rhyme, else I had done both long ere now). Well, then, here is to your good health!-for you must know, I have set a nipperkin of toddy by me, just by way of spell, to keep away the meikle horned deil, or any of his subaltern imps, who may be on their nightly rounds. But what shall I write to you?-The voice said, Cry;' and I said, 'What shall I cry?' Ŏ thou spirit! whatever thou art, or wherever thou makest thyself visible! Be thou a bogle by the eerie side of an auld thorn, in the dreary glen through which the herdcallan maun bicker in his gloamin' route frae the fauld! Be thou a brownie, set, at dead of night, to thy task by the blazing ingle, or in the solitary barn, where the repercussions of thy iron flail half affright thyself, as thou performest the work of twenty of the sons of men, ere the cock-crowing summon thee to thy ample cog of substantial brose. Be thou a kelpie, haunting the ford or ferry in the starless night, mixing thy laughing yell with the howling of the storm and the roaring of the flood, as thou viewest the perils and miseries of man on the foundering horse, or in the tumbling boat! Or, lastly, be thou a ghost, paying thy nocturnal visits to the hoary ruins of decayed grandeur; or performing thy mystic rites in the shadow of the time-worn church, while the moon looks without a cloud on the silent, ghastly dwellings of the dead around thee; or taking thy stand by the bedside of the villain, or the murderer, portraying on his dreaming fancy pictures dreadful as the horrors of unveiled hell, and terrible as the wrath of incensed Deity! Come, thou spirit, but not in these horrid forms; come with the milder, gentle, easy inspirations which thou breathest round the wig of a prating advocate, or the tête-à-tête of a tea-sipping gossip, while their tongues run at the light-horse gallop of clish-maclaver for ever and ever-come and assist a poor devil who is quite jaded in the attempt to share half an idea among half a hundred words; to fill up four quarto pages, while he has not got one single sentence of recollection, information, or remark, worth putting pen to paper for. * * * Apropos, how do you like-I mean really like-the married life! Ah, my friend! matrimony is quite a different thing from what your love-sick youths and sighing girls take it to be! But marriage, we are told, is appointed by God, and I shall never quarrel with any of His institutions. I am a husband of older standing than you, and shall give you my ideas of the conjugal state (en passant-you know I am no Latinist-is not conjugal derived from jugum, a yoke?) Well, then, the scale of good wifeship I divide into ten parts: Good-nature, four; Good Sense, two; Wit, one; Personal Charms-namely, a sweet face, eloquent eyes, fine limbs, graceful carriage (I would add a fine waist too, but that is soon spoilt, you know), all these, one; as for the other qualities belonging to or attending on a wife, such as Fortune, Connections, Education (I mean education extraordinary), Family Blood, &c., divide the two remaining degrees among them as you please; only remember that all these minor properties must be expressed by fractions, for there is not any one of them, in the aforesaid scale, entitled to the dignity of an integer. As for the rest of my fancies and reveries-how I lately met with Miss Lesley Baillie, the most beautiful, elegant woman in the world-how I accompanied her and her father's family fifteen miles on their journey out of pure devotion, to admire the loveliness of the works of God, in such an unequalled display of them-how, in galloping home at night, I made a ballad on her, of which these two stanzas make a part: 'Thou, bonny Lesley, art a queen, The very deil he couldna scath And say: “I canna wrang thee."' Behold all these things are written in the chronicles of my imagination, and shall be read by thee, my dear friend, and by thy beloved spouse, my other dear friend, at a more convenient season. Now, to thee, and to thy before-designed bosom-companion, be given the precious things brought forth by the sun, and the precious things brought forth by the moon, and the benignest influences of the stars, and the living streams which flow from the fountains of life, and by the tree of life, for ever and ever! Amen! R. B. It The Scots Musical Museum of Johnson was originally an engraver's undertaking. The assistance of Burns unexpectedly made it an ample repertory of the Scottish music and songs, besides giving it the attractions of his own brilliant muse. had also the benefit of the co-operation of Mr Stephen Clarke, the organist, in harmonising the airs. It was, however, a work of plain appearance, and scarcely suitable in purity of taste for refined society. About the time at which we have now arrived, a small fraternity of musical amateurs in Edinburgh had matured the design of a collection of the Scottish airs with poetry, in a much more elegant form, under more rigid editorial care, and with the novel advantage of symphonies and accompaniments by the first musicians of the continent. The person chiefly concerned was Mr George Thomson, a man somewhat above Burns's own age, occupying VOL. III. the situation of clerk in the office of the Board of Trustees for the Encouragement of Manufactures in Scotland. Another was the Honourable Andrew Erskine, brother of the musical Earl of Kellie,1 wit and versifier well known in aristocratic circles. The former gentleman lived till February 1851, in the possession of all his faculties, not less in the enjoyment of his favourite music, and of all the rational pleasures of society-a remarkable proof of what a moderate, cheerful mind, not unduly tasked by business or crushed by care, will do in prolonging life, and thus forming a striking contrast to the hapless Bard of Caledonia. It was determined by the little group of amateurs, that the assistance of Burns should be asked, and Mr Thomson accordingly addressed him. MR