The Harp of Stirlingshire [Compiled] by W. Harvey

Part I

Poets Connected with the Shire by Birth or Residence. Page James 1 17 Page James VI 66 The Garden Scene ... 19 Chrysts-Kirk on the Green fe Sonnet on Spring ... 69 Sonnet 69 Sir David Lyndsay ... 27 The Papingo's Farewell 29 The Day of Doom ... 30 The Pauper's Account of a Law Suit 30 The Earl of Stirling ... 70 Sonnets 72, 73 An Eccho 74 Song 75 On Certain Pleasures of the Glorified Bodies ... 31 Dougal Graham 77 Turnimspike 79 George Buchanan ... 33 Hector MacNeill ... 81 A Vow of Priesthood ... 35 Mary of Castle Cary ... 85 A Charge to the intending Priest 35 My Boy Tammy 86 Come under my Plaidie 88 The Presence of Evil ... 36 The First of May ... 37 37 Robert Graham 90 If doughty deeds ... 91 James V 39 The Jolly Beggar ... 40 The Gaberlunzie Man ... 43 Mrs Grant of Laggan ... 92 O where, tell me where ? 93 Alexander Scott 46 Elizabeth Hamilton .. 95 Hence Heart 47 My Ain Fireside 95 O Lustie May 48 To Hector MacNeill ... 96 To Love Unloved ... 49 A Lover's Complaint ... 50 William Muir 98 A Lament 98 Mary' Stuart 52 Sonnet to the Earl of Bothwell 55 EBENEZER PlCKEN 100 Blythe are we set . . . 100 Verses written at Fotheringay ... ... ... 56 Nan of Logie Green ... 101 Alexander Hume 57 Norman MacLeod, D.D. ... 103 The Day Estivall ... 58 Farewell to Fiunary ...

Contents. Page Page William Sinclair — contd. The Victor -Chief to his Mrs Norman MacLeod ... 106 Sound the Pibroch ...107 Slaughtered Steed ... 142 The Spirit of War ... 143 Charles James Finlayson 108 O ! My Love's Bonnie ... 109 Auld Janet Baird ... 109 Carron Flowery Braes ...

Ill The Lass o' Carron Side 112 Norman MacLeod, D.D.... 144 The Waggin' o' our Dog's Tail 147 Patrick MacPhudd ... 149 Thomas Lyle 113 Curling Song 150 Kelvin Grove 113 I aince knew Content ... 114 Welcome Summer ... 115 Mrs Bacon 152 Half-past Ten 152 Dunoon ... ... ... 116 Alexander MacLachlan 154 John Paterson 118 The Sil'er Burnie ...155 My Guid Coat o' Blue ... 119 My Mary and Me ... 120 Britain's Queen, Victoria 121 Let us Comfort Ane Anither 156 Alexander Buchanan ... 158 Katie Blair 158 William Cameron ... 122 O Dinna Cross the Burn, Willie 123 David Taylor 160 The Proof o' the Puddin's the Preein' o't 162 Meet me on the Gowan Lea 124 Will ye gang to the Baugyburn? ... ... 124 Oor ain Sma' Way ... 163 Mammy's Pet ... ... 164 Morag's Faerv Glen ... 125 My Willie and Me ...126 Sweet Jessie o' the Dell 126 My Ain Gudeman ... 165 John Greig and his Wig 165 Sir William Stirling- Maxwell 168 James MacDonald ... 128 The Thistle 129 Shallum 169 In Memory of Hannah Ann Stirling 169 The Woods o' Castle Doune 130 Mary 130 The Lark and Wren ...131 Hie to the Woodlands, hie 132 James Bolivar Manson... 170 Peggy Ramsay 171 I Canna Bide at E'en ... 173 Alexander M'Lachlan ... 133 Stanzas on Judgment and Eternity 133 Bird o' Fairy Land ... 174 Andrew Archibald ... 176 Time's Flight : or our Flight through Time... 176 William Sinclair ... 137 The Battle of Stirling Bridge 138 The Rose in the Burial Andrew Templeton ... 179 Ground 140 The Lass o' Bannockburn 1 80 The Husband's Song ... 1S0 Mary ... ... ...

