'Tis the soft-chanted choral song,
Whose tones the echoing aisles prolong;
Till, thence returned, they softly stray
O'er Cluden's wave, with fond delay;
Now on the rising gale swell high,
And now in fainting murmurs die;
The boatmen on Nith's gentle stream,
That glistens in the pale moonbeam,
Suspend their dashing oars to hear
The holy anthem, loud and clear;
Each worldly thought a while forbear,
And mutter forth a half-formed prayer.
But, as I gaze, the vision fails,
Like frost-work touched by southern
gales;

The altar sinks, the tapers fade,
And all the splendid scene 's decayed.
In window fair the painted pane
No longer glows with holy stain,
But through the broken glass the gale
Blows chilly from the misty vale ;
The bird of eve flits sullen by,
Her home these aisles and arches high!
The choral hymn, that erst so clear
Broke softly sweet on Fancy's ear,
Is drowned amid the mournful scream
That breaks the magic of my dream!
Roused by the sound, I start and see
The ruined sad reality!]

THE RUINED MAID'S COM

PLAINT.

[This is a purified version, by Motherwell, of a lament by the Ayrshire Ploughman. The first, fourth, and fifth stanzas are said to be Motherwell's exclusively.]

[O, MEIKLE do I rue, fause love, O, sairly do I rue

That e'er I heard your flattering tongue, That e'er your face I knew.]

O, I ha'e tint my rosy cheeks,

Likewise my waist sae sma'; And I ha'e lost my lightsome heart, That little wist a fa'.

Now I maun thole the scornful sneer
O' mony a saucy quean;
When, gin the truth were a' but kent,
Her life's been waur than mine.

[Whene'er my father thinks on me,
He stares into the wa';
My mither, she has ta'en the bed

Wi' thinking on my fa'.

Whene'er I hear my father's foot,
My heart wad burst wi' pain;
Whene'er I meet my mither's e'e
My tears rin down like rain.]
Alas! sae sweet a tree as love

Sic bitter fruit should bear!
Alas! that e'er a bonnie face

Should draw a sauty tear!

But Heaven's curse will blast the man
Denies the bairn he got;

Or leaves the painfu' lass he loved
To wear a ragged coat.

THE LADDIES BY THE BANKS OF NITH.

[The first of a series of three ballads, penned by Burns in furtherance of the interests of the Tory candidate in the Parliamentary contest for the representation of the Dumfries Burghs in 1789-90-the Five Carlins, which follows, being the second baliad of the series, and the

one addressed to Mr. Graham the third. The last

mentioned, it may be remarked, is ordinarily printed as Burns's Second Epistle to Robert Graham, Esq., of Fintry.]

Tune-Up and waur them a"." THE laddies by the banks o' Nith Wad trust his Grace wi' a', Jamie,

Turn tail and rin awa', Jamie.

Up and waur them a', Jamie,

Up and waur them a';

The Johnstons ha'e the guidin' o't,
Ye turncoat Whigs, awa'.

The day he stood his country's friend,
Or gaed her faes a claw, Jamie,
Or frae puir man a blessin' wan,
That day the Duke ne'er saw,

Jamie.

But wha is he, the country's boast,
Like him there is na twa, Jamie;
There's no a callant tents the kye

But kens o' Westerha', Jamie.

To end the wark here's Whistlebirck,
Lang may his whistle blaw, Jamie ;
And Maxwell true, o' sterling blue,
And we 'll be Johnstons a', Jamie.
Up and waur them a', Jamie,
Up and waur them a';

The Johnstons ha'e the guidin' o't,
Ye turncoat Whigs, awa'.

THE FIVE CARLINS.

AN ELECTION BALLAD.

[Commemorative of the contest which took place during the general election of 1789-90, between Patrick Miller (the son of Burns's landlord) who was the Whig candidate, and Sir James Johnston of Westerhall, who was the Tory candidate for the representation of the five burghs of Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, Annan, Lochmaben, and Sanquhar.]

Tune-"Chevy-Chase."
THERE were five carlins in the south,

They fell upon a scheme,
To send a lad to Lon'on town,
To bring them tidings hame.

But do their errands there; And aiblins gowd and honour baith Might be that laddie's share.

There was Maggy by the banks o' Nith,
A dame wi' pride eneugh;
And Marjory o' the mony lochs,
A carlin auld and teugh.

And blinkin' Bess o' Annandale,

That dwelt near Solway-side; And whisky Jean, that took her gill In Galloway sae wide.

"Ye weel ken, kimmers a', The auld guidman o' Lon'on Court, His back's been at the wa';

Burns, published at Kilmarnock, in two volumes, by M'Kie and Drennan-an edition most carefully edited by William Scott Douglas, who has also restored the second and third stanzas

What verse can sing, what prose narrate, The butcher deeds of bloody fate,

Amid this mighty tulzie! Grim horror grinned; pale terror roared As murder at his thrapple shored;

And hell mixed in the brulzie.

As Highland craigs by thunder cleft, When lightnings fire the stormy lift,

Hurl down wi' crashing rattle: As flames amang a hundred woods, As headlong foam a hundred floodsSuch is the rage of battle.

The stubborn Tories dare to die;
As soon the rooted oaks would fly

Before th' approaching fellers. The Whigs came on like ocean's roar, When all his wintry billows pour

Against the Buchan Bullers.

Lo, from the shades of death's deep night,

Departed Whigs enjoy the fight,

And think on former daring: The muffled murtherer of Charles The Magna Charta flag unfurls,

All deadly gules its bearing.

Nor wanting ghosts of Tory fame;

Bold Scrimgeour follows gallant Graham, Auld Covenanters shiver

O that my een were flowing burns! My voice, a lioness that mourns

Her darling cub's undoing!

| That I might greet, that I might cry, While Tories fall, while Tories fly, And furious Whigs pursuing!

What Whig but wails the good Sir James

Dear to his country by the names,

Friend, Patron, Benefactor! Not Pulteney's wealth can Pulteney save! And Hopetoun falls, the generous, brave; And Stewart, bold as Hector:

Thou, Pitt, shalt rue this overthrow,
And Thurlow growl a curse of woe,
And Melville melt in wailing!
How Fox and Sheridan rejoice;
And Burke shall sing, "O prince, arise!
Thy power is all-prevailing!"

For your poor friend, the Bard afar, He only hears and sees the war,

A cool spectator purely! So, when the storm the forest rends, The Robin in the hedge descends,

And sober chirps securely.