A pool breast-deep, beneath as clear as glass,
Kisses wi' easy whirls the bord'ring grass.
We'll end our washing while the morning's cool;
An' when the day grows het, we'll to the pool,
There wash oursells—'tis healthfu' now as May,
An sweetly cauler on sae warm a day.
The Gentle Shepherd, the poem on which Allan Ramsay's reputation is mainly founded, is a pastoral of great beauty and charm. The original MS. was presented by the author to the Countess of Eglinton. It is a folio Vol. of 105 pages, clearly written by his own hand, and has a few comic pen-and-ink sketches added at the beginning or end of the acts, and at the close is this note:
"Finished the 29th of April, 1725, just as eleven o'clock strikes,
by Allan Ramsay.
All glory be to God. Amen."
We will now turn to the seven bits of verse we have been able to
collect by the Shepherd of Lonely Bield.
FAIR HABBIE'S HOWE.
(May be sung to the tune "Craigielea," with first verse as the Chorus).
O Habbie's Howe! Fair Habbie's Howe,
Where wimplin' burnies[1] sweetly row;
Where aft I've tasted nature's joys,
O Habbie's Howe! Fair Habbie's Howe.
Roond thee my youthfu' days I spent,
Amang thy cliffs aft ha'e I speil'd.
Thou theme o' Ramsay's pastoral lay;
O hoary, moss-clad Craigy Bield.
The auld oak bower, wi' ivy twined,
Adorns thy weather-furrowed brow,
A trysting-place where lovers met
When tenting flocks in Habbie's Howe.
When April's suns glint through the trees,
The mavis lilts his mellow lay;
And, deep amid thy sombre shades
The owlet screams at close of day.
Amang thy cosy, mossy chinks,
The fern now shows its gentle form
And through thy caves the ousel darts,
To build his nest in early morn.
- ↑ "A trotting burnie wimpling thro' the ground," Allan Ramsay's
Gentle Shepherd, Act I., Sc. 2.
