O'er the mist-shrouded cliffs of the gray mountain straying, Where the wild winds of winter incessantly rave; What woes wring my heart while intently surveying The storm's gloomy path on the breast of the wave? Ye foam-crested billows, allow me to wail, Ere ye toss me afar from my loved native shore; Where the flower which bloom'd sweetest in Coila's green vale, The pride of my bosom--my Mary 's no more.
No more by the banks of the streamlet we 'll wander, And smile at the moon's rimpled face in the wave; No more shall my arms cling with fondness around her, For the dew-drops of morning fall cold on her grave. No more shall the soft thrill of love warm my breast-- I haste with the storm to a far distant shore, Where, unknown, unlamented, my ashes shall rest, And joy shall revisit my bosom no more.
[8] This song has been erroneously assigned to Burns.
O! lassie, I lo'e dearest! Mair fair to me than fairest, Mair rare to me than rarest, How sweet to think o' thee. When blythe the blue e'ed dawnin' Steals saftly o'er the lawnin', And furls night's sable awnin', I love to think o' thee.
An' while the honey'd dew-drap Still trembles at the flower-tap, The fairest bud I pu't up, An' kiss'd for sake o' thee. An' when by stream or fountain, In glen, or on the mountain, The lingering moments counting, I pause an' think o' thee.
When the sun's red rays are streamin', Warm on the meadow beamin', Or o'er the loch wild gleamin', My heart is fu' o' thee. An' tardy-footed gloamin', Out o'er the hills slow comin', Still finds me lanely roamin', And thinkin' still o' thee.
When soughs the distant billow, An' night blasts shake the willow, Stretch'd on my lanely pillow, My dreams are a' o' thee. Then think when frien's caress thee, Oh, think when cares distress thee, Oh, think when pleasures bless thee, O' him that thinks o' thee.
Charles James Finlayson was born on the 27th August 1790, in the parish of Larbert, and county of Stirling. Owing to the death of his father during his childhood, and the poverty of the family, he was never at school. While a cow-herd to a farmer, he taught himself letters in the fields. With a fine ear for music and an excellent voice, he took delight in singing such scraps of old ballads as he had learned from the cottage matrons. The small gratuities which he procured for holding the horses of the farmers at the annual Falkirk _trysts_, put him in possession of all the printed ballad literature which that town could supply. In his eleventh year he entered, in a humble capacity, the Carron Iron Works; where he had some opportunity of improving himself in scholarship, and gratifying his taste for books. He travelled from Carron to Glasgow, a distance of twenty-three miles, to procure a copy of Ossian. Improving his musical predilections, he was found qualified, while still a young man, to officiate as precentor, or leader of the psalmody, in the church of his native parish. Resigning this appointment, and his situation in the Carron Works, he for some time taught church music in the neighbouring towns. On an invitation from the Kirk-session and congregation, he became precentor in the Old Kirk, Edinburgh; and in this office gained the active friendship of the respected clergyman, Dr Macknight.