The Modern Scottish Minstrel Volume I Part 22

The hawk whoops on high, and keen, keen from yon' cliff, Lo! the eagle on watch eyes the stag cold and stiff; The deer-hound, majestic, looks lofty around, While he lists with delight to the harp's distant sound; Is it swept by the gale, as it slow wafts along The heart-soothing tones of an olden times' song?

Or is it some Druid who touches, unseen, "The Harp of the North," newly strung now I ween?

'Tis Albyn's own minstrel! and, proud of his name, He proclaims him chief bard, and immortal his fame!-- He gives tongue to those wild lilts that ravish'd of old, And soul to the tales that so oft have been told; Hence Walter the Minstrel shall flourish for aye, Will breathe in sweet airs, and live long as his "Lay;"

To ages unnumber'd thus yielding delight, Which will last till the gloaming of Time's endless night.

MRS DUGALD STEWART.

Helen D'Arcy Cranstoun, the second wife of the celebrated Professor Stewart, is ent.i.tled to a more ample notice in a work on Modern Scottish Song than the limited materials at our command enable us to supply. She was the third daughter of the Hon. George Cranstoun, youngest son of William, fifth Lord Cranstoun. She was born in the year 1765, and became the wife of Professor Dugald Stewart on the 26th July 1790. Having survived her husband ten years, she died at Warriston House, in the neighbourhood of Edinburgh, on the 28th of July 1838. She was the sister of the Countess Purgstall (the subject of Captain Basil Hall's "Schloss Hainfeld"), and of George Cranstoun, a senator of the College of Justice, by the t.i.tle of Lord Corehouse.

The following pieces from the pen of the accomplished author are replete with simple beauty and exquisite tenderness.

THE TEARS I SHED MUST EVER FALL.

TUNE--_"Ianthe the Lovely."_

The tears I shed must ever fall: I mourn not for an absent swain; For thoughts may past delights recall, And parted lovers meet again.

I weep not for the silent dead: Their toils are past, their sorrows o'er; And those they loved their steps shall tread, And death shall join to part no more.

Though boundless oceans roll'd between, If certain that his heart is near, A conscious transport glads each scene, Soft is the sigh and sweet the tear.

E'en when by death's cold hand removed, We mourn the tenant of the tomb, To think that e'en in death he loved, Can gild the horrors of the gloom.

But bitter, bitter are the tears Of her who slighted love bewails; No hope her dreary prospect cheers, No pleasing melancholy hails.

Hers are the pangs of wounded pride, Of blasted hope, of wither'd joy; The flattering veil is rent aside, The flame of love burns to destroy.

In vain does memory renew The hours once tinged in transport's dye; The sad reverse soon starts to view, And turns the past to agony.

E'en time itself despairs to cure Those pangs to every feeling due: Ungenerous youth! thy boast how poor, To win a heart, and break it too!

No cold approach, no alter'd mien, Just what would make suspicion start; No pause the dire extremes between-- He made me blest, and broke my heart:[39]

From hope, the wretched's anchor, torn, Neglected and neglecting all; Friendless, forsaken, and forlorn, The tears I shed must ever fall.

[39] The four first lines of the last stanza are by Burns.

RETURNING SPRING, WITH GLADSOME RAY.[40]

Returning spring, with gladsome ray, Adorns the earth and smoothes the deep: All nature smiles, serene and gay, It smiles, and yet, alas! I weep.

But why, why flows the sudden tear, Since Heaven such precious boons has lent, The lives of those who life endear, And, though scarce competence, content?

Sure, when no other bliss was mine Than that which still kind Heaven bestows, Yet then could peace and hope combine To promise joy and give repose.

Then have I wander'd o'er the plain, And bless'd each flower that met my view; Thought Fancy's power would ever reign, And Nature's charms be ever new.

I fondly thought where Virtue dwelt, That happy bosom knew no ill-- That those who scorn'd me, time would melt, And those I loved be faultless still.

Enchanting dreams! kind was your art That bliss bestow'd without alloy; Or if soft sadness claim'd a part, 'Twas sadness sweeter still than joy.

Oh! whence the change that now alarms, Fills this sad heart and tearful eye, And conquers the once powerful charms Of youth, of hope, of novelty?

'Tis sad Experience, fatal power!

That clouds the once illumined sky, That darkens life's meridian hour, And bids each fairy vision fly.

She paints the scene--how different far From that which youthful fancy drew!

Shews joy and freedom oft at war, Our woes increased, our comforts few.

