie, a lady. 
 
 Leel, loyal, true, faithful. 
 
 Lee-lang, live-long. 
 
 Lewk, look. 
 
 Leeze-me I (leif is me !) dear is 
 to me. 
 
 Leuch, leugh, laughed. 
 
 Licht, a light. 
 
 Lift, the sky. 
 
 Lilt, a ballad, a tune ; to sing. 
 
 Lingal, a shoemaker's thread. 
 
 Linn, a cataract, a pool, 
 
 Lippin, to entrust. 
 
 List, to hear. 
 
 Loe, luve, love. 
 
 Loof, (plural, looves,) the palm 
 of the hand. 
 
 Loomin, misty, 
 
 Loup, a leap ; to leap. 
 
 Lowe, a flame ; to bum, 
 
 Lown, serene. 
 
 Luggie, a" small wooden dish. 
 
 Luik, a look ; to look. 
 
 Lug, the ear. 
 
 Luit, loot, did let. 
 
 Lum, a chimney, 
 
 Lum pig, a chimney can. 
 
 Luve, love. 
 
 Lyart, grey, a mixed colour. 
 
 Mae, or mair, more. 
 
 Mailin, a farm. 
 
 Maist, mostf; maistly, mostly, 
 
 Mak,'make, 
 
 Mammie, mother. 
 
 Mane, moan ; to moan. 
 
 Marrit, married, 
 
 Mashlum, mixture. 
 
 Maun, must. 
 
 Maun na, must not. 
 
 Mavis, a thrush. 
 
 Maw, to mow, mouth. 
 
 Maybe, perhaps, 
 
 Measlt, spotted, 
 
 Meikle, much. 
 
 Mennon, a minnow. 
 
 Mense, thanks, dignity. 
 
 Messan, a small dog. 
 
 Mettle, active, strength. 
 
 Mew, the cry of a pat. 
 
 Micht, might. 
 
 Midges, gnatSi 
 
 Minnie, mother. 
 
 Mirk, dark. 
 
 Mirly -breasted, speckled on the 
 breast, 
 
 Mischanter, mishanter, misfor- 
 fortune. 
 
 .Mither, mother. 
 
 Mizzly, mizzled, having differ- 
 ent colours. 
 
 Mole-eet, mole-eyed, 
 
 Mony, many. - 
 
 Mool, to crumble. 
 
 Mode, chilblains. 
 
 Mools, buried. 
 
 Mou, the mouth. 
 
 Muckle, much. 
 
 Munonday, Monday. 
 
 Murky, cloudy, 
 
 Na, no, not, nor. 
 
 Nae, no, not. - 
 
 Naething, nothing. 
 
 Nane, none.' 
 
 Nappy, ale. 
 
 Naught, nought. 
 
 Neb, the nose. 
 
 Neer, never. 
 
 Neer.-do-weel, a never-do-well, 
 
 a scapegrace. 
 Neist, next, 
 Neuk, nook, corner. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 525 
 
 Nibblin, eating with frontteeth. 
 Nioht, niglit. 
 Nip, a sctueeze. 
 Noclit, nothing. 
 Norlan, North. 
 
 0, of. 
 
 Ooht, ought. 
 
 Oddsaffs, godsake. 
 
 Ony, any. 
 
 Oor, our. 
 
 Ourie, shivering, drooping. 
 
 Owk, a week. 
 
 Owre, over, too. 
 
 Out-owre, over. 
 
 Pairtriok, a partridge. 
 Parin, thin out of cheese. 
 Pawky, cunning, sly. 
 Peaae-strae, pease-straw. 
 Peep, a look. 
 Peeseweep, a lapwing. 
 Pibrocharian, a player of pi- 
 
 brochs, or Highland airs. 
 Pine, linger. 
 Pith, strength. 
 Pitty-patty, all in a fluster. 
 Plack, a coin equal to the third 
 
 of a penny sterling. 
 Plaid, an outer loose garment. 
 Plaidie, a small plaid. 
 Plantin, a wood. 
 Pleuch, plough. 
 Pook, down on clothes. 
 Poortith, poverty. 
 Pouther, powder. 
 Pow, the head. 
 Pn, to pull. 
 Puff, a little smoke. 
 Puir, poor. 
 Pand, a pound. 
 
 Quaigh, a small, shallow drink- 
 
 ing-cup, with two ears. 
 Quat, to quit, to desist. 
 Quhat, what. 
 Quhilk, which. 
 
 Backet, an uproar. 
 
 Bae, a roe. 
 
 Baiks, gathering cinders. 
 
 Bair, roar. 
 
 Bant, to make merry. 
 
 Bantin, merry, cheerful, jovial. 
 
 Battlin, bustlin, running past. 
 
 Beave, to_deprive. 
 
 Bedd, cleared up. 
 
 Bed-wat-shod, walking in blood 
 
 . over the shoe-tops. 
 Beft, snatched away. 
 "Beestle, a blow, to beat. 
 Eevit, deprived. 
 Bin, to run. 
 
 Bisp, to make a harsh sound. 
 Eoguie, a petty rogue. 
 Boosci to praise, to commend. 
 Eoun, round. 
 Bow, to roll, to wrap. 
 Bowt, to bellowing. 
 Bowu-tree, mountain ash. 
 Bue, to repent. 
 Bunkled, wrinkled. 
 Bunt, the stem of colewort or 
 
 Sae, so. 
 Saft, soft. 
 Saip, sape, soap. 
 Sair, sore. 
 
 Sandy, Banners, Alexander. 
 Sanes, signs. 
 Sang, a song. 
 Santer, a slow pace. 
 Sappy, plump. 
 Sark, a shirt. 
 Saugh, the wUlow. 
 Saul, the sole. 
 Saw, to sow. 
 Sax, six. 
 Scant, scarcity. 
 Scart, to scratch. 
 Scaud, scaul, a scald ; to scald. 
 Scauld, to scold. 
 Scone, a flour cake. 
 Scours, running. 
 Scraichin, shrinking. 
 Screed, to tear ; screed aff, to 
 do anything quickly. 
 
526 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Sorimpit, scanty, deficient. 
 Soroggie, thorny, briery. 
 Scullion, a low fellow. 
 Scuttle, to cook, to pour from 
 
 one vessel to another. 
 Sey, to essay, to try. 
 Seggs, the sedge. 
 Serse, preserve us. 
 Shantrewa, a dance. 
 Shaw, a small plantation, to 
 
 shew. 
 Sheen, pupil of eye. 
 Shielin, a hut, or shed. 
 Shortsyue, a short time since, 
 
 lately. 
 Shouther, shoulder. 
 Shune, shoes. 
 Sic, such. 
 
 Siooan, such kind of. 
 Sich, to sigh. 
 Sicht, sight. 
 
 Sidelins, sidelong, indirectly. 
 Siller, silver money. 
 Simmer, summer. 
 Sine, since, to rinse. 
 Sinsyne, since. 
 Sinks, drains. 
 Skellat, a small bell. 
 Skelp, a stroke ; to strike, to 
 
 slap. 
 Skelper, a low fellow. 
 Skep,_a bee hive. 
 Skiff, to blow out. 
 Skiukle, to sparkle. 
 Sklent, sklint, slant, to, look 
 
 askance, 
 Sklintet, to look askance. 
 Slae, a sloe. 
 Slake, to drink. 
 Slavertj saliva, spittal. 
 Slee, sly. 
 
 Sleeky, faining, deceitful. 
 Slidder, slippery, 
 Slicht, to jilt, slight. 
 Slippit, went out covertly. 
 Slocken, to quench. 
 Sma, small. 
 Smiddy, a smithy. 
 Snaw, snow. 
 
 Snod, in order. 
 
 Snood, a fillet for binding. 
 
 Snool, to submit tamely. 
 
 Socht, souglit. 
 
 Sodger, a soldier. 
 
 Sonsy, good-humoured, plump, 
 well-conditioned. 
 
 Soop, to sweep. 
 
 Soud, should. 
 
 Sough, sugh, a rushing or 
 whistling sound. 
 
 Souple, supple. 
 
 Souter, a shoemaker. 
 
 Southron, an Englishman. 
 
 Sowdie, or powsowdie sheeps's- 
 head broth : milk and meal 
 boiled together. 
 
 Sowther, to solder. 
 
 Spaukie, moving with quick- 
 ness and elasticity. 
 
 Spat, spit. 
 
 Spawl, a' limb. 
 
 Speat, or spate, a sweeping tor- 
 rent after rain or thaw. 
 
 Spiel, to climb. 
 
 Spier, to ask, to inquire. 
 
 Spunkie, the wiU o the wisp, 
 or ignis faluus. 
 
 Spool, weaver's pirn! 
 
 Squal, scream. 
 
 Squat, to sit down. 
 
 Sta, a stall. 
 
 Stabs, coarse palling. 
 
 Stan, stand. 
 
 Stane, a stone. 
 
 Starn, a star. ■ 
 
 Stey, steep. 
 
 Stirk, a buUock or heifer be- 
 tween one and two years old. 
 
 Stodgin, sulky humour. 
 
 Stour, dust, more particularly 
 dust in motion. 
 
 Strae, straw. 
 
 Stragglin, falling out of order. 
 
 Stran, a gutter. 
 
 Strawns, gutters. 
 
 Streek, to stretch. 
 
 Sughin, wild wind. 
 
 Sumph, soft fellow. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 527 
 
 Sune, soon. 
 
 Surly, rough. 
 
 Swarf, fainting. 
 
 Swirlon, destorted. 
 
 Swither, irresolutioa in choice ; 
 
 to hesitate. 
 Swurda, swords. 
 Syne, since, ago, then. 
 
 Tae, to. 
 
 Taent, taken it. 
 
 Taes, toes. 
 
 Taigle, to detain. 
 
 Tak, to take. 
 
 Tane, the one. 
 
 Tap, top. 
 
 Tauk, talk. 
 
 Tauld, told. 
 
 Tautet, or tautie, matted 
 hair or wool. 
 
 Theek, to thatch. 
 
 Thegither, together, 
 
 Thir, these. 
 
 Thooht, thought. 
 
 Thole, to suffer, to endure. 
 
 Thrang, throng. 
 
 Thrave, thrive. 
 
 Thrawart, cross, perverse. 
 
 Thretty, thirty. 
 
 Thrift, prosperity. 
 
 Thrum, to purr like a cat. 
 
 Timmer, timber ; to toom the 
 timmer, to empty the (wood- 
 en) drinking cup. 
 
