Set to Music by Mr. R. A. Smith. 1806.
HARK tis the poor Maniac's song :
She sits on yon wild craggy steep,
And while the winds mournfully whistle along,
She wistfully looks o'er the deep :
And aye she sings, “Lullaby, lullaby, lullaby!”
To hush the rude billows asleep.
She looks to yon rock far at sea,
And thinks it her lover's white sail ;
The warm tear of joy glads her wild glist'ning eye,
As she beckons his vessel to hail ;
And aye she sings, “Lullaby, lullaby, lullaby !”
And frets at the boisterous gale.
Poor Susan was gentle and fair,
Till the seas robbed her heart of its joy ;
Then her reason was lost in the gloom of despair,
And her charms then did wither and die ;
And now her sad “Lullaby, lullaby, lullaby !”
Oft wakes the lone passenger's sigh.
This song first appeared in 1806 in Millar's Paisley Repository, No. IV. See Note to No. 16. Second, in the Nightingale, page 214. See Note to No. 13. R. A. Smith sung the above song in character at his Concert on 3rd May, 1808, and his name was put down in the Concert handbill as the composer of the music. A copy of the handbill will be found among the Correspondence. Tannahill was present, and he said Mr. Smith “had a very numerous and respectable audience, and they seemed to be all highly pleased with the performance.”—Ed.
[Semple 136]