verses, and am going on with the song on a new plan, which promises pretty well. I take up one or another, just as the bee of the moment buzzes in my bonnet-lug; and do you, sans ceremonie, make what use you choose of the productions. Adieu, &c. R. B. Here follows a copy of the " "Highland Mary."] NO. CCXLVIL MR. THOMSON TO BURNS. Edinburgh, Nov. 1792. DEAR SIR-I was just going to write to you, that on meeting with your Nannie, I had fallen violently in love with her. I thank you, therefore, for sending the charming rustic to me, in the dress you wish her to appear before the public. She does you great credit, and will soon be admitted into the best company. I regret that your song for the "Lea-rig" is so short; the air is easy, soon sung, and very pleasing: so that, if the singer stops at the end of two stanzas, it is a pleasure lost ere it is well possessed. Although a dash of our native tongue and manners is, doubtless, peculiarly congenial and appropriate to our melodies, yet I shall be able to present a considerable number of the very Flowers of English song, well adapted to those melodies, which, in England, at least, will be the means of recommending them to still greater attention than they have procured there. But, you will observe, my plan is, that every air shall, in the first place, have verses wholly by Scottish poets; and that those of English writers shall follow as additional songs for the choice of the singer. you What you say of the "Ewe-bughts" is just; I admire it, and never meant to supplant it. All I requested was, that would try your hand on some of the inferior stanzas, which are apparently no part of the original song; but this I do not urge, because the song is of sufficient length, though those inferior stanzas be omitted, as they will be by the singer of taste. You must not think I expect all the songs to be of superlative merit; that were an unreasonable expectation. I am sensible that no poet can sit down doggedly to pen verses, and succeed well at all times. I am highly pleased with your humorous and amorous rhapsody on "Bonnie Lesley : it is a thousand times better than the "Collier's Lassie." 'The Deil he cou'd na scaith thee," &c., is an eccentric and happy thought. Do you not think, however, that the names of such old heroes as Alexander sound rather queer, unless in pompous or mere burlesque verse? Instead of the line, “And never made anither," I would humbly suggest, "And ne'er made sic anither;" and I would fain have you substitute some other line for "Return to Caledonie," in the last verse, because I think this alteration of the orthography, and of the sound of Caledonia, disfigures the word, and renders it Hudibrastic. Of the other song, "My wife's a winsome wee thing," I think the first eight lines very good; but I do not admire the other eight, because four of them are a bare repetition of the first verses. I have been trying to spin a stanza, but could make nothing better than the following: do you mend it, or, as Yorick did with the love letter, whip it up in your own way: Oh leeze me on my wee thing, I'll think my lot divine. And ne'er a word repine. You perceive, my dear Sir, I avail myself of the liberty, which you condescend to allow me, by speaking freely what I think. Be assured, it is not my disposition to pick out the faults of any poem or picture I see: my first and chief object is to discover and be delighted with the beauties of the piece. If I sit down to examine critically, and at leisure, what, perhaps, you have written in haste, Í may happen to observe careless lines, the reperusal of which might lead you to improve them. The wren will often see what has been overlooked by the eagle. I remain yours faithfully, &c. P. S. Your verses upon "Highland Mary" are just come to hand: they breathe the genuine spirit of poetry, and, like the music, will last for ever. Such verses, united to such an air, with the delicate harmony of Pleyel superadded, might form a treat worthy of being presented to Apollo himself. heard the sad story of your Mary; you always seem inspired when you write of her. I have NO. CCXLVIII BURNS TO MR. THOMSON. Dumfries, Dec. 1st, 1792. YOUR alterations of my "Nannie, O!" are perfectly right. So are those of "My Wife's a winsome wee thing." Your alteration of the second stanza is a positive improvement. Now, my dear Sir, with the freedom which characterises our correspondence, I must not, cannot alter Bonnie Lesley." You are right; the word "Alexander” makes the line a little uncouth, but I think the thought is pretty. beyond all other heroes, it may be said, in the sublime language of Scripture, that “he went forth conquering and to conquer." For nature made her what she is, Of Alexander, And never made anither. (Such a person as she is.) This is, in my opinion, more poetical than "Ne'er made sic anither." However, it is immaterial: make it either way. "Caledonie," I agree with you, is not so good a word as could