The Modern Scottish Minstrel Volume Ii Part 19

Frae the south and the north, o'er the Tweed and the Forth, Sic coming and ganging there never was seen; The comers were cheerie, the gangers were blearie, Despairing or hoping for Barrochan Jean!

The carlines at hame were a' girning and graning, The bairns were a' greeting frae morning till e'en; They gat naething for crowdy, but runts boil'd to sowdie, For naething gat growing for Barrochan Jean!

The doctors declared it was past their descriving, The ministers said 'twas a judgment for sin; But they lookit sae blae, and their hearts were sae wae, I was sure they were deeing for Barrochan Jean!

The burns on road-sides were a' dry wi' their drinking, Yet a' wadna slockin' the drouth i' their skin; A' around the peat-stacks, and alangst the d.y.k.e-backs, E'en the winds were a' sighing, "Sweet Barrochan Jean!"

The timmer ran done wi' the making o' coffins, Kirkyards o' their sward were a' howkit fu' clean; Dead lovers were packit like herring in barrels, Sic thousands were deeing for Barrochan Jean!

But mony braw thanks to the Laird o' Glen Brodie, The gra.s.s owre their graffs is now bonnie and green, He sta' the proud heart of our wanton young lady, And spoil'd a' the charm o' her twa pawky e'en.

[85] Writing to his friend Barr, on the 24th December 1809, Tannahill remarks:--"You will, no doubt, have frequently observed how much some old people are given to magnify the occurrences of their young days.

'Barrochan Jean' was written on hearing an old grannie, in Lochwinnoch parish, relating a story something similar to the subject of the song; perhaps I have heightened her colouring a little."

O, ROW THEE IN MY HIGHLAND PLAID!

Lowland la.s.sie, wilt thou go Where the hills are clad with snow; Where, beneath the icy steep, The hardy shepherd tends his sheep?

Ill nor wae shall thee betide, When row'd within my Highland plaid.

Soon the voice of cheery spring Will gar a' our plantin's ring, Soon our bonny heather braes Will put on their summer claes; On the mountain's sunny side, We 'll lean us on my Highland plaid.

When the summer spreads the flowers, Busks the glens in leafy bowers, Then we 'll seek the caller shade, Lean us on the primrose bed; While the burning hours preside, I 'll screen thee wi' my Highland plaid.

Then we 'll leave the sheep and goat, I will launch the bonny boat, Skim the loch in canty glee, Rest the oars to pleasure thee; When chilly breezes sweep the tide, I 'll hap thee wi' my Highland plaid.

Lowland lads may dress mair fine, Woo in words mair saft than mine; Lowland lads hae mair of art, A' my boast 's an honest heart, Whilk shall ever be my pride;-- O, row thee in my Highland plaid!

"Bonny lad, ye 've been sae leal, My heart would break at our fareweel; Lang your love has made me fain; Take me--take me for your ain!"

Across the Firth, away they glide, Young Donald and his Lowland bride.

BONNY WOOD OF CRAIGIE LEA.[86]

Thou bonny wood of Craigie lea!

Thou bonny wood of Craigie lea!

Near thee I pa.s.s'd life's early day, And won my Mary's heart in thee.

The broom, the brier, the birken bush, Bloom bonny o'er thy flowery lea, And a' the sweets that ane can wish Frae Nature's hand, are strew'd on thee.

Far ben thy dark green plantin's shade, The cooshat croodles am'rously, The mavis, down thy bughted glade, Gars echo ring frae every tree.

Thou bonny wood, &c.

Awa, ye thoughtless, murd'ring gang, Wha tear the nestlings ere they flee!

They 'll sing you yet a canty sang, Then, O, in pity, let them be!

Thou bonny woods, &c.

When winter blaws in sleety showers, Frae aff the norlan' hills sae hie, He lightly skiffs thy bonny bowers, As laith to harm a flower in thee.

Thou bonny wood, &c.

Though Fate should drag me south the line, Or o'er the wide Atlantic sea; The happy hours I 'll ever mind, That I, in youth, hae spent in thee.

