And here's to them that wish us weel, The dearest o' the quorum; And here's to them we darena tell, MY NANNIE'S AWA'. In the course of the ensuing summer, while Mrs. M'Lehose was absent in the West Indies, the poet's feelings subsided into a comparative calm, and he then composed the following beautiful pastoral. Now in her green mantle blithe Nature arrays, And listens the lambkins that bleat o'er the braes, 1 These lyrics could not have been written without an earnest, however temporary and transient, feeling on the part of the author; yet we conceive it would be a great mistake to accept them as a literal expression of the particular passion in which they originated, or a description of incidents to which that passion gave rise. We ought to make a considerable allowance for the extent to which the poet's mind is actuated by mere considerations of art and the desire of effect. In one there is a levity, and in others a tincture of métier, which are alike incompatible with our notions of this sentimental attachment. The Ae Fond Kiss appears in a different light. The tragic tale seems there concentrated in a wild gush of eloquence direct from the poet's heart. The snawdrap and primrose our woodlands adorn, And violets bathe in the weet o' the morn; They pain my sad bosom, sae sweetly they blaw, They mind me o' Nannie- and Nannie's awa'. Thou laverock that springs frae the dews of the lawn, The shepherd to warn o' the gray-breaking dawn; And thou mellow mavis that hails the night fa', Give over for pity-my Nannie's awa'. Come autumn, sae pensive, in yellow and gray, And soothe me with tidings o' Nature's decay: The dark dreary winter and wild driving snaw Alane can delight me now Nannie's awa'! TO FERGUSSON. It was probably about February, 1792, that Burns inscribed the following lines in a copy of The World, from which they have been copied. ILL-FATED genius! Heaven-taught Fergusson! What heart that feels and will not yield a tear, To think life's sun did set ere well begun To shed its influence on thy bright career. O why should truest worth and genius pine, Beneath the iron grasp of Want and Wo, While titled knaves and idiot greatness shine In all the splendour Fortune can bestow! THE DEIL'S AWA' WI' THE EXCISEMAN. TUNE The Looking-glass. "At that period [1792] a great deal of contraband traffic, chiefly from the Isle of Man, was going on along the coasts of Galloway and Ayrshire, and the whole of the revenue-officers from Gretna to Dumfries were placed under the orders of a superintendent residing in Annan, who exerted himself zealously in intercepting the descent of the smuggling vessels. On the 27th of February, a suspicious-looking brig was discovered in the Solway Firth, and Burns was one of the party whom the superintendent conducted to watch her motions. She got into shallow water the day afterwards, and the officers were enabled to discover that her crew were numerous, armed, and not likely to yield without a struggle. Lewars, a brother exciseman, an intimate friend of our poet, was accordingly sent to Dumfries for a guard of dragoons; the superintendent himself, Mr. Crawford, proceeded on a similar errand to Ecclefechan, and Burns was left with some men under his orders, to watch the brig, and prevent landing or escape. From the private journal of one of the excisemen now in my hands it appears that Burns manifested considerable impatience while thus occupied, being left for many hours in a wet salt-marsh, with a force which he knew to be inadequate to the purpose it was meant to fulfil. One of his comrades hearing him abuse his friend Lewars in particular, for being slow about his journey, the man answered that he also wished the devil had him for his pains, and that Burns in the mean time would do well to indite a song upon the sluggard. Burns said nothing; but after taking a few strides by himself among the reeds and shingle, rejoined his party, and chanted to them the well-known ditty."- LockHART. [See Appendix.] THE deil cam fiddling through the town, The deil's awa' wi' the Exciseman; He's danced awa' wi' the Exciseman ! "We'll mak our maut, we'll brew our drink, The deil's awa', the deil's awa', The deil's awa' wi' the Exciseman; He's danced awa', he's danced awa', He's danced awa' wi' the Exciseman ! There's threesome reels, there's four- for three, etc. some reels, There's hornpipes and strathspeys, man; But the ae best dance e'er cam to the land Was the deil's awa' wi' the Exciseman. The deil's awa', the deil's awa', The deil's awa' wi' the Exciseman; He's danced awa', he's danced awa', BONNY LESLEY.. "Such, so delighting and so pure, were the emotions of my soul on meeting the other day with Miss Lesley 1 "Lewars arrived shortly after with his dragoons; and Burns, putting himself at their head, waded sword in hand to the brig, and was the first to board her. The crew lost heart, and submitted, though their numbers were greater than those of the assailing force. The vessel was condemned, and, with all her arms and stores, sold next day at Dumfries; upon which occasion, Burns, whose conduct had been highly commended, thought fit to purchase four carronades by way of trophy."-LOCKHART. |