 Tine, or tyne, to lose; tint, lost. 
 
 Tither, the other. 
 
 Tip, information. 
 
 Tocher, a marriage portion. 
 
 Toom, empty ; to empty. 
 
 Toots, expressive of dissatis- 
 faction. 
 
 Towmont, twelve months. 
 
 Tramp, traveller. 
 
 Triggin, decking. 
 
 Trowth, truth. 
 
 Tryst, an appointment to 
 meet, to engage. 
 
 Tugs, draws. 
 
 Tuik, took. 
 
 Twa, two. 
 Twal, twelve. 
 Tyke, a dog. 
 
 Vaunty, boastful. 
 Vera, very. 
 ■Vogie, vain. 
 
 Waw, a wall. 
 
 Wad, would ; to let ; a pledge. 
 
 Wadna, would not. 
 
 Wae, wo ; (adject.) sorrowful. 
 
 Waeful, wofnl. 
 
 Waea me 1 waesucks ! wo is 
 
 me ! alas ! 
 Waflf, shabby, worthies^; to 
 
 throw into the shade. 
 Wair, to lay out as expense. 
 Wale, to choose. 
 Wallet, a vallet. 
 Wallop, a quick motion with 
 
 much agitation of the clothes, 
 
 as in dancing. 
 Wame, the belly. 
 War, were. 
 Wark, work. 
 Warl, world. 
 Warlock, a wizard. 
 Warsel, to wrestle, to strive. 
 Warst, worst. , 
 Wassells, articles in a house. 
 Wat, wet ; I wat, I wot. 
 Wauk, walk. 
 Wauken, awake. 
 Waukrif, wakeful, , not apt to 
 
 Waur, worse. 
 Wean, a child. 
 Wee, little. 
 
 Weeds, widows' mournings. 
 Weel, weU. 
 
 Weel's me ! (weel is me !) hap- 
 py am I. 
 Weel-hain'd, well-saved. 
 Weet, wet, rain. 
 Weir, war. 
 Westlan, western. 
 Wha, who. 
 Whack, a piece, a stroke. 
 
528 
 
 Appendix. 
 
 Whamlet, turned upside down. 
 
 Whan, -when. 
 
 Wheesht, -be ailent. 
 
 Wheetlet, wheedled. 
 
 Whiles, sometimes. 
 
 WhUk, which. 
 
 WhisMh, q^uick motion. 
 
 Wheep, small ale. 
 
 Wi, with. 
 
 Wicht, a person. 
 
 Widna, would not. 
 
 Wuds, plantations. 
 
 Wifie, a little wife. 
 
 WUyart, wUzart, wild, shy, 
 
 timid. 
 Wimple, to meander. 
 Win, wind. 
 Winna', wUl not. 
 Wizen, throat. 
 
 Wuddie, a rope of willow twigs. 
 Wyse, to wyse awa', to whee- 
 dle, to entice. 
 Wyly, cunning. 
 Wyte, blame. 
 
 Yeldrin, yellow-hammer. 
 
 Yestreen, yesternight. 
 
 Yett, a gate. 
 
 Yill, ale. 
 
 Yird, earth. 
 
 Yocket, yokit, yocked ; en- 
 
 Yon, further. 
 Yont, beyond. 
 Youff, to bark. 
 Yowl, to howl. 
 Yuukers, youths. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Pago 
 Abolition of Slavery, - 75 
 Address of Provost Hugh 
 
 Macfarlane, - - 500 
 
 Address of Provost.David 
 
 Murray, - - - 509 
 AddressdfBishopWishart, 54 
 Advertisement with 1st 
 
 Edition, - - 477 
 
 Acquaintanceship of 
 
 M'Laren and Smith, - lix. 
 Airs, Poet collecting old xlix. 
 Alms House, - xxx;, 489 
 
 Altar Tomb in Saint 
 
 Mirin's Aisle, - - 54 
 American Ormthologi3t,57,481, 
 490 
 Appendix, - - - 453 
 Auld age and youth, - 34 
 AppUcatiou to Archibald 
 
 Constable, - - Ixxxii. 
 Apprenticeship of the 
 
 Poet, - - . . xlv. 
 
 Bagpipe competition, 94 
 
 Band of Argyleshire 
 
 Militia, - - 316, 385 
 Bargain, A WUlie Glass- 
 ford, - - - - 121 
 Battleof Aboukir, 2, 5, 11, 29, 30 
 Alexandria, 3, 11, 29 
 Bannockburn, 245 
 Corunna, - - 252 
 CuUoden, - 237, 40 
 Falkirk, - 243, 44 
 Plodden, 152, 54, 230 
 Langside, 232 
 
 Salamanca, 5, 11 
 
 Bird nesting, - - 89, 108 
 Birth and Childhood of 
 
 the Poet, - - - xliii. 
 Birth of Burns, 54, 56, 439 
 Births of James Tannahill's 
 
 Children, - - xxxix. 
 Births of Thomas Tanna- 
 hiU'a Children, - xxv.- 
 
 Births, Marriages, and 
 Deaths of the Tartaa- 
 hill Family, - Ixxxviii. 
 
 Book Clubs in Paisley, xxxvii. 
 
 Bourooh of the Sun 
 Tavern, . - - Ixxx., 315 
 
 Bracket, The Tannahill 476 
 
 Brodie families of Lang- 
 craft, - - xxxiii, 266-71 
 
 Buildings in Paisley in 
 1756, Public xxviii. 
 
 Burning of Tannahill's 
 Songs, • - Ixxviii., 478 
 
 Burning of Wilson's 
 Poem, - - - - 62 
 
 Bums Club, Formation of, Ixii. 
 „ ,, Kilbarchan, - 114 
 ,, Favourite Caup, 129-30 
 „ Portrait of - 117 
 
 Bust of Tannahill, Marble 475 
 
 Buttons, Dollar - 97 
 
 Caller Herrin, Ixxvi., 349, 425 
 Cameron Highlanders, - 4, 11 
 Cash in the bank, Ixxxiii, 
 
 Caup, B. Allan's song of 
 
 the - - - 130 
 
 Caup, The Craigielee - 193 
 Centenary of Robert 
 
 AUan, - - - - 123 
 Centenary of Tannahill, - 505 . 
 Certain Curious Poems, - 487 
 Certificate of Bums' 
 
 birth, - - 56, 439 
 
 Chairmen of the Tannahill 
 
 Club, - - 497 
 
 Changes in the Tannahill 
 
 Family, - - li. 
 
 Champion of Scotland, - 243 
 Chaplain at Funeral, Ixxxviii. 
 Chartulary of Paisley, - 485 
 Chinese Whang, - - 18 
 Club criticism, - Ixi. 
 
 Club, Formation of a 
 
 social, - - Ivii. 
 
 b3 
 
530 
 
 Club Meetings, Combined- Ixv. 
 
 Collecting Irish Airs, - Ixxv. 
 
 Concert Handbills, 21, 307, 
 412, 34 
 
 Concert for Thomas Boyd, 98 
 
 Concert, of Smith and 
 Stuart,- 97, 98 
 
 Contributions to Periodi- 
 cals, bcv., Ixvi., Ixvii., Ixviii., 
 Ixix., Ixxvii. 
 
 COEKESPONDENCE. 
 
 Barr, From James - 443, 445 
 
 Barr, To James 367, 74, 80-81, 
 
 90, 405, 19, 24, 35 
 
 Bishop, To James 389 
 
 Borland, To Alexander - 437 
 
 Clark, From James 367-91, 403 
 
 Clark, To James 372 82, 400-13- 
 
 23-27-33 
 
 Crawford, From John 368,442 
 
 Crawford, To John - - 398 
 
 Finlayson, From William, 448 
 
 Finlayson, To William - 408 
 
 Bibble, From William 386, 407- 
 
 15 
 
 Kibble, To William 365-87 
 
 King, From James - 391-93 
 
 " King, To James 401-15-21-28- 
 
 29-32-33 
 
 Lang, To Robert - 388, 438 
 
 Livingston, From Wm. 365-72 
 
 Macfarlane, To John 397, 410- 
 
 22-30-32 
 
 Porteous, To William 443, 45 
 
 Smith, From R. A. - 426-38 
 
 Smith, To E. A. - 419 
 
 Stewart, To Thomas - 435 
 
 TannahiU, To Matthew - 442 
 
 Tannahill, Prom Robert 365, 
 
 371-72, 374, 380-1-2, 387-8-9- 
 
 90, 397-98, 400-1, 405-6-8, 
 
 410, 413, 415, 418-19, 421- 
 
 22-23-24, 427-8-9-30, 432-33, 
 
 . 435, 37 
 
 TannahiU, To Robert 365, 368, 
 372, 386, 391, 393, 403, 407, 
 415 
 Thomson, To G. 413, 418, 430 
 
 Thomson, To WiUiam 
 
 387 
 
 Cost of building a Cottage 
 
 ia 1775 - - - xxxviii. 
 Country Rambles of the 
 
 Poet - -xlvi. 
 
 Courtship of Queen Marie, 230 
 Courtship of Tannahill 1, 209 
 Cousins of the Poet stiU 
 
 living, - - IxXiii., >lxxiv. 
 Croft Society, - 85, 86 
 
 Crocston Castle, 23(0, 441 
 
 Crookston Dollar, - 231 
 
 Cyrus, TannahiU's dog 143 
 
 Dancing in P-aisley, xlvii., 211 
 
 Death, The Years of the 
 Great, li., lii., 4 
 
 Death, • - 82, 83, 106 
 
 Death of General Sir 
 Ralph Abercromby, - 2, 30 
 
 Death of James Tannahill 
 (father), xlii.,lv.,lxxxviii.,66 
 
 Death of the Poet Tanna- 
 hiU, - Ixxxiv., 107 
 
 Dedication of several Edi- 
 tions, - iii., 477-79-94 
 
 Defamation, - - HI, 410 
 
 DeUvery of 1st Edition, 
 
 Ixxiii., 387-88-89 
 
 Description of property, 
 32 Castle Street, - 504 
 
 Description of property, 
 6 Queen Street, - - xl. 
 
 Description of Paisley by 
 Willie Glassford,- - 121 
 
 Description of TannahiU, 114 
 
 Destroying his Poetry, 
 TannahSl, - Ixxviii., 478 
 
 Diffidence of TannahUl, 
 
 xliii., 198 
 
 Dinner to Professor Wil- 
 son, - - 74 
 
 Disconsolate Wren, - 64 
 
 Discovery of TannahiU's 
 body, , - . Ixxxvi. 
 
