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native land can boast . Let him hear , and observe , and note , and then let him confess that Kobert Burns , the peasant—the gauger—the man who never " kept his gig "—who was never respectable—who was neither a rich man nor a high born man , nor a gentleman , but simply a MAN—aye , and a glorious , a
noble , and a mighty MAN—was , and is , and will be , in right of his supereminent mental power , a teacher greater than ever spoke from pulpit : that Scotland ' s songs and ballads , whether the names of their authors are known to our moved hearts , or whether they have died from man ' s memory , leaving a lay of
love and joy as their memorial , are just so many instruments of good , uncounted and uncountable . Let him confess that poetry is not an idle thing , the sport of fools and the scorn of
men , but a heaven-given gift , which the recipient ought to turn and will turn , if he know the power and glory of his own mission , to the glory of God and the good of man , by making it an instrument for purifying and uplifting the human soul . It has been said , that the names of many of those who in days long past , added another gem to the rich casket of Scottish Song , have passed away from the minds of men , —but what matters that ? The noblest part of such men lives , and will live ; they have gained the most immortal of all immortalities ;
they have given birth to an immortal thought ! They were poor and lowly men—it might be , unconscious of the jewel in their keeping , yet certainly like GeoTge Fox , the first , and free-souled Quaker , not without dreams and visions , and gleams and glimpses of glorious and spiritual things . It may be that they were born , and laboured and struggled and toiled and died , as poor men are wont , but leaving on the lips of the
* ' bonnie lasses" of their strath , a legacy of song to the land that gave them a birth-place and a grave . Was this a life and death to sigh for ? Yes ! What matters it to such , though no tongue syllable their names—their better part , the soul , lives —lives in song—lives in many a heart and on many a tongue . They share in the work of omnipotence—they have created !
To return . —Wo man who lias lived among the peasantrv of Scotland , will deny the efleets produced on them by their popular songs . During the expedition to Buenos Ayres , a Highland soldier while aprisoner in the hands of the Spaniards , having formed an attachment to a woman of the country , and charmed by the easy life which the tropical fertility of the soil enabled the inhabitants to lead , had resolved to remain and settle in South America . When he imparted this resolution * to his comrade , the latter did not argue with him , but leading him
to his tent , he placed him by his side and sung him " LochabeT no more . " The spell was on him . The tears came into his eyes , ami wrapping his plaid around him he murmured , 4 < Loehaber nae inair !—I maun gang back — Na ! " The songs of his childhood were ringing in his cars , and he left that land of
Untitled Article
The Songs of Scotland . 904
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1836, page 205, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2656/page/13/
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