In Imitation of John Barbour, an old Scots Poet.
QUHY screim the crowis owr yonder wud,
Witht loude and clamourynge dynne,
Haf deifenynge the torrentis roare,
Quhilk dashis owr yon linne ?
Quhy straye the flokis far outowr,
Alang the stanery lee,
And wil nocht graze anear the wud,
Thof ryche the pasturis be ?
And quhy dis aft the sheipherdis dug,
Gif that ane lamikyne straye,
Ay yamf and yowl besyde the wud,
Nae farthir yn wil gaye ?
“Marvil thee nocht at quhat thou seist,”
The tremblynge Rusticke sayde,
“For yn that feindis hauntet wud,
Hath guyltiles blude been sched.
“Thou seist far doun yon buschye howe,
An eldrin castil greye,
Witht teth of tyme, and weir of wyndis,
Fast mouldiryng yn decaye.
“Twas ther the jealous Barrone livit,
Witht Lady Anne hys wyfe,
He fleichit her neatht that wudis dark glume,
And revit hyr ther of lyffe.
“And eir hyr fayre bodye was founde,
The flesch cam fra the bane,
The snailis sat, feistyng onne hyr cheikis,
The spydiris velit her ein.
“And evir syne nae beist nor byrde
Will byde twa nichtis ther,
For fearful yellis and screichis wylde
Are heird throch nicht sae dreir.”
‘Twas thus dark ignorance did ween,
In fancy's wizard reign,
When minstrel fiction won belief,
O'er Scotland's wide domain.
Note by Motherwell.—“‘The Haunted Wud’ is a bonnie little poem, considered as such; but far from being anything like an imitation of John Barbour. Tannahill had neither leisure, education, nor means, to qualify himself for the perusal of Barbour and other venerable makers, much less to imitate their productions. Yet though he has been unsuccessful, we cannot help loving him for thus showing that he was acquainted with the name, if not with the language, of one of the oldest of our epic poets.”—Harp of Renfrewshire Essay, p. xli.
Note, by Ramsay, continuing.—“So said a very competent judge and successful imitator of our ancient bards, the late William Motherwell. The Essay was published anonymously, and we now claim it for our friend. If Tannahill failed in the above attempt, it was not for the want of a liberal allowance of consonants, which (to use a figure of Sir Walter Scott's, when writing of Chatterton), are ‘doubled like the sentinels of an endangered army.’ ”
The old Scots poets and ballad “makers” were the literature in which Motherwell delighted, and made a study to imitate them both in composition and orthography. Motherwell seems to question whether Tannahill had acquired any more knowledge of Barbour than his mere name; but a perusal of Tannahill's works will satisfy every reasonable person that Tannahill was well acquainted with the current literature of the day, and also of bygone times,—particularly poetical compositions. The names of authors that have been introduced into his pieces, and references otherwise made, show that he had not given more than a tithe of those he consulted in his studies. Allowing, however, that Motherwell was correct, Tannahill is entitled to the greater credit in having so well imitated the ancient poet both in composition and spelling. Tannahill had, undoubtedly, obtained the loan of Barbour's works; and we have not the least hesitation in saying he read them. Ramsay followed in the wake of his chief by saying the failure had not occurred from a want of liberal allowance of consonants. He seems not to have tested his own assertion by counting these consonants in the poem; we have done so, and also in the same number of words in the Memoir framed by Mr. Ramsay, and find the result to be as follows :—
TANNAHILL, 206 words, 350 vowels, 588 consonants, 938 letters.
RAMSAY, 206, 346, 525, 875
[respectively].
The weaver poet, living thirty years before his two learned annotators, certainly had the best of it. Notwithstanding the questionable opinions of Motherwell and Ramsay, the poem has been inserted in all the editions of Tannahill's works.—Ed.
Semple 42]