Contents. 5 Page John Blair 182 Page 182 James Kirkwood— contd. Poor Lillie 228 The Scotch Bawbee ... 183 Charity 184 Patriot Song 229 A Masonic Toast ... 185 Jas. Monteath Macculloch 231 Robert Fergusson ... 186 My Marianne 187 The Braes around Dunblane 231 The Isle of the Mist ... 188 Maggie, Queen o' Avondale 232 The Dream 189 A Sketch from Life ...233 A Reverie 234 William B. Robertson,D. D. 191 "Tall and Alone" ... 193 Stage Scenery 195 In Memoriam — Mrs H. M. M 235 Liza, Stirling's Queen .. 236 Margaret 196 Fernie Glen 237 The Guid Auld King ...198 A Hearty Laugh 237 In Memoriam— G. M. ...238 James Henderson 200 — W. F. M. 238 The Song of Time ... 200 Isobel 239 My Last Day-dream ...239 Andrew Marshall ... 202 The Sublime 204 Wallace Maxwell ... 241 The Ridiculous 205 The Telesmellemicrophonoscope 241 Loving Words ... ... 205 A Domestic Loss... ... 206 Lines on the Falkirk "Bairns" who fell at Tamai 242 Song 208 Thos.Learmonth Chapman 209 Bonnie Jessie Gray ... 210 Walter Towers ... ... 244 Come awa', Lassie Braw 211 My Ain 212 The Wayside Flower ... 245 Address 247 A Prayer 212 The Dear Dayso' Langsyne 249 The Wooin' o't 250 Joseph MacDonald ... 213 The Man who Lives for James Rae 252 Self 214 Birkenshaw 254 Mary's Despair ... ... 255 Song to the Lark . . . 215 Banks o' Tweed 255 Donald MacLeod, D.D. ... 216 A Day on Broadlaw ... 217 Norlan' Bonnie Lassie, O 256 The Captive Eagle ... 256 New- Year 257 Mrs James Merrylees ... 219 Sweet Rose 219 The World Gaed A^ery Weel Then 257 Beautiful in Fading ...220 Joseph Crosthwaite ... 259 Robert Buchanan ... 222 My Dearie 260 O could I thy praises sing 261 The Royal Bonspiel ...223 Here, whaur Kelvin wimples clear ... ... 262 To the Memory of a Niece 262 James Kirkwood 226 On a Waterloo Veteran Contents.

Page Page R.Menzies Fergusson, M.A. 307 Henry Shirley Bunbury 264 Autumn Leaves ... ... 265 The Viking's Bride ...309 The Battle of the Creeds 311 The Royal Artillery ...265 A Song of Time 266 Allan Water 312 Truth 266 Where the Soft Winds Blow 313 Between Two Fires . . . 267 A Summer Dream . . . 268 The Sun Sank Low ... 314 Andrew Barnard ... 315 James MacAdam Neilson 269 The Bairns a' at Rest ...269 Oh !

Haste awa', Winter 315 My Love and I ... ... 316 The Sparrows that bide i' the lum ... ... ... 317 James Aitchison 271 Dirge 272 Reality 273 273 Redbreast 274 Alexander Stewart ... 319 Dochart-side 320 City and Town 274 The Massacre of Glencoe 320 Frances Gair, L.L.A. ... 276 Easter Day 277 The Battlefields of Stirlingshire ... ... 321 In the Hollow by the Sea 277 The Great Refusal ... 278 M. Fleming Struthers ... 323 Daybreak ... ... ... 323 William Penman ... ... 279 Duty 325 The Cheerie Ingle Lowe 280 Ringin' oot the Auld Year and Singin' in the New 281 Looking for a Wife . . . 282 Twilight 325 At Cambuskenneth ... 326 William Stewart ... 327 Cardross Flowery Braes 327 William Watson 284 Ye still can wauchle roun' 328 Scotland 285 The Seasons 285 George Hope Donaldson 330 " The Never Dying Past " 331 Mother's Love 286 Highlandmen 286 Phil's Xmas Gift 332 Jean 287 Barney's Courtship ... 334 Samuel Reid, R.S.W. ... 289 Mendelssohn's "Duetto" M. Park Gill, M.A. ... 336 Consolation ... ... 337 by Moonlight 290 Underneath the Silver Moon 338 Scotland's Dead 293 The Irony of If 294 "Sic Transit" 339 Mary B. Gillespie, L.L.A. 296 Stirling Castle 297 Jessie Miller 340 Duty 340 Carronside ... ... 298 Sleigh Bells 343 The Grandest Work of all 301 Bee and 1 344 Peter Black 304 William Houston ... 347 The river that rins to the sea 304 The Waif's Reward ...348 Beside the Three Tree Well 305 A Remembrance... ...

