so much as your opinion on this subject. If it will not suit, as I proposed, we will lay two of the stanzas together, and then make the chorus follow.

"Fee him, father." -I inclose you Fraser's set of this tune when he plays it slow; in fact, he makes it the language of despair. I shall here give you two stanzas in that style, merely to try if it will be any improvement. Were it possible, in singing, to give it half the pathos which Fraser gives it in playing, it would make an admirably pathetic song. I do not give these verses for any merit they have. I composed them at the time in which "Patie Allan's Mither died, that was, about the back o' midnight;" and by the lee-side of a bowl of punch, which had overset every mortal in company, except the hautbois and the muse.

Thou hast left me ever.

Tune-Fee him, Father.

I.

THOU hast left me ever, Jamie!
Thou hast left me ever;
Thou hast left me ever, Jamie !
Thou hast left me ever.
Aften hast thou vow'd that death
Only should us sever;

Now thou'st left thy lass for aye-
I maun see thee never, Jamie,

I'll see thee never!

II.

Thou hast me forsaken, Jamie !
Thou hast ne forsaken;
Thou hast me forsaken, Jamie!
Thou hast me forsaken.
Thou canst love anither jo,
While my heart is breaking:
Soon my weary een I'll close-
Never mair to waken, Jamie,
Ne'er mair to waken!

[The Poet left these exquisite verses unfinished: it was his intention to have added another stanza, but he either forgot or failed to find the muse in a suitable mood. Though a fragment, the song, when sung with proper feeling, never fails to make a deep impression. "The Scotch," says Currie, employ the abbreviation 'I'll' or 'I shall, as well as '‘I will,' and it is for 'I shall' it is used in this song. In Annandale, as in the northern counties of England, for 'I shall' they use 'I'se.'"]

"Jockey and Jenny" I would discard, and in its place would put "There's nae luck about the house," which has a very pleasant air;

and which is positively the finest love-ballad in that style in the Scottish, or perhaps in any other, language. "When she came ben she bobbet," as an air, is more beautiful than either, and in the andante way would unite with a charming sentimental ballad.

"Saw ye my Father?" is one of my greatest favorites. The evening before last I wandered out and began a tender song, in what I think is its native style. I must premise that the old way, and the way to give most effect, is to have no starting note, as the fiddlers call it, but to burst at once into the pathos. Every country girl sings "Saw ye my Father?" &c.

My song is but just begun; and I should like, before I proceed, to know your opinion of it. I have sprinkled it with the Scottish dialect, but it may be easily turned into correct | English.*

"Todlin hame." Urbani mentioned an idea | of his, which has long been mine-that this air is highly susceptible of pathos: accordingly, you will soon hear him at your concert try to a song of mine in the Museum-" Ye banks and braes o' bonnie Doon." One song more and I have done" Auld lang syne." The air is but mediocre; but the following song. the old song of the olden times, and which has never been in print, nor even in manuscript, until I took it down from an old man's singing, is enough to recommend any air:

Auld lang syni.

I.

SHOULD auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to min'?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o' lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

11.

We twa hae run about the braes,
And pu'd the gowans fine;
But we've wandered mony a weary foot,
Sin auld lang syne.

III.

We twa hae paidl't i' the burn,
Frae mornin' sun till dine:
But seas between us braid hae roar'd,
Sin auld lang syne.

IV.

And here's a hand, my trusty fiere,
And gie's a hand o' thine;
And we'll tak a right guid willie-waught,
For auld lang syne!

The Scottish version of the first four verses which the Poet submits to Thomson in this letter differs in a very slight degree.

v.

And surely ye'll be your pint-stoup, And surely I'll be mine;

And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,

We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

"Gil

Now, I suppose, I have tired your patience fairly. You must, after all is over, have a number of ballads, properly so called. Morice," "Tranent Muir," "Macpherson's farewell," " Battle of Sherriff Muir," or, "We ran and they ran" (I know the author of this charming ballad, and his history). "Hardiknute," "Barbara Allan" (I can furnish a finer set of this tune than any that has yet appeared); and besides do you know that I really have the old tune to which "The Cherry and the Slae" was sung; and which is mentioned as a well known air in "Scotland's Complaint," a book published before poor Mary's days. It was then called "The banks o' Helicon;" an old poem which Pinkerton has brought to light. You will see all this in Tytler's history of Scottish music. The tune, to a learned ear, may have no great merit; but it is a great curiosity. I have a good many original things of this kind.

