Possessed of entire amiability of disposition, and the utmost amenity of manners, John Mayne was warmly beloved among the circle of his friends.  Himself embued with a deep sense of religion, though fond of innocent humour, he preserved in all his writings a becoming respect for sound morals, and is entitled to the commendation which a biographer has awarded him, of having never committed to paper a single line “the tendency of which was not to afford innocent amusement, or to improve and increase the happiness of mankind.”  He was singularly modest and even retiring.  His eulogy has been pronounced by Allan Cunningham, who knew him well, that “a better or warmer-hearted man never existed.”  The songs, of which we have selected the more popular, abound in vigour of expression and sentiment, and are pervaded by a genuine pathos.

[21] See Note to “Lady of the Lake.”

[22] See the Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. xxi. p. 170.

LOGAN BRAES.[23]

    By Logan’s streams, that rin sae deep,
    Fu’ aft wi’ glee I’ve herded sheep,
    I’ve herded sheep, or gather’d slaes,
    Wi’ my dear lad, on Logan braes. 
    But, waes my heart! thae days are gane,
    And I wi’ grief may herd alane;
    While my dear lad maun face his faes,
    Far, far frae me and Logan braes.

    Nae mair at Logan kirk will he
    Atween the preachings meet wi’ me,
    Meet wi’ me, or, whan it’s mirk,
    Convoy me hame frae Logan kirk. 
    I weel may sing thae days are gane—­
    Frae kirk and fair I come alane,
    While my dear lad maun face his faes,
    Far, far frae me and Logan braes.

    At e’en, when hope amaist is gane,
    I daunder dowie and forlane;
    I sit alane, beneath the tree
    Where aft he kept his tryste wi’ me. 
    Oh, could I see thae days again,
    My lover skaithless, and my ain! 
    Beloved by friends, revered by faes,
    We’d live in bliss on Logan braes.

[23] This song originally consisted of two stanzas, the third stanza being subsequently added by the author.  It is adapted to a beautiful old air, “Logan Water,” incongruously connected with some indecorous stanzas.  Burns deemed Mayne’s version an elder production of the Scottish muse, and attempted to modernise the song, but his edition is decidedly inferior.  Other four stanzas have been added, by some anonymous versifier, to Mayne’s verses, which first appeared in Duncan’s “Encyclopaedia of Scottish, English, and Irish Songs,” printed at Glasgow in 1836, 2 vols. 12mo.  In those stanzas the lover is brought back to Logan braes, and consummates his union with his weeping shepherdess.  The stream of Logan takes its rise among the hills separating the parishes of Lesmahago and Muirkirk, and, after a flow of eight miles, deposits its waters into the Nethan river.

HELEN OF KIRKCONNEL.[24]