III. Down amang the broom, the broom, That cost her mony a blirt and bleary. O braw lads of Galla Water: I'll kilt my coats aboon my knee, Perhaps the air of this song is the very sweetest of all the fine airs of Caledonia. It charmed Haydn so much that he wrote under it in the best English he could muster, "This one Dr. Haydn favourite song." The air is very old, nor are some of the verses modern : these are the most ancient : "Braw, braw lads of Galla Water, Braw, braw lads of Galla Water; And follow my love through the water. "O'er yon bank and o'er yon brae, O'er yon moss amang the heather, And follow my love through the water." Burns admired the air so much that he wrote, in 1793, another version of the song: less of the old strain mingles with his second effort. The naïveté of the first verse of his first hasty version will always make it a favourite. STAY, MY CHARMER. Tune-" An Gille dubh ciar dhubh.” I. STAY, my charmer, can you leave me ? Cruel, cruel to deceive me! Well you know how much you grieve me ; Cruel charmer, can you go? II. By my love so ill requited; By the faith you fondly plighted; Do not, do not leave me so! The Highland excursions of the Poet coloured many of his lyrical compositions. The air to which these verses were composed is called "The black-haired lad" it is simple and affecting. Burns picked it up in the north; and, touched by the slight which a Highland damsel put on him by quitting his side when he was discoursing on tender things, he embodied his feelings in these fine verses. THICKEST NIGHT, O'ERHANG MY DWELLING. Tune-" Strathallan's Lament." I. THICKEST night, o'erhang my dwelling! Turbid torrents, wintry swelling, Still surround my lonely cave! II. Crystal streamlets gently flowing, III. In the cause of right engaged, But the heavens denied success. IV. Ruin's wheel has driven o'er us, Viscount Strathallan, whom these verses commemorate, was James Drummond, who escaped with difficulty from the field of Culloden, where his father fell, and died abroad an exile." The air," says the Poet, "is the composition of one of the worthiest and best hearted men living-Allan Masterton, schoolmaster in Edinburgh. As he and I were both sprouts of jacobitism, we agreed to dedicate the words and air to that cause. Το tell the truth, except when my passions were heated by some accidental cause, my jacobitism was merely by way of vive la bagatelle." The Bard wrote these remarks for the eye of the Laird of Friars Carse, whose prejudices looked towards Hanover. Whenever he met with a resolute old jacobite, he did not forget that his ancestors had been Earl Marischall's men. MY HOGGIE. Tune-"What will I do gin my Hoggie die ?" WHAT Will I do gin my Hoggie die? The lee-lang night we watch'd the fauld, We heard nought but the roaring linn, But the houlet cry'd frae the castle wa', The blitter frae the boggie, The tod reply'd upon the hill, I trembl'd for my Hoggie. When day did daw, and cocks did craw, The morning it was foggie; An' unco tyke lap o'er the dyke, And maist has kill'd my Hoggie. When this song first became popular, the name of the author was not known, for it had appeared in the |