R. B.

["Auld Lang Syne" is one of those lyrics which owes its conception to the olden muse, and all the beauty of its language and sentiment to the modern. Burns introduced it to Thomson as an effort of an old minstrel, and he wrote thus to Mrs. Dunlop: -"Light be the turf on the breast of the heaven-inspired poet who com composed this glorious fragment!" fragment this sentiment millions will concur. As he professed to have taken it down from the lips of an old man-one of those old men whom true poets alone can meet with-we need not seek for the original in our collections. The "Auld Lang Syne" of Ramsay's Miscellany helps us to a line or so :

"Should auld acquaintance be forgot, Though they return wi' scars; These are the noble hero's lot, Obtained in glorious wars."

In

We subjoin the earliest copy of this song, printed before 1700, from which it will be seen that, notwithstanding the Poet's resolute disclaimer, the merits of his version are peculiarly his own :

AULD LANGSYNE.

To its own proper tune.

SHOULD auld acquaintance be forgot
And never thought upon,
The flames of love extinguished,
And freely past and gone;
Is thy kind heart, now grown so cold,
In that loving breast of thine,
That thou can'st never once reflect
On auld langsyne?

Where are thy protestations-
Thy vows and oaths, my dear,
Thou made to me, and I to thee,
In register yet clear;

Is faith and truth so violate

To the immortal gods divine, That thou can'st never once reflect On auld langsyne?

Is't Cupid's fears, or frostie cares,
That makes thy sp'rits decay?
Or is't some object of more worth
That's stol'n thy heart away?
Or some desert makes thee neglect
Her once so much was thine,
That thou can'st never once reflect
On auld langsyne?

Is't worldly cares so desperate,
That makes thee to despair?
Is't that makes thee exasperate,
And makes thee to forbear?
If thou of that were free as I,

Thou surely should be mine, And then, of new, we would renew Kind auld langsyne.

But since that nothing can prevail,
And all hope now is vain,
From these rejected eyes of mine
Still showers of tears shall rain;
And though thou hast me now forgot,
Yet I'll continue thine,

Yea, though thou hast me now forgot,
And auld langsyne.

If e'er I have a house, my dear,
That's truly called mine,
And can afford but country cheer,

Or aught that's good therein;
Tho' thou were rebel to the king,
And beat with wind and rain,
Thou'rt sure thyself of welcome, love,
For auld langsyne.]

No. XLIII.

BURNS TO G. THOMSON.

September, 1793.

I AM happy, my dear Sir, that my ode pleases you so much. Your idea, "honour's bed," is, though a beautiful, a hackneyed idea; so, if you please, we will let the line stand as it is. I have altered the song as follows:--

* ["The field on which this memorable battle was fought is annually visited by English tourists, and they seldom leave it without carrying away something to remind them of the spot. Some even invaded the sanctity of the 'Bore stone,' in which the standard of Bruce was placed, and carried bits with them as specimens. Those who reflect rightly on the upshot of the contest feel that in the triumph of free-born men the great cause of liberty triumphed no historian, save one with a contracted heart-nor enlightened statesman, can regard the struggles of Scotland with other feelings than those of sympathy. Few Scotsmen can pass the porphyry tomb of Edward the First in Westminster Abbey, without a certain mounting of the blood; or look upon the 'old black stone of Scone,' without recollecting how it came there. These are not narrow-souled nationalities.

"The memorable Scotch stone is any thing but black; it is a rough-piled reddish-grey sandstone, such as may be found on the Solway-side at Arbigland; it is six-and-twenty inches long, sixteen inches wide, and eleven inches thick, and is fixed in the bottom of the chair with cramps of iron. The stone is unquestionably Scottish: troughs, crosses, and other ancient matters, at present to be found in the north, seem from the same quarry."-CUNNINGHAM.]

† [The renowned Sir William Wallace, of Elderslie, whose ardent love of his native country, and the freedom of her sons, distinguished him above all other men of his own day, and who, by his talents and his valour, and his many patriotic virtues, won the confidence of the whole Scottish nation, was a younger branch of the very ancient family of Wallace of Craigie and Elderslie, in the county of Ayr, which family is noted in history long before the time of the great Sir William, and had been honoured with rank and wealth, and had exten

sive possessions. Among the distinguished members of this ancient family, perhaps the most remarkable was Sir John Wallace of Craigie, who defeated the English at the battle of Sark. The Wallaces of Craigie, among other proofs of royal favour, had a coat of arms very nearly the same as the royal arms of Scotland, including the royal tressure, a mark of distinction granted in ancient times for signal services in the field of battle. The arms of this family (a lion within a double tressure, with two lions as supporters, and two eagles' heads crossed), were borne by them. Mottoes were not much in use in these early days; and therefore we find the arms of Wallace of Craigie without any motto attached, as the impression of a seal of that family now before us proves, which seal is attached to a deed written on parchment, dated in 1464, with a sight of which we have been favoured by its possessor, Mr. Wallace of Kelly; both are in perfect préservation, and we have been permitted to attach an engraving of the seal to the fac-simile of Burns' celebrated ODE, in order to exhibit the arms of Sir William Wallace's family.

