Bewick and Graeme soon resolved itself into feelings of a less agreeable nature. A cup, pledged to their two sons, whose romantic friendship sheds its splendour over the story, excites a rivalry between the fathers as to the respective merits of the young men; and Graeme, stung by the taunts of Bewick, declares in drunken anger that his own son must establish his superiority in mortal combat with the son of Bewick. Returning home he announces his resolution to his son. "I hae been at Carlisle town, 666 Where Sir Robert Bewick he met me; I sent ye to the schools, and ye wadna learn ; Till I see with Bewick thou save thy head.'' The only answer to his remonstrance which the son obtains is, that if he will not fight with young Bewick he must fight with his own father. "If thou do not end this quarrel soon, There's my right hand thou shalt fight with me.' The struggle which ensues in young Graeme's mind between the duties of chivalrous friendship and the duty of filial reverence, represents a conflict of motives which have died away with the old world which gave birth to them, and reminds one of the deeply affecting “Adventure" in the Niebelungenlied, in which Rüdiger is 1 1 The thirty-sixth. distracted between the conflicting duties of hospitality to the Burgundians and of loyalty to his king. "Then Christie Graeme's to his chamber gane, 66 6 "If I should kill my billie dear, God's blessing I shall never win; "But if I kill my billie dear, It is God's will, so let it be ; The result is, therefore, that young Graeme seeks a rencounter with young Bewick, and, after two hours' fighting, the latter receives a mortal wound; upon which the former carries out his resolution by throwing himself on the point of his sword. Sir Robert Bewick, coming up and finding his son still alive, while the other combatant is dead, hastens to congratulate the survivor on having gotten the victory. But the reply is in the spirit of a morality in advance of the times in which such a tragedy was possible. "O hald your tongue, my father dear! “Gae dig a grave baith wide and deep, And a grave to hald baith him and me; Lyrics Now, This lyric is probably the finest tribute which Scottish ballad poetry offers to the spirit of friendship. of friendship, however, cannot be expected to be numerous in any literature. For a lyric--a poem intended to be sung-requires a certain intensity of emotion. the love of mere friends seldom, if it ever, rises to lyrical fervour, except under certain stimulating circumstances, such as will be noticed presently; and undoubtedly David's appreciation of Jonathan's friendship gained in emotional intensity under the stimulus of sorrow at his death; while, but for its tragic close, the brotherhood in arms of Bewick and Graeme would never have become the theme of a ballad. This is, indeed, one of the most common circumstances to call forth poetical expressions of friendship; and in the English language alone, several poets have made friends immortal by celebrated poems on their death. The Astrophel of Spenser, the Lycidas of Milton, the Adonais of Shelley, the In Memoriam of Tennyson, will readily occur to every student of English literature. But these are not lyrics, in the strictest sense of the term. There are, however, several epistles of Burns, such as those to Davie and Lapraik, which, in the passionate fervour of friendly emotion, come nearer to the spirit of a song than any expression of friendship I remember. "It's no in titles nor in rank; It's no in wealth like Lon'on bank, Nae treasures nor pleasures "But tent me, Davie, ace o' hearts! * (To say aught less wad wrang the cartes, And flattery I detest): This life has joys for you and I, And joys that riches ne'er could buy, And joys the very best. There's a' the pleasures o' the heart, Ye hae your Meg, your dearest part. It warms me, it charms me, It heats me, it beets me, And sets me a' on flame. * "All hail, ye tender feelings dear! The smile of love, the friendly tear, The sympathetic glow! I Long since, this world's thorny ways Had it not been for you. Fate still has blest me with a friend, A tie more tender still. It lightens, it brightens The tenebrific scene, To meet with, and greet with But while our lyrics do not sing of individual friends, as they do of individual lovers, friendship, under the excitement of conditions in which it is enjoyed, and with which it becomes associated, forms the theme of many a song. It may be noticed, for example, that songs of friendship, like love-songs, take us back very frequently to the scenes in which the affection has sprung up, and with which it becomes ever afterwards linked in memory; and many of the songs that sing of the spots in which earlier days have been spent, may be appropriately described as referring to the companionships of those days. Such companionships are more likely to be thought of on leaving or on returning to the scenes with which they are associated. The Farewell to Ayrshire, which was attributed in Johnson's "Museum' to Burns, but which seems to have been the work of Richard Gall, as well as Burns' own song, The gloomy Nicht is gathering fast, may be taken as reminiscences of friendships on leaving the scenes where they have been formed; Miss Blamire's touching song, The Nabob, |