While in this weary warld of wae This wilderness sae drearie-o, What makes me blithe, and keeps me sae! 'Tis thee, my kind dearie-o. [Fergusson wrote the two first verses of this song, the others of equal merit are from the pen of a late bookseller in Glasgow, Mr William Reid. The "Lea Rig" of Burns may escape in a note: When o'er the hill the eastern star, Down by the burn, where scented birks My ain kind dearie O. In mirkest glen, at midnight hour, Although the night were ne'er sae wild, And I were ne'er sae wearie O, The hunter lo'es the morning sun, To rouse the mountain deer, my jo; It maks my heart sae cheery O as also may the old words preserved by Burns. I'll rowe thee o'er the lea rig My ain kind dearie, O, I'll rowe the o'er the lea-rig Altho' the night were ne'er sae wat And I were ne'er sae weary, O, MARY'S DREAM. JOHN LOWE. Died 1798. The moon had climb'd the highest hill Her thoughts on Sandy far at sea; She from her pillow gently rais'd Her head, to ask who there might be; It lies beneath a stormy sea; Three stormy nights and stormy days VOL. II. O maiden dear, thyself prepare, We soon shall meet upon that shore "Sweet Mary, weep no more for me!" [John I owe was the son of a gardener at Kenmure Castle in Galloway; bred up for the church, he was employed as a tutor in a gentleman's family in the same part of the country, Macghie, of Airds, on the River Dee, where he fell in love with one of that gentleman's daughters, whose sister about the same time lost her lover, a Mr. Alexander Miller at sea, which gave occasion to Lowe's writing the above pathetic verses. The song originally commenced thus: Pale Cynthia just had reached the hill, which some person very judiciously altered as it now stands.] STREPHON AND LYDIA. WILLIAM WALLACE. All lonely on the sultry beach No hand the cordial draught to reach, Far distant from the mournful scene Thy parents sit at ease, Thy Lydia rifles all the plain, And all the spring, to please. ["The following I had from Dr. Blacklock. The Strephon and Lydia mentioned in the song, were perhaps the loveliest couple of their time. The gentleman was commonly known by the name of Beau Gibson. The lady was the gentle Jean mentioned somewhere in Hamilton of Bangour's Poems. Having frequently met at public places, they had formed a reciprocal attachment, which their friends thought dangerous, as their resources were by no means adequate to their tastes and habits of life. To elude the bad consequences of such a connexion, Strephon was sent abroad with a commission, and perished in Admiral Vernon's expedition to Carthagena. The author of the song was William Wallace, Esq. of Cairnhill in Ayrshire."-BURNS.] THE BOATIE ROWS. MR. EWEN OF ABERDEEN, O weel may the boatie row, And better may she speed! That wins the bairns' bread. That wishes her to speed. I cuist my line in Largo bay, And fishes I catch'd nine; 'Twas three to boil, and three to fry, And three to bait the line. The boatie rows, the boatie rows, The boatie rows indeed; And happy be the lot of a O weel may the boatie row And cleads us a' frae head to feet, And happy be the lot of a' That wish the boatie speed. When Jamie vow'd he would be mine He swore we'd never part. When love bears up the creel. My kurch I put upon my head, I trow my heart was douf an' wae And lucky be her part; And lightsome be the lassie's care That yields an honest heart. |