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with critical observations and biographical notices, by Robert Burns

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122<br />

strathallan's lament.*<br />

This air is the composition of one of the wor-<br />

thiest <strong>and</strong> best-hearted men living—Allan Master-<br />

ton, schoolmaster in Edinburgh, As he <strong>and</strong> I were<br />

both sprouts ofjacobitism, we agreed to dedicate the<br />

words <strong>and</strong> air to that cause.<br />

To tell the matter of fact, except when my pas-<br />

sions were heated <strong>by</strong> some accidental cause, myjaco-<br />

bitism was merely <strong>by</strong> way of vive la bagatelle.<br />

Thickest night, o'erhang my dwelling<br />

Howling tempests o'er me rave !<br />

Turbid torrents, wintry swelling,<br />

Still surround my lonely cave !<br />

Crystal streamlets gently flowing,<br />

Busy haunts of base mankind,<br />

Western breezes softly blowing,<br />

Suit not my distracted mind.<br />

* Supposed to mean James, Viscount Strathallan, whose<br />

father, Viscount William, was killed at the battle of Culloden,<br />

He escaped to France.<br />

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