The Modern Scottish Minstrel Volume Iv Part 10

TO THE EVENING STAR.

Star of descending Night!

Lovely and fair, Robed in thy mellow light, Subtle and rare; Whence are thy silvery beams, That o'er lone ocean gleams, And in our crystal streams Dip their bright hair?

Far in yon liquid sky, Where streamers play And the red lightnings fly, Hold'st thou thy way; Clouds may envelop thee, Winds rave o'er land and sea, O'er them thy march is free As thine own ray.

OH! WAFT ME TO THE FAIRY CLIME.

Oh! waft me to the fairy clime Where Fancy loves to roam, Where Hope is ever in her prime, And Friends.h.i.+p has a home; There will I wander by the streams Where Song and Dance combine, Around my rosy waking dreams Ecstatic joys to twine.

On Music's swell my thoughts will soar Above created things, And revel on the boundless sh.o.r.e Of rapt imaginings.

The rolling spheres beyond earth's ken My fancy will explore, And seek, far from the haunts of men, The Poet's mystic lore.

Love will add gladness to the scene, And strew my path with flowers; And Joy with Innocence will lean Amid my rosy bowers.

Then waft me to the fairy clime Where Fancy loves to roam, Where Hope is ever in her prime, And Friends.h.i.+p has a home.

THE LOVE-SICK MAID.

The love-sick maid, the love-sick maid, Ah! who will comfort bring to the love-sick maid?

Can the doctor cure her woe When she will not let him know Why the tears incessant flow From the love-sick maid?

The flaunting day, the flaunting day, She cannot bear the glare of the flaunting day!

For she sits and pines alone, And will comfort take from none; Nay, the very colour's gone From the love-sick maid.

The secret 's out, the secret 's out, A doctor has been found, and the secret 's out!

For she finds at e'ening's hour, In a rosy woodland bower, Charms worth a prince's dower To a love-sick maid.

ALEXANDER JAMIESON.

Alexander Jamieson was born in the village of Dalmellington, Ayrs.h.i.+re, on the 29th January 1789. After a course of study at the University of Edinburgh, he obtained licence as a medical pract.i.tioner. In 1819, he settled as a surgeon and apothecary in the town of Alloa. A skilful mechanician, he constructed a small printing-press for his own use; he was likewise ardently devoted to the study of botany. He composed verses with remarkable facility, many of which he contributed to the _Stirling Journal_ newspaper. His death was peculiarly melancholy: he had formed one of a pic-nic party, on a fine summer day, to the summit of Bencleugh, one of the Ochils, and descending by a shorter route to visit a patient at Tillicoultry, he missed his footing, and was precipitated about two hundred feet into one of the ravines. He was early next morning discovered by a shepherd, but only survived a few hours afterwards. His death took place on the 26th July 1826. Possessed of varied talents, and excellent dispositions, Jamieson was deeply regretted by his friends. He left a widow, who died lately in Dunfermline. His songs, of which two specimens are adduced, afford evidence of power.

THE MAID WHO WOVE.[11]

_"Russian Air."_

The maid who wove the rosy wreath With every flower--hath wrought a spell, And though her chaplets fragrance breathe And balmy sweets--I know full well, 'Neath every bud, or blossom gay, There lurks a chain--Love's tyranny.

Though round her ruby lips, enshrin'd, Sits stillness, soft as evening skies-- Though crimson'd cheek you seldom find, Or glances from her downcast eyes-- There lurks, unseen, a world of charms, Which ne'er betray young Love's alarms.

O trust not to her silent tongue; Her settled calm, or absent smile; Nor dream that nymph, so fair and young, May not enchain in Love's soft guile; For where Love is--or what's Love's spell-- No mortal knows--no tongue can tell.

FOOTNOTES:

[11] This song was addressed by Mr Jamieson to Miss Jane Morrison of Alloa, the heroine of Motherwell's popular ballad of "Jeanie Morrison,"

and who had thus the singular good fortune to be celebrated by two different poets. For some account of Miss Morrison, now Mrs Murdoch, see vol. iii. p. 233.

A SIGH AND A SMILE.

WELSH AIR--_"Sir William Watkin Wynne."_

From Beauty's soft lip, like the balm of its roses, Or breath of the morning, a sigh took its flight; Nor far had it stray'd forth, when Pity proposes The wanderer should lodge in this bosom a night.

But scarce had the guest, in that peaceful seclusion, His lodging secured, when a conflict arose, Each feeling was changed, every thought was delusion, Nor longer my breast knew the calm of repose.

They say that young Love is a rosy-cheek'd bowyer, At random the shafts from his silken string fly, But surely the urchin of peace is destroyer, Whose arrows are dipp'd in the balm of a sigh.

O yes! for he whisper'd, "To Beauty's shrine hie thee; There wors.h.i.+p to Cupid, and wait yet awhile; A cure she can give, with the balm can supply thee, The wound from a sigh can be cured by a smile."

JOHN GOLDIE.

A short-lived poet and song-writer of some promise, John Goldie was born at Ayr on the 22d December 1798. His father, who bore the same Christian name, was a respectable s.h.i.+pmaster. Obtaining an ample education at the academy of his native town, he became, in his fifteenth year, a.s.sistant to a grocer in Paisley; he subsequently held a similar situation in a stoneware and china shop in Glasgow. In 1821 he opened, on his own account, a stoneware establishment at Ayr; but proving unfortunate in business, he abandoned the concerns of trade. From his boyhood being devoted to literature he now resolved on its cultivation as a means of support. Already known as an occasional contributor, both in prose and verse, to the public press, he received the appointment of a.s.sistant editor of the _Ayr Courier_, and shortly after obtained the entire literary superintendence of that journal. In 1821, he published a pamphlet of respectable verses; and in the following year appeared as the author of a duodecimo volume of "Poems and Songs," which he inscribed to the Ettrick Shepherd. Of the compositions in the latter publication, the greater portion, he intimates in the preface, "were composed at an early age, chiefly betwixt the years of sixteen and twenty;" and as the production of a very young man, the volume is altogether creditable to his genius and taste.

Deprived of the editors.h.i.+p of the _Courier_, in consequence of a change in the proprietary, Goldie proceeded to London, in the hope of forming a connexion with some of the leading newspapers in the metropolis.

Unsuccessful in this effort, he formed the project of publis.h.i.+ng _The London Scotsman_, a newspaper to be chiefly devoted to the consideration of Scottish affairs. Lacking that encouragement necessary to the ultimate success of this adventure, he abandoned the scheme after the third publication, and in very reduced circ.u.mstances returned to Scotland. He now projected the _Paisley Advertiser_, of which the first number appeared on the 9th October 1824. The editors.h.i.+p of this newspaper he retained till his death, which took place suddenly on the 27th February 1826, in his twenty-eighth year.

Of a vigorous intellect, and possessed of a correct literary taste, Goldie afforded excellent promise of eminence as a journalist. As a poet and song-writer, a rich vein of humour pervades certain of his compositions, while others are marked by a plaintive tenderness. Of sociable and generous dispositions, he was much esteemed by a circle of admiring friends. His personal appearance was pleasing, and his countenance wore the aspect of intelligence.

AND CAN THY BOSOM?

AIR--_"Loudon's Bonnie Woods and Braes."_