 Dispensary, James Tan- 
 nahiU elected Director 
 of, ... xliii. 
 
631 
 
 Page 
 Distress in Paisley, - lii. 
 
 Dog, Sagacity of a, - 147 
 
 Dogs are honest crea- 
 tures, - - 143 
 Drama, The, ■ - Ixxv., 404 
 Drawing of TannahiU, 
 
 Jn. Morton'Sjlxxxvii., 471-94 
 Drawing of caricatures 
 
 by Motherwell, - - 486 
 Drawing and Painting by 
 
 Alex. Wilson, - - 490 
 Dress of Paisley Semuc 
 
 and Belles, - xlviii. 
 
 Dress of TannahiU, - - Ix. 
 
 Edition of TannahiU's 
 
 Works, 1807, 477 
 
 1815, 478-79 
 
 - 1817. 479 
 
 1819, 483 
 
 1822, 489 
 
 „ 1833, 491 
 
 „ - 1838, 493 
 
 Edition by the Author. 
 
 Proposed (Second, lxxviii.,436 
 Education of the Poet, - xliii. 
 Emigration of R. Allan, 123 
 Emigration of Alexander- 
 Wilson, - - 60 
 Engagements of the 79th, II 
 England, Poefs residence 
 
 in, - ■ liv. 
 
 Engravings of TannahiU, 
 
 474, 84, 89, 94 
 Erection of Monumental 
 
 tombstone, - - 498 
 
 " Ettrick Shepherd, " 
 Meeting with the, Ixxix. 
 
 Fac-simile of TannahiU's 
 
 songwriting, - 187 
 
 Ferguslie, Lands of, 189, 191 
 Filial Vow, - - Ivii., 65 
 Fingal's shield, 46 
 
 First lines of' poems in 
 
 aU the Editions, xiv. 
 
 First lines of songs in all 
 
 the Editions, xvi. 
 
 Freedom of Paisley denied 
 
 to the poet Campbell, 74 
 
 Page 
 Freemason? Was Tanna- 
 hiU a, - • Ixxxii. 
 Friendship, - - 112 
 Fountain gardens, - - 191 
 
 GseUc kirk. Queen of the, 5 
 Genealogy of Prince Leo- 
 pold, - - - 233 
 Gentle corps, ■ - 20, 246 
 Gleuoraigie's wife, - - 32 
 Glossary, - - - 519 
 Golden (team, - -17-18 
 Gouden ring, The, - - 32 
 Grannie, Loohwinnooh, - 435 
 Guide to Gleniffer Braes, xi. 
 Gun of Alexander WUson, 
 ornithologist, - 57 
 
 Habbie Simpson, or Robt. 
 
 Simpson, - - 128 
 
 HaU of Argyle, - 316, 443 
 Hardyknute, Author of, 179 
 Harmonica, Universal, 473 
 
 Harp of Renfrewshire, 483-488 
 Health of the Poet, Ix., 432-437 
 High church steeple, 10, 28 
 Hindoo Mythology, - 75 
 Historians, - - 119-20 
 Hogg, Meeting with 
 
 Jam6s, - fixix. , 437, 444 
 
 Hope Temple, Building of, Uii. 
 Hospital, J. TannsMl 
 
 chosen Director of, ■ xl. 
 House in Queen Street, 
 
 BuUdiua - - xxxvii. 
 Houses in Paisley in 1756, xxvi. 
 Humanity, - - 108 
 
 Husbandry, Address on, 266-67 
 
 Improvement of the Town, Ixx. 
 
 Index to correspondence, xxii. 
 
 Institution of TannahiU 
 Club, - - - - 496 
 
 Interview of Hogg and 
 TannahiU, - Ixxix. , 437, 444 
 
 Interview with John Ross, 392 
 
 Invasion of Britain, 246 
 
 Inventions of John Mor- 
 ton, - - - 472 
 
 lona, Ruins of, - 180 
 
532 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Jean, the daughter from 
 Glenfeoch, - - - 221 
 
 Kilbarohan Farmer So- 
 ciety, - xxxiv. 
 
 Lairs ia West Relief ce- 
 metery, - Ixxxviii., 211 
 Landing of troops in 
 
 Egypt, - . . 29 
 
 Last Letter of Tannahill, 437 
 Last Piece of Tannahill, - 318 
 Last Visit of TannahiU to 
 
 Glasgow, - - Ixxxiv. 
 Letters, see Correspondence. 
 Life of Arthur Sneddon, 
 
 Ixxxvii.-viii. 
 Life of the Eenfrewshire 
 
 Bard, - - - - 482 
 Life of Tannahill in this 
 
 Edition, ... xxv. 
 Lighting of Saint Mirin's 
 
 Tomb, . - bcxviii. 
 
 Lighting of Weaver's 
 
 Looms, Paisley, Ixxviii. 
 
 Likeness of the Poet, 
 
 Drawing, IxxxTii, 471 
 
 List of Papers kejit by 
 
 Miss Barr, - - - 93 
 Ljrre, Number of strings 
 
 in the, - . 74 
 
 Man of Feeling, - - 57 
 
 Manufactures of Paisley 
 in 1790, - - xlvi. 
 
 Manuscript song, . 187 
 
 Marriage of James Tan- 
 nahill, - xxxii. 
 
 March the Eighth, that 
 memorable day, 2, 5, 29 
 
 Map of the Land of Tan- 
 BaJiill, . - - X. 
 
 Meal Market, - xxix., 427 
 
 Memorandum or Note- 
 book of Poet's Father, 
 
 XXX yii. 
 
 Merit, Pride, and Inte- 
 rest, - 387 
 
 Misery, - HI 
 
 Page 
 Mistake in the date of 
 
 Burns' birth, 55, 439 
 
 Moderation, - - - 111 
 " Modestus," 37, 44, 141, 148, - 
 
 167, 287, 308, 378, 399. 
 Morneen I Gaberland, 18, 220-1 
 Mortality in the Tanna- 
 hill FamUy, - 365 
 Muses, Names of the nine, 48 
 M^useumof J. Buchanan, 93,113 
 Museum and Library, 
 
 Free, - 190 
 
 Music teaching in Ayr, 
 
 E,. A. Smith's, - - 438 
 Musical tour of Eraser 
 Family, - - 389 
 
 Names of Persons, see 
 
 ■ Persons. 
 North-British Fusiliers, 4, 1 1 
 
 NOTES BY AUTHOR AND 
 
 EDITORS. 
 
 Finlayson, . - - 409 
 
 Lamb, 18, 25, 36, 220, 347 
 
 Motherwell, 54, 152-55, 202. 
 
 5, 43 
 
 Muir, - 341 
 
 M'Kenzie, - - - 65 
 
 MCLaren, 60, 65, 195, 234, 63 
 
 Purvis & Aitken, 84. 117, 161 
 
 Ramsay, 41, 42, 43, 55, 61, 65, 
 
 7", 72, 81, 95, 99, 106, 13, 
 
 15, 21, 24, 26, 27, 28, 52, 
 55, 65, 71, 76, 82, 84, 92, 
 93, 99, 205, 8,25, 28, 30, 
 31, 35, 37, 44, 46, 52, 55, 
 64, 66, 69, 72, 73, 74, 81, 
 82, 85, 90, 92, 97, 304, 13, 
 15, 19, 25, 27, 29, 33-35, 
 38, 41, 414, 34. 
 Semple, xxvii., xxix., xxx., 
 ■ xxxi., XXXV., xlii, 1., ]i., 
 liii., Ivi., Ixii., Ixiii., Ixiv,, 
 Ixvi., Ixvii., Ixviii., Ixix., 
 Ixx., Ixxii., Ixxiii., Ixxv., 
 Ixxvi, , Ixxviii. , Ixxxv. , 
 Ixxxvi., Ixxvvii., 2, 4, 7, 9, 
 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 
 
INDEX — PEESONS NAMES. 
 
 533 
 
 Page 
 20, 22, 23, 26, 28, 29, 
 30, 31, 32, 34, 35, 37, 38, 
 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 46, 
 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 
 55, 61, 64, 66, 69, 70, 71, 
 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 78, 81. 
 82, 84, 87, 88, 89, 90, 92, 
 93, 94, 95, 97, 98, 99, 
 100-2, 104, 106-7, 109, 113, 
 115-9, 120-2, 125-9, 130-7, 
 139, 141, 143-4, 146, 148-9, 
 152, 154-5, 159, 161-5, 
 167-9, 173, 176, 179-80, 
 182, 184, 186, 189-92, 195-6, 
 200-6, 209, 213-4, 217-8, 
 221-3, 225-9, 230-1, 233-9, 
 240-1, 243, 245-6, 248-9, 
 251-4, 2S6-7, 261, 264, 266, 
 269-73, 275, 278-9, 280-2, 
 284-7, 289, 291, 293, 295-7, 
 300, 303-4, 306-7, 313, 
 316-9, 325, 333, 342, 345, 
 348-9, 351-3, 356, 358-9, 
 360-1, 365, 367-9, 372," 
 377-9, 380-5, 389-90, 394, 
 397, 400-401, 404-5, 409, 
 411, 419-420, 424-7, 429-33, 
 436, 448, 457-8, 460, 462-3, 
 466, 468, 469, 473, 486, 
 487, 511, 512, 514, 516. 
 
 Smith, 192, 195, 198, 203, 
 208, 220, 300, 315, 318. 
 
 TannaHU, 70, 76, 79, 93, 
 115, ■ 117, 120, 139, 142, 
 161, 169, 182, 186, 256, 
 351. 
 Numbering of houses in- 
 
 Paisley streets, Ixxi., Ixxii. 
 
 Oddfellows, Paisley, - 63 
 Opinion of Wordsworth 
 
 and TannahiU Poetry, 235 
 Opinion of Ross's Music, 12 
 Ornithologist, Alexander 
 
 Wilson (The), 57, 60, 481, 490 
 
 Fainting of Bums by 
 
 Tannook, - - - 117 
 Paintings of Tannahill, 474 
 
 Palace of Inchinnan, - 230 
 Patriot and the Patriot 
 
 Bard, - - - 53, 54 
 Pavements a Promenade, 
 
 The, - - - Ixxi., 432 
 Personal Appearance of 
 
 the Poet, Ix. 
 
