ere tell 't by the housemaid or chiel',
Sir, an' ye please, here 's your lass and a lantern.

The town may be clouted and pieced, till it meets
A' neebours benorth and besouth, without haltin';
Brigs may be biggit ower lums and ower streets,
The Nor' Loch itsel' heaped heigh as the Calton.

But whar is true friendship, and whar will you see,
A' that is gude, honest, modest, and thrifty?
Tak' gray hairs and wrinkles, and hirple wi' me,
And think on the seventeen hundred and fifty.

[102] Contributed to the fourth volume of Mr George Thomson's
Collection.

BANNOCKS O' BARLEY MEAL.[103]

AIR--_"Bannocks o' Barley Meal."_

Argyle is my name, and you may think it strange
To live at a court, and yet never to change;
To faction, or tyranny, equally foe,
The good of the land 's the sole motive I know.
The foes of my country and king I have faced,
In city or battle I ne'er was disgraced;
I 've done what I could for my country's weal,
Now I 'll feast upon bannocks o' barley meal.

Ye riots and revels of London, adieu!
And folly, ye foplings, I leave her to you!
For Scotland, I mingled in bustle and strife;
For myself, I seek peace and an innocent life:
I 'll haste to the Highlands, and visit each scene,
With Maggie, my love, in her rockley o' green;
On the banks of Glenary what pleasure I 'll feel,
While she shares my bannock o' barley meal!

And if it chance Maggie should bring me a son,
He shall fight for his king, as his father has done;
I 'll hang up my sword with an old soldier's pride--
O! may he be worthy to wear 't on his side.
I pant for the breeze of my loved native place;
I long for the smile of each welcoming face;
I 'll aff to the Highlands as fast 's I can reel,
And feast upon bannocks o' barley meal.

[103] This song was contributed by Sir Alexander Boswell to the third
volume of Thomson's Collection. It is not wholly original, but an
improved version of former words to the same air, which are understood
to be the composition of John Campbell, the celebrated Duke of Argyle
and Greenwich, who died on the 4th October 1743.

WILLIAM GILLESPIE.

William Gillespie was born in the manse of Kells, in Galloway, on the
18th February 1776. His father, John Gillespie, minister of Kells, was
the intimate friend of Robert Burns; and likewise an earl