And when, perhaps, on some loved friend Our treasured fondness we bestow, Oh! can she not, with ruthless hand, Change even that friend into a foe?

See in her train cold Foresight move, Shunning the rose to 'scape the thorn; And Prudence every fear approve, And Pity harden into scorn!

The glowing tints of Fancy fade, Life's distant prospects charm no more; Alas! are all my hopes betray'd?

Can nought my happiness restore?

Relentless power! at length be just, Thy better skill alone impart; Give Caution, but withhold Distrust, And guard, but harden not, my heart!

[40] These tender and beautiful verses are transcribed from Johnson's "Musical Museum," in a note to which they were first published by the editor, Mr David Laing. He remarks that he "has reason to believe" that they are from the pen of Mrs Stewart. (See Johnson's "Musical Museum,"

vol. iv. p. 366, _new edition_. Edinburgh, 1853.)

ALEXANDER WILSON.

The author of the celebrated "American Ornithology" is ent.i.tled to an honourable commemoration as one of the minstrels of his native land.

Alexander Wilson was born at Paisley on the 6th of July 1766. His father had for some time carried on a small trade as a distiller; but the son was destined by his parents for the clerical profession, in the National Church--a scheme which was frustrated by the death of his mother in his tenth year, leaving a large family of children to the sole care of his father. He had, however, considerably profited by the instruction already received at school; and having derived from his mother a taste for music and a relish for books, he invoked the muse in solitude, and improved his mind by miscellaneous reading. His father contracted a second marriage when Alexander had reached his thirteenth year; and it became necessary that he should prepare himself for entering upon some handicraft employment. He became an apprentice to his brother-in-law, William Duncan, a weaver in his native town; and on completing his indenture, he wrought as a journeyman, during the three following years, in the towns of Paisley, Lochwinnoch, and Queensferry. But the occupation of weaving, which had from the first been unsuitable to his tastes, growing altogether irksome, he determined to relinquish it for a vocation which, if in some respects scarcely more desirable, afforded him ample means of gratifying his natural desire of becoming familiar with the topography of his native country. He provided himself with a pack, as a pedlar, and in this capacity, in company with his brother-in-law, continued for three years to lead a wandering life. His devotedness to verse-making had continued unabated from boyhood; he had written verses at the loom, and had become an enthusiastic votary of the muse during his peregrinations with his pack. He was now in his twenty-third year; and with the buoyancy of ardent youth, he thought of offering to the public a volume of his poems by subscription. In this attempt he was not successful; nor would any bookseller listen to proposals of publishing the lucubrations of an obscure pedlar. In 1790, he at length contrived to print his poems at Paisley, on his own account, in the hope of being able to dispose of them along with his other wares. But this attempt was not more successful than his original scheme, so that he was compelled to return to his father's house at Lochwinnoch, and resume the obnoxious shuttle. His aspirations for poetical distinction were not, however, subdued; he heard of the inst.i.tution of the _Forum_, a debating society established in Edinburgh by some literary aspirants, and learning, in 1791, that an early subject of discussion was the comparative merits of Ramsay and Fergusson as Scottish poets, he prepared to take a share in the compet.i.tion. By doubling his hours of labour at the loom, he procured the means of defraying his travelling expenses; and, arriving in time for the debate in the _Forum_, he repeated a poem which he had prepared, ent.i.tled the "Laurel Disputed," in which he gave the preference to Fergusson. He remained several weeks in Edinburgh, and printed his poem. To Dr Anderson's "Bee" he contributed several poems, and a prose essay, ent.i.tled "The Solitary Philosopher." Finding no encouragement to settle in the metropolis, he once more returned to his father's house in the west. He now formed the acquaintance of Robert Burns, who testified his esteem for him both as a man and a poet. In 1792, he published anonymously his popular ballad of "Watty and Meg," which he had the satisfaction to find regarded as worthy of the Ayrshire Bard.

The star of the poet was now promising to be in the ascendant, but an untoward event ensued. In the ardent enthusiasm of his temperament, he was induced to espouse in verse the cause of the Paisley hand-loom operatives in a dispute with their employers, and to satirise in strong invective a person of irreproachable reputation. For this offence he was prosecuted before the sheriff, who sentenced him to be imprisoned for a few days, and publicly to burn his own poem in the front of the jail.

