AULD ROBIN GRAY.

Our very hopes belied our fears,
Our fears our hopes belied;

We thought her dying when she slept,
And sleeping when she died.

For when the morn came, dim and sad,
And chill with early showers,

Her quiet eyelids closed-she had

Another morn than ours.

THOMAS HOOD.

AULD ROBIN GRAY.

WHEN the sheep are in the fauld, and the kye at hame,
When a' the weary warld to quiet rest are gane,
The woes of my heart fa' in showers frae my ee,
Unkenned by my gudeman, who soundly sleeps by me.

Young Jamie lo'ed me weel, and sought me for his bride;
But, saving ae crown piece, he'd naething else beside.
To mak the crown a pound, my Jamie gaed to sea;
And the crown and the pound, O they were baith for me!

Before he had been gane a twelvemonth and a day,
My father brak his arm; our cow was stown away;

My mother she fell sick
And Auld Robin Gray, O

my Jamie was at sea;

he cam a-courting me!

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AULD ROBIN GRAY.

My father cou'dna work-my mother cou'dna spin;
I toiled day and night, but their bread I cou'dna win;
Auld Rob maintained them baith; and, wi' tears in his ee,
Said, "Jenny, O! for their sakes, will ye marry me?"

My heart it said na, and I looked for Jamie back;
But hard blew the winds, and his ship was a wrack;
His ship it was a wrack! Why didna Jamie dee?
Or wherefore am I spared to cry out, Woe is me!

My father argued sair — my mother didna speak,

But she looked in my face till my heart was like to break; They gied him my hand, but my heart was in the sea; And so Auld Robin Gray, he was gudeman to me.

I hadna been his wife, a week but only four,
When, mournfu' as I sat on the stane at my door,
I saw my Jamie's ghaist-I cou'dna think it he,
Till he said, "I'm come hame, my love, to marry thee!"

O sair, sair did we greet, and mickle say of a';
Ae kiss we took, nae mair-I bade him gang awa.
I wish that I were dead, but I'm no like to dee;
For O, I am but young to cry out, Woe is me!

I gang like a ghaist, and I carena much to spin.
I darena think o' Jamie, for that wad be a sin;
But I will do my best a gude wife aye to be;
For Auld Robin Gray, O! he is sae kind to me.

LADY ANNE LINDSAY.

OLD TIMES.

I.

OLD times, old times, the gay old times,
When I was young and free,
And heard the merry Easter-chimes
Under the sally tree!

My Sunday palm beside me placed,
My cross upon my hand,

A heart at rest within my breast,

And sunshine on the land!

Old times! Old times!

II.

It is not that my fortunes flee,
Nor that my cheek is pale,
I mourn whene'er I think of thee,
My darling native vale!

A wiser head I have, I know,

Than when I loitered there;

But in my wisdom there is woe,

And in my knowledge care.

Old times! Old times!

III.

I've lived to know my share of joy,

To feel my share of pain,

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OLD TIMES.

To learn that friendship's self can cloy,

To love and love in vain ;

To feel a pang and wear a smile,
To tire of other climes,

To like my own unhappy isle,

And sing the gay old times!

Old times! Old times!

IV.

And sure the land is nothing changed:

The birds are singing still;

The flowers are springing where we ranged;
There's sunshine on the hill.

The sally, waving o'er my head,
Still sweetly shades my frame;

But ah! those happy days are fled,

And I am not the same.

Old times! Old times!

V.

O come again, ye merry times,
Sweet, sunny, fresh, and calm!
And let me hear those Easter-chimes,
And wear my Sunday palm.
If I could cry away mine eyes,
My tears would flow in vain ;

If I could waste my heart in sighs,

They'd never come again!

Old times! Old times!

GERALD GRIFFIN.