Volume Iv Part 36 (2/2)

Should royalty prefer me, Preferment none I crave, But to live a shepherd near thee, On the howes of Corrichnaive.

Would fortune crown my wishes-- The shealing of the hill, With my darling, and the rushes To couch on, were my will.

I hear, but not instruction, Though faithful lips are pleading-- I read thy eyes' perfection, On their dew of mildness feeding.

My hand is swiftly scrolling, In the courts of reverend men;[46]

But, ah! my restless soul in Is triumphing my Jean.

I fear, I fear their frowning-- But though they chased me over Where Holland's flats[47] are drowning, I 'll live and die thy lover.

FOOTNOTES:

[46] The poet waxes professional. He was session-clerk and clerk-depute of presbytery.

[47] The war was raging in Holland, under the command of the Duke of York. The bard threatens to exchange the pen for the sword.

THE La.s.sIE OF THE GLEN.

Versified from the Gaelic Original by the Author.

Beneath a hill 'mang birken bushes, By a burnie's dimplit linn, I told my love with artless blushes To the la.s.sie o' the glen.

Oh! the birken bank sae gra.s.sy, Hey! the burnie's dimplit linn; Dear to me 's the bonnie la.s.sie Living in yon rashy glen!

Lanely Ruail! thy stream sae gla.s.sy Shall be aye my fav'rite theme, For on thy banks my Highland la.s.sie First confess'd a mutual flame.

What bliss to sit, and nane to fash us, In some sweet wee bow'ry den!

Or fondly stray amang the rashes, Wi' the la.s.sie o' the glen!

And though I wander now unhappy, Far frae scenes we haunted then, I'll ne'er forget the bank sae gra.s.sy, Nor the la.s.sie o' the glen.

END OF VOL. IV.

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