 PERSONS, NAMES OE 
 Earls of Abercorn, - - xxix. 
 Sir Ralph Aberoromby, 2, 5, 30 
 William Adie, - - 84 
 
 George Allan, - - 215 
 
 G. Allan, - - 406 
 
 Mary Allan, - - 215-16 
 Robert Allan, - 122-23, 129-30, 
 215, 457 
 The Allans, - - - 374 
 Alexander the Great, 109, 120 
 George Alexander, - 308 
 
 Robert Alexander, - 201 
 
 John Till AQingham, 125 
 
 Marion Allison or Tanna- 
 hill, - - - - Ivii. 
 John Alston, - - 475 
 
 Alexander Anderson, - 12 
 David Anderson, - 63 
 
 David Anderson, - 349, 425 
 James Anderson, LL.D., - 264 
 WiUiam Anderson. - Ixiv. , 88, 
 225, 367, 374, 460 
 James Andrew, - ili. 
 
 James Archibald, - - 469 
 Archimedes, - - 182 
 
 James Armour, - - 129 
 Mary Amot or Buchanan , 1 14 
 James, Earl of Arran, - 190 
 James Arthur, - 502 
 
 Ann Auchencloss, - - 360 
 John Baliol, - - - 54 
 Bank, Glasgow Union, - Ixxv. 
 Bank, The Paisley, 139-40" 
 
 Bank, Paisley Union, - Ixxv. 
 Bank of Scotland, The 
 
 Union, - - - Ixxv. 
 
 Sir Joseph Banks, - - 74 
 William Banks, - - - xlvii. 
 John Barbour, - 155-56 
 
 Jean Barclay or Tannahill, li. 
 
534 
 
 INDEX — PERSONS NAMES. 
 
 Page 
 
 James Barr, - Ixxix., Ixxv., 
 Ixxxi., 92-3, 113, 118, 192, 
 245, 251, 269, 349, 367, 87.4, 
 384, |90, 399-400, 405, 4.19- 
 20, ^2.4.-25, 435, 443, 445, 447. 
 Eliza Biirr or Baunerman, 93, 2.69 
 Janet JBiarr, - - 92, 269 
 John Barr, - - 384 
 
 Mary Barr or Tanuahill, - li. 
 Matthew Barr, - - 93 
 William Barr, - - - 270 
 Walter Barr, - 93 
 
 James Beattie, 132 
 
 Wmiam Beith, - - 474 
 Miss Bell, - - 13 
 
 WiUiani BeU, - - - 377 
 E. Belichambers, - - 489 
 Bellman & Kelly, - 373 
 
 W. H. W. Betty, - - 95 
 Margaret Biggar or Tauna- 
 
 hm, - - r xxxi. 
 
 James Bishop, = - 389 
 
 Alexander Bissland, 184 
 
 Thomas Bissland, - 185 
 
 Thomas Bissland, Ixviii., 184-5, 
 
 191 
 
 Rev. Thomas Bissland, - 185 
 
 Alexander Black, - - 491 
 
 Blaclde & Sons, r 492 
 
 Andrew Blaikie, Ixxx., 50-51 
 
 53, 245, 382, 444 
 
 Hugh Blair, - - 120 
 
 Matthew Blair, - 371,374, 
 
 421, 499, 502 
 
 IJobert Blair, - - 416, 421 
 
 Rev. Walter Blair, - - 5 
 
 Rev. Robert Boog, - Ixx., 21, 
 
 361, 441 
 
 Alexander Borland, Ixviii., 
 
 Ixxxii., Ixxxiv., 106, 396, 
 
 437, 455, 457. 
 
 Geordie Bowse, - 270 
 
 Thomas Boyd,- - - 98 
 
 John Braham,- 212, 420, 446 
 
 "Matthew Bramble," - 430 
 
 Admiral Bruix, - 377 
 
 Andrew Brodie, xxxiii., xxxiv., 
 
 xl. 
 
 Andrew Brodje, xxxiv., 266 
 
 Page 
 Hugh Brodie, 3Qcxii., xxxiii., 
 
 xxxiv., xl., 152, 213, 266-7, 
 271 
 Janet Brodie or Polloek, Exxii., 
 xxxiii, 
 Robert Brodie, xxxiv., 271 
 Callum Brogach, - 290 
 
 Allan Brown, 161-62, 168 
 
 Agnes Brown or Burns, - 56 
 Andrew Brown, - xxxi. 
 
 Isaac Brown, -' - 4^5, 487 
 Matthew Brown, - - 162 
 Robert Brown, ProvQst, 162, 
 348 
 Brown, Sharp, & Co., 98 
 
 Thomas Brown, - - 375 
 Thomas Brown &; Son, • 161 
 Robert Bruce, - - 54 
 
 Duke of Brunswick, - 116 
 Patie Brydie,xxxv., 17, 22, 271 
 Patrick Buchan, - - 207 
 Jaa. Buchanan, 92-93,113-14,481 
 James Buchanan, 2er2i^,- 114 
 John Buchanan, - 114 
 
 Thomas Buchanan, 385, 400, 
 405, 428 
 James Bunten, ■ - xxv. 
 Mary Bunten or Tanna- 
 
 hill .... xxv. 
 Napoleon Buonaparte, - 246-7 
 Edmund Burke, - - 109 
 Peter Burnet, Ixxxv. , Ixxxvi. , 
 Gilbert Burns,- - 303, 436 
 Robert Bums, Ixiii., 37, 39, 41- 
 
 2, 49-50, 54, 56, 382, 440-9 
 William Burns, Ixxxvi. ,66 
 William Burns, - 56, 440 
 Jean Burton or Dew?ir, - 5-6 
 Samuel Butler, . - 120 
 
 James Caldwell, 193, 368, 380, 
 419, 425 
 George Caldwell, . - 485 
 William Caldwell, . - 215 
 Sir Alan Cameron,- 4 
 
 Gibbie Cameron, - 27 1 
 
 Thomas R. Cameron, - 139 
 Archibald Campbell, xii. , 233 
 David Campbell, - 497 
 
INDEX — PERSONS NAMES. 
 
 535 
 
 Page 
 Flora Mure CampbeUj - 247 
 Thomaa Campbell, lix., Ix., 
 
 Ixxxii., 12, 49, 73-4, 261-62, 
 
 382, 434, 437. 
 Caroline Amelia, - - 1 16 
 George Carawell, - - 391 
 Thomai Oars-well, - 475 
 
 Michael de Cervantes, - 120 
 John Chalmers, - - 1. 
 King Charles II., 120, 139, 44S 
 Prince Charlie, - 237, 240 
 King Charles in., 240 
 
 Charlotte Augusta, • - 116 
 Cicero, ... 94 
 
 Queen Charlotte, - . xlvi. 
 AUau Clark, - 495 
 
 Clark-& Ramsay, - . 495 
 James Clark, Ixxvi., 12, 98, 
 
 245, 315-16, 367-8, 382, 391-, 
 
 393, 400, 403, 405, 413, 423, 
 
 427, 433, 443 
 Robert Clark, - 461 
 
 Dr. Clelland, - - - 359 
 Sir Peter Coats, = 64, 190 
 Thomas Coats, - liii., 191 
 Gavin- Cochran, xxvii. 
 
 John Cochran;- - - 191 
 Margaret Cochran or 
 
 Tannahill, - - - H. 
 Robert Cochran,- - 497 
 
 WiUiam Cochran, xxvii. 
 
 Thomas Cockburn, - - 140 
 J. & J. Cogan, - - 397 
 
 King Coilus, - - - 49 
 A. Constable & Co., Ixxii., 479 
 George F. Cooke, - 390 
 
 James Cook, - 94 
 
 James Cook, - - 503 
 
 JohnCook^ - - 497 
 
 Robert Corse, - - 101 
 
 Hugh Cowan, - - - 233 
 Daniel Craig, - 441-42 
 
 Robert Craig, - - 427 
 
 William Craig, - 427 
 
 Archibald Crawford, - 117 
 George Crawfurd, - 190, 230 
 Helen Crawford, - .127 
 Jean Crawford" or Smith li., 
 209-10 
 
 John Crawford, 74, 496-7 
 
 John Crawford, 290, 351-2, 368- 
 9, 371, 398, 442-3 
 Patrick Crawford, • - 127 
 
 Robert Cra-vfford, 127 
 
 Thomas Crawfurd, - 190 
 
 WUliam Crawford, - - 127 
 Hugh Crichton, - 412, 478 
 Robert Croo, - - - 230 
 R. Crosby & Co., . Ixix., 278 
 William, Duke of Cum- 
 berland, ... 240 
 Allan Cunningham, 293, 492 
 
 Henry, Lord Darnley; ' 230-31 
 William Dalrymple, D.D., 56 
 Sir David Dalrymple, - 119 
 R. F. Dalziel, - 502 
 
 Robert Danyelstoh, - 196 
 
 Robert Deans, - Ixxiv. 
 
 WUliam Deans, xxxiii., Ixxiv. 
 Isabel De war, 5, 6, 16, 19 
 
 Robert Dewair, - - 5 
 David Dickie, - 403 
 
 Mary Donald or Pollock, xxxiii. 
 J. N. Dickie, - - 463 
 
 Margaret Douglas, Cbua- 
 
 tess of Lennox, - - 230 
 Janet Drummond or Tan- 
 
 nahiU, - Ivi. 
 
 James Drummond, - - 74 
 Earls of Dundonald, xxix., 85, 
 191 
 Widow Dunn, xxxviii., 163 
 William Dunn, - 297, 504 
 John Dryden, - - - 78 
 
 King Edward I., xxviii., 53 
 Robert El walde, . - 128 
 James, 13th Earl of Errol, 479 
 William Erskine, 231 
 
 Mary Bwing, - 86 
 
 WiUiam Falconer, 489 
 
 Robert Farquharson, - 74 
 James Ferric, - - 497 
 
 James Fillaus, - 476 
 
 John FUlans, - - 476 
 
 Findlay, Ure, Bryoe, & Co, 85 
 
536 
 
 INDEX — PERSONS NAMES. 
 
 Fingal, - - - - 261 
 
 Alexander Pinlay, - 377 
 
 John Finlay, - - - 375 
 
 Waiiam Finlay, - 375-77 
 
 William Finlayson, 238-39, 
 408-48 
 
 Jolm Fisher, - - - 497 
 
 Walter Fitzallan, - 199 
 
 Rev. OUver Flett, 503 
 
 Johnnie Flint, - - 70 
 
 George Fowler, Ixxii. 
 
