Dowie in the hint o' hairst.
[Written by Hugh Ainslie, a native of the parish of Dailly, Ayrshire, and for some time a copying clerk in the Register House, Edinburgh. Mr. Ainslie is now, we believe, resident in the United States of America, to which, with his family, he emigrated in 1822. He is author of a small volme, called "A Pilgrimage to the Land of Burns"]
It's dowie in the hint o' hairst,
At the wa'-gang o' the swallow,
When the wind grows cauld, and the burns grow bauld,
And the wuds are hingin' yellow;
But oh, its dowier far to see
The wa'-gang o' her the heart gangs wi',
The dead-set o' a shinin' ee,
That darkens the wearie warld on thee.
There was mickle love atween us twa—
Oh, twa could ne'er be fonder;
And the thing on yerd was never made
That could ha'e gart us sunder.
But the way o' Heav'n's abune a' ken—
And we maun bear what it likes to sen'—
It's comfort, though, to wearie men,
That the warst o' this warld's waes maun en'.
There's mony things that come and gae—
Just kent and just forgotten—
And the flowers that busk a bonnie brae,
Gin anither year lie rotten.
But the last look o' that lovely e'e,
And the dying grip she ga'e to me,
They're settled like eternitie—
Oh, Mary! that I were wi' thee.
On wi' the Tartan.
[Hugh Ainslie.]
Can ye lo'e, my dear lassie,
The hills wild and free,
Whar the sang o' the shepherd
Gars a' ring wi' glee?
Or the steep rocky glens,
Where the wild falcons bide?
Then on wi' the tartan,
And fy let us ride!
Can ye lo'e the knowes, lassie,
That ne'er war in rigs?
Or the bonnie loune lee,
Where the sweet robin biggs?
Or the sang o' the lintie,
Whan wooin' his bride?
Then on wi' the tartan,
And fy let us ride!
Can ye lo'e the burn, lassie.
That loups amang linns?
Or the bonnie green howmes
Where it cannilie rins?
Wi' a cantie bit housie,
Sae snug by its side?
Then on wi' the tartan,
And fy let us ride!
My sheep I neglected.
[This song was very popular in Scotland among the upper classes about the middle of the last century, and there are still old people to be found who refer to it. It was written by Sir Gilbert Elliot, third baronet of Minto, who was born in 1722, educated for the Scottish bar, and during his life held several official appointments under government. He died at Marseilles in 1777. His son, for some time governor-general of India, was raised to the peerage by the title of Earl of Minto. Sir Gilbert was brother to Miss Jane Elliot, authoress of the old set of the "Flowers of the Forest." The words "My sheep I neglected" are printed in the first volume of Yair's "Charmer," Edinburgh, 1749, in Herd's Collection, and elsewhere. They are to the tune of an old air, called My Apron, dearie, which, with old words, may be found in the Orpheus Caledonius, 1725, and, with the present words, in Johnson's Museum, and Thomson's Select Melodies.]
My sheep I neglected—I lost my sheep-hook,
And all the gay haunts of my youth I forsook;
No more for Amynta fresh garlands I wove;
For ambition, I said, would soon cure me of love.
Oh, what had my youth with ambition to do?
Why left I Amynta? Why broke I my vow?
Oh, give me my sheep, and my sheep-hook restore,
And I'll wander from love and Amynta no more.
