Volume Iii Part 23 (1/2)

Join all in chorus, jolly boys, And let punch and tears be shed, For this prince of good old fellows That, alack-a-day! is dead; For this prince of worthy fellows-- And a pretty man also-- That has left the Saltmarket In sorrow, grief, and woe!

For it ne'er shall see the like of Captain Paton no mo'e!

[44] This humorous elegy was first published in _Blackwood's Magazine_ for September 1819. Captain Paton was a well-known character in Glasgow.

The son of Dr David Paton, a physician in that city, he obtained a commission in a regiment raised in Scotland for the Dutch service. He afterwards resided with his two maiden sisters, and an old servant Nelly, in a tenement opposite the Old Exchange at the Cross, which had been left him by his father. The following graphic account of the Captain, we transcribe from Dr Strang's interesting work, ”Glasgow and its Clubs,” recently published:--”Every suns.h.i.+ne day, and sometimes even amid shower and storm, about the close of the past and the commencement of the present century, was the worthy Captain in the Dutch service seen parading the _plainstanes_, opposite his own residence in the Trongate, donned in a suit of snuff-coloured brown or 'genty drab,' his long spare limbs encased in blue striped stockings, with shoes and buckles, and sporting ruffles of the finest cambric at his wrists, while adown his back hung a long queue, and on his head was perched a small three-c.o.c.ked hat, which, with a _politesse tout a fait Francais_, he invariably took off when saluting a friend. Captain Paton, while a denizen of the camp, had studied well the n.o.ble art of fence, and was looked upon as a most accomplished swordsman, which might easily be discovered from his happy but threatening manner of holding his cane, when sallying from his own domicile towards the coffee-room, which he usually entered about two o'clock, to study the news of the day in the pages of the _Courier_. The gallant Captain frequently indulged, like Oth.e.l.lo, in speaking--

'Of moving incidents by flood and field, Of hair-breadth 'scapes i' the imminent deadly breach.'

And of his own brave doings on the tented field, 'at Minden and at Dettingen,' particularly when seated round a bowl of his favourite cold punch, made with limes from his own estate in Trinidad, and with water newly drawn from the Westport well.” It remains to be added, that this ”prince of worthy fellows” died in July 1807, at the age of sixty-eight.

CANADIAN BOAT-SONG.[45]

_From the Gaelic._

Listen to me, as when ye heard our father Sing, long ago, the song of other sh.o.r.es; Listen to me, and then in chorus gather All your deep voices, as ye pull your oars: Fair these broad meads--these h.o.a.ry woods are grand; But we are exiles from our fathers' land!

From the lone s.h.i.+eling of the misty island Mountains divide us, and the waste of seas; Yet still the blood is strong, the heart is Highland, And we in dreams behold the Hebrides.

We ne'er shall tread the fancy-haunted valley, Where, 'tween the dark hills, creeps the small clear stream, In arms around the patriach-banner rally, Nor see the moon on royal tombstones gleam.

Come, foreign rage!--let discord burst in slaughter!

Oh then for clansman true, and stern claymore!

The hearts that would have given their blood like water Beat heavily beyond the Atlantic roar!

Fair these broad meads--these h.o.a.ry woods are grand; But we are exiles from our fathers' land!

[45] This simple and interesting lyric appears in No. XLVI. of the ”Noctes Ambrosianae,” and has, we believe, on sufficient grounds, been attributed to Lockhart.

THOMAS MATHERS.

Thomas Mathers, the fisherman poet, was born at St Monance, Fifes.h.i.+re, in 1794. Receiving an education at school confined to the simplest branches, he chose the seafaring life, and connected himself with the merchant service. At Venice, he had a casual rencounter with Lord Byron,--a circ.u.mstance which he was in the habit of narrating with enthusiasm. Leaving the merchant service, he married, and became a fisherman and pilot, fixing his residence in his native village. His future life was a career of incessant toil and frequent penury, much alleviated, however, by the invocation of the muse. He contributed verses for a series of years to several of the public journals; and his compositions gained him a wide circle of admirers. He long cherished the ambition of publis.h.i.+ng a volume of poems; and the desire at length was gratified through the subscriptions of his friends. In 1851, he printed a duodecimo volume, ent.i.tled, ”Musings in Verse, by Sea and Sh.o.r.e,”

which, however, had only been put into shape when the author was called to his rest. He died of a short illness, at St Monance, on the 25th September 1851, leaving a widow and several young children. His poetry is chiefly remarkable for depth of feeling. Of his powers as a song-writer, the following lyric, ent.i.tled ”Early Love,” is a favourable specimen.

EARLY LOVE.

There 's nae love like early love, Sae lasting an' sae leal; It wins upon the youthfu' heart, An' sets its magic seal.

The die that 's cast in early life, Is nae vain airy dream; But makes thee still in after years The subject of my theme.