THOMSON TO BURN S. EDINBURGH, September 1792. SIR-For some years past I have, with a friend or two, employed many leisure hours in selecting and collating the most favourite of our national melodies for publication. We have engaged Pleyel, the most agreeable composer living, to put accompaniments to these, and also to compose an instrumental prelude and conclusion to each air, the better to fit them for concerts, both public and private. To render this work perfect, we are desirous to have the poetry improved wherever it seems unworthy of the music; and that it is so in many instances, is allowed by every one conversant with our musical collections. The editors of these seem, in general, to have depended on the music proving an excuse for the verses; and hence some charming melodies are united to mere nonsense and doggrel, while others are accommodated with rhymes so loose and indelicate as cannot be sung in decent company. To remove this reproach would be an easy task to the author of the Cotter's Saturday Night; and, for the honour of Caledonia, I would fain hope he may be induced to take up the pen. If so, we shall be enabled to present the public with a collection infinitely more interesting than any that has yet appeared, and acceptable to all persons of taste, whether they wish for correct melodies, delicate accompaniments, or characteristic verses. We will esteem your poetical assistance a particular favour, besides paying any reasonable price you shall please to demand for it. Profit is quite a secondary consideration with us, and we are resolved to spare neither pains nor expense on the publication. Tell me frankly, then, whether you will devote your 1 Third son of Alexander, fifth Earl of Kellie, by Janet, daughter of the celebrated physician and wit, Dr Pitcairn. Mr Erskine was the author in part of a curious and rare volume, entitled Letters between the Hon. Andrew Erskine and James Boswell, Esq. London, 1763an amusing specimen of youthful frolic and vivacity. leisure to writing twenty or twenty-five songs suited to the particular melodies which I am prepared to send you. A few songs, exceptionable only in some of their verses, I will likewise submit to your consideration, leaving it to you either to mend these or make new songs in their stead. It is superfluous to assure you, that I have no intention to displace any of the sterling old songs: those only will be removed which appear quite silly or absolutely indecent. Even these shall be all examined by Mr Burns; and if he is of opinion that any of them are deserving of the music, in such cases no divorce shall take place. G. THOMSON. BURNS TO MR THOMSON. DUMFRIES, 16th Sept. 1792. SIR-I have just this moment got your letter. As the request you make to me will positively add to my enjoyments in complying with it, I shall enter into your undertaking with all the small portion of abilities I have, strained to their utmost exertion by the impulse of enthusiasm. Only, don't hurry me- Deil tak the hindmost' is by no means the cri de guerre of my Muse. Will you, as I am inferior to none of you in enthusiastic attachment to the poetry and music of old Caledonia, and, since you request it, have cheerfully promised my mite of assistance-will you let me have a list of your airs, with the first line of the printed verses you intend for them, that I may have an opportunity of suggesting any alteration that may occur to me? You know 'tis in the way of my trade; still leaving you, gentlemen, the undoubted right of publishers to approve or reject, at your pleasure, for your own publication. Apropos, if you are for English verses, there is, on my part, an end of the matter. Whether in the simplicity of the ballad, or the pathos of the song, I can only hope to please myself in being allowed at least a sprinkling of our native tongue. English verses, particularly the works of Scotsmen that have merit, are certainly very eligible. Tweedside! Ah! the poor shepherd's mournful fate! Ah! Chloris, could I now but sit, &c., you cannot mend; but such insipid stuff as To Fanny fair, could I impart, &c., usually set to The Mill, Mill, O! is a disgrace to the collections in which it has already appeared, and would doubly disgrace a collection that will have the very superior merit of yours. But more of this in the further prosecution of the business, if I am called on for my strictures and amendments-I say amendments, for I will not alter except where I myself, at least, think that I amend. As to any remuneration, you may think my songs either above or 1 In manuscript a clause here erased by Burns: 'except, excuse my vanity, you should for Gilderoy prefer my own song, "From thee, Eliza, I must go."' below price; for they shall absolutely be the one or the other. In the honest enthusiasm with which I embark in your undertaking, to talk of money, wages, fee, hire, &c., would be downright prostitution of soul! A proof of each of the songs that I compose or amend I shall receive as a favour. In the rustic phrase of the season, 'Gude speed the wark!' I am, sir, your very humble servant, R. BURNS. In August, Johnson published the fourth volume of his Scots Musical Museum, containing a number of songs by Burns, either wholly original, or improvements upon rude ditties of the olden time. Such as have not already been inserted in connection with particular dates and circumstances are here presented: CRAIGIEBURN WOOD. Sweet closes the eve on Craigieburn Wood, But the pride of the spring in the Craigieburn Wood Beyond thee, dearie, beyond thee, dearie, I see the spreading leaves and flowers, I canna tell, I maunna tell, I darena for your anger; But secret love will break my heart, I see thee gracefu', straight, and tall, To see thee in another's arms, In love to lie and languish, "Twad be my dead, that will be seen, death This expression was altered by Currie. In the original manuscript, a stronger term was employed. |