29th January, 1810.
AGAIN the happy day returns,—
A day to Scotsmen ever dear,—
Tho bleakest of the changeful year,
It blest us with a Burns.
Drifting wide the crispy snow ;
Rude the ruthless storms may sweep,
Howling round our mountain's steep;
While the heavy lashing rains,
Swell our rivers, drench our plains,
And the angry ocean roars
Round our broken craggy shores;
But, mindful of our Poet's worth,
We hail the honour'd day that gave him birth.
Come, ye vot'ries of the lyre,
Trim the torch of heav'nly fire,
Raise the song in Scotia's praise,
Sing anew her bonnie braes,
Sing her thousand siller streams,
Bickering to the sunny beams ;
Sing her sons beyond compare,
Sing her daughters, peerless, fair ;
Sing, till Winter's storms be o'er,
The matchless bards that sung before;
And I, the meanest of the Muse's train,
Shall join my feeble aid to swell the strain.
Dear Scotia, though thy clime be cauld,
Thy sons were ever brave and bauld,
Thy daughters modest, kind, and leel,—
The fairest in creation's fiel' ;
Alike inur'd to every toil,
Thou'rt foremost in the battle broil ;
Prepar'd alike in peace and weir,
To guide the plough or wield the spear.
As the mountain torrent raves,
Dashing through its rugged caves,
So the Scottish legions pour
Dreadful in the avenging hour ;
But when Peace, with kind accord,
Bids them sheath the sated sword,
See them, in their native vales,
Jocund as the Summer gales,
Cheering Labour all the day
With some merry roundelay.
Dear Scotia, tho thy nights be drear
When surly Winter rules the year,
Around thy cottage hearths are seen
The glow of health, the cheerful mien ;
The mutual glance, that fondly shares
A neighbour's joys, a neighbour's cares:
Here aft, while raves the wind and weet,
The canty lads and lasses meet.
Sae light of heart, sae full of glee,
Their gaits sae artless and sae free,
The hours of joy come dancing on
To share their frolic and their fun.
Here mony a song and jest goes round,
With tales of ghosts and rites profound,
Perform'd in dreary wizard glen
By wrinkled hags and warlike men,
Or of the hell fee'd crew combin'd—
Carousing on the midnight wind
On some infernal errand bent,
While darkness shrouds their black intent.
But chiefly, Burns, thy songs delight
To charm the weary winter night,
And bid the lingering moments flee
Without a care, unless for thee,
Wha sang sae sweet, and dee't sae soon,
And soucht the native sphere aboon.
Thy “Lovely Jean,” thy “Nannie, O,”
Thy much lov'd “Caledonia,”
Thy “Wat ye wha's in yonder toun,”
Thy “Banks and Braes o' Bonnie Doon,”
Thy “Shepherdess on Afton Braes,”
Thy “Logan Lassie's” bitter waes,
Are a gane o'er, sae sweetly tun'd,
That e'en the storm, pleased with the sound,
Fa's lown, and sings with eerie slight,
“O let me in this ae, ae night.”
Alas ! our best, our dearest Bard,
How poor, how great was his reward;
Unaided, he has fix'd his name
Immortal, in the rolls of fame.
Yet who can hear, without a tear,
What sorrows wrung his manly breast,
To see his little, helpless, filial band
Imploring succour from a father's hand,
And there no succour near ?
Himself the while with sick'ning woes opprest,
Fast hast'ning on to where the weary rest—
For this let Scotia's bitter tears atone,
She reck'd not half his worth till he was gone.
Burns wrote a song on the birth of himself, which he called
“ROBIN.
Our monarch's hindmost year but ane
Was five-and-twenty days begun,
Twas then a blast o Januar win'
Blew hansel in on Robin.”
King George II. died 25th October, 1760, in the 34th year of his reign, and the 25th day of January, 1759, had begun when the birth of Burns occurred, in the 33rd year of the king's reign.—Ed.
Note by Motherwell.—“This is the last Ode that was written by Robert Tannahill for the Paisley Burns Club, who held their Sixth Anniversary Meeting to celebrate the Birth of their favourite Bard in January, 1801. It was recited on that occasion by the President, and was received by the company with every mark of satisfaction and applause. It appeared in the Scots Magazine the next month; but, owing to some unaccountable neglect, it was omitted in the edition of his works published after his lamented death. We certainly think it no way inferior to his other productions on the same subject, and flatter ourselves that the majority of our readers will be of the same opinion. Indeed, it affords a striking proof of the rich stores of his mind, when he could thus continue a subject he had so completely exhausted on former occasions. We are informed by a particular friend of his that, on being strongly solicited to write an Ode for the occasion, it was with considerable reluctance he complied with their request, affirming that it was tasking himself something like the Poet Laureate to write an Annual Birth-Day Ode, and that he had nothing whatever to say on the subject. He was prevailed on, however, to make the attempt; and the present Ode, we are persuaded, will not sully his fame, or tarnish one leaf of the IVY CHAPLET that adorns his honoured brow.”
