Her face wad fyle the Logan Water

Sic a wife as Willie had,

I wadna gie a button for her.

THE SMILING SPRING.

TUNE- The Bonny Bell.

THE smiling Spring comes in rejoicing,
And surly Winter grimly flies;

Now crystal clear are the falling waters,
And bonny blue are the sunny skies.
Fresh

o'er the mountains breaks forth the
morning,

The evening gilds the ocean's swell; All creatures joy in the sun's returning, And I rejoice in my bonny Bell.

The flowery Spring leads sunny Summer,
And yellow Autumn presses near;
Then in his turn comes gloomy Winter,
Till smiling Spring again appear.
Thus seasons dancing, life advancing,
Old Time and Nature their changes tell,

But never ranging, still unchanging,
I adore my bonny Bell.

AT. 34.]

THE GALLANT WEAVER.

25

THE GALLANT WEAVER.

TUNE The Weaver's March.

WHERE Cart rins rowin' to the sea,
By monie a flower and spreading tree,
There lives a lad, the lad for me,
He is a gallant weaver.

OI had wooers aucht or nine,

rolling

They gied me rings and ribbons fine;
And I was feared my heart would tine, be lost
And I gied it to the weaver.

My daddie signed my tocher-band, dowry-bond
To gie the lad that has the land;

But to my heart I'll add my hand,
And gie it to the weaver.

While birds rejoice in leafy bowers;
While bees delight in opening flowers;

While corn grows green in simmer showers,

I'll love my gallant weaver.

26

SHE'S FAIR AND FAUSE.

[1792.

SHE'S FAIR AND FAUSE.

TUNE- She's Fair and Fause.

SHE'S fair and fause that causes my smart, false I lo'ed her meikle and lang;

She's broken her vow, she's broken my heart, And I may e'en gae hang.

A coof cam in wi' routh o' gear, fool
And I hae tint my dearest dear;
But woman is but warld's gear,
Sae let the bonny lass gang.

Whae'er ye be that woman love,

To this be never blind :

Nae ferlie 'tis though fickle she prove,

A woman has❜t by kind.

O woman, lovely woman fair!

An angel form's fa'n to thy share;

wonder

nature

'Twad been owre meikle to gien thee mair, have given I mean an angel mind.1

1 In a song, entitled The Address, which appears in The Lark (2 vols., 1765), there is a passage which perhaps suggested the thought in the fourth stanza of the above song:

'Twixt pleasing hope and painful fear
True love divided lies;

ET. 34.] MY WIFE'S A WINSOME WEE THING. 27

MY WIFE'S A WINSOME WEE THING.

"In the air My Wife's a Wanton Wee Thing, if a few lines smooth and pretty can be adapted to it, it is all you can expect. The following were made extempore to it; and though, on further study, I might give you something more profound, yet it might not suit the light-horse gallop of the air so well as this random clink." Burns to Mr. Thomson, Nov. 8, 1792.

SHE is a winsome wee thing,
She is a handsome wee thing,
She is a bonny wee thing,1
This sweet wee wife o' mine.

With artless look and soul sincere,
Above all mean disguise.

For Celia thus my heart has moved,
Accept it, lovely fair;

I've liked before, but never loved,
Then let me not despair.

My fate before your feet I lay,
Sentence your willing slave;
Remember that though tyrants slay,
Yet heavenly powers save.

To bless is Heaven's peculiar grace,
Let me a blessing find;

And since you wear an angel's face,

O show an angel's mind!

1 Manuscript -"She is a winsome wee thing." The alter

ation was by Mr. Thomson.

28

HIGHLAND MARY.

[1792.

I never saw a fairer,

I never lo'ed a dearer,

And niest my heart I'll wear her,

For fear my jewel tine.

She is a winsome wee thing,
She is a handsome wee thing,
She is a bonny wee thing,

This sweet wee wife o' mine.

be lost

The warld's wrack we share o't, vexation

The warsle and the care o't;

Wi' her I'll blithely bear it,

And think my lot divine.

wrestle

HIGHLAND MARY.

TUNE-Katharine Ogie.

"The subject of the song is one of the most interesting passages of my youthful days, and I own that I should be much flattered to see the verses set to an air which would insure celebrity." - Burns to Mr. Thomson, 14th Nov. 1792.

YE banks, and braes, and streams around
The castle o' Montgomery,