 James Roy Fraser, - 512 
 
 John Fraaer, - - 389, 512 
 Archibald FuUertonS Co., 494 
 
 Humphrey Fulton, - - xxxi. 
 Robert Fulton, xxxiv., 266 
 
 Robert Fulton, - 4-246 
 
 Robert Fulton, yr. , - - 4, 5 
 
 Fultons and Pollock, xlvi. , 4 
 
 William Fulton, - xi., 497 
 
 Gaffer, - - - 3, 7 
 
 WaUam Galbreath, 272, 368 
 Gale, Curtis, and Fenner, 479 
 Mary Gardner or Loch- 
 head, ■ ... 32 
 Doctor Garnet, - - 264 
 James Gavan, - xxxiii. 
 
 William Gemmil, - Ixiv. 
 
 King George I., 233 
 
 King George II., 233 
 
 King George III., - - 233 
 King George IV., 116, 247, 425 
 William Gibb, - - 140 
 
 Alexander Gibson, - xl. 
 
 P. Gibson, - - 197 
 
 Rev. George GUflllan, - 465 
 Rev. Colin Gillies, - - xlii. 
 William Glassford, - - 121 
 Countess of Glasgow, - 479 
 Oliver Goldsmith, - 17, 342 
 Gordon and Barclay, - 492 
 Mrs. James Gordon, - 218 
 James Graham, 231, 285, 355 
 John Graham, - - I. 
 
 John Graham, - 355 
 
 Thomas Graham, - - 440 
 Francis Grose, - 113,346 
 Nathaniel Gow, - - 199 
 
 JohuGunn, F.S.A., 
 
 Page 
 265 
 
 Hab, Habbie, - - 128 
 
 Jean Hamilton, Dowager, 197 
 James Hamilton, - - 463 
 John Hamilton, Abbot, 8, 
 190-91, 232 
 John Hamilton, 12, 203, 385 
 John Hamilton, - - 504 
 Margaret Hamilton or 
 
 Wallace, - 191 
 
 Hamilton and Power, - 165 
 Hardyknute, - 152, 179 
 
 John Harkness, - - 103 
 Blind Harry, - - - 244 
 Hielan Harry, 3, 8, 12, 449 
 James Hastie, - Ixii. 
 
 Flora Hastings, - 248 
 
 Francis Rawdon Hastings, 247 
 Marquis of Hastings, 246-48 
 Jean Hattrick, - - Ixv. 
 Robert Hay, - - 497, 502 
 William Hector, - - 487 
 King Henry VIII., 154, 230 
 Matthew Henderson, - 43 
 Robert L. Henderson, 497 
 
 Rev. John Henry, - xxxv. 
 David Herd, - 293 
 
 " Hob the King," - - 128 
 Hob, Hobbie, - - 128 
 
 Louis Hoeck, 189, 501 
 
 James Hog, - - - 140 
 James Hogg, Ixxx. -i, 81, 107, 
 285, 354, 444 
 William Holms, M.P., 64, 233 
 Andrew Houston, - - 184-5 
 Margaret Houston or 
 
 Bissland, - • - 184 
 George How, - 114 
 
 John Howard, 57, 109 
 
 John Howie, - - - 291-2 
 Alexander Hume, - 11 
 
 Alexander Hume, 194 
 
 Cosmo Innes, - 
 Isaac DTsraeU, 
 
 Peter Jack, 
 King James I. , 
 
 317 
 76 
 
 494 
 176 
 
INDEX — PBKSONS' NAMES. 
 
 537 
 
 King James IV., - 154,233 
 
 King James VI., - - 233 
 
 King James VII. , - - 448 
 
 King James VIII., - - 240 
 
 John Jamieson, ■ 2S5, 292 
 
 John Jamieson, - 386 
 
 Jean, - - ■ 3, 5, 6 
 
 Souter Johnnie, • 63, 438 
 
 ■ Harry Johnston, - - 88 
 
 Barnabas Kerr, - 70 
 
 William -Kennedy, - 488 
 
 James Kerr, - - 197 
 
 Robert Kerr & Bon, - - 233 
 John Kemble, - 390 
 
 Margaret -Kibble or Biss- 
 
 laud, - - - 184, 185 
 WiUiam Kibble, - - 184 
 William Kibble, liv., Ivi., 365, 
 386-7, 407-8, 415, 417 
 Alexander Kilpatriek, 24S-50 
 James King, Ivii., Ixxvi., 
 
 Ixxvii., Ixxxi., 81, 106, 266, 
 
 274, 297 
 
 Jeanie King, - - 215 
 
 John King, Ixiv., 49-50, 88, 
 
 205, 215 
 
 John Knox, - - 116 
 
 James Lamb, - - 348 
 
 James Jamieson Lamb, 18,' 25, 
 36, 270, 496-97, 503, 505 
 Jeanie Lang, - - -90 
 Eobert Lang, Ixiv., 56-7, 388, 
 438 
 Eobert Howard Lang, 57, 389 
 Alexander Laing, Ixvi., 226, 
 420, 491-2 
 David Laing, LLjD., 176, 3.56, 
 . 428 
 AJidrew Laird, - - 504-5 
 The Laird, - . - 3 
 John Lamon, - - 298 
 
 John Kaapar Lavater, 144 
 
 John Lawrence, jun., - 474 
 Thomas Leishman, - - 491 
 William' Leggat, - 367 
 
 William Lennie, - - 484 
 Matthew 4th., Earl of 
 
 Lennox, - 23^-1 
 
 Page 
 H.R.H. PeinciI Leopold, viii., 
 
 233 
 A. & G. Leslie, - Ixviii., 69 
 Matthew G. Lewis,- 173 
 
 James Lindsay, - - 496 
 Linwood Cotton Spiiming 
 
 Co., .... XXX. 
 Janet Linton or Bimten, - xxv. 
 John Livingston, - - 416 
 Peter Livingston, . . '416 
 William Livingston, Ixxv., 88- 
 89, 225, 365, 372, 374 
 W. H. Lizars, - - i97 
 
 Robert Locthart, . . 105 
 John Lochhead, - 32 
 
 William Lochheaid, - - 282 
 Alexander Looho*e; D:D., 378 
 Robert Loohore, . .378 
 John Lorimer, - ■ - 10 
 Countess of Loudon, - 247 
 John 4th. , Earl of Loudon, 247 
 John Love, - xxx., liii. 
 
 John Love, - - 406 
 
 Margaret Love or Barr, - 92 
 William Lyle,- - - 118 
 
 Maroellus, - 182 
 
 KingMalcomllL, - - 180 
 WiUiam Mallooh & Co. , 389 
 JohnMiaiin, - - - 429 
 William Manson, - 1,22 
 
 Queen Marie, - 190, 230, 233 
 Charles Marshall, Ixiv., 374, 
 428, 462 
 Rev. Charles Marshall, - 462 
 William Marshall, - - 475 
 George Masson, - . ."blO 
 Eobert Maver, - 308 
 
 William Maver, Ixvii., 44, 308 
 Charles Maxwell, '- 1 84 
 
 James. Maxwell, • 490 
 
 John Maxwell, - - 197 
 Sir John Maxwell, 230,232, 448 
 Sir Robert Maxwell, - 196 
 Henry^ Meldrum, - 425 
 
 James Millar, - - 502 
 
 John Millar, Ixviii., 19, 73, 179 
 William MUlar," - . 466 
 Mirren, . - - 3, 5, 6 
 John Mitchell, - 70, 462 
 
 I 3 
 
538 
 
 INDBX — PEKSONS SAMES. 
 
 Pago 
 John S.' MitoheU, - 497, 516 
 JEarl of Moira, - 246-47-48 
 
 Alexander MoUison, Ixxvi. , 424 
 Ezekiel Montgomery, 1 90 
 
 Henry Monteith & Co., 465 
 J. and R. Monteith, - 424 
 Sir John Moore, . - 252 
 Thomas Moore, - 49, 125 
 Regent Moray, - 232 
 
 EUenMore, - - 275-76 
 John Morgan, - - 101 
 
 Lady Morgan, - - 342 
 
 Sir Thomas Charles Mor-. 
 
 gan, - - - 342 
 
 Robert Morgan, - - Ixiv. 
 
 James Morton, - - 389 
 
 John Morton, - Ixxxvii., 471, 
 
 473-4, 476, 47S 
 
 James Moss, Ixxv., 125, 212, 
 
 383, 84 
 
 John Mossman, - - 63 
 
 James Motherwell, - - 496 
 
 William Motherwell, Ixxxi., 
 
 36-7, 54, 60„ 123, 1 53, 304, 
 
 315, 318, 426, 483-4, 489. 
 
 James Muir, Ixiii., 364, 433, 
 
 79-81 
 
 William Murdoch, - 466 
 
 David Murray, Provost, 64, 
 
 233, 498, 503, 505, 509 
 
 James M'Alpie, - - 478 
 James M 'Alpine, - - 408 
 Rev. John i/i 'Uermid, xxxviii. 
 WiUiam M'Dermont, 56, 440 
 Andrew M 'Donald, - - 430 
 Hugh MaoDonald, 25, 235, 465 
 Alexander M 'Donald, - 391 
 William M'DowaU, - - 126 
 Daniel Maofarlane, - - 472 
 Rev. Duncan M'Farlan, - 468 
 John Maofarlan, 262, 280, 397, 
 410, 422, 430, 432 
 Hugh Maofarlane, - 500 
 
 Margaret M 'Parian or Muir, 480 
 R. F. M 'Gibbon, 509 
 
 J. R. Macgregor, - 511 
 
 Malcolm Macgregor, - 94 
 P. C. Macgregor, - 498, 510 
 Rob Roy Macgregor, - 237 
 Harrow M'Intyre & Co., 465 
 
 John M'Intyre, - - 466 
 Archibald M'Kay, - 460, 480 
 Robert Mackay, - - 441 
 WilUam Mackean, 501, 502 
 Robert M'Kechnie,- - 480 
 Henry Mackenzie, - - 120 
 William M'Kenzie, - - 474 
 Jane M 'KerreU or Fulton, 5 
 John M'Kerrell, - 5 
 
 WilUam M 'KerreU,- 211, 246 
 WiUiam M'Laren, Ux., lxii.-v., 
 lxxxii.-iii., 44, 52, 60, 65, 
 212, 214, 318, 364, 374, 378, 
 460, 477. 
 John M 'Lauchlan, - 440 
 
 Andrew M'Lean, - xxxvi. 
 Patrick M'Lerie, - Ixiv. 
 
