before her beauty was well budded:-but it would be discourteous to insist upon purity with a lady who had the weakness, or the boldness, never to care any thing for a virtue so sensitive and troublesome. BONNIE LESLEY. O saw ye bonnie Lesley, As she gaed o'er the border? She's gane, like Alexander, To spread her conquests further. To see her is to love her, And love but her for ever; For nature made her what she is, Thou art a queen, fair Lesley, The hearts o' men adore thee. The powers aboon will tent thee; Misfortune sha'na steer thee; Thou'rt like themselves sae lovely, That ill they'll ne'er let near thee. Return to Caledonie ! That we may brag, we hae a lass There's nane again so bonnie. Mr. Thomson sought to stay the march of " Macedonia's madman" into the region of Scottish song, but Burns was unexpectedly obstinate, and Alexander keeps his place; though all who sing the song must wonder what he is doing there. The heroine, Miss Lesley Baillie of Ayrshire, now Mrs. Cuming of Logie, was on her way to England through Dumfries; Burns accompanied her towards the border, and on his way home made this song in her honour, and an exquisite song it is. The poet believed that he had parodied an old song, beginning with My bonnie Lizie Bailie, I'll rowe thee in my plaidie; but the resemblance exists only in the first verse, and in the bard's imagination. It was to such casual inspirations that we owe many of his finest songs. GUDEWIFE, COUNT THE LAWIN. Gane is the day, and mirk's the night, And blude-red wine's the rising sun. Then, gudewife, count the lawin, There's wealth and ease for gentlemen, For ilka man that's drunk's a lord. My coggie is a haly pool, That heals the wounds o' care and dool; And pleasure is a wanton trout— An' ye drink but deep, ye'll find him out. Then, gudewife, count the lawin, Then, gudewife, count the lawin, And bring a coggie mair. Good drinking songs are few in number; and England, with all her admiration of her brown ale and her wine, has poured but little drunken inspiration into verse. The ancient verses which suggested this song to Burns are not unknown, nor do they deserve to be forgotten. O, ilka day my wife tells me, That ale and brandy will ruin me; But though gude drink shou'd be my dead, O, gudewife, count the lawin, The lawin, the lawin; Then, gudewife, count the lawin, And bring a coggie mair. The hero of the old song seems resolved not to settle with the hostess over an empty measure, and it is evident he will as little rise from a full one. THE BONNIE WEE THING. Bonnie wee thing, cannie wee thing, I wad wear thee in my bosom, In that bonnie face o' thine; Wit, and grace, and love, and beauty, In ae constellation shine; Goddess o' this soul o' mine! I wad wear thee in my bosom, Lest my jewel I should tine. Composed on my little idol, the charming, lovely Davies:" such are the words of Burns which accompany this song in the Reliques. The song corresponds with the character which he draws, it is very brief and very beautiful. To the same lady the poet addresses one of his most laboured letters-he is apologizing for his indolence. "In vain remorse rears her horrent crest, and rouses all her snakes: beneath the deadly-fixed eye and leaden hand of indolence, their wildest ire is charmed into the torpor of the bat, slumbering out the rigours of winter in the chink of a ruined wall." The ease and nature of his verse seldom found the way into the poet's prose; and though many passages of his letters are written with great ease and animation, and sparkling with poetic imagery, yet, on the whole, they are laboured and cumbrous, compared with his inimitable verse. |