A briery bank, ahint a brumy knowe,
Oor youthfu loving couple hid frae view,
Their vows renew, an here wi leuks sae sweet,
They set their tryst whar neist again tae meet.
Jean.
My heart shall, ever gratefu, bless the Laird,
Wha shew'd my dearest Harry such regaird,
Restor'd you tae oor hills an rural plain,
Frae wars fatigues safe tae my airms again.
Harry. Remote from bustling camps and war's alarms,
Thus, let me ever clasp thee in my arms.
SONG.
Set to Music by MR. JOHN ROSS, Aberdeen.
Harry.
We'll meet beside the dusky glen, on yon burn side,
Whar the bushes form a cozie den, on yon burn side,
Tho the bruiny knowes be green,
Yet, there we may be seen,
But we'll meet—we'll meet at een, doun by yon burn side.
I’ll lead thee to the birken bow'r, on yon burn side,
Sae sweetly wove wi woodbine flow'r, on yon burn side,
There the busy prying eye,
Ne'er disturbs the lovers' joy,
While in ithers' arms they lie, doun by yon burn side.
Awa, ye rude unfeeling crew, frae yon burn side,
Those fairy scenes are no for you, by yon burn side,—
There Fancy smooths her theme,
By the sweetly murm'ring stream,
An the rock-lodg'd echoes skim, doun by yon burn side.
Noo the plantin taps are ting'd wi goud, on yon burn side,
An gloamin draws her fuggy shroud o'er yon burn side,
Far frae the noisy scene,
I'll thro the fiel's alane,
There we'll meet—my ain dear Jean! doun by yon burn side.
Jean. I'll jeer my ancient wooer hame, an then
I'll meet you at the op'ning o the glen. [1] [Exit, separately.
Note by Lamb.—“For this fine sang, R. A. Smith arranged the air of ‘There grows a bonnie brier hush,’ or, as he has it in his Scottish Minstrel, ‘The Brier Bush,’ second set. This is the song which Tannahill heard a country lass lilting in a field when he was taking a lonely walk one evening. The incident was one of the happiest the poet ever experienced. Two localities in the neighbourhood of Paisley are named as the scene of this song. One—the lower portion of Gleniffer; the other—a beautiful spot on the Alt-Patrick Burn, near Elderslie. Mr. Matthew Tannahill, the poet's brother, held to the former locality, and he gave as his reason, as Mr. Hugh Macdonald reports, that Robert and he were walking along the Braes of Gleniffer on a summer evening, when the valley of the Clyde was filled with the radiance of the setting sun. On gazing on the play of the sunbeams upon certain trees in the landscape, ‘Look here, Matthew,’ said Robert, ‘did you ever see anything so exquisitely beautiful! Why, the very leaves glimmer as gin they were tinged wi goud.’ Soon after this song appeared, with its beautiful bit of imagery—‘Noo the plantin taps are tinged wi goud.’ This fixed Gleniffer as the ‘dusky glen’ in Matthew's mind. Most of the local admirers of Tannahill, however, believe in the Alt-Patrick picturesque ravine as the ‘dusky glen.’”
[1] The scene of this song is unquestionably Alt-Patrick Burn. The now classic name of “The Dusky Glen” was very appropriately bestowed by the poet on the deep, dark, wild cavernous ravine on the burn, formerly called Leitchland Glen, now Glenpatrick. Jean and Harry had hurriedly met on her father's farm of Highdykes, and she asked him where they would “meet at een,” and he answered by singing “The Dusky Glen” “down by yon burn side,” evidently pointing further down on the banks of the Alt-Patrick stream; and Jean replied,—“I'll meet you at the op'ning o the glen,” and not across the country, and up to Gleniffer Burn. The tinging with gold can be seen every clear afternoon at the setting of the sun.—Ed.