"There came a wind out of the north, A sharp wind and a snell, And a dead sleep came over me, And frae my horse I fell ; "The Queen o' Fairies keppit me, "But we that live in Fairy-land 66 And take to it again. 'We sleep in rose-buds, soft and sweet, We revel in the stream, We wanton lightly on the wind, Or glide on a sun-beam. "And I would never tire, Janet, In fairy-land to dwell; But aye, at ilka seven years, They pay the teind to hell; But I'm sae fat and fair o' flesh, "This night is Hallowe'en, Janet, And gin ye dare your true love win, "The night it is good Hallowe'en, And she that wad her true love win, "And ye maun gae to the Miles Cross, Between twal hours and one, Tak' haly water in your hand, "And how shall I thee ken, Tamlane? "The first company that passes by, "For I ride on the milk-white steed, Wi' a gold star in my crown; Because I was a christen'd knight, They gie me that renown. "First let pass the black, Janet, And syne let pass the brown, But grip ye to the milk-white steed, 46 My right hand will be gloved, Janet, My left hand will be bare ; And these the tokens I gie thee, "They'll turn me in your arms, Janet, An adder and a snake; But haud me fast, let me not pass, Gin ye would be my maik. "They'll turn me in your arms, Janet, An adder and an ask; They'll turn me in your arms, Janet, 66 They'll turn me in your arms, Janet, A red-hot gad o' airn; But haud me fast, let me not pass, "First dip me in a stand o' milk, "They'll shape me in your arms, Janet, A dove, but and a swan : And last they'll shape me in your arms A mother-naked man : Cast your green mantle over me— Gloomy, gloomy was the night, And eerie was the way, As fair Janet, in her green mantle, About the dead hour o' the night, There's haly water in her hand, Fair Janet stood with mind unmoved, And louder, louder waxed the sound And first gaed by the black, black steed, She pu'd him frae the milk-white steed, They shaped him in fair Janet's arms They shaped him in her arms at last A mother-naked man, She cuist her mantle over him, And sae her true love wan. Up then spak' the Queen o' Fairies, Out o' a bush o' broom: "She that has borrow'd young Tamlane, Has gotten a stately groom!" Up then spak' the Queen o' Fairies, "She's ta'en away the bonniest knight In a' my companie ! "But had I kenn'd, Tamlane," she says, "A lady wad borrow thee, I wad hae ta'en out thy twa grey een, "Had I but kenn'd, Tamlane," she says, Before ye came frae hame, I wad tane out yer heart o' flesh, Put in a heart o' stane. "Had I but had the wit yestreen, Will and Jean. 99 66 "Scotland's Scaith or the History of Will and Jean," was written by Hector Macneill, a lyric poet of fine taste and fancy, the author of "Jeanie's Black E'e," "Come under my Plaidie,' My Boy Tammy," and other popular songs and poems. He was born at Rosebank, on the Esk, near Roslin, on the 22nd of October, 1746, adopted a commercial profession, and spent about twenty-five years of his life in the West Indies. On his return to his native land, about 1788, he took up his residence in Stirling, and entered upon a literary career. He wrote several novels, and was editor for a time of the Scots Magazine. The latter years of his life were spent in Edinburgh, where he died on the 15th of March, 1818, in his 72nd year. Macneill's reputation rests chiefly on his lyrical history of "Will and Jean," an ower true tale. Resembling Wilson's ballad of "Watty and Meg" in subject, its popularity was also somewhat similar, 10,000 copies of “Will and Jean having been sold in a single month. The poem, were it more widely diffused, would be popular still. PART I. WHA was ance like Willie Gairlace- دو |