Chapter 1

Produced by Susan Skinner, Ted Garvin and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

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THE

MODERN SCOTTISH MINSTREL;

OR,

THE SONGS OF SCOTLAND OF THE PAST HALF CENTURY.

WITH

Memoirs of the Poets,

AND

SKETCHES AND SPECIMENS IN ENGLISH VERSE OF THE MOST CELEBRATED MODERN GAELIC BARDS.

BY

CHARLES ROGERS, LL.D., F.S.A. SCOT.

IN SIX VOLUMES.

VOL VI.

EDINBURGH: ADAM & CHARLES BLACK, NORTH BRIDGE, BOOKSELLERS AND PUBLISHERS TO HER MAJESTY.

MDCCCLVII.

EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE AND COMPANY, PAUL'S WORK.

TO

CHARLES BAILLIE, ESQ.,

SHERIFF OF STIRLINGSHIRE,

CONVENER OF THE ACTING COMMITTEE FOR REARING

A NATIONAL MONUMENT

TO THE

ILLUSTRIOUS DEFENDER OF SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE,

THIS SIXTH VOLUME

OF

The Modern Scottish Minstrel

IS DEDICATED,

WITH SENTIMENTS OF THE HIGHEST RESPECT AND ESTEEM,

BY

HIS VERY OBEDIENT FAITHFUL SERVANT,

CHARLES ROGERS.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION, xi

OBSERVATIONS ON SCOTTISH SONG. BY HENRY SCOTT RIDDELL, xx

CHARLES MACKAY, LL.D., 1 Love aweary of the world, 8 The lover's second thoughts on world weariness, 9 A candid wooing, 11 Procrastinations, 12 Remembrances of nature, 13 Believe, if you can, 15 Oh, the happy time departed, 17 Come back! come back! 17 Tears, 18 Cheer, boys, cheer, 20 Mourn for the mighty dead, 21 A plain man's philosophy, 22 The secrets of the hawthorn, 24 A cry from the deep waters, 25 The return home, 26 The men of the North, 28 The lover's dream of the wind, 29

ARCHIBALD CRAWFORD, 31 Bonnie Mary Hay, 33 Scotland, I have no home but thee, 33

GEORGE DONALD, 35 The spring time o' life, 36 The scarlet rose-bush, 37

HENRY GLASSFORD BELL, 39 My life is one long thought of thee, 40 Why is my spirit sad? 41 Geordie Young, 42 My fairy Ellen, 44 A bachelor's complaint, 45

WILLIAM BENNET, 47 Blest be the hour of night, 48 The rose of beauty, 49 I 'll think on thee, love, 50 There 's music in a mother's voice, 51 The brig of Allan, 52

GEORGE OUTRAM, 54 Charge on a bond of annuity, 55

HENRY INGLIS, 59 Weep away, 59

JAMES MANSON, 61 Ocean, 61 The hunter's daughter, 63 An invitation, 63 Cupid and the rose-bud, 64 Robin Goodheart's carol, 65

JAMES HEDDERWICK, 67 My bark at sea, 68 Sorrow and song, 69 The land for me, 70 The emigrants, 72 First grief, 73 The linnet, 76

WILLIAM BROCKIE, 78 Ye 'll never gang back to yer mither nae mair, 78

ALEXANDER M'LACHLAN, 80 The lang winter e'en, 80

THOMAS YOUNG, 81 Antoinette; or, The Falls, 81

ROBERT WILSON, 84 Away, away, my gallant bark, 84 Love, 85

EDWARD POLIN, 87 A good old song, 88

ALEXANDER BUCHANAN, 89 I wander'd alane, 89 Katie Blair, 91

DAVID TAYLOR, 92 My ain gudeman, 92

ROBERT CATHCART, 94 Mary, 94

WILLIAM JAMIE, 96 Auld Scotia's sangs, 96

JOHN CRAWFORD, 98 My auld wifie Jean, 102 The land o' the bonnet and plaid, 103 Sing on, fairy Devon, 104 Ann o' Cornylee, 105 My Mary dear, 106 The waes o' eild, 107

JOHN STUART BLACKIE, 109 Song of Ben Cruachan, 115 The braes of Mar, 117 My loves, 118 Liking and loving, 120

WILLIAM STIRLING, M.P., 121 Ruth, 122 Shallum, 126

THOMAS C. LATTO, 127 The kiss ahint the door, 128 The widow's ae bit lassie, 129 The yellow hair'd laddie, 130 Tell me, dear, 131

WILLIAM CADENHEAD, 133 Do you know what the birds are singing, 134 An hour with an old love, 135

