Air,—"Lord Gregory." 1798.
ACCUSE me not, inconstant fair,
Of being false to thee,
For I was true, would still been so,
Hadst thou been true to me.
But when I knew thy plighted lips
Once to a rival's prest,
Love-smothered independence rose,
And spurn'd thee from my breast.
The fairest flow'r in Nature's field,
Conceals the rankling thorn ;
So thou, sweet flow'r ! as false as fair,
This once kind heart bath torn.
'Twas mine to prove the fellest pangs
That slighted love can feel ;
Tis thine to weep that one rash act,
Which bids this long fareweel.
William M‘Laren, who became intimately acquainted with Tannahill in 1803, continued a chief companion of the Poet's, and was one of the two original biographers of Tannahill. In writing the life of his friend in 1815, he devoted four pages to the Poet's first and only amour; but he has neither mentioned the name of the beloved one, nor the time and length of the courtship. From the flowery language with which M'Laren has wreathed this incident, the following may be given as the substance of the matter:— “Another suitor came forward whose addresses were not rejected; and the Vulture of Jealousy fixed her talons in the heart of Tannahill, and he sent the above verses to her as an eternal farewell, and then left Paisley for England.” All the other biographers of Tannahill are alike deficient in dates and chronological order,—prior events frequently appearing after subsequent occurrences. It has been also stated by several of these life writers that Tannahill was never in love; but the above verses evidently convey the feelings of one who had himself suffered the pangs of slighted love, deep and severe, from his betrothed.
In making our investigation, we heard of six females whose friends had supposed their relation had at one time been loved by Tannahill. Two of them appeared to have had such a slender hold on the Poet that we dismissed them at once without taking down their names. The next three were each sisters of poets,—one of them having come from Dunblane,—and all of them were about ten years younger than the Poet, and his acquaintance with them would occur after his return from England in 1802. The names of two have already appeared in print, and we will take notice of them here. One of these was Jeanie King, sister of John King, weaver and poet, Paisley (referred to in the Notes to Nos. 6 and 73). This amour will be found related in the “Life of Tannahill” contributed in the year 1857 to the Paisley Literary Wallet, Vol. II, page 2,—a periodical of considerable merit,—and seems, so far as this matter is concerned, to have been an abridgment of the version given by M‘Laren, with the name of Jeanie King filled in. The other was Mary Allan, sister of Robert Allan, weaver and poet, Kilbarchan (to whom the Epistle No. 26 was addressed),—a woman as modest and retiring as Tannahill himself. It was related by Mr. John Shaw, chairman of the Soiree at the celebration of the Centenary of Robert Allan on 5th November, 1874. The chairman stated she was a sweetheart of Tannahill's, and he had written both verses and letters to her. We heard of the story long before the chairman made it public, and intended to make enquiries. On the 25th of January, 1875, we wrote Mrs. Janet Stewart or Allan, relict of Mr. Georgs Allan, druggist, Irwinton, Alabama, United States, son of Robert Allan (with whom Mary Allan resided before her decease twelve years ago), mentioning the Centenaries of Robert Tannahill and Robert Allan, and particularly regarding the statement of the chairman of the Soiree. We asked her to transmit the verses and letters, if they had been preserved, that we might publish them in this volume, and, if destroyed, to write a copy of the verses and the import of the letters; and if she did not remember them, to say whether she ever saw them or heard Miss Allan say she had received them. We have not received an answer; but we saw Mr. William Caldwell, cabinetmaker, Glasgow, who informed us he had written George Allan's eldest daughter to the same effect on the 18th of the same month, and showed us the answer which he had received from her. It stated that she had written her mother (the lady to whom we had addressed our letter of enquiry) on the subject, and received a reply from her, as follows:—“To think of timid, modest, retiring Aunty, how would she have shrunk within herself at the thought of her name being mentioned in connection with Tannahill in such a manner ! It must have been from dread of such an exposure that not even a line or letter of any description could be found in her collection. Anticipating her decease, she must have destroyed all traces of this romance of her early days. She never mentioned his name but once, and then seemed overcome at recollection of his unhappy fate.” We have since seen a nephew of Miss Mary Allan, who stated to us that his Aunt had shown him the verses and letters; but he had no recollection of their contents owing to the length of time that had elapsed. She died in Irwinton about twelve years ago, aged 79. However anxious the friends of these two ladies were to encourage the addresses of Tannahill, we are inclined to believe it never went beyond Platonic love—the same friendship for the sisters that the Poet had for the two brothers. None of these parties acknowledged the “Fareweel” was applicable to them. The sixth and remaining, and we believe the only sweetheart of Tannahill, was Jenny Tennant, to whom we have so fully referred in our Notes to “Jessie, the Flower o Dunblane,” No. 75. It has been admitted by her descendants that she received the verses of the “Fareweel,” and her children and grandchildren sing them every New-Year's-Day. There can be no doubt that is the person to whom M‘Laren in his “Life of Tannahill” referred.
Since the above Note was written, we have met with the descendants of three other ladies who all maintained that the song of “Jessie, the Flower o Dunblane” was made upon their respective mothers; but neither of them .would admit the “Fareweel.” The same amount of evidence which either of them possessed as to their ancestors being the real Jessie might be produced by every Jessie that lived in Paisley in the time of Tannahill.—Ed.
[Semple 77]