Ye houlets, frae your ivy bow'r, Sets up her horn, Wail thro' the dreary midnight hour 'Till waukrife morn! O, rivers, forests, hills, and plains! Mourn, spring, thou darling of the year! Thou, autumn, wi' thy yellow hair, Mourn him, thou sun, great source of light! Ne'er to return. Oh, Henderson! the man-the brother! And art thou gone, and gone for ever? And hast thou crost that unknown river, Life's dreary bound? Like thee, where shall I find another The world around? Go to your sculptur'd tombs, ye great, In a' the tinsel trash o' state! But by thy honest turf I'll wait, Thou man of worth! And weep the ae best fellow's fate THE EPΙΤΑΡΗ. Stor, passenger!-my story's brief, If thou uncommon merit hast, For Matthew was a poor man. † Eagles, so called, from their flying without that motion * VAR. woods and wilds should mourn For whunstane man to grieve wou'd scorn, of the wings, common to most other birds. VAR. Birring. Afton MS. VAR. Rowte. Afton MS. VAR. Aulder. Afton MS. 1. If thou a noble sodger art, If thou on men, their works and ways, If thou at friendship's sacred ca' If thou art staunch without a stain, Like the unchanging blue, man, This was a kinsman o' thy ainFor Matthew was a true man. If thou hast wit, and fun, and fire, If ony whiggish whingin' sot, original MS. of this poem, written in Dumfries-shire, in 1790, in the Poet's handwriting, not only supplies some interesting variations, but is accompanied by the following characteristic note: -"Now that you are over with the sirens of flattery, the harpies of corruption, and the furies of ambition-those infernal deities that, on all sides and in all parties, preside over the villanous business of politicspontics permit a rustic muse of your acquaintance to do her best to soothe you with a song. You knew Henderson? I have not flattered his memory." "The Elegy on Captain Henderson," says the Poet to Dr. Moore, in February, 1791, "is a tribute to the memory of a man I loved much. Poets have in this the same advantage as Roman Catholics; they can be of service to their friends after they have passed that bourne where all other kindness ceases to be of any avail. Whether, after all, either the one or the other be of any real service to the dead is, I fear very problematical; but I am sure they are highly gratifying to the living." Captain Henderson was a retired soldier, of agreeable manners and upright character, who had a lodging in Carruber's Close, Edinburgh, and mingled with the best society of the city: he dined regularly at Fortune's Tavern, and was a member of the • VAR. These bones a brother's tears require.-MS. ↑ "Bonnie Dumfries," as the Duchess of Gordon delighted to call it. Capillaire Club, which was composed of all who inclined to the witty and the joyous."] ["This Elegy is in Burns's very best style. He brings the scenes, the birds, and the flowers, quite before the eyes of our imagination. I remember Sir Walter Scott once shewing me a very old metrical tale in heroic measure, as old apparently as Gawin Douglas's day, in which all the birds and beasts of the forest are called on, in the same manner as here, and with a great deal of characteristic humour. He said this poem of Burns's was taken from that; but as far as I remember, if there is an imitation, it is but as a shade, and hardly traceable. I have never been able to find that poem again, having forgot its name and all relating to it, save that I liked it, and that all the animals of my acquaintance were brought before my eyes with something characteristic about them, even the Toddis and the Wulcattis, &c. There is likewise a poem by the Earl of Stirling, published about the time of King James the Sixth, a very curious one of the same sort, wherein he describes the peculiarities of many beasts and birds, and the horrid surprise each of them will get when the day of judgment comes on them." -HOGG.] [Perhaps Mr. Hogg alludes to "The Passage of the Pilgremmer," by John Burell, a poem which contains a goodly catalogue of beasts and birds; or, to the "Houlate," another ancient poem. - MOTHERWELL.] Loch-maben, the residence of king Robert Bruce, the great restorer of Scottish independence. The small thriving borough of Annan. Then out spak' mim-mou'd Meg o' Nith, And she spak' up wi' pride, And she wad send the sodger youth, Whatever might betide. XIV. For the auld guidman § o' Lunnon Court She dinna care a pin; But she wad send a sodger youth To greet his eldest son.|| XV. Then slow raise Marjory o' the Lochs, And wrinkled was her brow; Her ancient weed was russet grey, Her auld Scots bluid was true. * Sanquhar, noted for its carpet manufacture, and that species of comfortable stockings called Sanquhar hose. Its castle was besieged in person by Edward I. † Sir J. Johnstone. George III. Major Miller. The Prince of Wales. VAR. There's some great folks set light by me.