WAE IS MY HEART.

Tune-" Wae is my heart."

I.

WAE is my heart, and the tear's in my e'e;
Lang, lang, joy's been a stranger to me:
Forsaken and friendless, my burden I bear,
And the sweet voice o' pity ne'er sounds in my ear.

II.

Love, thou hast pleasures, and deep hae I loved : Love, thou hast sorrows, and sair hae I proved; But this bruised heart that now bleeds in my breast, I can feel its throbbings will soon be at rest.

III.

O, if I were happy, where happy I hae been,
Down by yon stream, and yon bonnie castle-green;
For there he is wand'ring, and musing on me,
Wha wad soon dry the tear frae Phillis's e'e.

These verses were composed, tradition relates, at the request of Clarke the musician, who felt—or imagined he felt-much pain of heart for a young lady of Nithsdale. The Poet gives the lament to the lady without any regard to truth-for Phillis had never looked kind on "Tweedledee." The air is a simple one, and the song is in keeping.

HERE'S HIS HEALTH IN WATER!

Tune-" The Job of Journey-work.”

ALTHO' my back be at the wa',

And tho' he be the fautor;

Altho my

back be at the wa',

Yet, here's his health in water!

O! wae gae by his wanton sides,
Sae brawlie he could flatter;
Till for his sake I'm slighted sair,
And dree the kintra clatter.

But tho'

my back be at the wa',

And tho' he be the fautor;

But tho' my back be at the wa',

Yet, here's his health in water!

It has been asserted that Burns wrote these verses in humorous allusion to the condition in which Jean Armour found herself before marriage. The Poet was rash and outspoken, both in matters of religion and government; but he was incapable of any thing so indecorous and insulting. The song was first published in the Musical Museum, and was written when the Poet was in Dumfries: the idea was taken from an old lyric, of which the o'erword was,

"Here's his health in water."

MY PEGGY'S FACE.

Tune-" My Peggy's Face."

I.

My Peggy's face, my Peggy's form,
The frost of hermit age might warm;
My Peggy's worth, my Peggy's mind,
Might charm the first of human kind.
love my Peggy's angel air,
Her face so truly, heav'nly fair,
Her native grace so void of art,

But I adore my Peggy's heart.

II.

The lily's hue, the rose's dye,
The kindling lustre of an eye;
Who but owns their magic sway!
Who but knows they all decay!
The tender thrill, the pitying tear,
The gen'rous purpose, nobly dear,
The gentle look, that

rage disarms

These are all immortal charms.

The Poet pictured forth the merits of Margaret Chalmers, mental and bodily, in these sweet verses: the gentleness, the candour, and the accomplishments of that lady seem often to have occurred to the mind of Burns.

GLOOMY DECEMBER.

Tune-" Wandering Willie.”

I.

ANCE mair I hail thee, thou gloomy December
Ance mair I hail thee wi' sorrow and care;
Sad was the parting thou makes me remember,
Parting wi' Nancy, oh! ne'er to meet mair.
Fond lovers' parting is sweet painful pleasure,
Hope beaming mild on the soft parting hour;
But the dire feeling, O farewell for ever!
Is anguish unmingl'd, and agony pure.

II.

Wild as the winter now tearing the forest,
'Till the last leaf o' the summer is flown,
Such is the tempest has shaken my bosom,
Since my last hope and last comfort is gone!
Still as I hail thee, thou gloomy December,
Still shall I hail thee wi' sorrow and care;
For sad was the parting thou makes me remember,
Parting wi' Nancy, oh! ne'er to meet mair.

Clarinda inspired these verses, and they are worthy of her merits, personal and mental. To his parting with that lady the Bard often recurred; in truth, he left Edinburgh with great reluctance; there he had pleasing society, and there only could he hope for " pension, post, or place." When he quitted it he knew he was going to the stilts of the plough, and experience told him how little he could hope from niggardly economy and sharp bargaining. He was one of nature's gentlemen, and unfit for the details of the market, the couping of horses, and the keen and eager contest carried on between seller and buyer. An old peasant once said of him that he was owrę kind-hearted to be prosperous," and added, "he was ane of them that carry their corn to a falling market, and sell their hens on a rainy day!" this impediment in the way to wealth, he repeatedly alludes in his letters-no man ever knew himself betterall fell out in his own history as he feared it would.

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