Sir William Wallace of Elderslie, the patriot so especially referred to in the universally popular Ode of SCOTS, WHA HAR WI' WALLACE BLED; but better known in the history of his country under the well-merited title of "The Guardian of Scotland," left no male issue; and consequently the branch of the family he sprung from, which was a younger branch, was merged in that of the parent stock. Besides the arms here described, the Wallace family have long used as a crest the broad-sword proper, with "Pro Libertate," as motto. This device was conferred on the "Guardian of Scotland"

by the monarch who wore that crown he so gallantly defended, as emblematic of his high deserts, indomitable cou

Wha will be a traitor-knave?
Wha can fill a coward's grave?
Wha sae base as be a slave?

Traitor! coward! turn and flee!

rage, and extraordinary success in defence of his king and country.

Mr. Wallace, of Kelly, the male representative of the family, is entitled to bear the principal arms of the ancient family of Craigie, surmounted by the proper crest and mot

The immortal Sir William Wallace, one of the favoritz heroes of our Bard, is still honourably represented by Mr Wallace, through a long line of ancestors. In the family tree his descent is clearly traced as the heir male of Wallace of Craigie, and of the younger branch from which sprunz the Guardian of Scotland, who, it is well known, was treacher ously betrayed by Sir John Monteith into the hands of Edu 1 of England, and afterwards most foully murdered in the Tower of London, in 1305.-Had Burns been spared to witnesse course of public life that he who represents the Guardar d Scotland has chalked out and followed during three succe sive Parliaments that is, ever since the passing of the he form Bill, which for the first time opened the doors of the House of Commons to men of Mr. Wallace's liberal new on all questions, political and commercial-a course so tra congenial to the liberty-loving soul of the Poet, it wou doubtless have induced him to address the honourable men ber for Greenock in terms of well-merited eulogium; thereby have lent his aid in transmitting to posterity th worth and usefulness of that public-spirited and indefatiga ble legislator.

The Wallace family have often had the honour of knight hood conferred on its chiefs, besides being able to boast at least two baronetcies. Why these have not been continued to the heirs male we are at a loss to conjecture; for surely honours bestowed for services rendered the state in times

long gone by should be perpetuated; and we cannot but that that, in doing this, Mr. Wallace would be but receiving act of justice to the memory of his patriotic progenitors, to his own position in the country. Who else is there in the length and breadth of the land, who would not be proud to boast of the lineage entitling him to bear the arms a claim the rank of Sir John Wallace, who defeated the Eng lish on the banks of the Sark; and still more those of Setland's hero and chosen guardian, the illustrious Sir Wilan Wallace?-Vide Burns's noble poem, "The Vision,” p. 296.

Mr. Wallace's only surviving brother, Sir James Mar Wallace, commands (1840) that distinguished regiment, the 8th dragoon guards. He entered the army in 1805, and rese gradually from cornet to colonel in the following regiments. the 9th, 11th, 21st, and royal dragoons. He had the honour of knighthood, and order of Hanover conferred on him William IV., and the order of Leopold, by the King of the Belgians, who was many years his commanding officer, Colonel of the Princess Charlotte's Own, or 5th Dragoc Guards. He was promoted to the rank of colonel at the coronation of Queen Victoria, and attained the privileged wearing the Belgic Order of Leopold, in consequence of the services he performed on the 16th, 17th, and 18th of June. 1815, during the memorable battles of Quatre Bras, Gemappe. and Waterloo. He married, first, in 1818, Miss E. Hodres, daughter of W. P. Hodges, Esq. of Euston Grey; secondly, the widow of the late Sir Alexander Don, of Newton Dos M.P. for the county of Roxburgh, whose only son, Sir Wa liam Don, is the nearest lineal descendant of BURNS's friend and patron, James, Earl of Glencairn, to whom the Pos

1

A THOUSAND thanks to you, my dear Sir, for your observations on the list of my songs. I am happy to find your ideas so much in unison with my own, respecting the generality of the airs, as well as the verses. About some of them we differ, but there is no disputing

"A false usurper sinks in every foe,
And liberty returns with every blow."

A couplet worthy of Homer. Yesterday you had enough of my correspondence. The post goes, and my head aches miserably. One comfort-I suffer so much, just now, in this world, for last night's joviality, that I shall escape

scot-free for it in the world to come. Amen!

R. B.

We are happy in being enabled to illustrate this unique STANDARD EDITION of the works of our great ScCOTTISH BARD, by an exact FAC-SIMILE of the improved version of this immortal ODE, embellished with accurately engraved representations of the Family Seals of Sir William Wallace of Craigie, chief of the Wallaces in 1464, and of the elder branch of that illustrious family, together with the twoedged sword of the hero. The original ode in question is now where it ought to be, in the hands of Robert Wallace, Esq., of Kelly, M.P. for Greenock, who has kindly lent it to the Editor of this work for the purpose of having a Fac-Simile engraved, to present to the admirers of Burns throughout the world.

