SIR HARRY ERSKINE, Bart., died 1765. Air—"The Highland or 42nd regiment's march," composed by GENERAL RE!D.

In the garb of old Gaul, with the fire of old Rome,
From the heath-cover'd mountains of Scotia we come,
Where the Romans endeavour'd our country to gain ;
But our ancestors fought, and they fought not in vain.

Such is our love of liberty, our country, and our laws,
That, like our ancestors of old, we'll stand in freedom's cause:
We'll bravely fight, like heroes bold, for honour and applause,
And defy the French, with all their arts, to alter our laws.

No effeminate customs our sinews unbrace,
No luxurious tables enervate our race;
Our loud-sounding pipe breathes the true martial strain,
And our hearts still the old Scottish valour retain.

Such is our love, &c.

We're tall as the oak on the mount of the vale,
And swift as the roe which the hound doth assail;
As the full moon in autumn our shields do appear;
E'en Minerva would dread to encounter our snear.

Such is our love, &c.

As a storm in the ocean when Boreas blows,
So are we enraged when we rush on our foes,
We sons of the mountains, tremendous as rocks,
Dash the force of our foes with our thundering strokes.

Such is our love, &c.

Quebec and Cape Breton, the pride of old France,
In their numbers fondly boasted till we did advance ;
But when our claymores they saw us produce,
Their courage did fail, and they sued for a truce.

Such is our love, &c,

kind.

In our realm may the fury of faction long cease,
May our councils be wise, and our commerce increase;
And in Scotia's cold climate may each of us find
That our friends still prove true, and our beauties prove

Then we'll defend our liberty, our country, and our laws,
And teach our late posterity to fight in freedom's cause
That they, like their ancestors bold, for honour and applause,
May defy the French, with all their arts, to alter our laws.

TIBET

BURNS. Air_“Hey tuttie taittie.”

UNIVIR.

OF TIR

CA ISOR

Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled;
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led;
Welcome to your gory bed,

Or to victory!
Now's the day and now's the hour;
See the front o' battle lour :
See approach proud Edward's power-

Chains and slavery!
Wha will be a traitor knave ?
Wha can fill a coward's grave ?
Wha sae base as be a slave ?

Let him turn and flee!
Wha for Scotland's king and law
Freedom's sword will strongly draw,
Freeman stand or freeman fa'?

Let him on wi' me !

By oppression's woes and pains,
By your sons in servile chains,
We will drain our dearest veins,

But they shall be free!
Lay the proud usurpers low,
Tyrants fall in every foe;
Liberty's in every blow;

Let us do or die ! " This noble strain," says Dr. Currie, “was conceived by the poet during a storm among the wilds of Glen Ken, in Galloway." Burns himself says, in a letter to Mr. Thomson, dated Sept. 1793, in which he enclosed it, “ I borrowed the last stanza from the common stall edition of Wallace :

• A false usurper sinks in every foe,

And liberty returns with every blow.' A stanza worthy of Homer.” In another letter he says: “I do not know whether the old air of • Hey tuttie taittie' may rank among this number; but well I know that, with Fraser's hautboy, it has often filled my eyes with tears. There is a tradition which I have met with in many places of Scotland, that it was Robert Bruce's march at the battle of Bannockburn. This thought, in my solitary wanderings, warmed me to a pitch of enthusiasm on the theme of liberty and independence, which I threw into a kind of Scottish ode, fitted to the air, that one might suppose to be the gallant royal Scot's address to his heroic followers on that eventful morning.

“So may God ever defend the cause of truth and liberty, as he did that day! Amen.

“P.S. I showed the air to Urbani, who was highly pleased with it, and begged me to make soft verses for it; but I had no idea of giving myself any trouble upon the subject, till the accidental recollection of that glorious struggle for freedom, associated with the glowing ideas of some other struggles of the same nature, not quite so ancient, roused my rhyming mania."

In answer to this letter, Thomson writes the following: “I believe it is generally allowed that the greatest modesty is the sure attendant of the greatest merit. While you are sending me verses that even Shakspeare inight be proud to own, you speak of them as if they were ordinary productions! Your heroic cde is to me the noblest composition of the kind in the Scottish language. I happened to dine yesterday with a party of your friends, to whom I read it. They were all charmed with it, entreated me to find a suitable air for it, and reprobated the idea of giving it a tune so totally devoid of interest or grandeur as 'Hey tuttie taittie.' Assuredly your partiality for this tune must arise from association ; for I never heard any person-and I have conversed again and again with the greatest enthusiasts for Scottish airs-I say I never heard any one speak of it as worthy of notice."

In some versions of this song, the concluding line of each stanza is lengthened to seven feet. In the first stanza the line is, “Or to glorious victory; " in the second, “Edward, chains, and slavery!” in the third, “ Traitor, coward, turn and flee!" in the fourth, “ Caledonian! on wi' me!" in the fifth, “ But they shall be, shall be free!" and in the sixth, “ Forward! Let us do or die!" But these elongations mar the music and weaken the poetry.

The old song of “ Hey tuttie taittie" has been preserved by Mr. Peter Buchan; the chorus will suffice as a specimen :

Hey tuttie taittie,
Hey talerettie;
Hey, my bonnie Mary,
She's aye roarin' fu'.