A WET sheet and a flowing sea, A wind that follows fast, And fills the white and rustling sail, And bends the gallant mast; And bends the gallant mast, my boys, While, like the eagle free, Away the good ship flies, and leaves Old England on the lea. O for a soft and gentle wind! But give to me the snoring breeze, There's tempest in yon horned moon, But bark, the music, mariners! The wind is piping loud, my boys, THE SUU RISES BRIGHT IN FRAUCE. THE sun rises bright in France, And fair sets he; But he has tint the blythe blink he had In my ain countree. O it's nae my ain ruin That saddens aye my e'e, But the dear Marie I left ahin', Wi' sweet bairnies three. My lanely hearth burn'd bonnie, I've left a' my heart behin' The bud comes back to summer, And the blossom to the bee; But I'll win back-O never, To my ain countree. OI am leal to high Heaven, An' there I'll meet ye a' soon A ERAGE UT. GANE were but the winter-cauld, Cauld's the snaw at my head, And cauld at my feet, And the finger o' death's at my een, Closing them to sleep. Let nane tell my father, Or my mither sae dear, I'll meet them baith in heaven At the spring o' the year. THOMAS PRINGLE. 1788-1834. THOMAS PRINGLE was born in Roxburghshire. He was concerned in the establishment of Blackwood's Magazine, and was the author of "Scenes of Teviotdale," "Ephemerides," and other poems, all of which display fine feeling and a cultivated taste. Although from lameness ill-fitted for a life of hardship, Mr. Pringle, with his father and several brothers, emigrated to the Cape of Good Hope in the year 1820, and there established a little township or settlement named Glen Lynden. The poet afterward removed to Cape Town, the capital; but, wearied with his Caffre-land exile, and disagreeing with the governor, he returned to England and subsisted by his pen. His services were engaged by the African Society as secretary to that body, a situation which he continued to hold until within a few months of his death. In the discharge of its duties, he evinced a spirit of active humanity and an ardent love to the cause to which he was devoted. His last work was a series of African sketches, containing an interesting personal narrative, interspersed with verse. |