The original Ode is accompanied by the following letter of the Poet:

TO CAPT. MILLER, DALSWINTON. DEAR SIR:

THE following Ode is on a subject which I know you by no means regard with indif

ference.

"O Liberty,

Thou mak'st the gloomy face of nature gay,

Giv'st beauty to the sun, and pleasure to the day!"

It does me so much good to meet with a man whose honest bosom glows with the generous enthusiasm, the heroic daring, of Liberty, that I could not forbear sending you a composition

by the remarks you make; and to re-consider the whole with attention.

"Dainty Davie" must be sung, two stanzas together, and then the chorus; 'tis the proper way. I agree with you that there may be something of pathos, or tenderness at least, in the air of "Fee him, Father," when performed with feeling: but a tender cast may be given almost to any lively air, if you sing it very slowly, expressively, and with serious words. I am, however, clearly and invariably for retaining the cheerful tunes joined to their own humorous verses, wherever the verses are passable. But the sweet song for "Fee him, Father," which you began about the back of midnight, I will publish as an additional one. Mr. James Balfour, the king of good fellows, and the best singer of the lively Scottish ballads that ever existed, has charmed thousands of companies with "Fee him, Father," and with "Todlin' hame" also, to the old words, which never should be disunited from either of these airs. Some Bacchanals I would wish to discard. "Fye, let's a' to the bridal," for instance, is so coarse and vulgar that I think it fit only to be sung in a company of drunken colliers: and "Saw ye my Father" appears to me both indelicate and silly.

One word more with regard to your heroic ode. I think, with great deference to the poet, that a prudent general would avoid saying any thing to his soldiers which might tend to make death more frightful than it is. "Gory" presents a disagreeable image to the mind; and to tell them, "Welcome to your gory bed," seems rather a discouraging address, notwithstanding the alternative which follows. I have shewn the song to three friends of excellent taste, and each of them objected to this line, which emboldens me to use the freedom of

bringing it again under your notice. I would suggest,

"Now prepare for honour's bed,
Or for glorious victorie."

G. T.

[Some of the opinions expressed in this letter are entitled to respect: others are so singular as to require notice. Neither "Fve, let us a' to the bridal," nor "Saw ye my Father," merit the hard words which Thomson applies to them: for the time in which they were written, they are neither vulgar nor indelicate. Both songs till a late period continued to be sung in the best companies in Scotland, nor has the noble descendant of a house-noble both by genius and birth-hesitated to claim the merit of writing-"Fye, let us a' to the bridal," for one of his ancestors. Something like the taste of Thomson came a few years back over a small coterie of ladies in the north: they laid the songs of Scotland before them, and, placing their fingers on all such parts as they reckoned indelicate, held a consultation upon the meaning, and, after many shakings of the head and whisperings in the ear, they smoothed down without remorse whatever seemed to rise higher than their fanciful level of purity. The concluding paragraph of Thomson's communication requires no comment: that he was wrong the world has likely by this time convinced him. Who can read his altered lines after

"Welcome to your gory bed, Or to victorie-"

without feeling that such emendations crush the original spirit out of the verse, and give nothing in return, save increase of sound? - CUNNINGHAM.]

No. XLV.

BURNS TO G. THOMSON.

September, 1793.

"WHO shall decide when doctors disagree?" My ode pleases me so much that I cannot alter it. Your proposed alterations would, in my

opinion, make it tame. I am exceedingly obliged to you for putting me on re-considering it; as I think I have much improved it. Instead of "soger! hero!" I will have it "Caledonian! on wi' me !"*

I have scrutinized it, over and over; and to the world, some way or other, it shall go as it is. At the same time it will not in the least hurt me should you leave it out altogether, and adhere to your first intention of adopting Logan's verses.t

I have finished my song to "Saw ye my Father;" and in English, as you will see. That there is a syllable too much for the expression of the air, it is true; but, allow me to say that the mere dividing of a dotted crotchet into a crotchet and a quaver is not a great matter however, in that, I have no pretensions to cope in judgment with you. Of the poetry I speak with confidence; but the music is a business where I hint my ideas with the utmost diffidence.

The old verses have merit, though unequal. and are popular: my advice is to set the air te the old words, and let mine follow as English verses. Here they are

Fair Jenny.

Tune-Saw ye my Father?

I.

WHERE are the joys I have met in the morning. That danc'd to the lark's early song! Where is the peace that awaited my wand'ring. At ev'ning the wild woods among?

II.

No more a-winding the course of yon river,
And marking sweet flow'rets so fair:
No more I trace the light footsteps of pleasure.
But sorrow and sad sighing care.