ALLAN GIBSON, 137 The lane auld man, 138 The wanderer's return, 139

THOMAS ELLIOTT, 141 Up with the dawn, 142 Clyde boat song, 143 Dimples and a', 144 Bubbles on the blast, 145 A serenade, 146 A song of little things, 147 My ain mountain land, 148 When I come hame at e'en, 149

WILLIAM LOGAN, 151 Jeanie Gow, 151

JAMES LITTLE, 153 Our native hills again, 154 Here 's a health to Scotia's shore, 155 The days when we were young, 156 Lizzy Frew, 158

COLIN RAE BROWN, 159 Charlie 's comin', 160 The widow's daughter, 161

ROBERT LEIGHTON, 163 My muckle meal-pock, 163

JAMES HENDERSON, 165 The wanderer's deathbed, 165 The song of Time, 167 The Highland hills, 168 My native land, 169

JAMES MACLARDY, 171 The sunny days are come, my love, 172 Oh, my love was fair, 173

ANDREW JAMES SYMINGTON, 176 Day dream, 177 Fair as a star of light, 179 Nature musical, 180

ISABELLA CRAIG, 182 Our Helen, 182 Going out and coming in, 184 My Mary an' me, 185 A song of summer, 186

ROBERT DUTHIE, 187 Song of the old rover, 187 Boatman's song, 189 Lisette, 190

ALEXANDER STEPHEN WILSON, 192 Things must mend, 193 The wee blink that shines in a tear, 194 Flowers of my own loved clime, 195

JAMES MACFARLAN, 196 Isabelle, 197 Household gods, 198 Poor companions, 199

WILLIAM B. C. RIDDELL, 201 Lament of Wallace, 202 Oh! what is in this flaunting town, 203

MARGARET CRAWFORD, 205 My native land, 206 The emigrant's farewell, 207 The stream of life, 207 Day-dreams of other years, 209 Affection's faith, 211

GEORGE DONALD, JUN., 212 Our ain green shaw, 212 Eliza, 213

JOHN JEFFREY, 215 War-cry of the Roman insurrectionists, 216

PATRICK SCOTT, 218 The exile, 218

JOHN BATHURST DICKSON, 220 The American flag, 221

EVAN M'COLL, 222 The hills of the heather, 223

JAMES D. BURNS, 224 Rise, little star, 224 Though long the wanderer may depart, 225

GEORGE HENDERSON, 227 I canna leave my native land, 228

HORATIUS BONAR, D.D., 229 The meeting-place, 230 Trust not these seas again, 233

JOHN HALLIDAY, 234 The auld kirk bell, 234 The auld aik-tree, 236

JAMES DODDS, 238 Trial and death of Robert Baillie of Jervieswoode, 239

METRICAL TRANSLATIONS FROM THE MODERN GAELIC MINSTRELSY.

DUNCAN MACFARLAN, 249 The beauty of the shieling, 250

JOHN MUNRO, 251 The Highland welcome, 252

JOHN MACDONALD, JUN., 254 Mary, the fair of Glensmole, 254

EVAN M'COLL, 256 The child of promise, 256

INDEX, 257

INTRODUCTION.

As if pointing to a condition of primeval happiness, Poetry has been the first language of nations. The Lyric Muse has especially chosen the land of natural sublimity, of mountain and of flood; and such scenes she has only abandoned when the inhabitants have sacrificed their national liberties. Edward I., who massacred the Minstrels of Wales, might have spared the butchery, as their strains were likely to fall unheeded on the ears of their subjugated countrymen. The martial music of Ireland is a matter of tradition; on the first step of the invader the genius of chivalric song and melody departed from Erin. Scotland retains her independence, and those strains which are known in northern Europe as the most inspiriting and delightful, are recognised as the native minstrelsy of Caledonia. The origin of Scottish song and melody is as difficult of settlement as is the era or the genuineness of Ossian. There probably were songs and music in Scotland in ages long prior to the period of written history. Preserved and transmitted through many generations of men, stern and defiant as the mountains amidst which it was produced, the Minstrelsy of the North has, in the course of centuries, continued steadily to increase alike in aspiration of sentiment and harmony of numbers.

The spirit of the national lyre seems to have been aroused during the war of independence,[1] and the ardour of the strain has not since diminished. The metrical chronicler, Wyntoun, has preserved a stanza, lamenting the calamitous death of Alexander III., an event which proved the commencement of the national struggle.

"Quhen Alysandyr oure kyng wes dede, That Scotland led in luve and le, Away wes sons of ale and brede, Of wyne and wax, of gamyn and gle: Oure gold wes changyd into lede. Cryst, borne in-to virgynyte Succour Scotland and remede, That stad is in perplexyte."

