He
has requested me to write three or four songs for him, which he is to
set to music himself.
has requested me to write three or four songs for him, which he is to
set to music himself.
Robert Burns
You do not tell me how you liked my two last songs. Are they
condemned?
R. B.
* * * * *
CCCXV.
TO MR. THOMSON.
[In allusion to the preceding letter, Thomson says to Burns, "You
really make me blush when you tell me you have not merited the drawing
from me. " The "For a' that and a' that," which went with this letter,
was, it is believed, the composition of Mrs. Riddel. ]
In "Whistle, and I'll come to ye, my lad," the iteration of that line
is tiresome to my ear. Here goes what I think is an improvement:--
Oh whistle, and I'll come to ye, my lad;
Oh whistle, and I'll come to ye, my lad;
Tho' father and mother and a' should gae mad,
Thy Jeanie will venture wi' ye, my lad.
In fact, a fair dame, at whose shrine I, the priest of the Nine, offer
up the incense of Parnassus--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?
This is no my ain lassie,[282] &c.
Do you know that you have roused the torpidity of Clarke at last?
He
has requested me to write three or four songs for him, which he is to
set to music himself. The enclosed sheet contains two songs for him,
which please to present to my valued friend Cunningham.
I enclose the sheet open, both for your inspection, and that you may
copy the song "Oh bonnie was yon rosy brier. " I do not know whether I
am right, but that song pleases me; and as it is extremely probable
that Clarke's newly-roused celestial spark will be soon smothered in
the fogs of indolence, if you like the song, it may go as Scottish
verses to the air of "I wish my love was in a mire;" and poor
Erskine's English lines may follow.
I enclose you a "For a' that and a' that," which was never in print:
it is a much superior song to mine. I have been told that it was
composed by a lady, and some lines written on the blank leaf of a copy
of the last edition of my poems, presented to the lady whom, in so
many fictitious reveries of passion, but with the most ardent
sentiments of real friendship, I have so often sung under the name of
Chloris:--
To Chloris. [283]
_Une bagatelle de l'amitie. _
COILA.
R. B.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 282: Song CCLV. ]
[Footnote 283: Poems, No. CXLVI. ]
* * * * *
CCCXVI.
TO MR. THOMSON.
