THE FLOWERS OF THE FOREST.

MISS JANE ELLIOT OF MINTO

I've heard them lilting,
At the ewe-milking,
Lasses a' lilting

Before dawn of day;
But now they are moaning
On ilka green loaning ;
The Flowers of the Forest
Are a' wede awae.

At bughts in the morning,
Nae blithe lads are scorning;
Lasses are lonely,

And dowie and wae;

Nae daffing, nae gabbing,
But sighing and sabbing;
Ilk ane lifts her leglin,
And hies her awae.

In har'st, at the shearing,
Nae youths now are jeering;
Bandsters are runkled,

And lyart or gray;
At fair or at preaching,
Nae wooing, nae fleeching:
The Flowers of the Forest

Are a' wede awae.

At e'en, in the gloaming,
Nae younkers are roaming
'Bout stacks, with the lasses
At bogle to play;
But ilk maid sits drearie,
Lamenting her deary-

The Flowers of the Forest
Are weded awae.

Dool and wae for the order
Sent our lads to the Border!
The English, for ance,

By guile wan the day;
The Flowers of the Forest
That fought ay the foremost,
The prime of our land

Are cauld in the clay.

We'll hear nae mair lilting
At the ewe-milking,

Women and bairns are

Heartless and wae ;

Sighing and moaning

On ilka green loaning,

The Flowers of the Forest

Are a' wede awae.

["In these beautiful stanzas," says Scott, "the manner of the ancient minstrels is so happily imitated that it required the most positive evidence to convince me that they were modern. Such evidence I have however been able to procure." [Min. of Scot. Bord. vol. iii. 333.]

Miss Jane Elliot was the sister of Sir Gilbert, the author of the fine song printed before

My sheep I neglected I lost my sheep-hook.]

THE FLOWERS OF THE FOREST.

MISS RUTHERFORD.

I've seen the smiling
Of Fortune beguiling-
I've tasted her favours,
And felt her decay :
Sweet is her blessing,
And kind her caressing-
But soon it is fled-

It is fled far away.

I've seen the Forest,
Adorn'd of the foremost

With flowers of the fairest,

Both pleasant and gay :
Full sweet was their blooming,
Their scent the air perfuming,

But now they are wither'd,
And a' wede away.

I've seen the morning

With gold the hills adorning ;
And the red storm roaring,
Before the parting day:

I've seen Tweed's silver streams
Glittering in the sunny beams,
Turn drumlie and dark

As they roll'd on their way.

Oh, fickle Fortune!
Why this cruel sporting ?
Why thus perplex us,
Poor sons of a day?
Thy frowns cannot fear me,
Thy smiles cannot cheer me,

Since the Flowers of the Forest
Are a' wede away.

[Miss Rutherford of Fairnalie in Selkirkshire, afterwards Mrs. Cockburn of Ormiston, was among the first to discover the expanding genius of Sir Walter Scott, who speaks very warmly of her kindness and talents in several of his writings.

"These verses were written at an early period of her life," says Scott," and without peculiar relation to any event, unless it were the depopulation of Ettrick Forest."]

FOR LACK OF GOLD.

DR. AUSTIN.

For lack of gold she has left me-o;
And of all that's dear she's bereft me-o;

She me forsook for a great duke,

And to endless wo she has left me-o.

A star and garter have more art

Than youth, a true and faithful heart ;
For empty titles we must part;
For glittering show she has left me-o.

No cruel fair shall ever move
My injured heart again to love;
Thro' distant climates I must rove,
Since Jeany she has left me-o.

Ye powers above, I to your care
Resign my faithless lovely fair;

Your choicest blessings be her share,
Tho' she has ever left me-o!

["The country. girls in Ayrshire, instead of the lineShe me forsook for a great duke,

say,

For Athole's duke she me forsook ;

which I take to be the original reading.

These words were composed by the late Dr. Austin, Physician at Edinburgh. He had courted a lady, [Miss Jean Drummond of Megginch] to whom he was shortly to have been married: but the Duke of Athole having seen her, became so much in love with her, that he made proposals of marriage, which were accepted, and she jilted the Doctor."-BURNS.]

Come gie's a sang, Montgomery cried,
And lay your disputes all aside,
What signifies't for folks to chide

For what's been done before them?

Let Whig and Tory all agree,
Whig and Tory, Whig and Tory,
Let Whig and Tory all agree

To drop their whigmegorum.