Thou bonny wood, &c.

[86] Craigie Lea is situated to the north-west of Paisley.

GOOD NIGHT, AND JOY.[87]

AIR--_"Good night, and joy be wi' you a'."_

The weary sun 's gaen down the west, The birds sit nodding on the tree; All nature now prepares for rest, But rest prepared there 's none for me.

The trumpet sounds to war's alarms, The drums they beat, the fifes they play,-- Come, Mary, cheer me wi' thy charms, For the morn I will be far away.

Good night, and joy--good night, and joy, Good night, and joy be wi' you a'; For since its so that I must go, Good night, and joy be wi' you a'!

I grieve to leave my comrades dear, I mourn to leave my native sh.o.r.e; To leave my aged parents here, And the bonnie la.s.s whom I adore.

But tender thoughts maun now be hush'd, When danger calls I must obey.

The transport waits us on the coast, And the morn I will be far away.

Good night, and joy, &c.

Adieu, dear Scotia's sea-beat coast!

Though bleak and drear thy mountains be, When on the heaving ocean tost, I 'll cast a wishful look to thee!

And now, dear Mary, fare thee well, May Providence thy guardian be!

Or in the camp, or on the field, I 'll heave a sigh, and think on thee!

Good night, and joy, &c.

[87] We have been favoured, by Mr Matthew Tannahill, with a copy of the above song of his late gifted brother. It is not included in any edition of his poems, but has been printed, through the favour of Mr M.

Tannahill, in the "Book of Scottish Song."

HENRY DUNCAN, D.D.

Dr Henry Duncan the distinguished founder of Savings' Banks, and the promoter of various schemes of social economy, we are enabled to record among the contributors to Caledonian minstrelsy. He was descended through both parents from a succession of respectable clergymen of the Scottish Church. His father George Duncan, was minister of Lochrutton in the stewartry of Kircudbright, and the subject of this memoir was born in the manse of that parish, on the 8th October 1774. After a period of training at home under a private tutor, he was sent to the Academy of Dumfries to complete his preparation for the University. At the age of fourteen, he entered as a student the United College of St Andrews, but after an attendance of two years at that seat of learning, he was induced, on the invitation of his relative Dr Currie, to proceed to Liverpool, there to prepare himself for a mercantile profession, by occupying a situation in the banking office of Messrs Heywood. After a trial of three years, he found the avocations of business decidedly uncongenial, and firmly resolved to follow the profession of his progenitors, by studying for the ministry of the Church of Scotland. He had already afforded evidence of ability to grapple with questions of controversial theology, by printing a tract against the errors of Socinianism, which, published anonymously, attracted in the city of Liverpool much attention from the originality with which the usual arguments were ill.u.s.trated and enforced. Of the concluding five years of his academical course, the first and two last were spent at the University of Edinburgh, the other two at that of Glasgow. In 1797, he was enrolled as a member of the Speculative Society of the University of Edinburgh, and there took his turn in debate with Henry Brougham, Francis Horner, Lord Henry Petty afterwards Marquis of Lansdowne, and other young men of genius, who then adorned the academic halls of the Scottish capital. With John Leyden, W. Gillespie afterwards minister of Kells, and Robert Lundie the future minister of Kelso, he formed habits of particular intimacy. From the Presbytery of Dumfries, he obtained licence as a probationer in the spring of 1798, and he thereafter accepted the situation of tutor in the family of Colonel Erskine afterwards Earl of Mar, who then resided at Dalhonzie, near Crieff. In this post he distinguished himself by inducing the inhabitants of the district to take up arms in the defence of the country, during the excitement, which then prevailed respecting an invasion. In the spring of 1799, the parishes of Lochmaben and Ruthwell, both in the gift of the Earl of Mansfield, became simultaneously vacant, and the choice of them was accorded to Mr Duncan by the n.o.ble patron. He preferred Ruthwell, and was ordained to the charge of that parish, on the 19th September.