This satire is ent.i.tled "The Shark; or, Long Mills detected." Like many other independents, he mistook anarchy in France for the dawn of liberty in Europe; and his sentiments becoming known, he was so vigilantly watched by the authorities, that he found it was no longer expedient for him to reside in Scotland. He resolved to emigrate to America; and, contriving by four months' extra labour, and living on a shilling weekly, to earn his pa.s.sage-money, he sailed from Portpatrick to Belfast, and from thence to Newcastle, in the State of Delaware, where he arrived on the 14th July 1794. During the voyage he had slept on deck, and when he landed, his finances consisted only of a few shillings; yet, with a cheerful heart, he walked to Philadelphia, a distance of thirty-three miles, with only his fowling-piece on his shoulder. He shot a red-headed woodp.e.c.k.e.r by the way,--an omen of his future pursuits, for hitherto he had devoted no attention to the study of ornithology.

He was first employed by a copperplate-printer in Philadelphia, but quitted this occupation for the loom, at which he worked about a year in Philadelphia, and at Shepherdstown, in Virginia. In 1795, he traversed a large portion of the State of New Jersey as a pedlar, keeping a journal,--a practice which he had followed during his wandering life in Scotland. He now adopted the profession of a schoolmaster, and was successively employed in this vocation at Frankford, in Pennsylvania, at Milestown, and at Bloomfield, in New Jersey. In preparing himself for the instruction of others, he essentially extended his own acquaintance with cla.s.sical learning, and mathematical science; and by occasional employment as a land-surveyor, he somewhat improved his finances. In 1801, he accepted the appointment of teacher in a seminary in Kingsessing, on the river Schuylkill, about four miles from Philadelphia,--a situation which, though attended with limited emolument, proved the first step in his path to eminence. He was within a short distance of the residence of William Bartram, the great American naturalist, with whom he became intimately acquainted; he also formed the friendship of Alexander Lawson, an emigrant engraver, who initiated him in the art of etching, colouring, and engraving. Discovering an apt.i.tude in the accurate delineation of birds, he was led to the study of ornithology; with which he became so much interested, that he projected a work descriptive, with drawings, of all the birds of the Middle States, and even of the Union. About this period he became a contributor to the "Literary Magazine," conducted by Mr Brockden Brown, and to Denny's "Portfolio."

Along with a nephew and another friend, Wilson made a pedestrian tour to the Falls of Niagara, in October 1804, and on his return published in the "Portfolio" a poetical narrative of his journey, ent.i.tled "The Foresters,"--a production surpa.s.sing his previous efforts, and containing some sublime apostrophes. But his energies were now chiefly devoted to the accomplishment of the grand design he had contemplated.

Disappointed in obtaining the co-operation of his friend Mr Lawson, who was alarmed at the extent of his projected adventure, and likewise frustrated in obtaining pecuniary a.s.sistance from the President Jefferson, on which he had some reason to calculate, he persevered in his attempts himself, drawing, etching, and colouring the requisite ill.u.s.trations. In 1806, he was employed as a.s.sistant-editor of a new edition of Rees' Cyclopedia, by Mr Samuel Bradford, bookseller in Philadelphia, who rewarded his services with a liberal salary, and undertook, at his own risk, the publication of his "Ornithology." The first volume of the work appeared in September 1808, and immediately after its publication the author personally visited, in the course of two different expeditions, the Eastern and Southern States, in quest of subscribers. These journeys were attended with a success scarcely adequate to the privations which were experienced in their prosecution; but the "Ornithology" otherwise obtained a wide circulation, and, excelling in point of ill.u.s.tration every production that had yet appeared in America, gained for the author universal commendation. In January 1810, his second volume appeared, and in a month after he proceeded to Pittsburg, and from thence, in a small skiff, made a solitary voyage down the Ohio, a distance of nearly six hundred miles.

During this lonely and venturous journey he experienced relaxation in the composition of a poem, which afterwards appeared under the t.i.tle of "The Pilgrim." In 1813, after encountering numerous hardships and perils, which an enthusiast only could have endured, he completed the publication of the seventh volume of his great work. But the sedulous attention requisite in the preparation of the plates of the eighth volume, and the effect of a severe cold, caught in rashly throwing himself into a river to swim in pursuit of a rare bird, brought on him a fatal dysentery, which carried him off, on the 23d of August 1813, in his forty-eighth year. He was interred in the cemetery of the Swedish church, Southwark, Philadelphia, where a plain marble monument has been erected to his memory. A ninth volume was added to the "Ornithology" by Mr George Ord, an intimate friend of the deceased naturalist; and three supplementary volumes have been published, in folio, by Charles Lucien Bonaparte, uncle of the present Emperor of the French.