Note by Ramsay.—“The above Ode appeared in the Scots Magazine for February, 1810, but has not till now been inserted in any edition of our author's works. It was with considerable reluctance that he complied with the request of the Club to compose this—his third effusion—for one of their Anniversary Meetings. He thought it was tasking himself like the Poet Laureate of the time to indite an Annual Ode for the King's Birth-Day.”
The minute of the meeting of the Burns Society, held on this occasion, was expressed as follows:—“Paisley, 29th Jan., 1810.—This evening the admirers of Scottish Poesy met to celebrate the birth of their favourite Bard. A most appropriate address was delivered by the President, Mr. William Wylie, who filled the chair with distinguished ability. The following (now the foregoing) Ode, written for the occasion by Mr. Robert Tannahill, highly gratified the company when recited by the President.”—Ed.
The anniversaries of Burns were then held in Paisley on the 29th of January, which was supposed to be the true date of his birth, and continued to be held on that date till 1818. In the summer of that year, R. A. Smith had gone to Ayr, and opened Music classes in that town which were very successful,—a circumstance not noticed by his biographer, P. A. Ramsay. Mr. Smith, during his residence in Ayr, wrote a long letter to his valued friend Mr. Robert Lang, manufacturer, Causeyside, Paisley, on 9th July, 1818, mentioning—among other matters—that he had discovered the real birthday of the Bard to have been on the 25th of January, and that he believed the 29th to have been a mistake committed by Burns himself. Smith also mentioned that the 29th was still on the cottage wall where the poet was born, and likewise on the painting of his likeness kept inside of the house; but it would now be altered soon. Smith likewise stated that he had become acquainted with the Session-Clerk, who had shown him the Register of Births for the Parish of Ayr, read the original entry of the birth, and had obtained an extract, which he enclosed for the Burns Club. In the minute of the meeting of that club held on 3rd September, 1818, the extract before-mentioned is copied into it, and is as follows :—
“‘Robert Burns, lawful son of William Burns in Alloway, and
Agnes Brown, his spouse, was born on the 25th of January, 1759, and
baptised the 26th, by the Rev. Dr. William Dalrymple. Witnesses¬
Jno. Tennant and James Young.’
“Extracted from the Register of Births and Baptisms
in the Parish of Ayr for the Paisley Burns Club,—R. A. Smith
being present,—at Ayr, this 19th day of Aug., 1818.
“(Signed) WM. M‘DERMANT, Sess.-Clk.”
Votes of thanks were given to Mr. M‘Dermant for his authentic certificate, and to Mr. Smith for procuring it. Mr. Smith, in correcting a mistake in the date of the Bard's birth, seems to have committed an apparent error himself. His letter is dated 9th July enclosing the extract, and the extract itself is dated 19th August—forty-one days afterwards. It may, however, be explained that the long letter was probably commenced at its date, and not finished till the extract was received.<
Mr. Robert Lang was born in Paisley in 1774, and brought up in his native town. He was one of the fifteen founders of the Paisley Burns Club in 1805. He was also on intimate terms with Tannahill, and obtained subscribers to the first edition of the Poems and Songs in 1807, and was presented with a copy by the author. Mr. Lang was honoured five times with the office of President at the Anniversaries of Burns' birth held in 1811, 12, 13, 14, and 15. Mr. Lang, we may state, stood in the foremost ranks of genuine patriotism and faithful loyalty. He was esteemed and respected by a large circle of sincere friends. His warm and kind heart, tenderness of feelings, urbanity of manners, sociability in company, disinterested friendship, and humanity of disposition, secured for him from his fellow-townsmen the well-merited title of “The Man of Feeling.” His love of mankind, and admiration of the greatest philanthropist that ever lived, John Howard (see one of the Notes to No. 24), induced him to name his son Robert Howard Lang. Mr. Lang, in closing his addresses at meetings, was accustomed to express a desire that he might “live beloved, and die regretted;” and these wishes were fully realised, both in letter and spirit, when he departed this life on 5th March, 1838, in the 64th year of his age.
It is also worthy of remark that Mr. Lang was well acquainted with Alexander Wilson, another eminent Paisley poet, and celebrated American Ornithologist, and corresponded with him. Mr. Lang had an original painting of this poet, which was framed in oak from the wood of the poet's bedstead, and the gun which the Ornithologist used in bringing down the feathered species was bequeathed to Mr. Lang, and sent home to him. These two interesting and valuable relics of the poet and ornithologist are now in possession of his son, Mr. Robert Howard Lang, Espedair Street, Paisley.—Ed.
[Semple 8]