The Poetical Works of Robert Anderson: Author of "Cumberland Ballads", &c, Volume 1 |
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Common terms and phrases
alake auld Bard Belfast bewitchin Black Baron blest bliss bosom breast CANTO Carlisle Carlyle Carnmoney castle cheek Cottars cou'd CRITO Cumberland Cumbrian dear deed delight e'er EPISTLE Ev'n fain fair Ellinor fair Margaret fairest fame flow'r frae giv'n grey cock Grey Graeme happy happy day harp Harper hath hear heart Heav'n hinny hope hour joys KIRKLINTON Lady Jean land and main life's maid mankind Margaret's Bower merry Methinks mickle mind monie Muse Nae mair ne'er night nought numbers o'er pain pale peace pleasure pow'r proud quoth ROBERT ANDERSON ROBERT CARLYLE rustic scene scorn Sebergham sigh smile song soon soothe sorrow suin sunk sweet tear thee THOMAS SANDERSON thou thrice thro trow vale virtuous warl weel ween wild Willie woods wou'd wound wretch young Dacre youth
Popular passages
Page liv - Hence, loathed Melancholy, Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born In Stygian cave forlorn 'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights unholy ! Find out some uncouth cell, Where brooding Darkness spreads his jealous wings...
Page 221 - And sweetly sleep, releas'd from woe Within the tomb. My cradle was the couch of Care, And Sorrow rock'd me in it ; Fate seem'd her saddest robe to wear, On the first day that saw me there, And darkly shadow'd with despair My earliest minute. E'en then the griefs I now possess, As natal boons were given ; And the fair form of Happiness, Which hover'd round, intent to bless, Scar'd by the phantoms of distress...
Page xlv - Young man, attend to the voice of one who has possessed a certain degree of fame in the world, and who will shortly appear before his Maker : read the Bible every day of your life.
Page lix - Scotch presbyterian minister, when holding forth against this custom in one of his sermons at Kelso. " Sirs, do you know what the hagman signifies ? It is the devil to be in the house ; that is the meaning of its Hebrew original."* SONNET OH THE NEW YEAR.
Page 191 - Friendship ! mysterious cement of the soul ! Sweet'ner of life ! and solder of society ! I owe thee much.
Page xxiv - astonishment on the little competitions and debates of mankind. " When I read the several dates of the tombs, of some that died " yesterday, and some six hundred years ago, I consider .that " great day when we shall all of us be cotemporaries, and make
Page lvii - ... at which a pecuniary collection is made among the company for the purpose of setting the wedded pair forward in the world. It is always attended with music and dancing, and the fiddler, when the contributions begin; takes care to remind the assembly of their duties by notes imitative of the following couplet : ' Come, my friends, and freely offer ; Here's the bride who has no tocher (dowry).
Page lix - Greek words, agia mene, signifying the holy month. The custom is not unknown in Scotland. Some years ago, one of her ministers endeavoured to abolish it by censuring it from the pulpit :
Page lxi - Ballads display uncommon merit, and may be considered as the most perfect specimens of pastoral writing that have yet appeared. The author has taken a wider view of rural life than any of his predecessors, and has been more happy in describing the peculiar cast of thought and expression by which individual manners are distinguished. In delineating the characters of his peasants he has closely adhered to nature and truth, never raising them above their condition in life by too much refinement, and...