THE BONIE LAD THAT'S FAR AWA.

O How can I be blythe and glad,
Or how can I gang brisk and braw,
When the bonie lad that I lo❜e best
Is o'er the hills and far awa?

Its no the frosty winter wind,
Its no the driving drift and snaw;
But ay the tear comes in my e'e,
To think on him that's far awa.

My father pat me frae his door,
My friends they hae disown'd me a',
But I hae ane will tak my part,
The bonie lad that's far awa.

A pair o' gloves he gave to me,

And silken snoods* he gave me twa; And I will wear them for his sake,

The bonie lad that's far awa.

* Ribands for binding the hair.

The

The weary winter soon will pass,

And spring will cleed the birken-shaw; And my sweet babie will be born,

And he'll come hame that's far awa.*

* I have heard the country girls, in the Merse and Teviotdale, sing a song, the first stanza of which greatly resembles the opening of this.

O how can I be blythe or glad
Or in my mind contented be,
When he's far aff that I love best,

And banish'd frae my company.

E.

SONG

2 F

SONG.*

OUT over the Forth I look to the north,

But what is the north and its Highlands to me? The south nor the east gie ease to my breast, The far foreign land, or the wild rolling sea.

But I look to the west, when I gae to rest, slumbers may That happy my dreams and

be;

my

For far in the west lives he I lo'e best,

The lad that is dear to my babie and me.

LINES ON A PLOUGHMAN.

As I was a wand'ring ae morning in spring,
I heard a young Ploughman sae sweetly to sing,
And as he was singin' thir words he did say,
There's nae life like the Ploughman in the
month o' sweet May.-

The

* Of this exquisite ballad the last verse only is printed in Dr. Currie's Edition. He did not know that the opening stanza existed.

E.

The lav'rock in the morning she'll rise frae her

nest,

And mount to the air wi' the dew on her breast, And wi' the merry Ploughman she'll whistle and sing,

And at night she'll return to her nest back again.

I'LL

It is pleasing to mark those touches of sympathy which shew the sons of genius to be of one kindred.—In the following passage from the poem of his countryman, the same figure is illustrated with characteristic simplicity; and never were the tender and the sublime of poetry more happily united, nor a more affectionate tribute paid to the memory of Burns.

"Thou, simple bird,

"Of all the vocal quire, dwell'st in a home
"The humblest; yet thy morning song ascends
"Nearest to Heaven;-sweet emblem of his song,t
"Who sung thee wakening by the daisy's side!"

Grahame's Birds of Scotland, vol. ii. p. iv.

+ Burns.

I'LL AY CA' IN BY YON TOWN.

I'LL ay ca' in by yon town,

And by yon garden green, again;

I'll ay ca' in by yon town,

And see my bonie Jean again.

There's nane sall ken, there's nane sall guess, What brings me back the gate again,

But she my fairest faithfu' lass,

And stownlins* we sall meet again.

She'll wander by the aiken tree,
When trystin-timet draws near again;
And when her lovely form I see,
O haith, she's doubly dear again!

WHISTLE

Stownlins-By stealth.

+ Trystin-time-The time of appointment.