A

COLLECTION

OF

CHOICE SONGS

ANNA with an angel's air,
Sweet her notes, her face as fair,
Vaffals and kings

Feel, when he fings,

Charms of warbling beauty near.

VOLUME IV.

ETTRICK Banks.

I.

N Ettrick banks, in a fummer's night,

ON

At glowming when the sheep drave hame,

I met my lassie braw and tight,

Came wading, barefoot, a' her lane:

My heart grew light, I ran, I flang

My arms about her lily neck,

And kiss'd and clapp'd her there fou lang;
My words they were na mony, feck.

II.

I faid, my laffie, will ye go

To the Highland hills, the Earfe to learn?

I'll baith gi'e thee a cow and ew,

When ye come to the brigg of Earn.

At Leith, auld meal comes in, ne'er fash, And herrings at the Broomy Law; Chear up your heart, my bonny lass, There's gear to win we never saw.

III.

All day when we have wrought enough,
When winter frofts and fnaw begin,
Soon as the fun gaes west the loch,

At night when you fit down to spin,
I'll screw my pipes and play a spring :
And thus the weary night will end,
Till the tender kid and lamb-time bring
Our pleasant summer back again.

IV.

Syne when the trees are in their bloom,
And gowans glent o'er ilka field,
I'll meet my lass among the broom,
And lead you to my fummer-fhield.
Then far frae a' their scornfu' din,

That make the kindly hearts their sport, We'll laugh and kiss and dance and fing, And gar the langest day seem short.

The Birks of INVERMAY.

I.

HE smiling morn, the breathing spring,

THE

Invite the tuneful birds to fing;

And while they warble from the spray,
Love melts the universal lay.

Let us, Amanda, timely wife,

Like them, improve the hour that flies;
And in foft raptures waste the day
Among the birks of Invermay.

II.

For foon the winter of the year,
And age, life's winter, will appear,
At this thy living bloom will fade,
As that will strip the verdant shade:
Our taste of pleasure then is o'er,
The feather'd songsters are no more;
And when they droop, and we decay,
Adieu the birks of Invermay.

III.

The laverocks now and lintwhite sing,
The rocks around with echoes ring;
The mavis and the blackbird vie,
In tuneful ftrains to glad the day;
The woods now wear their summer-suits;
To mirth all nature now invites :
Let us be blythfome then and gay
Among the birks of Invermay.

IV.

Behold the hills and vales around,
With lowing herds and flocks abound;
The wanton kids and frisking lambs
Gambol and dance about their dams;
The bufy bees with humming noise,
And all the reptile kind rejoice :
Let us, like them, then fing and play
About the birks of Invermay.

V.

Hark, how the waters as they fall,
Loudly, my love, to gladness call;
The wanton waves sport in the beams,
And fishes play throughout the streams;

The circling fun does now advance,
And all the planets round him dance:
Let us as jovial be as they,
Among the birks of Invermay.

HERO and LEANDER.

An old BALLAD.

I.

LEANDER on the bay

Of Hellefpont all naked stood,
Impatient of delay,

He leap'd into the fatal flood:
The raging feas,

Whom none can please,

'Gainft him their malice fhow; The heavens lour'd,

The rain down pour'd, And loud the winds did blow.

II.

Then cafting round his eyes,
Thus of his fate he did complain :
Ye cruel rocks, and skies!
Ye ftormy winds, and angry main !
What 'tis to miss

The lover's bliss,
Alas! ye do not know;

Make me your wreck

As I come back,

But spare me as I go.

III.

Lo! yonder stands the tower Where my beloved Hero lies,

And this is the appointed hour

Which fets to watch her longing eyes.

To his fond fuit

The gods were mute ; The billows anfwer, No: Up to the skies

The furges rife,

But funk the youth as low.

IV.

Meanwhile the wishing maid, Divided 'twixt her care and love, Now does his fstay upbraid;

Now dreads he shou'd the passage prove : O fate! said she,

Nor heaven, nor thee,

Our vows fhall e'er divide.

I'd leap this wall,

Cou'd I but fall

By my Leander's fide.

V.

At length the rising fun

Did to her fight reveal too late,
That Hero was undone;

Not by Leander's fault, but fate.
Said fhe, I'll fhew,

Tho' we are two,

Our loves were ever one :
This proof I'll give,

I will not live,

Nor fhall he die alone.

VI.

Down from the wall she leapt
Into the raging feas to him,
Courting each wave she met,

To teach her weary'd arms to swim;