forever."* His mind never fell into "the sear and yellow leaf," it was a perpetual spring: the flowers grew and withered, and blossomed again,―a neverfailing succession of fragrance and beauty: when the rose wounded him, he gathered the lily; when the lily died on his bosom, he cherished the myrtle. And he was most happy in such a character, for in him it was allied to the highest virtue and genius, and equally remote from weakness and selfishness. About four years after the death of Meta, he became extremely attached to a young girl of Blackenburg, whose name was Dona; she loved and admired him in return, but naturally felt some distrust in the warmth of his attachment; and he addressed to her a little poem, in which, tenderly alluding to Meta, he assures Dona that she is not less dear to him or less necessary to his happiness t And such is man's fidelity! This intended marriage never took place. Twenty-five years afterwards, when Klopstock was in his sixtieth year, he married Johanna von Wentham, a near relation of his Meta; an excellent and amiable woman, whose affectionate attention cheered the remaining years of his life. * Klopstock says of himself, "it is not my nature to be happy or miserable by halves; having once discarded melancholy, I am ready to welcome happiness."-Klopstock and his Friends, p. 164. † Du zweifelst dass ich dich wie Meta liebe? Wie Meta lieb' Ich Done dich ! Dies, saget dir mein hertz liebe vol Mein ganzes hertz! &e. Klopstock died at Hamburg in 1813, at the age of eighty his remains were attended to the grave by all the magistrates, the diplomatic corps, the clergy, foreign generals, and a concourse of about fifty thousand persons. His sacred poems were placed on his coffin, and in the intervals of the chanting, the ministering clergyman took up the book, and read aloud the fine passage in the Messiah, describing the death of the righteous. Happy are they, who have so consecrated their genius to the honor of Him who bestowed it, that the productions of their early youth may be placed without profanation on their tomb! He was buried under a lime-tree in the churchyard of Ottensen, by the side of his Meta and her infant,― Seed sown by God, to ripen for the harvest. CHAPTER XXXI. CONJUGAL POETRY, CONTINUED. BONNIE JEAN. It was as Burns's wife as well as his early love, that Bonnie Jean lives immortalized in her poet's songs, and that her name is destined to float in music from pole to pole. When they first met, Burns was about six-and-twenty, and Jean Armour "but a young thing," Wi' tempting lips and roguish een, the pride, the beauty, and the favorite toast of the village of Mauchline, where her father lived. To an early period of their attachment, or to the fond recollection of it in after times, we owe some of Burns's most beautiful and impassioned songs,—as Come, let me take thee to this breast, And I'll spurn as vilest dust, The world's wealth and grandeur, &c.; "O poortith cold and restless love;" "The kind love that's in her e'e;' 66 Lewis, what reck I by thee;" and many others. I conjecture, from a passage in one of Burns's letters, that Bonnie Jean also furnished the heroine and the subject of that admirable song, "O whistle, and I'll come to thee, my lad," so full of buoyant spirits and artless affection; it appears that she wished to have her name introduced into it, and that he afterwards altered the fourth line of the first verse to please her:thus, Thy Jeanie will venture wi' ye, my lad; but this amendment has been rejected by singers and editors, as injuring the musical accentuation; the anecdote, however, and the introduction of the name, give an additional interest and a truth to the sentiment, for which I could be content to sacrifice the beauty of a single line, and methinks Jeanie had a right to dictate in this instance.* With regard to her personal attractions, Jean was at this time a blooming girl, animated with health, affection, and gayety; the perfect symmetry of her slender figure; her light step in the dance; the "waist sae jimp," "the foot sae sma'," were no fancied beauties; she had a delightful voice, and sung with much taste and enthusiasm the ballads of her native country; among which we may imagine that the songs of her lover were not forgotten. The consequences, however, of all this dancing, singing, and loving were not quite so poetical as they were embarrassing. O wha could prudence think upon, O wha could prudence think upon, Burns had long been distinguished in his rustic neighborhood for his talents, for his social qualities and his conquests among the maidens of his own rank. His personal appearance is thus described from memory by Sir Walter Scott: "His form was strong and robust, his manner rustic, not clownish; with a sort of dignified simplicity, which received part of its effect, perhaps, from one's knowledge of his extraordinary talents; * * * his "A dame whom the graces have attired in witchcraft, and whom the loves have armed with lightning-a fair one-herself the heroine of the song, insists on the amendment-and dispute her commands if you dare!"-Burns's Letters. eye alone, I think, indicated the poetical character and temperament; it was large, and of a dark cast, which glowed, (I say literally, glowed,) when he spoke with feeling and interest; "_" his address to females was extremely deferential, and always with a turn either to the pathetic or humorous, which engaged their attention particularly. I have heard the late Duchess of Gordon remark this: and Allan Cunningham, speaking also from recollection, says, "he had a very manly countenance, and a very dark complexion; his habitual expression was intensely melancholy, but at the presence of those he loved or esteemed, his whole face beamed with affection and genius; "t-" his voice was very musical; and he excelled in dancing, and all athletic sports which required strength and agility." Is it surprising that powers of fascination, which carried a Duchess "off her feet," should conquer the heart of a country lass of low degree? Bonnie Jean was too soft-hearted, or her lover too irresistible; and though Burns stepped forward to repair their transgression by a written acknowledgment of marriage, which, in Scotland, is sufficient to constitute a legal union, still his circumstances, and his character as a "wild lad," were such, that nothing could appease her father's indignation; and poor Jean, when humbled and weakened by the consequences of her fault and her sense of * Lockhart's Life of Burns, p. 153. † Life of Burns, p. 268. |