Written for, and performed at the Celebration of ROBERT BURNS' Birth-Day, Paisley, 29th Jan., 1807.
RECITATIVE.
Mr. WILLIAM MCLAREN,
WHILE Gallia's chief, with cruel conquests vain,
Bids clanging trumpets rend the skies,
The widow's, orphan's, and the father's sighs,
Breathe hissing through the guilty strain ;
Mild Pity hears the harrowing tones,
Mixed with shrieks and dying groans ;
While warm Humanity, afar,
Weeps o'er the ravages of war,
And, shudd'ring, hears Ambition's servile train
Rejoicing o'er their thousands slain.
But when the song to worth is given,
The grateful anthem wings its way to heaven,
Rings through the mansions of the bright abodes,
And melts to ecstasy the list'ning gods ;
Apollo, on fire,
Strikes with rapture the lyre,
And the Muses the summons obey ;
Joy wings the glad sound,
To the worlds around,
Till all Nature re-echoes the lay !
Then raise the song ye vocal few,
Give the praise to merit due.
SONG.
Set to Music by Mr. R. A. SMITH.
And Sung by Messrs. SMITH, STUART, and BLAIKIE.
Tho' dark scowling Winter, in dismal array,
Re-marshals his storms on the bleak hoary hill,
With joy we assemble to hail the great day
That gave birth to the Bard who ennobles our isle.
Then loud to his merits the song let us raise,
Let each true Caledonian exult in his praise ;
For the glory of genius, its dearest reward,
Is the laurel entwin'd by his country's regard.
Let the Muse bring fresh honours his name to adorn,
Let the voice of glad melody pride in the theme,
For the genius of Scotia, in ages unborn,
Will light up her torch at the blaze of his fame.
When the dark mist of ages lies turbid between,
Still his star of renown through the gloom shall be seen,
And his rich blooming laurels, so dear to the Bard,
Will be cherish'd for ay by his country's regard.
RECITATIVE.
By Mr. WILLIAM M‘LAREN.
Yes, Burns, thou “dear departed shade!”
When rolling centuries have fled,
Thy name shall still survive the wreck of time,
Shall rouse the genius of thy native clime ;
Bards, yet unborn, and patriots shall come,
And catch fresh ardour at thy hallow'd tomb—
There's not a cairn-built cottage on our hills,
Nor rural hamlet on our fertile plains,
But echoes to the magic of thy strains,
While every heart with highest transport thrills :
Our country's melodies shall perish never,
For Burns, thy songs shall live for ever.
Then, once again, ye vocal few,
Give the song to merit due.
SONG.
Written to MARSH'S National Air, “Britons who for freedom bled”. Harmonised as a Glee by Mr. R. A. SMITH; And sung by Messrs. SMITH, STUART, and BLAIKIE.
Hail, ye glorious sons of song,
Who wrote to humanise the soul !
To you our highest strains belong,
Your names shall crown our friendly bowl :
But chiefly, Burns, above the rest
We dedicate this night to thee ;
Engrav'd in every Scotsman's breast
Thy name, thy worth, shall ever be !
Fathers of our country's weal,
Sternly virtuous, bold and free !
Ye taught your sons to fight, yet feel
The dictates of humanity.
But chiefly, Burns, above the rest
We dedicate this night to thee ;
Engrav'd in every Scotsman's breast
Thy name, thy worth, shall ever be !
Haughty Gallia threats our coast,
We hear their vaunts with disregard,
Secure in valour, still we boast
“The Patriot and the Patriot Bard.” [1]
But chiefly, Burns, above the rest
We dedicate this night to thee ;
Engrav'd in every Scotsman's breast
Yes, Caledonians to our country true,
Which Romans nor Danes never could subdue, [2]
Firmly resolved our native rights to guard,
Let's toast—“The Patriot and the Patriot Bard.”
This Ode was written for the occasion, and performed with great effect and feeling by Messrs. Robert Archibald Smith, William Stuart, and Andrew Blaikie.
This song first appeared alone in the Glasgow Nightingale of 1806, page 95, with the title “Burns' Anniversary.” This song would have been written in 1806, or even earlier, to be incorporated with an Ode to Burns' memory, when Smith had set it to music, for the Anniversary to be held on 29th January, 1807. See first Note to No 13.
[1] “The Patriot and the Patriot Bard” is a quotation from the penult line of Burns' “Cotter's Saturday Night.” Burns himself quoted frequently from other poets ; and in the 116th line of the “Cotter's Saturday Night,” he has quoted “Hope springs exulting on triumphant wing” from Pope's “Windsor Forest,” and the 166th line “An honest Man's the noblest work of God” from Pope's “Essay on Man,” Epistle 4.—Ed.
[2] After the Royal arbiter, King Edward T. of England, had delivered his address, on 10th May, 1291, in the contention between Bruce and Baliol for the crown of Scotland, Bishop Robert Wishart of Glasgow, one of the commissioners for Bruce, with a noble and independent spirit, rose, and “gave him hearty thanks, in name of the rest, for his great condescension in accepting the office of arbiter; but when it had pleased his Grace to speak of a right of superiority over the kingdom, it was sufficiently known that Scotland from the foundation of the state was a free and independent kingdom, and not subject to any power whatever ; that their ancestors had valiantly defended themselves against the Romans, Picts, Saxons, and Danes, and all others who sought to usurp upon them, and although the present occasion had bred some distraction in men's minds, all true hearted Scotsmen will stand for the liberty of their country till their death, for they esteem their liberty to be more precious than their lives, and in that quarrel will neither separate nor divide.” Bishop Wishart is twice represented on the Altar Tomb in Saint Mirin's Aisle of Paisley Abbey in the attitudes of solemn prayer and pronouncing benediction.—Ed.
[Semple 7]