Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

The sailor spreads the daring sail,

Through billows chafed and foaming,
For gems and gold, and jewels rare,
To please thee, lovely woman.
The soldier fights o'er crimson'd fields,
In distant climates roaming;

But lays, wi' pride, his laurels down,
Before thee, conquering woman.

The monarch leaves his golden throne,
With other men in common,
And lays aside his crown, and kneels
A subject to thee, woman.

Though all were mine e'er man possess'd,

Barbarian, Greek, or Roman,

What would earth be, frae east to west,
Without my goddess, woman?

This very clever song has failed to find public favour: the ladies, on whom it lavishes such praise, have treated it with coldness and neglect. It first appeared in Johnson's Musical Museum: the author's name is John Learmont, and he was a gardener at Dalkeith. He was one of those lesser spirits whom the success of Burns called into the world for a little space. He seems to have had some of the right stuff about him for a lyric poet. This song is very happily imagined, but the execution is unequal.

THE WAYWARD WIFE.

Alas! my son, you little know
The sorrows which from wedlock flow:
Farewell sweet hours of mirth and ease,
When you have gotten a wife to please.

Your hopes are high, your wisdom small,
Woe has not had you in its thrall;
The black cow on your foot ne'er trod,
Which makes you sing along the road.

Stay Solway's tide, rule Criffel's wind,
Turn night to day, and cure the blind;
Make apples grow on alder trees,
But never hope a wife to please.

Whate'er you love she'll mock and scorn,
Weep when you sing, sing when you mourn;
Her nimble tongue and fearless hand
Are ensigns of her high command.

When I, like you, was young and free,
I valued not the proudest she;
Like you, my boast was bold and vain,
That men alone were born to reign.

Great Hercules and Sampson too
Were stronger far than I or you,
Yet they were baffled by their dears,
And felt the distaff and the shears.

Stout gates of brass, and well-built walls,
Are proof 'gainst swords and cannon-balls;
But nought is found, by sea or land,
That can a wayward wife withstand.

This clever song was written by Miss Jenny Grahame of Dumfries, a maiden lady of lively wit, fascinating manners, and in her youth one of the most accomplished dancers in the district. She composed many other verses, but the present song alone escaped from her hand into popularity. In the Orlando Furioso of Sir John Harrington we meet with the proverbial line,

The black oxe has not trod on their toe;

and in the north of England it still continues to be applied in the manner of the song.

[ocr errors]

THE MILLER.

merry may the maid be
Who marries wi' the miller,

For foul day or fair day

He's ay bringing till her; Has ay a penny in his pouch,

Has something het for supper, Wi' beef and pease, and melting cheese, An' lumps o' yellow butter.

Behind the door stand bags o' meal,

And in the ark is plenty;

And good hard cakes his mither bakes,
And mony a sweeter dainty.

A good fat sow, a sleeky cow,
Are standing in the byre;
Whilst winking puss, wi' mealy mou,
Is playing round the fire.

Good signs are these, my mither says,
And bids me take the miller;
A miller's wife's a merry wife,
And he's ay bringing till her.
For meal or maut she'll never want
Till wood and water's scanty;
As lang as cocks and cackling hens,

She'll ay hae eggs in plenty.

In winter time, when wind and sleet
Shake ha-house, barn, and byre,
He sits aside a clean hearth stane,

Before a rousing fire;

O'er foaming ale he tells his tale;

And ay to show he's happy,

He claps his weans, and dawtes his wife
Wi' kisses warm and sappy.

The Miller was written by Sir John Clerk of Pennycuick, and first made its appearance in Yair's Charmer, in the year 1751. The commencing lines form part of a more ancient song, into the peculiar tact of which the poet has entered with much truth and felicity. The present copy varies from other versions; it has spared a verse from the narrative which the story seemed not to want, and where it departs from the earlier copies it departs for the sake of nature and truth. On the whole, it presents a very pleasing picture of rustic enjoyment.

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »