Falsest of womankind, canst thou declare,
All thy fond plighted vows-fleeting as air!
To thy new lover hie,

Laugh o'er thy perjury,
Then in thy bosom try
What peace

is there!

[This "sublime song," as Mr. Cunningham justly calls it, relates, Burns tells us, to "an unfortunate part" of his friend Alexander Cunningham's story. The concluding verse when sung with great feeling, is awfully grand.]

GALLA WATER.

ROBERT BURNS.

There's braw, braw lads on Yarrow braes,
That wander thro' the blooming heather;
But Yarrow braes, nor Ettrick shaws,
Can match the lads o' Galla water.

But there is ane, a secret ane,

Aboon them a' I loe him better;
And I'll be his, and he'll be mine,
The bonnie lad o' Galla water.

Although his daddie was nae laird,

And tho' I hae nae meikle tocher;
Yet rich in kindest, truest love,

We'll tent our flocks by Galla water.

SONGS OF SCOTLAND.

It ne'er was wealth, it ne'er was wealth,
That coft contentment, peace, or pleasure;
The bands and bliss o' mutual love,

O that's the chiefest warld's treasure!

[The above song Burns wrote for George Thomson's Collection in 1793. The old words as printed by Herd and others, are

Braw, braw lads of Galla Water,

O braw lads of Galla water,

These verses appear to be words of two different songs, 'Galla Water,' and The Lassie lost her Silken Snood.'

Mr. Robert Chambers has printed other copies of this old song from recitation. See "Scottish Songs," vol. ii. p. 327, p. 665.]

WANDERING WILLIE.

ROBERT BURNS.

Here awa, there awa, wandering Willie,
Now tired with wandering,

Here awa, there awa, haud awa hame;

ae

Come to my bosom, my ain only dearie,

[And] Tell me thou bring'st me my Willie the same.

Loud blew the cauld winter winds

Winter winds blew loud and cauld at our parting,

It was na the blast brought the tear,

Fears for my Willie brought tears in my e'e;

Now welcome the simmer,

Welcome now simmer, and welcome my Willie,
The simmer to nature, my Willie to me.

Ye hurricanes rest,

Rest, ye

wild storms, in the cave o' your slumbers;

wild horrors

[0] How your dread howling a lover alarms!

Awaken,

row

Wauken, ye breezes, blow gently, ye billows,
And waft my dear laddie ance mair to my arms.

But if he's forgotten his faithfullest

But oh, if he's faithless, and mindna his Nannie,

O still flow

Flow still between us, thou wide-roaring main ; May I never see it, may I never trow it,

But, dying, believe that my Willie's my ain.

["I leave it to you, my dear Sir, to determine whether the above, or the old "Thro' the Lang Muir," be the best."-BURNS. Letter to Thomson.

These are the verses which Burns alludes to :

Here awa' there awa' here awa' Willie,

Here awa, there awa, here awa' hame;

Lang have I sought thee, dear I have bought thee,
Now I have gotten my Willie again.

Thro' the lang muir I have followed my Willie,
Thro' the lang muir I have followed him hame,
Whatever betide us, nought shall divide us ;
Love now rewards all my sorrow and pain.
Here awa', there awa', here awa' Willie,
Here awa', there awa' here awa' hame,
Come love believe me, nothing can grieve me,
Ilka thing pleases while Willie's at hame.

Herd, ii. 140.

The top line in the above copy shews Burns' original reading, and the under line the alterations made through the suggestions of Mr. Thomson and Mr. Erskine. The emendations are of little value.]

BRUCE TO HIS MEN AT BANNOCKBURN.

ROBERT BURNS.

Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled,

Scots, wham Bruce has aften led;
Welcome to your gory bed,

Or to victorie !

Now's the day, and now's the hour,
See the front o' battle lour:
See approach proud Edward's pow'r-
Chains and slaverie!

Wha will be a traitor-knave?

Wha can fill a coward's grave?

Wha sae base as be a slave?

Let him turn and flee !

Wha for Scotland's king and law
Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
Freeman stand or freeman fa'?
Let him follow me!

By oppression's woes and pains!
By our sons in servile chains!
We will drain our dearest veins,
But they shall be free!

Lay the proud usurpers low!
Tyrants fall in every foe!
Liberty's in every blow!—
Let us do or die!

[It is stated by Dr. Currie, that Burns in the month of July 1793, accompanied by Mr. Syme of Ryedale, made a tour of two or three days length through various parts of Galloway, visiting whatever was romantic in scenery, or had gained a celebrity through song. On the 28th July, in passing over the Wilds of Kenmore, they were caught by a storm; and Syme relates of his fellow traveller, that he heeded not the tempest's roar, but was rapt in meditation, charging the English army along with Bruce at Bannockburn, and framing the noble lyric, "Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled," which a day or two after he gave him a copy of. So far Mr. Syme.

In September 1793, Burns enclosed in a letter to George Thomson, a copy of Bruce's Address to his Troops on that memorable ñeld, which he had composed in his "yesternight's evening walk during a pitch of enthusiasm on liberty and independence."

Dr. Currie being the first to publish the Correspondence of Burns, took a few liberties in the alteration of phrases, wherever he wrote too freely, ungrammatically, or not clear. To leave no doubt of the truth of Syme's curious story, Currie altered "yesternight's evening walk," to the dubious expression "solitary wanderings," and so the correction has run through every edition of Burns' Works.

It is difficult to reconcile Syme's statement and Burns' letter. It seems probable, that the poet first conceived this grand war ode in the month of July, as Syme has stated, but did not really give life to it,