The antiquity of these lines has been questioned, and it must be admitted that the strain is somewhat too dolorous for the times. Stung as they were by the perfidious dealings of their own nobility, and the ruthless oppression of a neighbouring monarch, the Minstrels sought every opportunity of astirring the patriotic feelings of their countrymen, while they despised the efforts of the enemy, and anticipated in enraptured paeans their defeat. At the siege of Berwick in 1296, when Edward I. began his first expedition against Scotland, the Scottish Minstrels ridiculed the attempt of the English monarch to capture the place in some lines which have been preserved. The ballad of "Gude Wallace" has been ascribed to this age; and if scarcely bearing the impress of such antiquity, it may have had its prototype in another of similar strain. Many songs, according to the elder Scottish historians, were composed and sung among the common people both in celebration of Wallace and King Robert Bruce.

The battle of Bannockburn was an event peculiarly adapted for the strains of the native lyre. The following Bardic numbers commemorating the victory have been preserved by Fabyan, the English chronicler:--

"Maydens of Englande, Sore may ye morne, For your lemmans, ye Haue lost at Bannockysburne. With heue-a-lowe, What weneth the king of England, So soon to have won Scotland? Wyth rumbylowe."

Rhymes in similar pasquinade against the south were composed on the occasion of the nuptials of the young Prince, David Bruce, with the daughter of Edward II., which were entered into as a mean of cementing the alliance between the two kingdoms.

After the oblivion of a century, the Scottish Muse experienced a revival on the return, in 1424, of James I. from his English captivity to occupy the throne. Of strong native genius, and possessed of all the learning which could be obtained at the period, this chivalric sovereign was especially distinguished for his skill in music and poetry. By Tassoni, the Italian writer, he has been designated a composer of sacred music, and the inventor of a new kind of music of a plaintive character. His poetical works which are extant--"The King's Quair," and "Peblis to the Play"--abound not only in traits of lively humour, but in singular gracefulness. To his pen "Christ's Kirk on the Green" may also be ascribed. The native minstrelsy was fostered and promoted by many of his royal successors. James III., a lover of the arts and sciences, delighted in the society of Roger, a musician; James IV. gave frequent grants to Henry the Minstrel, cherished the poet Dunbar, and himself wrote verses; James V. composed "The Gaberlunzie Man" and "The Jollie Beggar," ballads which are still sung; Queen Mary loved music, and wrote verses in French; and James VI., the last occupant of the Scottish throne, sought reputation as a writer both of Latin and English poetry. Under the patronage of the Royal House of Stewart, epic and lyric poetry flourished in Scotland. The poetical chroniclers Barbour, Henry the Minstrel, and Wyntoun, are familiar names, as are likewise the poets Henryson, Dunbar, Gavin Douglas, and Sir David Lyndsay. But the authors of the songs of the people have been forgotten. In a droll poem entitled "Cockelby's Sow," ascribed to the reign of James I., is enumerated a considerable catalogue of contemporary lyrics. In the prologue to Gavin Douglas' translation of the AEneid of Virgil, written not later than 1513, and in the celebrated "Complaynt of Scotland," published in 1549, further catalogues of the popular songs have been preserved.

The poetic gift had an influence upon the Reformation both of a favourable and an unfavourable character. By exposing the vices of the Popish clergy, Sir David Lyndsay and the Earl of Glencairn essentially tended to promote the interests of the new faith; while, on the event of the Reformation being accomplished, the degraded condition of the Muse was calculated to undo the beneficial results of the ecclesiastical change. The Church early attempted to remedy the evil by sanctioning the replacement of profane ditties with words of religious import. Of this nature the most conspicuous effort was Wedderburne's "Book of Godly and Spiritual Ballads," a work more calculated to provoke merriment than to excite any other feeling.

On the union of the Crowns a new era arose in the history of the Scottish Muse. The national spirit abated, and the poets rejoiced to write in the language of their southern neighbours. In the time of Barbour, the Scottish and English languages were almost the same; they were now widely dissimilar, and the Scottish poets, by writing English verse, required to translate their sentiments into a new tongue. Their poetry thus became more the expression of the head than the utterance of the heart. The national bards of this period, the Earl of Stirling, Sir Robert Aytoun, and Drummond of Hawthornden, have, amidst much elegant versification, left no impression on the popular mind. Other poets of that and the succeeding age imitated Buchanan, by writing in Latin verse. Though a considerable portion of our elder popular songs may be fairly ascribed to the seventeenth century, the names of only a few of the writers have been preserved. The more conspicuous song writers of this century are Francis Semple, Lord Yester, Lady Grizzel Baillie, and Lady Wardlaw.