-MS. **VAR. But I will send to Lunnon town. Wham I like best at hame.-MS. "The Lunnon Court set light by me I set as light by them; To shaw that Court the same." ** XVII. Then up sprang Bess of Annandale, And swore a deadly aith, Says, "I will send the border-knight Spite o' you carlins baith. ++ XVIII. "For far-aff fowls hae feathers fair, And fools o' change are fain; But I hae try'd this border-knight, An' I'll try him yet again." XIX. Then whiskey Jean spak owre her drink, "Ye weel ken, kimmers a', The auld guidman o' Lunnon Court, xx. "And mony a friend that kiss'd his caup, Is now a fremit wight; But it's ne'er be said o' whiskey Jean,I'll send the border-knight." XXI. Says black Joan frae Crichton-peel "The auld guidman, an' the young guidman, For me may sink or swim. XXII. "For fools will prate o' right and wrang, While knaves laugh in their sleeve; But wha blows best the horn shall win, I'll speir nae courtier's leave." §§ XXIII. Sae how this weighty plea may end "The Five Carlins" are the five boroughs of Dumfries-shire and Kirkcudbright, which unite in sending a member to Parliament. The personifications are considered happy by all who are acquainted with the places. The duty which these five ladies met in Dumfries to perform was to decide whether Patrick Miller, younger, of Dalswinton, or Sir James Johnstone of Westerhall, should be preferred as their representative in the House of Commons. On the side of the former all the Whig interest of the Duke of Queensberry was mustered: and on that of the latter all the interest which the Tories could command among the Hopes, the Jardines, and the Johnstones. The contest was fierce and acrimonious. The young, active men of Nithsdale, Annandale, and Eskdale, together with the youth of Galloway, marched into Dumfries, all armed with oak sticks, which in those days they were taught how to use in case of a fray; and, had not prudent and sensible men on both sides interposed and directed their eyes and minds elsewhere, confusion and strife would have ensued. The election was at the hottest, when Burns wrote the "Five Carlins:" he sent a copy of it to Mr. Graham of Fintray, saying, "The election ballad, as you will see, alludes to the present canvass in our string of boroughs. I do not believe there will be such a hard-run match in the whole general election. Sir James Johnstone does what man can do, but yet he doubts his fate." The contest was decided in favour of Captain Miller, whose cause the Poet so powerfully supported by his pen. The poem is printed from a copy in the Poet's own handwriting.] The Laddies by the Banks o' Pith. AN ELECTION BALLAD.* Tune.-Up and waur them a'. THE laddies by the banks o' Nith, Wad trust his Grace wi' a', Jamie, But he'll sair them as he sair'd the king, Turn tail and rin awa, Jamie. Up and waur them a', Jamie, Up and waur them a'; * [This is an additional ballad on the election of Dumfries burghs in 1790: it should follow "The Five Carlins." In the poem just named, and in the ensuing one, entitled "Second Epistle to Mr. Graham of Fintray," Burns describes the contest in impartial terms, as if he took no side. To a neutral course he was in some degree forced by his connections, public or private, notwithstanding the all-pervading fervour which the election occasioned in the district. But it is nevertheless evident, in the two former poems, that he inclined to the cause of Sir James Johnstone, the Tory candidate, while he was mainly prevented from speaking out against the Whigs by his being the tenant of Mr. Miller, father to the candidate on that side. In the poem, which has only of late come before the public, we have stronger evidence of his Tory inclinations: he may here be said fairly to speak out. That Burns should have at any period of his life been a Tory, may be surprising to many of his admirers; but there can be no doubt that, while his feelings were at many times of a very undecided nature, veering from Jacobitism to Whigism, and from Whigism to Toryism, he was for a certain space, to say the least of it, much more of a partisan of Pitt's ministry than of the opposition. space seems to have extended from the time of the Regency question in 1788, to the time when the principles of the French Revolution began to affect the public mind in Britain. How far the conduct of the Whigs on that question may have operated in alienating Burns from their ranks we cannot tell: probably it was the leading cause of his becoming a more than usually decided Tory, which he was at the time of the composition of this election song. On the subject of Burns's politics, we find the following passage in a letter of Sir Walter Scott, in the recent biography of that distinguished Poet:-" In one of them (certain letters of Burns, sent by Scott to Mr. Lockhart) to that singular old curmudgeon, Lady Winifred Constable, you will see he plays high Jacobite, and, on that account, it is curious: though I imagine his Jacobitism, like my own, belonged to the fancy This The Johnstones hae the guidin' o't, The day he stude his country's friend, But wha is he, the country's boast? But kens o' Westerha', Jamie. To end the wark here's Whistlebirck,† Second Epistle to Robert Graham, Esq., OF FINTRAY: ON THE CLOSE OF THE DISPUTED ELECTION BETWEEN SIR JAMES JOHNSTONE AND CAPTAIN MILLER, FOR THE DUMFRIES DISTRICT OF BOROUGHS. I. FINTRAY, my stay in worldly strife, Friend o' my muse, friend o' my life, Are ye as idle's I am? Come then, wi' uncouth, kintra fleg, O'er Pegasus I'll fling my leg, And ye shall see me try him. rather than the reason. He was, however, a great Pittite down to a certain period. There were some passing stupid verses in the papers, attacking and defending his satire on a certain preacher, whom he termed 'an unco calf. In one of them occurred these lines in vituperation of the adversary 'A Whig, I guess. But Rab's a Tory, This was in 1787." More probably, we suspect, a little later. There can of course be no doubt of the general truth of this doggrel allegation; but its limitation as to the time ought to be kept in mind. Burns only too certainly reverted at a subsequent period to Whig, or to more than Whig politics. In the above short piece, the author first speaks of the great influence of the Duke of Queensberry as the chief proprietor in Nithsdale. He then adverts to the tergiversation of which this once Court nobleman was guilty on the Regency question, when he supported the right of the Prince of Wales to assume the government without the consent of parliament, and signed the protest to that effect, December 26, 1788; for which he was immediately deprived of his place as a lord of the bedchamber. The Poet also speaks indignantly of the worthless personal character of the Duke-a man who spent a long life of eighty-five years in one continued series of selfish debaucheries and amusements, without gracing one day of it with a good action. The contrasted virtue of Westerhall is beautifully introduced in the third stanza. It may be mentioned, for the benefit of the southern reader, that the line, "The Johnstones hae the guidin' o't," is an old border proverb, relating to the immense influence once exercised in the district by this great Annandale clan. CHAMBERS.] † Mr. Birtwhistle, a gentleman of the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, alluded to in the second of the Heron Ballads, In either wing two champions fought, Redoubted Staig 11, who set at nought The wildest savage Tory: To these, what Tory hosts oppos'd; With these, what Tory warriors clos'd, Surpasses my descriving: Squadrons extended long and large, With furious speed rush'd to the charge, Like raging devils driving. XI. What verse can sing, what prose narrate, And Hell mix'd in the brulzie! XII. As highland crags by thunder cleft, As flames amang a hundred woods; XIII. The stubborn Tories dare to die; Before th' approaching fellers: The Whigs come on like Ocean's roar, When all his wintry billows pour Against the Buchan Bullers. XIV. Lo, from the shades of Death's deep night, Departed Whigs enjoy the fight, And think on former daring: The muffled murtherer ** of Charles The Magna Charta flag unfurls, All deadly gules its bearing. XV. Nor wanting ghosts of Tory fame, XVI. Still o'er the field the combat burns, The Tories, Whigs, give way by turns; But Fate the word has spoken; And Welsh, §§ who ne'er yet flinch'd his ground, For woman's wit and strength o' man, High-wav'd his magnum-bonum round With Cyclopean fury. IX. Miller brought up th' artillery ranks, While Maxwelton, that baron bold, Alas! O that my een were flowing burns! Her darling cubs' undoing! That I might greet, that I might cry, While Tories fall, while Tories fly, And furions Whigs pursuing! • The fourth Duke of Queensberry, of infamous memory. + VAR. Of fiddles, wh-res, and hunters.-Afton MS. Buying.-MS. Bunters. Ibid. Sir James Johnstone, the Tory Candidate. The Chamberlain of the Duke of Queensberry at Drum lancig, and a friend of the Poet. ** Ferguson of Craigdarroch. †† Captain Riddel of Glenriddel, another friend of the Poet. Provost Staig of Dumfries. Sheriff Welsh. Lawson, a wine merchant in Dumfries. The "Bullers of Buchan" is an appellation given to a tremendous rocky recess on the Aberdeen-shire coast, near Peterhead-having an opening to the sea, while the top open. The sea, constantly raging in it, gives it the appear ance of a pot or boiler, and hence the name. *** The executioner of Charles I. was masked. +++ John Earl of Dundee. ‡ The great Marquis of Montrose. i |