WHAT CAN A YOUNG LASSIE DO. What can a young lassie, Do wi' an auld man? He's always compleenin The weary day lang: O, dreary's the night He hums and he hankers, I met wi' an auld man! My auld auntie Katie To follow her plan; I'll cross him, and wrack him, And then his auld brass Will buy me a new pan. The name of an old song suggested these happy verses to Burns: they were written for Johnson's Museum. The original lyric made the blooming heroine threaten her ancient wooer with a number of personal penalties if he succeeded in making her his wife; but I think the more delicate heroine of Burns took a surer way to send the gray hairs of her old lover in sorrow to the grave. Her system seems certain and effectual-a regular, organised plan of domestic annoyance. This counsel comes from the lips of an aunt-one of those calculating dames whom lyric poets employ in giving good or evil advice according as the demon of worldly interest prevails. Some sage lady, of "wrinkled eld,” perhaps, made the match, which another seeks to dissolve by a process as sure as a parliamentary divorce. GLOOMY WINTER'S NOW AWA'. Gloomy winter's now awa', Saft the westlin breezes blaw: My young, my artless dearie-o. Midst joys that never wearie-o. Tow'ring o'er the Newton woods, Adorn the banks sae brierie-o. Round the sylvan fairy nooks, Feath'ry brekans fringe the rocks, 'Neath the brae the burnie jouks, And ilka thing is cheerie-o. Trees may bud, and birds may sing, Flow'rs may bloom, and verdure spring, Joy to me they canna bring, Unless wi' thee, my dearie-o. The admirers of Tannahill consider "Gloomy Winter" to be one of his most successful songs. The poet has indeed given us a beautiful landscape-he has strewn the stream of his verse with the natural flowers of the season-the name of every place on which he glances his eye mingles as naturally with the love of his mistress as the hills mingle with the vales, or the song of the thrush with the sound of the running water; but he nearly loses his love in the exuberance of landscape. THE LEA-RIG. When o'er the hill the eastern star In mirkest glen, at midnight hour, Although the night were ne'er sae wild, And I were ne'er sae wearie-o, I'd meet thee on the lea-rig, My ain kind dearie-o. The hunter lo'es the morning sun, It makes my heart sae cheerie-o, My ain kind dearie-o. The " Lea-Rig" is the first song which Burns wrote for the work of George Thomson, and Dr. Currie supposes it to have been in some measure suggested to the poet's fancy by the very clever old song of the " Ploughman." There is a slight resemblance in words, but certainly none in sentiment. The oral versions of that old song are very variable: When my ploughman comes hame at e'en, He's often wet and weary: Cast off the wet, put on the dry, And gae to bed, my dearie. This verse is very inaccurate; the song to which it belongs is in this collection. Burns was dissatisfied with his own success, and observes, with reference to the inequalities of the old songs, "But who shall rise up and say, go to, I will make a better? I could make nothing more of the "Lea-rig" than the following, which, heaven knows! is poor enough." |