The Modern Scottish Minstrel, Volume 2. The Songs of Scotland of the Past Half Century

The year is wearing to the wane, An' day is fading west awa', Loud raves the torrent an' the rain, And dark the cloud comes down the shaw; But let the tempest tout an' blaw Upon...

Next to Robert Burns, the Ettrick Shepherd is unquestionably the most distinguished of Scottish bards, sprung from the ranks of the people: in the region of the imagination he s...

I hae thought an' thought, but darena tell, I 've studied them wi' a' my skill, I 've lo'ed them better than mysel, I 've tried again to like them ill. Wha sairest strives, will...

In the summer of 1801, Laidlaw formed the acquaintance of Sir Walter Scott. In quest of materials for the third volume of the "Border Minstrelsy," Scott made an excursion into t...

"My brother's[41] want of success has surprised me too. He had a fair share of talent; and, had he cultivated his powers with care, and given himself fair play, his fate would h...

The weary sun 's gaen down the west, The birds sit nodding on the tree; All nature now prepares for rest, But rest prepared there 's none for me. The trumpet sounds to war's ala...

[95] Leyden was assisted in his outfit for India by Sir Walter Scott and Sydney Smith, the latter contributing forty pounds. (See "Memoir of the Rev. Sydney Smith," by his daugh...

The sun blinks sweetly on yon shaw, But sweeter far on Woodhouselee, And dear I like his setting beam For sake o' ane sae dear to me. It was na simmer's fairy scenes, In a' thei...

When lasses braw gaed out at e'en, For sport and pastime free; I seem'd like ane in paradise, The moments quick did flee. Like Venuses they all appear'd, Weel pouther'd were the...

[76] Tannahill was believed never to have entertained particular affection towards any of the fair sex. We have ascertained that, at different periods, he paid court to two fema...

Young, beautiful, and doubly attractive from the warmth of her heart, and the fascination of her manners, Mrs Richardson was not only loved and appreciated by her husband, and h...

John Struthers, whose name is familiar as the author of "The Poor Man's Sabbath," was born on the 18th July 1776, in the parish of East Kilbride, Lanarkshire. His parents were o...

O that I were the shaw in,[130] When Morag was there, Lots to be drawing For the prize of the fair! Mingling in your glee, Merry maidens! We Rolicking would be The flow'rets alo...

When he sings of the valorous deeds that were done, By his clan or his chief, in the days that are gone, His strains then are various--now rapid, now slow, As he mourns for the...

On his first connexion with the Excise, Mr Train turned his attention to the most efficient means of checking illicit distillation in the Highlands; and an essay which he prepar...

As the committing of his thoughts to paper became a less irksome occupation, Hogg began, with commendable prudence, to attempt composition in prose; and in evidence of his succe...

"You ask me why I am not intimate with Wilson. There is a sufficient reason in the distance between our respective abodes. I seldom go even to Wordworth's or Lloyd's; and Ellery...

Thomas Campbell, author of the "Pleasures of Hope," was descended from a race of landed proprietors in Argyleshire, who claimed ancestry in Macallummore, the great head of clan...

Hech! what a change hae we now in this town! The lads a' sae braw, the lasses sae glancin', Folk maun be dizzie gaun aye in the roun' For deil a haet 's done now but feastin' an...

I dedicate to you this second volume of "THE MODERN SCOTTISH MINSTREL," as a sincere token of my estimation of your long continued and most disinterested friendship, and of the...

ROBERT TANNAHILL, 131 Jessie, the flower o' Dumblane, 136 Loudon's bonnie woods and braes, 137 The lass of Arranteenie, 139 Yon burn side, 140 The braes o' Gleniffer, 141 Throug...

Better far with thee in groves, Where the young deers sportive roam, Than where, counting cattle droves, I must sickly sigh for home. Great the love I bear for her Where the nor...