 John M 'Math, ■- - 118 
 NeUie M'i^^airn, • 272 
 
 Alexander M'Kab, - 272 
 
 Alexander M 'Naught, - Ixx. 
 Alexiander M'NeU, xxxiii., 385 
 Duncan M'NeU, - 468 
 
 Hector Macneil, Ixxxii., 265, 437 
 John M'Neil, - 177 
 
 MaUM'Neil. - - 177 
 
 Matthew M'NeU, 385 
 
 Roderick Macneil, - r 182 
 WiU M'Neil, Ixviii., 113, 176- 
 83, 273, 300, 367, 374 
 Robert M'Nish, 488 
 
 James M'Queen, 488 
 
 Donald DubhM'Rimmon, 272 
 John M'Watters, - 421 
 
 Alexander Napier, - - 252 
 Emperor Napweon, - 395 
 
 Alexander Naysmith, - 117 
 John NeUson, xxxvi., 377, 482 
 Horatio Nelson, 116, 377-78 
 William Niven, ■ - 448 
 
 Turlough O'Carolan, 341-2 
 
 Mrs. Odger, - - - 404 
 Olympiaa, ... 109 
 ThadyO'More, - - 327 
 Robert aUas Hob Onnes- 
 
 ton, - - - - 128 
 Peggy O'Rafferty, - 338-39 
 James Orr, - - - 62 
 Robert Orr, . . . xl. 
 
IKDEX — PERSONS' NAMES. 
 
 539 
 
 William Orr, . 
 Oscar, 
 Ossian, . 
 Sydney Owenaon, 
 
 Page 
 xzxiii. 
 . 261 
 . 261 
 341-42 
 
 John Parkhill, Ixxxvi., Ixxxvii., 
 270 
 James Pateraon, . . 270 
 Allan Park Paton, . . 399 
 E. Paton, . . .199 
 Saint Patrick, . . .178 
 Albert L. Peace, . . 501 
 James Peacock, . . 504-5 
 James Peddie, . . . 481 
 John Peddie, . . . 484 
 Lady Perth, . . .247 
 Ebenezer Pioken, . . 394 
 Peter Pindar, . . 72, 431 
 
 Philips 169 
 
 Philip . . . .109 
 Pliny . . .94 
 
 Agues PoUook or Orr, xxxiii. 
 Alexander Pollock, . . 502 
 Anaple Pollock or Steven- 
 son, . . . xxxiii. 
 A im FoUock or Deans, xxxiii. , 
 Ixxiv. 
 Ann Pollock or Hastie, Ixxiii. 
 Archibald Pollock, Iviii. , Ixxv. , 
 2, 37, 88, 125 
 Janet Pollock or Tanna- 
 hill, xxxii. -iv. , Ivii. , Ixxxv. , 
 bfxxviii., 65:6, 266, 271. 
 Jean PoUock or Craig, xxxiii. 
 Margaret Pollock or 
 
 Gavan,. . . xxxiii., 
 Margaret PoUook, . . 282 
 Mary-Pollock or M 'Neil, xxxiii., 
 385 
 Matthew Pollock (1st), xxxii. . 
 Matthew Pollock (2nd), xxxii. 
 Matthew Pollock (3rd), xxxii. - 
 iii., Ixxiii., 282 
 Matthew PoUock (4th), xxxiii. 
 William Pollock, . . 496 
 John Poison, . . . 502 
 Alexander Pope, 31, 37, 49, 78 
 WilUamPorteous, 443, 445, 472 
 Robert Purdie, . . 197 
 
 Janet Purdon or PoUock, xxxiii, 
 John Kalston, . . 163 
 
 Allan Bamsay, 36, 37, 203, 308 
 James Bamsay, . . 494 
 P. A. Ba-TDsay, Ixvi., Ixvii., 
 
 bcxvii., 42, 55, 61, 65, 313, 
 
 15, 55, 488, 93, 94. 
 
 Bamsay, . . . 265 
 
 John Baunie, . . 2l8 
 
 James Eeid, 498, 503, 508 
 
 Alexander Eenfrew, . 512 
 Daniel Bichmond, . 475, 98 
 Thomas Bichmond, . 377 
 
 JohnBiddle, . . 273-74 
 Dayid Eizzio, '. . . 231 
 King Bobert III., . . 196 
 Archibald Robertson, . 128 
 ■Tames R. M. 'Robertson, . 390 
 John Robertson, . . 394 
 John Robertson, . 394-95 
 J. and M. Bobertson, . 346 
 - — Bobertson, . 389-91 
 William Bobertson, . 119 
 Alexander Rodger, 305, 10, 11 
 Roscius, ... 94 
 
 Rosoius, The Young, . 95 
 Charles Rosa, . . . 101 
 John Ross, lix., bcxii., Ixxiv., 
 
 11-3, 20, 25, 195-6, 218, 222-3, 
 
 229, 308, 391-2, 400, 40,3, 412, 
 
 426, 428. 
 Robert, 4th Lord Ross, 197 
 William Ross,' . xxxiii. 
 
 Robin Roughhead, . . 125 
 Lewie Roy, . ... 238 
 Peter Paul Rubens, , 1 17 
 
 M. B., . . . . 511 
 
 James Scadlock, Ixi-, Ixiv., 
 
 Ixvii., 84, 85, 87, 88, 90, 99, 
 
 101, 4, 37, 225, 26, 367, 73, 
 
 74, 96, 97, 458, 60. 
 
 Frederick Schenk, . 422 
 
 James Sclater, . . 62 
 
 Janet Slater or Orr, . xl. 
 
 John Slater, . . xxxvi. 
 
 B. Scott. . . 474-75 
 
 Walter Scott, Ixxii., 49, 155, 
 
 232, 434, 37 
 
 Sultan Selim III, . . 5 
 
540 
 
 INDJ^X— persons' NAMBg. 
 
 Andrew, master of, SempiUi, 
 
 xivii. 
 David Semple, - ii. -iii, ix. , 193 
 Francis SempiU, . 127-73 
 James Semple, . .118 
 Sir James SempiU, , .128 
 Hew 1 1 th Lord| SempiU,' . 126 
 Robert, Great tord SempiU, 
 
 230-32 
 Robert SempiU of BeUtrees, 
 
 128-317 
 
 WilUam Semple, xxxiv.- xxxvi., 
 
 101, 6i, 267 
 
 WilUain Shakapere, 34, 49 
 
 George Schaw, Abbot, xxviii., 
 
 511 
 
 WiUiam Sharp, . . 61 
 
 Sir John Shaw, ' . xxxij. 
 
 John or Jack Shaw, 212, 15, 
 
 420, 45, 46, 
 
 John Shaw, . . . 215 
 
 Margaret Sheddan or 
 
 Dobie, . . xxxiii. 
 
 Robert Sheddan, . . 190 
 William Shenstone, 78, 137 
 Habbie Simpson, 127,128. 
 
 272, 317 
 Robert S^imjmng, 270, 306 
 John Skinner, . . 295 
 
 Ag^es Smithj . 291, 92 
 
 Alexander Smith, . . 466 
 Andrew Smith, xxxvi., U., 209,' 
 504 
 Andrew Smith, li., 209, 10 
 James Smith, xlviii., 504 
 
 R. A. Smith, Ux., Ix,, Ixiv., 
 Ixxii., Ixxiv., Ixxviii., Ixxx., 
 18, 21-2, 25, 50-1, 53, 55-6, 
 98,' 114, 118, 130, 195, 197-8, 
 202-3, 208, 112-3, 222, 226, 
 234, 239, 246, 259,, 263, 278, 
 281, 292, 300, 302, 304-5, 307, 
 315, 364, 368, 371-2, 382, - 
 392-3, 400, -403, 405, 410-1,- 
 
 ■ 419-20, 42^-7, 438, 442, 447,- 
 481, 484, 391, 493, 495, 499, 
 501. 
 
 Robert Smith, . . 20 
 
 Robert Smith, . 489-91 
 
 Page 
 ■WTilJii^m Smith, . • 489 
 Arthur Sneddon, lxxxvii,-vm,i 
 Alexander Speirs, . . 177 
 Archibald Speirs, . . 5 
 Mary Spreul, . ■ 193 
 
 James Stevenson, xxxiii., 270 
 John Stevenson, . . 378 
 James Steven, Ixxix., 92, 2 12, 
 420, 46, 47 
 Allan Stewart, Iviii., 102, 14, 
 15, 482 
 Charles J. E. Stewart, 240 
 
 James Stewart, . 98, 316 
 Janet Stewart or* Allan, . 215 
 Sir Michael Shaw-Stewart, 
 
 Bart., ... .486 
 
 Thos. Stewart, Ixxviii., Ixxix., 
 
 Ixxiv., 303, 315, 430, 435 
 
 Walter Stewart, 7, 190, 233 
 
 WiUiam Stuart, Ixiv., Ixxx., 
 
 Ixxxviii., 50, 51, 53, 9B, 114, 
 
 315, 16, 68, 74, 82, 83, 92, 
 
 93, 443. 
 WiUiam Stuart, . . 184 
 WiUiam Stewart, 476, 497, 514 
 Peter Still,, . . .466 
 Thomas SWatton, . . 262 
 John Struthers, 99, 379, 83, 94 
 Mr. Sutherland, . . 39 
 Donald Sutherland, . 507 
 
 Andrew Ta^mahill,' . xxxix.- 
 xl.,'lvi., Ixxxviii. 
 Hugh TannahiU, . xxxix.rxl., 
 
 liv., Ixxxviii., 4, 66, 266, 365 
 James Tannaihill', . xxy.-vi., 
 
 xxxii. -iii. , xxxv. , xxx vii-viii. , 
 
 xl.-i., xlv., Ixxxv., Ixxxviii., 
 
 66, 184, 266; 498. 
 JaiaesTannahill, xxxix.-xl.,lL, 
 
 Ivi., Ixiv., Ixxxv., Ixxxvii.- 
 
 viii., 66, 472.. 
 James Tannahill, . . 399 
 Janet TarmahUl, . . xxv. 
 Janet Tannahill or Smith xxxix.- 
 
 xl.,xliv., xlviii., Ivi., Ixxxviii. 
 George TaimahiU, . Ixxxv. 
 John TannahiU, xxv., xxxv.- 
 vi., 184 
 Marion TannahiU, . . xxv. 
 Mary TannahiU, . , xxv! 
 