be wished, though it is sanctioned in three or four instances by Allan Ramsay; but I cannot help it. In short, that species of stanza is the most difficult that I have ever tried. The "Lea-rig" is as follows: my much-esteemed friend, have the pleasure of visiting at Dunlop-house. Alas, Madam! how seldom do we meet in this world, that we have reason to congratu late ourselves on accessions of happiness! I have not passed half the ordinary term of an old man's life, and yet I scarcely look not see some names that I have known, and over the obituary of a newspaper, that I do thought to meet with there so soon. Every which I, and other acquaintances, little other instance of the mortality of our kind, makes us cast an anxious look into the dreadful abyss of uncertainty, and shudder with apprehension for our own fate. But of how different an importance are the lives of different individuals! Nay, of what im portance is one period of the same life more than another? A few years ago I could have lain down in the dust, "careless of the voice of the morning;" and now not a few, and these most helpless individuals, would, on losing me and my exertions, lose both their "staff and shield." By the way, these helpless ones have lately got an addition; Mrs. B. having given me a fine girl since I wrote you. There is a charming passage in Thomson's " Edward and Eleanora : "The valiant, in himself, what can he suffer? Or what need he regard his single woes?" &c. As I am got in the way of quotations, I [Here the poet repeats the first two stanzas, shall give you another from the same piece, adding a third.] I am interrupted. Yours, &c. NO. CCXLIX. BURNS TO MR. THOMSON. December 4th, 1792. THE foregoing ["Auld Rob Morris" and Duncan Gray,"] I submit, my dear Sir, to your better judgment. Acquit them, or condemn them, as seemeth good in your sight. "Duncan Gray" is that kind of light-horse gallop of an air, which precludes sentiment. The ludicrous is its ruling feature. NO. CCL TO MRS. DUNLOP. I SHALL be in Ayrshire, I think, next week ; and, if at all possible, I shall certainly, peculiarly-alas! too peculiarly-apposite, my dear Madam, to your present frame of mind: "Who so unworthy but may proudly deck him With his fair-weather virtue, that exults Glad o'er the summer main? The tempest [the helm comes, The rough winds rage aloud; when from This virtue shrinks, and in a corner lies Lamenting. Heavens! if privileged from trial, How cheap a thing were virtue! " I do not remember to have heard you mention Thomson's dramas. I pick up favourite quotations, and store them in my mind as ready armour, offensive or defensive, amid the struggle of this turbulent existence. Of these is one, a very favourite one, from his "Alfred:" | falsehood, no, not though even worse hor rors, if worse can be, than those I have mentioned, hung over my head; and I say, that the allegation, whatever villain has made it, is a lie! To the British Constitution, on revolution principles, next after my God, I am most devoutly attached. You, Sir, have been much and generously my friend; Heaven knows how warmly I have felt the obligation, and how gratefully I the heart, I am apt to be guilty of such repetitions. The compass of the heart, in the musical style of expression, is much more bounded than that of the imagination, so the notes of the former are extremely apt to run into one another; but in return for the paucity of its compass, its few notes are much more sweet. I must still give you another quotation, which I am almost sure I have given you before, but I cannot resist the temptation. The subject is religion-have thanked you. Fortune, Sir, has made speaking of its importance to mankind, the author says: "Tis this, my friend, that streaks our morning bright. I see you are in for double postage, so I shall e'en scribble out t'other sheet. We in this country here, have many alarms of the reforming, or rather the republican spirit, of your part of the kingdom. Indeed, we are a good deal in commotion ourselves. For me, I am a placeman, you know; a very humble one, indeed, Heaven knows, but still so much as to gag me. What my private sentiments are, you will find out without an interpreter. I have taken up the subject, and the other day, for a pretty actress's benefit night, I wrote an address, which I will give on the page, called called "The Rights of Woman." I shall have the honour of receiving your criticisms in person at Dunlop. R. B. other you powerful, and me impotent-has given NO. CCLI. TO R. GRAHAM, ESQ., FINTRY. December, 1792. SIR-I have been surprised, confounded, and distracted, by Mr. Mitchell, the collector, telling me that he has received an order from your Board (137) to inquire into my political conduct, and blaming me as a person disaffected to government. Sir, you are a husband, and a father. You know what you would feel, to see the muchloved wife of your bosom, and your helpless, prattling little ones, turned adrift