Sumer is icumen in, Lhude sing Cuccu; Groweth sed, and bloweth med, And springeth the wode nu; Lows after calue cu, Bulluc stertes, bucke vertes, Ritson imagines it at least as old as 1250, while Sir John Hawkins attributes it to the middle of the fifteenth century. The present song is the composition of the Rev. John Logan, and would do honour to any poet. ALONE BY THE LIGHT OF THE MOON. The day is departed, and round from the cloud Maria, appear! now the season so sweet I cannot when present unfold what I feel: Her name to the shepherds I never reveal, Does e'er a kind thought run on me as you rove Your name from the shepherds whenever I hear My bosom is all in a glow; Your voice, when it vibrates so sweet through mine ear, Ye powers of the sky, will your bounty divine Shall heart spring to heart, and Maria be mine, This very sweet and elegant song is the composition of the Rev. John Logan. The association of his love with the sweetness of the season, the voice of the nightingale, and the light of the moon, is very beautiful. The nocturnal interview, to which the heroine is invited, has had charms for the sons and daughters of men in all ages. THE BRAES OF YARROW. Thy braes were bonnie, Yarrow stream, Thou art to me a stream of sorrow; Behold my love, the flower of Yarrow! He promis'd me a milk-white steed, He promis'd me a little page, To squire me to his father's towers : He promis'd me a wedding-ring, The wedding-day was fix'd to-morrow ;Now he is wedded to his grave, Alas! his watery grave, in Yarrow ! Sweet were his words when last we met, It vanish'd with a shriek of sorrow! Thrice did the water-wraith ascend, And gave a doleful groan through Yarrow. His mother from the window look'd, With all the longing of a mother; His little sister weeping walk'd The green-wood path to meet her brother: They sought him east, they sought him west, They sought him all the forest thorough; They only saw the cloud of night, They only heard the roar of Yarrow! No longer from thy window look, Thou hast no son, thou tender mother! No longer walk, thou lovely maid, Alas! thou hast no more a brother! No longer seek him east or west, And search no more the forest thorough; For, wandering in the night so dark, He fell a lifeless corpse in Yarrow. The tear shall never leave my cheek, No other youth shall be my marrow; I'll seek thy body in the stream, And then with thee I'll sleep in Yarrow. The tear did never leave her cheek, No other youth became her marrow; She found his body in the stream, And now with him she sleeps in Yarrow. The old verses of Yarrow Braes seem to have been known to Logan when he wrote this song. Though his song is very touching and tender, it fails in present ing us with those striking natural images of female distress which affect us in the old and ruder strain. The story might be truth to the ancient bard, but it was fiction to Logan; and we cannot help feeling the difference. ROY'S WIFE OF ALDIVALLOCH. Roy's wife of Aldivalloch ! Roy's wife of Aldivalloch! Wat ye how she cheated me As I came o'er the braes of Balloch? Roy's wife of Aldivalloch! Roy's wife of Aldivalloch! Wat ye how she cheated me As I came o'er the braes of Balloch? She was a kind and cantie queen, Weel could she dance the highland walloch; How happy I, had she been mine, Or I'd been Roy of Aldivalloch! Roy's wife of Aldivalloch! |