III. On lofty aiks the cushats wail, IV. Wi' sma' to sell, and less to buy, O wha wad leave this humble state, The melody to which Burns composed these verses was written by Oswald, and named "The sweet Lass that lo'es me." The theme is a favourite one with the Poet-virtue and thrift. The heroine rejoices in her rustic independence; her wheel and reel are her truest friends, and clothe her and fill her cottage with comforts. Nor is she insensible to rural loveliness; her house stands among trotting streams; and birds sing and cushats wail on the bushes and trees around her. Machinery has stopt the spinning-wheel, and taken the distaff from the bosoms of our lasses; on the rivulet side, now, no white-armed girls sing as they lave water on their mother's webs; nor wear linsey-woolsey gowns of their own making—a shining and glossy gray, "Which glanced in a' our lads' een" as they walked kirkward. Rustic abundance, as well as domestic thrift, is the theme of many a lyric: one of our half-forgotten songs, says "This is no my ain house, I ken by the biggin o't; Bread and cheese are my door cheeks, And pancakes the riggin o't." While, in another lyric, the hero appears with his person adorned like a dinner-table. Who knows not the song of "Aikendrum," whose coat was made of the good roast beef; the buttons of " bawbee baps," and his breeches of the identical bag in which Scotland prepares that daintiest of all dishes-a haggis. O LUVE WILL VENTURE IN. Tune-" The Posie." I. O LUVE will venture in Where it daurna weel be seen; O luve will venture in Where wisdom aince has been ; But I will down yon river rove, Among the wood sae green— And a' to pu' a posie To my ain dear May. II. The primrose I will pu', The firstling o' the year, And I will pu' the pink, The emblem o' my dear, For she's the pink o' womankind, And blooms without a peer And a' to be a posie To my ain dear May. III. I'll pu' the budding rose, O' her sweet bonnie mou'; To my ain dear May. IV. The lily it is pure, And the lily it is fair, And in her lovely bosom I'll place the lily there The daisy's for simplicity, And unaffected air And a' to be a posie To my ain dear May. V. The hawthorn I will pu' Wi' its locks o' siller gray, Where, like an aged man, It stands at break of day. But the songster's nest within the bush And a' to be a posie Similar sentiments inspired Meleager in his "Heleodora's Garland,” thus translated by Professor Wilson :"I'll twine white violets, with soft myrtles too Narcissus twine, hyacinth of purple hue Twine with sweet crocus, laughing lilies twine With roses, that to lovers hopeful shine; So that on Heleodora's perfumed head, A wreath her beauteous ringlets may flower-spread." "The feeling of the Greek lines," says Wilson, "is tender, and the expression perfect; but we cannot say more of the feeling than that it is a natural tenderness, inspired by the mingled breath of Heleodora and her garland. The tenderness is mixed, too, it may be said, with pride and homage. Meleager does the thing gracefully; we see his figure in an imposing posture, as he fixes the wreath on her head. But compare the courtier with the clown-Meleager with Burns. By the banks of every stream in Coila had bold bright Bobby walked, with his arm round some sweetheart's waist, and helped her to pull the primrose or the hawthorn, In many a secret place, Where rivulets danced their wayward round, And beauty, born of murmuring sound, Did pass into her face.' "The Scot surpasses the Greek in poetry as well as passion-his tenderness is more heartfelt-his expression is even more exquisite; for the most consummate art, even when guided by genius, cannot refine and burnish, by repeated polishing, the best selected words, up to the breathing beauty that, warm from the fount of inspiration, sometimes colours the pure language of nature." |