into the world, degraded and disgraced from a situation in which they had been respectable and respected, and left almost without the necessary support of a miserable existence. Alas, Sir! must I think that such soon will be my lot! and from the d-, dark insinuations of hellish groundless envy too! I believe, Sir, I may aver it, and in the sight of Omniscience, that I would not tell a deliberate NO. CCLII. TO MRS. DUNLOP. Dumfries, December 31st, 1792. DEAR MADAM-A hurry of business, thrown in heaps by my absence, has until now, prevented my returning my grateful acknowledgments to the good family of Dunlop, and you, in particular, for that hospitable kindness which rendered the four days I spent under that genial roof, four of the pleasantest I ever enjoyed. Alas, my dearest friend! how few and fleeting are those things we call pleasures!-on my road to Ayrshire, I spent a night with a friend whom I much valued, a man whose days promised to be many; and on Saturday last we laid him in the dust! January 2nd, 1792. I HAVE just received yours of the 30th, and feel much for your situation. However, I heartily rejoice in your prospect of recovery from that vile jaundice. As to myself, I am better, though not quite free of my complaint. You must not think, as you seem to insinuate, that in my way of life I want exercise. Of that I have enough; but occasional hard drinking is the devil to me. Against this I have again and again bent my resolution, and have greatly succeeded. Taverns I have totally abandoned: it is the private parties, in the family way, among the hard-drinking gentlemen of this country, that do me the mischief-but even this, I have more than half given over. (138) Mr. Corbet can be of little service to me at present; at least I should be shy of applying. I cannot possibly be settled as a supervisor for several years. I must wait the rotation of the list, and there are twenty names before mine. I might, indeed, get a job of officiating, where a settled supervisor was ill, or aged; but that hauls me from my family, as I could not remove them on such an uncertainty. Besides, some envious, malicious devil, has raised a little demur on my political principles, and I wish to let that matter settle before I offer myself too much in the eye of my supervisors. I have set, henceforth, a seal on my lips, as to these unlucky politics; but to you, I must breathe my sentiments. In this, as in everything else, I shall show the undisguised emotions of my soul. War I deprecate: misery and ruin to thousands are in the blast that announces the destructive demon. * * R. B. difference there is in intrinsic worth, candour, benevolence, generosity, kindness-in all the charities and all the virtues-between one class of human beings and another. For instance, the amiable circle I so lately mixed with in the hospitable hall of Dunlop, their generous hearts, their uncontaminated dignified minds, their informed and polished understandings-what a contrast, when compared-if such comparing were not downright sacrilege-with the soul of the miscreant who can deliberately plot the destruction of an honest man that never offended him, and with a grin of satisfaction see the unfortunate being, his faithful wife, and prattling innocents, turned over to beggary and ruin ! Your cup, my dear Madam, arrived safe. I had two worthy fellows dining with me the other day, when I, with great formality, produced my whigmaleerie cup, and told them that it had been a family-piece among the descendants of William Wallace. This roused such an enthusiasm, that they insisted on bumpering the punch round in it; and by and bye, never did your great ancestor lay a suthron more completely to rest, than for a time did your cup my two friends. A-propos, this is the season of wishing. May God bless you, my dear friend, and bless me, the humblest and sincerest of your friends, by granting you yet many returns of the season! May all good things attend you and yours, wherever they are scattered over the earth! R. B. NO. CCLIII. TO THE SAME. (139) January 5th, 1793. You see my hurried life, Madam; I can only command starts of time: however, I am glad of one thing; since I finished the other sheet, the political blast that threatened my welfare is overblown. I have corresponded with Commissioner Graham, for the board had made me the subject of their auimadversions; and now I have the pleasure of informing you, that all is set to rights in that quarter. Now, as to these informers, may the devil be let loose to But, hold! I was praying most fervently in my last sheet, and I must not so soon fall a-swearing in this. Alas! how little do the wantonly or idly officious think what mischief they do by their malicious insinuations, indirect impertinence, or thoughtless blabbings. What a NO. CCLIV. BURNS TO MR. THOMSON. (140) January, 1793. MANY returns of the season to you, my dear Sir. How comes on your publication? will these two foregoing be