INDEX— PBESONfi' NAMES. 
 
 541 
 
 Matthew Tannahill, xxxix.-xl., 
 Ivi., Ixxxv., Ixxxviii., 25, 66,, 
 246, 250, 345, 368,. 44% 466, 
 472i476j499. 
 
 Peter Xannajiill, . . 496 
 
 Eiobert Tannahil^ . . xxv. 
 
 Robert Tann^Jiill, , xxv.-vi., 
 
 ROBBET TaNNAHILL, XXX X. - 
 
 xL, xjiii., xlv-vi., 128, 205, 211 
 
 Robert Taanahill, . . li. 
 
 XXXV., 184 
 
 Thomas Ta/ntiahill, . xxv.-vi. 
 
 Thomas TanpahiUii . xxv. -vi. , ' 
 
 . xxxi., XXXV. 
 Thomas Tami^hill', xxxix. -xl. , 
 xlyii., li., Ivi., Ix., Ixxxviii,, 66 
 Thomas TanpahiU, . . li. 
 James Tanaock, Ixiii., 117, 481 
 Naase Tannock, . . 129 
 Jemiy Teunant, . 1., 209 10, 
 212, 216 
 
 ■ . 47f, 
 
 ■ • ,% 
 Ixxvi., 338, 
 
 413, 418/430'; 
 James Thqmson, . 49, 139 
 WU)iam Thomson, 102, 387, 412 
 
 I)avid Taylor, . 
 John Terinant, 
 George Thomson, 
 
 Timbtheus, 
 John Tolmie, . 
 Davie Tiilloch, 
 T^in, the Bard, 
 David Vedder, 
 Vernor and Hood, 
 
 74 
 114, 412 
 . 310 
 . 261 
 420-22 
 Ijivi.-vii., 
 41,' 71, 173 
 Qu?en Victoria, 7, 200; '233, 425 
 Publius VirgUiua, . .78 
 Prince of Wales, . 116, 233 
 Alexander Wallace, xx*ii; 
 
 Sir William Wallace, 49,243-44 
 John Walker, . . . 2ld 
 Margaret Walker, . . 177 
 Robert Walkinshaw, . 483-4 
 WiUiam W'alkinahaw, . 176' 
 James Wateraton, . . 496:-'7 
 John Watson, . . .212 
 Richard Watson, . . 497 
 Robert Watt; . . 480, 484 
 Alexander Weir, . xxxvi. 
 Alexander Weir, . xlviii., 9. 
 Benjamin West, . . 117- 
 
 Alexander Whitelaw, 250,293, 
 345, 358 
 Muirlan Willie, . 3, 6, 16 449 
 Aleiaader Wilson, . 60-4,126, 
 233, 267, 481, 490 
 John Wilson, . . 200, 481 
 John WUson, 74, 121, 181, 235, 
 494 
 John Wolcot, . . 72, 431 ' 
 Mrs. John Wright,". 107, 398, 
 423, 432-3, 437 451, 
 WilliamWylie, Ixiv., 55, 104 5, 
 367, 434 
 WiUiam Wylie, . . Ixiv. 
 Whangi the miller,- ■. .17-8 
 Ann Whitcher or Smith' 20 
 John White, . . xxx. 
 
 jAities Wight, . .186 
 
 TMtaaa WiUoughby, . 165 
 EKzabeth Wilson- , . 200 
 Jdhh Wilson, . . 232 
 
 Robert Wishartj bishop, 53, 54 
 Rev. John Witherapoon, xivii. 
 William Wordsworth, . 235 
 Luokie Wrightji . . 45 
 Mary Wright, . . 237 ' 
 
 Thomas Wright, . .407 
 
 James Yool, . . . 466 
 
 James Young,, . , 56 
 
 James Young, . . 379 
 
 Stephen Young, . 477 
 
 S. and A. Young, . . 448 
 
 Rev, Walter Young, . 21 
 
 G^orgeZimmermaii, 101, 144 
 
 Phantom of Crookston, . 232 
 Philanthropists, . 57, 109 
 Pindaric imitation, . . 72 
 Pipers, King of, . . 94 , 
 Plantations of Loudon, . 247 
 Plantin taps, '. 25, 26, 224 
 Phmkin Street, Definition 
 
 of, . . . 359, 486 
 Poems of Tannahill, see 
 
 Songs, . . . 542 
 
 Poems of other persons, see 
 
 Songs of others. . . 544 
 
642 
 
 INDBX— POEMS. 
 
 Pago 
 Pollock famiUea of Boghall, 
 xxxiii. 
 Portrait of Burns for Kil- 
 
 barchau Club, . . 117 
 Portrait of the Author, 
 
 Frontispiece. 
 Portrait of the Editor, ii. 
 
 Port wine, . . . 162 
 Preface, .... v. 
 Presidents of Tannahill 
 
 Club 497 
 
 Prospectus of 1st edition, Ixxiii. 
 Printing commenced in 
 
 Paisley, . . xxxvi. 
 Publication of the first 
 
 edition, . . .Ixxii. 
 Quaint appearance of 
 
 Merksworth gate, . 485 
 Queen's Birthday, . . 200 
 Queen of the Gaelic kirk, 5 
 Queer Sir John, . . 116 
 Eaven's Glen, Olenfeoch, 
 
 or the 19 
 
 EebelUon of 1745, . . 240 
 Recruiting in Paisley, . 4 
 Eegiment, The 79th, . 4-5, 11 
 Removal of outside stairs, Ix'xi. 
 Renewal of the Poet's 
 
 companionships, . . Ivii. 
 Resuming the Muse by 
 
 the Poet, . ._ . Ivii. 
 Return to Paisley, Poet's, Iv.-vi. 
 Review of Paisley Volun- 
 teers', .... 246 
 Reward of £30,000, . 240 
 Ring, The gold, . . 32 
 Robin Roughhead in the 
 
 play, . . . .125 
 Rosinante,- . . . 120 
 Roup of Steadings in 
 
 Brodmlands, . . 504 
 
 Royal Visit of H. R. H. 
 
 Prince Leopold, . . 233 
 Sampler, Miss Taunahill's, xliv. 
 Scandal, .... 110 
 Scenery of Lochwinnogh, 12-67 
 Scenery in the " Soldier's 
 
 Return," ... 7 
 School, Storie Street, . 377 
 
 Scotish, or Scottish, The 
 
 word, .... 197 
 Scribbling of rhymes, . 426 
 Selector, Author's Pieces 
 
 in, . . Ixvii. 378-9 
 Sempill Poets, . . . 127-8 
 Sensualist, The, . . HO 
 Sherry wine, . . . 162 
 Shield of Fingal, . . 46 
 Shirts without seams, , . 425 
 Singing of Jack Shaw, . 445 
 Singing of the Poet's Songs, 
 
 IxxTii., 432 
 Slavery abolished, . . 75 
 Smoking, . Ixi., 114 
 
 "Soldier's Return," The 
 
 composing of the, . . lyiii. 
 Solitude, . . . .137 
 
 SONGS AND POEMS OP 
 TANNAHILL. 
 
 (Poems, Titles of.* 
 Allan's Ale, . . 161, 393 
 Ambitious mite, . 148, 378 
 Assumed sanctity, . ■ 159 
 Bachanalians, . . 167, 378 
 Baudrons and the Hen- 
 bird 150 
 
 Burns' Club or Society, 
 Odes ^t anniversary 
 meetings of,44-5,50,54,378,38 
 Burns' funeral dirge, 41, 372 
 Bowlman's Remonstrance, 69 
 Character, Man of . . 160 
 Character, Mode for at- 
 
 tainingya . . . 160 
 Choice, The . . .136 
 Cock Pit, The. . . 167 
 Connel and Flora, . .152 
 Contrast, The . . .137 
 Departed Friend, . . 68 
 
 EQd 131 
 
 Elegy on Will M 'Neil, . 176 
 
 Emigration of A. Wilson, 60 
 
 Epigrams : — 
 
 Dick to Bob, . . 175 
 
 French invasion, . . 175 
 
 * Index to first lines of Poema in 
 all the Editions will be found at 
 pages xiv.-xv. 
 
INDEX — SONGS. 
 
 543 
 
 Page 
 
 Laming, , . . 358 
 
 Women's tongue, . . 175 
 
 Epistles to Robert AUan, 122 
 
 „ James Barr, 92, 378 
 
 „ Alex. Borland, 106 
 
 „ Jas. Buchanan, 113 
 
 ,, James King, . 81 
 
 „ J. Scadlock, 84, 99, 
 
 378 
 
 „ W. Thomson, 102 
 
 „ William Wylie, 104 
 
 Epitaphs on . 
 
 Thomas Bissland, . 184 
 An old maid, . .186 
 A farthing gatherer, . 186 
 An intoxicated person, . 186 
 Evil Speaker, . . 142 
 
 Filial Vow, . . 65 
 
 Flatterer, On a . .141 
 
 Pop, passing old beggar. 138 
 Guinea Note, The 139, 140 
 Hauntet Wud, The. . 155 
 Jealousy, Ode to . 141, 378 
 Lesson A,. . . 143 
 
 Moralist, The . .142 
 
 Old Beggar, The . 352, 369 
 ParnaSsiad, . . 75 
 
 Parody on Tom Wil- 
 
 loughby, . .165 
 
 Pleasures of Hope, 73, 74 
 
 Portrait of GuUt, The . 173 
 Prayer under affliction, . 67 
 Prologue to Gentle Shep- 
 herd,. . . 37, 38 
 Purse proud, - - - 1 58 
 Recruiting service drum, 351 
 Eesolve to give up rhyming,! 32 
 Rich Grip-US, - - 158 
 Kiddle, A, - - 358 
 Scotch Drink, - 169 
 Self-sufficiency, - - 72 
 SUler stands for sense, - 156 
 Sincerity. 71, 369 
 Soldier's Return, 1, 366, 384 
 385, 401, 436 
 Spider darting on a fly, . 157 
 Storm, The, - ■ - 39 
 Successor to old Charon . 161 
 Tap room, The, . . 171 
 Towser, . . .143 
 
