The Modern Scottish Minstrel , Volume I. eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 366 pages of information about The Modern Scottish Minstrel , Volume I..

The Modern Scottish Minstrel , Volume I. eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 366 pages of information about The Modern Scottish Minstrel , Volume I..

[44] Robertson of Struan, cousin-german of Lady Nairn’s mother, and a conspicuous Jacobite chief, composed many fugitive verses for the amusement of his friends; and a collection of them, said to have been surreptitiously obtained from a servant, was published, without a date, under the following title:—­“Poems on various Subjects and Occasions, by the Honourable Alexander Robertson of Struan, Esq.—­mostly taken from his own original Manuscripts.”  Edinburgh, 8vo.

[45] Writing to one of her correspondents, in November 1840, Lady Nairn thus remarks—­“I sometimes say to myself, ‘This is no me,’ so greatly have my feelings and trains of thought changed since ‘auld lang syne;’ and, though I am made to know assuredly that all is well, I scarcely dare to allow my mind to settle on the past.”

[46] A daughter of Baron Hume was one of the ladies who induced Lady Nairn to become a contributor to “The Scottish Minstrel.”  Many of the songs were sent to the Editor through the medium of Miss Hume.  She thus expresses herself in a letter to a friend:—­“My father’s admiration of ‘The Land o’ the Leal’ was such, that he said no woman but Miss Ferrier was capable of writing it.  And when I used to shew him song after song in MS., when I was receiving the anonymous verses for the music, and ask his criticism, he said—­’Your unknown poetess has only one, or rather two, letters out of taste, viz., choosing “B.  B.” for her signature.’”

THE PLEUGHMAN.[47]

There ’s high and low, there ’s rich and poor,
There ’s trades and crafts enew, man;
But, east and west, his trade ’s the best,
That kens to guide the pleugh, man. 
Then, come, weel speed my pleughman lad,
And hey my merry pleughman;
Of a’ the trades that I do ken,
Commend me to the pleughman.

His dreams are sweet upon his bed,
His cares are light and few, man;
His mother’s blessing ’s on his head,
That tents her weel, the pleughman. 
Then, come, weel speed, &c.

The lark, sae sweet, that starts to meet
The morning fresh and new, man;
Blythe though she be, as blythe is he
That sings as sweet, the pleughman. 
Then, come, weel speed, &c.

    All fresh and gay, at dawn of day
      Their labours they renew, man;
    Heaven bless the seed, and bless the soil,
      And Heaven bless the pleughman. 
          Then, come, weel speed, &c.

[47] This seems to have been the author’s first composition in Scottish verse.  See the Memoir.

CALLER HERRIN’.[48]

    Wha ‘ll buy caller herrin’? 
    They ‘re bonnie fish and halesome farin’;
    Wha ‘ll buy caller herrin’,
    New drawn frae the Forth?

    When ye were sleepin’ on your pillows,
    Dream’d ye ought o’ our puir fellows,
    Darkling as they faced the billows,
    A’ to fill the woven willows. 
          Buy my caller herrin’,
          New drawn frae the Forth.

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The Modern Scottish Minstrel , Volume I. from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.