Contents. 7 Page Alex. M. Bisset 352 Page William Harvey 361 The Auld Folk 352 Robert Burns 362 The Lanely Lassie ... 354 A Poet's Prayer 355 The Beggar wi' the Gowden Gear 365 I canna sing o' vernal flowers ... ... ... 367 Patrick Woods ... .. 356 The Golden Age 357 My Nellie 368 The Old, Dear River ... 358 Life's Melodies 360 Neevie-neevie-nick-nack 369

Part II

Ballads, Poems, and Connected with the Shire. Songs i.— : BALLADS Gil Morice 371 Young Waters ... ... 412 Chield Morice 381 Hughie the Græme ... 416 Archy o' Kilspindie ... 419 Gil Morris — A Fragment... 385 Childe Maurice 386 The Gallant Grahams . . . 423 Child Noryce 390 The Orphan Maid 427 Owen of Carron 394 II.- POEMS Comala 429 Dumbar's Dregy 457 The Links of Forth ...461 Stirling versus Sterling . . . 434 Stirling 435 To a Highland Girl ...471 Wallace's Lament for Sir John the Graham . . . 439 Stirling 473 Ben Lomond ... ... 474 The Death of De Boune ...440 The Battle of Bannockburn 443 Wee Annie o' Auchinden... 474 The Loch and the Ben . . . 476 The Death of De Argentine 448 Douglas 450 The Douglas 453 Benlomond — Lochlomond 477 Lochlomond... 47S III.-SON&S. The Lament of Wallace ... 481 The Lily of the Vale ...486 Scots wha hae 481 Falkirk" Muir 487 The Highlandmen came down the hill 489 Hail to the Chief 483 Soldier's Song 484 My Dear and Only Love . . . 485 He 's Owre the Hills ...

Contents. Page Page O leeze me on the Glen . . . 503 Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomon' 491 By Allan Stream I chanced to rove ... ... ... 492 Killearn Glen 505 The Pride o' the Glen ...506 My First and Last Love . . . 507 On the Banks of Allan Water 493 The Banks o' Forth ...494 The Maid of Dunmore ... 507 The Deil o' Bucklyvie ...495 The Banks o' Glaizart ...498 The Woods o' Dunmore ... 508 The Campsie Lassie . . . 510 Ye Bonnie Haughs ... 497 Benlomond .. ... ... 499 Campsie Glen ... ... 510 The Lomond 511 Myot's Lofty Brow ... 512 The Toom Pouch 500 The Lass ayont the Hill ... 501 My Bonnie Lassie 's Dead. . . 502 Campsie Glen ... ... 513 The Banks o' Glaizart ... 515

Part III

Rhyme and Proverbial Expressions of Stirlingshire. Rhyme on the Links of Forth 517 Inscription on Stirling Bridge517 Inscription on Stirling Seal 518 Rhyme on the battle of Bannockburn ... ... 518 Weather Rhyme ... ... 521 Jacobite Grace ... ... 522 Epigram on Stirling ... 522 Erskine's Lines on Stirling 523 Burns's Lines at Falkirk . . . 524 Rhymes on Falkirk ... 519 Rhyme on Bucklyvie ... 519 Proverb of Kippen... ... 520 Burns's Lines at Carron ... 524 Reply to Burns ... ... 525 Burns's Lines at Stirling ... 525 Rhyme on Callender of Craigforth 521 The Plough of Gold ... 521 Burns's additional Lines . . . 526 Hamilton's Reply to Burns 526 Burns's Reply to Hamilton

Introduction

. rilWO primary elements of song are romance and war. Under the former may be classed all the stories of love and passion in their varying moods of tragedy and comedy ; under the latter all the deeds of patriotism and chivalry, at the thought of which the pulse quickens, and on reading the records of which the eye gleams with pride. There are two vehicles of verse by which these elements are conveyed to the world : there is the love lyric, with its warm breathings of unlimited admiration, and its touch of scenic beauty; and the ballad or narrative poem, with its detailed descriptions of peoples and customs, and its enum eration of virtues and vices. Of these two elements of song — romance and war — Stirlingshire partakes in a measure equalled by no other county in Scotland. Read Scottish history forgetting that there is such a shire as Stirling, and what is the result ?

