་ SCOTIA'S SONS. TUNE" Andro and his cutty gun." Some heartie cock would then hae sang Blythe, blythe, &c. Thus cracks, and jokes, and sangs gaed roun', The landlord then the nappy brings, Then like our dads o' auld langsyne, Ay blythe to meet, our mou's to weet, Blythe, blythe, &c. MARY'S DREAM. (ORIGINAL WORDS.) THE lovely moon had climbed the hill She lifted up her waukening een, To see from whence the voice might be, And there she saw her Sandie stand, Pale, bending on her his hollow ee! 'O Mary, dear, lament nae mair, I'm in death's thraws* below the sea; Thy weeping makes me sad in bliss, Sae, Mary, weep nae mair for me! 'The wind slept when we left the bay, But soon it waked and raised the main, And God he bore us down the deep, Who strave wi' him but strave in vain! He stretch'd his arm, and took me up, Tho' laith I was to gang but † thee: I look frae heaven aboon the storm, Sae, Mary, weep nae mair for me! Take off thae bride sheets frae thy bed, Which thou hast faulded down for me; Unrobe thee of thy earthly stole I'll meet wi' thee in heaven hie.' Three times the grey cock flapt his wing, 'Sweet Mary, weep nae mair for me!' * * When the first Number of this work went to press, the Editor was not aware of the existence of any other copy of Mary's Dream than the one then given, or that a Memoir of Mr. Lowe, written by a Clergyman in Galloway, had been given to the world along with the Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, collected and edited by the late Mr. CROMEK. He is anxious, therefore, to correct the erroneous statement then made, as to what was known respecting LowE; and he accordingly presents to his readers the following abstract of the Memoir above alluded to, in the full persuasion that it will be perused by all of them with a considerable portion of deep and lively interest. LowE, it appears, was born at Kenmore, in Galloway, in the year 1750, and discovered early an ambition of becoming a scholar; but, his father's narrow circumstances not enabling him to assist his son in the acquisition of learning, he was, at the age of fourteen, bound as an apprentice to the weaving business. This employment, however, he soon felt was unsuitable to his genius; and during the time that dire necessity impelled him to follow it, he saved all the earnings of his labour, and took lessons in the learned languages from the school-master of a neighbouring parish. "He employed his evenings in teaching church music, as he possessed a very just ear, sung well, and played with considerable skill on the violin. These qualities, added to a happy temper, and an uncommon flow of animal spirits, made him very acceptable wherever he went, and gained him many friends, who assisted him in his education, both with their money and their advice. By these means, he was at length enabled to enter himself as a student in the University of Edinburgh in the year 1771. "On his return from college, he became tutor in the family of Mr. M'Ghie of Airds, an amiable country gentleman of small fortune, who had several beautiful daughters. The house of Airds is pleasantly situated on a rising ground embowered with trees, washed on one side by the Ken, and on the other by the Dee, which here unite in one river under the common name of Dee, though this is but a tributary stream. It is not easy to conceive a situation more favourable to the descriptive muse; and here, Lowe, who had previously given some marks of a poetical vein, gave free scope to his genius, and composed many little pieces, which he frequently recited to his friends with great enthusiasm. Of these, it is to be regretted that few copies are now to be found, though there are some songs yet sung by the common people (in that district of Galloway called the Glenkens,) which still bear his name. At this period of life, when the mind delights more in description than in sentiment, in pictures of nature than in those of manners, he composed a pretty long pastoral poem, entitled a Morning Poem,' which is still preserved entire in his own hand-writing, and, though written at a time when his taste was but imperfectly formed, is the offspring of a lively imagination, and of one who 'mused o'er nature with a poet's eye.'---He here, likewise, attempted to write a tragedy, the scenes of which he used to read to some of his companions, as he successively composed them; but as this, the highest effort of human genius, was at that time, and perhaps at any time, above his reach, there is no cause to regret that no part of it is now to be obtained. "He used to invoke his muse from the top of a picturesque cliff, which rises suddenly over a thick wood on the banks of the Ken, and commands a varied, beautiful, and extensive view of the surrounding landscape. He erected for himself a rural seat on this spot, which is still called Lowe's seat,' and planted it round with honeysuckles, woodbines, and other wild shrubs and flowers. Here he recited aloud his poetic effusions to the invisible inhabitants of the woods and the streams, and here likewise it was he composed the well-known ballad which makes the story of his life chiefly interesting to the public. High on a rock his favorite arbour stood, Beneath its grateful shade, at ease he lay, Whilst with mellifluous lays the groves did ring He also join'd.' · "There was lost at sea, about this time, a gentleman of the name of MILLER, a surgeon, who had been engaged to MARY, one of the young ladies of Airds, an event which would long since have been forgotten but for the tender song of Mary's Dream,' which has given to it immortality. It is to be presumed, that our poet was sensibly alive to the misfortunes of a young lady whose sister had inspired him also with the tenderest passion; and we regret to state that his fidelity to the object of it, though equally worthy of his admiration and his muse, was but little consistent with the warmth of his feelings, and the earnestness of his professions. "His views were now directed to the church, and he had spent another session at the University of Edinburgh. Seeing, however, no prospect of a living, and impatient of dependence, he resolved to try his fortune in America, where he fondly hoped his talents would be more highly appreciated, and where he indulged the pious expectation of being better able to assist his aged mother and his other relations at home, for whom he ever expressed the warmest affection. He accordingly embarked for the new world in the year 1773, being invited as tutor to the family of a brother of the great Washington, a situation which supplied some hopes to his ambition. He afterwards kept an academy for the education of young gentlemen in Fredericksburgh, Virginia, which succeeded for awhile, as he himself states, beyond his most sanguine wishes, and to which students resorted from a vast distance.' It suffered, however, some interruption by one of those winters of intense frost and deep snows which occur in America; which, having shut up the town from any communication with the neighbouring country, from which its productions were supplied, compelled him to discharge his boarders, and for some time he was not able to collect them together again.— “Sometime after this he took orders in the church of England, the then fashionable religion of this part of the United States; |