[On 23rd November Burns wrote to Clarinda from Dumfries, informing her that he would be in Edinburgh on the first Tuesday thereafter. That lady (as Chambers explains) was now approaching a critical passage of her own history. She had resolved, though with much hesitation, to accept an invitation from her heartless husband, and join him in Jamaica. A parting interview took place between her and Burns in Edinburgh specially on the 6th of December. That it gave an occasion to an effusion of passionate feeling, is strongly hinted at in a letter of the poet written a twelvemonth after. We may also hesitate little in reading as a record of the scene a series of lyrics, one of which is amongst the most earnest and arresting expressions of intense feeling ever composed in verse." This remark refers to the three songs we next proceed to lay before the reader. That which now forms the text appears to be a dash-off, but warmly colored, reminiscence of the same private interview, disrobed of the passionately sentimental aspect which pervades the lyrics he communicated to the lady herself.

The melody to which this song is set in the Museum seems to be a version of the tune known as "The wee, wee German Lairdie." The air accords with the spirit of the song in the text.]

Moderately slow.

O May, thy morn was ne'er sae sweet, As the mirk night o' December

PARTING SONG TO CLARINDA.

(JOHNSON'S MUSEUM, 1792.)

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
Ae farewell, and then forever!

Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee.
Who shall say that Fortune grieves him,
While the star of hope she leaves him?
Me, nae cheerful twinkle lights me;
Dark despair around benights me.

I'll ne'er blame my partial fancy,
Naething could resist my Nancy :
But to see her was to love her;
Love but her, and love for ever.
Had we never lov'd sae kindly,
Had we never lov'd sae blindly,
Never met-or never parted,

We had ne'er been broken-hearted.

Fare-thee-weel, thou first and fairest!
Fare-thee-weel, thou best and dearest!
Thine be ilka joy and treasure,
Peace, Enjoyment, Love and Pleasure!
Ae fond kiss, and then we sever!
Ae farewell, alas, for ever!

Deep in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I'll wage thee.

one

every

[This impassioned lyric was posted to Mrs. M'Lehose in a letter from Dumfries on 27th December 1791, and contained also the two songs which immediately follow, on the same subject. The latter half of stanza second was used by Byron as a motto for his "Bride of Abydos." Sir Walter Scott remarked that these four lines "contain the essence of a thousand love tales;" and

Mrs. Jameson eloquently added that the lines are "in themselves a complete romance-the alpha and omega of feeling, and contain the essence of an existence of pain and pleasure distilled into one burning drop."

The following melody, harmonized into a duet by the late Alexander Hume, seems adapted to give adequate expression to the "Parting Song."

The original MS. is in the collection of W. F. Watson, Esq.

Ae fond kiss, and then we sev - er; Ae fare-weel, and then for ever; Deep

in heart-wrung tears I'll pledge thee, War-ring sighs and groans I'll wage thee, Who

shall say that For-tune grieves him, While the star of hope she leaves him?

Me, nae

cheer-fu' twin-kle lights me, Dark de-spair a-round be-nights me.

Ae fond kiss.

BEHOLD THE HOUR, THE BOAT, ARRIVE.

(CLARINDA CORRESPONDENCE, 1843.)

BEHOLD the hour, the boat, arrive!

My dearest Nancy, O farewell!

Severed frae thee, can I survive,

Frae thee whom I hae lov'd sae weel?

Endless and deep shall be my grief;
Nae ray of comfort shall I see,
But this most precious, dear belief,
That thou wilt still remember me!

Alang the solitary shore

Where flitting sea-fowl round me cry,
Across the rolling, dashing roar,

I'll westward turn my wishful eye.

'Happy thou Indian grove,' I'll say,
'Where now my Nancy's path shall be!
While thro' your sweets she holds her way,
O tell me, does she muse on me?'

[These verses, sent on 27th December 1791 to Clarinda, although not very original, seem to have pleased Burns so much that in September 1793, he subjected them to some farther polishing to appear in George Thomson's collection set to a Gaelic air, called "Oran Gaoil." The song indeed can scarcely be regarded as an original production of our poet; for he did little else than transcribe it from an old Edinburgh Magazine which lay on his father's bookshelf at Mount Oliphant, and which is included by Gilbert Burns among the books his brother had access to in his youth. To satisfy the reader of this we append four stanzas culled from a long poem of sixteen verses contained in that Magazine.

FAREWELL SONG TO NICÈ.

Behold the fatal hour arrive!

Nicè, my Nicè, ah, farewell!

Severed from thee, can I survive,

From thee whom I have lov'd so well?

Endless and deep shall be my woes,

No ray of comfort shall I see;
And yet, who knows, alas! who knows
If thou wilt e'er remember me?

Along the solitary shore,

I'll wander pensive and alone;
And wild re-echoing rocks implore
To tell me where my nymph is gone.

Of Nicè, wheresoe'er she goes,

The fond attendant I shall be;

And yet, who knows, alas! who knows
If she will e'er remember me.]

THOU GLOOMY DECEMBER.

(JOHNSON'S MUSEUM, 1796.)

ANCE mair I hail thee, thou gloomy December,
Ance mair I hail thee wi' sorrow and care;
Sad was the parting thou makes me remember,
Parting wi' Nancy, oh, ne'er to meet mair!

Fond lovers' parting is sweet, painful pleasure, Hope beaming mild on the soft parting hour; But the dire feeling, O farewell for ever! Anguish unmingled, and agony pure!

Wild as the winter now tearing the forest,
Till the last leaf o' the summer is flown,
Such is the tempest has shaken my bosom,
Till my last hope and last comfort is gone.

Still as I hail thee, thou gloomy December,
Still shall I hail thee wi' sorrow and care;
For sad was the parting thou makes me remember,
Parting wi' Nancy, oh, ne'er to meet mair.

[Only the two opening stanzas of this song were forwarded to Clarinda in the poet's letter to her of 27th December, which closes with these verses, followed by the words "The rest of this song is on the wheels." The remainder was added some time after, and forwarded to Johnson and set to a plaintive Scots air which he furnished. Stenhouse informs us that the poet's first intention was to have it set to the tune "Wandering Willie," which would have been more suitable; but as that had been given in a previous volume, another air was selected.]