THE TORBOLTON LASSES. The following off-hand verses can scarcely be considered as a song, and they are strikingly inferior to his average efforts; yet, as expressive of a mood of his feelings regarding his fair neighbors in those days of simplicity, they appear not unworthy of preserva tion. Ir ye gae up to yon hill-tap, Ye'll there see bonnie Peggy; There Sophy tight, a lassie bright, Gae down by Faile, and taste the ale, And tak a look o' Mysie; She's dour and din, a deil within, If she be shy, her sister try, obstinate perhaps As ye gae up by yon hillside, Speer in for bonnie Bessy; She'll gie ye a beck, and bid ye light, courtesy There's few sae bonnie, nane sae guid, THE RONALDS OF THE BENNALS. It is rather remarkable that the young bard overlooks in this catalogue of damsels, a group who were certainly the predominant belles of the district, seeing that they were not merely good-looking girls, rather better educated than the Torbolton sisterhood, but the children of a man of considerable substance Robert and Gilbert Burns were both on intimate terms in this family. The latter at one time made tender advances, which were not destined to be accepted. Robert was too proud to venture on a refusal. This appears from a set of verses much resembling the last quoted, but more valuable for the illustration they afford of the poet's feelings and circumstances at this early period." IN Torbolton, ye ken, there are proper young men, And proper young lasses and a', man; But ken ye the Ronalds that live in the Bennals,' They carry the gree frae them a', man. palm portion Their father's a laird, and weel he can spare't, There's ane they ca' Jean, I'll warrant ye've seer As bonnie a lass or as braw, man; But for sense and guid taste she'll vie wi' the best, And a conduct that beautifies a', man. The charms o' the min', the langer they shine, If ye be for Miss Jean, tak this frae a frien', A hint o' a rival or twa, man; The Laird o' Blackbyre wad gang through the fire, If that wad entice her awa, man. The Laird o' Braehead has been on his speed, For mair than a towmond or twa, man; twelvemonth 1 The Bennals is a farm in the western part of the parish. near Afton Lodge, and several miles from Lochlea. The Laird o' the Ford will straught on a board, If he canna get her at a', man. Then Anna comes in, the pride o' her kin, If I should detail the pick and the wale The fault wad be mine, if they didna shine, I lo'e her mysel, but darena weel tell, Yet I wadna choose to let her refuse, comely Though I canna ride in weel-booted pride, My coat and my vest, they are Scotch o' the best O' pairs o' guid breeks I hae twa, man, And stockings and pumps to put on my stumps, stitch My sarks they are few, but five o' them new, shirts I never had frien's, weel stockit in means, And wish them in hell for it a', man. on their long prayers I never was canny for hoarding o' money, lucky catching ON CESSNOCK BANKS.2 TUNE - If he be a Butcher neat and trim. About this time (1781) Burns had met a young woman possessing many highly agreeable qualities, 1 A kind of cloth. 2 This piece appeared for the first time in Cromek's Rel iques, the editor stating that he had recovered it "from the ora communication of a lady residing at Glasgow, whom the |