There are blanks which the brightest imagination could never replace ; chapters which contain all that is Scotland's glory. But it may be asked, what is there in proof of this 1 There are no fewer than eight battlefields in Stirlingshire, and each of these has contributed its quota to inspire the historic muse. Away back in that age of Scottish history Lntroduction. which lives within the shade of tradition, the natives met the Romans in deadly conflict by the dark winding Carron, and inspired Ossian to sing their noble deeds. It was yonder, where the ruins of the Abbey of Cambuskenneth, kissed by the silver Forth as it winds to the sea, guard their royal dust, that Scottish independence was asserted and Kenneth II. struck the last blow at our " auld enemies " the Picts. It was Stirlingshire, too, that was the chess-board on which was played that later game of national liberty.

It was at Stirling Bridge and Falkirk that William Wallace maintained the rights of his country at all costs. Stirling Castle was the shuttlecock in that game of battledoor in which Bruce and Edward engaged on the field of Scotland's Marathon. And after the nation's independence had been secured, Stirling shire was the stage on which was enacted the drama of civil strife. It was at Sauchieburn that the nobles arrayed themselves against their king, and at Milton Mill that the curtain fell on the act of regicide. It was in Stirlingshire, too, that part of the drama of the Scottish Covenant was played. The shire may not be redolent of the memories of the martyrs, like the metropolis of the east, nor studded with lone cairns like the moorlands of the west, but it has done its part to maintain the glory of " Christ's Crown and Covenant."

It was at Kilsyth that Montrose and Argyll drew their swords for God and the king, and each asserted the supremacy of his church. It was from Stirling that James Guthrie and others of the " Scots Worthies " were drawn to seal their faith on the scaffold at Edinburgh. It Introduction. 11 was at Torwood, in the heart of scenes associated with liberty, that Donald Cargill, frenzied by the cruelties of the killing times, pronounced sentence of excommunication on his enemies, and handed over Charles II. and his accomplices to the keeping of the Prince of darkness. Nor was Stirling untouched by the fire of the Jacobites. It was at Falkirk where Prince Charlie met the royalists and wielded his sword to such purpose that, in the flash of success, he saw himself king of Britain. It was in this county, too, that a brand from the French Revolution smouldered for a time and burst into flame in the action of a handful of misguided men at Bonnymoor.

Stirling Castle, the gray bulwark of the north, which poets and painters have praised in song and on canvas, is rich in all that goes to the poetry of a nation. There it was that the Scottish kings were wont to dwell ; there it was that James II. was born and that his queen gave birth to James III. There it was that James IV. made amends for the murder of his father. There " The Gudeman o' Ballengeich " was wont to live and, stealing out, wander in disguise ; and there, too, the hapless Mary Stuart spent much of her unfortunate reign. The ancient tower stands to-day a grim sentinel of other years, and keeps ward o'er the fair strath of Menteith. There is little to tell one of her former glory, for her fame has departed and the curtain of neglect has been thrown over her. Stirlingshire, thus rich in Scottish story, is rich in Scottish song.

Its whole history reads like a poem teeming with Introduction. incidents of heroism and romance, and from the earliest of Scotland's bards, down to the myriad lyrists of the present day, scarcely one has failed to pay tribute at the shrine of liberty. That group of early historians — Barbour, Wyntoun, Blind Harry, and Boece — of necessity found many of the incidents which form the rhyming histories they composed in the doughty deeds which were done within the shire. The royal poets — James I., James V., Mary Stuart, and James VI. — were all closely associated with Stirling and its Castle- Hume, one of our earliest pastoral poets, was minister at Logie ; Alexander Scott was probably a "Son of the Rock"; and the Earl of Stirling was one of the first poets of the seventeenth century. Sir David Lyndsay of the Mount was a well-known character at Court in Stirling ; and George Buchanan, one of the foremost Scotsmen of his time, was born at Killearn.

Coming to more recent years, we have many names well-known in song. The author of " Morag's Faery Glen" and "0, dinna cross the burn, Willie," was born at Dunipace ; and the writer of " Carron Flowery Braes " and " Auld Janet Baird " was a native of Larbert. It was the parish minister of Campsie who wrote " Farewell to Fiunary " ; it was his wife who penned " Sound the Pibroch," and his son who composed "The waggin' o' our Dog's tail." It was a native of the shire who produced the inimitable " Turnimspike " and "John Hielandman's Remarks on Glasgow," and one long resident in the county who indited " Come under my plaidie " and " My boy Tammy." Introduction. 13 With the associations it has it would, indeed, be matter for wonder if Stirlingshire did not hold a high position in Scottish song.