of any service to you? I should like to know what songs you print to each tune, besides the verses to which it is set. In short, I would wish to give you my opinion on all the poetry you publish. You know it is my trade, and a man in the way of his trade may suggest useful hints that escape men of much superior parts and endowments in other things. If you meet with my dear and muchvalued Cunningham, greet him, in my name, with the compliments of the season. Yours, &c. NO. CCLV. MR. THOMSON TO BURNS. Edinburgh, January 20th, 1793. You make me happy, my dear Sir, and thousands will be happy, to see the charming songs you have sent me. Many merry returns of the season to you, and may you long continue among the sons and daughters of Caledonia, to delight them and to honour yourself. The four last songs with which you favoured me, "Auld Rob Morris," "Duncan Gray," "Gala Water," and "Cauld Kail," are admirable. Duncan is indeed a lad of grace, and his humour will endear him to every body. The distracted lover in "Auld Rob," and the happy shepherdess in "Gala Water," exhibit an excellent contrast: they speak from genuine feeling, and powerfully touch the heart. The number of songs which I had originally in view was limited, but I now resolve to include every Scotch air and song worth singing; leaving none behind but mere gleanings, to which the publishers of omniumgatherum are welcome. I would rather be the editor of a collection from which nothing could be taken away, than of one to which nothing could be added. We intend presenting the subscribers with two beautiful stroke engravings, the one characteristic of the plaintive, and the other of the lively songs; and I have Dr. Beattie's promise of an essay upon the subject of our national music, if his health will permit him to write it. As a number of our songs have doubtless been called forth by particular events, or by the charms of peerless damsels, there must be many curious anecdotes relating to them. The late Mr. Tytler of Woodhouselee, I believe, knew more of this than any body; for he joined to the pursuits of an antiquary a taste for poetry, besides being a man of the world, and possessing an enthusiasm for music beyond most of his contemporaries. He was quite pleased with this plan of mine, for I may say it has been solely managed by me, and we had several long conversations. about it when it was in embryo. If I could simply mention the name of the heroine of each song, and the incident which occasioned the verses, it would be gratifying. Pray, will you send me any information of this sort, as well with regard to your own songs as the old ones? To all the favourite songs of the plaintive or pastoral kind, will be joined the delicate accompaniments, &c., of Pleyel. To those of the comic and humorous class, I think accompaniments scarcely necessary; they are chiefly fitted for the conviviality of the festive board, and a tuneful voice, with a proper delivery of the words, renders them perfect. Nevertheless, to these I propose adding bass accompaniments, because then they are fitted either for singing, or for instrumental performance, when there happens to be no singer. I mean to employ our right trusty friend Mr. Clarke, to set the bass to these, which he assures me he will do con amore, and with much greater attention than he ever bestowed on any thing of the kind. But for this last class of airs I will not attempt to find more than one set of verses. That eccentric bard, Peter Pindar, has started I know not how many difficulties about writing for the airs I sent to him, because of the peculiarity of their measure, and the trammels they oppose on his flying Pegasus. I subjoin, for your perusal, the only one I have yet got from him, being for the fine air, “Lord Gregory." The Scots verses printed with that air are taken from the middle of an old ballad, called "The Lass of Lochroyan," which I do not admire. I have set down the air, therefore, as a creditor of yours. Many of the Jacobite songs are replete with wit and humourmight not the best of these be included in our volume of comic songs? POSTSCRIPT. FROM THE HON. ANDREW ERSKINE. (141) MR. THOMSON has been so obliging as to give me a perusal of your songs. Highland Mary" is most enchantingly pathetic, and "Duncan Gray" possesses native genuine humour-" Spak o' lowpin' o'er a linn," is a line of itself that should make you immortal. I sometimes hear of you from our mutual friend Cunningham, who is a most excellent fellow, and possesses, above all men I know, the charm of a most obliging disposition. You kindly promised me, about a year ago, a collection of your unpublished productions, religious and amorous. I know, from experience, how irksome it is to copy. If you will get any trusty person in Dumfries to write them over fair, I will give Peter Hill whatever money he asks for his trouble, and I certainly shall not betray your confidence. I am your hearty admirer, ANDREW ERSKINE. |