Set to Music by Mr. John Ross of Aberdeen. 1805.
YON poor negro girl, an exotic plant,
Was torn from her dear native soil ;
Reluctantly borne o'er the raging Atlant,
Then brought to Britannia's isle.
Though Fatima's mistress be loving and kind,
Poor Fatima still must deplore ;
She thinks on her parents, left weeping behind,
And sighs for her dear native shore.
She thinks on her Zadi, the youth of her heart,
Who from childhood was loving and true ;
How he cried on the beach, when the ship did depart !
Twas a sad everlasting adieu.
The shell-woven gift which he bound round her arm,
The rude seamen unfeelingly tore,
Nor left one sad relic her sorrows to charm,
When far from her dear native shore.
And now, all dejected, she wanders apart,
No friend, save retirement, she seeks ;
The sigh of despondency bursts from her heart,
And tears dew her thin sable cheeks.
Poor hard-fated girl, long, long she may mourn !
Life's pleasures to her are all o'er ;
Far fled ev'ry hope that she e'er shall return
To revisit her dear native shore.
This song first appeared in 1805 in Maver's periodical, the Selector, Vol. I., page 266,—the fourth of the seven pieces bearing the signature “MODESTUS.” See Note to No. 5. And second, in the Nightingale, 1806, another Glasgow publication, page 55. See Note to No. 13.
“As the auld cock craws, the young cock learns,” says Allan Ramsay in his “Scottish Proverbs.” We have much pleasure in noticing that Maver's youngest son, Mr. Robert Mayer, music publisher, 11 Renfield Street Glasgow, has followed the footsteps of his worthy sire in publishing a “Selection of Genuine Scottish Melodies arranged for the Pianoforte or Harmonium in keys suitable for the voice, with 488 tunes, with Words ; edited by George Alexander, Esq.” Threescore and ten years have now passed away since old Mr. Mayer first printed the above song, one of a series of seventeen pieces of Tannahill's in his serials—the Selector and Gleaner ; and now Mr. Mayer, junior, has burst forth in 1875 with another magnificent edition of his National Collection of Airs, revised by the editor, Mr. Alexander, containing fifteen of the most popular songs of Tannahill. In alluding to that valuable Repository, we seize the opportunity of congratulating Mr. Alexander, the editor, an enthusiast in old Scottish Airs, upon the care and attention, and scholarly editorship, he has bestowed upon that valuable addition to the song and musical literature of Scotland.—Ed.
[Semple 137]