We have referred to the early rhymers who drew their incidents from the county, and of the modern army of Scottish bards few exceptions require to be made. Patriotism is a well from which every poet draws a measure of inspiration, and Stirlingshire is the fountainhead of that well. Burns, Scott, Hogg, and Tannahill have sung of the county and its glories, and after these leaders, the humbler lyrists defile past, each bearing his tribute to the gods of war and poetry. What Carlyle termed the best war-ode outside the Bible belongs to the shire — that is, Burns's " Scots wha hae " ; and what may be regarded a fit companion to that ode also belongs to the shire — that is, Sinclair's " Battle of Stirling Bridge." From these two songs as the centre point on the field of patriot minstrelsy, sweep down on every side the compositions of myriad bards, all in humble tribute, from the polished peans of poets who touch the hem of Burns's garment, down to the unmeasured lays of patriotic but unpoetic rhymsters ; peans which live in popularity ; lays which are lost in the eddies of forgotten rhyme.

Like the pole-star to the sailor is Bannockburn to the songster ; and there, if a monument were raised to the patriot minstrel, could it most fittingly find a place. The battlefield of Scottish independence has been the keynote of many lyres ; is the keystone in the grand arch of Scottish song. If the name of a mountain be applicable to a plain, then Bannockburn, with all deference Introduction. 14 to the classic heights of Phocis, may be said to be the Parnassus of Scotland. But it is not for its patriot minstrelsy alone that Stirling shire claims our attention. In the ballad lore of the nation the county figures prominently. " Gil Morice," one of the most interesting and one of the best of our auld Scots ballants, belongs to the county and led to the production of "Douglas." "Archy o' Kilspindie" and "Young Waters " both connect themselves with Stirling, and form part of the minstrelsy of the shire.

The county can also claim a fair share of Scottish song. It was the story of a love tragedy that inspired Lewis to pen " On the banks of Allan Water," and the recollection of happy days that led Burns to indite "By Allan stream I chanced to rove." It was the old, old story that called forth "The Woods o' Dunmore" and "The Banks o' Glaizart," "The Banks o' Forth " and " Campsie Glen." From the foregoing it will be seen that the county anthology is indeed a rich one. It is sometimes said that, as patriotism and poetry, scenery and song are so much united, it is matter for wonder that Stirlingshire does not number a larger bardic brotherhood than it r^tlly does. There may be some allowance made for the remark, but it is not to be inferred that the shire has no poets. If she has not done most she has at least done her share ; and if other counties have supplied the workmen, she has afforded the quarries from which have been hewn many of the graceful columns that adorn the temple of Scottish song.

Introduction. 15 It is to a demonstration of our statement that the shire is not impoverished of song that this volume has been compiled. Our object has been to gather into a book of handy reference all that was worthy of being preserved in the minstrelsy of the shire. Short and authentic biogra phies of the different songsters which the county claims by birth or residence, together with specimens of their muse, form the first part of the volume. In our work of selection, while we have been critical we have not been hypercritical, as we believe that even the most minor poet may lisp at times in meritorious numbers. Every song-bird has not the rich melody of the nightingale, and yet the trill of the common songster is not unpleasant. We have endeavoured as far as possible to represent the various writers by their best works and in their varying moods.

In the second part of the volume we have collected the many ballads, poems and songs which belong to the shire by association, and which occupy a place in the poetry of the country. The third part of the work is devoted to the rhymes and occasional verses which claim the county as their fatherland, and which, although in many cases devoid of all poetic merit, are interesting from their connection with places and people. A certain chronological order has been observed throughout the work. This arrangement is apparent enough in the first part, but may be more or less indistinct in the second and third parts. In these parts the position of a piece has been determined, when possible, by the date of the incident which gave rise to it, and failing such Introduction. incident, by the date of the birth of the author.

This order has been adopted as the one which suggested itself the most useful in a work of reference, and we trust it may be found so to our readers. The poetry of the following pages may not always be found to be of that high order which entitles its author to immortality ; but we are confident that the book as a whole will justify us in the eyes of our readers in having made this (as we understand) the first anthology of Stirlingshire.