 Page 
 Trifler's sabbath-day. The 172 
 
 Songs, Titles of. • 
 Adieu sweet Erin, . 340 
 
 Amang Lomond braes, . 348 
 Amake my harp, . .339 
 
 An war ye at Duntocher 
 
 bum, . . 29tr, 420 
 
 Banks of Spey, . . 314 
 
 Bard of Glen-XJUin, 261, 397 
 Bard, The wandering . 260 
 Barochan Jean, . 266, 435 
 Bonnie Hielan laddie, . 356 
 Bonnie winsome Mary, . 286 
 Bonnie wood o Oraigie- 
 
 lee, . . .192 
 
 Braes of Balquither, . 237 
 Braes of Gleniffer, The, 195, 
 401, 426 
 Brave Lewie Roy, . 239 
 
 Caller Herrin, . 349, 425 
 
 Coggie, The, .321, 378, 403 
 
 Coggie thou heals me, . 323 
 Come hame to your lingels 326 
 Companion of my sports,. 252 
 Contentment, . . 294 
 
 Cruikston Castle's lanely 
 
 wa's, . 187. 229, 422 
 
 Davie Tulloch's Katie, . 310 
 Defeat, The, . . 254 
 
 Desert Isle, . . 303 
 
 Despairing Mary, . 300 
 
 Dirge of Carolan, . 341 
 
 Disabled Seaman, 259, 546 
 
 Dusky Glen, The, 25, 223 
 
 Early spring, , 204 
 
 Ellen More, Faithful, . 275 
 Echoes of the woods o 
 
 Bowgreen, . .213 
 
 Eveleen, or Green Inis- 
 
 more, .... 231 
 Fareweel, The, . . 214 
 Fair-haired Nannie, . 288 
 Fickle Frien'ship and caul 
 
 misfortune, . . 299 
 
 Fill, FiU the merry bowl, 324 
 
 * Index to first lines of Songs in 
 all Editions will be found at pages 
 ZTi,, X7ii. 
 
644 
 
 INDEX — SONGS. 
 
 Page 
 Five Priens, The, 315, 434, 443 
 Flower of Levern side, . 228 
 Gem of Pearly dew, 280, 397 
 Grloomy Winter's now 
 
 awa, . . . 198, 437 
 Grey pinioned lark. The, 189, 
 401,403 
 Harper of Mull, . 263, 447 
 Hey^Bonald, how Donald, 304 
 Highlander's invitation, 320 
 How can you gang, lassie, 305 
 How to win a bonnie lassie, 290 
 I'll lay ma .on the wintry 
 
 lea, . . . .306 
 Irish farmer, . . . 322 
 Irish teaching, • • 333 
 Jessie the flower o' Dun- 
 blane, . 208, 445, 46 
 Kathleen owns she loves 
 
 me 327 
 
 Kebbuckston weddin, . 269 
 Killochburn, . . .223 
 Kisst yestreen, . . 312 
 Kitty More, . . .330 
 Kitty O'Carrol, . . 327 
 Kitty TyreU, . . . 328 
 Lass o Arranteenie, 234, ; 447 
 Lassie o merry auchteen. 
 
 The .... 309 
 Lassie, tak the lad ye like, 29i) 
 Lassie, will ye tak a man, 
 
 ■16,219 
 i.Lone, silent grave, . . 279 
 Loudon's bonnie woods, 246, 
 
 My days . hae . flown wi' 
 
 402 
 206 
 217 
 
 Lad I loe sae dear, ^ . 
 Laddie, can ye lea me, 
 Lament for poor Drimiudu, 335 
 Lament of Wallace, 243,- 381, 
 84, 85 
 Langsyne beside the wood- 
 Ian bum, . 20, 222 
 Maniac's song, The . 307 
 Marjorie Mifler, . . 314 
 Mary is a bonnie lass, . 284 
 Meg o the Glen, . .311 
 Mine ain dear somebody, 287, 
 MoUy my dear, . . 335 
 My ain kind dearie, . 335 
 
 Pago 
 
 295 
 
 My^dear B ielan laddie, 1 8, 220 
 Negro Girl, . . 308,378 
 Ochhey ! Johnnie, lad, 291, 394 
 Our.Bonnie Scots lads, 11, 218 
 Peggy O'Rafferty, . • 338 
 Plunkin Weddin, . ■ 359 
 Rab Koryson's bonnet, 273, 428 
 Ketum of gallant tons, . 258 
 Romantic shades, . ■ 227 
 Bude bustling camp, 33, 224 
 Shelah, my darling, . 336 
 
 Sheelinhill, . . • 289 
 Simmer gloamin, . ■ 205 
 ,Sing on, sweet warbler, . 288 
 Sleepin Maggie, . .281 
 Snowstorm, . . . 276 
 Soldier's adieu, . . 249 
 Soldier's funeral, . 256, 369 
 Soldier's Widow, . . 253 
 Unrequited love, . .216 
 Weelo'erthebraes-o Yarrow 346 
 Weep not, my Love, . 251 
 Why unite to banish care, 318 
 WUl you gang to Sherra- 
 
 muir, .... 354 
 Winter is gane, . 202, 371 
 Witless wish, . . .302 
 Worn Soldier, . 257, 402 
 
 Wreck on Isle of May, . 278 
 Young Donald and his 
 Bride ; or. The Hielan 
 Plaid, . . 241, 400, 408 
 
 SONGS AND POETRY OF 
 OTHERS. 
 Abbey waw inscription, xxviii. 
 Almshouse inscription, . xxix. 
 Bard of Caledonia, . .130 
 Braes of Balquither, . 238 
 Brave Lewie Roy, . 240 
 
 Burns, The comet, . . 51 
 Burns' favourite caup, . 129 
 Burns, The Wreath of, . 427 
 Centenary ode to the' me- 
 mory of TannahiU, . 516 
 Come hame to your lingels, 326 
 Critic, The, . . .410 
 Davie TuUoch's Katie, . 310 
 
?45 
 
 Pag9 
 Description of Lochwinnoch 
 
 parish, . . . 267 
 
 Description of Paisley, . 121 
 
 Deapondency, . . . 370 
 Epistle to Robert Tannahill, 448 
 
 Farewell, my Home, . 248 
 
 Gloamin, The,. . . 89 
 Harp, The, . . .130 
 
 Hey Donald, Ho Donald, 304 
 
 How can you gang lassie, . 305 
 
 Husbandry, Address on, . 267 
 I'U lay me on the wintry 
 
 lee, .... 306 
 
 Kisst yestreen, . . 812 
 
 Lad I lo'e so dear, . . 207 
 
 Lament on Scotia's bard, 131 
 
 Lord Nelson's victory, . 377 
 
 Lucy 235 
 
 Marjorie Miller, . . 313 
 
 Meg o the Glen, . . 311 
 
 My old uncle John,. . 375 
 No rest where the bugles 
 
 sing 396 
 
 Odes to the Memory of 
 
 Tannahill, . . . 455 
 
 By Robert AUan,. . 467 
 
 „ James Archibald, . 469 
 
 „ Alexander Borland, 455 
 
 „ Robert Clark, . . 461 
 
 ,, James King, . . 460 
 
 „ Hugh MacDonald, . 464 
 
 ,, John Mitchell, . 462 
 
 ,, William Murdoch, . 466 
 
 „ William M'Laren, . 469 
 
 „ Duncan M 'Neil, . 468 
 
 ,, James Scadlock, . 458 
 
 Pffian, A, . . . 511 
 "Spring" and "Levern 
 
 banks," ... 90 
 
 Sonnet by M—K , . 511 
 
 Tribute to Tannahill, A, . 514 
 Will you gang tae Sherra- 
 
 muir, .... 354 
 
 Winter is gane, . . 202 
 
 Sowen brods and seat-trees, 434 
 Spendthrift, The, . .110 
 Sphinx, The, . . 5, 11, 23 
 Statue of Qabbie Simpson, 128, 
 129 
 
 P«g» 
 Statue of Alex. TTilson, 63, 233 
 Steadings, Sale of build- 
 ing, . . . xxxvi. 
 Steeple, High church, 10, 28 
 Snuff boxes, Craig's, . 441 
 Streets of Paisley in 
 
 1756 xxvi. 
 
 Strings in the Lyre, . 74 
 Suppressed couplet, . 107 
 Sweet Ferguslie, . 189, 190 
 Sweethearts of Tannahill, 209, 
 215 
 
 Tablet of birth. Fixing, . 503 
 Tannahill, Character of 
 
 James . . . Ixxxvii. 
 Tannahill Club, . . 496 
 Tannahill Club, Chairmen 
 
 of, ... . 497 
 Tannahill by Struthers, 
 
 Sketch of, . . . 383 
 Tannook, Caup of Nanse, 129- 
 130 
 Temperance, . . . 110 
 Theatre, Paisley, . 37, 39 
 Theatres, . 95, 383-4, 390, 
 404, 420, 445 
 Theatrical profession, . 366 
 Thorn, . . . xii., 270 
 Tinging of plantin taps, 25-6 
 Toasts at Burns' Club 
 
 anniversary, . . Ixiv. 
 
 Tomb in St. Mirin's Aisle, 54 
 Tombstone, Articles de- 
 posited under Poet's, . 499 
 Tombstone, Erection of, . 498 
 Tombstone, Expense of, . 502 
 Tombstone of W. MacNeil, 178 
 Toom Meal Pock, . . 394 
 Trades' Library, . * . Ixx. 
 Trade of Paisley in 1756, xxx. 
 Traditions of Crocston, . 231 
 
 Umbrella sintroduced into 
 
 Paisley, ... 9 
 University of Glasgow, . 177 
 
 Verse-making Weaver, . Ixvi. 
 Verses of Scadlock, , 90 
 Vice Ill 
 
 3 
 
546 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page 
 Visit of Tannahill to Coila, xlix. 
 Visits to Paisley, Koyal, 233 
 Volunteers of 1803, . 211 
 
 WabsterPate, . . 17 
 
 Wallace Monument, . 245 
 Water works, Paisley, . 197 
 Weavers' coat of Arms, . 85 
 Weavers' society, Pais- 
 ley, . . . XXXV. 
 Weavers' corporation, J. 
 Tannahill elected Dea- 
 con of , . . . . xli. 
 Wealth, . ,. . .112 
 
 Page 
 Wedding of Jean and 
 
 Harry, . . . 32 
 
 White swan, The, . . 162 
 Will of John Mann, . 429 
 Wilson's juvenile drawing, 26 
 Windy Saturday, . . 274 
 Woodside, Lands of, 189-90 
 Wren, The Disconsolate, 64 
 
 Yeomanry cavalry, Ren- 
 frewshire, ... 16 
 Yew T>-ee of Crocston, . 230 
 
 Zealot, 
 
 110