with critical observations and biographical notices, by Robert Burns

115
Nae gentle dames, tho' ne'er sae fair,
Shall ever be my Muse's care ;
Their titles a' are empty shew ;
Gie me my Highland lassie, O.
Within the glen sae bushy, O,
Ahoon the plain sae rashy, O,
I set me down zo'^ right good will,
To sing my Highla^id lassie, O.
were yon hills and vallies mine,
Yon palace and yon gardens fine !
The world then the love should know
1 bear my Highland lassie, O.
Within the glen, S^c.
female, the first object of the youthful Poet's love. This adieu
was performed with all those simple and striking ceremonials
which rustic sentiment has devised to prolong tender emotions
and to inspire awe. The lovers stood on each side of a small
purling brook ; they laved their hands in its limpid stream, and
holding a bible between them, pronounced their vows to be
faithful to each other. They parted—never to meet again!
The anniversary of Mary CampbelVs death (for that was her
name), awakening in the sensitive mind of Burns the most lively
emotion, he retired from his family, then residing on the farm
ofEUisland, and wandered, solitary, on the banks of the Nith,
and about the farm-yard, in the extremest agitation of mind,
I 2,
nearly