Now echo sleeps within the gloomy grot Wi' Willie I hae waunnert here When light was faded frae the sky; When a' that held my heart was nigh; O! when in secret I review That wretchedness for life is mine. To me the vernal tints of spring I joyless hear the linnets sing, For hope is banish'd frae my heart; Whispers a warning voice in my decay, Come, join thy Willic, virgin, come away. CCI WARILY, STEADILY. The storm sweeps wildly through the sky, Round the light'ning wings its flight, No fear should shake the seaman's soul: Then warily, steadily, helmsman, steer, And we yet the headland cape may clear. The storm is o'er, the sky serene, Yet many a danger lurks unseen, 'Tis done at length we safely moor, CCII. MARY CAMPBELL †. AIR-Days o' Langsyne. The primrose may blaw in the dawn o' the spring, That these sweets canna bring me my Mary Campbell. + This Song was composed on learning that Mary Campbell was the name of Burns'" Highland Mary," and although that immortal author has him. self pourtrayed in characters the most touching, his grief for the loss of his Mary, in the pathetic Songs of "The Highland lassie, O." "Mary in Heaven," and others, so as to supersede the necessity of any other commemora tive composition on the subject, yet it must be allowed that the present effusion is not altogether superfluous nor unimpressive. 66 My Highland lassie (says the Ayrshire Bard) was a warm-hearted, charming young creature as ever blessed a man with generous love. After a pretty long tract of the те I hae seen the grey linnet aft robb'd o' its young, But never till now was my poor heart so wae, Tho' the wild warbling music sounds sweet through the dell, Still I sigh in deep woe for my Mary Campbell. I linger a' lanely by Ayr's winding stream, Where my dear "Highland Mary" adorn'd the sweet scene, Her e'e was mair bright than yon star in the sky, most ardent reciprocal attachment, we met, by appointment, on the second Sunday of May, in a sequestred spot by the banks of Ayr, where we spent the day in taking a farewell, before she should embark for the West Highlands, to arrange matters among her friends for our projected change in life.” This adieu was performed with all those simple and striking ceremonials, which rustic sentiment has devised to prolong tender emotions, and to inspire awe. The lovers stood on cach side of a small purling brook; they laved their hands in its limpid stream, and holding a bible between them, pronounced their vows to be faithful to each other t. "At the close of Au tumn following, she crossed the sea to meet me at Greenock, where she had scarce landed, when she was seized with a malignant fever, which hurried my dear girl to the grave in a few days, before I could even hear of her illness." + Cromek. CCIII. IN VAIN THOU CALL'ST. 2 In vain thou call'st for a mirthful smile, Morna, to glance o'er my cheek of woe, When the scorn that sits in thine eye the while, Bids the dew of my sorrows flow. Oh! fly with me swift o'er moss and brake; If e'er my soul, in a playful hour, Seem'd as entranc'd by another's wile, The softest smile I've ador'd in you. |